Crafting crafting everywhere!

Hello Everyone! I've taken a little bit of a break again, I know. In my defense, I was without internet access for some of it. A lot of my time has been at work doing some overtime to ease the cost of Christmas.  Also, I've been spending some time with Big D, R, Mr E and C out at the hunting cabin. Well, it's not really a cabin, it's the house that Mr E grew up in. It's over 100 years old and is an Eaton's house. There have been several upgrades and additions over the years. Now it's a fully functional house with electricity, running water and even satellite TV!!

The men are usually out of the house before the crack of dawn to get situated and await Bambi. C and I stay back at the house, snooze til the sun comes up (or sometimes later for me!) and make breakfast for everyone. Once the troops are fed, they usually run off again on a day hunt and C and I are left to our own devices. Usually that means we have the house to ourselves to craft to our hearts content. (And watch Boardwalk Empire all day long on the laptop!!) Despite her wide range of crafting experience, C had never ever done a quilting project. We picked up some fat quarters and she finished, by hand, the same table topper I have been creating.

Over the last few weeks/weekends of “hunting”, her and I have managed to finish several projects. Unfortunately, I can't share many of mine with you here until after Christmas, but they are amazing, creative and just plain awesome, let me assure you!

I did create a little Christmas wall hanging decoration. I found some neat cross stitch patterns when I was organizing my craft books. I decided the little snow man mitten just HAD to be made. When he was done I needed to put him on something other than a tree ornament, so I made a mini wall hanging for winter. I have to finish the binding by machine, then I think I will hang him on the outside of my apartment door. It's the only one on the floor without some sort of Christmas or winter decoration!!

I did finish the top of my Christmas table topper. Big D was gone hunting again so I manged to get lots of cleaning and organizing sewing and crafting done. (Please ignore my absolutely HIDEOUS ironing board!)

I've also been hard at work creating a website for my Aunt. It's still in its beginning stages and I'm sure it will always be evolving. Take a look and see what you think. For that matter, see about ordering some jams or jellies as Christmas presents! Visit her at http://www.juliasjamsandjellies.com/ and see what she has to offer!

After finding the MOST awesome blog (other than mine) called Diary of a Quilter I decided to make a quick project tonight.  She has a very nice easy to make table runner done out of scraps.  Now I knew all the bits and pieces I had been hanging on to from each project would come in handy.  I had some material from the quilt I'm working on, another from one of my Christmas present projects and two more from two different historical costumes.  I've come up with the following...

The binding is not on it yet, but I'm quite happy.  Not bad for a few scraps that wouldn't have had a home otherwise!

Of course, because crafting several Christmas present, working full time, upkeep of my home and the general craziness that life throws your way wasn't enough for me to do, I've been plotting and scheming my next quilting endeavor. Aside from a few super awesome quilts I saw in a magazine, I had the craziest idea to turn a knitting pattern into a quilt. Not just any knitting pattern, a Harry Potter knitting pattern. With the permission of the original pattern creator, Rosemary, I have begun turning this into a quilt pattern for personal use! The chart, with the addition of a few things, makes the perfect lap sized quilt. At the urging of several friends in my sewing group, I want to do a quilt with the 4 house crests. Even with down sizing, I'm looking at a quilt that is 7' by 10'. Still at the drawing board with that one! Check out Rosemary's blog. She has so many neat projects and designs. Her blog is definitely worth following!

Well, that seems to be all for now.  At least all that I can show on here.  OOH!! I'm so excited for Christmas and the unveiling of the presents!!

"Tanka"

Well folks, here's the big post you've been waiting for since my long overdue return.  Mind you, this post isn't nearly as big as the subject...

My friend from work, DW, is into all things hunting.  He is always looking for the next big adventure, and he found it this spring at a bison farm a few hours from the city.  I asked him if he would inquire on the price of the hides.  When the owner of the farm found out what my use for the hide would be, not only did he donate it, but he also provided me with an Elk hide for the same great deal!  I was ecstatic!  I was going to have my very own bison robe!  The excitement didn't last long when DW showed up at my apartment.  The back of his teeny tiny car weighed down almost to the point of snapping his poor old thing right in half.  It took the three of us, DW, Big D and myself, to get it moved into the basement of the apartment building.  I was now beginning to panic.

Given that this beast weighed at least 400lbs and was much more stinky and dirty than I had ever imagined, I was thinking I had bitten off more than I can chew.  I inquired with the only taxidermist in down that deals with hair on hides for a price.  He quoted me $20 a square foot which sounded cheap enough until the calculations of a 40 square foot hide had me rethinking the whole idea and very quickly.  Unless this hide was going to unfold into a small 1 bedroom apartment for me, there was no way I could justify a month and half worth of rent on it.

