Crafters- What are you making???

[debilorrah]

I plan on using all the feathers around to make trees and ornaments. We have absolutely no money for the holidays, so I have to work with what God gives me. I can afford the glitter

 

[Zookeeper9000]

Ok I got the pins I was talking about but won't get pics today. This week is crazy as it is the week of the harvest dinner for the lions club and my sister and I are the cooks. Every member brings 2 deserts and another member with help bakes about 30 pies. But me and my sister cook 112 chickens. They are already cut into pieces but we cook them and all the fixings. Potatoes, gravy, stuffing, rutabegas, corn, carrot, coleslaw, pickel/relish tray, cranberries. And I am sure I am forgetting something, oh buns. And the meatballs 14 and 3/4 trays of meatballs (140 a tray) made from scratch, we serve them in gravy as well. We also sell pastys so those were made the week before (600). This dinner is tomorrow all you can eat for $6. kids 6 and under free. But I will take pics of the pins Monday and get them posted.

I have 24 of those spiders done another 10 ready to bead the legs and another 30 bodies and just bought tons of beads (couldn't resist). Now I have a new ? for you all. Now that the spiders are on their way to being done. What are you all doing with the story. I would love to see how you are going to include the story in with the spider. Thanks, my favorites are the ones that are orange body with orange legs. Well I like them all LOL>

 

[debilorrah]

Zoo - can you post the patterns?

 

[Athena]

Im sorry about this post. I had meant for it to go to the crochet thread, granny squares...
Im in edit, and I dont see a delete post funtion... can a moderator delete this for me??
Thanks...
It's just too much post for someone to read, esp when it belongs elsewhere!!
Athena



Thank You ALL for a very warm welcome!!!!!
I do appreciate all the kind thoughts being sent my way.

I am here, till April of 09... and to be honest, I don't need anything, thank you for the kind offers... but if your so inclined to send something, send something to "my" troops.

Let me tell you about me... and what I do here..

I am a systems engineer by trade...but, volunteered to come when an old boss called and told me they needed someone with my skills... Well, that wasn't entirely true..because as you can quite imagine, I do alot of stuff here that I never dreamed of doing. Not just systems, but radios, radar, telephones, you name it. If there is something "communication" about it, they call me!
Often sometimes, I struggle with a "quick" resolution, but, I get it done!

I live in an 8x12 metal trailer.. a conex. We have separate toilet and shower trailers nearby. The entire area is covered in dirt/sand and gravel. I work in a tent/trailer. I will try and post a photo if I can. Everyone walks everywhere, as vehicles are a premium. Not that I am spoiled, but, living conditions are.. in one word!!!.... austere! I'm not fond of camping, and this is camping, and then some. The reverse would be like troops outside the wire, who sleep where and when they can. Least I have a twin size bed to rest my head on. (and I might add, most times I have AC in my conex, and running water in the shower trailer!)

If there is anything I gripe about, its that I have not had a day off since I have been here... (7 months)... but, I made the mistake of saying that to someone in the post office one day, and an Army troop behind me said.. "Ma'am, I have been here 15 months, and no days off"... So, someone is always worse off, right???

I still tho, will continue to beg to have a day off, even once in awhile, just so I can do my own laundry... We have a company that does our laundry.. KBR, but, who likes getting their clothes washed with other people's clothes that they don't even know?? And I am convinced the laundry detergent they use, is whats causing me to itch like crazy all the time. Thats one of the main reasons, I want to make my own detergent when I come home. So that one day my skin will feel the way it used too...lol..

I work 12 hours a day, from midnight till noon, 7 days a week.
At first, I thought I was going to go mad with these hours, as I have such a hard time sleeping during the day, and in this heat, (and when there is no power, my conex feels like it's 180 degrees in there). But, I have gotten myself, after all these months into a routine.

After work, I go to the chapel, where I am the volunteer coordinator for an outreach called Troy's Place.
Google - Maj Troy Gilbert, - and you can read his story.
The chapel is named in his honor, (Gilbert Memorial Chapel) and the outreach (Troy's Place) is as well. But, in a nutshell, Maj Gilbert was a pilot KIA while on a mission out of Balad. While stationed at Balad, he spent any and all of his free time at the chapel, and the one thing he truly enjoyed was reaching out to the younger troops in fellowship. With that in mind, the chapel established a ministry to support younger troops just like Troy would have done. In that effort, I coordinate all the volunteers to make sure anyone that comes into Troy's is well... taken care of. We have a small building outside the chapel and we provide a couple of TV rooms, a couple of computers, a desk for letter writing, a reading room, etc... We also have a room where we stock everything from cards and writing material to water, snacks, sandwiches, cookies, muffins, coffee, toiletries, etc.... All of these are donations sent in from around the world.

