Weird Mail and A Bit of Other Stuff Too

Hello Readers!

Better get yourself a cuppa something and settle in, this might take awhile. If memory serves me correctly (and it doesn't always) the last post was made on the 19th of October. So it's been a few days and that means there are a few things to show off. Enjoy!

 

That's the monster I sent to my October partner in the Envie Group over at AFA (link is up at the top right). It arrived in Texas as scheduled.  I said I didn't have a picture of him, but that is obviously not a true fact as, looky there! He's right in front of us. This is the ONLY picture of him that was on the phone though. Not a very good picture for sure. My partner was pleased so that's all that really matters, that and I had a blast making him. He's about 8 inches tall, made from an old cashmere sweater and some felt for his eyes. The postmaster got a kick out of Otto, too! Otto, that is what his name became upon his arrival to Texas. 

I've been playing in the fabric that I brought home from my kidnapping last month. You will see a fair bit of crocheting in this post.

I have an apple box full of balls of fabric yarn that I have made throughout the year. And I have a couple of brown paper grocery sacks full of garments that have been cut apart and their seams removed, ready to be cut into fabric yarn. This bag was made from both sources. It is done up with a size N hook. All of the material in this bag is silky/satiny stuff, thin material. I have no clue exactly what most of it is. The blue around the top was a blouse. The red a slinky nighty and the white a silk man's shirt. This bag is about 18 inches long and 12 inches wide.

This one is about the same size, done with the same hook and the same type of material. The green at the top was a blouse, the blue was a blouse, the mint green was a man's long sleeved silk shirt, the pink was a dress and the blue at the bottom is the same material as the top part of the previous bag. 

I'm not real crazy about these two bags and probably won't make any others in this manner.

These pictures are in no order at all.

This is the stack of aluminum cans in my stash. I finally got around to breaking down the 16 cans that have been taking up space on a shelf. I don't drink a lot of soda and I don't buy much of anything that comes in an aluminum can so it takes me a long time to accumulate aluminum cans. I brought most of those cans I broke down home with me from my son's house. I don't have much a variety really. Most of them are Arizona Tea cans that are that turquoise color you see. I'll make something out of this stuff eventually. 

I'm going to ask Santa to bring me a dapping block and tools for Christmas. We'll see if that pans out. If you don't know what a dapping block is, check it out here. And then take your pick! I really haven't decided which dapping block I want. I just know I want one.

I croheted a basket. This one is made from a dress. The red fabric is very thin cotton. It was the underlayer of the dress. The patterened fabric around the top is sheer fabric that was the overlayer of the dress. The basket is about 8 inches across, 4 inches deep. All measurements are educated guesses.
I'm actually pretty accurate at guessing measurements. I acquired that skill when I worked at the monument company sandblasting headstones. I used my six inch ruler as much as I used the metal yardstick in that job. I miss that work so much some days.

This is an experiment. It's a repeat of the experiment actually. This is tissue paper glued on to acrylic wall paint that was painted on packing foam sheet. The black lines are puff paint. Once it all dries (which it should be by now. I did this like four days ago!) I will peel the image off the packing foam and it will go into Annie's cat book. This is the only cat I've drawn since the last post. I really need to get a cat frame of mind and get the kitty book finished before Christmas!

Another crocheted Market Bag. I'm working on bag #4 today. This one is about 10 inches across and 10 inches tall. The yellow was a shirt, the purple a dress. There are two shades of green making up the bottom. One was a dress and the other a shirt.

For some reason Blogger doesn't like the pictures of the other two bags so I guess you'll have to wait till next time to see those.

Fish Picture #17 now has a fish. Fish isn't glued on yet. The fish is done in marker refill ink, acrylic ink and sharpie. It has a coat of dimensional magic as well. He's shiny, though that doesn't' show in the photo.

Another bag in the making. This one is gonna take awhile to complete. And I'm not even sure I'm going to complete it. I have yet to decide. That dark green crochet cotton isn't easy to crochet with a size 6 hook. If it gets done, it will be a mesh market bag with a solid bottom. That light green macrame cord is the last of its kind that I have in my stash.

Painted Face. A postcard most likely.

It's upside down....I got this package of paper heads at the craft store last month. The long nosed devil above bis painted on one of these. There will be more heads in the future. There are 30 paper heads in that plastic sack.

I only got one book sewn together since the last post. It's made from a candy box. Junior Mints I do believe. It's about 7 inches tall, 4 inches wide. Bound with white crochet cotton thread. It has copy paper pages. The covers are a satellite image of some big city that came out of an atlas I tore up many years ago!

Weaving was done with a threaded needle. I like how the weaving is so different on each little book I decide to do weaving on.  This type of binding is the lazy way to bind a book. I don't know what this binding is called. You just wrap the cordage around the spine and through the center of each signature to keep it in place. No sewing required. The weaving is all decorative, has no function other than looking good.

I have prepared a few more covers for little books. These need some pages cut for them before I can sew them together. There are a few in that basket that are ready to be sewn but crocheting took over and the little books got put to the back burner for the time being. We'll visit them again soon, I''m sure.

You all seen the one with the yellow weaving in the last post but the other one somehow didn't get shown. Both of them are pudding boxes, covered with painted newspaper. They're both bound the lazy way too.  I sewed on lone wooden bead to the spine with the green thread. Pudding boxes make the perfect size little book. 2.75 x 3.25 inches and 1.25 inch thick.

I have some new painted papers. I didn't do all of these since the last post. I just haven't shown them to you all.

Painted newspaper. These will end up as book covers.

I kinda like this one. Some of them aren't all that spectacular.

I always put circles on painted papers.

This one is my favorite. Some of them have blobs of paint, glued down bits of paper, glitter, whatever happens to fall on the work surface at the kitchen table.

Even though I use a paper to work on, the table has paint all along the edge of it anyway.

I had all intentions of getting these 20 crocheted snowflakes made into a garland. I worked on these over a period of four days. I'm not sure why they aren't all the same size. I used the same hook and thread on each of them. Maybe next post you'll see a garland.

That's it for today, folks!
Thanks for hanging in there to the end!

I'll be back again soon with another installment of 'What has Donna Been Up To?'.

Remember to be good to one another!
It matters!
Peace
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