Lovely World

horse

Here is the horse I made this week. I am quite smitten by it. I start with a paper pattern and some fabric, and as if by a small miracle a creature emerges. It is a powerful feeling to create something that takes on a life of its own.

The horse is made of wool and dupuoni silk, with mane and tail made from a wool/cashmere yarn. I crocheted the "saddle" with cotton crochet thread. I love the blaze on the face. I experimented with using "hidden" stitches to shape the face. I like how this technique allowed me to create a more detailed expression. I will certainly explore the technique further.

sun and blue skies

My last post was about a cloud. Today is about sunshine and blue skies. I have continued covering stones in crochet. This has become a bit addicting. It is an easy project to carry around, doesn't take a huge amount of time to finish, and feeds my satisfaction with tiny, detail-oriented handwork. This past week I made a few with white crochet thread, as well as the two shown here. One in warm red and orange tones, the other cool blues and purples.

Sun and blue skies - and warmth. That has been the overall weather pattern here in New England. I like this warmth, but I am a bit worried about how early all the plants, trees, and flowers have come. Since I was a child, I equated lilacs with Memorial Day. We would always pick them following the Memorial Day parade that marched through town. The lilacs will be long gone by Memorial Day this year. Perhaps this year is simply an outlier on the bell curve of New England springs. Or is climate change going to show itself more explicitly as time moves forward? What will happen to the maple sugaring season if spring comes so early repeatedly? I don't know if anyone else feels this way, but part of me is hoping that the dreadful, ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico will be a reckoning for changing our energy ways.

Are you wondering about the horse cut out? That is my pattern for a new member of my sewn menagerie. I am super-excited about this horse. I have almost finished it, just a few more details to tweak. I can't wait to show you. I am so happy this horse came to me over the past couple of days. I hadn't made an animal in a while and missed it. I also have another camel cut out and ready to sew - this time in blues and grey.

The main reason I took a photo of the pattern piece was because of the drawing across the belly. I thought I was using a fresh, unused piece of paper when I drew out my pattern. It wasn't until I cut it out that I realized their was a drawing of a woman in a blue dress on the reverse side. Obviously my daughter had once claimed this piece of paper as her own. Yet another example of how a mother is never far from her children.

sunday cloud

The weekend has been warm. The trees are green with leaf, the dandelions have sprouted up overnight, and the fairies must be having a wee festival amongst all the wildflowers that have emerged in the woods. The sun shone yesterday, but the clouds are moving in today.

Speaking of clouds, I recently purchased a lovely cloud from Alessandra of la Casita. It is made of a soft blue wool and has her signature embroidered house along the bottom edge. It seems to float on the wall. Look what she tucked in the package - pretty blue floral paper, a blue doily, and a nice note.

I really appreciate the ways in which the internet has allowed buyers and sellers of handcraft to connect. Before the internet, I probably would never have "met" Alessandra and had one of her clouds travel across the Atlantic Ocean to grace the wall of my home.

I also want to thank everyone who commented on my "journal" posts. It was interesting to read about other's journal keeping and feelings about leaving a paper trail. Through writing these posts, I realize that blogging was a natural impulse for me, and that this Lovely blog has served as an important place for me to organize my thoughts and creative life. I like the way that this blog is just as much a visual journal as a written one. I'm sure this is not the end of my thoughts about journals.

Enjoy your day. XOMaribeth