Happy Spring!

This is just silly - who says God doesn't have a sense of humor? This was my deck last night when I went to bed - the first day of Spring 2010....

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This morning I measured - we got a full 8" yesterday and last night. Today it's melting fast, but was enough to cancel a lot of events.

I bought my lettuce and pea seeds this week, but it will be a while before our sticky Missouri clay backyard is dry enough to dig in.

Felt Food You Can Wear!

My friend Jenny at Eclectics - an artists' cooperative in Kansas City (where I sell my stuff) saw my felt food and said, "I think some people would love to wear these. Why don't you make some smaller bananas for pins??" Of course, she makes a lot of cool woolen things to wear, like flower brooches made from old, felted wool sweaters or other fibers, like this heart.

 

However, I dutifully tried it while staying out of my studio to protect my poor fractured arm - hand sewing shouldn't be considered a high-impact activity, right? Today I placed some of my results into my gallery inventory for all to see.

Actually the banana was easy - it was the strawberries that were tricky. A single felt strawberry is easily made from a semi-circle of red felt.

• Fold in half and seam up the radius edges. Knot.
• Add running stitch around the top (the round edge), draw tight and knot.
• Stuff with fiber and stitch closed.
• Cut a 3 or 4 lobed green leaf piece.
• Stitch leaves over the hole and whip stitch around all leaves.
• Add tiny yellow embroidery stitches to simulate seeds.

Voila!  A strawberry! Sounds simple, right? Well, it is - IF you are making a whole strawberry.

If you want to make a half a strawberry, which is flat on one side (for the pin-back to be attached, which is what I did) it's a bit more complicated. The above photo is a whole strawberry. This is two half strawberries....look the same right?

Nope - the back is flat. And it doesn't even show! Wonder if anyone really will want to wear one of these???

Annual February Ice Storm Hits Missouri

Well, Old Man Winter must like the Show-Me State - he's sure hanging around this year. Since moving to the KC area nearly 4 years ago, I've been under-whelmed by the winters....until 2010. We have truly had winter weather this year - not just once, but repeatedly. Today is no exception - freezing rain, ice coating the blades of grass, the dogwood tree buds, the willows and the fences.

 

I didn't sleep well last night - waiting to hear the crashing of broken ice-laden branches which are often the result of winter ice storms. But so far, the streets have stayed wet and the trees have held up under the ice. That could change tonight, with colder air, wind and continue wet stuff falling!

So I am officially ready for this winter weather to be finished and spent yesterday in my studio, making jewelry with GREEN polymer beads.

  

  

And copper wire, of course. Since my fractured arm still hurts, and I'm not supposed to hammer metal, I used my torch to ball up the ends of copper wire and made jewelry with tangled wire beads.

Its fascinating how a little torch fire can melt the ends of wire into little balls or tear drops, often leaving them a great rosy red color. These wire tangles go great with other colors too. All-in-all a productive day, today I'm giving my arm a little rest.

  

  

 

"So Impressive!"

My 5-year-old granddaughter Chloe and her 2 1/2 year old sister Anastasia called me yesterday, upon receipt of their shopping bag full of Felt Food!.

Chloe called me right away and said, "Grandma, it is so impressive!" (yes, that's really how she speaks!) It's great to be appreciated. My son and his wife are careful about toys coming to stay in their home - no Chinese plastic permitted, not too many pieces ( Legos are an exception...) and no junk. But he knows I've figured out how to get around the limits - this gift is NOT plastic, reinforces healthy eating and it's handmade. They have to keep it!

They loved the sushi and the cookies and the veggies.

And the pretzels.

I used an expandable onion bag, added a fun-felt collar and drawstring so they have a usable holder for the small items.

I also made a shopping bag from old plastic grocery sacks, fused together with an iron. (Be sure to sandwich the plastic sheets between paper before ironing!!)

All in all, a great result from my Felt Food experiments. I'll be teaching how to do this type of Felt Food at classes offered at Eclectics Gallery - an artists' cooperative in Kansas City. Students will get hands-on experience, will make some food in class and receive a set of patterns for a wide variety of fruits, veggies and other yumies.

Felt Food - Another new obsession

Well, actually, I don't think making felt food is new - just new to me. Just gotta love blogging and reading other peoples' blogs. Great ideas going on out there. So, why felt food? Many of today's parents are understandably disenchanted with plastic toys - for lots of reasons. This group includes my own son and daughter-in-law, and greatly affects how I shop for my 3 granddaughters.....thoughtfully. This is a good thing.

So, when I found pictures, ideas and a couple free tutorials for felt food - ideal for playing house if you are ages 2-6 as my grands are - I was inspired.

 

So this weekend I spent hand-stitching and machine stitching a variety of delights. Here's a few cake doughnuts, including one I couldn't resist.

I really liked how my banana turned out - it doesn't come apart, but is oh so peel-able.

The free tute from American Felt for a cut-up-able carrot was fun, but I like the more realistic whole carrots too.

I plan to make more whole veggies - so the girls can pretend shop and fill their grocery bags with healthy stuff, just like Mother. My eggplant turned out great - sure glad I found the purple felt a the bottom of my felt box.

I also made a fried egg, and tried for a hard-boiled egg - though it's not realistic enough for my taste. I'm sure the girls won't care.

My favorites are the strawberries and the soda crackers, also from American Felt. They turned out pretty realistic. Thanks to a blog by Kari called UCreate

 

Next on my list - whole wheat bread slices for sandwiches, zucchini, and pasta.Check out One Inch World. She's got great ideas and more tutorials for felt food, including needle-felted food. I've been resisting needle felting, but now I must try it, just so I can make felt tomato slices.