Wood toys

I made these chairs for my sons gnomes. They were real easy, just slices of branches, a few drilled holes and some glue. The bottom seat part is apricot and the back part is elm. The mommy gnome is carved out of aspen, which is very easy and soft to carve. The Daddy and Mommy are made out of choke cherry wood, which I would not recommend using, it is very hard and I cut myself way too many times even with my leather gloves on. This year we called the Daddy and Mommy, King Winter and Queen Winter.

Bob's sweater

Hey hey I finally finished it. It was crazy with my 3 1/2 year old taking the yarn every chance he'd get and playing spider web with it. Not to mention the removal of the stitch markers constantly, which he thought were bugs caught in the web. I am not sure if I'll crochet another sweater until my boys are a bit older. He He I got the pattern from the winter Interweave crochet magazine. I used Berroco vintage wool yarn. I hand sewed the zipper on before I used the sewing machine, so it wouldn't move all over the place and it made it much easier.

wool bracelets

I crocheted these bracelets as an experiment. I need to try them on a bunch of people cause I am not sure how they will fit everybody, since I sized it to myself. Maybe I need to put clasps on them? One thing I did learn was that if I am going to put them in the dryer to felt them to use a garment bag or pillow case. The green leaf bracelet felted into the yarn some of the dryer lint and I couldn't get it out. To fit good around my wrist I used 35 single crochet with worsted weight yarn.

Totoro!

I crocheted this Totoro for my son Davey, he loves holding on to the ears...I stuffed it with wool and makes a cozy pillow too.
Here is where I got the pattern. http://heavens-hellcat.livejournal.com/420.html

Pocket Fairy Necklaces

Thinking of Valentines already?
Adults and kids alike really love these. My son always takes the fairy out and replaces it with a rock. What a fun way to wear special treasures. I sell these on my site and at the Fiber Arts Center in Espanola. They are made with 100% wool felt (not synthetic felt).

Acorn Necklace

This is a crocheted acorn necklace. It is very cute and would be great for harvest time. Ahh, I'll remember it as my very first sale on etsy! I miss it so much! I need to make another one for myself.

The Phoenix

A friend commissioned me to make her a needle felted Phoenix, some of the materials were supplied by her. I usually only work with wool roving and minimal embellishments, this was interesting because I had to find ways to use ribbon etc. This piece hangs from the ceiling.

Ho Ho Ho!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Holiday! Here are just a few little Santa's, all needle felted.

Wood carved abuela

I used a piece of cottonwood that we found by the Rio Embudo. The knots in the wood really told me where the bun of hair and arm were supposed to go. I carved some things out of choke cherry and ouch, it made my hands so sore (hard, hard wood). I learned that aspen or cottonwood is a much better choice.

Face Class at EVFAC

I taught a Needle felting class on faces! There was 5 students, 3 of which had some beginning experience. I used a lightly needle felted wool batting as the "canvas" but, one could use recycled sweaters or blanket as well. It was a 4 hour class and could have been a bit longer. But, we did accomplish completing the basic structure of the face. I gave out a hand out on some tricks to getting facial proportions correct which should is good reference to have. Each student seemed eager to take their new friend home and embellish them at there leisure. The second photo was taken at the end of the class. The first photo is the face I needle felted and then wet felted to use as an example. I choose doing these as a relief because it seems many of the fiber arts competitions and galleries are not set up for sculpture and don't know what to do with things that don't hang on walls. So, this was an experiment to create a hanging sculpture.

baby dragon

I got this pattern for $6 Pdf download from
http://www.anniesattic.com

My son loves this dragon!
It was surprisingly simple and easy to read pattern and didn't take as long as I thought it would.

Acorn Satchel

I made this little nature satchel for a friend of my sons for his birthday. It was a proto-type so to speak, I am still working on my sons version. There are so many cute things for girls, I figured it wasn't fair. This "purse" or satchel is perfect for collecting sticks, rocks, and leaves! My friend was so happy to have this for her son because she was tired of carrying a bunch of rocks back home after their hikes and he loves having a special place to put his treasures.

A Home for Gnomes

The tree house is not made of wool, but all good gnomes and faeries need a home. This was inspired by the tree houses I have seen in catalogs. I made each piece a little at a time and it probably took about 6 months to finish it and well it still isn't finished. My hope is that when my sons interest and skills build we can engineer together to make a whole village. Being in the southwest it was a bit more work to find the wood. I lived by the beach in the Pacific Northwest for years and at times was longing for the driftwood. But alas, nature provided us with almost everything. I wish I could have cut the platform rounds myself, but I will on the next ones? This tree house brings so magic into the house and will be a heirloom. I loved making it instead of buying it and a added bonus was there isn't too many removable parts to trip on in the night.

Home Made Tree House

I made this tree house last year for my sons Christmas or rather Santa commissioned it. I was pregnant at the time and didn't feel comfortable using the chain saw or saws all. So I just bought the pine rounds from the hardware store that are used for making lazy susans and used natural cut wood slices that are used for wood burning and for sale in the craft stores. All the other wood including cherry, apricot, pine, cedar root, aspen, cottonwood, and willow I found while hiking and exploring. I used hemp twine to knot together the rope ladders. Hopefully this Christmas we'll add a pully (which you can get at hardware store, used for blinds) and maybe a hammock. This tree house is so sturdy and my son can climb it and I am not worried. It was a great way to save a couple hundred bucks and make something way better!

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Advent Calendar

I finished sewing all the pockets of the back of the calendar. Here are the Gnomes we made in our hand work circle in there proper places. Still need a few more, but there is still time. It is looking so magical!