Hello Readers!
I always assume there are readers, though not many from the looks of the comments section! Thanks for stopping by to take a peek even if you don't have anything to say about what you've seen!
:)
As usual I've been busy with my hands. I'd be busy with the rest of me if the old body would cooperate, but that doesn't seem to be happening anymore. If the body would cooperate I would have much more accomplished than I actually get accomplished. But beings the old body is in rebel mode most of the time, the hands have to do all the work! I'm not complaining. That's just how it is and nothing I can do to change it.
So, on with "What Donna has been up to lately!"
I'm still active in the altered envelope group over at AFA (link is up in the corner). Someone posted a link on the site about making triangular shaped envelopes and I went with it!
My partner this month listed flamingos as one of her favorite things so I decided to do the envelope in a flamingo theme.
I folded a large tyvek envelope into a triangle and used markers to do the drawing. The picture above is of the back of the envelope.
This is the front. The solid orange spot on the flamingos face is where the address of my partner is. I blotted it out so she doesn't get weird mail or even weirder visitors.
When I took this envelope to the post office, Doug, the postmaster, said, "What the hell is this thing?" He always gives me a hard time when I go in there to mail anything. Especially if it has art on the outside of it! He was impressed even if he didn't say so! As I turned to leave, he hollered from the backroom of the post office, "Hey! Do you want some cucumbers?" Only in small town America can you go to mail a letter and come out with a handful of cucumbers!
I truly enjoy my trips to the post office regardless of what I'm mailing!
I was sitting in my recliner in the livingroom the other day and saw a stuffie I had started months ago sitting on the shelf there and the muse piped up, yelling at me, that we should make an art doll out of the thing. The stuffy wasn't really going anywhere when I first started it and it did sit on that shelf, gathering pet hair, just waiting for the muse to decide what would happen with it. I almost threw that thing away a couple of times.
I cut a head, a couple legs and arms out of cashmere sweater and sewed them up, stuffed them and then sewed them to the stuffy. I wasn't sure what her dress would be made out of at first. Lord knows I'm no seamstress! Luckily I found a sleeve from a blouse I had cut up and it was perfect for a dress for this little doll. The hem was already sewn for me!
I had just a small amount of that beaded ribbon to use around the neck of her dress. That hid the awful sewing job of sewing the dress to the doll's body. I cut a little teddy bear out of pink felt and then promptly changed my mind and covered it will wool roving and needle felted it into her little teddy. She's about 9 inches tall or so. Her little bear is about 2 inches tall. I thought I had sewn teddy to the doll but I later learned that isn't the case. Ma was taking a look at her and pulled that teddy right out of her arm! Her arm is sewn to her chest and holds teddy quite tightly. Maybe teddy doesn't even need to sewn to her? Her facial features (and teddy's too) are sewn with embroidery thread.
I'm still on the wool ball kick.
This one is about the size of a softball....a might larger than normal for my wool balls. I got carried away with the plastic bags inside the ball and that made the ball larger than normal. If you are a regular reader, you've the process to make these wool balls and you'll understand why there are plastic bags inside.
I had gotten a check from the Art Center in Lucas, Ks a couple days before I finished this ball. The ball was made, it just needed some embroidery on it. The check is important in this because a hot mat I had made in 2013 sold. That mat had a skull with flowers on it and it made me think....ah ha! Let's make a ball with a skully!
So I did.
This is the first ball I've made with appliques of felt instead of just embroidery on them. I don't know how well this one would hold up in the dryer if used as a dryer ball. I really don't know how well any of the balls will work for that! I really need to dig a half dozen of them out of the closet and do a test the next time I do laundry. Just did the laundry the day before yesterday so will be awhile before I have enough to laundry to do some more!
I think there will be more appliqued wool balls in the future.
I need to drag out the wool sweaters and make some more mug rugs!
Baskets have been on the radar as well. I'm in a crocheting mood these days.
The blue basket above and this burgundy colored one are both made from gross grain ribbon. Crocheted in single crochet. The blue one is a bit bigger than the burgundy one. Each about 5-6 inches across and 3-4 inches tall.
I still have two spools of gross grain ribbon that will be turned into baskets eventually. Probably in the very near future as the two spools are sitting on the 'to-do' table.
I went through the ribbon drawers day before yesterday just to see what the heck was all in those two drawers. I came across quite a bit of curling ribbon and decided to see if it was possible to crochet with that ribbon.
Yes! Yes, it is possible! This little basket is just that....LITTLE! It measures about 3 inches across and an inch deep. Not sure just what good it would be but it's a cute little basket!
Then I came across some Christmas curling ribbon. There was even more of this ribbon than the pastel colored stuff the previous basket is made out of. This basket is about 5 inches across and maybe 2 inches deep.
And then there's the pink fuzzy basket. This is the same yarn the art doll's bow is made out of. I've used this yarn as monster hair in the past as well. This basket is about 5 inches across and about 3 inches deep.
And yet another basket. I did say, baskets were on the radar! This one is made from your run-of-the-mill acrylic yarn. It is not a sturdy basket at all! It's about 4-5 inches across and 5-6 inches deep.
The last time my granddaughter, Annie, was here, we made some baking soda clay and played with it out on the front porch. We made a couple of bowls and some other little flat rounds things with the leftovers of the clay. Unfortunately only one bowl survived out of it all. It was my first experience with baking soda clay. I learned a few things during this experiment that I can apply to the next session of baking soda clay play.
I should have sanded the rim of the bowl but when I went to get the sandpaper....for some reason it wasn't in the drawer where I have kept sandpaper since the beginning of time! No clue where the sandpaper resides now so I skipped the sanding and just painted the bowl. It isn't done quite yet... needs another coat of paint and some decoration of some sort. This bowl is cereal bowl sized. I used a cereal bowl for a mold.
Baking soda clay is a bit fragile when dry. And this bowl really isn't all that smooth and refined. But for a first project in that material, it didn't turn out too awful. We'll see what the next one looks like. I'll have to cook up a batch of clay and do some more experimenting!
I've been playing with the wool roving.
Six little pocket birds. Each no bigger than an inch and a half tall. Some of them, most of them, still need some seed bead eyes sewn on. There are three more of these little fellas in the works. Not sure what I'll do with them. Probably send them off to the Art Center for the gift shop.
My first attempt at needle felting a four legged critter standing on his four legs. I was going for a lamb but others have said he looks more like a dog. My four year old granddaughter, Annie said he looks like a lamb though. Guess he can be whatever you happen to see! He's about three inches tall.
I learned that you can needle felt steel wool. I have no picture of the cute little bird I made from steel wool. I forgot to take his picture. He's hanging off a metal shelf with quilting pins stuck in him! He's hanging there by a magnet. Makes a great pin cushion! I'll take his picture for the next post!
It's going to be a hot day in Kansas so I've got the A/C cranked up and all the furkids in the house and we are just chilling today!
Thanks for stopping by!
Remember.....be good to one another!
It matters!
Peace
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