Mystery Box reveal

Well, I finally had time to play with what was in the mystery box. The dyes, scent and cocoa butter and the sphere mold in the last picture.

 I'll obviously need more practice and there's more than one way to do this but I'm happy with how the first try turned out :). I painted the inside of the molds and poured the warm soap into them. Had a mild panic attack when the pigments bled and I could see colour in the bottom of the soap but it subsided as they cooled. The dragonflies are supposed to be purple with pale yellow wings! Need to do more research/experimenting in that department! Maybe colouring the soap mix is the thing to do.

The soaps on ropes should be nice and hard by Christmas and I can hand paint them with the pigments before then and give as gifts, except the defective one! I'll have to trial the painted soap to see if they run and how much. As they are approved cosmetic pigments they are deemed safe but a soap which colours the bathwater may cause a ruckus with one mother I know so uncoloured soaps will be the solution there. The ones below are cocoa butter soaps and those next to the mold,  are ordinary olive and rice bran oil soaps - before trimming.

All these are scented to some degree with cinnamon leaf oil as it has anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties. There's probably not enough to be an effective germ solution when washing but I was more concerned with the soap itself going off as, unlike commercial soap, there are no preservatives in this. Cinnamon is also an inhalant for colds and more appealing than tea tree or eucalyptus so it will serve multiple purposes in the soap.



I'll continue to experiment with my soapmaking with scents, colours and molds but the standard will always be Rhonda's recipe on the DTE blog . I have used soap made from Rhonda's recipe for washing dishes, making laundry wash and washing myself, including my hair, and it has never failed me. Sometimes basic is best even if variations are good for a change :)!

Cheers,
Robyn xo

FNSI - a start on the gifts

I've been meaning to try this out for a while and I discovered it's quite easy to make hanging hand towels :).
There's one for me - the one at the back so you can't see the boo boos- and two for gifts. I'll be on the lookout for towels on sale that have designs on them now as there will be ric rac and other little decorations on future ones.

One of these will be going to a male which is why they are more functional than fashionable.


Thanks for looking,
Cheers,
Robyn

Bags and snakes

Thought that title would grab your attention!

At UniDD’s request I’ve been making her some door snakes as she can’t find any where she lives and is tired of tucking a towel under the door. To make the postage worthwhile I thought I may as well add a few more items so I’ve been indulging my current bag fetish and started off with something easy – shopping totes. I modified a blue purchased supermarket bag, made one from a heavy calico I had, to carry cans in, and then decided to convert a little dress of hers from 15 years ago that has also been worn by DD12.  

With a strip of calico as a strap backing I think it looks fabulous.

I need to buy some ribbon for tea towels and handtowels I want to send for her kitchen. There will also be a few other items already made that are in my gifts box - potholders, oven gloves, a crocheted dishcloth and whatever else I think she might like and use. Lol, think I’ll make a special card and send it as a Christmas in July (almost) package!

Cheers,

Robyn

On my mind....

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Earlier this week I received this gift from my friend Cyndi at bluebirdswing. I'm very excited about this because she's a great bag maker and she made it out of a material with an Australian flavour to it. It has a lot of pockets for a little bag and I love pockets!
Also an apology to those waiting to see what I was making with the materials a couple of weeks ago. I mucked it up and had some unstitching and realigning to do and haven't quite finished it yet. Thanks for your patience and for those who had a guess, yes it will be a stuffed toy!
Visit Rhonda for more On my mind

On My Mind

After reading Rai's blog and deciding to join in it has been on my mind to finish these as I've been going to do them for a while. Any guesses as to what they will be?

FNSI - mug wraps and coasters

Well I finally had time to take a photo and put it up. Seems like everyone wanted to telephone here today.

These are a present for my DS and as I made 2 sets the photo shows both sides. I'm happy with the coasters and they are sooo easy to make! The mug wraps I've made before but this time I machine stitched the velcro on as boys will be boys and it doesn't matter what age they are :P.
Credit where it's due so if you want to have a try at the coasters the tutorial can be found at Carol's Crafty Creations.

Cheers,
Robyn :D

FNSI

Here's what I did last night. Any comments welcome as this is my first quilt and true to form I'm 'freelancing' instead of doing it from a pattern!! Lol, I can't help myself. This was originally a fabric book but I just liked the theme for my grandson as he helps his Pop and his Dad a lot.
Caught myself out last night as I thought I had more strips cut for the sashing/borders but when I went on a search for it I discovered that I had used that red for something else and hadn't replaced it yet! Looks like I'll be at the fabric shop on Monday.
I had to trim the blocks again as the pattern isn't quite even but at least I've made a start *smile*. The finished quilt should be about 36" x 46". Is that big enough for a 3 year old boy to wrap himself in or should I add a second border and make it 40 x 50?