Making The Most Of It

Thanks so much for all of your sweet comments on my post this Wednesday.  Although I'm not entirely ready for winter, sometimes you just have to go with it.  The sun came out this afternoon and much of the snow has melted already, and so far, no flooding.  (crossing fingers)  Yay! 

Now, I've been on the lookout for enough oakmoss lichen to do some dyeing with but haven't had much luck.  I've found a tuft here and there but most of it seems to be higher up in the branches of... pines.... wait a minute! 

Why, I have a number of pines just laying in the wood pile, courtesy of the storm!  So I said to myself "Self, it's time to get the gathering basket and rubber boots" and out I went.  Sadly, Self did not pipe up about gloves or warm socks but I still gathered a good amount of lichen before I sissied out and returned to my post in front of the wood stove. 

Oh, look!  Fungus!

I gathered enough oakmoss (I guess I'm no rolling stone, huh?) to make me happy.  I brought in some needles too, just to enjoy the scent.  While gathering I was surrounded by the scent of the pine mingling with the smell of the wood smoke from our fire.  When the day comes that we leave this place, that is the smell that will take me back here.

The lichens are now soaking in a jar with some wool, and I hope to show you some natural dyeing results soon.  The pines are in our tree pile and will be cut up for firewood eventually.  We heat with wood throughout the winter and there is no shortage of downed trees to help keep us warm. 

Have a great weekend, everyone.  I hope yours is warm and cozy.

Crafting For Ourselves

Check out some of the wonderful things I've found in the Crafting For Ourselves group this week.  I'm really loving the colors and textures I'm seeing, don't you?

We're entering the holiday season, or the "fat" season as my hubby calls it, and I'm really looking forward to seeing the fabulous baking and gift-making that everyone is doing.  If you'd like to join us on flickr, please do!  You can join our group here.  If you're not on flickr but have a project you'd like to share that you've made for you or your loved ones, let me know in the comments, I'd love to see.

1. Felted Slow Cloth WIP, 2. Making Notecards, 3. Halloween iPod cozy, 4. Wool felt Christmas bell, 5. Balls of Moss, 6. Herr Igel, 7. fig leaf shadow, 8. felted acorns tutorial, 9. Coat - back

Weathery Wednesday

Look what mother nature delivered us yesterday.  We were in the epicenter of a bomb cyclogenisis, or what they're calling a land hurricane yesterday.  It amounted to a lot of wind, rain, and as you can see, snow.

This is my driveway.  Guess I'm not going anywhere today.  There are 5 pines down, 4 of which were torn up by their root balls.

Today's view from the mailbox.

Today will be spent hauling and cutting trees, stoking the wood stove, and preparing for the possible flood in my basement from the past few days of precipitation.  Good times.  Good times.

I had planned to do a little shop update this week but I think it may have to be pushed back a bit.  More on that later.

I hope you all have a warm and cozy Wednesday.

Rainy Wishes

It must be my fault.  I wished it would rain last week so I could see some mushrooms before the snow came and now it's been raining for days.  We may see snow later this week so I think I'd better head out to the woods in my rain gear if I want to see any fungus.

I've been busy with life stuff around here; kids, school, home, and haven't had much time to craft or explore but I hope to be back soon with something interesting to share.

'Til then, friends.

Meringue Mushrooms

I am in love.

As if I weren't addicted to mushrooms as it was, now I've found a recipe for mushroom sweets!  I made these up last night and I thought they were super easy to make.  I used this recipe.  I wasn't sure what size to make the caps and stems so I decided to just wing it and make an assortment and they all turned out great.  The next time I make them, I'll make the stems a bit larger but I'm happy with my first attempt. 

And seriously, how cute are these?!

Another busy day here, I have 7 kids on hand so I'm going to be doing some art projects to keep them busy.  I'm feeling rather glad that hubby picked up a bottle of wine yesterday because I suspect that I'll need some at the end of the day.  :)

Happy Friday everyone!

Approaching Winter

It's been a busy week here beneath the poplar and pine.  I haven't had much time to blog this week or to spend much time outside with my camera.  The weather is turning and Autumn is making way for Winter.  The gardens have been harvested with exception for my parsnips which will be harvested in the spring when the ground thaws.  The hot house has been put away, a new coop has been built for the chickens, the bread is being baked and frozen, firewood being stacked, preparations being made for the long winter.  Even the chickens have been busy.

