Gehring Road

the norway spruce and a felt (ball!) garland in the making

From where I blog... there is a 9' tree waiting to be decorated (tonight!), next to me are 100 felt balls that need to be strung to decorate said tree, the fire is keeping us snug and warm, and we're listening to music from a Jazz station broadcasting from the Alps... I love this evening. Our Norway Spruce (we always go with Frasier Fur but this year we went with something different) was picked up over the weekend and we're not in any rush to decorate it, it's really beautiful as is and has some amazing pine cones all over it. Possibly another reason we've yet to decorate it, they are prickly! The felt balls I ordered from here arrived and are beautiful, though I suspect I might need a few more... they're just too pretty to have too few. Welcome, December!

i love mondays... the felt garland edition

I've been threatening to make a felt garland for a holiday for a while now... originally inspired by the multi-talented Molly from Purl Bee (that girl can do some serious things with felt I tell you), I had almost forgotten about my itch to make a garland o'felt until I saw this at Cluck Cluck Sew and there it was... I had to make a felt garland for our little Thanksgiving. So I grabbed a water bottle top, a Lipton Pure Leaf Iced Tea (love) top and a Vitamin water top (more love) and cut around them... with my Gingher dressmaker's sheers.  The pain by the end of that cutting is kind of indescribable... anyone go that route before? It was oh, so very bad.  And Rob refused to massage my thumb and pinky for some reason, which clearly made it worse. 

Anyway, a few stolen moments throughout the tough work week (who would have imagined that group research projects on Shakespeare would encite such drama in a pack of ninth grade girls... hmm... there's irony there, I know) and it has been sewn together.  It's kind of lovely.  

... my fingers ache just looking at that last one.  Felt was picked up at JoAnn's and I love that oatmeal colored one best.  Big unveiling will be at Thanksgiving.  Hope you are enjoying all of your preparations. Happy Monday friends! 

felt

 

Felt Flower Pillows, Purl Bee 

I've been finding, staring at, contemplating, and all but stalking some fantastic pieces made with felt lately.  It makes perfect sense... it's fun and easy to work with yet something I really haven't spent much time with since my girl scout days... and no, I will not date that! I meant to make Molly's felt garland for New Year's and kind of lost steam after a marker mishap (don't use Sharpie on felt) made it a bit messy for the late hour.  It is lovely though...

 

 Molly's Felt Garland, Pearl Bee

... and let me tell you, Molly does some fantastic work with felt, spend some time looking at her sketchbook if you have it.  

 

Felt Garland, Free! Tutorial from Anna Maria Horner  

And so this crazy week has me thinking of projects with ease and comfort.  I have fabric that needs to be cut in the loft, curtains waiting to be made and hung... and all that will come, as will a slower pace at work... soon, soon.  In the meantime, does it look strange to cut felt circles while the kids take their exams?