My lil owlie pillow

I spent the evening repairing this little pillow.

Lil Owlie - after the attack

As you can see,  my lil owlie has suffered a vicious mauling by our puppy when he (the puppy) was still new to the family (he's a little older and wiser now).  I've tucked the damaged pillow away for over a year or maybe closer to two years.  I loved it too much to toss it and yet hadn't decided how to repair it (especially the lower right corner - can you see that the corner is missing?).

I made this pillow using an owl from my toddler class bulletin board (in 2011-12, my co-teacher and I decorated our classroom with these owls).  I made two owl pillows, trading one in Another Little Quilt Swap (in the 7th swap) and keeping the other one (the one shown above) for my home. I especially love the background of this as my friend Liz B painted, over-dyed lightly, and enhanced it.  Click  here for more information on this pillow.


Meanwhile, on Instagram, The Cloth Pocket is hosting a WIP contest tonight.  I immediately grabbed this damaged owl and determined to fix it ....

Lil Owlie in need of new eyes and a beak

First step:  Carefully remove the damaged, half-eaten eyes and beak.
Next:  Stitch two black yo-yos, attach to white circles and stitch in place on the owlie's face.
Next:  Make the new beak and stitch it in place too.
Last of all:  Mend the dog-chewed-and-eaten corner ....

Lil Owlie ready to party again!

Ta-dah!
I've finished!

This marks my second finish in the 2016 Finish Along for the first quarter.  Do you like my creative patch to mend the lower right corner?  This little sleeping owl is appliqued in place and matches the fabric on the pillow back.  Click here for my original list of UFOs to finish for this quarter.

My lil owlie pillow is #345 of the official Q1 finishes for this first quarter.  Click here to see it and other amazing finishes.


Thank you to @TheClothPocket and also to the many hostesses of @FinishAlong  #2016FAL; #finishalong2016  #theclothpocketwipcontest #wipcontest

Felted Bowl

The Sixth annual Houston-area Empty Bowls event is tomorrow. 

This year, I crocheted a bowl and then felted it.

Here is a bottom-side up view.

I made two -- and kept meaning to add embellishments of some sort, but ran out of time this year.  Be sure to come tomorrow and support the Houston Food Bank by enjoying a bowl of soup and selecting a bowl to keep as your special momento.

New feltings

Originally I made these felted soaps to share with the ToteTuesday campaign.

Tote Tuesday is Virgina Spiegel's newest fundraising project (via Fiberart For A Cause) for the American Cancer Society, and takes place every Tuesday in February of 2010, between 10am and 2 pm.  Click here to learn more.  

The soaps were so easy to do, I have made more.....

The big question is how many do I send (which really means: dare I keep any for myself?) and they need to get into the mail fast (I have already missed the beginning of the ToteTuesday fun!)

maybe one ...  the one below (as it has some minor issues on the flip side which needs attending to by moi).

These felted soaps are easy to make.  Click here to read/see instructions by Judy Coates Perez.  Thanks Judy for such a fabulous step-by-step tutorial!

 

logo by Jeanelle McCall

Be sure to bid on these artistic totes, as well as featured artwork by a number of Fiber Artist, every Tuesday for the next few weeks of February .... Kudos to Virginia for another grand fundraising effort.  ToteTuesday has raised over $1500.00 in it's first week!

Felted Rocks?

 Exploring new worlds of felting have led to this fun result ...

What are these fuzzy objects?  No, they are not felted rocks as my son guessed ... rather they are felted soaps!

I had seen directions for felting soap in a library book recently, then happened across Judy Coates Perez's blog with a fabulous post titled "Felted Soap" (dated Dec. 20, 2009).   Click here to see her tutorial (has great visuals), then be daring.... make your own felted soap!

I wish I had seen her blog post two months ago, sigh.  Now I have an entire year to perfect this process before I gift family and friends with hand-felted soaps.  Perhaps I will get Louise T. to teach me how to make soap, then the entire gift will be hand made!  Or perhaps I will raise sheep (or goats) to shear for my own source of homegrown wool.  Hmmm, I wonder if sheep are allowed as pets in my small neighborhood?  Chickens are, but what about sheep?


But I digress ... back to the topic:  one or more of these felted soaps will be donated to the newest Fiberart For A Cause fundraiser, ToteTuesday.  Over 20 fun-filled totes will be auctioned off on Virginia Spiegel's blog starting Tuesday, Feb 2, 2010.  Be sure to check her blog for more details, and check back every Tuesday in February and March to bid on your favorite ToteTuesday!  Her blog is http://www.virginiaspiegel.com/blog/

logo by Jeanelle McCall

Felting (2 UFOs)

I have dabbled in felting -- just a little bit -- this year.  The first was in a class with Gika Rector during the bi-annual conference of the Texas Federation of Fiber Artists (TFFA).  Gika taught us how to Nuno Felt, a wet felting technique that felts into a fabric base -- quite fun to do, and sadly I've only one photo to share.  My piece is here:

I used the three primary colors in Merino wool roving, trapping snippets of other fibers in the process.  My initial thought was to spin it into a color wheel .... perhaps I will felt it a bit more first....

Then, at this fall's International Quilt Festival (IQF), I was entranced by the ArtFelt booth.  They had a lovely variety of felted items as seen in these photos:

The samples are showing their many patterns and kits.  There was also luscious wool and silk roving.  I could hardly wait to get my hands on some of my own to play with!

I believe these shawls/neck-warmers are the inspiration behind my first knit scarf which was too short (click here to see that post).

 

Aren't these felted fabrics lovely?

Since Festival, I have played with one of their smaller kits, making a small purse for my cell phone.

This is the roving punched into the artfelt paper base.

Here it is after being felted.

The artfelt process uses a dryer to do the felting -- fast, easy and fun!

I've stitched the sides together ...

and added a little embroidery embellishment.

All it lacks is the final clasp or tie ... (yes, it is unfinished at the moment ...)

The year is winding to a close and I'm sharing two unfinished works in this post in hopes that I can get them finished before ringing in the new year .....