recent creative endevors...

august arrived & everything got amazingly busy, super fast!   i've been wanting to post more regularly, but honestly there are just NOT enough hours in a day to do all the things that i need/want to do.  so... we'll have to settle for random bits of goodness. ;)

the madison county heritage festival is coming up the first saturday in october & sammi (my sister) & i are working hard to stock up knit & hand sewn lovelies for our table. 

i was keeping the shop updated as well, but everything kept selling!  this is normally a good thing, but not as we are trying to have a *full table*!

i recently had an order for this knit vest... 

sized to fit a 3-4 yr old...

well, i ordered 2 skeins of paton's classic wool. the colorway is light gray mix.  it is such a perfect, everyday gray that i wanted to make a more manly vest with it as well. 

like this one...

not only did i have enough yarn for this sweet vest, but i had enough left over to make a pair of mini mitts as well!

i made a lot of these water bottle for a swap this past spring.  i also made a few extras for our family.  ever since then, ehren & evyn have been wanting their own totes.  so, i took a few days & got their "wish list" done.  well @ least part of it, they always seem to have a list of t hings for me to make/do.  it is good job security though, right?? ;)

both are 100% cotton.  ehren's is pisgah yarns peaches n' cream, 'fiesta' colorway.

and ev's is lily's, sugar n'cream, 'hot pink' colorway

i also had a few custom order soaps for the shop. the first is a serene woodland scene...

the second is for an early christmas order. her son LOVES all things wizard of oz, so i went with the dvd cover art as inspiration.

tuesday is handwork day, part of our homeschool day.  this week we made a step stool for the littles, though we have ALL used it for various tasks.

we had a simple, plastic step stool for many years, well for 10 years to be exact.  a few weeks back one of the legs cracked & instead of buying a new one, i called my dad. 

he & my older brother built one when i was a little girl that is still used to his day.  you know it is a good design when it has stood the test of time for nearly 30 years, right??  so, i got the dimensions for it & set off to look in our scrap wood pile to see what leftovers bits we had that could be sued to make a similar model. 

the original was made out with poplar 1x8's as that is what they had one hand.  we however, had nothing that fit that bill.  we did have some 3/4" hardwood plywood that was leftover from a tv shelf that lance built a few months back. 

we had to modify things a bit, but for the most part is it the same size as the original (16" long x 8" wide & 6" high)

there are 2 cross bars, made with 2x2's.  one is set off to the left & @ the top of the stool & the other is set off to the right & @ the bottom of the stool

we also used a drill bit the same size as the screw heads, frilled down 1/8" or so, so that the screws would be set in to the top piece.  a *bonus* tip from my dad.

other tips...all pieces we sanded before assembling.  we glued each piece in place for added strength & durability & of course, we pre-drilled.   each 2x2 cross bar has 2 screws, vs one to keep them from turning. (this i learned when building the chicken tractors.)

we sealed the wood with a beeswax polish to help being a bit of shine to it & protect the wood as well.

all in all i am pleased.  it is a super stable design, though i do wish we would have had better wood on hand.  it'll do though donkey...;)