June Sunday

 Check out a little interview I gave over at My Bit Of Earth.
Really fun blog and I am happy to be advertising on it!
 Mel, the writer, is funny and warm and down to earth.

http://www.mybitofearth.net

Morning light upstairs bedroom

Slipping Into Summer

 

Oh, it has been so nice with temps barely reaching the 90's the whole merry month of May.

Lowish humidity.

Bright blue skies and strong, mostly, northerly winds.

All the while I was hugging that weather to myself.

True summer is always a shock to the system. A bit of a hump to get over each summer.

So here we are with palpable, heavy humidity and rising temps.Highs inching into the 90's and lows in the 70's.

But all is ok because that heavy warm air is perfect for wafting elusive scents.

Agarita in bloom, our field of wild verbena, something unidentified from the woods. Those apricot roses! Oh my, they are so aromatic.

The barnyard scent from the horse field on our dawnish walk. I have mentioned  my love of that smell before. So evocative of a few small farms from my childhood.

When I step out onto our big back porch and hear the cicada's loud crescendos I get my yearly urge to read Southern literature while sipping a cold drink.

The porch is ready.

Must put that on a summer list then make myself do it.

I am usually seen buzzing about doing things and do not easily sit still. Busy hands and list making brain. 

 I am a firm believer in flourishing where you are.

I am here in central Texas living within hugging distance of all of my children and grandchildren.

On a beautiful piece of land in the rolling hill country.

Our roots are here. Our history with each other and this place.

That feels good and true to me. 

Peaceful.

So I embrace it all. 

In between happy family times I have finished some new patterns and fashioned a few prototype critters.

Baby Bear has a sleepy time of it so he gets a bed, blanket and tiny pillow.

He will come with a Papa Bear with a vest sporting a large pocket to carry tiny fish for picnics and Momma Bear with a shawl.

Brand new Mr Mouse. Plain and simple. Serious mouse.

Large Floppy Rabbit with vintage fabric clothes and wool felt shoes.

Lovely Essex linen body and lop ears. 

Lastly a school of fish! Made on a whim from available fabrics and looking like colorful koi fish. Total accident.

Love that!

ETSY Shop Update

Just a short post to let everyone know that I put lots of new deliciousness  up on my shop!

Oh my goodness.....

Serious cuteness everywhere you look, if I may brag a bit.

Hello, little Forest Elf

Little Cashmere Lamb

Lots more to see on ETSY.

Check them out if you need a bit of eye candy and a smile.

And thanks!

Fairytale Stitching

So interesting the way creative making and stitching takes me on a path that I did not see coming.
My sewing lately has turned to dollmaking of a unique kind.

 I wanted to create a group of fairytale like creatures who might just live deep inside  a magical woodland. I am always peering under leaves, between bushes and behind meadow grasses to spot treasures for my nature table. Why not sew up some sweet little fairytale folks and woodsy friends to complete my mental picture?

The ideas flowed and the stitching followed. Really very little trial and error here. I had a clear vision of how they should look. Love when that happens.

Elf Forest Folk

First the Forest Folk- all woodsy colored felt and wool.
Lichen, moss, goldenrod, thistle, the spring green of new leaves and the deep plum of autumn .
 Stitches visible to celebrate the handmade.
Filled with warm wool roving.
Thoughtful expressions. Quiet demeaner.
 Little bear ears, deer ears and antlers, pointed green elf ears, soft rabbit ears.
Shy faces partially hidden behind hooded cloaks.

 It ideas came quickly and there are many, many steps but I must say that they are such a joy to make. Very tactile. warm and soft.

Hooded Elf Doll

Then there is the embroidery. Wool and silk, linen and cotton threads. My heart sings to use such beautiful threads.I freehand stitch without a pattern, like sketching with thread, sometimes lightly penciling an outline to keep my bearings.

Leaping Rabbit

Well, then there followed rather quickly the mice, swans, owls, foxes, forest cats, woodland ponies. Lest the Forest Folk become lonely.

Some made from luscious wool felt, others from thrifted wool or silk suits and jackets.

Mrs Mouse Dressed for Visiting



Woodland Owl  (Previously Rather Ugly Jacket)

I love to cut into a fresh piece of richly colored wool, apply thread and make it come alive as a small animal. More transforming is taking a quite ugly suit, salvaging the best bits, and refashioning it into a thing of beauty. A woodland animal who lives in the magic woods!

Happiness is a stack of prepped wool waiting upstairs in my workroom. Then the sewing hours will fly by as I get lost in the woods with my woolly family!

Quietly

So hard to know what my writing voice will be because,

I am a quiet person who spends most days quietly stitching, gardening, caring for animals, and the rest of the puttering and erranding that are needed to make a home, family, and business continue to move forward.

Ok, I do talk to my plants, rabbits, chickens, chocolate lab, and possibly the small sewn creatures that I make.

But they are all silly creatures who invite a bit of chatter now and then.

I do wisecrack with my five daughters and one son and husband but they are also silly and sweet ...

and they think I am funny and wise and possibly interesting so there is encouragement from that quarter.

I am reckoning that the blog will evolve a bit and become after a bit a reflection of who I am, how I live, and what I make.

Well, we will see where this goes.

Thanks for looking.