dreamerofmalta

The playfood stove/storage chest

2008-01-19T21:52:26Z

I'd been working on Lorelei's play food for her Christmas off and on as I had a spare minute when she wasn't around. They crocheted up really fast, but the pile of food items seemed so unfinished. I finally got a lightbulb moment just before Christmas. As a result it didn't get sealed (and I'm going to have to touch it up) but I'm pretty impressed with myself :).

I got a couple of wooden rounds and painted them black and some swirls became the "hot" part. Some wooden wheels became knobs. I got new pans from my mom for Christmas so Lorelei inherited a little pan of her own. She seems very pleased. She was making eggs with me while I cooked breakfast this morning.

Storage space for her food. I did a burger with lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, and cheese, spaghetti and meatballs, and eggs and toast.

Silly hats, simple pillowcases and what was I thinking

2007-11-29T15:19:51Z

Can I just say, I LOVE seasonal pillowcases? There is nothing faster to make and you can never have enough of them (if you are me.) Everything just seems so much more festive when you wake up and go to sleep on something special.

I think this Shamash print of sledding bears is so cute, and the black starry background fits in with my color scheme for St. Nicholas Day gifts. For those who aren't aware, St. Nick's day is Dec 6th and it is traditional to fill stockings. I am excited to tell the kids the legend of St. Nicholas saving the 3 dowerless girls with gifts of gold. Its also nice to have a spot to give the little seasonal gifts that always seem to be too late when given at the end of the month.

So, 4 pillowcases to stuff in stockings.

The hats are for my kid's 12 days of Christmas. (Yes, I am crazy and celebrate as often as possible throughout December: St. Nick's, 12 days, Christmas, Solstice etc. I LOVE the idea of a month long festival at the darkest time of the year.) I still need to make Demetri some mittens. His hands are tiny though so I still need to find or fudge a pattern.

I wanted Lorelei's mittens to match her hat perfectly and the yarn was the wrong weight for my mitten pattern so I did probably the most hairbrained thing I have done (at least in the last month) I unplyed the yarn. A 1 hour project suddenly took 2 days. :yikes: Umm. note to self. Don't Do That Again!

Pentacle Wreath

2007-11-28T01:17:48Z

I am far too easily distracted. (and probably have too many craft supplies.) While attempting to find yarn to make my husband a scarf I came across a couple of random skeins of eyelash yarn and decided they needed to be used now. I wanted something non-wearable since I've been doing so many sweaters, shrugs, hats etc. This is the result.

In case any one has a desire to make their own here's what I did.

Materials: wire, size K crochet hook, 1 skein ribbon yarn (I used Provo Craft Knifty Knitter Green) 1 skein eyelash yarn or fun fur (I used Moda Dea Kickx)

1. Make a star and a circle from wire. The heaviest I had was 14 gauge, but 12 gauge or heavier would have been better. A wire hanger would have been perfect.

2. Tie the points where the wire crosses itself and where the star contacts the circle. This doesn't need to be totally secure as you will be crocheting around the spots and making it more durable.

3. Tie ribbon yarn to wire and single crochet around. Yarn over the wire and single crochet as usual. Bunch the stitches as you go so they are loose and full. Join to first stitch when you get around and crochet around the star.

4. Crochet around a second time.

5. Attach eyelash yarn and sc around shape over the top of ribbon yarn. The ribbon yarn will show through.

6. Continue crocheting around just the circle. You want it to have greater coverage than the star so it is fuzzier.

The start of our handmade holidays

2007-11-27T15:59:37Z

Finally finished making lists and started sewing :) These are our St. Nicholas Day socks in progress. I'm just excited that it isn't Dec 5th with me doing them at 3 AM. Hooray for not procrastinating!

Demi is practicing rolling over (he learned how about 3 days ago and keeps barrel rolling across the floor. :) ) He's sharing his blankie for the pics so I included him.

Stockings are in progress. Still need to add the trim and hangers to 3 of them. The one up top might be done but I'm not sure. Do you think I should embroider names on the cuffs in either burgundy or silver?

I kind of like the clean look. The applique turned out better than I could have hoped-- its almost not noticeable at all. Our stocking hangers are simple silver stars. Just not sure what would look best.

belly dance crafting

2007-11-25T17:56:18Z

Crummy picture, but I finished my headpiece. The base is wool with sari trim added on top. I stitched some cowries onto a medallion sewed it to the base and then crocheted around the whole thing so it looked more integrated (and didn't fall off.) I'm really pleased with the flowers on the other side. I couldn't find any I liked and that would match my belt so I got some white magnolias from the dollar store and used fabric markers to personalize them. I made the cowrie falls too. Super easy. There are a couple of tutorials on tribe.net, but I had whole cowries rather than cut backed so mine are a bit different and I just did them like I would do a hair wrap. They have top loops and I slid them onto the ties for the headpiece so they are removable.

