Karen's Finally Being "Crafty"!!

I've loaded this entry and saved it to be published after Christmas day...since a couple of the people likely to read this blog are the recipients of my "craftiness".

Somehow, I got this idea that I wanted to learn to tie-dye....latent "hippie-ness" - I don't know.

So, I logged onto YouTube and looked at some videos...seemed simple enough. So here we go - this is a REALLY long blog entry!

First, you take all-cotton shirts and rinse them in a sodium carbonate solution - this is not baking soda - it's actually the pH-UP chemical they use in pools. Also called soda-ash. Regardless, it supposedly makes the dye more permanent.

So here we go with wet, cotton shirts:

The videos all say to "do your own thing, experiment"... so these ladies shirts were just folded up for a "striped" effect.
Then you put rubber bands on at whatever intervals you'd like the stripes.
Now for the cool tee-shirts...again, starting with soda-ash damp shirts, you pinch an area in the middle where you want the "swirl" to start
Then you start walking around the table, keeping your grip on the same exact spot...this got me dizzy!
Keep walking around (yup, it has to be a small table for this!)
You "help" it coil up like this in the end
Then you pull rubber bands on in several places to keep it snug...you don't have to worry about how many bands - the dye will get past the bands. The neat effect is in the folds themselves.
So here are bunches of shirts all tied up..there were a few that were off-white (they didn't turn out as bright).
On to the dying process...here is jars of "reactive" dye (not RIT) - it is supposedly more permanent...we'll see....
To make the "swirl" effect, you just start with, well, a swirl!
And you keep on "swirl-ing"!
You need to be careful about which colors you put beside each other. Putting orange next to purple was not a pretty thing (turns kindof brown...not exactly the effect you're typically looking for...)
Here are a bunch of the dyed shirts. You leave them tied for a couple of hours.
Then you start washing them out with a hose

Pull apart and keep rinsing (you don't want the colors to bleed at this point)
Here's a different style....
Different effect....
Much rinsing....
And more rinsing....

OK, now to the next "crafty" phase....what to do with all those shirts!! Screen Printing!!!

As you know, we're heading to BVI again in May 2008 with Sharon/Buddy, Dick/Lindy and Pat/Diane.... I thought it would be cool to have some "custom" shirts to give them for Christmas. Onward!



I had done a batch of screen print tee-shirts for the boys many years ago when they were in the middle school quiz bowl...two years in a row if I recall correctly. I had borrowed all the "stuff" from their Scout-master. Since we're not active in Scouts anymore, I figured I'd better purchase my own "stuff"....

It's a pretty simple, but messy process....here I am putting the photo-reactive paste on the new blank screen. This has to dry in a completely dark environment. I put it in a big box in the closet.



For the pattern, I captured a cool outline of a sailboat and just made a little .jpg file with the words "BVI 2008" in bold letters below. Nice and simple.

Next, I made a transparency of the .jpg file. Now it's ready to be "exposed" on the prepared screen. So, I set up a lamp hanging above the screen, placed the transparency (in reverse) on the screen, and exposed for a half hour or so. The green photo-sensitive coating gets "exposed" - while the area under the black outline does not. When the exposure is complete, you just take the screen to the sink and wash away the "unexposed" area - leaving the outline free of material. Sounds complicated but it's really not.

Here's the finished screen - (the red area is some screen filler that I ended up having to use after the fact because my photo-reactive "stuff" wasn't exactly right....anyway.....)

Here I'm getting ready to swipe the black ink across the screen for the first time....just a few swipes pressed down steady on the tee shirt does the trick!
Here's what the tee shirt ends up looking like
Here's a whole bunch of them spread out to dry
OK, so Duane and the boys unanimously voted the the emblem was much too small......so it was literally back to the drawing board...

Same process - I just enlarged the emblem significantly and decided that white ink might be a better, cheerful effect.
Here was a test swipe on a paper to make sure the ink was getting through the screen without ruining a shirt!
Here is the final result - I think they're cool....and I'm done being "crafty" for a while!!

It's a dreary winter day today....the "boys" are all at work and I'm just doing some house-cleaning. Nothing spectacular, just normal laundry, etc.

We have some great neighbors - Barney and Jackie (if you recall they host the Thanksgiving weekend "Brunswick Stew Bash" every year) brought by this lovely table centerpiece. She makes them a little different each year with items from the woods around her house. Cool! The feathers are from wild turkeys in the area - (Is using feathers discarded "voluntarily" by a bird OK by vegan standards??)



