To make a spoon

I thought I'd make a spoon. I dreamed of being able to make a spoon like this hand carved birch root spoon, made by Aaron Clapp (I spotted it at his Etsy shop, NHwoodcraft).

PHOTO: AARON CLAPP

Alex Keilty said he'd help me get started, not with a root, but with a nice piece of green wood. He made the first rough cuts with his axe. 

Look at the beautiful silver inlay on this knife made for Alex by a talented friend.

After my first carving session, I kept my spoon in water so it would stay soft and easy to work.

Charlie was intrigued.

I really didn't get very far with my carving. Too many other things I wanted to do more than I wanted to carve. 

I've removed the spoon from the water and I've allowed it to dry. Maybe I'll work on it with my Dremel someday.

It has a long way to go before it becomes a real spoon!

The big glass container is back to being a candle holder.

Now it's Puddle's turn to be intrigued.

PHOTO: ADELINE JESSICA CRITES-MOORE

“I always carry a spoon in my pocket. You know, just in case it rains.”
— Jarod Kintz

No more caps

Today, in my slow but steady effort to concentrate on what's important, I tossed the bottle cap collection. They are all ginger beer caps, now that I've given up Diet Coke, cold turkey ... haven't had a Diet Coke since sometime in November.

I also spent some time with needle and thread.  This piece is nearly complete.

It's been a good day.

Salvaged Star is ready to fly away to new home

I truly enjoyed your comments on the "giveaway" post. Some of them were so endearing to me and I thank you.

Not sure if you notice, but if you are reading this, you are at my new website/blogspace. I've imported all the old blog posts, so it may not look very different, but it has some new features, such as the "GALLERIES" link, and there are a few more things to be added soon. I hope you like it!

I put everyone's name into a bowl and then I closed my eyes, shuffled all the little scraps around and about, and finally picked one. The little Salvaged Star will be flying off to Velma Bolyard which is a lovely destination, I'm sure, based on the images she posts at her blog, wake robin. 

Reading Velma's blog is how I learned about shifu. Her work weaving the paper fiber touches my soul ... magic of the internet. 

A STUNNING SCRAP OF SHIFU, MADE BY VELMA BOLYARD.

Giving Away a Salvaged Star

My first blog post was January 26, 2008 so I guess some sort of commemoration is in order. I can't tell you how many posts I've written because every year I go through and delete ones that no longer suit me. Maybe I shouldn't do that. There are 318 left, which doesn't seem like very many for a five year period of time.

SALVAGED STAR - FRONT AND BACK

To commemorate my five year mark, I will be giving away my little quilt which I call Salvaged Star. It was a vintage quilt block languishing at the bottom of a box of old textiles a friend had given to me. It was the kind of thing I love ... old, soft, a star, and in a favorite color coupling of blue and brown. I picked it up to take a closer look. It needed to be rescued, to be stitched. So that's what I did. I added some layers of cloth, the backing being a vintage piece from an old quilt, then I quilted it all with hand stitching and also hand stitched a nice brown linen border. I hope you find the result pleasing.

It is a wee bit more than 7" square. There is some staining that is due to age but that doesn't detract from its look ... at least not for me. If you like it and you would like to own it, then please leave a comment here. In about a week, I will choose a name at random and that person will receive this little quilt.

HAPPY BLOGAVERSARY TO ME

2/6/2014 - COMMENTS ARE NOW CLOSED - I'll pick the winner later today.

Thanks for participating. :-)