Creative Joy

Joy doesn't cancel out the heavy things, it gives you little pockets of strength to carry on. Let it in whenever and wherever you can. Stacie Swift

Last year I made Kelly (Sam's girlfriend) a tiny felted tree for her tiny apartment to go along with her tiny real Christmas tree. This year she and Sam have a much larger loft apartment with high ceilings....so they have an 8 foot Christmas tree. 

But I thought I would start a bit of a tradition and continue to grow her tiny felted forest. So I settled in today and made another tiny tree...this one a bit of a contrast to the green one from last year. 

There aren't too many things that bring me more joy than creating something for someone I love. 

I started with a triangular piece of white wool felt...red roving...and my needle felting supplies. Using little tufts of wool...I felted polka dots by teasing the roving into the white base with a felting needle. I worked on a thick foam base.

Once I had all the polka dots secured...I used my tool that has 4 needles...so can felt 4 times as fast. 

I slip stitched the side seam closed and stuffed the tree. I cut a piece of wool to stitch onto the bottom and added a few more polka dots over the seam.

The stem is a piece of a kabob skewer and the base is from my stash. I painted a real starfish gold for the top. I'm pretty tickled with my creative joy project!

Peace in the Mess

True Peace isn't the absence of tension. It isn't peace FROM fear or imperfection or uncertainty or problems. It's peace IN all of that. Peace that somehow, impossibly, grows in the hardest, most trampled places. Dana Allen Walsh

My friend Dana is a UCC minister in Massachusetts...and writes an occasional Substack article. I was particularly taken with her recent post called Finding Peace in the Mess. 

In keeping with my Lowly Christmas theme for Emily and Max....I had Max covered....but I needed something for Emily. She really doesn't need a thing....but I thought she needed her own Lowly Worm. Since I couldn't crochet her one...I decided to try and needle felt her one. How hard could it be!

I really had no idea if I could actually make it work...even when I was part way through...I was skeptical. There was a lot of messy middle.

With the help of a couple of Christmas movies it took me most of the day yesterday. I went from a pile of wool roving and some wool felt....

...to a hand felted Lowly Worm. I'm pretty tickled with him.

He can even tie himself in a knot....just like his character in the books.

More wise words from Dana's post:

Maybe we don't have to wait for everything to be fixed before we find peace.

What if the invitation is to stop waiting for conditions to be perfect and instead ask: how might peace break through right here, in the middle of the mess?

Peace IN the chaos of the family Christmas card photo - one child crying, the dog refusing to sit, the realness of it all.

Peace IN the tension of the family gathering -knowing that love is messier and bigger than perfect harmony.

Peace IN the uncertainty of a lingering diagnosis-discovering gratitude can live alongside fear.

Peace IN the long road of grief-finding you can hold both the ache and the love at once.

May we have eyes to see it.

Mary we have hands to tend it.

May we have hearts open enough to be astonished by it.

Little Circles and Tiny Dots

A fallish late afternoon sky punctuated by my little orange gourd....
with a great stem by the way.

I made this little felted piece over the past couple of days inspired by an artist I admire....and I'm pretty tickled with the result.

I've had a couple of pins on my Pinterest boards for years that I keep repinning to the top of my felting Board....and I kept going back to this purple piece again and again. I finally gave the idea a try.

The inspiration piece was done by Sally Roydhouse and the pin links to her Fabric Mountain on Folksy account...but this image doesn't seem to be there there anymore. 

I dug a little deeper today to try and find out more about her. The folksy site linked to her Instagram page...but I couldn't scroll back far enough to find any of these felting pieces. Folksy also linked to her Pinterest account...and she has a board for her Harris-tweed jewelry:  https://www.pinterest.com/fabricmountain/harris-tweed-jewellery/....and there it was.

For my version I machine stitched two pieces of wool onto a piece of stabilizer. The yellow had a very organic raw edge...which I liked at the beginning more than I did at the end. In the end I stitched over it.

I machine stitched on the wool vase....and started felting little circles and tiny dots. I use bits of wool roving and a felting needle that has little barbs on the end that tease/work/felt the wool onto itself and into the substrate. 

I worked on a small but thick piece of foam. It takes just a tiny bit of wool to felt a little circle...and even tiner bit to felt a dot. I have plenty of roving to share...more on that another time.

I trimed it up and satin stitched around the edges. I made two passes to get better coverage. The zig zag along the horizon line was an afterthought...which is why the lines don't quite match up. 

I enjoyed getting back to some felting...with these little circles and tiny dots. I'm look forward to playing a little more. 

One Thumb

It's been cold enough to keep the snow clinging to the trees. That....along with the blue sky made for a beautiful late morning walk.  

There are things I take for granted that are hard to do with only one good thumb....like hold my toothbrush in my right hand and squeezing the tube with my left like I always do.  Paul applies his toothpaste one handed by putting the toothbrush in his mouth....I don't think that's for me.