I was thinking it would be fun to do some kanzashi style flowers to wear rather than the premade silk style ones (Kanzashi are the hair flowers worn by geisha.) I've done small versions for myself before to wear everyday

I thought it'd be cool to do big elaborate ones more like those geisha wear. Not middle eastern, but I thought it might mix well with the multi-ethnic costume of tribal style belly dance. What do you think?

http://www1.odn.ne.jp/maya/english/enknshop.htm

Crocheting

2007-09-17T14:36:15Z

Still playing catch-up with posts I didn't post.

Not a lot of sewing happening lately, but loads of crocheting happening. I'm doing shrugs for my various nieces. I have my half done, Gandhi's half still to go. Here are a few done up if fluffy yarns.

More Lorelei school clothes. This sweater was surprisingly simple. Its just 2 5 sided motifs for the body. Love the bell sleeve.

Here's her shrug with a skirt and newsboy cap. The girl insists there be something for her head with every outfit :)

My first pair of crocheted socks!

I got a couple of boxes of yarn and half projects from my mother in law's garage and have been playing with those. So far I have a granny square afghan finished for Lorelei and a really cool cobwebby black skirt for me finished. I'm half way into a lacy pullover for me. Hoping to get it finished this week and pictures posted.

And since I haven't posted school clothes pictures

2007-08-09T20:57:50Z

Lorelei was going through my notions yesterday and found an iron-on patch from the '70's that came as a set with a matching sticker. She insisted on having it and that it needed to be on a pink shirt. I went digging but couldn't find a pink that I liked (its not a color I have much of) and sort of hoped she'd forget about it.

No such luck. I've been sporting a frog sticker on my butt all morning since that's where she says it belongs and the iron-on had to be something NOW so she kept bringing it back to me.

In my search for pink yesterday I found a scrap of embroidered knit that was enough for sleeves and a hood and I had hoodie dresses on the agenda for today since she loved the ones I made her last year but they are all hitting above the knee since she grew again. (I'm making leggings to wear with them so she can use them as tunics this winter.)

So, froggy found a home on the pocket of a hoodie dress and I now have permission to remove the sticker from my pants. Hooray!

The frog and a pocket already full of "treasures" despite the fact she's only had the dress on for 5 minutes

Sheesh mom. More pictures?

Hoods are really cool- look!

And this one is for a friend who's only request was that I make something using firetrucks that was girly. I had grandiose plans at one point, but time is ticking away so I went with easy and comfy instead so it would actually get completed. I think its cute though :) Who can resist a gnome hood?

I'm sewing in blind panic

2007-08-09T20:47:22Z

Some may call it "nesting," but it feels more like blind panic. I just have this certainty that I won't get anything (let alone everything) done before the baby shows up. Come to think of it, I probably won't :p Especially with the detours I keep taking.

Todays detour from sewing stuff for Lorelei to wear to school is a skirt for me to wear to our appointment this afternoon to discuss life insurance. I'm soooooooo not excited to go. Life insurance is really not my kind of thing. Its responsible, its forward thinking. Its another bill. Anyway, I made this for a little joi d'vivre. Nothing says freedom like gypsy violins :)

My Lughnasadh quilt in progress

2007-08-02T05:24:25Z

I was really hoping to have this quilt done by today, but no such luck. Perhaps if I hadn't delayed starting it until last week I might have had a better shot at completing it. Nah, procrastination MUST be the best way. Its certainly the only way I do anything.

Anyway, this is supposed to be the first in a Wheel of the Year series of quilts I'm making to celebrate the 8 Sabbats. I've been plotting them off and on since I read about the quilt square swaps that Willow Polson used to run http://www.willowsplace.com/ (I loved her first Pagan crafting book, Witch Crafts, and can't wait for the sequel. Not too many fun crafting books out there for the Crafty.) She doesn't run the swaps anymore but I still wanted my own set of quilts and figured it'd be more fun to do the themes my own way any way.

