Polypropylene filter material for face masks

I know a lot of people are making face masks while we're in this pandemic for the Corona Virus, and even though professional sources say that they're not very effective, any type of barrier is better than none.  I won't share patterns here, since there are dozens of blog posts and video tutorials for that already.

To make the plain cotton masks a little more effective, it's suggested to make them with a pocket where you can add some type of removable filter.  The commercial N95 masks are made with a high grade of polypropylene material and while that would be near impossible to find outside of a hospital supply setting, I did find OLY*Fun - a similar fabric - at my local Walmart.

DISCLAIMER:   This product is NOT the same grade as the commercial N95 medical masks, but it IS made of the same basic non-woven, water-resistant material (polypropylene), so will filter more junk than cotton fabric alone.  Again, even if it won't stop ALL manner of buggy stuff from entering your nose and mouth, it's an added wall of defense, and I don't think anyone would scoff at that.

I'm going to wipe down my scissors and work-space with alcohol, then cut the OLY*Fun into appropriately sized pieces immediately after washing my hands, then put directly into ziploc bags so they'll be untouched and won't have come into contact with anything in my home that might be tainted.  I'll then send that baggie of filters to my son with a couple of the cotton masks, which will be washable/reusable.

I found it online by the bolt, but when I limited to local stores, none of it showed up (even the small rolls like I have here).  I found mine in the fabric department of my store in Jacksonville NC, in the same aisle as the quilt batting.  One roll measures 3 yd x 30 in, enough to make a good amount of filters.  Bonus:  It was on sale for only $2/roll!  I wish they'd had white, but black will work for the masks I'm making for my son, and I'll make do with yellow for some of the brighter cotton fabrics I'll be using.

Since I don't want the CDC or any other Big Brother entity to come down on me, I'll stress again - this material is NOT a replacement for medical grade P95 masks, but it IS an extra barrier in our line of defense against this crazy COVID-19 bug that's infiltrated our masses.

Be safe.

~ Marie Anne

Latest Project - Daisy in the Corner Granny Square

When you fall in love with a pattern you see shared on Facebook, you have to go buy the yarn to start it right away, no matter how many other projects you having going on, right?  That's a rule, right?  RIGHT?

The Daisy in the Corner pattern came across my feed and I was immediately hooked.  It's an easy pattern to follow, with a little bit of a spin on the traditional granny square.

I loved the way the designer made it with the two shades of two different colors, and wanted to somewhat replicate that, without being exactly those colors.  I had a tough time finding shades that would work, but finally settled on purples and oranges.  Not a combination I would ever have thought about previously, but I think it works ok. 

After looking at just these four squares, I think I might try joining them with all four daisies pointing towards the middle, instead of the same way at lower left.  I think that'll give it a completely different look, but will have to do the math and see if four blocks made into a larger block will work out for an appropriate length and width.  Look for that post soon.

I think this pattern is also a great way to use up scraps of yarn from your stash.  You could keep the center and daisy the same throughout, add bits of whatever colors you have for the portion around the daisy, then use a common color for the join.  It would end up being a very colorful, somewhat scrappy-with-a-pulled-together-look sorta afghan.  I think I'm going to save my scraps to do just that.

What's on your hook today?

~ Marie Anne

More Dishcloths and Swiffer Sweeper Cloth for WIP Wednesday

Since I'm still in a hotel more than six months after the hurricane, I don't have the space to work on larger projects, so dishcloths it is!  I've been trying to get more mileage in but still have injuries that prevent me from walking much outside, so I step in place while crocheting dishcloths and watching TV.  Since my stack of dishcloths is growing, I need to figure out what to do with them all.  I do have an Etsy shop but don't get a lot of traffic there, so might try selling locally or through Facebook.  If you'd like some, give me a shout!

I also broke down and bought a generic Swiffer-type sweeper at Aldi last week, and since I'm too cheap to buy the replacement cloths, I'm going to make my own.  There are a lot of crochet patterns already out there, but I think the stitch that I use for my Gentle Ridges Dishcloth (free pattern) will be good for something like this, so I'm working one up now.  If I can get the dimensions right, you'll see that pattern listed here soon.


That's what's on my hook this week.  What're you working on?  Link up below!

