More Flowers

The latest batch of flowers is ready to be delivered to the Village Yarn Shop. They make me happy whenever I look at them.

I've been experimenting with a new style -- a sort of poppy/anemone.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!!

Colors for Spring

It seems funny to post this picture when it is currently sweltering here in the midwest. I think the temp hit somewhere around 80F today. Personally, I'd like just a little milder spring, but I sure would rather have this than snow right now!

I found this crochet sweater while on the hunt for supplies for my felted flowers. Since it was at least 3 sizes too big, I didn't consider wearing it at first. But, when I tried it on, it seemed to fit -- and that's when I noticed it had already been shrunk. I love it! It is my new favorite thing to wear, that and my blue rose, which is maybe my most favorite thing to wear.

I can't resist blue and yellow together, even though I'm leaning more towards gray and pink this year. Aren't colors such a wonderful gift to us?!!!

The Latest Flowers

I sent out my latest flower order last week. Lots of beautiful things for spring and summer and the rest of the year too.

Roses are my new specialty. I am so drawn to them and love how they look pinned on an outfit.

A dozen red and white roses were sent and others in different colors as well.

I've been trying to put more flowers in my Etsy shop.

These flowers can be found at The Wooly Ewe in Texas, and I'm working on a new order for The Village Yarn Shop here in Zionsville.

Elving in Earnest

We have emerged from the sickness cocoon and are attempting to re-enter the holiday life. My mind is in a bit of a whirlwind trying to figure out how to manage the baking, the sewing, the shopping, and everything else. I think it is all put down on paper now....One helpful thing is that my health has been better lately and I am able to get up early again!

This package was ordered by a friend and sent off during the week. I always want to keep these creations.....

I have been sewing and sewing plaid flowers this December. I can't get enough of them. Maybe because our family has always loved plaid and now plaid is "in".

Another baby gift was finished up at the end of the week. I always knit a pattern and then keep knitting it! But I liked the results.....

Yesterday was the funeral of our dear friend Margie. She loved plaid too -- and maybe that's another reason I've enjoyed making the flowers. Of course the day brought back many memories and made me sad too. Margie and I had some wonderful times together and they seem so far away now as Margie's illness meant we said goodbye slowly over many years. The best memories center around tea, stories of Scotland, and our trip together to Scotland (pictured below -- and don't laugh too hard at my clothes!).

Well, it's time to be off to breakfast with the sister's and then the children's Christmas piano recital and this evening the Nutcracker with Rachel!!!!

At the Close of the Week

This tree in our front yard has been mesmerizing me all week! We came back from Oklahoma to find it transformed into this glowing ruby. It's so stark a color that I can't stop looking at it. My new favorite color is gray, but gray combined with either the red of this tree, or the orange of the other trees nearby, or the baby pinks I'm knitting with.

I can't remember if I posted these flowers or not.....I've just cut out 3 dozen more for an order that is due by the end of the month. I must make another trip to Salvation Army soon!!!! I need more sweaters!!! And, I've been sewing up a flock of birds which I can't wait to show you....

This is what I need to stop and do: tea. Life is so busy during the week and Saturday is the day to catch up on housework and plan for the schoolweek ahead. No time for relaxing!

Veteran's Day this past week. I feel as though I will never be able to fully appreciate the depth of sacrifice our soldiers have made for us, past and present.

Pumpkin hat just off the needles. Three of my cousins have had babies this fall. Busy time for the needles.

And now I must get to work on the rest of the to-do list (can't seem to get rid of this underline): cooking, dinner, menu planning, birthday present ordering, hair cutting, cleaning, ironing, typing, Sunday school planning, letter writing, exercising. Yup, I'm thinking this will not all get done today.

Don't Forget

Don't forget!! Tomorrow is Christina's Trunk Show at the Village Yarn Shop in Zionsville, from 6-8 p.m. She and I are busy baking and getting everything ready!

And here are the flowers that will be at the shop in time for the show!

Can't wait to see some of you there!!!

Latest Purse

This purse has been a work in progress for many months. I finally finished it this month, just in time to give it to a friend who is moving away.

