Sweet Treat

This silly little confection may look pretty, but all you'd taste is fuzzy wool felt if you bit into it. I just finished making this today and I swear I still have a sugar high from creating such a sweet little cake-let.
The inspiration for this came from this incredible little Japanese craft book that I bought at a quilt show a few weeks back. My Mom, Adrian and I road trip to Chicago every spring for the International Quilt Festival. Along with the many wonderful quilt exhibits there is a massive shopping area that can best be described as mecca, Valhalla and heaven for anyone obsessed with all things fiber artsy. The show always lands near my birthday so I usually have a pocket full of birthday cash to spend on wonderful treasures. This year I came across a booth that nearly took my breath away. The company was called Sunfelt and the entire booth looked like a lilliputian patisserie. There were dainty plates of the most amazing felt confections every where you looked and the quirky young Japanese entrepreneurs who staffed the booth were delightful. I immediately purchased one of the books and a lofty stack of really fabulous wool felt. The book is written in Japanese, but it doesn't really matter because there's so many great pictures detailing each step. It's called 'Cakes Made of Felt' and is published by Ondori. The book is a great jumping off place for the ambitious craftster who doesn't like to follow directions that much anyway. I came up with my own pattern for the cake and sort of followed directions for the strawberries and cream puff. The berries I came up with on my own.
This little cake was so seriously flippin' fun to make that I wanted to do cartwheels, tap dance and sing the whole time I was stitching. It's a tiny little thing too, smaller than an average cupcake, maybe the size of a Hostess Hoho. I am going to have to make another one very soon because I didn't get to play with it nearly as much as I would have liked. As soon as I completed it, I packed it up and sent it off to my dearest, loveliest mama for Mother's Day. I hope she is as charmed by it as I am.

Al Fresco Knitting

Yesterday I took advantage of the unseasonably warm weather we've been enjoying here in Minnesota and carried my current knitting project outside for a bit of al fresco knittery. It was sunny and warm enough to sit outside without a jacket, but breezy enough that the sweater I am knitting felt cozy and warm draped across my lap.
The sweater is a top down raglan cardigan knit from cascade 220 summer sky heather. The lace pattern is simple and was easy to memorize. I had done quite a bit of knitting on it last week so by yesterday I had just three more inches to knit until the sweater body was complete. Unfortunately, one row of a top down raglan takes a long time to knit. Since the sweater is knit in the round, the row consists of the entire circumference of the sweater. This would not take too long if you were shaped like a heroin-chic supermodel, but my body is shaped more like the iconic venus of willendorf and therefore requires substantially more knitting to complete a sweater.
So I spent yesterday afternoon in my lawn chair, enjoying the sun and knitting away on my sweater. I was determined to finish that afternoon and as it turned out, I needed less than two inches of knitting until the sweater was long enough. It was a lovely surprise, finishing early, and if all goes as planned I should be wearing my new sweater by the end of the week.

I Heart Bryophytes

I was looking at some old photos today and I came across some shots that I took while I was up in Alaska a couple of years ago. I went for a hike in this amazing coastal rain forest. The cedar trees were enormous and the plant life was wonderfully diverse. The fecundity of this magical place was evident by the rich, spoungy, bryophytes that carpeted the rocks and trees and forest floor.Bryophyte is a fancy high falutin' scientific name for mosses and liverworts. I think it's just about my favorite type of plant life, although I am rather fond of lichens as well. A lichen is a cross between a fungus and a green algae and it often grows on trees and rocks. Mosses look much more plant-like than lichens and if you look up close you can see that mosses have tiny stems and leaves. I didn't take this picture of the gorgeous red moss, but maybe this year I'll be able to take a similar one with my fancy new camera and the macro lens that the birthday lizard will hopefully be bringing me this year. Does the birthday lizard visit your house? In my family the birthday lizard always delivers wonderful gifts to all who are worthy. The birthday lizard is kind of like a cross between Santa and the Easter Bunny, but in reptilian form.There's something magical about mosses. I feel like if I look close enough I'll be able to see an entire world that lives within the the soft, spoungy landscape. I'm sure there are tiny fairies living in the moss land. I haven't actually seen them, but I'll bet they are there. I mean, if you were a fairy, wouldn't you want to live in the moss, in a coastal rain forest with enormous cedar trees?