~ Marie Anne

To link up with WIP Wednesday, make a blog, Facebook, Pinterest, or Instagram post about something that you're working on - any type of craft, DIY, renovation project, landscaping - even that novel you're writing.  Link your post by clicking on 'click here to enter' below so that my other readers can see what you're up to.  Make sure to link back to me in your post too!  

Busted Out the Knitting Needles for WIP Wednesday

I woke early and while going about my morning ablutions, out of the blue I felt the urge to knit something.  Now I don't knit often, so it was a strange feeling for me.  I attribute it to working on re-writing a couple of knitted dishcloth patterns and posting them to this blog in the last few days (you can find them by clicking here on knitting patterns, or the tab at the top of the page).

So rather than fight it, I decided to embrace that call to knit.  One problem ... I don't have any knitting needles here at the hotel.

I had to wait for dog #2 to wake up before I could remedy that, but after tea, toast, gathering laundry, and walking both dogs (second walk for dog #1), I walked over to Walmart to pick up some knitting needles, and was back home before 8am.

So today's WIP Wednesday will be knitting a dishcloth from another pattern that I wrote, so that I can publish it later too.  This one will (hopefully) have a 'picture' in the raised stitching.  Watch for that (and maybe even one more) to be added to the free knitting patterns page in the very near future.

So ... what're you working on?  Link up below!

~ Marie Anne

To link up with WIP Wednesday, make a blog post about something that you're working on - any type of craft, DIY, renovation project, landscaping - even that novel you're writing.  Link your blog post by clicking on 'click here to enter' below.  Make sure to link back to me in your blog post too!  (You can also link up with your Pinterest or  Instagram post).

Ugly Fabric Quilt Top Update for WIP Wednesday

When we started the hand piecing QAL last week, I couldn't wait a full week for the release of the second block, so turning into a hand-piecing maniac, I started working on another project from these ugly fabrics.

I started off making a couple of 16 patch blocks like block #1 in the quilt along, but because the pieces are so small (2" squares unfinished), I didn't want to make the whole quilt top from that one block.  I made a couple of 4 patch blocks and they were much easier to work with (again, I'm hand piecing here since I don't have my sewing machine here in the hotel).  I think I might continue with that, and maybe a mix of HST and QSTs too (half square and quarter square triangles), but no real tiny ones.

I don't have a real layout in mind yet, just going to make a few of each type of block in the various colors and see where it takes me.  I'm still pretty new to all this (both quilting in general and hand piecing), so I figure whatever I end up will be good enough for me and the dogs to snuggle up under, if nothing else.  I don't worry about aesthetics when it's cold, and I know they sure won't care!

So ... what're you working on?  Link up below!

~ Marie Anne

To link up with WIP Wednesday, make a blog post about something that you're working on - any type of craft, DIY, renovation project, landscaping - even that novel you're writing.  Link your blog post by clicking on 'click here to enter' below.  Make sure to link back to me in your blog post too!  (You can link up from Pinterest and Instagram too!).

Kickoff for Hand Pieced Quilt Along

Since I'm still stuck in a hotel from Hurricane Florence over four months ago, I've been keeping my fingers busy hand piecing as I don't have my sewing machine here.  I found a Facebook group that's set up to do a Quilt Along that starts today, and even though I've already been piecing another top, I'm going to go along with this group too and practice making blocks from other shapes instead of just squares.  It's time to stitch out of my comfort zone!

We'll be making a small quilt sampler made up of nine blocks, making one new block each of the next nine weeks.  I  haven't even decided what fabric I'm going to use, but I think I might just go scrappy with it and see what happens.  We'll see.  Keep an eye on this blog to see what I come up with.

Participants who link photos of their finished block on their blog, Instagram, FLICKR, or Pinterest have a chance to win a weekly prize donated by one of many generous sponsors.

The leaders of the group and QAL have posted some great tips in both written and video form about how to hand piece, and they're very informative. You can find Patty and Kristin's blogs at Elm Street Quilts and Simple Handmade Everyday.

 I think I enjoy hand piecing more than using a sewing machine now.  If you'd like to take part in this quilt along, check out the Hand Pieced Quilt Along Facebook page for more info.  Even if you're a little behind, you can still catch up and submit your finished blocks for a chance to win prizes as long as the QAL hasn't finished yet.  And if you've never hand pieced before, this is a great way to learn.  This is going to be lots of fun ... who wants to join me?

