FO--Love Knot bag

I finally finished my Swing Bag made of a fabric wrapper from Lush. They are a very green company that sells shampoos, conditioners, lotions, moisturizers, bath bombs, and beauty products. They took a leaf from traditional Japanese Furoshiki wrapping and advocate re-usable gift-wrapping using scarves they also sell. I visited the Lush shop in the Mall of America almost a year ago and bought a scarf for use and one to cut up for fabric! It says 'Love Knot' all over it and I lined it with a lime green fabric with bold black lines.

FO's--Candle Mats

I finished 5 candle mats this weekend for Melissa to sell during her Valentine's fundraising for her dad. I sewed literally hundreds of tiny buttons onto felt and then blanket stitched the bottom layers onto the tops. I love tiny buttons and I hope these sell for her. If not, that is ok and we'll all have new Valentine decorations. I also went and saw The King's Speech and can't say enough about this movie!!! Go and see it if it is near you!

Mock Macaroons

These are by no means macaroons but I am just loving filled sandwich cookies lately. Instead of whipped egg whites, almond flour and powdered sugar, these cookies are made of chewy brownie and filled with colored cream cheese frosting. I made a test batch of these this week in preparation for our big fundraising bake sale. These were a big hit at work so I think they will sell at the big sale. I was admiring them as I was packing them up and was just reminded of chocolate macaroons and they're a snap to make! Combine 2 boxes of devil's food cake mix, 4 eggs, and 2/3 c. oil. Mix together and it forms quite a stiff dough. I use my small scoop to portion out the dough and bake 18 to a pan at 350 for 7 minutes. Cool completely and then frost with 8 oz. cream cheese and 1 stick of butter mixed with 4 c. powdered sugar. I got about 45 sandwiches from this batch and 1 batch of frosting will frost 2 batches of cookies.

Fundraising!

My dear friend Melissa's dad has been stricken with leukemia and their family struggle began back in October. He is now gearing up for a series of bone marrow transplants and stem cell transplants at Mayo which will include a 3 month stay at a transplant house in Rochester. Melissa has undertaken a massive fundraising campaign to help cover the incidental costs of these procedures and she and Deedee have made scores of bath bombs to sell. Last night she and I got together to make over 10 lbs. of scented glycerin soaps.
We used a very user friendly soap base and melted, colored, scented and molded over 40 bars last night. I've made glycerin soaps before but this particular brand was just a pleasure to work with! It cooled quickly and didn't bubble up like other brands I've used. We made a variety of colors and fragrances and fooled around with adding glitter.

I can't say enough how easy this project is. I've said it before, if you can make ICE, you can make glycerin soaps! We also enjoyed fooling around with my new panini grill I got at Aldis! I have ALWAYS wanted one of those ever since I bought a panini on the street in Paris back in 2001! I baked fresh pita breads and we had fun stuffing them with ham and cheddar, chicken-basil-mozzarella-marinara, etc. and then flattening/grilling/heating them on this fabulous new appliance! It was a tasty mid-craft meal :) For our next Crafty Fun Night, we'll have to try using it with slices of rustic bread and we'll take pictures!

We were able to experiment with the colorings and glitter and in the end, with our 10 lbs. of soap base, we made 40 viable bars of soap and a few experiment bars (that I'm TOTALLY going to shower with today!!!). I'd already had a few different varieties of molds and we made good use of them. I love smelly soap and I hope they sell. Deedee and Melissa and I sat around my table 2 weeks ago and had a very successful 'board meeting' and brainstormed all kinds of ideas of things to make and businesses to contact, etc. Melissa will also be having a church-wide bake sale at her family church in Waterloo. I know I don't have scores of blog readers but if anyone has more ideas or is interested in purchasing any baking or soaps or bath bombs, please contact me. We will also be selling hand-sewn Valentine felt candle mats, hand-made Valentine 100% cotton tea towels, rice filled reusable heating pads, hand-made coaster sets, hand-knit 100% cotton dishrags, market bags and dish towels that button over drawer handles, orange Leukemia awareness ribbons/bracelets/magnets and other awareness items, and tons and tons of delicious home baking. She has gotten the word out and their entire congregation has gotten involved in pledging to donate baked goods. It is wonderful to see how this whole undertaking has snowballed! Please contact me if you're interested in supporting this very good cause! :)

Complete Radio Silence...

We have finally had our family Christmas and survived the holiday season so I can safely post pictures of my sister-in-law's mittens. These were knit from the pattern in the book Folk Mittens. I have made at LEAST 3 pairs of these from this pattern (including a pair for myself) with the same needles and same brand and weight of yarn, but for some reason these were much tighter! I must be knitting tighter in my old age. My pair is at least 7-8 years old so maybe they've stretched out over time. I got through almost an entire mitten and got too nervous about the final fit and started over. Amy was happy to get them though. I'd knit her a pair years ago and she'd actually worn a big hole in the palm. I've heard of people wearing holes in their socks but never their mittens! ;)