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Seed Starting: Newspaper Pots
In the Pacific Northwest, it’s time to start your garden—or at least start thinking about your garden—if you haven’t already. Even if you aren’t ready to get outside quite yet, you can start by doing your garden planning and starting some seeds indoors. An easy, fun, and inexpensive way to start seeds indoors is in newspaper pots! Newspaper pots are great because you probably already have all the supplies you need at home and—because most newspapers now use organic pigments—they’re biodegradable and can be planted straight out into the garden. If you aren’t sure what kind of ink your local newspaper uses, check their website or just contact them and ask. To…
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Holiday Gift Idea- Quilted Potholders!
Every year, I post something holiday gift related. This year, I have another fun and easy handmade gift idea for you: quilted potholders! I have made quite a few of these for friends, family, craft sales and myself. I have a very well-loved (i.e. a little food stained) potholder in my kitchen that I use everyday, so these potholders are pretty and functional! These potholders are quilted, have a pocket and loop and are finished with binding. Since the way I do the binding is best explained visually, I’ve included a couple of videos for this tutorial. Part 1 shows how I do the quilting and has tips for marking lines, using a walker foot…
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Holiday Gift Idea- Handmade Pillow Tutorial
Surprisingly, I recently just made my first pillow ever. I have made clothing, all kinds of housewares, and dogs beds galore (which are very similar), but never a pillow. I found out I love sewing pillows! They are so easy and satisfying to make. And what a great gift idea! I mean, everyone needs pillows, right? I made several of these for the Blithe Bazaar, so I got a lot of practice, and I sold them all! So if you are in search of a handmade gift idea for the holidays, make this pillow. Make it now and I will show you how! It sews up quick too! This tutorial is…
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Guest Post by Kate: Cold Process Soap Tutorial
I am proud to announce, that here to kick of the holiday season, with an amazing and inspiring tutorial on soap making, is guest blogger, Kate Baker! Fun fact, Kate is the sister of Rake and Make logo designer, Chip Baker. Talented family! Thanks Kate for this post! I totally want to try this now. Or I might just try to get some of what Kate made. It looks awesome. I have smelled previous batches and they smell amazing too! Happy Holidays everyone. Maybe you can make some soap for gifts now too. Look out for next weeks post on my personal favorite handmade holiday gift, cloth napkins! -Lilly Ever…
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Braiding Garlic
Okay, so I harvested my garlic about a month ago. Curing only takes about 2-3 weeks, so my garlic is sure to be well cured by now. Now it’s time for braiding! One quick note before we begin. I learned a lesson about curing garlic this year. In past years, I have always hung my garlic on string to cure. This year, since I harvested so many heads of garlic, I cured my garlic on old screen door on a couple of sawhorses. Here’s why hanging them works better. A few heads had rotten spots on one side and I am attributing that to lack of airflow on the side…
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Pysanky Tutorial
I swear it’s not in the Rake and Make submission guidelines that you have to be a retired rollergirl to submit, because we don’t have submission guidelines (yet)! It just so happens that rollergirls tend to be multi-talented gals, who want to do it all. It also happens that I met some really amazing ladies during my roller derby years, that have become lifelong friends. One of them is Sarah Ruppert. Sarah’s roller derby roots go deep. Her skate name was “Bonnie Collide” and she was on the Sockit Wenches, who were the Throttle Rocket’s rivals (Flower and I were Throttle Rockets). Not only does she have a sister who skated…
