Thanksgiving Owls

These are the only Thanksgiving crafts I made this year. Owls for my Thanksgiving tree. I forgot to take a picture of them on the tree, but here they are anyway.





I found the pattern for the owls here:
http://moonstitches.typepad.com/photos/owl_pennant/index.html

The Tree done, The Pumpkin patch and Thanksgiving Seasonal Table

I found this really yummy peach/orange woven fabric at Hobby Lobby on clearance. I snatched up a yard and decided to make pumpkins with it. I used this pattern http://sewing.about.com/library/weekly/aa101999.htm for the main part of the pumpkin. I just made up the stems myself. I also enlarged the pattern to make 1 big pumpkin. I think they turned out awesome.



I also made the 2 layered tree skirt. The bottom layer is orange burlap with brown bias tape on some of the edges. I used a decorative stitch in orange to topstitch the bias tape to the burlap. I then sewed a zigzag circle around about 1 1/2 inches from the edge. After that I unraveled the edges to look like fringe. The top layer was made on the potholder loom. I wanted a plaid look. I think it turned out great. I crocheted the edges with orange and brown to tie it all together and to bring in the colors of the bottom skirt layer.

I think the tree turned out awesome.



I found some great ornaments and made some more. I knew I wouldn't have that much time to get it done before Thanksgiving, so I'm glad I was able to buy some. I'll make more next year.



The seasonal table changed a bit from Halloween. I kept the jars, pinecones and bark on the table. I gathered some sticks from the yard for 2 of the jars. I put some fake flowers that my Nana bought for me while I was in college in the other jar. I made the turkey (see earlier blog). I found the dreamcatchers and ceramic pumpkins at dollar stores. Colin made the beautiful Mayflower on the table. Brian has been taking Colin to Home Depot once a month for workshops and this is what he made this month. Isn't it great.



The white turkey feather is from my neighbor's turkey. It comes to our yard all the time. Colin found it and thought it needed to go with the other Thanksgiving stuff.

Well that's about it. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Acorn Ornaments

Here are the acorn ornaments I made this week for the Thanksgiving Tree.





They were pretty quick to make. And they turned out way better than I thought they would.

Here is the pattern:
1. Create a magic ring and sc 6 sts into ring. Or ch 2, crochet 2 into the 2nd ch from the hook. (total 6 sc)
2. 2 sc in each sc; repeat until you get 12 sc
3. 2 sc in next sc, 1 sc in next sc; repeat until you get 18 sc
4. 2 sc in next sc, 1 sc in next 2 sc; repeat until you get 24 sc
5. 1 sc in next sc repeat for 24 sc6. sc2tog, 1 sc into next sc; repeat until you get 18

That's it for the cap. Then you just create a pompom much bigger than you need and shape it down to the right acorn nut shape.

Tipis or Teepees, however you want to spell it.

I know, I know, its most likely that the indians that the settlers ran into didn't live in tipis. They most likely lived in something like a wigwam or some other more permanent structure. But when you think of indians, tipis is often one of the things that comes to mind. So I made some for my thanksgiving tree.

They were really easy to make. It would be a great craft for adults to do with kiddos. I wouldn't consider it a kids only craft because you need to use hot glue at one point but other than that, its a kids craft.





Supplies
tan craft foam
permanent markers or paint with brushes
wooden toothpicks
brown embroidery floss or other matching colors
needle for floss
hot glue gun
hole punch - very small or something to carefully poke small holes into the craft foam

Enlarge the pattern to size.
Trace pattern onto tan craft foam.
Decorate the outside of the tipi with permanent markers or paint. Find books with tipi designs. I recommend "The Indian Tipi" by Reginald & Gladys Laubin. Its a great reference book on indian culture as well (for a few tribes anyway).
Punch holes where the pattern indicates.
Circle the tipi into the correct shape and sew together with embroidery floss.
Fold back smoke flaps and glue underside with hot glue to keep open.
Glue wooden toothpicks into top but running a bead of hot glue on the inside then inserting the glue through the hole into the glue.
Your done. I just put mine on the tree branches of my Thanksgiving tree, but you can used them for any kind of decorations.

Pattern:



Enlarge until the longest side is about 9 inches long.

Little Gobble Gobble

I made a cute turkey last weekend. I did it without a pattern. I saw a turkey on etsy that I liked and copied the body style. Of course, like always, I forgot to write the pattern down while I was making it. One of these day I'll learn to actually do that while I'm working, instead of thinking of it after the fact.

So here he is......

Thanksgiving Tree bought ornaments

Well I didn't think I'd get much done on the tree so I wimped out and bought a bunch of ornaments for it. Now I'm busy making ornaments too. I found in some of my fall/halloween decorations when I was putting halloween away, some fall leaves so I put those in the tree. At 99cent store, I found some great beaded foam pumpkins. At Family Dollar, I found some glittered apple ornaments. Remember those little apple ornaments that you used to get in elementary school at christmas from your teacher. Well they make them in glitter in red and gold now. I bought one pack of gold and one of red for $1.00 each. I also found some ornaments at Lowes. So basically, my tree looks decorated from the front, LOL. I'll keep making ornaments for it the rest of this week. I think the tree is turning out better than I expected. I wasn't sure how a white tree would look with fall ornaments on it, but it looks good.

Thanksgiving tree

So I've been working on a Thanksgiving tree since Halloween is over. I didn't want the tree to be bare. I also didn't want to take it down, decorate for Christmas early or leave up the Halloween decorations. So I decided to create a Thanksgiving tree. I'll be working on it for the next few weeks. I'll stop before Thanksgiving and post the result. Anyway, here is what I've made so far this week:

A Grain/Hay Stack Tree Topper:



I created this without a pattern. I used 3 different yarns to give color variation and used a large hook to crochet this. I was originally going to add crocheted chains to the outside for more texture but after adding a few I decided it didn't need it, but I didn't unattach them. I knotted extra yarn to the top of the stack to give it character. I also unraveled s few strands of yarn to also give it character. Then I just tied it around with a piece of yarn about 1/4 the way down.

Garland:



Made from Hemp twine, pony beads and wooden beads.

Knitted and Crocheted Indian Corn:


I cast on 15 stitches with mustard yellow yarn. Then used a Seed or Moss Stitch to create the kernels. I randomly switched my yellow yarn out with a fall multi colored yarn to give it more that indian corn look. I did this until it was about 3 inches long. I didn't count rows, sorry. To finish it off, I sewed up the top and bottom of the work. Next I gathered one end together to make the tip of the corn. I tied on a piece of husk colored yarn and unraveled it to look like cornsilk. Stuff the corn. On the other end, I crocheted a circle to fit inside the open end and then sc the circle onto the corn. Then crochet random sized loops pulling the outer edges into the center, all the way around the corn. Tie a string around the loops to gather them up. Use one of the longer loops to hang on the tree or simply use them as decorations in a bowl, cornicopia or where every.