Shoe stuff

Balloon Patch- makes room for toes that hit the top of the shoe.  I cut off the original material and sewed on a stretchier material using a special sewing machine.

I took off the outsole and cut a line through the shoe to stick in some extra material.  This widens the sole if you have feet that are different sizes or have a really wide foot in one area

The blue plug looking thing is called and excavation.  The blue material is really soft so you can cushion a sore area under the foot. 

We took off the outsole and added more height to the shoe which helps people who have one leg longer than the other.  Its pretty neat, we just glue EVA (rubber) to the shoe and then use a grinder to take off excess.  You always add more than you need and then grind off the extra.

Added Velcro straps.  I got to use another type of sewing machine.

I didn't share pictures from my shoe adventures yet.  Shoe modifications involve a few basic skills- cut and paste, sewing and finally grinding (sanding).   Its really important to make friends with the grinder.  This also helped me to understand why glue doesn't always stick.   Its really important to rough up a surface before gluing and to let the glue set a bit before adhering things together.
Good news, I passed the course. 

I will never buy another...

 

I will never buy another pillow with tassels!  The picture on the left is the pillow full of tassels and the picture on the right is the pile of thread that came off that pillow this week alone.   It looks pretty but what a mess.  The tassels are getting shaved off!

Halloween is done, now onto Christmas... unless you're American then its onto Thanksgiving

 

I had a great Halloween!  I love giving out the candy and my neighbours really get into it.  Mark and Melissa gave out whole chocolate bars and changed their backyard into a spooky witches haven.  I'm a little less imaginative and just gave lots of candy.  Everyone likes candy!

Well, onto the next season!  I was at the Dollarama and they are just getting their Christmas stock.  Every year there's some new and really neat stuff.  I found this star and silver snowflake.  I changed the crystal on the snowflake to pink and used pink organza for the loop hanger for my sister's Christmas tree.  She's been doing a pink and silver theme for the last few years.  It looks pretty cool.  The star I didn't alter but I was really happy on how nice it looked once I got it home.  You never know at the dollar store if something is junk or nice until you get it home.

My sister saw these tulle skirts at a craft booth and asked me to make a few.  It's a no-sew project which makes it really easy.  This one is for my friend's daughter.  I thought it needed to be super pretty so I added the crystals and pearls by hand.  If you are thinking about making a skirt, make your life easy by buying the tulle on the rolls.  That way you have the width you want.  I bought years of tulle and then had to spend time cutting.  Fortunately I have a rotary cutter and mat so I was able to cut 2 inch strips pretty quick... but it was still a pain in the butt.

Just a quick note that I've added the snail pattern from the Hector Tatting Seminar this sring to the side bar.  The butterfly still needs some corrections.  I also added a leaf pattern that I added to keep and share last fall but never linked to this blog?  Weird.   In case you were wondering the peep pattern by Karey Solomon I showed in the spring it is from the Tatting Times Volume 19, Issue 1, February.  Be careful- its very addictive. 

Teddybear Pumpkin Zipper Pull

I meant to put this up in September but time got away from me.  The teddy bear bead used for the center can be found at Dollarstores or bead stores.  Its a very common bead but you can use a 6mm bead instead.  Really its just what you have handy.  I used DMC thread because I have a crap load of it but I think that size 20 tatting thread is a good substitue.  I made the pattern last year so I can't remember what other threads I tried at the time. 

Teddy Bear Pumpkin Zipper Pull

Vicki Clarke 2010 victats@gmail.com

Materials
2 yards DMC size 8 orange thread
Bear Bead ( or substitute a 6 mm bead)
Wind 1/2 yard on shuttle CTM with ball
Split ring finding (if making a necklace or zipper pul)
Green sequin (optional or substitute a green bead)
LS- lock stitch
lj- lock join

Instructions:
Pull thread through bear bead from bottom to top and hold loop using paperclip

Round 1
Ch1 LS 3 p 4 p 4 p 4 lj (to space held by paperclip) 4 p 4 p 4 p 4 lj (to beginning just under the lock stitch)

Round 2
Ch2 6
R 3+ (1st p of ch1) 3
Ch3 10
R 3+ (2nd p of ch1) 3
Ch4 8
R 3+ (3rd p of ch1) 3
Ch5 12 lj (to space above 1st lj on ch1)/ ball join to sequin and split ring finding (when pulling up the thread leave it slightly loose so the split ring can turn easily)
Ch6 12
R 3+ (4th p of ch1) 3
Ch7 8
R 3+ (5th p of ch1) 3
Ch8 10
R 3+ (6th p of ch1) 3
Ch9  6 join back to beginning. Cut and hide ends

Guess what I got to do this morning!

I got to make shoes!   Okay, not actually a shoe from scratch but I got to tear apart a shoe and start adding stuff to it...kinda like remodelling a house.  I'm taking a course on foot wear and one of the things we get to do is modify a shoe.  So today I got to sew a sew, rip the bottom off a pair of shoes and glue...lots of glue.  I go in on Saturday and will take my camera with me so I can take a few pictures.

Pumpkin Patch



All 3 together


I keep seeing altered pumpkins when checking out the early Halloween decorators.  I've kinda grown attached to those crazy pumpkins and decided to try tatting an altered pumpkin brooch using beads.  I guess its kinda interpretational but I like what I turned out.  I find its challenging to take pictures of tatting when there's crystals involved.  I find I get one aspect really good and compromise another.  Either the beads or the tatting, rarely both at once.

You can't see the stone very well but the tatting really shows up



The stone and crystals show up but not so much the stitching



All 3 again but the black ones don't show up very well.  I thought the black looked better than the orange. 

Busy weekend

I had a busy weekend.  Me and a few other suckers..oops I mean leaders took a bunch of Brownies and Sparks camping.  We went to Camp Woolsey which is close to Ottawa.  It rocked!  Even though the weather was cold and a little windy the girls all cooked their own hot dogs and s'mores over the fire.  Pretty exciting for a 5-8 year old!  I'm not sure who suffered more- the leaders in the cabin with the girls waiting to cook their lunch or the ones outside in the wind.  I guess its a draw.

The girls did the clean up afterwards and had duties that they had to do after each meal.  As a reward they got this wonderful duty roster pin for on their hats!  Isn't it great?

You know the best part about this camp?  We all shared the planning.  All of the groups in the area pooled resources and we got together to plan the weekend.  A few people picked up the groceries and a few did the crafts.  BEST CAMP EVER! 

Until I locked my keys in the cabin and had to commit a felony in order to drive home.