But there were several things I could do with just one good thumb.....so I focused on....and embraced those today. They included tax prep, other paperwork and computer work...and finally setting up our personal finance books and online files for 2023.  I've been avoiding all of these things....and I actually came pretty darn close to enjoying them today.

It also dawned on me today...that I use only nine fingers when I type....my left thumb has no role while typing.  Win!

AND.....I spent some time playing at the puzzle table..... because look what I found!

I know it's silly....but I'm so tickled that a few of my little acorns are in Philippa's puzzle. There was one little blue one in the bowl along the side in the puzzle....and now there are five.

This puzzle has been finished for a few days.....

...and just like that....it's a pile of pieces and parts again.

Time to start a new one....puzzles only require one thumb.

I hope you Wordle fans have already done the puzzle today....I started with "thumb"....and it lead me right to "blurb" on the second line!

Overall....not a bad "one thumb" day!

Blue Christmas Present

I hope you find some JOY this Holiday Season...

...Even if you're feeling a little blue....

Paul and I were reminiscing about how for most of our marriage Christmas was a working holiday. He was a minister....and many of the years he had as many as three Christmas Eve services.  He calculated that including all the special services....and the multiple Christmas Eve services he probably has done at least 100 services around Christmas....maybe more.

Every year one of the special services was a Blue Christmas for those who were mourning the loss of loved ones or struggling in some way or another.  It was a quiet and contemplative service giving people time and space who were experiencing something other than joy. It often a very meaningful service for Paul....maybe because the people who were there really needed it.

I received another special delivery a few days ago....all the way from England. And unlike the Blue Christmas services....my special delivery was a Blue Christmas Present...and it was filled with Joy. And also little pops of orange and red. This is the image on the last of the puzzle club puzzles from Phillipa....and I couldn't love it more!  As a matter of fact....a few little pieces from me are in the mix.

I actually wrote about this photo back in November....after Philippa posted the blue arrangement on her Patreon Page.  What I didn't realize at the time was it was the image she chose for this last puzzle club puzzle. 

I've told this story several times....but here I go again.  I gave Philippa these felted acorns when I visited her in England....and here they are on her very special table. The very table in the blue arrangement.  These unusual acorn caps came from Janice....who got them in Florida....and I've always loved them.

Phillipa has been one of my most influential teachers and creativity mentors....

and I'm so appreciative of this fabulous Blue Christmas Puzzle Present.....I've already started sorting the pieces. I've circled my little acorns that made it into the arrangement. Merry Blue Christmas everyone!

Possiblities

"If you ever forget how much is possible, consider that inside every acorn is the possibility of an oak tree."   Curly Girl Design

It's been a few days since I've had time in the studio....so I'm celebrating some of my felted acorns today.

The acorn caps around the heart came from Florida....by way of Janice.  Thinking of you today Janice!

Paul and I headed south this afternoon to visit our son Sam and see his new apartment in Lynn, Massachusetts.  Things are going well for him.....and life seems full of possibilities.

His new place is a loft apartment in an old warehouse....

...and the space is perfect for him.

After a nice dinner....we took a side trip out to the island of Nahant and got a little dose of coast.  It's just a few minutes from his apartment....Sam loves being near the water with easy access on his bike.

The sun was setting over the bay....with the skyline of Boston on the horizon. 

What a fabulous day!

September

"Ah, September!  You are the doorway to the season that awakens my soul....but I must confess that I love you only because you are a prelude to my beloved October."  Peggy Toney Harton

October is my favorite month.....but September days like today are right up there.  Sunny and cool...breezy and beautiful....a perfect prelude to fall. 

It's September 4th...and I was a little late putting up the new calendar page on my bulletin board in the studio.  This year my calendar is from Susan Black....I love her work.  

https://www.instagram.com/susanblackart/

Under Susan's calendar is a page from Philippa's (aka 5ftinf) calendar from last year.  

This arrangement on her table actually has a few things from me.  Do you see the little felted acorns?

I've written about these before....but I'm celebrating them again today....just because. 

When I visited Philippa at her home in Brighton, England back in 2019 I took her these acorns as a gift. She loves all things nature....and rainbow color! They're unusual little acorns that my friend Janice brought back from Florida. I have several....and have shared some of with friends....the caps were perfect for felting.

https://www.instagram.com/5ftinf/

Here they are on Philippa's table....where she does all her beautiful arrangements.

Ah.....September!

Here is a recent arrangement on Philippa's table from her Instagram page.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CTEgGwOIJ78/

Beautiful Blues

This is the last of the branches I found with empty acorn caps....but I'm going to keep my eye out for more.  This one was inspired by the beautiful blues of yesterday's hydrangea.  

I brought the dried wreath petals to Maine to add to my wabi-sabi collection.

I couldn't be more excited to report that there are actually 5 blooms coming on the white rain lily. I know it's getting a little old hearing about it....but here I go again.

It was a busy day doing this a little of this and a little of that....

but it was a quiet evening on the patio with beautiful blues...and a little pink in the night sky.