~ Marie Anne

Got the Hexie Bug Again

When I was clearing out boxes in the garage, I got all excited when I found my old English Paper Piecing (EPP) supplies.  I learned how to do it several years ago, but never put anything together to really make anything.  Wait, I did piece these poinsettia hexies to make a sort of table mat/runner, but I didn't finish it with a backing, or quilt it or anything.  I simply stitched them together and left the papers in for stiffness and called it good, LOL.  I used the 2 1/ 2" hexies for this.

Anyway, since I've been trying to learn piece/patchwork quilting, I've been accumulating scraps, and finding the old EPP stuff is giving me a new outlet to use them up.  I've cut templates and basted a bunch of 1"hexies the last two days, and anxious to see my pile grow so I can decide what I want to do with them.

Of course there's the standard layout for Grandmother's Flower Garden, and I might do some of those if I have six blocks of one color/pattern.  That will also be a good way to use up single hexies for the middle, where they might not work for anything else.

I also want to play with other  patterns, something with a group of same or similar color scheme hexies to make each grouping (each grouping different, though), with a group of solid/small pattern around each which will end up as sort of a sashing.  I didn't have enough of anything to get much of a trial layout, but this is something like what I had in mind.  I would probably use black, white, or a neutral color in place of the yellow.  

I love simple, no-brainer ways to keep my hands busy while watching TV, or sitting somewhere waiting for an appointment.  I can't stand to sit and do nothing, even riding in the car (with someone else driving).  I can keep a take-along bag of hexies that are ready to baste or hand piece together and just grab and go.  

Don't know if I'll ever be able to make a full quilt (that would take thousands of 1" hexies, and I plan to hand sew them all!), but I should be able to make some table runners, mug rugs, wall hangings, and maybe lap throws or baby quilts.  

Now I want to cut up all of my pretty fabric to make hexies, but I  need to stay focused on the mission to use up scraps, and not 'waste' my good fabric!  Stay tuned to see how successful I am with that mindset.  :)

~ Marie Anne

Crazy Crumb Quilt Blocks in the Making

I posted the other day that I wanted to start making crumb quilt blocks, and so it begins!  I grabbed my stash of bits and pieces of remnants from various earlier projects and starting sewing them together in a random fashion.   It doesn't matter if the piece you start with is already fairly big, because once you sew it to another piece, you can trim that and make two (or more) pieces from it.  Then you piece those together with others, and just keeping adding and trimming until you have something large enough to square up into a block the size that you want.

I'm trying to put some pieces in a wonky direction just for a bit of interest, but I haven't done as much of that as I'd like, so will work on that more.  I need more fabric scraps with a variety of colors and patterns before I can go much further.  Here are a few examples of blocks I'm working on now.

You're supposed to do this completely random, but I had small pieces with a whole owl showing, and I couldn't not use them intact.  I figure they will be add a bit of whimsy to my finished piece.  Don't judge.  :)

I have no idea what my blocks will eventually be fashioned into, but I don't have to worry about that just yet.  It will take me time to build up enough of a stash to make the blocks random and not matchy-matchy, so I'll probably work on my crumb quilt blocks in between other projects.   Because of all the seams, I'll have to put a sashing border around them if I want to use them in a rag quilt, so I'm not sure if that will be my goal or not.  For now, I will just continue to build on them until I have enough to decide what size blocks I want to trim them into.

If you want to learn how to make crazy blocks like this, check out Darlene's crumb quilt block tutorials on youtube.  She has a whole series of various ways to make them.  (Word of caution:  she does throw in a word or two here and there that aren't fit for little ears, but very few, maybe 4-5 words in 10 videos.  The tutorials are worth it, IMO).

Someday I'll figure out how to do my own videos, but I will try to show as much as I can in photos here on the blog.  I'll do another post soon showing how you can take larger scraps and turn them into crumby pieces by stitching to other pieces then cutting.

~ Marie Anne

P.S.  This is one of the cutting mat and ruler sets that I have, and I love it!  Unfortunately, I have no idea where my mats and dquilting rulers are since moving.  I guess I should make finding them a priority.

A Crummy Idea - Crumb Quilt Blocks With Fabric Scraps

I posted yesterday that I might try to make a rag quilt out of random squares of scrap material, with no real rhyme or reason.  I asked sewing friends in a Facebook group for ideas on how to get past my need for order, and one suggested that I look up crumb quilts.

