"Big Sister" Crown

 

 

 

 

If you're like me, after baby number one...

...you had all of the stuff you could possibly need for all subsequent babies.

Sure, it's nice to get some new little outfits...

...but I really loved the 'frozen food showers' (where everyone cooked a meal and froze it for the harried Mama)...

...or the 'big sister' gifts (that helped to make the older children less jealous)!

I wanted to make sure my friend's new baby wasn't the only one getting a present from me...

...so I made his big sister a crown!

I used one of the pieces of pre-felt that I had barely felted several weeks ago...

...and cut out a crown-like shape.

I needle-felted pencil roving in two horizontal stripes...

...and added circles of single-color pre-felt.

I needle-felted the ends of the crown together...

...then used a piece of floor underlayment as a resist between front and back.

The felting came together easily...

...and it was a really fun project to do.

When it was fully felted and rinsed...

...I ironed it with a steamy iron and let it dry in its proper circular shape.

Too bad you weren't there to see the baby's father try it on his nearly bald pate!

Adorable!! :)

Sally's Winter Scarf

 

 

 

 

Several weeks ago, my friend, Sally...

...a veritable fiber wizard...

...blogged about knitting herself a Winter coat!

Now, I don't know about you...

...but this just blew my mind!!

(How does one do such a thing?!?!?!)

Anyway, I decided that a new coat deserved a new scarf...

...and I would make one for her.

I started with a length of my hand-dyed silk gauze...

...and topped it with batts in her favorite colors (wrapping the gauze around the edges).

I made 'ropes' with roving...

...and laid them out, making wild and wiggly fringes.

More variegated batts were split and laid across the top surface...

...to help anchor the fringes and the gauze.

Because the silk was entirely covered with fiber...

...I could proceed much more aggressively than with my 'usual' nuno pieces.

Additionally, the scarf retained its length and width...

...resulting in quite a large and luxurious scarf!

The other nice thing is that the 'body side' of the scarf...

...is very soft silk, and quite comfortable against the skin.

When it was completely felted and dried...

...I hand-stitched the bits of fringe which weren't felted right to the edges of the scarf.

I'm pleased to report that Sally is quite happy with it...

...and I hope that it will keep her warm and snuggly all Winter long!

Happy Mother's Day!

 

 

To all of my readers, male and female, mothers or not...

...who have taken the time to nurture another person on the path to adulthood...

...many thanks to you!

My day is starting off quietly...

...everyone still in bed but me...

...coffee in hand, my blog friends close beside me (virtually, anyway!) Grin.

The house is a complete disaster...

...full of everything my daughter L had to move out of her college apartment.

There is a literal ton of laundry to be done...

...and L decided to begin a double-bed-sized scrap quilt, yesterday, as well.

(Imagine a dining room table covered in piles of fabric, an ironing board in the corner, and everywhere you look, cutting mats and cutters, wastepaper baskets and the like.)

You know that I live for these days, though, don't you?

This morning, all four of my daughters will be with me...

...we will eat waffles or three-minute eggs and toast or whatever they choose.

We may drink Mimosas...

...and lots of coffee, to be sure.

And I will will myself to stay in the moment...

...feeling their presence and their love for me.

I am a lucky Mama.

I hope your day is just as special. XXO-

'Under The Sea' Baby Playmat

 

 

 

 

I have a sweet friend at work who just had a baby boy...

...his second (the first is now a toddler daughter).

I love to make presents for new babies...

...but always used to sew things...

...like 'taggie' blankets and hats.

Now that I'm a felter (har)...

...I wanted to try something made with wool.

So I used some of my new bright-green roving...

...from the sheep and wool festival...

...and combined it with other sea colors to make batts.

I cut my creatures of the deep out of pre-felt...

...and needle-felted eyes and big smiles (what else, for a baby?).

My little friends went on top of the layered batts...

...and I added some bubbles, coming from the mouth of the fish (shark?).

After it was felted and dried...

...I sewed a casing on the back, made from wide twill tape.

This way, they can feed a dowel through it if they would prefer to hang it...

