a friend on your hat

I started this little gnome back in December while teaching some friends how to make Santas. I had completely forgotten about him until my youngest, the finder of everything, brought him to me yesterday. I had wanted to make a wee owl to perch on his leafy hat, so I did just that this morning.

I'm looking forward to playing a little more this weekend and finishing up some of those UFOs. (unfinished objects)

Hope your weekend is great.

getting closer - bed linens completed

My goal for yesterday was to make the linens for my daughter's doll bed and I'm pleased to report that I made my goal and then some!

I started pulling out fabrics to create the blanket and was preparing for a semi-complicated process.  I had chosen some pieces, none that I was too gaga over but would do, when I pulled out a matching set of these sort of strange embroidered pillowcases I got a year or two ago at a garage sale.  DING!  A light went off in my head!  I checked the size and yup, nearly perfect for the little bed with very little tweaking needed.  I love that!

All I had to do was lay a piece of batting inside the pillowcase, fold over the decorative top, and stitch it down.  Voila!  Doll blanket!

Using half of the second pillowcase and a piece of leftover carpet pad, I made a mattress to fit the bed.  That still left me enough material to make a little pillow, and I still have one whole panel of the embroidery to play with.  (and what is up with the orange poodle and roses anyway?)

I saved so much time with this project I was able to finish a little friend to tuck in under the blanket.

My daughter loves owls so it seemed like a good choice.  He's made of all recycled materials - wool from coats and sweaters, a scrap of upholstery fabric, and some corduroy pants.  I stuffed him with wool and lavender so he smells nice too.

The paint on the bed is still drying so I'll post a pic of it with the linens tomorrow.

Today I'll be working on this...

My helper is enjoying this task because she gets to build castles while mom carves.

After this I have just one more project to finish and then presents to wrap and cookies to bake.  After that?  I'm taking a break.  (and it is much needed)

'til tomorrow!

Felt a' flying

So I've been on a bit of a bird kick lately. It seems that almost all of my latest crafting has featured a flying friend of one type or another. Today's is a wee little barn owl brooch. I made him of wool that I felted from an old sweater and backed him with some of that felted coat wool I talked about in my previous post. His eyes are the coolest black glass vintage buttons. All in all, kind of cute.

Speaking of birds, yesterday as I was driving to town a Bald Eagle swooped down right next to the road, flew alongside me for a second and then dove for something in the grass of a field. It was the first Eagle I've seen all winter and I've yet to lose that feeling of awe when I see them. I hope I never take it for granted because they really are spectacular animals.

Enjoy your Sunday, everyone. If you have any birds in the works, let me know, I'd love to see them.

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?

Night owls

Last night was a rough one. The little ones are coming down with colds and were up most of the night, in tag-team fashion. That means I was sneaking bits of sleep on the couch in between calls of "mommmmy" and demands for water and cuddles. I did get a chuckle around 2am when my youngest, who was sleeping on my lap, yelled out "mailbox!". What on earth was he dreaming about?

It was a really clear night and the moon was still nearly full, illuminating the woods in a beautiful glow. The stars were out and the dipper was sitting right in front of my window. Without the interruption of city lights, the stars are really something to see in my neck of the woods.

I had hoped to see some activity, owls swooping for prey, coyotes checking out the compost pile, acrobatic flying squirrels, something, but all was quiet and still. Except of course, for my little night owls.

felted wool owl ornaments I recently finished, of recycled sweater wool with vintage button eyes