Ohmy. I found some youtube tutorials on how to make crumb quilt blocks, and I think I'm in love.  I now have a use for all of the tiny scraps that aren't big enough to make squares of their own!  When sorting fabric yesterday, I had thrown away a bag full of small scraps, but after a few minutes watching the videos, I went right out and grabbed that bag.  Yep, I did some dumpster diving right here at home.

I'm not sure yet how it will work out for rag quilting, though; since there will be so many seams in a single block, they might not rag well, but I'm going to play with it and see what happens.  If it doesn't work out as is, I might try to sew a strip of border around each piece, which would make the four sides more like a traditional block.  Worst case - if I can't use them to make rag quilts, I can make up the blocks and list them for sale, or donate them to someone who can use them in a traditional quilt. Either way, it'll be fun to play with all the colors and patterns and make something pretty out of scraps that can then be put to good use somehow instead of ending up in the garbage.

So today's agenda includes trying to make crumb quilt blocks.  But first ... did you notice anything in the photo above?  I knew right where my sewing machine was and got all excited to start, but something is missing.  In true MA fashion - I have no idea where the cord is!

~ Marie Anne

Random Scrap Rag Quilt Plans

After a whirlwind of listing house, selling house, driving from Ohio to NC, spending a couple of weeks in a hotel with two dogs, finding house, and closing on house all in a span of less than 60 days, I'm finally starting to settle in a little.  There's still a lot to do, but the house is livable and functional, and the rest will come together in time.

I've been working on my office/craft room, and anxious to get back to sewing rag quilts. I think I have everything arranged in here where I have room for my eBay stuff as well as a table for my sewing machine.   I spent quite a bit of time yesterday sorting my small fabric stash, found a few pieces that I'll offer for sale, put yardage in gallon sized plastic bags, and made a pile of scraps and remnants worth saving for a random quilt project.

I hate waste, but I also don't want to hang on to stuff that I'll never use, so I have a plan, and that plan is to not follow a plan, so to speak.

When I work on a layout for a rag quilt, I spend a lot of time working on placement of colors, patterns, etc, and need it to be 'just right'.  In order to use up my stash of scraps, I'll have to abandon that plan.

My new plan is to cut squares whenever I have a remnant come available and sandwich right away and toss into a tote to be stitched with other squares as soon as I have a few.  I figure if I just grab and go, stitch together whatever few squares I have done, I won't be able to stress about whether colors or patterns are right for each other. 

I think I'll cut squares in two different sizes to get the most use out of scrap fabrics.  Hmm .... if I do that, I might even attempt a square-on-square quilt which would make the randomness even more interesting.

Women have been making random quilts from clothing scraps for generations, right?  Can I?  Will I be able throw caution to the wind and work through my love of order to pull off a truly random scrappy quilt?  Stay tuned for updates!

~ Marie Anne

Upcycled Blue Jean Denim Rag Quilt in Progress

I mentioned in an earlier post that I was going to be making a rag quilt and incorporating some blue jean denim fabric into it.  I found a really cool long flowered denim skirt and a pair of plus sized jeans in good condition at the thrift store, and after washing, made quick work of cutting into squares to use in my rag quilt.

I forgot to take a photo of the skirt by itself, but here are the jeans after I cut off the elastic waistband.  Don't ask me why I took the photo of them inside out, because I have no idea.  They're a really nice denim color, not faded at all (you can see it peeking out at the top).

Plus sized jeans ready to be cut into squares

The rag quilt that I'm working on now is going to be made with 6.5" squares, which will turn out to be 5.5" squares after ragging.  I was able to get 38 nice 6.5" squares from this one pair of plus size 28 jeans. I thought that was a good amount for my investment of $2.50!  When shopping the thrift stores, I try to pick out only the items that are 50% off for that day, and the original price of this pair of jeans was $4.99,  and for that amount of usable denim fabric, that's a very good deal.

Ended up getting 38 6.5" squares from that one pair of jeans

My original plan was to have the rag quilt completely reversible, with each square having the same front and back, but I didn't have enough of the other cotton fabrics (also reclaimed) to work out that way, so I adjusted.  Since most of the other fabrics had flowers, I decided to use the flowered denim squares on the front also, and go with all denim for the back.  I ended up with enough to do blocks of 7x9, so I need  63 squares for both top and bottom (and the flannel filling also).  I'll still need one more pair of jeans to have enough squares for the back.  I have five squares of the flowered denim left so I think I might put one in each corner and the middle square of the back, just for a little visual contrast, and to tie it in with the quilt top. Will wait until I get the rest of the squares for the back before I made the final decision.