Plan B, and quick because this beast is starting to stink up the building!!  Big D called his wonderful "grandparents", Mr E and C, who know just about everything there is to know on any skill you want to acquire.  They agreed to help us clean, scrape, tan and stretch the hide.  In the end, there were six of us working on this beast who we ended up naming Tanka.  Mr E told us that it is the Plains Cree word for Bison and we figured it was fitting, despite Big D's request to name him Hulk.

So, in order to keep things interesting, I'm going to post pictures and give you a brief description of the process we were going through.  That should give you kiddies something to keep your attention.

After soaking the hide to soften it, we had to wash Tanka to get the majority of the dirt and salt out of it.  It was a very VERY disgusting process.  It wasn't touching him that was the bad part, it was the smell.  Something along the lines of dead wet dog on a hot summer day.

Tanka all washed and pretty, we even used Mane and Tail shampoo on him!

Here's Mr E working hard on building the 7.5' square frame!

After washing Tanka, and stopping for lunch, we got him on a tarp to make him easier to transport.

End of day one, we have the frame built and Tanka washed and ready to go!

Day two of the process.  Now I know he looks very dirty right now, that is the membrane that needs to be scraped off.  We started by punching holes to put the S hooks in for stretching.

Here we have myself, Mr E and R working hard to get Tanka stretched up in his frame.  Tiny T is supervising and what a great job she is doing!!

Even as big as this frame is, Tanka is MUCH easier to transport this way.  If you don't believe me on the size of the frame, Big D in the brown shirt is 6'7" and you can see how much of an angle the frame is on.  Tiny T and C are next to him, Mr E and R on the other side.

And so begins the scraping process.  While everyone managed to get good sized chunks going, we decided Mr E must have been an aboriginal woman in a past life, look at him go!!

After a full day of scraping, sharpening knives, and trying to keep the flies off of him, Tanka has been scraped down to hide.

Time to get a round of tanning solution on him before the day is done.  Instead of the traditional brain tanning process, we chose to use Ivory soap  and Neets Foot oil.  It gives the same colouring as brain tanned leather but smells way better!

The soapy mixture ready to go.

Mr E, Big D and I working in the solution with paddles.  Even after a hard day of work, Big D still manages to find time to be silly

Two days later, after the tanning solution had soaked in.

We scraped down the hide again and did another round of tanning solution.  We did this three times.

By the time the fall gather rolled around, Tanka was ready to begin the stretching process.  I started myself with a piece of wood.  I ended up having to stand on him and noticed that my feed were doing a better job of it.  The children noticed this and had a great afternoon "skating" on Tanka.  Even some of the adults got involved.  It was a very fun activity for all.  I cannot guarantee its historical accuracy though.

So that is where Tanka sits right now.  I have to re-hydrate him some and stretch him some more before we can smoke it over the fire.  That final process will seal him and prevent little buggies from making Tanka their home.  I'm not sure if that will be accomplished before spring as we just got our first snowfall and it seems to be staying.  We shall see.  If we get a warm weekend I may have to get out there quick and finish Tanka.  After all, I'm sure Mr E and C would like use of their garage again!

Long time gone...but I'm back

Well kiddies, it's been quite a while since my last update.  A great many things have happened and got in the way of posting here (including being hospitalized...but I'm okay now) and moving, but I've been up to a few things craft wise.

I finished my Metis dress and repaired a pair of moccasins to go with it. I also managed to get the sleeves done just in time for Halloween. I went in the Selkirk Settler costume you see from my previous posts last year. It managed to net me a $5.00 Timmies gift card! I didn't manage to place in the top 3, but I did win a draw for the remaining costumed workers and got a $30.00 gift card to Walmart which I spend on more packs of fat quarters!  Here is the finished product along with one of my coworkers in her costume.

I found an old table top quilt project I bought four years ago and managed to finally finish that. It's in fall colours, so I decided to make one for each season. Turns out that it is a very fast project to make as I had it cut and pieced in three days, and that was with sewing it by hand.  Some of the material I bought at Walmart will be going to make a Christmas table topper.  That won't be done till I have some progress on Christmas presents for family.

The original table topper in fall colours

The spring table topper that is in progress

The Christmas material I bought with my Walmart gift card. It will be in the same pattern as the other two.

My quilt that I've been working on has been put on the back burner. Summer was much too busy and I've found a very awesome Christmas gift for my brother that I'm working on. I don't want to say what or post any pictures incase he happens to check in on my blog.

My summer project this year, which I'm working on for my historical society, was to tan a bison hide. That project alone will require its own post as there is a lot of information. For now, lets just say it is a HUGE and stinky project to undertake. I wouldn't recommend it without a lot of help.  This is the hide in the middle of the scraping process. The frame is 7.5' square and we had to trim off two black garbage bags worth of hide to make it fit.

So that's the nutshell version of my crafting escapades over the last little while. I hope to maintain this blog a little better now to show all the fun I've been having. Also, where applicable without violating copyright laws, I will post patterns.

Happy Crafting!!!!