the baby sheep pattern..

I was thinking, hoping, wishing for something to jump at me to craft for my little niece Kayda and I finally found it from this great blogger harugurumi. It is the cutest crochet pattern for a sleeping sheep and it was so fun to make. She recommended a fuzzy yarn so I found some really great vintage mohair yarn and mixed it with some organic cotton yarn for the head. The second skein of mohair was much thicker so I used that as the body. Instead of grey I found this beautiful lilac peruvian wool and used that for the cutie's appendages. It turned out so cute! I am thinking of repositioning her eyes but haven't had a chance yet.

I lined the body within with some organic cotton fabric stuffed with organic kapok, sewed it all together with matching Valdali embordery thread and voila!

a treat..

I am so loving the cowl look. It is such a classic look for women. I wanted to create one for myself but wanted to make it from fabric as I am not a knitter and I occasionally crochet but am too impatient for that at the moment. Luckily I had purchased a lot of this wonderful fabric that is hand woven in Nepal. It is this wonderful cotton weave that feels as good as it looks. So using some of this I sewed a quick mobius scarf. It turned out better than I thought it would..I might try a few more in different lengths to see which is the best look but I think this one will be going to my beautiful sister who is off to Europe for the holidays. I think it would go great with that nice black coat she just purchased (yes i am very jealous! : )

Ready....Set....Sew!

I was a busy bee this weekend making sure our holiday spirit was as present visually as I felt it was within. The burgeoning spark within me of Christmas time..of warm nights by the fireplace, shimmering lights on rooftops, twinkling stars and yummy treats, was just bursting to get out.

Wooh, and did I have fun. Michael and I hunted for the perfect Christmas tree on Saturday and found just that. After the fruitful hunt we headed back to the homestead where I started my crafting and Michael... like every day went surfing. I love that this is his thing, it doesn't hurt that when I decide to stay home from the beach I get a few hours of "me" time at home. Like most other days I tend to bring my selected supplies from the craft room downstairs where I explode with fabric tidbits, errand strands of thread, the occasional lost embroidery needle (ouch..found it) , and all scraps and wonder of cutting, piecing, threading, looping...while watching my girlie movie drinking my coffee or lambrusca. With a quick clean up and a log in the fireplace I am good to greet him with a smile and satisfaction of a finished product…
So that isn’t always true..the clean up sometimes happens later that evening but the satisfaction is always there!! Since it is our first Christmas together (we met right after the holiday last year) we needed some stockings for our hearth so I set on the idea of quilting us a pair. I went with a colored scheme of blues for him and reds and oranges for me. I pieced and pieced and pieced then quilted and sewed until voila!

Realizing our tree looked a little dormant (I had decided I better not use the pink ornaments of previous “Emmy only” years on the tree), I thought I fill the empty space with a few felted birds. I pieced those together with Vandali pearl cotton and Rainbow “felt” (this stuff is really cool, it is made from 100 percent recycled plastic bottles, not wool at all) and voila!

Realizing the need for a wreath (I asked the tree cutter for some greenery and he send us home with a ton of extra branches) I decided to use an old acorn wreath I picked up at a thrift store and added some fresh sprigs and voila!

I was getting tired and hungry so Michael and I cooked up some tasty red beans and rice from the Moose Lodge cookbook and voila… aaah sorry no picture there we ate that with gusto!

Well I hope your weekend was satisfying and productive…onward to work and Monday! Grunt..

Greetings with Ellie Pooh

So I fell hard for Mr. Ellie Pooh Paper aptly named after it's source …err… you got it Elephant Dung! Our local eco-conscious, eco-friendly store supplies this in a range of jewel tone and natural colors, that is just fantastic paper to work with. Textured, sturdy, papyrus-like and of course saves elephants! The process is the collection, the cleaning (yes they sanitize), the dying, and the drying. Just like paper-making at home just with a smaller step (the cellulose is already blended, hee hee).

Not one thing gross about this stuff i swear. So this is what I gathered from my stationary stamp from them…In Sri Lanka there is a lot of conflict between agriculture and elephants so this business came in and started paying for the collection of elephant dung (which is basically raw cellulose as they are strict vege's) thereby decreasing the deaths of many large beasts as they were not seen as a commodity before rather a nuisance. With the dung being priced out many ellie’s are alive for that fact.

I highly support this stationary not only because it supports a great cause but because it is gorgeous! I swear it! Check out the website and order some, you won’t be disappointed.
Because I love it so much I have incorporated it into my annual holiday cards for the last three years. This year is no different. I got started yesterday and had so much fun with it. I am not completely done yet but I took some pictures nonetheless. I usually make an intricate stamp but this year went for an easy design inspired by a stamp I saw online. I also used banana paper stationery (the lighter colored paper) and printed "Merry Christmas" in ton's of different languages as a backdrop to the stamp. I decided on a pop out design for the inside and made a lil evergreen forest within each card. So much fun! I will be finishing them up soon and will post the final product. Merry Christmas!

I wanted to post some new pictures of the finished product so here they are!

...inside with added stamps and sequins..

..the front with added cream colored ric rac

giving thanks

Since Michael and I did not to head to our families this Thanksgiving we decided to host a little Thanksgiving dinner at our place. A few of our close friends came over for the feast that Michael and I prepared. I was so excited about Michael and I’s dinner a few weeks ahead of time I decided to make a table setting, with last minute attendees I had to finish up three extra settings the day off admist the cooking and I did it just in time. I even was able to rest and get ready for the event! Now that never happens, thank goodness for my wonderful man Satyavan *don’t be confused he goes by Michael.

So here is the table setting that I put together. I placed bird or tree appliques on the table cloth, place mats as well as on the cloth napkins. Each person had a little name card I photoshopped to look like the napkins I made. The floral arrangement was inspired by Martha Stewart, she had a great video for mums and I couldn’t resist! I had to use lots of candles by Vance Kitira ofcourse..and the setting was complete by Fire and Light candle holders and glasses.

I was going to use our dishware and then decided I didn’t want to do the clean up so used the nifty biodegradable/compostable plates. I didn’t regret that choice. And surprisingly everyone loved the name cards and wanted to take them home. Thanks for reading and I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving….and now we are onward to Christmas! Can't wait to post the recent projects from the after thanksgiving push towards a merry home!