So, if you would like to send me something, please send it to Troy's... We can use your help. In my next post, if its permissible, I will post the letter that goes out to folks who write the chapel wanting to do something to help in our efforts...who want to donate and don't know what to send..

Even tho Troy's is a ministry run by the chapel, we make no huge religious overtures.. we accept everyone who comes in, and make them feel as comfortable as they can.

Troy's is also the place where we hold our battle bracelet class. We had quite a crowd in yesterday's class..
HINT*** If anyone can get ahold of 550 parachute cord, that would be great to send. I have a tough time getting colors here. We have the basic grey, green and black cords! Plus, we can always use BDU buttons, any and all colors! I will post a photo of this too..

I am former Air Force, spent ten years active duty as an intel analyst, and this, out of my entire career, has been the experience of a lifetime..

You know, so many bad things are said about our young men and women back home, but if these young men and women in uniform here at Balad are any indication of what our future is entrusted too, well, you have no worries. They have stood up to the challenge, and have passed in flying colors.

Thanks for allowing me my soapbox time, but I am proud of what we have accomplished here..

Athena sends...

ok, I don't know how to post a photo.. do I need to change a setting???

 

[Scrambled Egg]

Athena belongs to "us" in the crochet square swap thread and we got her confused enough to post the info we asked for from her, here in this thread instead..BUT..the battle bracelets are crafty and we are dying to know exactly what they are so hopefully she will post a picture of them and we can all make some. Personally, I think it is a good idea to be also thinking about things we all can make and send to our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and other places they may be away from home this holiday season so they feel more appreciated and connected with home......

Boy, dont I sound like a pathetic, old woman, LOL?!

Cynthia..I SOOOOO relate to that, loL!!!!

Zoo, you are a spider makin machine!!!!! I have 4 made and they take me hours to do!!! Dang you are fast!!! For the legend, just reduce it's size on a copy machine and print it out, cut it out and glue it on the back of the front of an old christmas card, or plain cardstock, you can wipe it with tea and make it look old or leave it bright and cheery and punch a hole in the corner, run a ribbon through it and tie it to your spider's leg...you are creative, you'll think of something!!!

plan on using all the feathers around to make trees and ornaments. We have absolutely no money for the holidays, so I have to work with what God gives me. I can afford the glitter

Well you sure do need to read this whole thread then becasue you will have more to do than most of us just using nature's bounty!!! Good luck!!​

 

[cknmom]

The rain didn't come like it was supposed to. It only spit here and there throughout the day. After dark it was more but still just sprinkling. so the girls played on the trampoline most of the day. They looked through the microscope for quite awhile. They didn't want to stay inside to make the ornaments. That's just fine, now DGD and I have two batches of salt clay to make some ourselves. So I guess we will mainly make Christmas ones. We will still make a few halloweeen ones for us and DMIL and my Mom both of whom we will be seeing on halloween.

The girls did love making their own pizzas though, none of them had ever had homemade pizza before. Part way through the evening I brought out a package of tattoo gel pens with stencils. They had great fun putting tattoos on each other and themselves.

Monica

 

[okiemommy]

Sounds like a fun birthday!!

Now to go back and read Athena's post and reply to it on the Swap thread

 

[piecemaker]

Quote:
I am interested in the battle bracelets too. Athena please let us know how to make them

piecemaker

 

[Scrambled Egg]

I found these links to the buddy/battle bracelets but no directions...apparently they are parachute cord and she says they are now using the defunct Iraqi coins instead of the BDU buttons...


http://www.theneverforgottensite.com/

http://www.combatbracelet.com/

 

[Zookeeper9000]

Quote:
I know Scrambled posted it some where on here I tried to find it but couldn't, hey Scrambled could you post the link or the instruction on here again for the spiders as Debi missed it, and I can't find it. I bead so I just looked and made.