a different kind of rhythm

It's been a while since I've done more "traditional" stitching.  There's something really soothing about the repetition of the blanket stitch through felted wool.  You just kind of get in the rhythm and your hands are doing their thing and then suddenly you're looking down at a finished piece and wondering how on earth that happened.

It's good to change things up every now and then, isn't it?

These are headed off to somewhere special.  More to come, soon.

I hope you all have a stellar Wednesday.  Go shake things up.

the girl's new goldfinch

Early this week I took a little time to finish one of the unfinished pre-holiday projects on my workbench.  I had this pretty but shrunken wool sweater on hand and have been meaning to make it into something wearable for my daughter.

It was nearly the right size for her already so using a shirt that currently fits her as a guide, I just trimmed a bit off of both sides of the body and the arms and sewed it up.  I also cut some length from the sleeves, leaving them long enough to cuff.

Using the cut-off cuff from one arm, I made a pocket for the front.  I also decided that the pre-finished neck looked a little too "finished" so I cut it off and made a more organic neckline.  I also did an exaggerated running stitch around it and the pocket for the same reason.  I wanted this to look handmade and the previous machine stitches weren't cutting it.

The color of the sweater reminded me of the thistles that grow in front of our house, and reminded me of the joy we get from watching the goldfinches hanging from them, eating seeds in the fall.  I decided that would be my theme.

Using scraps of felted wool I stitched on some thistles and a goldfinch.  The girl got a big kick out of having a bird on her belly.

She got an even bigger kick out of momma filling her new pocket with birdseed so she could feed the birds.

Naturally, the chickens love this new pocket too.

Have a good day, everyone.  Extra points if you fill your pocket with birdseed and feed the birds today.

Wordless Wednesday

Feeling Fruity

So it seems I've been on a fruit kick the past few days.  The dear Heather from artbyheather asked me like a year ago (seriously, a year ago), to make her an apple and orange ornament and I just now finished them.  I was so excited by the fruit fiesta that I decided to add a pear to the mix. 

I made a few of each and put the extras in the shop.  I just added the pears today, but the apples and oranges have already gone to their forever homes.  Isn't that great?

It must be a holiday thing, but I'm on an ornament kick so expect to see a few new offerings soonish. (I promise, it won't be a year)  I hope you'll stop back and check them out.

Monday's Mushroom

I'm starting this week with a teeny tiny mushroom brooch, made of recycled felted wool. Measuring just a wee 1.5" wide by 2" tall, it's a bit smaller than some of my other brooches but I kind of like this little niblet of a pin.

It just made its way into my Etsy shop.

Happy Monday!

I'm back!

After taking a few weeks off to finish up some projects, hang with the kiddies, and play a little at home, I'm back in the swing and feeling a little refreshed.

On my break I finished a couple of projects that I had been asked to do for an upcoming crafty book. It's due out this winter and I'll share the details later. Here's a sneak peek at one of the projects I've contributed.

I made jam. Lots of jam. 25 jars of jam. Mmmm. Strawberry, rhubarb, strawberry-rhubarb, balsamic strawberry, and apricot cardamom (which I'm using on tonight's porkchops).

The kids and I walked the beach a little. Which of course means going in the water, no matter how cold it might be.

My 3 year old found an enormous Lake Superior agate in the yard and recognizing it as one of momma's favorite pretty rocks, washed it in a mudpuddle and presented it to me. It weighs almost 12 ounces, he should be very proud.

I treated myself by making 4 terrariums, all for me! I don't know about you other crafty types, but I never make things for myself. My creative energy is spent making things for other people, so this was quite a treat for me, indeed.

Have a great day, everybody.

A wooly giveaway

I've been spring cleaning lately, going through the studio and putting excess supplies in my "extras" shop, and through the closets and donating bags of unworn clothing. I found, tucked away in a closet, my wool dress coat. It is several sizes too small (sadly), and not really my style anymore but holding it in my hands it was clear that it wanted to be useful to me somehow. It was begging to be cut up and used for crafting, and that's just what I did.




Because the weave of the coat was so dense, there wasn't really any felting that needed to be done. I cut it up at the seams, pulled out the liner and cut off the buttons, and washed it on hot for two cycles to make sure it was clean. After it dried and I ironed it out, it was a beautiful pile of felt - 2 and a half pounds worth - that was remarkably similar to commercial 3mm wool felt. Making your own wool felt is remarkably easy and if you're a wool lover I encourage you to try it. I'm so pleased with how it turned out that I'm offering a small giveaway to celebrate and share the recycled wool love.



I'm offering a small stack of recycled wool pieces and a little blackbird brooch made from the wool to one random reader. All you have to do is comment here and make sure I have a way to contact you should you be the winner. I'll be randomly drawing a name on Monday and will post the winner here.

Good luck!

Just a little bit

This is my wee project for the week. These little bitty hearts take just a little bit of time using just a little bit of wool but I like them a lot.

I use felted sweater material a lot in my crafting and inevitably end up with lots of scrap pieces, of all shapes and sizes. The teeniest pieces of scrap that can't be easily used in another project are cut up and made into stuffing, but the smallish pieces are sometimes made into these little hearts. (and then stuffed with the teeniest pieces of scrap)

I imagine them being surreptitiously slipped into your loved ones' pockets as a surprise "I love you!".

Begin again

felted wool heart ornaments - cupid - set of 12

I decided today to reopen my Etsy shop, but on a smaller scale, one that can accomodate my much busier schedule. It feels good, like a promise to myself that I'll be able to handle all the things I want to do, just on a different scale.

Something new

I was working on an ornament project last night, something that had been in my head for some time now, when all of a sudden the project turned into something different. I love when that happens! (I believe in happy accidents) So what had started out as ornament has turned into brooches and I have to say I'm pretty excited about them. They're so..so..me. Ok, so anything with moss and nature is pretty much me, but nonetheless... It feels good to be excited about a new project.

What I've done is made a nest from a piece of felted sweater and sewn in some bead eggs and attached it to a bed of "moss" (wool locks) and sewn in some teeny tiny wool leaves that I made, also of felted sweater. I sewed the moss and nest onto a backing and added a pinback.

I hope to get these in my Etsy shop this week, but am quite certain I'll be making one for myself in the meantime. :D

Wordless Wednesday

Working on the weekend

I spent some time this morning organizing the studio area. It's been largely unusable since this spring's floodings. My work tables were piled high with materials of every imagineable type in an effort to save them from the water so I've been doing all of my working in the living area of the house (much to my hubby's chagrin). I got down there early today and started to make it a usable space again and I can't wait until it's finished.

As a reward for my hard work, I treated myself to some sewing time and some of hubby's fresh from the oven soft pretzels (with mustard, naturally). I'm working on some teeny owl brooches today out of felted wool sweater material. They're each about 2" tall and have little vintage mother of pearl buttons for eyes.

What are you working on today?