Opinions, please!

I've been doing more needle felting, but have turned toward more practical things. Will you help me?

Which do you like better? As a purse this way, with a zipper closure across the top? It measures about 5" (sides) by 8" (top & bottom)this way.

Or is it better this way, with a flap and maybe a button closure, or something as yet to be determined. It measures app 6 (sides) by 5 (top and bottom) this way.

Please let me know which way you like best. I like them both and can't decide.

Then there is this one. The color reminds me of the northern lights. It measures 8 1/2 (sides) by 7 1/2 (top). It closes with some yarn in a figure 8 around the buttons, like an envelope, and has 3 beaded thingies attached to the yarn.

It has a matching coin (or other small items) purse, about 3 by 5, with velcro closure all across the top.

Let's say you were wandering around an art/craft fair this summer, are these something you might expect to see, and might you be inclined to buy one? Anybody?

I apologize for this brief market research interruption.

Qiviut and other fine things

Friends of mine went to Alaska last month, and brought me some qiviut! Wowee, is it soft. Think of the softest thing you can think of, and this is softer. They also brought mohair!

ETA: For the non-fiber readers, qiviut is the soft undercoat of the Arctic Musk Ox. Mohair is the fiber from the angora goat. As opposed to angora, which is the fiber from the angora rabbit.

A funny thing happened when I took the photo. Here is the first one I took. Freckleface was already there before I set the fiber down.

Approximately 2.7 seconds after I opened the package and spread it out a little, there was Pud investigating.

Approximately 2.7 seconds after that, she had settled in.

That cat has high falutin' expectations. Apparently the handmade alpaca-stuffed cat pillows are not good enough for her, she wants qiviut and mohair. Too bad, cat! I shushed her off. I'm not giving up my qiviut!

Included in the package, but I don't know if they came from Alaska, was a knit finger puppet,

and a tin of mints.

Impeachmints. They crack me up!

Quetico Landscape

I told (warned?) you that I was going to try a landscape next.

This is the moonrise over Emerald Lake in Quetico Provincial Park, Canada's counterpart to the BWCA. We did a nine day wilderness canoe trip (Man Chain) there several years ago.

The black dot in the reflection of the moon? That is kind of a joke. It could be a loon, or a beaver aka the Mysterious Plopper, or Scone. Scone liked to swim.

Did you know that the sound of a beaver slapping his tail on the water doesn't sound like a slap on the water? It sounds like a deep, resonating kerplunk, very much like a very large rock being dropped in the water. We heard that sound one of the first nights out, and nobody knew what it was. We accused Scone of dropping rocks in the water to scare us, but he soundly denied it. It wasn't until the last day that we saw it happen, and the Mysterious Plopper was identified.

Emerald Lake really was emerald colored. See?

(Photo by Mary)

This little landscape was done by needle felting roving onto a scrap of dark gray wool fabric that I picked up at a garage sale many years ago. It measures approximately 4"by 6", as do the ones that I showed yesterday.

Felt

My first attempt at felt art.

Here's the inspiration so you don't have to page down. Viola sororia 'Speckles', by the way.

My second attempt.

Texas Bluebonnet (Lupinus Texensis) It is also a legume!

I wet felted the green background, and the white for the violet, then needle felted the rest. I may try a landscape next, since the flowers were so successful. Bahahahaha!

Randomness, or, I have nothing interesting to say.

One day a couple of years ago, I was weeding a flower bed. I usually leave the little violas/violets/johnny jump-ups in the yard, but pull them from the flower bed. Well, this particular flower bed, anyway.

This is what they normally look like around here.

So there I was, weeding away. Oh look, another johnny jump-up. I reached to grab it, and stopped just in time.

Isn't it gorgeous? I've never seen one like this before. There are two plants of it. It came back and bloomed last year, and I'm looking forward to seeing it again this year. Cinn's colorway reminded me.

Another sign of spring.

The other day, I was driving down a county road, minding my own business, when all of a sudden I had to swerve to avoid hitting a salamander. (Meanwhile, the salamander wrote on his blog, there I was, crossing the road, minding my own business, making good time, when all of a sudden, I almost got hit by a truck!) I stopped and helped it across. The world needs more salamanders. (I also (safely) swerve for wooly bear caterpillars, and worms when it is raining. I cringe and apologize when I can't.)

I know that isn't a salamander in the photo. It was the most salamander-like thing I had a photo of.

Color Requests

The other day I said I was going to do some dyeing, and took requests. Here are the results.

Olga requested lime or spring green. She is very sick of winter, and I understand completely!

Cinn requested Iris purple, Daffodil yellow, and Easter Lily white. I got the purple and the yellow, but they both bled a bit and obliterated the part I had left natural white. Oops.



Rick requested Bluebonnet blue, Huisache yellow and a hint of Dove gray. All memories from the Texas trip. I wound up with a light and dark version of that one.

I experimented with the cold pour technique for these. I think I have more success with the hot pour. It was fun to experiment anyway. I better not give up my day job for custom dyeing, though!

South Austin Walk

One day my friend and I walked around the neighborhood where we were staying. I loved the yard art/cairns that were constructed in many yards.

I love how the three blades of grass stick up over the left eye, looking like a wildly tufted eyebrow.

Maybe I like them so much because it is something Mom would do. Last night, we were eating supper which included mixed vegetables. Mom laughed, and then showed me her plate. There were two peas next to each other, with a kernel of corn balanced on top. A vegetable cairn! I don't think she had made it, but I thought it was funny that she noticed it, laughed, and pointed it out to me.

Two doors down from where we were staying was a pile of interesting rocks, with a sign saying free rocks. Yes, I chose two small ones to bring back with me. Is it any wonder my luggage had the little note saying it had been searched.

The two white rocks in the center are the ones I brought back, the others have been gathered from my fields. I like the mix of Texas and Minnesota.