I have a hard time letting go, and that's true with years, too. So here's a few last items from 2009. I made these little felt items for some small friends. I hope the green creature resembles the Mario character it's supposed to represent. (I was working from an 8-year-0ld's description.)
This is the third entrelac bag, all complete before the new year arrived. It was knit from the leftover wool from the first bag. I put a zipper in this one.I usually do my felting on a lovely small washboard, but I lent it to my sister at Christmas, so I got creative. I felted the handle using a cake rack (rubbing it up and down across the wires), a vegetable scrub brush, bubble wrap (a bit more delicate than what I tend to use to convince my wools to shrink up), a wire mesh colander, and lots of alternating hot hot hot water and cold water and soap. It worked.
It's cold here. Not nearly as cold as friends further north are experiencing (brrrr-- 16 below!!). We're between 10 and 20F most days, which really isn't too awful. We've had some sun, which has been nice.On Sunday we went out to the Illinois State Gallery in Lockport to view their current exhibit, The Leaf and the Page. It features artists inspired by nature. Just outside of the gallery, we found a more natural artistry--amazing frosted windows. Most were etched in incredible overall patterns, like acanthus leaves. This is the only one I was able to capture without background reflections, and it was the least impressive window (there were five). The reflections are the curse of the digital camera--hubby went back the next day with a real camera to get good images. We were awestruck and amazed by the frost patterns.
A last Christmas shot--on our trip we visited Birdhaven greenhouse in Joliet and their poinsettia display was just finishing up. I think these would make a lovely holiday greeting card.
