wip wednesday

my main work this week has been taking care of this little guy. he has had the chicken pox. i suppose he had a moderate case, but still managed these sweet smiles that keep me going.

i recently purchased a wood burning tool and have been having fun with some wooden eggs. i acquired said tool at the craft store, but i am told that i should spend a bit more and get one with a dial and i would have better results. any suggestions?
i painted them with our beloved stockmar watercolor paints and then finished them with beeswax polish, much like mamaroots describes here. aren't her story eggs stunning?! my wood burning skills aren't quite there yet. ;)
i made some of these for a friend's children and they are actually my favorite, i think. i like the way the colors turned out on them. no pictures for you though as she has not received them yet (hopefully any day now though!).

polka dots are so much easier to pull off than lines! ;)

my yummy box of wool from west earl woolen mills arrived! hooray for this soft fluffy goodness.

i have been knitting linda's snail pattern. admittedly, i got a little carried away knitting those i-cords for the bodies! i couldn't help myself. really. the noro yarn i used was lovely and every tube came out completely different. it was so fun. now i am due to have quite a swarm of these little cuties! several will go off to a spring nature table swap at bits of goodness. two are for my kiddos easter baskets. looks like all my friends will be getting a snail this spring! ;)

sienna's has recently learned to knit! i have taught several girls now in a little class that i am starting. sienna could not be more proud of her new skill. she promptly found a basket for her work and declared that she was ready for the next road trip because she has something to do in the car (don't know where she gets that from).

my sweet friend, cait, watched jasper today while i was at school and she brought us all these treasures (and more!). eggs from her chickens (which jasper adored), freshly plucked onions, and the sweetest little bunny book ever. i am so in love with the pictures in this adorable vintage richard scarry book!

of course i love this page! ;)

we had a gloriously sunny day here and are hoping for another even warmer day tomorrow. hope spring (or fall) is treating you well wherever you are my friends! ;)

egg monsters

last week i took a lot of pictures to share my wips (works in progress) with you.....and that never happened. so, this week i will just share a little project i have just finished up and will be starting another round of in the next couple of days.
last year i made a big batch of wet felted eggs pictured above. my mom came to visit for spring break and we retreated to a dear friend's cabin in the north georgia mountains for a few days. i carried my eggs with me and when it came a blizzard outside as we perched high on the mountainside i snuggled up on the couch and absorbed myself in blanket stitching the openings of these eggs. as i stitched each one, i couldn't help but think of them as cavernous mouths on little egg heads wishing they could look back at me as i stitched them up. after returning home, my dear friend lorilee posted the creations that her sweet sons came up with when doing the same project. i fell in love!
flash forward one year. i was making up a batch of these eggs for an easter swap at bits of goodness. i spent some time blending together these lovely shades of spring to make a nice marbling effect (still visible in the openings above). when i pulled them out of the dryer (yes, it's true!), they were just too thin. so, more layers had to be added. instead of taking the time to do the lovely marbling again, i just wrapped some single colors around the outside hoping that my previous work would show through. no such luck! this time they came out nice and thick, but just so, well...plain. that would never do! i began stitching the openings and was struck by their mouth qualities yet again. i remembered lorilee's post and ran to get my roving and needlefelting needles. within minutes these little creatures were born. we have all fallen in love with them here. the kids had so much fun watching each one come to life. jasper fell in love with one that has a big orange spike coming out of his head...i have yet to get a good picture of it as it has been so well loved. sienna made her usual request....blue egg with blue stitching and blue hair and blue eyes, please (also no picture as it disappeared immediately).
other than the two we kept, the rest went to the swap. i will be making up some more for our own easter celebration. if you would like to make some too, you should start with nicole's tutorial in this season's edition of *rhythm of the home* here....but grab a cup of something good before you head over because the spring edition of this online mag is chocked full of great projects and inspiring articles!

i will tell you that when i mass produce these babies, i cheat and use the washing machine. put them in an old pair of stockings and tie each one off like sausages. you can put them in the dryer, too. the kids LOVE peeling back the stockings to reveal the felted eggs!

each one of these little guys has his own personality!

after your eggs are felted, you just need some roving and some needle felting needles. i used some curly rainbow locks that i had on hand (originally purchased here), but you could use any roving you have. i just used some wool yarn for this little guy below which was pretty fun, too.

hope my swap partners and their kiddos enjoy them as much as we did! ;)

picture of our sweet bunny kitty for hillary. ;) spring cleaning the living room included giving him his own little perch lined with a felted sweater that he had already claimed.

spring goodies

sometimes all it takes to make a celebration special is a tablecloth and a lovely centerpiece.

