Jun 10
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

I had scraps after the last round of cutting up postcard base material (Timtex and Fast-to-Fuse, for those who wants to know) because they were an odd size and 4×6″ didn’t fit evenly. So now I have 2″ and 1″ squares to decorate and punch holes in and attach to things.

Part of the cool set of punches includes eyelet setters. The whole set is for the scrapbooking crowd. They get cool tools specially made for them in ways the quilters don’t seem to. So I cruise the scrapbooking aisle whenever I hit the craft store. That’s where I first saw… the eyelets.

I have an ongoing fascination with the eyelets. I think that is why I chose holes for this month, so I had a reasonable excuse to get eyelet punches and the little metal eyelets themselves. Sweet little holes. Rows and rows of holes.

I nearly came home with a grommet punch and setter last night.

In other news, River and Sage came to play today. It is such a treat to see them, our old favorite neighbors who moved and are now treasured friends.

When I called Alice downstairs for breakfast, River and Sage were perched on the edge of Alice’s bed while the witch puppet (courtesy of Alice) told them they would be cleaning the bathrooms and making all the meals for the next month (I think she was channelling Auntie Tribulation from Nightbirds on Nantucket). When I remonstrated with the witch, River said “That’s all right, we were going to tie her up next.” Clearly they had a plan.

Later, after food, repeated games of Blokus, dollies and running about, they were sitting in Alice’s room thinking about what to do next. I heard several ideas floated, including going in the backyard, going fishing (except I left my fishing pole at home, says River) sidewalk chalk, until Alice suggests “We could go dynamite a car dealership”. This is greeted with silence for a moment, until River says “we’d probably go to jail” and Alice agrees “and our parents would be disappointed in us” and Sage says “wouldn’t the dynamite be hard to get? plus you don’t want to hurt anyone”… so they decided to go outside instead.

She’s nine. She’s a girl. Where does she get these ideas?

Jun 9
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

An exercise in making your eyeballs wobble. Did it work?

I used this leaf punch, pointed to by Mimi K months ago, to cut out a bunch of leaves.

It needed the cool hammer (see  Jun 8) and a mat that I wasn’t trying dimly to protect before I could smack the punch hard enough to get through all the layers. I realized they were an exercise in symmetry as well as holes.

Jun 8
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

Elegant lines of holes in eye popping pink and purple fabrics. The punches are so sharp, I didn’t need the eyelets to neaten them up.

I have two sets of punches. The first set is old, and interesting, and was given to me by a friend, and  has character and a history and even a great wooden holder:

and all the edges need sharpening. I didn’t realize this was the case until I broke down and purchased this:

soulless, mass produced, no history, no sweet wooden block, one quarter as many choices of size, and yet, I am smitten. And embarrassed. These ones work so well. The hammer. Just look at the cuteness factor on that hammer. Unfortunately, even using the cute hammer on the old punches doesn’t work that well. They really need sharpening. I need to ask my dad if they can be sharpened.