Granite and Ice

At long last my December BJP piece is finished. I began beading on December 1st hoping to get a head start before the holiday madness set in. I always feel like a crazed lunatic by the time the last bits of holiday craftery are completed and the last package is mailed off to my loved ones. I seem to never have enough Christmas spirit to get me through December and I am always left feeling stressed and exhausted.In an effort to counter balance the holiday craziness, I planned my escape into the bead world of the peaceful winter landscape. One of my favorite things about living in Minnesota is the stark beauty of the winter landscape. The layers of sparkling snow and ice offset by the pale blue sky and highlighted by the cool grays of stone and bark. The land lies in wait under her quilt of snow, drowsy and introspective. She is resting from the seasons of growth. On clear days, the sun warms and the snow melts. If you listen carefully you can hear the whisper of water weaving through the granite on it's way to mysterious destinations far below. At night the water freezes and swells, working it's way into fissures in the stone. Pressure builds until the rock splinters and cracks, reminding us that the landscape is always changing. Quiet and still, the land subtly shifts underneath her blanket of snow waiting patiently for the rebirth of spring.

I Heart Pink

Last week I returned from a wonderful winter get away. Coming home to a cold and cloudy Minnesota was a bit depressing. I think the gloomy weather had an effect on my ability to get over my jet lag. I've spent the past week feeling moody and tired and sleeping way too much. As a result, Valentine's Day came and went with very little fanfare or celebration in my house. Valentine's Day as a holiday has never really been all that important to me, but I do love the colors. Well, it's mostly about the pink for me. Pink balloons, lush pink roses, fuzzy pink sweaters, cupcakes with thick pink frosting and heart shaped sprinkles. I love the color pink. It's romantic, charming, girly and sweet. The color pink makes me smile. So here's a tribute in photos to one of my favorite colors:

I saw this building in Ireland and fell in love. I wanted to lick the wall to see if it tasted like birthday cake. I wonder what kind of shop it is?
My buddy Sammy and I crocheted these sweet fuzzy bunny slippers for her a few year's ago. I'll bet she's grown out of them by now.
This luscious quilt was made by the featured quilter at the Sister's Quilt Show a few years back. I wish I could remember her name. The quilt was huge, this photo is of the center block. There were Japanese cherry trees in the backyard of the house that I grew up in. In the springtime, I used to lay on the grass underneath the trees and look at the beautiful blue sky peeking though the pink blossoms. It's one of my favorite childhood memories. I ate a rambutan for the first time a few weeks ago. Rambutans are a hot pink, fuzzy fruit that grows in the tropics. To get to the edible fruit, you peel the rambutan like an orange. The flesh has the constistency of a peeled grape. It's wonderfully sweet and tastes kind of like a concord grape or a lychee:
Here's a close up:Last but not least is my fabulous new hairbrush. I about had a fit of the vapors when I saw this in the store. I knew at once that I must have it or die. My sister Sandra does not understand my deep and abiding love of Hello Kitty. But she did manage to swipe my favorite pink shirt that I took on vacation.

Wee Weasley Sweater

In further continuation with my obsession of knitting and crocheting wee things, I spent some time before Christmas perfecting a tiny top down raglan sweater pattern. Most of the sweaters that I knit for myself are top down raglans. I love how top down raglans fit, how they can be knit in the round and how easily customizable they are. Making one in miniature was just a simple of matter of knitting a tiny gauge swatch and doing the math. I found some lovely dk weight Jamieson tweed yarn in the half price bin at my local yarn shop that I thought would make perfect little sweaters. I am a big Harry Potter fan as are many of my friends and family so I thought it would be fun to create some wee Weasley sweater ornaments. For those of you who are 'non cosciente', the Weasley sweaters are the ones that Mrs. Weasley gave to Ron, Harry, Fred and George for Christmas in the first Harry Potter book. In the movie, the sweaters were lovingly hand knit by Mrs. Weasley in a nubbly tweed yarn and had each boys initial on it. I knit up a couple of sweaters in a variety of fingering weight sock yarn until I had the pattern tweaked. These are my first sweater samples: As it turned out, I got so busy making other things for Christmas gifts that I only had time to make one sweater that I gave away. The rust colored Weasley sweater went to my friend Sue's daughter Andrea who is delightfully obsessed with Ron Weasley. The initial was embroidered on the front of the sweater with sock yarn .
I would love to make myself a full sized Weasley sweater. I'd knit it in a lovely dark plum donegal tweed yarn. But I would have to work it into my busy schedule of making lovely, frivolous things like crocheted acorns and piggy ipod cozies. I'd also like to knit up a stack of these little sweaters in variegated sock yarn to hang in my sewing room on small laundry line with wee clothespins.