I love the texture from the big cable patterns and I really did like the three-toned rose made to decorate it. I must make some more of those!!

The purse is quite large, and has some sturdy interfacing inside so that it maintains its shape.

I've just finished three dozen fall flowers for the Village Yarn Shop in Zionsville so be sure to stop in and have a look if you are in the area!

A Taste of Spring

It's amazing the joy that a little warm weather brings! How wonderful it is to throw open the windows and breathe fresh air! We even went for a walk with no coats! I'm sure the weather won't last, but it's a taste of what's to come!!!

Purse Love

I'm so happy with my new purse. I've been dreaming about the sweater it's made from for a long time -- it's been sitting in the stash for at least a year and a half. I was getting more and more desperate for a purse as the one I was using was falling apart. A few hours in the sewing area and I had my new one!

This time I tried adding some stiff interfacing on recommendation from a friend. It made such a nice difference. And, I can change the color of the flower to go with a different season. Hopefully it will last a long time!

To Market...

Another batch of flowers headed out the door this past week and off to market. There were plenty of colors to choose from.

Pink:
Orange:
Blue:
Purple:
And the minis, which we all love:

You can find them at The Village Yarn Shop in Zionsville......

And now I'm on to the next batch.

Passing it On

As you can tell, I'm quite passionate about handcrafts. It is hard for me to resist the urge to be busy with my hands at one thing or another. Another part of my passion involves passing skills onto other people -- multiplying the joy you take in something by getting others excited about it as well. What better way to learn a craft! It certainly beats trying to figure it out from the internet.

Last week I had two girls over to show them how to make felted purses. We had a great time and at the end of 3 1/2+ hours they each had a beautiful bag!

Here's the setup -- in my bathroom of all places. It just happend to be the most convenient place -- close to the supplies, sewing machine and felted sweater stash.

The girls each picked out a sweater and designed the shape and color scheme. Despite my apparent lack of spring sweaters, the girls managed to create some very spring-like designs.

And here is the first bag. We lined the bags and attached faux-leather handles. The shape was terrific (very classy) and the lining matched the center flower.

This was a winter sweater with snowflakes as part of the design, but look how well it converted to a spring purse. It's lined in a green that matches the leaves of the flowers.

I loved the resulting color combination!

And here are the girls with their purses!!!

Way to go girls!!!!

Checkbox Diversion #1

My attention was diverted from my checklist last week by these sweet little Easter baskets. I could not resist making them.

I made several versions:

And it was hard to choose a favorite. Each of the bags was lined in a different fabric that coordinated with the flowers on the outside.

Saturday we took them up to The Village Yarn Shop where they will be waiting for owners. :)

And this morning I'm back to quilting the baby's quilt. But, as soon as I put in my day's worth on that I'll be working on my other diversion.....to be posted soon.

Tissue Paper Flowers

My sisters and I grew up making tissue paper flowers. They are relatively easy and lots of fun. Recently my mom was over and made some with the kids.


We start with several squares of tissue paper, folded and cut as if you were going to cut a snowflake (so it looks like an ice-cream cone when you hold it). Then we cut a design along the top of the "ice-cream cone".

We stick a pipe cleaner through the middle of the opened up "ice-cream cone". Sometimes we make stamens to attach to the pipe cleaner before we poke it through the "ice-cream cone" petals.

Then we secure everything with scotch tape or florist tape at the base of the paper.

It's a fun way to bring spring indoors.

Adults can get quite fancy with theirs, but we just let the kids play around with what they want.

The sun is shining again today! Two gallons of scorched yogurt are down the drain but 10 loaves of bread are being made as penance. And now it's time to do chores and get ready for the weekend.

Check Box #2 & #3

On the list to be finished were spring purses for my mom and myself. Mom's purse is her old purse, but the handles were wearing thin. She liked their style, and so I came up with this solution to keep the old: a new felted band along the top, encompassing the hold handles. It turned out quite well, and mom chose the bright pink flower for a decoration.