Here's the final layout of the front of the rag quilt.  I can't wait to get the other jeans and finish cutting the back squares to I can get to stitching!  

Layout for the top of my reclaimed denim rag quilt

The other flowered and burgundy fabrics are from scrub tops - another thrift store find!

Do you recycle clothing or other items to use in your craft projects?

~ Marie Anne

Denim Rag Quilt, Coming Up!

I'm excited to get started on my next rag quilt, which will include some denim.  I had two pretty flower print fabrics from reclaimed clothing that were similar colors, and since both had blue in them, I thought recycled blue jeans would be perfect to pair with them.

Two pretty flowered fabrics reclaimed from scrubs!

I took samples of these two fabrics with me when I went gallivanting in town this morning, and I found another top with burgundy, and also a nice flowered denim midi skirt and another pair of jeans fairly cheap.  I found a light blue print that I'm undecided about, but will cut up a square or two of everything and see how it looks before making a final decision.  Not sure if I want to use both denims in this quilt or not either.  

I think I want to make a reversible quilt, where each square is the same on front and back, but that's going to depend on how many squares I get from each fabric that I have, and I'm going to commence cutting on the denim and burgundy as soon as they get out of the wash.  

Flowered fabric paired with light blue print,
flowered denim skirt, and blue jeans

These are 6 1/2" squares, but will be approximately 5 1/2" after ragging.  I'd like to make it big enough for a couch throw size rather than baby blanket, but that's also going to depend on the amount of squares I get out of all this.  I'm still fairly new to the whole quilting/rag quilting thing and this will be my first time working with denim, but I'm excited to get started on this project!  More pics to come in future posts as I get the jeans cut up and get my squares laid out for my cotton/denim rag quilt.  Stay tuned!

~ Marie Anne

Newest Knit Dishcloth/Washcloth, Almost Lost

I was poking around on Pinterest last night and saw this neat knit dishcloth that looked easy, and thought I'd give it a try.  I normally don't like to knit as much as I do crochet, but I really like the feel of certain knitted dishcloths as they're more pliable than crochet, in my opinion.  I like the old standard diagonal cloth because I think it has more 'give' than a straight stitch, but this one, called "Almost Lost", is more of a circle, so the stitches aren't straight back and forth either, which is what piqued my interest. She actually labels it as a washcloth, but I will use mine as a dishcloth, and honestly, I find that the two are pretty much interchangeable.

The pattern calls for a size 8 knitting needle , which I didn't have (or couldn't find), so I started off with a size 9, and thought that was way too big and the stitches extremely loose.  The next closest size I could find a matching pair of was size 5, so I grabbed those next.  I actually did like the slightly tighter weave I got with the size 5 needles, but of course it came out much smaller than I anticipated.  I think I might move up to a size 6 needle and see if I can adapt the pattern to make it larger.

The pattern itself was pretty quick to work up, as long as I didn't lose my place.  It's the first time I ever knitted in this fashion, where you knit part of a row, then turn and knit back the way you just came, leaving the remainder of the stitches from the previous row on the needle without knitting them on that row.  It's not a hard concept to grasp at all, just have to make sure you finish the row before setting it down or you might get confused and think you're in the middle of a row rather than the beginning.  Sounds confusing, but it's explained pretty clearly in the pattern instructions.

So here's my first attempt at the "Almost Lost" knit washcloth.  I also think that variegated yarns look prettier in most knit  patterns than they do crochet, so that was a plus since I don't think I had a full ball of a solid cotton yarn in my stash.

My first attempt at the "Almost Lost" knit dishcloth

I'll definitely be making more of these knit dishcloths to list for sale in my Etsy shop.  They'll still take a little longer to knit than crochet, but I think this pattern will work up faster than the few other knitted dishcloth patterns I've tried, so I'm going to give it a go.

~ Marie Anne

The Crooked Yarn Takes a Turn Towards English Paper Piecing (EPP)

English Paper Piecing (EPP) is hand stitching fabric pieces using paper or card stock as templates. Because you're using small bits of fabric and don't need a sewing machine, this is a very portable craft that can be done most anywhere.