Pig In A Pod

I really have no idea why I am compelled to crochet things like this. What sane person in their mid forties would pick up a crochet hook and some pink yarn and create an ipod cozy that looks like a pig? The answer is the same person who made a purple monkey ipod cozy last year. The insane part is that I crocheted them for myself and not as a gift for a small child. The pattern came from the book The Happy Hooker- Stitch and Bitch Crochet. I used sport weight cotton yarn instead of the worsted weight that the pattern called for, so I pretty much winged it and fit the ipod to the cozy as I went along. Crocheting the ears was the trickiest part. There must have been a dozen little ears in various shapes and sizes strewn across my living room carpet by the time I figured out a pattern that I was happy with. Figuring out the shape of the ear was like working out a little geometry project. Since I happen to like math it was kind of fun trying to work out a shape that would wrap around the corner of the ipod, have a nice cupped shape to it and a little point at the tip of the ear. For the nose, I settled on two crocheted circles stacked on top of each other. One circle was too flat and I wanted the nose to stick out a bit farther. My knitting buddies Beth and Sue helped me select the right size of googly eyes for the piggy. I think the larger sized googly eyes bestows an appropriately insane look to the pig.The screen cover on the back of the ipod cozy is made from heavy gauge vinyl. I punched holes around the edge of the vinyl with a Japanese hole punch. It's this wonderful little tool that punches lovely perfect holes in a variety of wee sizes. I use it mostly for paper and cardboard, but it worked beautifully on the vinyl. Unfortunately, it also worked beautifully on skin as my poor chopped up fingers can attest to. That little hole punching puppy is sharp and is not for those who are dexterously challenged. Once the holes were punched in the vinyl and the Hello Kitty band aids were applied to my fingers, the project proceeded with no further bodily injuries.
My new little piggy will get her public debut tomorrow. Adrian and I are traveling to Hawaii for some fun in the sun. This little piggy that plays music will be my companion on the hideously long plane ride.

Treasured Family Heirloom

This antique tinsel tree is a vintage family heirloom that has been passed down for generations to the third daughter of the first son of each Ehlers family for as long as anyone in my family can remember. It was lovingly brought from Germany by my immigrant ancestors who traveled by boat to America in search of a new life and new opportunities. Even when times were tough and my penniless ancestors almost starved on the mean streets of New York, they never ever sold the tree. Ahahaha! Gotcha!!! I totally made all that nonsense up. The sepia photo of the 'vintage' tinsel tree is courtesy of Photoshop. I'm not sure who those immigrants are, but I am pretty sure that my ancestors would be the sort of people that would sell not only their tinsel tree but their children as well for a hot bowl of soup. In reality, this hideous lime green holographic tinsel tree was purchased last week at Micheal's. It came pre strung with Grinch green lights and when I saw it, I just about died. Be still my heart, it was one 0f the most hideously wonderful things that I had ever seen and I knew that I had to have it for the kitsch factor alone. Thankfully it was on sale and marked down quite a bit because for some strange reason no one wanted to buy them! It also came in barbie doll pink, put I opted for the grinch green one. When I took it from it's box, Adrian's first words were "Oh......My". But I do think that it's growing on him. When the heat comes on in our house it blows on the tree and the tinsel shimmers and flutters. It's only four feet tall and in no way will it replace the lovely fragrant live tree that we get every year. It's more of an addition to our existing holiday decor. I am not sure how I want to decorate it yet. It completely clashes with my naturey Christmas theme that I have going on in my house. Lime green holographic tinsel does not go particularly well with pine cones, acorns, greenery and mushroom birds. I think it needs a theme of it's own. Maybe I'll make up a bunch of kitschy vintage ornaments for it. It's bare nekkid right now with nothing but a length of neon green 'Cat in the Hat' fabric to adorn it's base. Does anyone have any good decorating ideas?