I started with Lughnasadh because it is such an easy one to find fabrics for and I didn't have quite so many involved plans for it as I keep seeing for the others. Samhain is my husband and my Handfasting anniversary and I want that one to be really special, Yule is such a big holiday and I love the combination of red/green and I keep imagining incredibly complex designs etc. First Harvest just needed to be comfortable and earthy and I don't have that many further emotional ties to it.

I considered doing pinwheels with the various produce squares but since my sewing time is limited right now due to the fact that I'm having a baby at the end of the month and said baby keeps sitting on my sciatic nerve and making it impossible to sew, I just put plain squares of a variety of fruit and vegetable prints into really simple sashing. I figured it was my only shot at getting a King sized anything done in a week. I do think the borders kind of give the produce the impression of being in baskets though and its kind of cool looking even if it is really simple. Once I add it, the outer border is a deep brown just to finish it off. I think I'll quilt around the squares to kind of enhance that basket effect and I may or may not quilt a grain goddess design in the center. I think I'll do wheat sheaves in the outer border too.

Pirate Mermaids

2007-06-12T22:42:13Z

I like this far too much and can't seem to let the image go.

I made this rather silly apron as a tribute to a spectacular soul who recently passed due to cancer far too young. The pirate herself is a fabric collage appliqued to a reversible half apron. The Jolly Roger Flag is a pocket. The apron and a treasure box are my contributions to a benefit tribute for Patsy Edwards family http://www.middayfaire.com/ The benefit begins June 16th and runs through the 20th with a variety of auctions, raffles, and straight priced items.

The pirate mermaid came from Patsy's serious obsession with Johnny Depp and the Pirates movies and our choice to let it be the nominal theme of the benefit. Now it won't let me go. I'm in the middle of making a pirate mermaid doll, wrap skirt, and journal. Expect to be inundated with more rotten pictures as I try to coerce my camera to take some better ones.

Fun with felt beads

2007-03-21T14:15:16Z

I haven't done much wet felting, but had someone ask if I could make some jewelry so I gave it a shot. I'm in LOVE. I had so much fun making this necklace and bracelet set, and so did my 3 year old daughter. She helped me make the beads. Mostly her contribution consisted of dipping the beads I'd already finished in cold water over and over :p but we had a great time making these together. We did enough extra beads that she has a felt bead bracelet. She's very pleased. So am I since they're soft and comfortable for her to wear and won't break or scratch :) I definitely see more felt jewelry in my future. The goddess pendant is needlefelted btw-- I don't have anywhere near that much wet felting skill lol. Expect to be inundated with more of this. Oh, and look at my purty skrying mirror. Somehow I never thought of its usefulness as a jewelry display before :p

Valentine's Day and I'm supposed to be cleaning. . or something

2007-02-14T21:16:17Z

I'm supposed to be hosting a teaparty for my daughter and neices in about 2 hours and just can't get motivated. I made sugar cookies and cleaned my bathroom and that's as close as its getting to being special. I suppose I should frost the cookies, but I guess I'm weird. I don't like frosting, I'd just as soon eat the cookies. They are 3, 3, 6 and 7 though, so more sugar would probably be appreciated.

Gandhi came home for lunch with a random assortment of stuff to remind me why we are together and that was sweet. A small kite (he realized he loved me on a very fun day flying kites with friends at the park) a book we spent a lot of time reading to each other (I kept interupting by tickling and distracting him so it took a long time) some foot massage oil, and a Billy Holiday cd with a request that I sing more. I woke him up this morning with some dvd's and a candy bar so he felt a little guilty I guess. I didn't need presents, but am looking forward to a foot rub.

I made these for a "Love is. . ." theme so I guess its appropriate to post them today :)

Posting more pics and feeling guilty

2007-02-13T15:32:43Z

I've officially closed my business so this is my only place to really show off my madness so I thought I'd put up some stuff I've made lately.

In other news my 3 year old took her first trip to the hospital yesterday (she was homebirthed so it really is 1st EVER.) I feel rotten. I was making breakfast and she got scalding water dropped on her. She was safe and across the room one minute and headed to the hospital with 1st and 2nd degree burns the next. They were reassuring while they wrapped the kidlet up like a mummy in gauze and she should heal quickly. She's running around like nothing has happened but I am going crazy (ier.) I guess I should feel lucky to have gotten this far with no injuries. Getting her unscathed to age 18 was apparently an unrealistic dream. I'm very glad she is going to be okay but it is upsetting to realize how quickly that can change.

