Starfish Alley

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Dabbler Badges

January 24, 2012 /

When I was growing up in the Girl Scout organization one of the badges that you could earn was a Dabbler Badge. To complete this badge you had to complete activities from several areas.  As part of our 100 year birthday celebration retreat activities we decided to create our own Dabbler Badge. The change of place did mean some modification in what we did but everyone had a great time in spite of the changes. For our badge we rotated between, semaphore flags, folk dancing, fire building and knots. The semaphore activity and fires and knots were all done sitting at tables so this was a modified activity.  Fires were edible fires and there was no burning of buildings involved. At the end of activity each participant was awarded a Dabbler Badge. I made these from a patch I created and printed on the printer. Next I inserted the paper into a plastic page protector sleeve. I then sewed around each patch about 3/4 of the way. After I cut the circles out I inserted the magnets into the back of the sleeve behind the badge and then stitched them up on my sewing machine.  It was a fun activity that was not hard but did take some time. Like with the magnet making activity the first six were quick but when I got to 48 I was glad to be done.

 

Making Magnets

January 20, 2012 /

One of my nieces made me magnets for Christmas.  Now I’ve wanted these magnets for several years and in the yearly gift exchange I have gotten these several times only to have them stolen picked by another. Sometimes exchanges like that can be fun but sometimes oh so frustrating! When we were talking afterwards one of my daughters said she would like to learn to make them. In the discussion that followed I must have listened because when I needed a craft for many people I knew just what I was going to do.

She used flat marbles, the kind that are used in flower decorating, Modge Podge, a graphic of some kind and a magnet.  I made 96 magnets over several days time. I had some vintage Girl Scout fabric that was perfect for the job. I think this will be a good item to send home with our volunteers. It fits with our 100 years of Girl Scouting celebration and is something useful  A winner in my book!

 

Semaphore Flags

January 19, 2012 /

It’s time for an annual Girl Scout event.  For the last 20 years we have had a volunteer retreat and invited all leaders that are active in our service unit to take part. We usually go to one of the local Girl Scout camps.  We’ve run into a problem this year however and if you live in the greater Seattle area you know what I mean.  The weather is not cooperating! The camps are snowed and iced in and the roads are not safe to travel.  We have planned this event for nearly six months so it’s a bit disappointing.  We will however do a one day local event and hopefully most people will be able to attend.  By Saturday we are hoping the roads are passable. With a little warming and some rain all things are possible.

This is a significant year in the Girl Scout calendar. We are celebrating 100 years of Girl Scouting.  We’ve tried to plan some games, activities and food to tie into our theme.  One of the activities will be to communicate with semaphore flags. I’ve made the flags and have the cheat sheet.  It should be a fun adventure!

New year and new projects

January 10, 2012 /

Just before Christmas I did welcome into my home a new toy.  I had some birthday money that has been waiting for the right time.  Now at my age I don’t often get birthday money.  It was a treat for me however as budgeting has been tight here for a couple of years due to employment issues.

During the after Thanksgiving sales Joann’s was running an ad for the AccuQuilt Go cutter and this is where my birthday money went.  It came with one cutting die and I got a second one for Christmas.  I’ve tried them both out and it’s been so fun and fast and easy.  When I was picking things up it occurred to me that I know several people who will be welcoming babies this spring.  I haven’t heard if they will be boys or girls so I started with a pink quilt knowing that sometime there would be an occasion for a pink baby quilt.  I’ve cut out the fabrics and put them on the design wall.  I think it will be fine.  I’m sure I have enough pieces of batting here to make the quilt sandwich and plenty of assorted fabrics for the back and binding.  In the spirit of my new year goal to use things up before I buy more this will be a fun project to finish.

A Kindle Envelope

January 3, 2012 /

We’ve had several Kindle devices floating around this house in the past week.  I have a Kindle with the keyboard, a daughter has a Kindle Touch and Hubby has a Kindle Fire.  Two of the three also have traveling “jackets”.  Nice if you have to tuck it in a purse or a bag.  It just feels a bit more protected.  The daughter with the Kindle Touch lives out-of-state and hers is “jacketless”  I really wanted to remedy that but due to circumstances like being sick as well as birthdays and holidays it didn’t happen when she was here.  I have thought about it however and contemplated what I should do.

