Happy New Year!!!

The New Year began with a somber tone, our family lost someone very, very dear to us... it was a tragedy that defies logic and I will miss Jerry very much. I hope the next year will bring as much joy as this one brought pain.

To calm my frenzied mind I resorted to what I always resort to when I need distraction... my crafting. It is a way to escape, much like putting together a 1000 piece puzzle ( we did a few of those too) or reading your way through 800 pages in a day or two ( did that as well).

Since mushrooms seem to be sprouting everywhere in this torrential rain that in moving through, I figured I'd sprout a few right in my kitchen. So to hopefully satisfy a request I recieved via Etsy I made a few without the wooden bases.

I am in a fungus mood... so you will definitely be seeing more in the near future.

WIP, the challenges of felting a face.

Good Morning,

I'm posting a work in progress today, to the left you will see the photo I am using as reference and below that you can see one of the girls faces. I am having a heck of a time capturing the facial expression. Of course my original photo does not help the situation, it is 1.5" x 2" or so.

On my piece the eyes are not right, maybe to much white.. or perhaps the features are spread

to far apart. The eyes look like they are glaring...

So this is what I'm struggling with at the moment. I'm no where near done. Today I'll hang my WIP in the garage while I do upholstery work, and hopefully I will see where the picture has gone wrong.

On the other hand, the other girl in this picture is wonderful, smiling and I am very happy with her.

Look flowers :) Spring is coming, the March rains are bringing up flowers all over. This is my favorite time of the year. The wet weather is not totally great, but the green grasses, the newly emerging leaves.. flowers and darting birds all make me very happy.

If anyone has suggestions to help me with my felting please let me know.. I appreciate any help I can get.

Cytel

Winter Fun when the Rain Comes Calling

I've been pretty busy the last couple weeks, no time to blog on and on about it I guess. I took my wonderful daughter skiing, the snow was very new and very deep. I had a number of falls and wow was I sore.

It was tons of fun and I hope we can go back soon. My husband does not ski but he does like snow, he has some crazy notion we ought to go snow camping next weekend... omg I think I'll freeze to death...

As of my last post I was making mushrooms and fairies.. they are getting much more elaborate now.

Here is a teaser of what I am now felting up. What you can see here is my second Faerie she is holding a life sized strawberry. She is made with merino, silks, wire, and her beautiful hair is some wonderful handmade yarn from Feline Fibers in Bonners Ferry, Idaho. She is sitting on an oak log, with an acorn cap bowl at her feet. I am working on the mushroom house, I think it might be for a mouse... or maybe a pixie. I know this is not the faerie's home, it is much to small.

This mushroom house is so fun, I have always loved miniatures and this suits my personality so well. I am working on a rock fireplace with a burning log, complete with lighting effects. This is all wool except the inner workings which are secret :)

My next plan is to make a small nest bed with a little quilt, the occupent of this little house and who knows what else.

Im also cooking some yummy potato sausage and kale soup to warm my soul on this rainy and cold night.

Im filled with excitment..

I'm filled with excitement this morning and I don't know why. The moon and stars must be doing it to me. I have nothing going on today that is really that interesting.. but I do like this strange euphoria I'm feeling :)

Last night I worked on the word challenge piece, and Ive decided for certain I much rather do flat felted paintings than 3-d sculptures. I could barely keep my eyes open by 8:30 pm. So I went to bed. The up side is I got plenty of sleep, my family is still in their beds and I have the whole house to myself for a few hours.

I'm working on another thing that has been floating around my head. It is a way for me to combine another of my craft loves with felt. I am making a necklace with a silver center pendant woven through with long cords felted from merino and silk. I have only just begun, I am now at the point where I have to decide if I should add a stone to the piece, or perhaps some sort of bead work or perhaps some silver baubles soldered on here and there. I have a number of sketches and ideas. Of course everything is so easy to make in your imagination. Nothing ever comes out the way I first imagined it... so this is a WIP ( work in progress)

The wonderful thing is silver and felt look great mixed together, so I'm excited to see what will become of this.

I hope everyone who falls through the w.w.web and lands here in my blog has a happy, crafty and creative weekend!

Saturday the rain is gently falling.

I thought I was going to be working in the garden this weekend, but with the rain comes the mud... I'll stay inside.

I had a bust week at work, and it has spilled over into my weekend. I have one more car seat to repair and return then I can do my own thing.

This week I'm working on a Baluch nomad child she is cradling a baby goat, although my goat is more like a lamb. It has been a very pleasing and relaxing project. I started poking last night at 5 pm and at 10:30 when my husband went off to bed I realized I had been at it for 5 and half hours without a break. It did help to pass time listening to my husband and daughter singing and playing music for the songs they are recording.

I have decided to use as many different fiber types as I can in this one. So far I've used Corridale, Alpaca, Lincoln Locks and silk. This picture is just a teaser... She is a WIP and I feel there is many more hours till I am satisfied with the final picture.