Anyway. Here's a random assortment of stuff. Lakshmi for a friend

My first attempt at an outfit for the kidlet on the way. Recycled sweater becomes sweater and pants. I felted a dragon on the butt for fun. It is straight, just needs to be blocked still.

Close-up of dragon

Cowardly Lion asleep in the poppies. I did a winged monkey too but forgot to get a picture before I packed him.

Felting for Friends

2007-01-15T21:26:44Z

I got way behind on my "I'm going to make them something" list. I had good intentions to send out some fun surprises before Christmas and just didn't get things accomplished. It feels weird to feel bad about not doing something nice so I decided to get out from under the ooginess and actually make some things to send-- even if it wasn't what I originally intended. So, these are cheer up gifts for people I should have cheered up months ago. Sometimes procrastination really sucks.

Fairy pincushion for an embroidery fiend

Iron Goddess of Mercy Tea and the goddess herself: Kwan Yin

Only 2 more packages to go!

More hedgehogs

2006-12-31T16:34:06Z

Here's the knitting needle roll. I still need to block this and add the ties, but by taking pictures this morning I think I've got my sister convinced that I am the world's worst photographer so she is supposed to come over and take real pictures for me later today/early tomorrow.

Gandhi wasn't particularly impressed with my composition on the "wool painting" as he termed it. I keep attempting to explain that "I'm a crafter, not an artist dammit!" but he still refuses to be impressed. One of these days I'll do something cool I suppose. I was rather excited about this last night, but all I'm noticing this morning is my shortcomings. Guess I should only look at stuff at 3 AM when I am very tired and the light is bad :S

Hedgehogs beat groundhogs any day

2006-12-31T02:02:35Z

So I got this silly idea in my head that I needed to do a Groundhog Day stocking of my HyenaCart store. Unfortunately, I do not find groundhogs particularly inspiring. Lucky for me, Americans have twisted this tradition (as we have so many other times) from a pretty cool earlier tradition. The Romans apparently were watching hedgehogs look for their shadows :) http://landscaping.about.com/cs/pestcontrol/a/groundhog_day_4.htm Hedgehogs I find adoreable and far more interesting than groundhogs.

Still working on more stuff, but here are some sneak peaks of the first few things. A pincushion and crochet hook roll. I'm doing a few more semi-functional things like a knitting needle roll, a needle felting kit, maybe a piece of clothing or two, and the rest will just be silly fuzzy cuddly little hedgies. Now if I could just stay awake long eough to get stuff done. I've been doing a zombie impression for more than a week now. SOOOOOOOOOO sleepy.

Shoes, socks, and shawls

2006-12-14T05:26:09Z

Really getting down to the wire and starting to panic a bit. Today was the first class shipping deadline for Christmas delivery and I didn't quite make it with all my packages, so I guess the last couple are going priority. I just can't seem to maintain focus and keep working on random things that I get sudden ideas for rather than the things theat MUST be done. Its a really good thing I didn't plan to do anything for people other than family this month or I'd be so screwed.

Case in point-- I decided to experiment with sewing leather on my machine for the first time and made my nephew a pair of shoes. Actually I made him 2 pairs of shoes, since these were two very different sizes despite starting out as the same one. The second pair (I didn't get a picture) was deep green wool with suede bottoms and they fit nicely.

I did however use the experience and made a pair of wool slippers with needlefelted embellishments as a gift for a surprise holiday swap I was involved with online. Made a needlefelting kit out of a recycled sweater too.

I also finally finished a prize I promised somebody back in July. Talk about procrastination. I haven't made that many dolls and was more than a bit afraid to start this one since the person its for is a good friend (hence her willingness to let me delay and delay and delay.) He's a merboy made out of a sock, stuffed with (you guessed it) wool. And that officially resolves any and all outstanding commitments in my house that are older than 2 weeks. Huzzah! I might even hit 2007 commitment free. For once I think I managed to commit to things that are humanly possible lol.

And last but not least, a prayer shawl I did for a friend who's having a crummy holiday season full of far too many memories. Very simple stitch so the yarn is highlighted. Its primarily a wool yarn with multiple colors per skein and I used a variety of colorways that I mixed and matched. There's also a gold metallic element that gives it a bit of sparkle. Not something I would normally love, but I think it works for this. She loves phoenixes and needs to rise from her ashes and truly live again-- this reminded me of its plumage. I hope it does the same for her. I washed it with an amber and anise soap before lanolizing it. It is lovely and soft now. They are correspondences for peace, healing, comfort and emotional balance, and I charged it for the same things. I wasn't expecting the charge to take all that well since the yarn is not entirely natural fibers, but it surprised me.