We're pretty much ready for Christmas - the boys are getting exactly what they asked for - Richard gave me a link to order a particular speaker for his card....easy but impersonal! Robert wanted to have his trumpet repaired - so he took it by a shop in Raleigh - he had several dents and dings - but wants it to be pristine for next year. Of course, I've got them a few little other items to open on Christmas day....I'll eventually cut that back also, I suppose!

Duane and I are giving each other a "trip" to Tunica, Mississippi the day after Christmas. Assuming the weather is good, we'll fly over (it's 4.5 hours - pretty much the limit of a full tank of avgas in our plane!) If the weather is not good, we'll stay home 'til it is good!

I'm going to show you what the guest room looks like right now - Robert moved back in for the winter break.....looks like old times!!

Every year we throw a nice evening party for the airport staff. We did that on Friday - It appeared everyone had a nice time. It's the only time we have everyone in one spot including all the spouses.

I give them all a "goodie bag" when they leave - just treats like the famous "nutcake" and usually some sort of alcoholic liquid. Sometimes I include my "garbage cookies" although this year I was lazy....

They usually give me an assortment of goodies also - yesterday I enjoyed some of it while I was reading the Sunday paper:

Once again, nothing much to report....lazy weekend. Beautiful weather!! I'm in shorts right now - 80 degrees - and a week of forecast record warm temps.

Saturday morning the sun came out and I sat on the deck cracking more of my pecans. Duane came out and took over the "cracker". He would give me a bowl cracked and I would pick out the nuts.



By the end, my thumbs were sore from pulling the cracked shells. Fun though, but glad it's done! Used a few, but most of them went in ziploc bags to the freezer. Will be handy in a week or two when Christmas baking starts.

Sunday we planned to go down to the boat, but ended up getting a late start....just flew over to Asheboro and went out for a leisurely lunch....pleasant but not too exciting.

So it's been a pretty mundane week!

It's turned a little chilly, so not much going on outside. The weekend is supposed to be in the 70's - yeah! Robert finishes his first semester at NC State today - only has three final exams next week. He seems pretty happy with himself.


Not much happening at the airports either - the ladies from the Ninety-Nines club came back to Siler City to put some finishing touches on our beautiful compass rose. They're a neat group of lady pilots!




My neighbors, Al and Shirley (Pat's mom and dad), invited me to stop by yesterday. They gave me a large bag of pecans and loaned me their nut-cracker. It is very simple and works really well - leaving two halves intact most every pull! Yum!

Like most people, I'm struggling to get rid of my Thanksgiving day left-overs....the 5 lb bag of potatoes that I used for the mashed potatoes is particularly troublesome....so.....I made potato pancakes!

I just added some salt/pepper/onions.....Richie Rich wasn't too thrilled....oh, well, I enjoyed...

Every year, the Saturday after Thanksgiving, our nice neighbors Barney and Jackie invite everyone on the airport to their house for Brunswick stew and bbq pork. The day was lovely for late November - about 60 degrees and sunny. Here's Jackie stirring the pot (Barney is in the background cooking hushpuppies - he's the one in the flag apron, pointing.)


They're sweet people - they built the log house in the background all by themselves right after they retired.


I made some of my garbage cookies - this time I added some of the "Christmas Swirl" chips to make them festive...


Next time, I'll add more of the swirl chips to make them more obvious....good anyway.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

We finished up early today - Richard is going to Dahlia's house for supper, so we had to have our meal at noon....here's the obligatory food shot....



We enjoyed the usual items, including corn (frozen) from Dick's garden, turnips and sweet potatoes from Cordy's garden and some "buttercup" (like acorn) squash. Didn't think much of the buttercup, think I'll stick with butternut squash from now on...


And here's the "after" photo....amazing how all that trouble is stored in just a few containers afterwards!!

I actually wrote this post last week - and I tried to attach a short video....but something must have kept it from publishing...I removed the video - and reloaded:



I went to see Robert play in his NC State Jazz band performance at NC State last night. I was surprised to see that his high school band director and 5 or 6 of the high school band members also made the trip to Raleigh to see him! He's looking nice, said he'd lost a little weight by watching what his was eating and due to his P.E. class - weightlifting.


He's the lead trumpet in this group, so he had several solos. He also played nicely for the song "In the mood", which you may recognize as an "oldie-but-goodie"...

This is a cool, mindless little game online someone sent me:


This one will drive you nuts!! The object of the game is to move the red block around without getting hit by the blue blocks or touching the black walls.

If you can go longer than 18 seconds you are phenomenal.
It's been said that the US Air Force uses this for fighter pilots.
They are expected to go for at least 2 minutes.

*Give it a try!! *

http://tinyurl.com/56t9u

I did the 18 seconds one time, but I think I just lucked out...

