honeyflake

sweaters

sweater #1: maroon cardigan. originally worn by my mom, when she was in college. last spring, she was cleaning out some things, found this old sweater of hers and decided to give it to me for a possible felting project. i tried it on and decided i could not possibly throw it into a hot wash and dryer cycle. so now i wear it on occasion... like today.

sweater #2: gray short sleeve cashmere. originally worn by my sister, a year or so ago? last summer, when she was cleaning out some things, she found this old sweater of hers and decided to give it to me for a possible felting project. so i washed it. dried it. repeated the cycle until it shrunk up really well... it was really quite small when i was done. so, before i even had a project lined up for it, i let margaret try it on. she loved it. so now she wears it on occassion... like today.

it worked out today that we both were sporting our "intended-for-felting" hand-me-downs. a bit strange, i think, but kind of fun none the less.

wool + water = ♥

wool hearts! and a few felt beads too! this afternoon margaret and i rolled up our sleeves, dove into my stash of wool roving (specifically choosing anything red, pink, purple, maroon, etc...) and sat down with a big sudsy bowl of water. for a new twist, we introduced a heart shaped cookie cutter into our felting this afternoon, which was inspired by an article in this magazine. the soapy fibers are worked together while inside the cookie cutter, until they fuse together solidly into the sweet shape of choice. yes, this was a huge hit with margaret. and while she got lost in the world of being a heartmaker i kept up by rolling bead after wool bead... because, you know, who couldn't use a handful of redish-hued wool beads on hand... to string up and hang here and/or there for a little valentine's day spirit, perhaps?

holiday warmth {revealed}

can you believe it is possible to still be posting a holiday related post? its true. with our out of town trip last weekend and other goings on this week, we're still trying to clean up, organize and move forward around here. taking down lights today. putting away the last of the decorations. assimilating all the new toys into new homes. listening to some music and drinking some coffee in between... and now that almost all the gift giving is complete i can finally share some of the little handmade creations that were being secretly worked on throughout december. (so many times i wanted to post about these, but in the name of secrecy and surprise i held back) oh, and i can share two little surprises that i received as well. one thing i noticed about these creations is that there is a running theme (planned or unplanned i'm not exactly sure) of warmth. take a look...

warmth to hold. a little wool woodland mushroom that i needle felted for margaret one night. this ended up in our advent calendar.

warmth to wear. this turned out to be the season of hats for me. with two little ones for the dolls and two grown up ones for chuck and my dad. (i used the same pattern that i used in the summer, with a slight variation).

warmth to swaddle. the already mentioned doll quilts that came together without much of a plan...

more warmth to wear. a scarf. for me. "made by" margaret. unbeknownst to me, she stashed away a super long fabric scrap from a project i was working on (another gift that i forgot to photograph) and she presented it to me on christmas morning as a scarf. for me. i was pretty proud of this of course, and wore it all christmas day.

more warmth to hold. my other handmade-by-margaret surprise. a sweet, slouchy, super-sized, mug cozy for my tea and coffee. again, invented by her, on her own. she used another fabric scap and gluestick to whip this up. clever. and it makes me smile.

so that is some of top-secret craftiness that was going on behind the pre-holiday scenes here, in addition to the not-so-secret, produced in multiple quantity projects like the cards, the kids' silkscreened shirts (which i'm not showing yet because i've got 2 boxes that still haven't been mailed to their wee little out of state recipients), the cookies, etc... whew! looking back, that's quite a bit of elf-like fun and activity for one month (and really i do enjoy all the opportunities to create). no wonder we're moving a bit slower than normal around here. glad i could finally get a few details of these handmade projects out there. now its back to corralling pine needles.

earth mother descending a staircase

this past weekend we observed the return of autumn and the return of our wool earth mother figure of course. this felt project of mine, from last fall, was brought back down from her storage box in the attic. with only a few minor touch ups with a felting needle needed, she has taken her place amongst some collected acorns, dried leaves, seed pods (and whatever else that gets gathered and added) to help set the mood for the season... reminding us of nature (and a bit of art history too) and what is happening outside - the life of flowers and leaves receeding, the earth starting to draw back into herself, calling to and embracing all that was created in the season before... so welcome wooly-earth-mama and welcome fall and all that you bring with you.

3 little birds

free spirits

this basket of spring gnomes is headed to margaret's school for a seasonal celebration. i signed up to bring something in, and since all the other items like snacks and juice were spoken for, i opted for the last blank line... toys. so i tried to come up with something simple. simple and home-made if possible. i couldn't stop thinking about the great gnome pattern from this natural crafty book.

so a little green felt, a little natural wool - and an assemblage of sprout-hued gnomes came to be. hi guys. the result of a few hours of quiet crafting in the living room over the weekend. i'm hoping perhaps that while i was busy cutting and sewing these wee hooded gifts, the magic of creating was impressed upon margaret's observing and growing spirit.

and yeah, we got carried away and ended up with a few extra. i thought this would be a great excuse for a honeyflake blog giveaway. i've seen it done, and am excited to give it a whirl. here's the drill.... leave a comment here by wednesday, noon EST. i'll put your names in a basket, hat or box, then i'll pick the one golden winner, who will then receive a few gnomes. good luck.

anahata

tuesdays and thursdays. a steady weekly routine to get out and go to yoga class. last night i mixed it up a bit and added wednesday night mediation class. something a little different... and it turned out to be great. aside from the usual guidance "to let go" was something new... guidance to open the heart... to relax into the deep core of your spirit. with just this slight suggestion i had a whole different experience. who new that the mind could relax into the heart? i wanted to remember what i learned and to be able to encorporate it into my daily home practice. so as a bit of inspiration i felted up this little symbol. it represents the heart chakra - anahata - our center. i plan to keep it near my candle and yoga mat as meditation inspiration. to help me remember the heart.

w is for wednesday

w is for windowsill.
this week our windowsill turned into a tribute to the red-hearted holiday. lots of warm hues and wool to help us ward off the chillies.

w is for winter storm.
today we got our first real storm of the season. white stuff was falling through the night into the day (what was it anyway? ice droplets? snow? hail?) once it passed we were left with a coating of ice on just about everything. even every last rosehip. beautifully icy.

w is for wishing.
wishing all in the world loving kindness everyday.

create

cotton pipecleaners, blue organic sheeps wool, a beautiful piece of yellow felt and a new book about working with wool... not the typical souvenirs from a night out seeing a rock star. we were lucky enough to be able to see one of my favorite musicians speak last night in a one-on-one interview in front of a small audience. even though the atmosphere was a little more talk and less music i was still very excited to be 5th row center. the interview questions were here and there... the most inspirational thing to hear was trey's take on being a musician and creating music - comparing it to being any form of an artist. he spoke of being in touch with the universe and being in touch with yourself... observing what is out there and using your own filter to interperit what you hear/see and create so that others might hear/see it too. listening to these words from such a creative mind was very inspiring. it made me want to run home and create. luckily the venue was located near an enchanted little shop that sells natural toys and craft supplies (gotta love when that happens) and before the show i was able to pick up the aforementioned mementos. now i'm hoping that this wonderful inspiration might find its way into my new materials, or my old materials wouldn't be so bad either.

and of course to keep our young artist in residence inspired i picked up a little wooden pencil in her favorite hue - olive green. rock on!