Nunki is here!

2006-12-09T03:05:14Z

I think L likes the dog. He, on the other hand was totally exhausted by her.

I spent my morning finishing up his blankie. Denim patchwork front with a fleece backing and fleece stars appliqued on it.

I also just finished this owl butterfly for my friend Melanie's bithday. The body is a goddess since she got a butterfly with goddess body tattoo for her birthday and I liked the idea. Its about the size of my palm. No idea why it decided to be that big.

Elephant dung paper

2006-12-06T23:06:04Z

This stuff is kinda cool. http://store.mrelliepooh.com/index.html I got one of their fancy to do list long notebooks in the mail a couple of days ago as an early Yule present. Gandhi didn't quite agree when I brought it in to show him "the coolest thing ever!" Ok, maybe not the best thing ever, but still pretty neat. Maybe you have to be a pachyderm freak. . .

Triple Goddess and wool fetishes for Yule stocking stuffers

2006-12-03T17:58:58Z

I've been working on some stocking stuffers for Yule :) My camera wasn't really all that thrilled to be taking pics of small stuff though. I have got to learn to take a decent picture one of these days. Its one of those things I'm constantly frustrated by. They are about 3-5" except the goddesses which are about 3-4" each.

I'm totally in love with the fibers. The wolf, hawk, mammoth, and bear are made of tog fiber from Icelandic sheep. I have decided if I ever get to dream and have my own sheep, this is the breed I want. They grow 2 types of wool simultaneously: a longer outer layer called tog and a super soft and fine inner layer calle thel. The sheep have 2 shearings a year because the wool grows so quickly and long. And the colors are so cool! They have a lot of variety in their fleeces. They are also a wonderful meat sheep apparently. The wool is a dream to felt, super easy to clean because it doesn't have a lot of vegetal matter, and it has the most wonderful texture when left in locks. I love to run my fingers over it. That's why I figured it would be great for a pocket fetish. I can't keep my hands off them. The others (except the bright blue in the bear) are all corriadale wool that has been dyed with natural materials. I have some indigo dyed roving that I just keep petting. I am such a nerd.

Triple Goddess

Zuni style healing bear

Hawk

Wolf

Mammoth

Bear

In other news, we're getting a PUPPY! I have missed having dogs around and a friend of mine has some cocker spaniel puppies right now. We went over yesterday and picked out our pup. He's a little black fellow with a white freckle on his nose and a bit more white on his chest. He seems very easy going and sweet. I didn't want to leave without him yesterday, but Gandhi has finals coming up next week and didn't want any change in the household until he survives them. I am far too impatient. But, he may be just as excited as me. He woke me up last night at 3 AM to think up puppy names. We pretty much settled on Nunki. We were thinking that the little white freckle on his nose looks like a star in the night sky so we went looking for star names and translations of the word comet since the blazing on his chest could be a comet tail-- not to mention the reindeer/Yule puppy connection.

Nunki is another name for Sigma Sagitarii, the bright blue star that is the arrow in Sagitarius. Since it is in the sky now it seemed appropriate. It is a Babylonian name that means "Star of the Proclamation of the Sea," "Voice of the Sea," and is the Sumerian god of the sea. I thought that was appropriate for the pet of my little mermaid Lorelei. It also has the advantage of being a word easily pronounced by a 3 year old. Good things all around. I did mention we were slightly dorky at my house right?

My house is actually CLEAN!

2006-11-25T23:35:27Z

This is a banner day and thus must be noted just so I can say that it did happen at least once this year. Gandhi and I just spent 2 days cleaning and scrubbing our front room and kitchen and then steamed the carpets and painted it all. We can actually open our window shades without fear of the clutter police taking us into custody and if someone were to knock they might actually be allowed in the door. We both just keep sighing and turning to each other and grinning.

Now I get to mess it up again with winter crafting.

A mess-o-mushrooms and a fairytale

2006-11-23T16:38:38Z

Thought I'd give a mushroom pincushion a try. I also did a set of mushroom landscapey thingies for a nature table. The pincushion is almost 5" high, and the groupings are right around 2" high

But the coolest thing is this jewelrybox I made for my neice who turned 7 yesterday. She's a very girly girl and not into home made stuff but this was a hit. I'm pretty thrilled to have gotten a squeal from her when she saw it :) I had one of those princess cakes with the plastic doll and cake skirt when I was a kid and I used the same concept here. I took a wet felted egg, cut it open and used it as the base, then felted around the base to make it flat. Then I wrapped an armature like you would do the top half of a bendy doll and attached it to the egg. I made a wool head and covered the pipecleaner in wool and sculpted away. Blanket stitched around the opening, added a button and loop closure and ta-da-- a place for her earrings. (She got her ears pierced as her present from her parents which is what sparked the idea, and I beaded a bracelet for inside.)