Christmas Acorn Addiction

After I completed the last batch of autumn colored acorns I vowed to put away my tiny crochet hook and get busy making my holiday gifts. Well, that vow lasted for about a month until my girlfriend Carmelita Fantastica joined me at my house for an afternoon of movies and crafting. I pulled out my bag of oddball yarns to make her some acorns while we enjoyed watching Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. By the time all of the brides were married to the brothers I had completed a nice little assortment of acorns for her to take home. Unfortunately, I got addicted again to making what has got to be the crack cocaine of the crafting world. So I spent the next couple of days making up another pile o' acorns but this time in festive christmasy colors. Once again I couldn't stop at making a half a dozen or so. I began to worry when the pile grew to fifteen and by the time I made twenty eight I knew that I had to put away the hook or I'd be lost forever. I do believe that I had even more fun making these ones than the last batch. Probably because it was all snowy outside and the bright festive colors were such a feast for the eyes. The bright red acorns are made from some stunning hand dyed sock yarn that was leftover from a pair of sympathy socks that my sister Brenda knit for me after I broke my neck last year. I absolutely love the socks but that yarn is so incredibly scrumptious. I am going to try really hard to not unravel the socks so that I can have more of that yarn to play with.
This time around I used a darning needle to poke a tiny hole in the acorn cap to add a wee eye pin so that I could hang the acorns.
I never thought it was possible, but I began to run out of acorn caps. I have collected so many of them over the years that I was sure that I had a lifetime supply. Since the ground is frozen and covered with a blanket of snow there will be no more acorn cap gathering until next year. I am not sure what I am going to do when Valentine's day rolls around and I want to make pink and red acorns. And what about springtime acorns in lovely robin's egg blue? I am going to have to find someone who lives in a snow free world and who is willing to hunt and gather for me.So how is everyone's holiday crafting going? What projects are you frantically working on in order to get them done by Christmas? I hope that everyone in having a festive holiday season and is managing to keep the holiday stress level down to a manageable level. I am trying to enjoy more and stress less about the whole thing. So far so good.....

The Unexpected Farm

Adrian's cold from a few weeks ago finally caught up with me so I spent the long holiday weekend feeling miserable and whiny. By Sunday I was starting to feel a bit better so I spent the day finishing up my BJP page for November while curled up on the sofa and enjoying a Harry Potter movie marathon. I finished sewing the backing on the piece by the time Harry had defeated the dementors, rescued Sirius and rode off on his Firebolt.It seems as if my November page took a very long time to complete. Probably because it's sort of an extension of my beading in October or I should say my lack of beading in October. I was in a terrible blue funk for the entire month, depressed and stressed over the cost of groceries, the economy, the impending election and a whole list other things. I started and abandoned three separate pieces of beading. I desperately struggled to bead about the autumn landscape in October, something that usually brings me great joy. It's my favorite month here in Minnesota and I usually spend it camping and hiking and enjoying the gorgeous fall colors. But my heart was just not into beading about it and by the end of the month I decided to put October's beading away for a while and get a fresh start on November. With the election over, I began to think more positively about the future and I was able to shake the gloom and anxiety that I felt in October. For my November BJP page, I wanted to bead about the farmlands of Minnesota. I was thinking about the harvest and Thanksgiving and gratitude for all that the land provides for us. I envisioned beading a stark oak tree with rows of fields behind it. I wanted to convey a sense of closure of the growing season. So I began my beading and guess what? The piece fell totally flat. It was boring and ugly and I hated it. At this point I began to panic and I was worried that I'd never be able bead anything again and that I'd have to hang my picture in the BJP hall of shame. I know, I can be a total drama queen, but it thankfully doesn't last very long. So I took a deep breath and bravely started over. I laid one bead down, and then the next one and the next one. Before I knew it, my piece was coming together in a most unexpected way. It looked absolutely nothing like what I'd imagined and it seemingly had nothing to do with farmlands or harvest or anything that I had originally intended. But I liked it anyway and I kept at it, adding row after row of beads until one day I glanced at the almost completed piece and there before my eyes emerged something totally and completely unexpected:A crazy, funky beady farm! I saw beady rows of crops and beady barns and strange shiny silos and beady rows of trees. I saw bee hives surrounded by clover, a crazy round chicken coop and apple trees heavy with fruit. It was a birds eye view of a busy little farm! Okay, so maybe it's a farm that you'd see after walking through a field of poppies on your way to Oz, but it's my farm and I love it. It's the farm that I will one day live on and it makes me insanely happy. This crazy funky unexpected farm may not represent any farm that you'd see in real life, it's more like a landscape from my imagination. It's a place that builds and nurtures and grows for the future. A place where you can be thankful and smile with gratitude for all of the wonderful unexpected joys that life brings.