Merlin the Hedgehog

Fern found a friend, and named him Merlin :-)  He is a wee hedgehog, and here is the pattern:

Merlin the Hedgehog

Merlin is about 1 3/4 inches long, made from fingering weight and laceweight yarns.  The perfect size companion for the Forget-Me-Knots.  Larger versions can be made using sport or worsted weight yarns.

Enjoy the crochet!

Fern Forget-Me-Knot

Current work in progress is Fern Forget-Me-Knot.  She is a wee Elfin maid, making herself at home among the Hostas.

Her wig is full styling.  The wig cap was crocheted with laceweight kid mohair yarn and a size 2 steel hook.  I worked in the front loops for the entire cap, then hooked strands of yarn into the unworked loops all over the cap.  Yarn was hooked into each stitch on the last row, then in every other stitch all around the cap.  It took a little time, but it is easy to do and perfect if you're listening to good music or watching a movie. 

Fern tells me she would like to live in a mushroom...hmmm....gotta think about this one for a bit :-)

Forget-Me-Knot goodness

Art imitates art!  The Forget-Me-Knot kids are also great subject matter for some simple embroidery.  Here, Emma and Elizabeth (the latest Forget-Me-Knot) become the inspiration for a bit of needlework.  Stem Stitch, French knots, lazy daisyies, and a bit of colored pencil.

Elizabeth is wearing a very simple knit dress and undies, for which the pattern is here:

Simple Knit Sundress

She put on a sweater this morning to see how the Fairy garden was growing...

As you can see, it is growing very well indeed :-)

Unhappy with Flickr?

Those of you who are Flickr members are aware by now of the draconian changes made to this photo-sharing site.  This post isn't meant to be a rant against Flickr; there is plenty of that on Flickr's own site.  Suffice it to say that I find the new Flickr a visual disaster, and achingly, achingly slow to load.

But there are other choices in photo sharing sites, and the one I looked in to is called Ipernity.  They offer a free account or a paid account, similar to what Flickr members were used to.  I created a free account, customized a home page and loaded a few pictures, just to give it a test run.  To see what it looks like:

My Ipernity home page

I like it.  It is clean and simple with a user interface very similar to the old Flickr, and with a respect for our photos: treating them as worthy of individual attention, instead of cramming them en mass in our face.  From an aesthetic standpoint, I prefer to view against white instead of black...of course, this might also have something to do with failing eyesight :-)

Choice is good.  I think I am going to choose Ipernity over Flickr for future photo sharing.  I hope some of you will come and play in this new playground.

My girls will be looking forward to seeing you there!

UPDATE, June 1, 2013:  Have finished transferring over 3400 pictures from Flickr to Ipernity.  Over the next several weeks I will slowly delete the photos from Flickr (I hope!).  I will leave the tutorials with a single picture and a link to the new tutorial home on Ipernity.  

Beauty

...Beauty is its own excuse for being.  Ralph Waldo Emerson

May, 2013

The view from and around the porch.  On these lovely May days, a pleasant place to indulge in a cuppa coffee.  I hope your day brings you joy :-)

Fairy Gardens

Be it sluggish or spectacular, spring never fails to arrive.  When it finally does, create a fairy garden for your small dolls.  Not only is it just downright fun, but then you get to have a garden in miniature to admire...it is easy on the knees and requires no weeding!

The little garden above, Angela's garden, was planted in a 12" diameter basket with a plastic liner that I had left over from last year.  Make sure whatever you use to plant in has drainage holes in the bottom.  You want to find low  and slow growing plants; here I used Elfin thyme (what a delightful name!), Irish moss, speedwell (a creeping form of Veronica) and a polka-dot plant.  They were all available at my local nursery; look for the area that has ground covers. 

The twig bench, watering can, and shepherd's hook came from Winter Greenhouse (http://miniature-gardening.com/).  They also have a large selection of plants suitable for miniature gardening.

Plant yourself a sweet little garden; your dolls will love you for it :-)

The perfect weekend.

We had a nearly perfect Spring weekend, and we tried to make the most of it :-)

Saturday my sister and I went to our favorite nursery (more on that later) and Sunday Larry and I drove south a few miles to a county park, were we rode our bikes to our hearts content, free of traffic and crowds.

This park shares space with a National Guard Training center, and in WWII was also a POW camp.   In 1942 Italian prisoners of war petitioned to build a chapel here, and thus the 'Chapel in the Meadow' above.  It fell into disrepair after the last German prisoners left in 1946, but was partially restored in 1953 and 1963.  It was fully restored in 1989. 

The interior, which is not accessible, has painted images of Mary and other holy artwork.  It is as precious in this remote location as a perfect pearl in the sand.
I took along Ruthie, my latest Forget-Me-Knot, and she had a great time as well;  and when we got back, she even helped me plant the flowers my sister and I picked up the day before :-)

Welcome, Spring!

An early Spring snowstorm dumped over eight inches of the white stuff on us.  My husband declared a snow day and we walked to the park that is 1/2 mile from our home.  It looked beautiful in it's blanket of white, before anyone else had trod on it.