My fabric collection has finally moved out of plastic totes and into the light of day thanks to my great find at the Berea College surplus auction:
I love being able to see what I've got; it is at my fingertips. It makes me so satisfied, and also feel like a prissy old lady.
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I have been seriously bitten by a crazy clock making bug. I made two more and have them listed for sale on our etsy shop. (Thanks Kate!)As sweet as they are, our house can only take so much...cuteness (and ticking). I would appreciate some feedback or suggestions! 
This is the woodland gnome home whoo whoo clock. It is made of mat board covered with corduroy and naturally dyed wool felt. The clock face is painted with watercolor paint.
The garden shed whoo whoo clock:
I'm really pleased with the felt shingle roof. Both of these have vellum in the windows and can hold a battery powered tea light. When I am done dyeing felt, I hope to do a night light and a door stop...
I want to make some more clocks, but need materials, so I have been dyeing a bunch of beautiful wool felt. I've got a little workshop set up on our back porch, right next to the sand box. My boys have been playing happily in their little pool and sand while I do this:
with this:
(marigolds) and this:
(onion skins).
Yesterday, I got an indigo vat for wool going and got this:
The browns are black walnuts I collected last fall. Cool, huh?
My Dad has been planning to make a sand box for all four of his grandsons for a little while now. Luckily, he collects all kinds of old things, and my Mom thought that an old wooden boat stashed in their barn would be the perfect sandbox vessel. The old flat bottom Old Town boat would never see water again, but its shape and depth would make it a good sandbox for the kids. Its subtle curves and wooden boatiness would appeal to all of us "big kids" who have fond memories of cruising around Thousand Islands, Canada in our old wooden boat. I had nothing to do with this project but admire the results, but I am planning to make some flags and pennants for the mast. First my parents scraped the old paint.Next, they painted the whole boat with oil-based white primer. (I am sure my mom is so happy that I am posting photos of her in her painting clothes- Martha be damned, nobody wears khakis when painting!)
Then my Mom painted the outside blue and my Dad fixed a rotten side rail. I don't think Julian was actually painting, he is serving as a supervisor here. 
While the paint was drying, they prepared the site by laying down landscaping plastic and laying down a bed of gravel. We were going to use pressure treated lumber as a foundation, but had gravel left over from another project. Strider donated a telephone pole piece to use as a piling and also brought the bamboo mast. I can't wait to get some of that crazy thick rope they sell by the foot at the hardware store to secure the boat to the piling.
Julian would like to add a pirate ship plank and we need a gangplank so the little kids can get into the boat. I am going to sew a rain (and cat) cover from sturdy nylon. My Mom is planning to plant perennials around the back of the boat to anchor it into the landscape, and I think the sand boat will work really well and be a fun sandbox that the grownups like as much as the kids.
I think I am finally finished with a project I have been working on for a long time. When I made a little sewn felt horse (pattern from "Toymaking for Children") for our nature table a while ago- maybe 2 years ago- it really bothered me that the seams made the horse look fake and toy-like. It was cute, but I wanted a more realistic horse to pull a garden cart full of felt pumpkins in the fall or carry baskets of flowers in the spring. I tried to make up a knitted and felted horse pattern by messing around with the knitting pattern for a horse, also in Toymaking for Children, but it never looked right. Frustrated, I abandoned the horses. Early this spring, I started experimenting with renewed vigor, forgot about trying to find a pattern to adjust, and just started from scratch. 10 or 12 or 15 misshapen horses later, I came up with these guys:
Here is a side view- isn't she elegant? I violated my "no acrylic yarn" rule for her mane and tail- it's super thin acrylic/poly blend I picked up at a thrift store. It's perfect for hair. 
The Palomino is sweet too, he's missing a tail thanks to Avery, who likes him as much as Dusty does. 
I made a Western saddle and the black horse is modeling it here. I don't like her mane as much, regular yarn looks too coarse. It's also hard to see her features, the nose and mouth don't show up. I needle felted a white blaze, and I am pleased with that. The saddle is made from Laura's walnut-dyed felt. Do you recognize the saddle blanket? It's cut from jute upholstery tape. 