This is my new spring purse. I just realized that the flower I couldn't part with, and which I designed the whole decoration around, never made it on the purse -- somehow a smaller, pinker flower got in the center. So, there is still a corner of the check box to fill in when I rip of the wrong flower and put the right one in its place.

I like the basket design of the purse and the lovely cables that still show from the original sweater.

I couldn't resist including a picture of the daffodils that are sitting on our table right now. No, they're not from our garden, but they really do brighten up the room and remind us that spring is just around the corner.

Right now I'm working on a few "check box diversions" which I'll show you soon. In the mean time there are quiet times to be had, chores to do, and a plan to make for the next few days. Michael is away on church business and we'll be on our own.

More Flowers, Etc.

Sewing flowers makes me happy. I love pretty things and I love the color combinations I've been working with so far this year. I think there have been almost 100 sewn since the beginning of January, which seems a little hard to believe. They are all sewn in bits and pieces of time, mostly while helping the children with their schoolwork.

I find it hard at times to figure out how to fit in "creating" along with everything else. I have so many ideas and things I want to make and they just don't all happen. I need to keep learning to be okay with that and be grateful for what does happen.

Right now many things are bouncy around on my to-do list: sorting the boys' closet, getting ready for the homeschool art class I need to teach in the coming weeks, getting caught up on our finances and starting our taxes, cooking and writing for the food blog, re-decorating the mantel for February/spring, finishing up a few more items for my Etsy sale, letters, emails, and a few sewing projects that I've promised to people months ago and must get to work on, oh yeah, and there's homeschool too and laundry and cleaning. Sometimes I just don't know where to begin. Or, it feels like I'm rushing from one thing to the next throughout the day. And then there is no time left for reading. I'm convincing myself this is a season of life and I better just be happy with what happens and not worried about what doesn't. I forgot getting ready for the baby.....I need to make the most of this chance I have to prepare for a little girl.

In the mean time I'm learning all about nebulizers. I took David in for a possible ear infection yesterday and came out with an RSV diagnosis, prescription for nebulizer medication and a prescription for the ear infection. Treatments every four hours, through the night -- this wasn't supposed to happen to me for a few more months yet. Oh well. David doesn't complain and takes the treatments very well. Hopefully he'll be on the mend soon.

It's time for our scheduled rest time and then the kids each have something they want to do this afternoon. When it comes down to it, what really matters today is time spent with them, so I better just put my mind to rest about the to-do list and let life happen.

Ornament Making

Christina and I set aside a day this week to make ornaments. Ambitious idea, I know, but we at least wanted to try.

I pulled out all the possibilities and set the kids up with some painting. By the time we got the baby settled, and the kids settled, we were well into our day and the kids were finishing painting their ornaments almost before we sat down to start the adult ornaments!

Baby John alternated between sleeping, eating, and watching:

My first attempt was a pomander ball I saw over at Betz White's. It looked very easy, but it took me a good 1 1/2 hours! I was pleased with the results, but decided it wasn't an ornament to make in quantity!

James really got into making ornaments :)

Rachel got Auntie C to help her:

After I finished the pomander, I joined Christina and Rachel in making little wreaths.

Here are Rachel's. You take a pile of felt squares and run a thread through the middle, alternating four bells throughout. It's actually very, very simple, and pretty cute! Again, Betz White has an even better demonstration photo.

I was very impressed with how many ornaments James made! He really gets into the sewing!

My favorite ornament of the day was the felted bird. After sewing one I realized this was something I could make in quantity and all the lovely felted patterned sweaters would be just perfect for this.

Here is a not so good picture of the finished pomander:

My red and white wreath:

An attempt at a poinsettia ornament:

And a few more birds -- they are so cute!!! And I have so many color options!

Oh, and several weeks ago a friend was over with a sweater that was not feltable. Instead we made it into a pillow. It was easy to make and came together very quickly. We chose white material for front and back and then carefully pinned the sweater to the cut lining to cut the sweater to the right shape. I sewed around the edge of the sweater and front lining to "tack" it in place before sewing front and back together.

And that's all for now!