Proud as a...

'Only' 11 months after checking out the book from the library and working on it here and there, I finally finished up this little project.

I thought this project absolutely PERFECT for my friend whose pseudonym is Gwendolyn Peacock. 

It took me a bit of time to collect the fabric I wanted to use. I quickly discovered I would not be able to find the Liberty fabrics specified. At the time, I was well in the throes of my batik phase. The body fabric was a pretty easy decision, but I didn't know how I planned to replicate the tail feather 'eye' look. I even went so far as to buy some feathers to use.

Every so often, I'd find a fabric that I thought might work, and would buy a fat quarter here and there. I also needed to find the pins and sequins I'd use. At the beginning of March, I felt my prayers were answered when I came across this exotic piece of Ombre Marrakesh by Michael Miller. I saw lots of peacock feathers and a varied range of tones. As it turns out, this beautiful print is only seen if your look at the underside of the 'feathers.' The wrong side has smaller batik pieces appliquéd onto them.

For the eyes, I finally cut into my new felt collection. I once imagined I would plan my first cut into the pristine pieces of felt as a ceremony or sacred event. Reality—I tugged a corner big enough to use from the stack, chopped off each color, and smushed the remainder back into the stack. How quickly we forget the once regal and revered.

This is the finished project, only a mere 50 weeks later! I gave it to Gwen this past 'Gwendsday' and she loved it! I know it'll have a good home. We both remembered one of the first gifts I gave her was also a homemade pincushion—an Araucana chicken.

An extra treat was that my project was mentioned in OKCMQG's March Flaunt Your Finish post. Special thanks to Leslie for doing such a wonderful job gathering our write-ups and photos, editing, and sharing our finished projects! Unbeknownst to me until recently, I've been a big fan of Leslie's for a couple of years. She's done a couple of houndstooth quilts, including a PLAID ONE—the first one just a month or so before I did mine for Baby Cairo. I bet I came across her blog way back then while doing research and was duly amazed and inspired.

In dangerous hands...

I don't always know why I buy things.

Sometimes, it's just because they are pretty. My friends know this about me. Especially Gwen.

Hence, the beautiful box of 108 pieces of felt from WoolFeltCentral.com, Gwen's felt source. For me, it is as much about the acquisition as the application. Once I had these gems in my hot little fists, I knew I had to—wait for it—catalog them! Sigh. Roll out a blank Excel spreadsheet and get to work! I love this stuff.

A couple of years ago, when I started organizing my fabric via a color system, I discovered Joen Wolfrom's Ultimate 3-in-1 Color Tool. She assigns a number from 1 to 24 to colors on the color wheel, and then sub-numbers for values/tints. When I get new fabric, I photograph it, assign it one of these color numbers, and then add it to my visual data base. When the images are sorted by color name, they display in spectral order. Bliss! It's not a perfect system but mostly does what I need.

So, I made the spreadsheet using the information the seller. This included their colors' names, the order in which they were packed, and the DMC floss match color they provided. I then went on the quest to find or create swatches for all 108 colors and then put the appropriate swatch on the appropriate row. Then it was time to assign the Color Tool numeric value. And if all this wasn't enough, I then assigned two different tonal values to each swatch. These values came from looking at each swatch under a red, and then a green lens. All tolled, this took much of one weekend and a few afternoons. Here's a screenshot of one of the simpler sorts. If it's not worth obsessing over, is it really worth doing? Ha!

On the more 'normal' side of life, I think it's fair to say I have friends who like felt. And actually make things from felt—REALLY darling things from felt. From Gwen, here are five monkeys waiting to jump on a bed, and a waterspout, spider, and sunshine. Pretty dern cute, eh?

Even if I never make anything from my beautiful pieces of good quality felt, I really enjoy having it all the same. And, when/if I do, you'll see it here!

Also felt-related, I relented and finally purchased a Christmas stocking kit, on clearance. Some of my friends make these and seem to enjoy the experience. I'm still a little befuddled about the process, but now I have a chance (and plenty of time) to try one, too! I haven't done that much up-close, detailed hand stitching in recent years, so this will certainly require a different set of skills. Truth be told, I loved it for the mouse and the candy cane! I'll let you know how it goes.

Christmas was...

It's been so long since I posted any creations, I really don't know where to start. I'm picking a couple of random items I made within a few days of each other. (Turns out I'm making a few shorter posts in near succession.)

New rug & grand puppy

I promised my son Matt's girlfriend, Ariel, I would make her a fabric bowl. I'd had a couple of ideas along the way, but didn't get around to it until just before Christmas which worked out great because she got a new area rug for her living room and those new colors inspired this new bowl.

Taking nothing from my other bowls made to date, I think this is my favorite. This one reminds me of a raku-style pot. I was always going to use the slate blues, and maybe some browns, but the pop of mixed colors the rug suggested really made this one stand out. Shown below are swatches of the three fabrics used to make the bowl. The third one (round discs of color) are from a collection I've recently discovered and absolutely love. It's from Moda and is called Juggling Summer from Zen Chic.

Then here comes Christmas. I was invited to Ariel's mom/step-dad's house in Tulsa for their family gathering. I wanted to make a hostess gift for her mom. I was still desperate for an option the night before and asked a friend of mine who happened to be on Facebook overnight. She suggested I make one of her Task-It™ Baskets. I'd bought the pattern a few months ago and have already made a few of them. After a little hemming and hawing, it wound up being a great idea. Martha also told me that a box of Keurig 18-count K-cups fits perfectly in it. Bazinga—perfect hostess gift. I hated parting with these two wonderful fabrics, but I guess that makes the gift all the more special. (And, I replaced the fabric a few days later, of course.)

And then there were a couple of Christmas ornaments. Years ago, as a child, I had a little felt mitten into which Santa would leave a dollar bill each year. I am not quite sure what's happened to that mitten, but I was feeling sentimental about it and decided to create a new one. This started me on my quest for BETTER felt. What's readily available in sheets at Hobby Lobby is pretty pitiful. This particular felt was not their standard white, but a thicker version with glitter. (I've got a whole post about felt coming soon.) Apparently Santa has become pragmatic over the years. I got a note from him this year saying only little girls under 13 still get dollars, but he's held on to my last 'Little Girl Dollar' since 1969, and with interest (complete with CPI inflation calculator data), I got $5.93 (rounded up to $6.00). 

And then there were the Froebel Stars (Fröbelstern). A friend in our D'art group showed these to us just before Christmas. They are part of her German heritage and she'd made and boxed dozens of the beautiful ornaments to accompany the Christmas cards she sent out this year. I was immediately taken by them and came home and started folding some. I found the easiest material to use was gift wrap ribbon. It provides long, consistent widths. I first tried cutting strips of scrapbook paper but had mixed results. The star on the left is the traditional 3D version. On the right is a modified '2D' version that can be mailed flat. It loses something in the flattening, but is still interesting.