Newborn Halloween Crib Booties

 Ok, so I’m on a roll with these baby booties.  It’s one of those things once I figure out how to make them I want to make more of them without looking at the instructions.  These seemed a bit complicated at first since they are reversible, it’s like making two and putting them into one.  It’s actually not that hard once I made the first pair I did have to look at a YouTube instruction to make sure I wasn’t messing it up but by the time I made the 3rd pair I didn’t even need to look at the instructions anymore.  It also helps when you are making the inside and the outside fabric two totally different fabric designs.  If inside and outside where the same it could get confusing.  So tadaaaaa here is yet another pair I made today!  It’s for kitty cat lovers and/or Halloween lovers so hop on over to my Etsy shop to grab this pair.  The pumpkin ones sold yesterday and are on the way to Georgia but I did list another pair just like it.  Tomorrow I’ll be working on a Star Wars pair of booties so stay tuned!  In the meantime here are some pics of the ones I made today and will be listing them in my shop in a bit.  

Pumpkin crib booties for Halloween or Thanksgiving

 I’m on a roll making baby booties.  Todays pair I made with sweet pumpkin fabrics.  They are reversible so you can pick which pumpkins to show off on those cute baby feet.  They are available to purchase from my BitsOfFiber Etsy shop.  

Itty Bitty Reversible Newborn Kitty Cat Crib Booties

While my rusty bits are getting more rusty by the minute I’ve been working on making some other things.  Since we make cat toys we have plenty of fabric laying around so I decided to make some itty bitty baby shoes.  These are actually reversible so you can pick from showing off the silly kitty cat design or you can turn them inside out and have a totally new look showing off the rainbow paw print design!  I get antsy working on the same things all the time so you’ll find me listing different items in my BitsOfFiber shop on Etsy.  The cat toys I usually work on in the evenings while watching tv, the rest of my days I’m either at my day job at Wegmans or gardening or making more rusty bits.  BTW I’ve been gathering all the supplies I need to start working with those rusty bits, still have a few more to get before I can finally get going on that project.  So don’t give up trying to figure out what on earth I’ll be making with those I promise I’ll be sharing everything involved in the next couple of weeks.   In the meantime I’m making more baby booties and of course cat toys.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/856331174/newborn-kitty-cat-baby-booties-soft-crib?ref=shop_home_active_1

More new kitty cat toys

 As I've been gathering the supplies for my next project I'm still working on making more cat toys for our Mauve Moose shop on Etsy.  Things have been flying out the door (which is awesome by the way) but it also means I need to make more of them!  Which also means less time for all the other things I want to do but that's ok I really do enjoy making the cat toys.  Finally got some more fabrics for Christmas toys.  Got lots of ideas but won't share them yet until I manage to actually make what's in my head.  In the meantime I'll share some of the toys I've been working on.  I must say if you see some you like, especially the strawberry toys, don't wait to get them or they'll be gone.  I only have so much of certain fabrics and with all the mask making everybody is doing these days I can't get a lot of the fabrics I've had on hand.  

Cooking up some rusty bits

I'm in need of some rusty old cans and rusty bits for a project.  But, since I moved not too long ago I got rid of a lot of rusty bits and pieces laying around in the garage.  Thought I'd never have any use for them.  Well that was wrong of me to think.  I do have a lot of patience but not so sure I have enough patience to have mother nature take care of getting me some rusty cans and other bits.  So good old friend google and pinterest to the rescue!  "How to make something rust fast!?"  I actually found a bunch of articles and DIY's on how to do it.  I did have everything I needed in the house so off I went cooking up some rusty cans and bits.

What you need:

White distilled vinegar (but I'm sure apple vinegar will work just as well if that's what you have)

Salt (I used the pink kind since I didn't have any regular white salt)

Hydrogen peroxide

Metal cans, nails, screws, wire, whatever it is you want to make rusty

Plastic tub

Spray bottle 

Thongs

How to:

I laid all my metal pieces (nails, screws, switch plate, chain, wire, etc.) and the cans in the plastic tub.

First I sprayed all the metal pieces with the plain white vinegar and sprinkled some salt on all the items.  I let it all dry laying in the tub.  I sprayed the cans a couple of times in between drying to get the vinegar on all sides of the cans.

Next I mixed 2 tablespoons of the salt with about 1/4 cup of the vinegar and 3/4 cups of the hydrogen peroxide in the spray bottle.  Give it a good shake to make sure the salt gets dissolved.

I used that mixture to spray all the items in the tub.  Kinda crazy how fast you can see the mixture getting to do it's thing on all that metal.  I went back after letting it sit for about an hour and a lot of the pieces where already completely rusted!  The cans I had to turn over a couple of times and spray them again to make sure they were getting rusty on all sides.

