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I’ve been making a cloth Waldorf type doll.  She has movable arms and legs.  I filled an inner cloth bag with some budgie gravel so that she would have some weight.   I’ve been very pleased with how she’s turned out.

Betsy and her little dog, Fred

I’ve been designing clothes for her and taking my time sewing both by hand and by machine.   As I’ve been working on her, I realized that when my children were little and I was making them things, I was often in a hurry.   Because I have no deadline, I am finding it easier to take things apart if they don’t work.  I am more willing to see if there isn’t a better way to do something.    I like this feeling of taking as much time as I need to make whatever it is that I am making.

Things do take time – when I am in no rush, the time things take doesn’t bother me.   I just need to start on something early enough to have as much time as I need.  I think that’s called Planing Ahead .

I’ll be offering handmade dolls like Betsy for sale soon.  Each one will be unique and will come with three outfits.    Betsy’s filled with polyester as I said above.  I did that to make a hypoallergenic doll.    The next doll I make will be filled with wool roving and have wool hair.  I can’t wait to see how he or she will look.

Please comment and let me know what you think.

The birds were singing and chirping in the bushes and trees in a field near my house as I picked some daffodils, grape hyacinths, and lawn daisies.  As I bent over to find daisies with long stems I noticed a hummingbird in a bush about 5 feet from me. As it turned its head, the ruby red feathers on his or her neck glistened and sparkled like jewels.  I am not sure if it was an Anna`s hummingbird or a female Rufous hummingbird.  I  stood up and watched the little hummer as it preened and turned its head from side to side. Other birds, a pair of house finches and a chickadee came into the bush, chattered for a minute and then flew off. The hummingbird continued to sit looking around and after about 10 minutes it flew off.

We have hummingbirds that come to various parts of our yard all through the year. I can see them in the trees around my yard when I sit on the deck, but they are 15 to 20 feet away and never sit still as long as this one did. It was delightful to stop and watch this hummer so close up. Last summer I made a number of needle felted hummingbirds. While I was photographing them outside, a real Anna`s hummingbird came to the loose strife plants I was using in my photos and began to sip nectar.

I was thinking on my walk home from the field how often it is that while I am doing something else the most marvelous and surprising things happen. Things that I can`t plan for except to leave room for them and to take time to enjoy them as they happen.

Anna`s Hummingbird – needle felted wool roving and angelina fibre

Hummingbirds zoom
From flower to flower
They drink lots of nectar
Hour by hour

This little hummingbird
Hovers in place
Legend tells us
They bring joy and grace

Another burst of energy as the buds burst into leaves. The buds on the lilac bushes are opening more everyday – about a month and more ahead of time.

I’ve added to my etsy store and finished a tutu today. I’ve made a birthday card out of one of the photos I took of the teddybear modeling the tutu. It makes me giggle every time I look at the photo. I hope it brings a smile to you, too.

If you’d like to buy one of these teddy in a tutu cards cards or one or more of my cards (see below) you can order and pay with Paypal. Envelopes are included. Just tell me which ones you’d like to be included in your pack. You can also let me know which words you’d like on the front of the card. The inside is blank.

Price break down:
1 card – $3.95
2 card – $7.50
3 cards -$10.50
4 cards – $13.50
5 cards – $15.00

Postage:
1-2 cards $1.00
3-5 cards $2.00

Order cards

And happy birthday to spring!!!

I’ve added started an etsy store for my handwork. One of the things that I find helpful for thinking through things is to do something with my hands. You can see I’ve been doing a lot of thinking!

Snowdrop talks to her sheep

I’ve been busy making little dolls, creating patterns and teaching others how to make them. Lots of fun. I love seeing the personality of the dolls form as I sew. I made many things for my children as they were growing up. The need and passion to create things has returned full force in the last year. I wouldn’t have predicted that I would switch from teaching new parent education classes to making dolls and needle felting. What an interesting turn of events.

I love watching the smiles on peoples faces as they look at these little dolls and their hands reach out to hold them. I hope these bring you smiles.