I figured I'd treat myself with a quick lap around the yard this morning to snap a few photos, returning to the house when I could  no longer feel my fingers. 

This is what I saw today.

Remember these guys?  They're looking a little wrinkly these days.  (I can relate)

We're seeing blue skies and leafless trees.

Frost on the foliage.

And just a few Oak leaves that haven't dried to a crispy brown yet.

I found this little leaf on the ground this morning and carried it around with me for a while before planting him on a stump.

I checked out the stubborn pine stump that I've been slowly working at removing.  I plan to make something out of it and have been hosing away the dirt from the roots.  Hubby even tried to pull it out with the tractor but so far it's not budging.

Don't you love the patterns in the wood from the beetles that burrowed beneath its bark?

My crafting time has been a little wandery this week.  I have a few things in progress that I hope to show you next week.  (hopefully)

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.  Stay warm.

Thrifted Odds And Ends

I thought I'd show you some more of my garage sale finds today.  I scope out yard sales for a lot of practical stuff like crafting supplies, clothes, kitchen tools, home repair stuff, etc. but sometimes just can't pass up some of the less "neccessary" items.  Here are but a few.

I found these old light fixtures with their beautiful glass for 50 cents each.  My first thought was that I would turn them into nightlights but now I'm thinking I may have hubby rewire them so we can put them in the house.  I love the one with the circles.

I found this old wooden box that someone had handmade, (probably in wood shop or something since it's really crooked) at the thrift store.  It was marked $20 on the back but I paid $2.  My husband questioned my judgment on spending 2 dollars, but I thought it was kind of charming.  I plan to hang this on my wall.

I found this beautiful tin on the free table at a garage sale.  It's silver and perfectly worn, rusted, and chipped.  When I opened it up I saw that had previously held a heating pad.  Wow!  I'm not sure what they package heating pads in these days but I'm pretty sure it isn't in a fancy tin.

Speaking of free tables, I found the beautiful wooden shutters that are now making their appearance in some of my photography on the roadside, free.  They renovated a 1920s farmhouse down the road from us (side note: dream property...500 acres, barn, workshop, restored home, 70,000 norway pines planted in 1975...yes please.)  and were dumping the shutters.  These are assembled with wooden dowels rather than nails and they're perfectly weathered and grey.  Love.

Lastly for today, I picked up this awesome old book from 1941 and a silver bell from the 1970s.  The book is filled with really interesting maps and some oddly outdated information.   The bell was just pretty but I quickly realized that having a functioning bell in our house is not a good idea.  Kids + loud clanging bell = migraine.

What kinds of treasures do you look for?

 

Wow! What A Week

Yeah, the title kind of covers it.  Wow.  What a week!  
Sometimes life hands you a sweet package and this week seemed to be just that for me.

Yesterday, Etsy ran an article about my wooden bowl collection.  This article was first run on the rikrak blog.  Thank you Kristal!  Thank you Etsy!  You are both amazing.

Jennie from Sweet Greens has a little interview with me (and my giant face) on her site and is offering a giveaway.  I'd love it if you'd stop by and enter.

The photo of my boy holding the dazed bird was Conservation Minnesota's photo of the week. 

I won a blog giveaway (ok, well I was the winner late last week but close enough) hosted by the uber sweet and talented Fringe whose work I have coveted for ages.  I get this gorgeous cowl you see below.  Big hooray!

I managed to do a quick shop update yesterday featuring some new work.  I'm especially proud of my newest mushroom sculpture.  It's pretty large and it feels very natural to me, as if I could bump into these on one of my mushroom hunts. 

And now, to top it off, I get to pick a winner of the recycled t-shirt scarf.  Thank you so much to everyone who entered and left such great comments. 

Here it goes, picked by the random number generator......  (drumroll please) .... the winner is

Sonia!!

You can visit Sonia's lovely blog here and her Etsy shop here.

Congratulations!  I hope you love it.

(Margie - go play the lottery.  Right. Now.)

For those of you that asked, here's a how-to.  Really, really simple.  The only thing I would add to the link's instructions is to look for t-shirts that don't side seams or printing on them.  That makes for an easier cut and a smoother finished product.  The thrift store always has t-shirts and if you don't like the color you can always dye them.  I added the leather loop to help keep the pieces from tangling and to add a little "me", but it isn't really neccessary.  

Don't discount little kid t-shirts either, they make a nice smaller scarflet or bracelet.

Thanks for sharing my week with me.  I hope you all have a fantastic weekend.