Craft It Forward

I've seen this on a few blogs I've been reading recently. Those posts were mostly back in March, and it has suddenly become June... where did the time go?

Here are the rules:
The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! This offer does have some limitations:

1. You will not know what it's going to be, and there are no guarantees that you will like what I make! It may be something simple and small or I may go crazy and do something amazing.

2. It’ll be done this year. Translation: you may be waiting a little while.

3. Most importantly, you must offer the same deal on your blog - the first 5 people to comment on your blog (or Facebook or whatever, if you don't have a blog) get something made by YOU!

My variation on this meme (I think that's the word that means these things that get passed around from blog to blog) is that if you've done it already, you don't have to do it again to get something crafted by me.

Margret's Crafty Mama - Origami (flapping bird)

When the girls were little, about 4, 6, 8 and 10, I did an Origami Workshop for the children's room at our local library.

We prepared by teaching the Children's Room staff how to make the items we had planned. The girls all helped to show them.

When the participants and their families arrived, and started folding, the girls and the staff helped the workshop go smoothly. I stood at the front of the room, demonstrating with BIG paper, and staff and girls assisted anyone having trouble following the directions.

Here is one of the pieces we folded that day, a box that can be made from any reasonably large rectangle of paper:



And here is another. This one is a favorite of mine, and I have made many many mobiles using this design.

One More ceramics photo

Thanks to Margret's sister B, I have a copy of the photo I was lamenting.

The cats she's holding, she did. The indian maiden (Pocahontas?) on the top shelf is her work. I did the ginger jars. The teapot and Belle from Beauty and the beast are her work as well. Over her shoulder you can see the head of another figure she painted. The mugs behind my head were collected by husband, from MusikFest.
Do you do ceramics? Buy greenware? Paint bisque ware? How do you amuse yourself and make presents at the same time?

I Made It Myself

I originally titled this I got angry so she could say, "I Made It Myself" but I like the short version better. It's pithier. It's right to the point. I think I get way too wordy, and eventually get to my point by way of Robin Hood's Barn. That's how my Dad used to refer to my series of digressions that eventually, if he was patient, would end with the point I wanted to make. But I digress...

Among the things I was told that Margret would never do was have a hobby.

Have I mentioned that the pediatrician who saw Margret in the hospital was a pessimist? Maybe I didn't, maybe he wasn't, but he sure sounded like one, saying She'll never do this, she'll never do that. And she won't do all those other things you expect of a normal child.

Yes. Listening to him could have been very depressing. (It was.) It could have thrown me into a deep funk. (It came close.) But when he implied that this girl child who had just been born to me was not of value to me, should not be of value to me (Get her on a waiting list for a state institution. The waiting list can be as long as six years so you should do it right away. Don't get too attached.) he made me angry. Very angry. Like Bruce Banner (character in the Incredible Hulk series, who says, "Don't make me angry. You won't like it when I'm angry.") angry.

When you make me that kind of angry, I may not turn green, swell up, roar and smite you, but I will dig in my heels and oppose you. I will assess my options and decide whether it is better to rise up against you, or to bide in patience until you go away. By making me that kind of angry, you lose credibility in my eyes, and you have already lost the war.

I had the support of the nurses on the maternity unit. I had the support of family. I had support from the kind women in the La Leche League. I had faith in my love for my baby. I believed that if I believed in her, and supported her, she would grow up to be the best Margret she was able to be.

Fast forward a couple decades.

Margret's sister C and C's friend G took me and Margret as their guests to a ceramics painting class. Margret had a wonderful time, and wanted to do more. I signed her up for a class of her own, and provided transportation. She loved it. She enjoyed chatting with the other class members. She came home glowing with good spirits. She brought home beautiful things she had painted herself.

After a time, I signed up for the class too. I got annoyed spending time driving back home, puttering for a very short interval, then going back to pick her up, when I could stay and have some fun.

There was some, "Mom, would you do this for me please?" but the teacher knew she could do it herself. I knew it too. I had my own project to try to finish. So she did it herself. And she did it very very well.

She used many of the pieces she completed as gifts. I wish I had photographs of all of them. One she made as a gift to her youngest sister was a half size baby bunny. Another was a duckling she gave as a gift to Nana.

Nana had a collection of ceramic ducks and geese on her kitchen windowsill, and Margret's duckling had a place among them. We got to see it each time we visited at Nana's house. It made me smile to see it sitting there in the sun. Every time. Here it is, the leftmost duckling. Sorry this is blurry, but it is the only picture I found of it in my collection.

I don't have any photos of the bunny, or of the cat she gave one aunt for a mantle decoration, or of most of the other pieces, but they were very nice. You may take my word on that. One of the pieces Margret kept was an angel. That's Margret's angel in this next picture.


One year she made a bunch of ceramic boxes and used them for gifts to family members. She made extras and let me take them to the craft fair with me to sell. Here is a close up of some of her boxes.
And the following picture shows some of her pieces on display on my table at the craft fair at Amore Farms
Another year she made snowflake boxes for almost everyone. She proudly said, "I made it myself."

Hobbies, she had a few. Another one she had was knitting. She made scarves for family members for Christmas another year. I taught her to knit with knitting needles, but it took her a very long time. She was interested in a knitting machine, so we looked into getting one. She got all excited about it, so we got one for her. I helped her cast on, then she did the knitting. I helped her cast off and do the finishing. I am convinced she could have done the cast off herself if I had insisted, but she was so excited to go on to start the next scarf that I gave in and did it for her. I have to look for pictures of them for another post.

Margret's Crafty Mama - Earrings

My sister in law taught me to turn a loop in the end of a wire headpin, and so started me on my nefarious career of making earrings and suchlike from beads of various persuasions.

I have taught a number of other people how to turn the loops to make earrings and bracelets and whatnot, and had a request that I make a video showing how I do it.

Here, courtesy of daughter C loaning me her video camera, is me demonstrating how to turn that simple loop.



OK, moving right along, I have two more videos for you, if you have the interest, and the patience to watch them. This next one is me making the dangles for a pair of earrings.



and then me making a second pair of earrings all the way through.



So sorry about the telephone ringing. I'll have to try doing it over again.