[View with PicLens]

You can purchase a PDF pattern for Pirate Jack and kits for Daffodil and Bluebell.  Check my Etsy shop in the side bar.

Listening – a silent action that shows we care.  Listening is not just waiting until someone is finished speaking so that we can talk.   Instead, listening means we still our own noisy thoughts and ideas and focus on the person speaking.  It is a powerful and amazing tool that allows people to change.  It’s one of the best gifts we give to those we love.

There is something in the look of a January sky in the late afternoon that makes me feel renewed and excited by possibilities.  I don’t know where that feeling comes from exactly.  Perhaps it is the colors of the winter sky – sometimes a light blue, sometimes a dark gray and sometimes just sun sparkling through clouds with hints of pink.

When I lived in colder climate places like Nova Scotia and Alberta, January meant many more days of cold and snow.  In Victoria, BC where I’ve lived for the last 27 years, January means that my snowdrops are blooming and the birds are chirping everywhere.   But the January skies were similar no matter where I lived.  There must be something about the color of them and the increasingly long days that energizes me and gives me renewed hope.

The skeletal forms of the deciduous trees in winter remind me to take a look at the bare bones of my life. The winter skies and increasing length of each day energize me to look at the structure of my everyday activities, the structure of my internal workings.   I can’t imagine living where I wouldn’t have this seasonal reminder.

May 2010 bring you a sense of comfort and peace within yourself.

Most New Year’s resolutions are ones that call for a pulling up of one’s socks to be “better” somehow.  I’d like to encourage you to think about finding ways to offer yourself comfort.   Take a few minutes in the morning to breathe in the morning’s freshness.  Take time at lunch to really taste your food.  And let yourself have a nap after a busy day if you feel your eyes closing.

In other words, treat yourself gently and accept that there is only so much you can do in anyone day.

I released a little children’s book – Autumn Stories on Oct. 5, 2009.

Little Blue Feather and Nutkin

It’s about Little Blue Feather and his animal friends getting ready for winter.  the story came about as I was taking photographs of my needle felted creations.  I was inspired and the stories flowed – a culmination of many years of reading fall stories to children and singing the song Hurry, Hurry, Hurry Hurry to my own chidlren and many babies and parents and grandparents in my music classes.

I finished the story at the same time that I created a number of felted playmats/habitats.   As I completed one project after another, I wondered where my inspiration came from.  I realized that it had been years in the making and all of a sudden the energy, the creative vision clarified and POOF, it was done.  The work of getting the story printed and in book form took a little while.  Marketing it and my needle felted things is ongoing and takes time.

What amazed me was that when the time was right, it all flowed.  It is reassuring to know and remember this and to take advantage of those creatively inspired times.  At the same time, it is OK to accept that not all times will be filled with inspiration.   Sometimes, like a squirrel storing nuts, the experiences, the thoughts, the feelings we have take time to manifest themselves into creativity.

Learning to listen to oneself  allows for your own rhythm of creativity to flow; it is one of the hardest and simplest thing to do.

You can purchase Autumn Stories for only $6.95US/CAD plus $2 US (US addresses) $1.50 Canadian address

Brighten the Day – songs to celebrate the seasons can be purchased for $21.45 US/Cad and includes shipping.

Buy both together and save $2.00

The tomatoes in containers on my deck are ripening – 1-3 a day.  One plant has 41 tomatoes on it.  The cucumbers in pots in front of the house have been incredibly prolific – lots of lemon cukes and a number of regular shaped green ones.

I tried putting the containers in the front of the house for the first time this spring.  Our house faces South.  It worked!   The deer that graze through our neighborhood ate other plants.  While I will plant more containers to put there next summer, I will not count my cukes before they grow.

Life is like that – we can hope that a successful experiment will repeat itself but we can’t control all the variables.   We can control our attitude.  That’s why for me right now – life is good.  I can eat fresh cukes and tomatoes for lunch these days.  What could be better!

Plus I just completed needle felting a little Pooh Bear.  I hope he brightens your day!