I am going to format the pattern to sell, but first I need to find a tester or two. Any takers? The knitting goes quickly- you can knit one in an evening. It takes one 50g ball of worsted weight yarn, and the seaming is not picky because the felting hides any stitches. When you are done, the horse looks seamless, as the mane covers the only seam. Sigh. That makes me so happy!
It was so motivating to post about my garden. I realized it is only June, way too early to throw up my hands. It also didn't hurt that today was in the 70's rather than the high 80's like it has been for the last couple of weeks. Me and the boys worked outside a bunch together in harmony (nothing ruins my gardening vibe like a little beast repeatedly stealing the tool I am using right out of my hands....). Eli suggested a picnic in the shade:
Isaac and Eli have chosen taco shells filled with sharp cheddar cheese as their lunch item of choice as you can see.
Instead of ants we were dive bombed by a couple of these guys:
It is a summer of cicadas in Kentucky; they are making their once every 17 year appearance. We have been finding their shed husks all over clutching onto plants and trees. The summer has been sound tracked by the sound of their buzzing, which can be annoying or amazing, depending on your mood. I am convinced it feels hotter when the cicada concert is at its loudest...
Elsewhere in the garden,a volunteer mullein that planted itself in just the right spot is nearing its impressive flowering:
Two chairs Strider scored at a yard sale were looking particularly comfortable and nicely patainaed today:
Hooray! a great day in the garden.
My herb garden is thriving. I love their exuberance! This shot is actually two beds with a narrow path between them. The front bed is strictly culinary herbs and the one behind is made up of grey and silver plants. Strider has given me a gift certificate to my favorite nursery for mothers day the last couple of years and most of these guys are thanks to his generosity.
Although it really annoyed the bees, I harvested a big bunch of lavender today.
We are eating lots of strawberries! We put 50 plants in 3 years ago, and this is the first year we have bunches of berries. I am so greedy though and can't help but want more and more plants to put in so we would have enough to freeze....
Ok full disclosure, the poppies are actually long gone, just the dried up seed pods are waving around now. I took this photo weeks ago and really wanted to share this perfect crepe-y beauty.
Here are a couple of places "in transition":
This is the bottom corner of the vegetable patch, (I wish I could say "potager" with a straight face) the tall stuff is lettuce desperately going to seed. All the other green stuff is a cover crop of...weeds.
These are rocks Strider salvaged from a wall being taken down in town. If you use your imagination, you can envision what they will look like stacked up to the left of where they lay, as a classy wall edging our driveway..I will spare you photos of the pile of fencing materials waiting to be installed and the greenhouse parts crying out to be put together.
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I've been kicking around the idea of making a cuckoo inspired clock with my hand dyed felt for awhile now. It's a project I've sketched and thought about a bunch, but was scared to start because I didn't want to mess up the super cute image I had in my mind with an unsuccessful attempt. I finally decided to give it a try...
The "trunk" is half of an oatmeal box:
A round roof of poster board is heading in the right direction:
I made niches for the bird and the clock, making liberal use of duct tape:
Next the roof was clad in felt shingles, the trunk covered in corduroy, the clock niche trimmed with felt, and the clock face painted with watercolors:
I added more felt embellishments:
It took my 4 year old to point out the obvious choice for what type of bird to make. (thanks Eli)Then I went overboard with the felt mushrooms:
Installed on the mantel:
I am pleased with the result, me and Katie's kids really like it too. I can't think of another project I've done that they have been more interested in. This was so inspiring, I've got bunches of other clock ideas to do now! I think we will be eating a lot more oatmeal...
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Katie and I like rainbow order, it has become a regular theme in our work and studios.While blogging at the library, I ran into a friend who shared she had gotten published in an online magazine for the first time. Lo and behold my favorite color scheme organizing scrapbooking embellishments:| | |
The entire article is here. Congrats Crystal!
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Friday night was the opening for the Beyond the Box show at the Berea Arts Council. 40 some artists were given identical plain wooden boxes and let loose. A fantastic array of artwork resulted. There were several I wanted to photograph, but got carried away chatting. Here are a few I did get pictures of:
Justine Dennis
Teresa Cole
Lora Nell Gilbert
There are a few more photos of boxes on the Arts Council's site here. I hope to get photos of my finished box up here too eventually...