Nicole Alderman

One of the pie perks is to be able to tell where you've read in a post. It puts a blue line below the last post you've read. There's also an option to have permies take you straight to the last post you've read in a thread. So, if there's a bunch of new posts since you've looked at a thread, it'll take you to the last post from when you last looked at the thread. I'll give you a piece of pie so you can see what I'm talking about .

At the top of each page, you can also click "bookmark topic" and it'll give you email notifications any time someone posts to it, even if you've never posted in that thread. I think this is a normal feature, not a pie feature.

We're actually working on a way for pollinators and staff to add keywords to images in a thread. Maybe we can find a way to also add keywords to the thread, itself. That's a good idea!

Mandy, thank you for sharing this video! I watched it a while back and it was stunning to see differences in quality. It was great to see how she wasn't angry at her dress being knocked off, but rather how many resources were wasted to make a dress that wasn't even worth wearing. To think of the people being paid slave wages to make a dress out of a non-renewable resource (petroleum) that isn't worth wearing because it's so misshapen...and even if it were worn, it would fall apart because the fabric was so thin and the stitches so far apart. The quality is so low that it can't even be repurposed. It's a waste.

Meanwhile, something like the dress Bernadette made has sturdy fabric and tight stitches so that it can be worm many, many times. Thinking back historically, it used to be that people only had 2 or 3 sets of clothes. Clothes take a lot of resources, and they take time to make. So, they were made very, very well so that they could be mended and passed on from generation to generation. People actually bequeathed their clothes in their wills, and fashion itself changed slowly--basically ways they could alter their existing clothes slightly to give a new look.

We buy nearly all of our clothes at the thrift store (I would much rather make good use of resources by not spending a lot, and saving things from landfills. I think it's important to the resources--cloth and hours put into the cloth--that already exist). But, some of the cloth I've gotten is so poor quality that I can't even mend it--it falls apart as I try to sew a patch on to it. I'm saddened by the resources (the water and land used to grow the fibre, energy used to harvest and process it, people paid low wages to make it) that have pretty much gone to waste.

I've read some neat NPR articles recently about the amount of resources and energy that goes into fast fashion. I'm going to see if I can find them again!

Today I took a gallon of entries, three tablespoons of luck, and a cup of chance. I stirred it all together, kneeded it a little, and baked it in the oven at 350 F, waited 30 minutes (rotating it once haldway through for even baking), and when I pulled it out, I had this lovely four layer winner cake!


Congratulations to:

Annie Davies
Jennie Little
Kate Downham
Gail Jardin

I'll be sending each of you a PM. Please respond by Sunday to claim your prize!

Big thanks to Jill Winger for joining us this week and filling our forum with tasty discussions and mouthwatering answers!

I think Jay is the one who first used "Pacific North Wet" .

Look at which ducks are eating the oyster shell--those are the ones laying. I could figure out who laid each day by who ate the oyster shell that day. If they're not laying, they won't eat the oyster shell. If they're laying, they'll go to town on it.

If it were January, and the days were getting longer, I would question them starting to lay this early. I don't think any harm will come to them from laying so early, but I could be wrong. How do the eggs look? Are they small (like chicken size) or big?

You got 9 eggs in two days. Chances are, 4 of them came from the older two ducks. That leaves 5 eggs for the other ducks. I've heard that ducks can start laying after 4 months. Were any of them smaller? It could also be that the older ducks were hiding their eggs under the bedding during the colder days, and then uncovered them. I've had that happen, where I thought there were no eggs, only to find they'd been burying them in the bedding!

Would a strip of long magnet be okay?

When I was a kid, my mom sewed curtains that had a drawsting on the side and could be pulled up and down. They had a magnetic strip down the sides, so they sealed against the sides of the window frame. They were made like quilts and so probably insulated really well. I'm going to see if she has any patterns or remembers how she made them. Even pictures would be helpful at this point, as I think I'd like to make some, too!

I'm making an Apple Poll based on this thread: Worst Christmas Songs. What is your favorite Christmas song? What one brings back happy childhood memories and fills you with joy? What song speaks to you? What song is the best written/composed? Or are there a bunch you love and you just can't decide? I know I have so many that I love. Vote here!

[applepoll]

And, once again, if you want a song added to this list, mention it in the comments and I or another staff will try to get it added!

And, if  you just can't stand Christmas songs, there's a poll for that, too! https://permies.com/wiki/73205/Apple-Poll-Worst-Christmas-Song

Toby Ornot wrote:That looks great!

Face looks fine to me!  Eyes always look "different" on models or toys, creeps me out two 🤣

I have a friend making metal framed woven horses I will try and get a photo this weekend if you are interested?

I'd love to see pictures! It's so neat to see all the different ways people can make so many different things!

I'm so glad it looks good! I tend to get second-thoughts about my creations and start finding/imagining flaws.

Thank you all! ♥

I thought it might be fun and interesting to take pictures of one of my projects from start to finish. This is a needle felted horse.

First I arrange pipecleaners in a rough 'skeleton.' I wrap the leg pipe cleaners around the body/neck pipecleaners. Then, I tie each strand of embroidery floss to the skeleton so they can't come undone. Not much is worse than having your doll's hair fall out!!!



Then I wrap the skeleton with roving and tack it down with the three-needle felting needle pen, This helps hold the skeleton together.



Now I just continue adding more and more and more roving, trying to stick with the rough anatomy of the horse. The roving will compress a LOT, so I don't worry about some areas being too thick or thin.



Then I just keep adding more and more roving and packing it in. It's still too fluffy, and the anatomy is still a bit off, so I keep refining as I add more and more roving.



I like to make the horse nice and firm, so it's less likely to unfelt or become mishappen as it's played with. I add more roving to areas that are a little too thin or too fluffy. And just keep felting and felting. About 4 or 5 hours after the last picture, I've arrived at this state.



Another view--I still need to trim the hair so there's no more loops and the hair is more even.



Here's a view of the face--does it look okay? I don't like putting eyes because they always seem to have weird expressions or look creepy to me...



And a top view

Christopher Shepherd wrote:Why do I get this looking for it? Oooops.. You don't have sufficient privileges to access this forum

I think I fixed the glitch... Can you access the forum now?