Wet and Dry Needlefelting

Fibre artist, Elizabeth Bastin, shared her techniques 

with our evening hooking group. 

(Excuse any improper word usage for this art! I am a newbie.)

First we made a ball of white roving, then covered it in a blue roving.

We immersed this "ball" in hot water and massaged it with liquid soap.

Gradually it shrank and then we alternated hot and cold until the balls were small and firm.

My it was fun to play in hot soapy water!

Creative Diane dry felts a vine onto her ball. 

We all decided to use these balls as pincushions.

 

  Soft roving

 

Elizabeth demonstrated how she layers colours to make a flat "mat."

She uses this background to create pictures like the following:

Seascape

Mushrooms

Aren't they gorgeous?

Look how she's incorporated natural things too!

We also dry felted some small ornaments using the felting needles.

Here's a useful tip from Elizabeth:

You can store a couple of those sharpies for travel in a coffee stirrer!

Clever!

A fun evening was had by all, despite howling winds and blowing snows.

Brrrr. Where is Spring?

Thursday Ramblings

More snow! 

My goodness the soil will be nitrogen-rich by the time gardening season rolls around.

I’m back to doing care giving for 20 hrs/wk through Spring.

That means my afternoons are free for errands, housework, and hooking.

It’s good to shake up a routine and funny how stressful it is at first.

At least for me....

Today I threw together a chicken, penne, carrot and celery casserole

 and I’m out of cream soup so I made a substitute (flour, butter, chicken broth, milk).

Nice hearty dish for a snowy day. 

And I bought a couple new cozy mysteries-- a Donna Andrews and an Auralee Wallace--

 as I finished my book club read.

Check out this bowl I snagged off kijiji (similar to Craig’s List).

 

 It’s a 14” TG Green Gripstand Bowl from England.

$25 was a bargain!!! I've seen them for $80+!

And here is dear dog Lucy the other day:

She is saying, "get this rug done already! It's time for my walkies!"

**********

Hubby has had awful time with irritable bowel again. 

If you or someone you know has it my heart goes out to you!

 I used to roll my eyes when someone said they had IBS.

I’ve since repented.

My son has it too; his is courtesy of a parasite from a trip to Ghana.

February is racing to an end- hope yours is going well!

Happy President's Day and Family Day

It's Family Day here in New Brunswick & across many provinces.
Happy President's Day to those in the US.
Well, I guess I’ll always dye like I cook.

A bit of this,
 a dash of that...

I can't seem to follow a recipe.

I mixed approx 1/2 Cushing packet of Salmon with a dash of Blue

to dull down bright cobalt blues,

electric purples,

orange-browns  and turquoise.

They were all flat before dyeing , meaning solids with no colour variations.

I know I should have taken a before photo of all but I just did this one.

Left, before and right is after dyeing.

These are post dye photos of very bright hues.

Next time I'll marbleize;

it’s been years since I have.

I use the Karen Kahle method of sandwiching

a light,a dark, and a medium and allowing the colours

to bleed and meld.

Lots of fun because you never know quite

how it will turn out.

Yep, just like my cooking!

I snapped this picture on my walk with dog Lucy today. 

Don't care for snows this high!

Now I can see what exactly it is that Lucy sniffs in the summer months though!

Hook-In

Back from a Four Day Hook-In

at Rothesay's Villa Madonna retreat centre.

Women from our province and Nova Scotia came.

We were fed too well- three meals a day, plus three snack times, plus 

a daily apps and wine time.

Oh dear, no wonder the pants are tight.

There were drawings for prizes, 25 person games of Left, Right, and Centre,

a vendor, and the most beautiful patterns being hooked up.

I won one game of Left, Right and Centre and got 75 pieces of wool!

 Nice bright room with friends.

 Quite a happy mess by day 3.

Wine in the foreground and a William Morris design in the background.
I didn't take more photos of what was being hooked as folks
seem more private these days with sharing.

Here is how far I came with the Guardians of the Orchard rug:

All done but the border.

But I started another there as I was tired
of working on Guardians...

This is from Pat Cross' book, Simply Primitive.
 Can you make out the two birds flanking the centre cat?
I'm mimicking her colours which are khaki and black.
Period.
Love, love the simplicity.
We had 9 inches of snow whilst we were hooking.
It's cozy and snug being snowed in when you are where
you want to be.
Hope your Valentine's Day was filled with love and good
remembrances of loves gone now.
 

