I threw together a small bottle to stitch on our way to Pennsylvania the night before we left. I didn't have time to dye anything so I used Setacolor fabric paint to paint up some silk. I don't know if that stuff is even for silk, but it turned out watery and blue green just like I wanted. My kit ready to go:

I got cracking before we even were out of our county:

I got an amazing amount done before succumbing to car sickness. The neck of this bottle is tiny and gave me fits whenever I sat down to work on it in PA. I finally finished it when we got home. I figured out a simple way to enclose a washer in fabric for the base. (For weight and stability-it also gives the bottle an authentic heft.) I'd been stitching two layers of fabric into a circle, turning it right side out, inserting felt and a washer, tricky to get just right. For this piece I bought a washer just the right size and pulled fabric around it, the gathered extra fabric will be hidden inside.

This solution was inspired by a yo-yo quilt my Mom has on her couch...

My family got to take an impromptu trip to Pennsylvania to visit my Mom, Dad, and sister Abby earlier this month. Kate and her boys came too: 1200 miles, 13 travel hours, 9 days, 4 boys, 3 adults, 1 van. Super fun.

Highlights:

Roadside America-awesome vintage tableau with trains, villages, a waterfall... (Eli's paradise, he is planning something similar in our yard after he decided his room was too small for what he has in mind.)

Fasnachts-PA Dutch fried dough traditionally made to mark the day before Lent. 

 Thrifting marathon. No photos, I always take my camera but get too distracted to use it. Re Uz It relay, many bargains.

Kramer Yarn Mill Tour. Also no photos, but an inspiring and magical hour. Kate and I have been wanting to tour this place for ages, and the women who work in the yarn shop really went out of their way to help us since the regular tour guy was on vacation. I could gush about this peek into an amazing process for too long, But I have to mention-drum carders bigger than my van-pallets of raw, washed wool from all over the world-one woman named Olga who IS the quality control department.Very cool, made me appreciate all the work that goes into this yarn.

I've been neglecting my blogging, but boy have I been gettin' other stuff done! It is so hard to keep all the balls in the air...while I do plan to tell you about the creating and traveling I've been doing, I'm not posting photos of the unfolded mountain of clean laundry breeding in the corner of our bedroom.... I'm really loving my creative pursuits right now, the poor laundry has a hard time competing. OK, anyway, I finished the rusty funnel.

Beginning the stitching is a relief after fiddling around with constructing the form:

I rolled the edge of the lip over onto itself to form a nicer rim. Here I am ready to attach the separate piece that makes up the spout:

I love the variegated thread that I used. I've got to get back to the bead store and buy one of all the variegated colors they have:

Finished! I enjoyed making this even though it took longer to stitch than vessels with narrow necks, because each stitch had to look good on both sides of the "bowl".

Here with it's companion piece:

I am considering making shadow boxes/shelves to house my vessels so I could create an atmosphere for them to reside in. We'll see...