The strangest plant grew over the past month or so - right in front of our house next to the boxwood bushes and the gardenia bushes. We let it grow - turned out to be a watermelon vine! One of those seeds that got spit during the summer must have decided it was time to reproduce! Well, this is as far as that baby is going to get....the frost got most of the leaves, but the little watermelon s still "hanging on".



I was driving near Siler City this morning and just couldn't resist stopping the car and snapping this pretty fall photo!


Yesterday, our neighbor Dick (as in giver-of-veggies-Dick) called and asked if we would like to be the "chase" crew for a balloon flight. Turns out to be the first time that he was going to take on a passenger - Lindy, his beloved.

Because of the prevailing winds, we took the balloon (on his trailer) to a field close by.

Here the balloon is all blown up - Duane has just come back from holding the "guy-wire" (I assume that's how you would spell that!!) While inflating the balloon, as it rises, someone has to hold a very long rope attached to the top of the balloon to guide the balloon as it inflates. Then you just let go of the rope - it just hangs there until the balloon is deflated.


Here they are silently floating away....the dairy farmers on the adjoining farm had come to see what all the commotion was about. We sat and chatted with them for a little while as the balloon drifted away. (We knew the farmers vaguely anyway).
Soon, Duane and I got in the truck/trailer and followed the balloon....simple as that. We had 2 way radios, so we could talk to them, but mostly we could just see them in the distance. It was a bit of a challenge to decide which road to turn down. But, we figured it out in the end.




They ended up in a different diary farmer's field, about 3 or 4 miles away. There was not much wind, so very little drift (I understand this is a GOOD thing as far as balloons are concerned!)

Apparently, a balloon landing in your field draws attention - a couple of different farmers came up on their "gator" to offer assistance. Very nice folks!




Dick had brought champagne for a "successful balloon flight" toast....he insisted the farmers take part. He even brought disposable champagne flutes.....cool!



P.S. figured you're going to ask - yes, Lindy said she enjoyed the flight....and no, we're not likely to fly with him....not our cup of tea to be (mostly) out of control of the ultimate destination. Plus, I'm afraid of heights if I'm not moving forward at a pretty good clip!!!

It's going to be cold here for the first time tonight - forecast is for 30 degrees....I convinced Duane to light the pilot for our little "fake woodstove" downstairs. I love to lay on the rug in front of it and read - which always seems to blend over into a nap! I hate cold weather, but I do love that radiant heat!

Setting on the stove, I've got a terra cotta "saucer" with potpurri inside. (You'll have to forgive me, but I can't figure out who gave it to me! - speak up and I'll remember!!) The warmth from the stove heats it up and the room smells like apple/pumpkin/cookie dough/Christmas!

I went to see Robert play in a demonstration at a high school competition in Lexington, NC over the weekend. It was a nice recruitment tool for the NC State Marching Band!

One of the high school band members walked past Robert and I, turned to say "thanks" to Robert for the performance. I handed him the camera and asked him to take this shot!

Sunday was day 10 for my Amish Friendship Bread - so it was baking day! I followed the recipe and added 12 oz. of milk choc. chips to the recipe. It was yummy. I had several small foil loaf pans, so I used them instead of the regular "meatloaf" pans. I took one small loaf, the bag of "goo" and the recipe to 3 of my neighbors - Lindy, Shirley (Pat's mom) and Jackie & Barney. I got a call from big Al (Pat's step-dad), raving about how wonderful the bread/cake was. 'Nough said! (Thanks Mom/Denise!) ((and sorry T, but I don't think this stuff would make it all the way to ND!!))

My sis posted this link in her blog - so I went to it and added a comment. Neat if you're into knitting, for sure.


http://shutupimcounting.blogspot.com/2007/11/333-contest-few-of-my-favorite-things.html

This lady, Cass is doing a contest that involves telling about your favorite knitting projects, etc. Since I don't knit, all I could do was comment on the lovely knitted gifts that I have received.

Here are a few of my favorites from T - could have included a shot of a couple of things Granny has done for the "baby boys" - but they are all tucked away in the attic....

The strangest thing has happened in the past few days....every one of my 5 rose bushes has bloomed! (Somehow, I think the tense of that sentence is wrong!)

I have to assume it was the long drought, then the heavy rain we had about a week ago. Regardless of the cause, I am enjoying them. I clipped most of them because we are due for some cool weather - and I thought I would enjoy them inside!


We also had to take our airplane in for it's annual inspection before the end of October. Here she is- all torn apart....with one of our trusty A&P certified mechanics on-the-job! (This is at Siler City). They actually finished it this afternoon - I flew it home tonight because it is supposed to be blustery tomorrow (an I'm a ween-y about flying in 25 knot winds when I don't have to!) We're into safe and happy flying!