Hook-In Season

Counting the hours until Monday.

Who wouldn’t love a three day hook-in?

Got my lists made. 

My wine is bought,

 my recipe

for a cheeseball ready, 

and of course all the hooking

paraphernalia is being gathered.

Three things on my list that set me apart as older this year:

reading glasses, lubricating eye drops, and multi-vitamins.

Here are the cards I created

 (copyright sheepunderfeet)

 for the silent auction.

I like the cards-they came out to my liking.

 A bit of humour...

 A classic wood cut look...

 I also hooked a rug with this image I made...

The Thinker re-imagined!

And to every mass hooking event I take three good sized strips of nice wool

so I can participate in the dice game Left, Right, and Center.

It’s mindless and purely a game of chance.

We play with piece of wool, of course, instead of the chips.

The last player with one piece of wool

 wins the jackpot-which is all the players’ wools! 

If your group hasn’t been introduced it’s a hoot

and is sold at Target.

We are currently being coated in layers of ice so I am moving slowly too.

Schools are closed but workplaces aren’t.

Night Caller (Moose)

Thanks for the wonderful suggestions for

my Guardians rug.

 I'll keep plugging away and give you updates.

I found another Emma Lou Lais rug I hooked.

It's called Night Caller, if my memory serves correct.

I had trouble with the moose over-blending into the trees.

Adding a dark line around helped.

My favourite part of this rug is the cabin with the blue door. 

I think it hooked up nicely.

A family member got me this pattern on monk's cloth.

I said I'd never hook on the stretchy stuff again, but my current project is

on monk's cloth as it was considerably cheaper.

 Back to the moose.

I've seen moose maybe ten times since I moved here.

Once in town!

They are majestic and fearful.

They command respect.

Because their eyes do not reflect light well

it is a hazard to drive at night around here.

You're up on them before you know it.

Our good family friend died from a collision with one two years ago.

He lingered a couple days but the moose died instantly.

My parents have visited us many times and my dad

 finally saw a moose here last October.

Regarding my hooking Guardians of the Orchard by Black Sheep Wool,

I'm struggling with whether or not I like the blues at the border.

 It may be too light to support the dark crows.

 And as you can see (below), the border lines do not fall

on the grain- they are not meant to. 

I'm having an issue with that too.

I don't think I want to hook all the way out to the line beyond-

too much border for the central image.

Thoughts?

I plan to finish this at the hook-in mid Febrarury.

It will be placed at my bedside to warm my footsies!

More snow is falling.

I'm gonna have to get out the roof rake today as the mudroom

roof is looking too heavy with snow.

That's another object I knew nothing about until moving to Canada!

Who rakes a roof?!

After paying homage to sheep yesterday I noticed that these two naughty sheep had hidden from me.

They are from Primitive Spirit Design.

I hooked it up, mimicking the model.

And I keep it displayed year 'round.

Thought I’d include a recipe for oatcakes today.

Oatcakes are like a thick (think biscuit sized) lightly sweetened cookie.

When I am feeling decadent I dip half in melted chocolate chips.

You can add some peanut butter to the recipe or dried fruit or anything. 

Get creative!

 But be sure you enjoy them dunked in a cuppa hot tea.

Oatcakes

1 1/2 C flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

pinch of salt

1/4 C sugar

1/4 C brown sugar

3/4 C butter, cold and cubed

1 1/2 C rolled oats (I use regular, not quick)

1/2 C water

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Rub in the butter with hands until the mixture separates into pea sized bits. Mix in the rolled oats with hands. Add water and mix just until dough forms. Roll out on flour surface a good 1/2 " thick. Cut with biscuit cutter or glass. Place on stone cookie sheet or parchment paper. 

350 deegrees for approx 20 minutes. These keep for days or freeze well too.

There! You have a taste of the maritimes!

I read Lori Brechlin’s farmhousenotforgotten blog yesterday 

and immediately felt like drawing, so I did! 

It’s amazing how others’ creativities release your own. 

Maybe that’s why we love to read creative blogs.

I am slowly hooking away at Guardians of the Orchard.

I don’t know if I like the blue border yet.

I'll post a photo when I get a bit more done.