Accidents Happen

Minda accidentally made herself a hat.
She set out to make a carrier/cover for her Kleen Kanteen with wool. Her plan was to make it larger and then felt it, but when she saw just how big she was making it, she tried it on and decided to finish it as a beenie instead!

She's so remarkably talented. Trying new things doesn't seem the least bit daunting to her. She now knows how to knit with 4 needles (+) and has decided to make herself a hat for Israel out of the softest yarn I have ever felt in my life, spun from the fiber of sugar cane.

Odd Poppets

I love watching my kids create.
Cassia with her photography, editing, singing or card making. She does things with photos that make me dream. Her voice lilts about the house sweetly, trying new ways of singing the same ole songs.
Tofer with his cooking, dancing and music. He always has some new move to show us, some new dish he's been experimenting with that he can't wait to have us try, and the keyboard is never at rest when he is around.
And Minda with just about everything else. Knitting, collages, painting, drawing, or sewing. Even the way she dresses! It's obviously what she was created for. I've been knitting twice as long, but she is more consistant and twice as fast. She is happiest in the middle of a big mess of scraps and thread.

These are her latest venture. I call them Odd Poppets. She creates them from organic wool felt, without a pattern. She has an idea in her head and now it's in her hands... or, rather, in Conner's hands. The bird above was in Conner's stocking for Christmas. His name is Armstrong. His dream is to one day fly so high he'll land on the moon, but as you can see he is of a flightless variety (unless, of course, Conner is giving him some help!) Maybe, someday, they'll go there together. Maybe.

Her newest Poppet is a magician. He is going to be a marionette when Malinda finally gets his strings tied to his sticks. I call him Mergatroid, but she hasn't officially named him yet. She is hoping to sell them to raise money for her upcoming trip to Isreal. (June)
Wonder what her vast imagination and deft little needle will create next?

Dreaming in Flowers (and vegies)

February always finds me sketching plans for the upcoming spring planting. Back in Washington I could actually carry out these plans, but here, they are only sketches.

I dream in flowers. Secret gardens of my mind. Tiptoeing through visions long embedded from stories, and whisps of memories become my nightly foray during this time of year.

I can smell the fresh earth, feel the moisture under my feet, name each plant as I go. And, I gather. I gather the ingredients for our salsa, I choose blossoms for the vases, and I hold moments in my heart that I will return to when next I dream. There is a sound of contented buzzing in the garden of my dreams. There are moss encrusted walls of rocks and the sun is always warm on my back as I wander.

But as I said, here & now, they are only longings - - only sketches.

And while I sketch, Minda knits.

Soon the seed catalogues will begin arriving. I'll pack them by my side instead of in a box. They'll while away the miles between destinations. Oh, I do hope we are settled in time to plant!

For now I'll just dream of playing in the dirt.

Misadventures of Mr. Bumbo

Not sure what came over my sweet little girl. We've gone from petite fairies to a tiny Play Doh man who is always having some misfortune befall him. She calls him Mr. Bumbo. A snake has him wrapped in his coils - about to strike, He is sinking in quicksand, has been shot with an arrow, Is about to be smashed into an Adidas tread pattern, gets abducted by aliens, and nailed by a rogue hammer.

Who would have thought that buying clay for a science lab would lead to afternoons filled with Bumbo's pain?

In the Land of Flowers

Minda came home from an afternoon with Molly awhile back with the cutest, little, wired doll. She had embroidery floss hair, a silk flower petal skirt, and a beaded head. She was all of 3 inches tall and Minda had drawn on the sweetest violet eyes and quirky smile. All I could think about was how cute these would be as fairies flying over my sink while I did dishes. :o)

It has been a long time since I sat down to do any kind of craft other than making cards for J., but Minda was sure she could recreate her tiny friend, so off to Micheal's (craft store) we went armed with coupons! The only thing we couldn't find were wings. I'll be brainstorming as to how we can make some but below are the results of a very fun filled afternoon with my "little" girl. The process is simple. You need covered wire used in making flower arrangements. We wanted hemp colored, but could only find green. Wooden beads for the heads, silk flower petals for the skirts and various colors of Floss for the hair and clothes. We used Tacky glue to attach the hair. You'll also need wire cutters to trim lengths.Simply fold a 6.5" length of wire in half and slip it through the bead. We added antenae, but you don't have to for dollies. Take a 4" length and wrap it around the 'body' where you want the arms to be. Fold each end of the wire up and in, just a bit, for her hands. Then wrap arms, shoulders, & chest with whatever color of floss you want for a shirt. We used 3 flower petal layers for skirts, but you can use whaterver you want. The one Minda brought home from Molly's only had one layer and was very cute still. Fold the ends of the bottom wires up and in just a bit for her feet. Pull out lengths of floss in the color you would like to use for hair, to the length you would like it to be and then loop it back and forth until you have enough to give her a full head of hair. I found 10 loops to be perfect.Cover the area of the bead where you want the hair to be with the tacky glue and lay the loops on it evenly, with each strand touching the glue. We used scissors to snip the loops and even the ends. Then we used colored pencils to draw faces. Minda gave her girls' antenae dye jobs with Sharpies. Mine remained Au Naturale. :o) Aren't they adorable? Their faces are so full of personality we had to name them. Minda's are Tibs (with the electric blue bobbed hair), Topsy (with the lime green hair) and Tabitha (with the royal purple locks). Mine are Pippa (with the pink braids), Piper (with the orange pigtails), and Penelope (with the lavendar dreadies in a braid down her back).

(We added 5 more today! Trixie on the far left is sporting glasses and a flower parasol! Tam is next to her with the emerald green hair and crown. They are Minda's - continuing with her "T" theme. The tall blonde in the middle is Portia, then the raven haired beauty with the starry violet eyes is Persephone, & the one with the bright red pigtails behind her is Poppy. )

J. was surprised I was condoning fairy making. When the kids were little we were very strict about watching, reading, listening to, playing with and creating things that were real and godly. No magic, no sprites or pixies, no pokemon, no dragons... We wanted them to grasp that those were the world's explainations for God's creations because, as humans, we can't understand how God can create something from nothing. For some reason most people would rather believe in tiny little magical beings or big bad dragons than in angels, demons, God, and the devil. So as toddlers and young children we crafted sheep, and barnyards. We made homes for mice families out in the fields. There were elaboarte bird houses and starfish we painted white and added glitter to and hung on walls. We collected feathers and rocks and leaves and pieces of bark; looking for the minute amidst the big picture of woods, and farmland. Still "magical" without taking away from God's wonder. Now they are adults. Now they know the truth, and making tiny people who are nothing but our imaginations creation and have no powers & are inanimate is fun not damaging. I still love to collect flowers and press them and bits of robin eggs and seed pods to clutter my window sill, but now those will have these tiny friends among them made of wire and thread!