...or use it flat, for a playmat.

2010 Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival

 

 

 

 

Ok, ok, it's true...

...I fell in love over the weekend!

"With whom?", you ask...

..."Why, with these adorable hooknosed Bluefaced Leicester sheep"!! Grin.

I ushered in the month of May at the Maryland S&W...

...a wild and wonderful festival which, unfortunately, seems to get more crowded with each passing year. Sighhhh.

It was blisteringly hot that day...

...and my friend, K (visiting from Tenn), and I were hangin' pretty tough.

We drank homemade lemonade, wished that we had remembered hats and sunscreen...

...and, oh, yes...bought lots and lots of fiber and fiber-related supplies.

I found some wonderful variegated roving...

...in a bright green and a red/black combo...

...and sherbet-colors of orange, creamsicle and caramel.

I bought bold yellow roving...

...and a really pretty bright red batt.

I went silk wild with Tussah silk, silk caps and Mawata hankies...

...and even bought some dyed coccoons to play with!

I found two amazing handmade pottery buttons...

...and just had to have a pile of dyed silk hankies.

I also found a large piece of chamois...

...to cut up for the bottoms of future slipper projects...

...and a new bulb sprayer (the shower head part on my other one had fallen off recently).

I had lots of nice comments on my dragonfly bag (which I carried that day)...

...and felt a little like a rock star for a minute. Har.

Except for the loooooong line of cars at the entrance to the festival (which was rather heinous)...

...our day was an unmitigated blast!!

Nuno-Felted Swap Scarf

 

 

 

 

I'm participating in another amazing swap...

...arranged by the fabulous Nicola (Clasheen).

(She's a pip!)

Now that my swap partner has received her box of goodies...

...I can show you photos of one gift that I made especially for her!

I took a length of my hand-dyed silk gauze...

...and added wool fiber in matching shades of aqua and denim.

I placed the wool by following the pattern of dyeing on the scarf...

...and left the white sections bare.

I used cool water and rolled and rolled it at first...

...to encourage the fibers to migrate through the silk.

Nuno felting is not my strong suit...

...and it's hard, but I think it was worth it this time!

"Kale Love"-The Green Cookbook

 

 

 

 

I can't blame this on my middle-aged brain...

...nope, I've had this habit for over 20 years.

Only rarely can I remember the names of my cookbooks!

For instance, I'll ask one of my daughters for the 'green cookbook'...

...by which I mean this one, "Quick Vegetarian Pleasures".

I also call one the 'numbers cookbook' (The King Arthur Flour 200th Anniversary cookbook)...

...the 'duct tape spiral-bound one' (An ancient copy of The Pillsbury Cookbook)...

...and the 'purple Moosewood cookbook' (The Enchanted Broccoli Forest).

I used to feel a little bit embarrassed about this...

...until I read a wonderful blog post by Mercedes...

...in which she describes how her mother used to call The Joy Of Cooking, "Mrs Rombauer"!!
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So, I was in the mood for kale the other day...

...anticipating the veritable mountains of greens that will be mine when my Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) starts yielding crops.

I wanted to try something new...

...so I made a lovely Scalloped Kale and Potatoes recipe from this terrific cookbook...

Here's the basic recipe (paraphrased)...

Peel and thinly slice 5 potatoes. Place half of the slices in the bottom of a 9 X 13 inch (greased) pan.

Meanwhile, steam a one-pound bag of fresh, cleaned kale just until wilted (still bright green), drain and coarsley chop.

Put all of the kale on top of the potato layer in the pan.

Dot the kale layer with 2 tbsp butter, cut into bits, salt, pepper, 2-6 cloves of pressed (or grated) garlic, and 3/4 cup of grated Swiss cheese.

Put the second layer of potatoes over this, and repeat with salt, pepper, 2 tbsp butter, cut into bits, and another 3/4 cup of grated Swiss cheese.

Pour 1 & 1/4 cups of milk on top of the kale casserole and gently shake the dish to distribute it. Bake about 50 minutes at 425 degrees F, or until the top is nicely browned and the potatoes are tender.

Delish!!