Making a gnome and wax on jellies

I have been seeing these gnomes all over the internet and I thought, I could try that. So I did. I had some leftover wool roving for the beard and to keep his hat lifted I took a toilet paper roll and snipped one end to a point and glued the point together before gluing to the top of the head and adding a sock. The buttons were from the leftover heart button project from last year.

The body is the regular way you see many sock creatures on line... stuffed with rice and tied with rubber bands, same with the nose. 

Put a half sock over his bottom and add the beard. I put the beard, aka the wool, glued onto a piece of leftover triangle batting from a quilt. 

I think he is kinda cute and will create more... so many ideas were swimming in my brain after I made this little magically guy. 

It has been warm the last two days.  We consider this the warm before the storm since it is suppose to snow tonight and this weekend. The birds were loving it. 

I learned something about making jam this week.  I love making jellies and jams and have gotten pretty good at it. My mom taught me. With six kids to raise, she had to find ways to save and making her own jams and jellies was one way. 

Look closely at the bottom right of my pantry and you will see a box of wax.  Growing up my mom would seal her jellies with a layer of wax on top instead of sealing with lids and rings.  I knew this method was pretty much discontinued but why? Here is what I found out - The temperature in a pantry can fluctuate causing the wax to expand and contract. This caused, at times - not always, mold.  It is a type of mold that even if scraped off has invisible vines climbing down into the jelly.  That's not the really bad part. The really bad part is they have found that this type of mold is a carcinogenetic.  To make jams and jellies we usually use large amounts of sugar. To me that make sense that this mold is a carcinogenetic,  sugar is something cancer feeds on. Learning this today was a big ah-ha moment for me and fascinating.

I still like to keep the box to think of those who tried a different method.

oh... and I survived those wax seal yummy jams and jellies Mom made without a single tummy ache. 

peace