Introduction by Felt

A statement about my juxtaposition in life during this school term, assigned by my fiber arts teacher. It is a postcard made of wool, to be sent through the USPS. Postal art is a concept that I am fond of. I am glad to have an opportunity to justify spending many hours on something like this. Yes, MANY hours! There is no way that anyone could possibly know how much detail and time went into this little 4 1/4 x 6 inch piece of wool. I started with plain wool- hand carded it, and layered it in one direction, then another, etc., and put a piece of blue, indigo dyed cheesecloth in the center, to cast a bluish tint through the whole piece. I lightly wet-felted, making a lofty and loose piece of pre-felt. I then began needle felting my image on the non-adressed side. Using hand-spun, rough yarn, I made a knotty tree with roots. A cardinal was cut from commercially felted wool that I kool-aid dyed red, a while back. I needle felted detail onto her, as well as some colorful fall leaves on the tree and ground. I needle felted all of the words that you see. Then I wet felted with a rolling method, being extremely careful to turn frequently, and measure for postal dimensions. I felted the heck out of it, and was frustrated by the fact that it wanted to stop sooner than the needed shrinkage. I shocked it in cold water, then hot, felting more, and then put it in a zip lock with hot, soapy water and threw it on my cement basement floor over and over. When I took it out, I saw sadly that it had lost tons of detail and the words were no longer readable. I sharpied over the letters and then needle felted in white around the letters to make them stand out. This took a long time. Finally, I began to needle felt on the other side, to create seagulls. I put the address with permanent marker on silk, and then used hand-spun wool yarn to felt right through the silk and pin it down. I liked the design element that the hand spun borders made on the silk edges, like wood on the ocean beach piers. I added some feathers on the surface, which had spilled out of my down comforter. There are more details than this, but I am so done with this project (5 days and at least and well over 15 hours!)

Mamas In the Sun

I have been slowly working on this post for three days now. It is a ridiculous testament to how busy I have been lately, and how slow my dial-up Internet connection is, that I must take a few days to download a couple of pictures and formulate a few thoughts into typed sentences. I love Spring, but all of the activity has me spinning. Not that it isn't anything I didn't choose. I just have my hand in a little bit of everything right now... crochet circle, crafting for the market, making and spending time with new friends, joining a women's choir, weekly ballet classes, gardening like an addict, reading several new books, a brand new attempt at homeschooling my eight year old, signing the boys up for various recreational activities that I have to get them to and from, and of course writing on this blog as well as my other personal blog... craziness.

So, we had our meeting at my house on Sunday. I loved it. I was pretty excited about it all week, and actually put some time into making my backyard into a more beautiful and magical haven for all of us mamas to enjoy. I was excited to clean my sun fountain and put it together on the deck. The element of water truly transforms any space. We are now meeting outdoors for the rest of the warm season, which is really nice in itself, as well as opening up a few more venues that we cannot use during indoor meetings because of cat allergy issues. Mine is one of those. I have a very beautifully soft and furry, long haired Siamese lynx mix who sheds uncontrollably and therefore owns the house. I agree with the statement that Ivy once made, "I will never be a good enough house keeper to host a guest with severe cat allergies". Since we all love K so much, and would never want to leave her out, we must reserve our cat residences for backyard gatherings only.
I had a really nice time at our first meeting in the sun. The kids played happily and harmoniously. They discovered my rock turtle and liked him so much that they were actually arguing over turns with him, which I secretly liked, because it is fun to see children get all wrapped up in playing with my little treasures. We ate a raw corn dish brought by W, tons of fresh fruit, Ivy's quinoa dish, K's pancakes with lemony maple sauce, fresh lemonade (my current passion) and my favorite thing, K's homemade vegan ice cream made from coconut milk, agave nectar and fresh vanilla bean. OMG what a treat. I didn't do any crocheting, but instead worked on my felted magic wands that I will sell at the market.

Here is my favorite project that I accomplished this week. I am making felted balls for children. I have made them before but without pictures/decor. I was also unhappy with the lightness of weight in the past. To really play with a ball, it think it is important for it to have some weight (unless it is for a little baby to pick up, and should contain a little bell for sound interest). I solved this issue with rubber bouncy balls. I am starting with them in the center. Everyone has a few laying around, if they have children. I will never have to buy any, but will use ones that people give me, as a good recycler avoids the new. Hear that everyone? Please pass on to me all unwanted bouncy balls, tennis balls, golf balls, etc. Tell your friends, and let me know if you see any at the thrift store. I'll pay you back if you buy them for me there. Thanks.

I started with natural, undyed wool and wet felted it over the ball.

I also did some over a rock, which I will cut in half, take the rock out, attach a necklace cord, and have little woolen pouches for crystals, tiny dollies, whatever.


Here it is after I needle felted decor onto the drying ball. Isn't it so cute? I am very pleased. I posed it on top of some flats of Irish Moss that I just splurged for to plant in the perennial garden bed. So soft and lush- can't wait for it to grow and cover more ground!
In response to Ivy's post, wow, gluten free and more. What a hard change. I support you 100% and will be happy to comply with my pot-luck bringings. Thanks for bringing me the bags of groceries that you weeded out of your kitchen today. They will be well utilized and enjoyed. This Celiac thing seems to be getting more and more common. It makes me wonder about evolution and the state of health of our young these days. Changes are in store, I fear. Actually I try not to fear change. I should say, I predict.
And yes, I agree, we are more of a movement than an organization.