Valentine inspiration

 

This sunrise inspired this project:

A Valentine for Daddy ... a suncatcher made from tissue papers in all the colors of the dawn sky.

We did something similar to what you see in this tutorial only ours is in the shape of a heart.

 

More snow??!

We said goodbye to the snow last week, thinking that that was the end of our luck with snow here in the South this winter....but yesterday morning brought this:

 

I know some folks don't welcome slushy roads, school closings, and burst pipes, but I am willing to endure those things for the romance of a snowy landscape.

If it went on for weeks and weeks, I probably wouldn't feel the same way, but it is just such a rare commodity here...I treasure every flake :)

Some spent a little time like this:

 

And some (me!!) found cozy spots like this:

 

 OK...True confession time: 

Having set myself a goal to read 60 books or more over the course of 2010, I sometimes find my self in a dry spell between great books. During those times I fall back on frivolous, fun reading...usually a long-running (so, I never run out of books to read) mystery series that takes place in a time period or locale that I find attractive. Last year I read the fantasy/mystery Harry Dresden series by Jim Butcher (It's good to branch out!).  This year I'm infatuated with M.C. Beaton. She has two separate series: the Agatha Raisin series (set in the Cotswolds), and the Hamish Macbeth series (set in the Scottish Highlands)....I love them both and have been going back and forth between them during those spells when I'm waiting for access to the next piece of "great" literature on my list. And if you are wondering how I'm doing on my goal...so far this year, I've read 14 books. (Highlights being The Lacuna, by Barbara Kingsolver, and Jigs and Reels, by Joanne Harris). I'm currently reading an Agatha Raisin book (as you can see in the photo above) while I wait for my copy of AS Byatt's The Children's Book to be sent to my branch of the public library.

Anyway...enough about books...we can talk about book love another day. I'll just wrap up my snow day post the way we wrap up almost all our snow days: sledding ! Sledding in the moonlight, sledding till the cows come home, sledding till we drop. We're going to squeeze every drop of fun out of our precious snow.

WIPs...

So, I've been working on my list ...and I've got a few works-in-progress to show for it.

For starters, I've taken a few steps towards the goal of a handmade rug (#29 on my list). My intention is to make a big, substantial area rug (maybe 4x6 or 5x7), but I'm starting off small...this is a bathmat pattern:

 

Here's what I've got so far:

This is a just going to be a garter stitch rectangle knitted holding 4 strands of Peaches & Cream worsted together on size 15 needles, but it was originally inspired by a pattern from the book Mason-Dixon Knitting (It's page 82..."Absorba, the Great Bathmat") I'd like to use this little rug in front of Toucie's play kitchen, so I chose variagated yarns that I thought would result in a Waldorfy kind of "peach blossom" effect when blended together. The colors are pooling and the effect isn't what I intended, but it seems quite lovely anyway, so I'm forging ahead.

We also have #7 (a flannel quilt) in progress.

The top is fully pieced and I just need to track down the right fabric for the backing. I'm leaning towards using a twin-sized cotton flannel sheet, if I can find the right color. This quilt is an odd size..I didn't want it to be fully twin-sized, I wanted more of a snuggle-on-the-couch size, but I'd like to be able to spread it on a bed without it being way too small.
I LOVE this fabric...it is Folksy Flannels by Anna Maria Horner. I ordered 2 "small bundles" (a small bundle is a random assortment of 6 fat quarters) and got a dozen different patterns, all of them gorgeous. I wanted showcase the fabric as much as possible, so I settled on big 10x8 rectangles (the odd size was so that I would have no wasted fabric).

 

Don't those juicy colors just make you want to smile?

I had two lonely little squares left over after piecing my quilt top. Just the right size for a doll blanket...a reversable one at that!

Here is another project...this one is finished and only on the WIP list because I want to make more!

Upcycled silk long johns for Toucie made from a thrifted adult-sized silk knit shirt and shawl.

The pants are made from the sleeves of the shirt . The top is made from the body of the shirt with the sleeves and trim being made from the shawl :

Root children!

 

Do you know this lovely story?

The Story of the Root Children by Sibylle von Olfers. It is a tale about Mother Nature waking the little root children under the ground at this very time of year, Candlemastime, and setting them to prepare for spring. Each brown and earthy root child gets to work fashioning a colorful frock to wear, brushing the bees, polishing the beetles, and giving the ladybugs a fresh coat of paint. By the time all the work is done it is time for the root children to spring up from under the ground and parade across the land in their fresh new clothes, each representing some type of flora. The story goes on to follow the children through the seasons...all the way back to dormancy again. It is a sweet and powerful story for this season between Winter and Spring and depicts exactly what it is that my family celebrates at Candlemas...that is, the stirring of life . 

We have little collection of root children dolls in progress right now. (Our former set was eaten up by moths..I've since learned to wrap my wool treasures up and store them in the chest freezer!). 

  

We will make a couple more root children over the next few days. As the weeks progress we will add a colorful garment to each doll transforming each into a blossom of some sort. It is great fun and one of my favorite nature table tableaux of the year. Perhaps I will attempt a tutorial tomorrow?

Bye bye snow.....

 

  

Hello green....

 

  

The root children are stirring! 

Candlemas II

Candlemas

The daffodils aren't going to let a little snow stand in their way.

Life is most definitely stirring . Under this winter blanket of drab greys and browns (and this year a little white!) there is some hopeful green wrestling its way up to greet us. I love how fiesty the daffodils are here. They show up even earlier than the crocus. It is not unusual for us to be picking them in february , which is just in time to save us from sinking into a winter depression. I think a traditional symbol of Candlemas is the snowdrop....but I've never even seen one in real life. For us, it is the dear daffodil that heralds this celebration.

We've got big plans for a special meal and we have some candles to make today (a traditional activity for this time of year). But we've been goofing off in the snow for most of the day and are behind in our preparations.

I'll have to tell you all about it tomorrow. Here's what we've been doing today.

 

Mama and Toucie's snowcat

Sodie and Naya's "Snowgaara"

Mado's creation on the left...looks like the Monopoly guy, but don't tell her I said that.