beloved treasures from many of my favorite artists and friends came out of their box this weekend. these beauties bring such joy to our days and a smile to our faces. we have had an interesting first few days of spring.....sat was a gorgeous, sunny day and the last two days have been cold and dreary. we have had snow and slush off and on all day today! ick. i am all finished with that for now, mother nature. thank you very much for understanding.

happy spring!!

hope you all enjoy a beautiful day in celebration of spring. i will be in class (indoors) all day on this gloriously sunny, warm day. our family celebration is postponed until the 'morrow....when it is scheduled to rain! alas, here's hoping the family embraces this glorious weather today and that all of you enjoy this special day, too! gotta get to class.......

maple creek farm

we have been blessed with sunshine for the past few days. warm, glorious sunshine. perfect weather for an outing to our local maple farm. yes, maple syrup in north carolina! maple creek farm is the southern most maple farm in the us. their sugaring has been delayed this year due to the unusually cold winter we have had. this meant that the tour was pushed back and allowed time for 11 baby lambs to be born on the farm! a treat for the kids, indeed. jasper was fearless and petted the pigs, the lambs, and even requested to be taken to the donkey and reached right out for him. a big step for my little animal lover who is normally a bit shy to actually touch them. a lovely family day together and we came home with maple AND sorghum syrups! yummm......

time's up!

her tooth will wait no more! alas, my stalling with her pillow could only work for so long. friday evening out it came. with coconut flour and blackberry pancakes on the stove, we set to work finishing the tooth pillow. we needed some wool to stuff it, so sienna set to work with the carders.

vintage carders on long term loan from ms joy. thanks joy! ;)

the tooth fairy was ready this time around...a beautiful crystal replaced the tooth in the pillow. she even left behind fairy dust!

wip wednesdays...a bit of this and a bit of that

sweet blue bird by zuzu's petals.

evil black spot that lives inside my camera mentioned previously.

small crafty projects happening here amongst the larger projects of finishing our taxes (less than fun) and working out programming and enrollment for our class next year.
i have been knitting linda's nests. this is my first project on circular needles. i am having some difficulties, i must say! primarily with my decreases. how on earth is that supposed to work on circular needles? the bottom of my nest has holes and is very uneven. thank god for felting! this one has been felted already. i threw it in the machine with my towel load. the first time around, it came out wavy and bumpy. i didn't like that so i tucked a tennis ball inside of it and put the whole thing inside a mesh laundry bag, cinched it down, and washed it again. now i love it! it is a bit *floppy* but it holds it's shape nicely when sitting on a table. the nest pictured on the left in the top picture has yet to be felted...you can't look too closely at that one! anyone (linda) have any tips for a novice?here is the tooth pillow sienna requested, her own design. she has very specific tastes! i have to sew the two tooth pieces together still. this project is on *hold*. she told me her tooth would not fall out until i finished, so i am going slowly. ;) i really never thought that two weeks after she turned six her second tooth would be falling out already!
sweet emily hosted our handwork group sunday and treated us to an incredible egg dying spread! she taught me how to do pysanky and here is my first attempt....don't laugh! i have still not gone back and gotten all the wax off, but it is mostly finished. can't wait to do more of these! it is a time intensive project, but meditative and so enjoyable. see more of our lovely afternoon at emily's post here.
well, march sure came in like a lion!! more snow here in the south. wowsers. we had a snow day today and this squirrel kept us entertained. when we collect acorns and chestnuts in the fall, sienna stashes some for her squirrel friend to have in the winter months. he knows right where to find them when she divvies them out. today he came right out, snowstorm and all, to have a snack.
he was having such fun in the snow! he bounded back and forth across this banister, snow all over his little nose. we even saw him eat some of the powdery goodness! he would twist and jump and grab onto the railings side ways. such a character! this is right outside our sliding glass door. who needs tv?!
matt took the kids out to play. they had a blast, of course. sienna came to the door with these treasures she wished to bring inside:
i laid a towel out inside the door. her and her brother put their wool socks on their hands and proceeded to lick and munch the ice and snow away!

it has been wonderful having such an unusually snowy winter here this year. however, i am okay now with this being our last snowstorm of the season! march, you got your roar in loud and clear, now let's make room for the lamb.

by the way, i have switched my comments to a new program, intense debate. i have had people tell me that they have had trouble commenting here and i wish to be able to respond to your comments more easily. try it out so i can see how it goes! thanks. ;)

oops! i forgot this one....

can't miss the giveaway over at frontier dreams. that silk is stunning! find it here. good luck! ;)