Made For Giving

When I lived in the Boston area and we had long chilly winters, I knit sweaters all of the time. Once we started traveling to warmer climes all over the country other hobbies seemed to push the knitting aside. Since joining the Fiber Arts Guild in Fredericksburg, i have felt the urge to knit again as all of the members arrive at meetings with projects in hand. As soon as our gatherings begin , out come the needles and the socks and hats and scarves and sweaters created have gotten me re inspired to feel the yarn moving through my fingers!! The yarns and patterns that have come out since I last knit are truely astonishing !! THe fibers used, the colors and contents of the yarns are mind boggling and wonderful. So , during the Fall of 08 I took myself to the local yarn shop and purchased some of this wonderful Silk /Wool blend yarn by Noro.

OH is it lucious!! I wish that you could feel it!!! The idea was to make some fingerless mitts for a dear friend who makes exquisite jewelry in a garret type studio in New England. In the winter, they heat the place with a wood stove and till that beast gets going, it is quite nippy in her studio. I thought that these mitts would help keep her hands warm. They wer also the perfect project to get me back into the knitting groove! Well here it is Christmas 2009 and the mitts are finally finished. It certainly did not take me all this time to knit them, the project just got moved to the back burner once the Christams deadline that they were intended for, had past!! Well, better late than never!!!!

This present is one that I was most excited about gifting to my husband Tom. Some of you might know that Tom is a Fire Protection Engineer and has been a Volunteer Fireman since he was 14 years old. Everywhere we have lived, he has been involved with Volunteer Fire Departments in some capacity or another. He was even in charge of Fire Squads as an Officer in the Navy and now he works for the US Coast Guard inspecting cruise ships for adequate Fire Response systems. He has always had a fondness for all things old. I found this amazing poster at Whitings Old Paper earlier this fall. (to read more about Whitings click here)

This site in RIchmond no longer exists and the poster itself dates form the mid forties or ealy fifties. The graphics are just wonderful, aren't they?? I paid a small fortune to get it framed archivally but I think that it was worth it. Tom loves it and it went right up on the wall in the family room, opposite his reading chair!! Success!!!!

I finished the collaged hand jewelry holder for my niece Sarah. She was very intrigued and pleased by the gift, and it brought about much interesting discussion!!! Another winner, not to be seen anywhere else!!!

I love it when things that I create are so well recieved and appreciated!!!

Once the hand had been sealed , I mounted it on a cobalt blue porcelain dish. The dish gives the hand extra stability and also serves as an area for holding bracelets and earrings, or whatever. The cobalt really set the collage work off very nicely!!!

THese trees were created in arather unusual color scheme for one of my wonderfully creative blogging/art pals!! She happens to have a real "thing" for pink trees and I just Had to make some for her to add to her collection. I had these two vintage pieces of pink fabric in my stash, so off I went! I must say that I am thrilled with how they turned out! SO much so that I cut out three tree's worth of triangles to make a set for myself.! Both fabrics are totally reversable so making a set of three was fun as I simply used the opposite side of one of the fabrics for the third tree.

I was told of a request for unusual eyeglass/reading glass necklace type holders by a customer at Liberty Town. So for this months additions to my inventory at Liberty Town, I whipped up several variations on Eye Glass Bling!
The white one is made usiong all sorts of white beads with some real pearls and mother of pearl and brazilian opal thrown in . For the Blue Piece I used several of my own handmade fabric/paper blue beads interspersed with shells, glass beads and some fish shaped beads.

I priced them well to sell, I think.

Next, I have a few Christmas break shots to share with you. As you can see all of our pups are in need of comfortable accommodations!!!! The dogs claim the couch ans we humans get to squeeze in!!!

The dogs do their part, tho, they give off lots of heat!!!!

Here you can see what Becca accomplished with one of her Christmas gifts! She is going thru a Beatles craze right now and we are all enjoying it!! We have all rediscoverd our love of doing jigsaw puzzles as well! Next up, Abbey Road!!