IF ONLY THEY HAD WINGS....

A FEW DAYS AGO, I WAS TEACHING BELL HOW TO CUT OUT A HEART. WHEN SHE WAS DISAPPOINTED THAT THE ONES SHE HAD CUT WERE SMALLER THAN SHE HAD INTENDED, I SHOWED HER HOW TURNING THEM A CERTAIN WAY WOULD MAKE A BUTTERFLY. THIS WAS THE OUTCOME....

A BEAUTIFUL FLUTTERING BUNCH OF BUTTERFLIES DANCING IN MY BASEMENT-BELL DREW HER SISTERS INTO THE MAGIC AND THIER EYES LIT UP WITH EACH NEW BUTTERFLY THEY STRUNG....WISHING THEY HAD WINGS.

mAKING THE mOST oUT oF yOUR rECLAIMED wOOL sWEATERS...

I do not always work in this order but I thought it would be fun to share a bit on how to reclaim a wool sweater for quite a few wonderful new purposes! Whether you "accidentally" washed a lovely wool sweater or did it on purpose, now you have a fabulously felted piece of cloth. And once you get a tiny taste of this little miracle and the creativity waiting around the corner for this scumptious fabric, no wool sweater will ever be safe again and neither will your washing machine or dryer! If you have felted wool, you know what i am speaking of.

Usually, I work in bunches, I gather, gather, and gather and then I explode into a big ol mess of possibilities of one item. If I am doing a hat, I do 15, if I am doing a coffee cozy, I do 20, etc etc. But today, I am taking 3 sweaters and showing all the things that can be done with them.

First, they had to be felted(this I do as soon as they come in the front door. ) Hot water wash, good amount of soap and a hot dryer and that will shrink, soften and make that wool much denser, and in my opinion, much warmer! I wash like colors together, otherwise, if you mix colors, they will come out a mess of mixed colors and be much more difficult to work with. So, do it in small loads, many times I have to wash each sweater individually. When you dry it, throw in a clean towel which will help it to felt and dry quicker.

This time I am working with 3 sweaters in grays and blacks. My sweet sis wanted a pair of the mittens I started making a few weeks ago. She loves simplicity, so black is the winner.

The pieces of the mittens can be cut from the bodies of the sweaters. The cuffs on the sweater are perfect for the cuffs on the mittens. I have shown those peices in the picture.


I do line my mittens with fleece-but they can be lined with wool also. So Nic! They are finished and should be in the mail by next year:)-just kidding-you should have them soon! Just need to get Mike's done!

Now, there is still ALOT of wool left in these sweaters, so here are some more ideas for what to make.

The next thing I made from these sweaters is a toddler hat. Use the bottom hem of the sweater that already has a finished and most of the time a decorative finish making it a wonderful asset to your hat. Most of the time I do not do a finishing stitch on my hats because -1. It is itchy and uncomfortable and 2. wool that has been felted almost always will not fray.

I used the grey to applique a giraffe to the front of the hat. And again, it does not need to be satin stitched or finished because it does not fray. You can find applique shapes in almost anything. Stencils, coloring books, fabric designs, doodles from your kiddos,art books, clip art, etc provide great designs for applique.

Next comes the smaller scraps you end up with from these projects. I do sell quite a bit of my scraps through the shop to wool artists, but the scraps that I keep, I store in a vintage suitcase. It is fantastic to tote to wherever I need to work.

From the scraps, there are a few things that I have done. First, I made a fun headband. I cut out circles from the wool and used a stippling foot on my machine to sew them together. The same foot I use in my free motion quilting.
Here are the modern forms of a wool penny. It is fun to create with things little joys.
I cut a strip from the black sweater for the body of the headband and handstitched the pennies to it.

I am so happy with this. With not alot of time to spend on my hair, at least this little wonder will help dress my doo up.

Using the same concept, I worked on a brooch for the first time. I am hooked!
I did cheat a bit on this and the hairband, I dug into my scraps for the reds. So in all honesty I used more than three sweaters in these projects.

Here are the steps for the brooch...

Oops, that is not wool! But they sure do help! My Coleman made up a batch of chocolate chip cookies for us...YUM! Nothing better to spur on the imagination.
Play around with the pennies and figure out how you want them arranged. I hand stitch them together.
Here is a picture of the back. Now even though you will not see the back of the brooch, it is still a good idea to back it with one solid piece of fabric. Not only does it give it a cohesive look to it, it also stabalizes the entire piece.
I pinned the brooch to a scrap piece of the back wool and top stitched it. I also added some leaves to the brooch in this step.
Next cut off the excess black wool.
Here is the finished back. Last you just need to sew on a brooch pin. Yeah!

Of course there are a few other goodies that can be made from felted wool, pillows, coffee cozies, coasters, etc. Happy felting!!!!

The Most Priceless Art...........

This Masterpiece is entitled " The Spider Who Wants To Be a Boy" ~by Bell Drietz

Why would I want to shop the galleries of the world for art when I have the mind of a precious child to captivate and pull me into their imagination. I have a crate full of stories and exploration, full of my childrens expressions and thoughts. And then there is the stack of picnic baskets that tuck away more of there doodles, oh and the drawer of the misplaced nightstand for the overflow. But, a collision has occured and it has made a beautiful mess on my walls. We have one finished wall in our basement amongst the more "modern industrial" concrete walls...you know, the walls that have not been touched since the house was built except for a coat of paint slapped on occasionally so it feels more like a real room:)- But what do you do with one silly wall in your semi TV room? Well at the same time as this question began building, so did the craving to showcase my kiddos fun creations instead of them being hid away. And that is how a happy medium was arrived at. With a trip to the dollar store and a few cans of spray paint, I was able to turn our rec room wall into a gallery for the kiddos. They have been pretty excited about looking at there art in frames. And I, well, I could stare at them for hours. Fun to giggle about some of their stories. So here is their debu....

"God's Zoo" ~ by Madison Drietz


Madison has been working on a zoo-she has Zeke the Zebra, Giggles the giraffe, Elly the Elephant, Lady the Lady bug, and more to be unveiled at a later date:)

Cole has a masterpeice of humor up on the wall called "Smell the Pitt-ur"

Now this picture was colored years ago and it just makes me laugh because everyone who sees it thinks it says, "smells the pits" which completely looks fitting-but! it doesn't, see Cole had just recieved a set of smelly markers when he colored this and it actually says "smell the picture" but is of course mispelled. Isn't childhood fantastic!
Joslyn has been painting up a storm this week and this is her newest work of art.
It is entitled "POT" oh, the joy of learning to spell. She has been the one most fascinated with them being put up on the wall and has helped me get them hung. I have a feeling it will continue to inspire her to create more. She is my little one who loves to draw whole books for me.


Bell's was about a spider who is dreaming of becoming a boy and she sure enjoyed telling the story. She even let us giggle while she shared and seemed to completely understand the humor in it. She is also the mastermind behind the bug which is on the wall and the "pile of poop" which we have not framed as of yet:) It is all about the mixing of paint I guess only a true artist could relate to. I am seeing art in a whole new way thanks to her!