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Friday, August 20, 2010

Witchy Efficiency Expert.....

Yes. Tessie has claimed the title. Efficiency Expert is now on her business cards. They now read "Witchy Efficiency Expert" in big gold letters. I am not sure if she knows exactly what that means, but she has been telling me where to put things in the box, to make more of the space allotted, all morning.

First of all, she insisted that there be more than two colors of thread. I took the pins out of the matchbox. Then I padded the top so that I could use that to hold pins and needles. I found some tiny thread spools in my stash and wound thread around ten of them...They just fit inside.

So what does Tessie do? She uses it for a footstool and complains that the pins are in the way.

Here is all of the stuff that I made yesterday. By making these items, I found that the two colors of suede that I packed were thicker than I like to work with. The books that I made were kind of fuzzy looking....I replaced two pieces of suede with about 12 pieces of glove leather and lizard skin. Good trade.

I found that I needed some different colors of floss for the baskets. The floss that I had all but disappeared when on the baskets. So, I replaced those with some of the overdyed floss that I wound on cards. While I was at it, I added a spool of #32 covered wire so that I can also make coiled baskets. With the items that are in the box now, I can make all of the types of baskets that I show in the blog.

I made a hat and found that there was only one rose in the bag of tassels. That will have to be remedied. More rose making.

I found that I really didn't need a lot of cardboard, but thought that it would be nice to have more colored card stock and patterned paper. The exchange was made.

If I want to put findings on the stuff that I am making, I am going to have to do some cutting and bending before I put them in the bag so that I won't have to carry pliers and wire cutters. OK....Make roses and bend findings. Got it.

Instead of folding the fabric, I rolled it into tight coils and banded it with clear tape. Would you believe that I replaced 5 pieces of folded with 11 of the rolled pieces in the same amount of space. Tessie tells me that this was her idea, even though she was nowhere in sight when I did it. Yes. It all fits in that one compartment. I just pulled it out so that you could see some of the patterns.

I also added a couple of pieces of #24 rug canvas and some overdyed floss for some needlepoint rugs that will be about 4 by 6 inches.

I refilled the glue tube. As soon as I take the roll of fabric away from Tessie and coax her out of the box, I will be finished and ready to go....Unfortunately, vacation time is not until October, but I will be ready! Did I mention that we are going to be gone 2 or 3 days? I wonder if I packed enough.......?

I forgot to pack the findings and beads to make cat earrings. Oh well. Next time.

See you tomorrow.

4 comments:

Case di Bambola said...

You can't ever pack too many tools when you go on vacation; I don't know about you, but -when I go- I always forgot I needed something...and of course that something is hundreds of miles away, back at home :)
I love the idea of rolling fabric instead of folding it, I'll try it too!
Lucia

April said...

Where are you going on vacation? Mookie, Widget, Klava and Tuco can't wait to get together to make earrings while you are away.

Caseymini said...

April, I thought I taught you to read better than that. I said in this entry....October. You can only let the cats play with the beads with your careful supervision. You know that Mookie will try to eat the beads and Tuco will probably try to run with scissors. BTW, can you cat sit while we are gone?

Unknown said...

¿Cuantos dias te vas? El gato estará bien sólo unos dias, si le dices a algun vecino que le ponga agua y comida, seguirá en casa cuando vuelvas.
Veo que te llevas muchas cosas, estoy deseando ver que traes al regreso de tu viaje.
Besos Clara