Here is a photo before I started and the second one after spraying the cans a couple of times.  Now I'm going to let it all sit for a couple of days before I move on to the next part of my project.  

Next I have to purchase a big pot where I can cook and steam things in!  Not telling you yet what I'm going to be doing but feel free to guess!  

Before spraying

After first spray with just the vinegar and I sprinkled some salt on all of it.

Here are my pieces getting nice and rusty!

More info to follow in a couple of days so come back and see what I'm up too next!

Butterflies love the butterfly bush

I planted a butterfly bush (also known as buddleja) just a couple days ago remembering the huge butterfly bush we had at the other house and it always attracted butterflies and hummingbirds as well.  I went outside to let the dogs do their business and there was a beautiful Monarch butterfly on the newly planted bush ... but ... I couldn't get a good picture of him since he wouldn't sit still so he flew to a nearby coneflower (echinacea) where he finally posed for me to take a picture!  And a few minutes later one of the hummers that visit my feeder constantly was feeding on the butterfly bush as well, so yeahhh I'm happy the butterfly bush is already doing it's thing.

I've always been a curious one.  Teachers used to get frustrated with my million and one questions about anything and everything.  Thank God we have Google now to answer a lot of my questions!  

So I asked myself how do I know if it's a male or female Monarch butterfly?  

Well, according to the experts males have a small black spot on the hindwing.  Which you can see in the picture below.  Females do not.  Males also have slightly narrower black wing veins.

Peregrine Falcon - I think

 So working upstairs in my loft I noticed my dog intensely watching something outside.  I figured it was either the bunnies, the chipmunk or the squirrels that come and visit us on a daily basis.  But then I noticed  my other dog, the older one who usually ignores what’s happening outside unless the younger one alerts him, joining the “watch party”.  I looked up from the cat toys I was making and saw the falcon that lives in the area.  I’ve seen it fly in the common area behind my house flying really low and every time I think, geeeeezzzz I wish I could catch that on video.  Well I was able to capture him on video and I wasn’t going to give up until he flew away.  So after 7 long minutes he finally decided to take off and I did get it on video.  Not as spectacular as I was hoping for but still pretty awesome I think.  Here is just a photo.  I need to figure out how to post the video of it but for now the photo will be it.

I think it’s a Peregrine Falcon by it’s markings.  After doing some research as to what kind of bird he/she is I found some interesting info on https://www.nps.gov/shen/learn/nature/falcon.htm page (National Park Service).  Here is part of the info but there is lots more if you go to the actual page.  

“Peregrine falcon populations in the eastern United States declined sharply between the 1940s and 1960s due primarily to the widespread use of the pesticide DDT. DDT accumulates in the peregrine falcon’s system due to eating birds that eat food contaminated with DDT. For the peregrine, DDT interrupts the ability to produce calcium. The consequence is that contaminated peregrine falcons lay thin eggs prone to breaking and hatching failure. DDT was banned in 1972 and Peregrine falcons were placed on the endangered species list in 1973. Cornell University (later the Peregrine Fund), U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS), and various natural resource agencies began reintroducing peregrine falcons back into their native range. This program involved the release of captive-reared peregrines with the hope that these birds would re-colonize their historic breeding range. Between 1975 and 1993, over 1200 young falcons were released throughout the East by regional peregrine falcon recovery teams. From 1978 to 1993 approximately 250 of those falcons were released in Virginia. These birds were released into the wild using a management technique referred to as hacking. Shenandoah National Park is home to a peregrine falcon restoration program. Learn more about peregrine falcon restoration in Shenandoah.”

If you look closely at the video you will see a hummingbird visiting my feeder.  What amazed me is that the hummingbird actually flew up and around the falcon a couple of times!  I know the hummingbird has a nest in a nearby tree since I’ve watched him from my deck flying to and from the nest to my feeder plus I can hear  the tiny babies wanting to be fed.  So I did some research on hummingbirds and found out some really interesting facts as to why hawks or falcons don’t prey on hummers and also why hummers actually like having them in the neighborhood!  https://www.audubon.org/news/why-hawk-hummingbirds-best-friend

Here is a section of the article “ You know what they say about location and real estate. Hummingbird nests often appear in clusters, but for years researchers couldn’t figure out what attracted the birds to certain areas. Turned out the answer was, “good neighbors.”

Biologist Harold Greeney was doing fieldwork in Arizona in 2007 when he and his team realized that breeding hummingbirds often clustered around hawk nests. By 2009, Greeney and company were able to report that the hummers nesting close to hawks were actually more successful at raising chicks. Now, in a study published last week in Science Advances, they are unveiling research into exactly why that seems to be the case.”