Light and Joy in 2010

 

 

 

 

We celebrated our Christmas late this year...

...yesterday, in fact.

It was marvelous!

The house was filled with fabulous smells...

...cinnamon-scented pine cones in a bowl...

...chickpea, spinach and vindaloo soup bubbling on the stove...

...cherry and pumpkin pies baking in the oven.

Three of my daughters helped me to make some felted votive-candle holders in the morning.

We started with white roving, then added Angelina fibers or pencil roving or novelty yarn (thanks, Kim!).

We really had no idea about resist size...

...and as you can plainly see, they could all use some modifications before we try it again.

I like how they alter the quality of the candlelight, though...

...since light is what it's all about...

...at this time of year, and, well, always, really.

So as we begin this new year...

...I'd like to wish you and your loved ones a year filled with hope and joy...

...with creativity and wonder...

...health and growth and peaceful change.

Thank you all for your friendship and love.

(My) Real Life Family

 

 

I don't know about you, but I read a lot of blogs...

...and I LOVE them...

...especially the ones which feature beautifully lit...

...beautifully set...

...photographs.

I imagine myself in Italy...

...or in a Centennial home with golden oak woodwork, buffed to an impossible sheen.

I imagine garlands of greens for Christmas...

...and vintage bowls filled with ripe fruit.

Reality, I've found, is a little bit different than that...

...for me, at least!

Here, there is, for instance, oh, so much laundry...

...all the time...

...everywhere...

...and in every 'life stage': 1)dirty, 2)being washed and dried, 3)clean, but not folded, 4)folded and ready to be taken upstairs...

...and more times than not, that's where it stays for some time...

...on the stairs to go up.

Sighhhh.

I love the chaos that my children bring, though.

I love the extra mess (and yes, laundry) that daughter #2 hauls home with her from college.

I love my bed full of wiggly daughters, elbowing each other as we watch a British movie together, snacking on something that I will invariably find, later...

...crumbled between my sheets.

I love the extra meals and dishes and phone ringing and the "Mom, can I...", "Mom, where's the..."

...and I love homemade waffles in the mornings...

...with real maple syrup.

Yum.

Swap Love!

 

 

 

 

As you may remember from my swa(m)p scarf, I participated in a fiber swap this holiday season.

The amazing Nicola (www.clasheen.wordpress.com) paired us off...

...and I was so lucky to get my swap partner!

Kim (www.viltalakim.blogspot.com) is an extremely talented felter...

...and also very generous; not only with her gifts (as you can see here), but with

her tutorials and answers to my many technical questions.

She sent me amazing new fibers (dyed flax-who knew?) and cool, organic 'inclusions' for my felting...

...and all in my favorite colors!

I don't even know where to begin!! :)

Her leaf-accented nuno scarf is so elegant and perfect...

...I may never take it off!

I feel really lucky and blessed that Kim and I are now friends...

...and I look forward to many more years of sharing our love for felt and stories of our lives and families...from across the sea!!

Weird Hat Number 2

 

 

 

 

I made this hat with more feminine colors...

...and with lots more 'appendages'!!

It was a little hard to wrap the wool around the bits that stuck out...

...and I think I will make them a little farther apart and/or longer next time.

I've actually made a second fold in the brim (not pictured)...

...now that I've had it on a few times.

I think it has a certain je ne sais quoi...

and I really like the way it came out.

Of course, my children think I'm a freak!

Hmmmmm...

Maybe I'll just have to keep this one for myself!

That'll show 'em!! Grin

The First of Two Very Weird Hats

 

 

 

 

I decided to make a hat for my 2nd daughter's 'significant other' for Christmas.
This was actually a test.

My boyfriend thought that if hers actually put it on his head...

...he was a keeper.

Well, here you have it...

...photographic proof of his 'worthiness'! Har.

I started with a long pointy resist...

...then added black, grey and yellow fiber.

As it was drying, I 'telescoped' it down into pleats and a 'pointy finger'...

...like something magical in the Harry Potter books!

It had a more 'witch-like' brim when it was first finished...

...but I trimmed that off.

It still looks like something Dr. Seuss would draw...

...but for some reason, I just LOVE this hat!!

Wear it in good health, HB!!

The Spoils of Christmas...

 

 

 

 

...by which I mean...

...look how SPOILED I was this Christmas!

These are just some of the wonderful, thoughtful and creative presents I received from my friends this year.

"Santa, I must have been very, very good!?!"

Thanks to all of you...

...for your love and friendship...

...and for making a rather lonely day (this was my daughters' year to spend Christmas with their dad)...

...a lot warmer, and absolutely filled with love.

Merry Christmas To All!!!

 

 

This cast iron mouse kind of looks like a Kaiju in our creche...

... Kaiju|怪獣|kaijū is a Japanese word that means "strange beast," often translated in English to "monster"...

The candy is some of what I'll be stuffing into our new stockings this morning!

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"I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round, as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely...." ~Charles Dickens

The Night Before Christmas...

 

 

 

 

Here's another of my thrifted wool pants projects...

...fulled and needle-felted with Christmas designs...

...then briefly wet-felted to 'firm it up'.


I sewed on some small colored beads for 'ornaments'...


...lined it, and put a zipper in for another small makeup bag.

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I realized as my Christmas cards were arriving this year...

...that I really don't have any special 'pocket' kind of place for them.

(I used to have some white and red baker's twine with teeny-tiny clothespins that I used for this purpose...

...but I have absolutely no idea where this went!)

So I decided to make one!

I made two layers of green batts on my Cardatrice...

...and sandwiched in a thin, card-sized piece of foam.

I needle felted "Merry Christmas" and a poinsettia onto it...

...then wet-felted it (with a small slit in the top).

It works great!!

(If I make another one, though, I'll make sure that you can still read "Merry" even after the cards are inside it!!) Grin.

The Stockings Were Hung...

 

 

 

 

I decided that it was about time we all had new Christmas stockings...

...especially, because we have a significant new member of the family this year! :)

It was a big project.

(My back still hurts.)

I made them all different, so we can easily grab the right one on Christmas morning...

...before coffee...

...and I put names on them...

...but the pencil roving doesn't show up very well on the dark backgrounds.

Of course, you'll all know right away which one is mine!! Har.

Looking kind of festive around here lately, no?

Tea Cozy BOWL-Part 2

 
 
 
 

Ok...

...so as my too-small 'tea cozy' was drying, I flipped it around...

...and fashioned a flat bottom for it, so that it would dry in that shape.

Wool is so cool this way-whichever way you place it to dry it, it 'stays'.

Too bad this doesn't work on children!! Grin.

I also folded down the top with a crease.

Good thing I didn't put any of my 'wigglies' too close to the edge.

The little 'X' handle that I had fashioned for 'ease of removal' when it was still a tea cozy...

...is now flattened at the bottom of the bowl.

It doesn't seem to make it sit funny, or anything.

So...there it is...

...another 're-purposed' felt item!! :)

Tea Cozy(?)...Part 1

 
 
 
 

After I made Mitsy's scarf with this fabulous orange and yellow roving...

I wanted to make something out of it for me! :)

So I started a tea cozy.

I made some 'wigglies'...

...and applied fiber to the resist.

After felting, I realized that there was absolutely no way that this would fit any of our teapots.

(We are big tea drinkers in this house!)

So you'll see what became of it...

...tomorrow in Part 2.