Dr. Seuss

Our children enjoyed all the books by Dr. Seuss.
We read one every night for years.

 We still quote many of his phrases.

Thank you Dr. Seuss!

I finished the Red Bears

and started hand sewing shamrocks.

These I am stuffing with roving
scented with peppermint oil.

I spent the morning cutting out shamrocks and bears.
I found a couple of old green wool sweaters
I had felted that worked out great.
I should have enough cut out to last me a couple of weeks.

I gathered button eyes
and hearts for the Bears.

I am doing a wee bit more
designing and

embellishing.

having everything together

makes t.v. time so much more enjoyable.

Before the storm

I took my new Red Bear, Ralph, outside for a little bit.

I wanted to sit with the birds before another winter storm came in.

I spent an hour listening to the birds, reading my book and thinking about my next hand sewing.

When we came home from our afternoon walk
 I saw my first Crocus in bloom.

The herald of Spring in my gardens.

I finished another collar last night.
I had a tiny bit of shaping left to do this afternoon.

These look so nice with sweaters.
They are knitted wool scarves that I felted.

I used large coat buttons I found
 in my Grandmother's button box.

I put down my book
and needles.

I sat with Crocus.

I watched as she
 closed her petals for the night.

Hearts and Bears

Ruddy

and Rita

are Red Bears.

Ruddy and rose scented hearts
are sitting with Ann, my first little bear.

I shall continue to make
 hearts and bears.

I also am cutting out Red Dresses
from my red wool scraps.
I think I will sew up some cards!

Bears

I have fallen in love with the Teddy Bear.

I made a pattern and cut a Bear out of an old felted wool sweater.

In the evenings I am stiching Bear by hand.

Her body is finished and ready for stuffing.

I chose two buttons my Great Grandmother made for Bear's eyes.

Tonight I will begin making Bear's face.
I will give her a nose and a mouth.

I will sew up her ears.

She already has a heart.

I have requested a few books from the library.
 I need the patterns.

Learning to make stuffed animals
is very fun.

Right now I am head over heels in love with Bears.
As soon as she is finished I will take photographs.
I hope to make many Bears from old felted wool sweaters.
I do not mind Winter any more.
 It is Bear season.

Candlemass

The blizzard has moved east.

We received 12.3 inches of snow.

It is bitterly cold but it is sunny.

The forced bulbs bring cheer to the living room.
I am so glad I did pots of them for February flowers.

I checked on the birds first thing this morning.

They were fine.

We have had hundreds of birds at the feeders.
They are good at waiting their turn.

I think the birds are beautiful.

The groundhog saw his shadow
at my house.

I shall wait for Spring.

I made candles this morning
with the left over pieces of candle wax

I have saved this past year.

I am always making something.
My kitty pillow I made many years ago
from some pretty rose chintz a friend gave me.

I brought up the dress my Mother made for me
when I was 13 years old.
She painted roses on it.
I treasure her talent.

Collars and thoughts

I have been thinking about clothing lately.

I am thinking of making a few Spring things.
I will need to get some patterns.

I finished my collar.

It is the first knitted piece I did a couple of years ago.
When I chose my yarn I chose an all natural fisherman's wool.

Once I finished knitting the skein I machine felted the piece. Last week I decided to make my piece into a collar for a sweater or jacket. For my collar I folded the piece lenghtwise and hand stitched the edges together using a brown satin cord for trim.

I sewed one of my Grandmother's coat buttons on the point.

I machine felted an old wool sweater. 

I think I will make a headband out it.
Something soft with a bit of elastic.
I save pictures of things I like when I look in the catalogs
that come in the mail.
They inspire me.

In January I celebrate
the Japanese culture.

I admire the way threads become art.

When I study different cultures
and their hand crafts

I am inspired to create.

The way of the Japanese culture is very wabi sabi.

I am saving all my scrapes

 for quilts and rugs and balls.

When I think of Japanese culture 

I always think of their amazing papers,

their washi.

The honored tradition

 of the origami crane

has come to represent peace.

I have brought my knot board up
to the living room.
I want to work on learning my button knots.
Maybe someday I could knot a butterfly.