Indulge…

I hope everyone enjoyed the Easter holiday! As with any family gathering, I think we all ate too much!

So, how about indulging in a zero-calorie strawberry tart?  

The strawberry is needle felted with hand-dyed wool, stitched on wool fabric for leaves and a few black seed beads…and glued into a vintage tart tin.

Sweet!

And here’s another needle felted sheep pinkeep.

The sheep is needle felted and sits on an old thread spool that I covered/stuffed  with wool. I embellished it with a few stitched daisy/crystal beads. I ripped muslin strips and stamped ‘pin-keep’, baa, etc and wrapped it onto the spool. 

Last, here’s another needle felted sheep with bamboo skewers for little legs, painted with acrylic paint, poked and glued into the wool body. I added a few alphabet beads to spell ‘baa’ and tied it around her neck!

Also sweet!

I never get tired of making sheep…

Happy day!

Meet ‘Rosebud’

After skirting my Shetland wool fleece for most of the day yesterday, (btw, I’m STILL not done!) I had to make something sheepy and wooly…

Ergo, meet ‘Rosebud’, a needle felted pinkeep.

She’s needle felted in a rather tall, slender, cylindrical shape; the black ‘head’ and tail were needle felted separately and also attached with the felting needle.

I made rosebuds from wool snippets, and needle felted a bit of a stem, stitched on a few vintage mother of pearl buttons and a decorative ribbon (grass?) at the base. She sits in a recycled vintage tart tin! I added a little rusty bell around her neck.

She worked-up rather quickly…just what I needed!

A simple, no-sew project!

♥blessings!

Salt Cellars

I found these salt cellars at the flea market the other day. 

According to Wikipedia, a salt cellar (also called standing salt) is a vessel, usually small and made of glass or silver, used on the table for holding salt. An individual salt dish or squat open salt cellar placed near a trencher was called a trencher salt. The use of salt cellars continued through the 1940s but has been in decline since, gradually replaced by salt shakers.

So, what do you do with salt cellars?

Another prim sheepy make-do pinkeep ?

You may think I’m obsessed with my sweet sheepies…but, I never have too many sheep!

I had fun making the last needle felted prim strawberry (an easy project), I had to make another larger strawberry make-do pinkeep…

Happy fiber’n!

Strawberry Culture

Since we talked about renovating my raised strawberry beds, I thought I’d mention a few tips on strawberry culture. Strawberries are well adapted to Michigan home gardens.

• They are hardy and the easiest small fruit crop to grow.
• They will produce a good crop in less time than other small fruit crops.
• One cup of strawberries will provide more than the daily requirement for vitamin C.
• Strawberries are sold as plants rather than seed (except Alpine variety).
• Two basic types grown in Michigan, June-bearing and everbearing.
• Strawberries require full sun and prefer well-drained sandy loam high in organic matter.
• Prefer slightly acidic soil.
• Strawberries should be planted in early spring.
• For June-bearing, remove the flower the first season so the energy is directed to producing daughters.
• Apply 12-12-12 fertilizer before planting, 2 wks after planting and again in another 6 wks; don’t allow the fertilizer to touch damp leaves or the crown of the plant. 
• The following year, fertilize after fruit harvest.
• Minimize winter damage by mulching with straw and remove in spring.
• They require 1-inch of water per week on average.
• To renovate June-bearing strawberries: mow the plants after harvest leaving 1-inch of stem above the crown, till between rows, thin the plants and fertilize.
• Harvest fruit early in the morning after the dew has dried off; leave the green hulls attached to the fruit by twisting the stem.
• Avoid washing the fruit until just before it’s used to prevent softening and decay.  

Now, the strawberry make-do (above) is made with hand-dyed 100 % wool, needle felted, stitched green wool ‘hull’ and a few black beads, glued to a glass candle stick base. AND….

What…no sheep?????

I just couldn’t help myself…had to add a needle felted sheepy dangler!

Shetland lambs: Porthos and Bella update

Porthos, a ram lamb.

 

Hildy presented us with twin lambs on Easter Monday. They each weighed about 8 pounds. At one week old, they’re both about 10 pounds…perhaps the ram lamb, whom we named ‘Porthos’ is a bit heavier…and fears no one! Bella, his sister, is a bit more timid, but she usually comes around for her share of attention and snuggles. I could spend hours just watching them at play with all of their crazy antics!  

The Shetland sheep breed is both varied in their ‘markings’ and color —– and all in Shetland dialect!   

Bella - a ewe lamb.

 

When I’m not moving sheep and goats around…I managed to make a few sheepy make-do pinkeeps. 

A flock of make-do pinkeeps.

 

Now I really have to get after my gardens and yard work!!!!

{a touch of glass}

whimsical: adj [whimsy] , full of, actuated by, or exhibiting whims; a capricious or eccentric and often sudden idea or turn of the mind.

I had such a ~~~ turn of the mind ~~~ moment when I created these whimsical, what I’m calling  ‘TOUCH OF GLASS’ PINKEEPS. Somewhere along the way, I collected a few glass sugar bowl lids (without the accompanying sugar bowl bottom). Now, what was I thinking? How about inverting the top/lid and using it as a little base for something? Hmmm…perhaps a little pinkeep?

Made of 100% farm raised wool needle felted and embellished with a bit of novelty trim, they’re one-of-a-kind ~ oh yes, must have sheep ~ to keep your pins safely at hand. It’s nice to recycle/reuse a found item that otherwise may have been tossed?  

HOW-TO:

Tightly fold over itself a handful of wool roving several times and begin to needle felt to create density and size to conform to your base. Any base will do; look around the house for an old wooden thread spool, textile bobbin, candle stick…or sugar bowl lid? HINT: Depending on the project, I often use natural colored wool to create the size I’m after and then add a layer of hand-dyed colored wool…since the interior will not be visible anywho.

I applied a tiny bit of fabric glue to the base to secure my ‘pinkeep’ and various embellishments. Finally, embellish away to your heart’s content. Consider adding vintage buttons, novelty trim, ribbon, ricrac, string of pearls, doily…the sky is the limit! 

HINT: You don’t have to make sheep; needle felt a free-form design, flower or motif that appeals to you! I just completed a pinkeep with a field of lavender and a resting sheep in the center!  (They’ll probably be listed in my ETSY shop.) I have one more sugar lid in my stash to make.

Happy fiber’n!