Felt small

This is a cute little treasury on Etsy by Catswilleatyou with needle felted creatures. My little bluebird was included.

I am too tired to write anything else right now so I am going to sleep.

Birds, birds, birds

Last week I during my vacation I was busy working on a few custom orders, but I also wanted to work on a few small birds. The firmly felted birds I have been selling take a considerable amount of time to make. These little birds are a lot easier for me and they don't require any wiring, sewing, or bead work. I am going to make a bunch of small ones of various varieties. They would look great wired to a branch or hanging from a string.





The sun came out unexpectedly so I finally had a chance to mow the lawn. I enlisted my daughter to vacuum the pool and she complained excessively. I pointed out that I would rather do that than mow. My morning glories are climbing furiously up their strings now and our vegetable garden is awesome. We are having fresh salads every night and broccoli and Swiss chard. I love the summer! The rest of the year I can barely eat a salad but I could eat fresh greens everyday from our garden!

One of our bunnies died while we were away. A lot of tears were shed over the loss of Bumper when we returned. He was about 11 years old. I did have a good idea and moved our little feathered friends - the 3 bantam chickens - into the little hutch. They have all their feathers now but are still so small. We have a small weasel out there that would love to snack on them. And the added benefit is that the bunny cage has new inhabitants so the kids are happier.

More than a little music...

Our family spent the last week at CAMMAC (Canadian Amateur Musicians Musiciens Amateurs du Canada) at the Lake MacDonald music center in Canada. We have been going for the last 5 years and the kids absolutely LOVE it. They make such good friends there and often see some of the same children year after year.




The girls go off to "classes in the morning" and I relaxed and read books. Of course I also used the opportunity to work on my needle felting projects.

Little Blue

I finished up this little bird this morning. She is a light robin's egg blue with a feather and flower on her head.

Out of my element...

in the city...


Yesterday we took a day trip to New York City with the cousins, my sister, and my mom. The train and subway rides with 5 children was quite a challenge during rush hour commuters. So many people crammed into small smelly places. We walked to 42nd and also Times Square.







We spent most of the day at the Museum of Natural History. Here are a few of the photos.

How does your garden grow?

I woke up early this morning to get a little time in the garden before everyone woke up. Everything is growing so well with the warmer weather and a bit of rain. I tied up the tomatoes and cleaned up a few weeds. The plants are getting big enough that they are shading out the weeds now. We have been enjoying the lettuce, spinach, arugula, and snow peas so far. The basil and broccoli are coming along nicely too.

Our raspberries are awesome this year. We enjoyed a raspberry pie over the weekend. Berries and cream for dessert every day this week!

The red bee balm is out now and we are enjoying the occasional visit by tiny hummingbirds. The bees love these flowers too. I can't seem to figure out if these plants like sun or shade better. One clump of bee balm was so awesome one year but the next year the plants were tiny.

I am sending out my wedding birds today. They look so cute.

This is what childhood memories are made of...

We had a busy week with my sister and having a fun time with the cousins. Cook outs on the 4th of July, late night board games, walks in the woods, walks along the old railroad tracks, hide and seek in the graveyard, a beach day, movies, swimming in the pool, catching frogs, the tire swing, and a day at the amusement park kept us pretty entertained. I have two sisters and there are now 7 children among us. The kids really had fun together.

Today I am enjoying a quiet house but still missing our guests. The rainy day seems to fit my mood since I don't like goodbyes. I did have time to work on a few projects and finish up some too.

A sweet custom order robin's nest...



A custom made pair of needle felted turtles...



My biggest project for the week was a custom order pair of wedding birds with a cake topper base. I often got up early to work on these or found a quiet spot to work while the kids had fun.