I think I'm going to take the same concept and make a toothfairy box to put on my site-- but I'll probably be lazy and stick with a wood bead for the face :p

In other news, I just bought a new domain and have finally decided to get off my butt and get my website running. I'm going to be putting my children's clothing as well as toys and pincushions on hodgepatch.com and will be putting things like animal totems, goddess gourd rattles, pagan housewares like appliqued and patchwork altar cloths, Yule ornaments etc. etc,, and my adult patchwork on my new site woollywitch.com I thought it was only fitting since I play with sheep's wool and have a woolly mammoth looking out for me. My friend Sarah suggested the name the other night when we were crafting hippie and high priestess bendies at around 1 AM wih our Goddess group and it clicked.

My little sister is coming onboard as my business partner since she actually can organize things, keep to deadlines, and manage money. Her job is to poke me with a stick periodically. Hoping to get the sites up by December 1st and be open for custom work then with a goal of having them fully stocked and have a grand opening on Imbolc (Feb 2.) I figure Brigid's Day is perfect for getting a creative endeavor going and I can make some groundhogs to celebrate.

The Have a Free Holiday Challenge

2006-11-13T18:50:53Z

We have had a standing policy of handmade gifts in our family forever, but its gotten lax over the years. This year my parents have declared that all gifts to one another are to be handmade and the total budget cannot exceed $25 (which my father is sending each of us in an official envelope) Most creative/best gift as voted on by "super secret ballot" wins the "Maughan Memorial Regatta and Bowling Trophy."

The trophy is pretty spectacular. It is a bowling trophy he got from a thrift store back in the 80's that has been incredibly modified over the years. He got it originally for a neighborhood regatta we held in the river behind our house. Everyone made their own boats. My little brother won with a lawnchair and an innertube. His contribution to the trophy was to mount it to a large block of wood which allowed the modifications to commence. Last I saw it it had been painted purple, had its own set of fuzzy dice and at one point the base was wrapped in indoor/outdoor carpet that boasted a rather incredible flower garden made from egg cartons.

Dad's woodshop, my mom's stash, and my stash are all open and available for use in the contest, but I'm a bit put out. Apparently, in order to create some sort of handicapping system, they added additional conditions for me and my mom. We have no budget, are in charge of helping all the kids make their gifts, and have to use at least 30% repurposed/recycled items in the creation of our gifts to offset the extra time and materials we already have at our disposal.

Here's my first completed item-- a king size quilt for my husband Gandhi made from scrap fleece. I got the fleece almost 10 years ago when working at a fabric store. They were cutting fleece throw kits and throwing out the scrap from cutting 10x10" squares. I've used it for lots of projects over the years. no batting, and the back is made from scrap flannel patched together after cutting out lots of pj pants.

Hey, look. . .I made a stick

2006-11-10T22:50:51Z

Making myself toys again. I managed to steal the bendys back from the girls long enough to get some pictures, but they are definate that this is a toy, not a decoration. I wanted a Yule Log decoration for the house since we don't have a fireplace and took inspiration from the Buche de Noel cakes made in France. But, as my brother pointed out. "Its a stick. You could have just picked one up from outside. What next? You make a rock?" (He still thought it was cool-- but just saying lol) I tried to convince him that the mushrooms just wouldn't have stuck as well. And this isn't going to injure anybody when the girls pick it up and chase each other with it *sigh*
Ambre doesn't like bendy's without faces so Gandhi drew faces on them for me, and the girls helped wrap the bendys (sort of) and supervised attaching the hair, so its a family project.

Mammoths

2006-11-08T19:10:45Z

This one is for me :) I've got this thing for mammoths. Just a TINY little obsession. I was washing some raw wool last week and decided the colors were just perfect to make a little wooly out of wool. I didn't comb the wool, sort it, dye it or do anything to it other than wash it. I love the effect.

Here he is looking large and impressive.

Here he is next to a barrette and a set of hairsticks I had carved for me from mammoth ivory. He's about 2 inches tall. I think he will be living in my pocket from now on as my own personal totem.