Life Changes

 

 

Changes. It's spring, a favorite time of year, and I haven't really enjoyed it. I've been too worried about my husband who had emergency surgery and spent the last two weeks in the hospital, some of the stay in the ICU. Thank you to all his wonderful doctors and nurses!

He's doing much better now, happy to be in his own bed, even though he'll still have to endure a few more days of IV antibiotics and a few more weeks of dressing changes. I've quickly learned a few new nursing skills and we seem to be doing well with his home care. I'm just so happy to have him home!

Meanwhile, our small restaurant is closed since it was mostly the two of us running it. It feels weird to be "unemployed". So my new job is taking care of him. We'll see how things go over the next couple of weeks, we may decide to sell it and take some time off this summer.

As anyone who goes through major life changes knows, we'll take it one step at a time. His full recovery is the most important thing. Thank you to all of our family and friends that have offered love, support, prayers and help. It means so much! It's time like these that remind us to cherish your family and friends and to enjoy life to the fullest.

 

 

Happy Easter!

On My Sewing Table. . .

 

 

 

 

 

I finished up a lot of sewing projects last week.

A custom order of flower pins, plush cats and pillows from a customer's own beloved sweaters.

And a set of my heart felt embroidered ornaments.

 Now I'm working on stocking up on purses, zip pouches and other accessories for the summer craft fair season. And even though I don't want to plan that far ahead, I need to photograph some new FeltSewGood items because it's time to apply for some fall craft shows.

What have you been making on lately?

Easy Felted Easter Eggs

Here's a quick and easy way of making some pretty felted Easter eggs. I wrapped a layer of wool roving around a styrofoam egg. The egg will give you a nice uniform shape and you’ll use less roving than if you felted the whole thing out of wool.

 

Materials needed:

wool roving in spring colors

styrofoam eggs

soap (I used dish soap)

old clean towel

bowl

access to hot and cold water ( I actually worked at my kitchen sink)

 

 

Start by fluffing out the roving and pulling out wisps of roving. Lay the wisp of roving on your work surface to make a mat of wool.

 

 

Lay the roving both horizontal and vertical to make an even mat, wider than the egg and about three times longer than the width of the egg.

 

Carefully roll the wool around the egg and fold in the side pieces, keeping the wool taut.

 

 

The wool fibers will be loose.

Next fill your bowl or sink basin with hot water and add a couple of drops of soap.

 

 

Gently dribble the hot water over the egg until all of the wool is wet. Move the wet egg back and forth from hand to hand, like playing catch. Handle the egg gently until the fibers start to pull together. Resist actually squeezing the wool around the egg at this point so that you don't get any wrinkles in the wool.

 

 

Add a drop of soap to your hands and continue to handle the egg until the wool starts to hold together more firmly. Now you can add a little more pressure to get the fibers to bind firmly around the egg. Once the egg is firmly felted, rinse under very cold water to set the fibers.

 

 

Lay the wet eggs on an old clean towel to dry. (Use an old towel in case some dye rubs off of the roving.)

 

 

You can make a whole batch of colorful eggs without using very much roving.

(note: if you can't find egg shaped Styrofoam at your craft store, I found these on Amazon.com.)

Happy felting!

 

Spring Migration

It's my favorite sign of spring. The throaty trill heard high

in the sky. High above, barely visible due to their altitude, it's a flock

of sandhill cranes returning from the South, where they've been

living during the winter months. We saw hundreds of these massive beauties flying over today. . . what a treat! (Fall is also a great time

to see them, as they head south for the winter.)

 

The sandhill crane is akin to the heron, only larger. With a

7-foot wingspan, these beautiful birds reach a height of 31 to 47 inches.

Seeing the sandhill cranes flying in small groups, calling loudly,

growing closer and closer, circling the sky into larger groups for their flight north to breeding grounds in Canada is a surreal experience. I feel fortunate to live in a part of Indiana where we get to witness this migration each Spring and Fall from our own backyard. Most of the birds we see here are heading north for a stop over in the Jasper-Pulaski Fish and Wildlife Area in Medaryville, Indiana.

 

Check out this video produced by the Chicago Tribune.

 Be sure to turn on your sound.

 

 

And here is just a few pieces of my favorite sandhill crane art from Etsy.

 

Sandhill crane letterpress print by Just A Jar Press 

 

 Sandhill crane print by Madara Mason

 

Limited Edition GICLEE MINI Print / "Reed Preening" /
Watercolor Painting of a Sandhill Crane by Reyes Paintings