Bird Mobile Finally Finished!

I finally finished the long-promised Christmas present of the bird mobile! I used my blue jay pattern and altered it to make a yellow finch, a black bird and a cardinal, too.
I found the design for hanging them all from the book "Sweet Needle Felts" by Jenn Docherty. I think it really looks better in person!

Let's Start Thinking About a Holiday!

I know it's early, but how about thinking about Valentine's Day? I just needle felted these little guys! The fellow (on the right) is supposed to be kneeling, but you can't tell! I just used two pipe cleaners twisted into hearts with legs. I added pipe-cleaner arms, then needle felted roving all over them. A bit of black roving finishes their faces. It's so much fun! I happened to have some tiny paper flowers to throw in a little extra for this little guy to really give a heartfelt gift ...

Needle Felting Is Fun!

Needle-felted flowers using a cookie cutter for the shaping.

Needle-felted dog ... looks just like the wired-haired fox terrier we had when I was growing up! You can make any kind of dog or cat or fish or anything you want! It's incredible!

I was testing out some needle felting the other day and am pretty happy with the results. I have done lots of needle felting in the past, but I never used these techniques before. I have all sorts of plans now for Easter chicks and ducks! For a great video, take a look here from the Craft Beautiful channel. For the needle-felted dog instructions from Craft Beautiful, look here.

A Big Box of Sunshine!

Look at what arrived today! My wonderful aunt sent these while vacationing in Florida! It's just what we needed! A big, delicious box of fresh, juicy SUNSHINE!

Yesterday's Snow!

Our backyard covered with frosting!

Maggie does not like cold feet!

Yesterday it snowed. I used to love the snow when I was little and I never could understand why my father would grumble at it all the time. (We lived in Virginia when I was a child and every year we got LOTS and lots of snow.)

Anyhow, now that I'm an adult ... and my children have things to do and jobs to work and that sort of thing ... and we can't simply grab our boots and sleds and come in all rosy-cheeked and freezing cold ... waiting for the hot chocolate to bubble and the popcorn to stop popping ... well, since we can't do that, I now fully understand my father's grumblings! It's cold! It's icy! It's inconvenient! But it is pretty, I will say that.

I was too impatient to drag out Maggie's boots, so her little feet were bare. No ice balls stuck to her legs this year, though. She didn't want to take the time to play!

My mail is back and thank you, test knitters!

The Pattern Box email is back up and running ... and all my folders were magically restored today! All my inbox, sent mail, etc.! Yippee!

Meanwhile, a GIANT thank you to all those who have volunteered to be test knitters for my new designs!!! I greatly appreciate your willingness to try out these new patterns.

I hope you all are enjoying a wonderful weekend, despite the weird temperatures across the country! Our pipes actually froze yesterday and we didn't have hot water until late in the afternoon. Thankfully, though, the pipes did not burst or leak after they thawed. *audible sigh of relief!!!

AACKK! Pattern Box email all gone!

Hello! Yesterday, you would know the day I post a request for test knitters and directed everyone to use my Pattern Box email address to let me know if you were interested or not ... well, that very day, my web host had an "issue" with email and although it's back up now, ALL my folders have been emptied! No inbox! No sent mail! No folders at all!!! YIKES!
So, if you were interested in test knitting any of the projects, please email me again. Although everyone's email programs have "issues" from time and again, maybe you'd better use my amwheeless@carolina.rr.com just to be on the safe side. Hate to be a bother, but please email again!!!
Thanks!