footstool recovery

Ever since we finished painting and re-arranging our front room, I've been inspired to slowly create new & needed textiles to decorate the space. Most recently, I decided to re-cover this humble foot stool.

I used my favorite technique of late; randomly sewing down scraps of sweater wool to a backing fabric. I'm so in love with this process. For one, it uses tiny scraps of fabric in a most lovely way! I like the randomness of it; the freedom of just grabbing into the basket of scraps and plonking down whatever I pull out.

For the final touch, and to pull all that randomness together, I like to sew thin, meandering strips on the surface, and travel all over the surface with machine top-stitching.

Hmmm, looks like it'll fit. The back looks interesting, too.

Here I've laid it over the stool upside down, and am pinning the corners to fit. I then stitch the corners and trim off the excess fabric.

Next, I sewed a casing of knit fabric all around the bottom edge.

Thread a cord through. I used a strip of sturdy knit fabric.

Oh yes, this is fitting nicely.

Snugging up the drawstring.

Tuck in the ends.

Foot stool cozy!

I like it.

Testing out the new thing.

Let's Felt a Cat Toy!

Li'l B loves to chase a ball (when she's in the mood, anyway). She especially likes the balls that make a sound. Since she chases, but doesn't yet understand the concept of "fetch", I've made her lots of balls (less chasing for me). Here's one way: You'll need wool fleece or roving, jingly bells, nylon stocking. First, put a handful of fleece in your hand. Place a couple of bells on the fleece. Then place more fleece on top of the bells. Wrap some more fleece around it all, forming sort of a ball and compressing it with your hands. I usually save the pretty, colorful wool for the outer layer. Sometimes, at this point, I'll wrap some wool yarn around the ball, to sort of hold it together. I like to leave a short length of yarn dangling; it will felt up and make a nice tail to hold the ball by. When you've got enough wool squooshed together, hold it tight in your hand and slide it into the toe of a nylon stocking. Tie a knot, enclosing the wool in the nylon. You can make several at once, just keep stuffing the wool in and tying knots in between. At this point, you can either felt it by hand or in the machine. I usually opt for the machine; just toss it in with a load of laundry. To felt by hand, stand at the sink with a bowl of hot water. Dip the wool ball in the water, squirt a small amount of soap on the ball, and start to knead and squeeze it, dipping in the hot water occasionally. Continue to rub and agitate the ball until it is felted the way you'd like it to be. This may take some time to get the ball nice and firm.When your ball is all felted, use sharp scissors to snip and peel away the nylon. If your kitty enjoys catnip, you could do a final soak of the ball in a strong batch of catnip tea, then let it dry. I like to put some dried catnip in a paper bag, place the balls in the bag, and let them infuse with the catnip for a few days. Our favorite family game is me at one end of the house, Rick at the other end, and Li'l B in the middle. We humans take turns bouncing or rolling the balls past the cat, while she jumps, chases, hides, and finally stretches out on the floor to take a nap.

Knitting Needle Case

In an attempt to organize, I whipped up this groovy case to hold my double pointed needles.I'll show you lots of detailed photos, in case you'd like to make one for yourself.First I did some calculating and figured out the measurements. Since I wanted to be able to store all my dpns together, I made mine 18" long by 13" high. That's big enough to fit a set of needles in each size up to 13s, with a nice flap for folding over. I think it would also be nice to make a smaller one, holding fewer needles, for a more portable case.I used blue corduroy for the outside, and an Indonesian batik print for the inside. I cut a piece of each fabric to my measurements, and sewed them together by serging around the outside. I appliqued the meandering purple lines on the outside by zig-zag stitching on thin strips of stretched cotton knit.For the needle pocket, I cut a piece of each fabric measuring 17" long by 5.5" high. I fastened the fabrics together by serging around the outer edges. If I were using a heavier fabric, I would just make the pocket of a single layer. Next I sewed on the applique (the image with the people) by zig-zagging around it. Then I sewed on the purple lines, and then the strip of tan fabric for writing the numbers on.I attached the needle pocket by stitching around three sides, leaving the top open. Then I stitched the channels for holding the needles. (fun!) I made the channels on the left smaller, to hold smaller needles; the channels get larger as they go to the right. The smallest ones are about 3/4" wide, and the largest are 2" wide.I wrote the numbers on with a permanent marker after I stitched the pockets. I wasn't able to put numbers on the smaller pockets because the applique was in the way. I really like the way that image looks, though, so I just left the numbers off. Next time I make one, I'll remember to embellish in a way that leaves space to number all the pockets.To finish, I stitched a tie onto one outside edge; another thin strip of stretched cotton knit. (when you cut a thin strip and stretch it, it forms a kind of cord).This needle case works great, and whenever I'm starting a knitting project, it's luxurious to just grab this roll and have all the dpns together in one place, nicely organized.If anyone is inspired to make their own case, I'd love to see pictures!