Review of Handmade Goods - part I

First the wrapping...we used old prints & maps, fake tattoos as gift cards, and drawings from the Sophie and Hobo movie we made. My new thing this year was to glue feathers randomly on everything. I really wish now that we took more pix. Wrapping is one of my favorite things!


For two of the family gardeners I made seed boxes.
I made envelopes out of old art prints and vellum. The vellum envelopes are strong and water resistant. It's always good to have some water resistant envelopes around when you're exchanging seeds.
I made slightly larger dividers out of old prints from art school and labeled them warm weather crops and cool weather crops.

more to come...

She Just Wants to Help

The Giving Doll

With a fervor of love she offers you her heart and if needs be... her kidney. She sincerely hopes you'll take them.

The Giving Doll has a snap on each palm and two pockets; one for each internal organ. Her generous heart can be tucked away in front and her kidney can be stored in the pocket at the small of her back.

I'm thinking this would be a good i'm-sorry-let's-make-up-and-play-nice gift for that someone who means everything to you.

I'm LOVING making these dolls! So much so that I am going to do a give-a-way. More details soon.

Besos!

Before painting another landscape...

...I decided to finish up some dolls that I started ages ago.

This is the Momma doll.

More dolls with snaps and pockets coming up...
signed,
yes that is a dangling placenta in the bottom picture. =)

The Moon

Sus had her baby boy... on the day of the most recent new moon.We had her baby shower a month ago...by the light of the crescent moon. (above image from the shower invitation.)

And I better get the baby quilt done... by the next full moon. Just kidding! We've got to get that quilt done..forthwith!
AJ is coming over tonight to help me finish the stitching and edging.
All of the fabric was provided by eleven friends and includes some Elvis print because the baby's dad is from Tennessee, batik from Africa, a vintage pillowcase, and as a joke one of our friends donated a scrap from a dress that Sus wore while she was dating her favorite ex-boyfriend (heehee). It's a very cool scrap so we had to use it.

I really really hope this is the special blanket that Z (baby boy) drags with him everywhere.

Buying Virtue, Getting "Sexy" Back, and Cottage Industry

We went to the nursery and bought santolina. Santolina signifies virtue and we need lots of that along our path to the front door. We also planted more lavender for good luck.
Yoga for Energy is my early morning best friend. One second you're going from on-top-of-the-world exalted warrior to humble and submissive child's pose (and back again) which makes you feel like everything is going to be okay. And rolling with the highs and lows of life... that's super sexy, eso es el plano.
The result of a two day sew-a-thon: seven baby dresses for TamTam's soon-to-be-born baby girl! The dresses look much cuter in real life than in these pics and will look WAAAAY more adorable with the baby wearing them. Can't wait!
besos!

having the rug eaten out from under you

Our doggie Farmer was once always deservedly in the dog house. He used to eat everything including all of our rugs leaving our floors bare. The chewing phase seems to be done so I'm making some new rugs. One is braided and the other crocheted. The braided one I've taken apart several times to get it right. The crocheted one is made out of old clothes and is sooooo easy except that Farmer plops down on it every time I start crocheting.

Woolly Excursion- Part III

Woolly Excursions part I and part II.Ollie is wearing my first hand spun and knit sample. Most of it is the lovely local rambouillet wool but the first two dark gray rows are combed alpaca.

This is my carding and spinning station. It's really close to our bed as Spinning is r e l a x i n g, even sleep inducing. We bought the used spinning wheel at Three Wishes in West Jordan where I took a spinning class from a wonderful teacher, Jill.
Some people spin every night to help them wind down. Watch my favorite instructional video to see why. (thanks for finding it Ollie and James!)

woolly excursion - Part II

thank goodness for a little help from my friend.it took three days to sort out sticks, grass, and dirt. and to emulsify and degrease ten pounds of fleece. (very little child labor was involved! =) we did leave a bit of lanolin in the wool so that O'lover's sweaters will be sort of waterproof.
to be continued...

our woolly excursion- Part 1

my best pal AJ and i visited a very lovely flock of rambouillet (see them baaa-hind us?)
and baaa-hind rancher Tom Boyer?
Here Tom's explaining the different parts of the wool fleece. it's soft! it's curly!

we came home with loads.

*****

hey ollllllllie??

yeah?

can you please think of some sheep puns for my post?

a moment later...

you can say that it takes shear perseverance to wash the wool...

a moment later....

or say how you break all the wools (say it out loud, come on)

a moment later....

or how you've been felt up....

Ollie! That's so dooce of you!

*****
well, dear reader, (can i call you my lamb?) i'm feeling sheepish about the pun fun but tell me, could ewe resist?

Be still my bleating heart...

...but i love knitting with every fiber of my being.

farmer joined me in a celebratory dance when i finished knitting my legwarmers (one of which is pictured).

Gritty Knitty Revival

i lost my patagonia fleece headband in chicago earlier this month.

and have been F R E E Z I N G... until my woolly habits reawakened from a long dormancy.

YAY for wool and pointy sticks!

i started with me. under my fur hat is a...and the knitting moved on to the brothers.
and full(er) coverage for ollieMany thanks to the fine models!

Who's next? Tam? What can I knit for YOU?