Alas.. holidays to the rescue!  One thing I did receive was a new die for my AccuQuilt cutting system.  I have had the AccuQuilt for several weeks but not really had a change to use it due to the aforementioned sickness, holidays etc.  I pulled several fabrics from my stash, cut a few shapes and sat at the sewing machine.  What I decided to do with the pieced blocks was run a strip down the center of a rectangular piece, sandwich a piece of batting in the middle and then a lining piece.  I made the entire piece and then just folded it like an envelope and stitched the sides.  My thinking was that is will protect the Kindle but still be easy to remove the device and slide it back inside when it travels in a bag or pocket. The envelope does not have velcro or any closure but is stitched down at the corners so it creates a bit of a pocket in the top.  If it’s easy to use, it probably will get used.  I’m never sure when I make things for other people if they will find the item useful but I get great pleasure from it and that is satisfying in itself.

Old fashioned

January 2, 2012 /

When I was growing up I was fortunate to have my Great Grandmother move from Minnesota to live nearby with my Grandmother.  She immigrated from Norway when she was young and learned all sorts of handcrafting skills.  I have several things that she made me and I cherish them all.  One of my favorites are these crocheted Christmas snowflakes.  I have 18 of them and every year we put them on the family tree.  I didn’t realize how much my mother enjoyed them until I got married and they came to live at my house and adorn my Christmas tree.  Oh, she really wanted to keep them but did send them to me when I asked.  Part of the ritual of the snowflakes did have my husband befuddled however the year that he decided to store different objects in the snowflake box.  I went to get them out the following year to put them on the tree and they were missing.  Oh, I was upset!  He didn’t know what he had done with them.  I’m not sure why he put them away that year and not me.  Trust me, now the snowflakes always go in the little red box and I eagerly anticipate putting them on the tree.

New Years Day

January 1, 2012 /

The time has come to start the holiday clean up.  At my house it seems to take a long time.  We’ve been married for many years and have accumulated too much stuff.  Hubby especially enjoys large quantities of Christmas display.  We have acquired a large assortment of Department 56 houses/buildings and then we have the tree.  Oh my!  This year Jim decided he was going to see how many ornaments he could put on the tree.  After many days and maybe getting tired of carrying boxes up and down the stairs he had enough.  Oh dear.. now we have to put them all away!

 

After Christmas

December 28, 2011 /

I’ve made it through Christmas.  Tomorrow is Aaron’s birthday so dinner again but I love to have the kids around and don’t mind cooking if they will come and visit for a while.

Part of the bigger family Christmas celebration this year was a handmade gift exchange.  We each had the name of a family member. The only guideline was something you made.  I enjoyed seeing what everyone created for their giftee.  I had Kim’s name.  The item that I had planned on making didn’t happen.  I ran out of time when my mother became ill and ended up with a 5 day hospital stay from the 15th to the 20th.  I had finished most of the other projects and knew that I would have plenty of time to create this gift.  I’m not going to mention what the gift is. She will probably get this for another occasion because now I have the pattern and all the supplies. My second idea came together quickly.  Kim is a knitter and last fall I traded a friend some market bags for yarn that she had spun into a beautiful skein just right for knitting.  I passed this on to Kim with a bag that I made for her to carry her knitting in.  It’s easy to tuck in a bag or a suitcase.  I had also included a little pair of scissors.  After the gift opening, I told her that I almost put a ribbon on the scissors and attached it to the bag so they would not be so easily misplaced.  She said that she would love that.  I ended up opening the side of the bag and attaching a D ring.  This D ring is now hard at work holding a clip that has the scissors, a tape measure and a needle book attached.  They are all long enough to leave attached to the bag and still be used but the clip can also be unhooked and the tools used.  It’s big enough that it will be noticed if the bundle is set down and yet small and light enough to easily live in the bag until they are needed.

 

 

Sleep tight

December 26, 2011 /

Another fun project that I did was pillow cases.  Joann Fabrics had their flannel on sale for $1.49 a yard after Thanksgiving.  I’ve always loved flannel.  I’ve made pajama pants many times but this year I decided to make pillow cases.  They’re fast and easy and I think the kids will love them.  So soft!

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