We have a new four legged family member…Fire is a former racehorse…a gorgeous bay thoroughbred!  He got his name because the night he was born his barn caught on fire, but he was rescued from the fire

I just brought home my new (old) spinning wheel!  Now I can live my dream of learning to spin…but the choices in fibers are overwhelming!  Where do I start?

I am working on a pattern for Knit Picks.  Here’s how it looks so far

I’ve been very stressed lately, so I have been knitting like crazy, until my wrists ache, and I can no longer move my fingers.  So I run my hands under hot water and knit some more.

Here are some pics from the last few weeks of what I have been up to…

These are pencil cups or as I call them, desk monsters.  I knit with scraps of eyelash and novelty yarns and cover recycled soup cans or fruit cans to make these little monsters.

It’s amazing how much personality these guys can have.  Here a some individual shots as well:

I have also been feverishly knitting alligator scarves.  It’s been unusually cold here in Florida this winter…those of you up north can laugh, but I’ve been here long enough that my blood has thinned.  I found this pattern at Morehouse Farms and fell in love with knitting it.

The following is more evidence of my worried frame of mind:

My daughter is being overrun by gator scarves.

…and I’m still knitting.

more

She is made from a pink fur remnant and silk dupioni I found in my stash.   I  dressed her in an outfit my daughter used to wear when she was a toddler.  I saved it because it was my favorite bit of her clothing.

She has glass button eyes, and an embroidered nose; which she happily stuck in the camera.

Earlier this evening I caught her on the computer surfing the internet for friends.

Work desk

The next pic is of some of the materials I will be using.  Can you guess what it will be?

Vintage trim from 1949 France

More  raw materials.

Fab Stash

…Recipes

…Inspirations

…Ideas

I’ve been playing with this idea for about a year now.  I have an Accucut die cutting machine, and a little hand shaped die and I finally started using them.   I think these would make a sweet little gift for someone empty or filled.

First handful of memories mini scrap book

Here is an example about generations of the women in my family…

Generations of women

Here are a couple sample picks for “A Handful of Recipes”.  Tried to use a five ingredient recipe with one ingredient on each finger…

Strawberries with Norwegian Pancakes

Other paper combination’s I am working on…

Romantic Greens

Hand full of Sketches

Girlie Skully group of cut papers

School memories

I finish these off with charms on the wire binding.  I thought it would be cute to have a “Charm Bracelet”  Matching the theme of the mini hand book.

Charm Bracelet

I will post more as I make them, maybe put some on Etsy.  These could be easily personalized, and I think most people would enjoy the sentiment.  If there is any interest, I will develope a tutorial for the different themes.  We shall see what we shall see…

Maggie and the Unicorn

It was very challenging, but rewarding to see how happy she was with it.  I finally made a pretty box!

Sleeping baby unicorn box

Here are a few different views:

Open box

View from above

It’s hard to see in the pics, but I used the Fimo Special Effects polymer clay in white with iridescent glitter.  And transparent Fimo with extra fine glitter rolled into it for the horn.  I added red iridescent paint highlights, and gave her a little pink nose.  The eyes are tiny blown glass cat’s eyes turned sideways so they look a little more like equine eyes.

Baby unicorn face

She stood over my should the whole time I was working on it, directing me on the size and placement of the ears and horn.

Now she wants me to make a bigger “Mom” unicorn box.  I know what I will be doing tomorrow….