Let me start off by saying that I don't quilt (although it's something I've always wanted to learn), and I don't sew, except for the occasional button or loose hem, so this was a big step for me to try to learn English Paper Piecing (EPP).  A few friends at church are avid quilters, and one of them offered to show us what EPP was all about, and I was off and running.

She started us off with a large star that could be used as a wall hanging or table decoration, perhaps as a small centerpiece to display a candy dish or candle.  Mine is far from perfect, but I think I did ok for my very first piece, and now I'm hooked.

First EPP project - a Christmas star
©Marie Anne St. Jean

I had plenty of the owl and green fabric left for another EPP project, so I decided to make a Christmas tree.  I haven't decided yet whether I'm going to leave it as is with the tree entirely green with the owl as an angel tree topper, or add more owls in the tree itself.

EPP Christmas tree
©Marie Anne St. Jean

I think I like this version which leaves the tree open to adding other small embellishments as decorations.  I need to find some brown fabric to make the trunk, and then I'll be able to stitch this together.

I hope to continue learning more about English Paper Piecing and have more projects to share in the future.  If you'd like to learn more about EPP, keep an eye on this blog, and also make sure that you're subscribed to my Crafts column on Examiner, as I'll be publishing hints and tips about EPP there as well.

More to follow!

~ Marie Anne

New Project - Baby Socks With Crochet Edging

I'm always trying to think of new things to crochet, and since I've been working with thread so much, I  wanted to  make something else besides doilies.  I suck at trying to crochet clothes, but thought it would be neat to try doing lacy edgings on things, so I thought baby socks with a cute trim would be something easy to try for a first project.

As luck would have it, I had a tough time finding plain white baby socks when I was in town the other day. Walmart had ONE pair of plain white socks so I grabbed them, but even these aren't the type I really wanted.  They're fairly thick, and the cuff rolls down twice, which made it interesting.

I did a simple border of pink and yellow for my first attempt at crocheting a trim on baby socks, and I think they came out ok, except for the border being so low because of the way they're folded.  I'm going to have to try to find a source for toddler and baby thin cotton socks that only fold down once.

My first baby socks with a crocheted edging

I plan on crocheting pastel and bright colored borders on the socks, thinking they'll be cute with Easter dresses and summer sundresses when sandals aren't appropriate.  I'll probably send this pair to my granddaughter to try out for me.  I hope they fit!

This border was a real simple one, but I ordered a book the other day that's just crochet borders and edgings, so I'll get more creative as I do more of them - again, if I can find socks!

Have you ever crocheted edgings on items already made?

~ Marie Anne

Easy Doily Pattern for My First Project

I've never been very successful when working with thread crochet, but recently decided to try out filet crochet and realized it wasn't as hard as it looked.  I'm still perfecting that, but decided since I had tiny hooks and thread out, I'd try making a simple doily.

I made one doily decades ago and it turned out ok, then made a second one and it didn't work out quite as well.  I don't know what happened, but it was a completely different size.  I gave up after that, until yesterday.

I went searching for easy doily patterns to start with, and some that said they were for beginners still looked a bit daunting to me, but I found this Petite Pineapple Doily that didn't look too bad.  Mine came out larger and with larger holes in the piece itself because I didn't use the right size crochet hook, but I just wanted to see if I could do it and wasn't so much concerned about size and evenness of stitches.

My first doily in decades - Petite Pineapple Doily

I didn't have much trouble working this pattern, except got a little confused on the very last row.  In my defense, it was late at night and I'd been working on it off and on most of the day (did quite a bit of frogging when I noticed mistakes), so considering my state of mind and wrong hook size, I'm satisfied with how it turned out.  I still need to wash and block it, as this photo shows it straight off the hook.

I'm definitely going to be doing more crocheting with thread, and just this morning ordered a full set of hooks as a late Christmas present for myself. I think I've earned it!

Update:  I made a second doily and I'm pretty pleased with how they both turned out.  Click to see a photo of both doilies.

Do you enjoy working with thread, or are you all thumbs like I was for a long time? I'm going to be writing up some tips for working with small crochet hooks and thread, and also for doing filet crochet. Look at the top of the right sidebar to subscribe to my craft articles on Examiner, as I might publish some of the tips as articles there.

~ Marie Anne