Wet Felted Coasters

This was not real easy for me but I love the results so much I'm already planning more. 

I love the feel and look of handmade felt. I love seeing the layers of color and I love the way wool works as a coaster. I want to see if I can get better at it so more wet felting this weekend:)

I also like matching colors to my seashell collection.

Wet Felting

I thought I would do some wet felting the other day. I love the results but don't love the process as much. I'm not sure why-maybe the standing and getting wet?

I'm loving the colors-I will post pictures of the finished product later.

Nana Time

Our oldest daughter Sarah and her two small children came for a visit last week. It was a wonderful week together but my favorite moments were taking my grandkids to the beach. They loved it so much  and it gave me a lot of joy watching and playing with them. I got wet:)

Pumpkins and Crows

Even though I am enjoying this summer so much, my thoughts and my crafting is jumping ahead to Fall.

I have started making needle felted pumpkins and of course there has to be a crow or two.

I just dyed a batch of orange wool in anticipation of more fallish fun stuff. 

I love the smell of wet wool and vinegar.

                                           

Not enough time in the day for all that I would like to make. ACORNS-I love acorns too!

When We Grow Old...

We have been friends for thirty years, we met when our husbands were Air Force pilots stationed at George AFB, they let us stay in their house while we looked for a house to buy, their two daughters were the same age as ours, we started to go to the same Bible study together, we pledged our #4 children to marry each other when they grew up (the kids didn't cooperate:), we had play dates together and struggled to finish a sentence let alone a subject, we had deep discussions, we each chose to homeschool and then after three years when our husbands moved on to other assignments, we said "When we grow old someday we will sit together on the porch in rocking chairs and talk." Well, all through the years we have stayed in touch with long talks on the phone, visits, weddings, and then this summer we got to sit together on Nancy's porch in her rocking chairs and talk. We thought we were old enough now and we agreed ... we need a new goal.

What I did for summer vacation.

Okay, I can no longer say I am taking a short break. Truthfully, I think I have writer's block or maybe I am just trying to find myself :)  I am slowly letting go of a job I have loved and been totally immersed in for the last seven years. So where normally my summer would have been consumed with preparations for our church's VBS and then gearing up for AWANA in the fall, I am instead crocheting and felting. I trust God's leading me to step down from Children's Ministry and onto a completely different path.  I have had more time to do some things this summer that I would not have felt free to do while working-so that is a GOOD thing.  Which means my title for this little blog should be instead-   

                                     'WHY I HAVE HAD A SUMMER VACATION'

At the lake TOGETHER

Our summer began with us all together for a week at the lake. We enjoyed a wonderful house, great weather and lots of swimming and boating.

It was wonderful of course! Having just looked through over 1000 pictures that we took, I will just share with you the most important ones, the ones of us all together.

                                                                 All our Children

                                                The whole gang-17 and counting

Family

Tomorrow night my daughter Rachel, her husband Brandon and their three very precious kids are arriving for a visit. What makes this so extra special is that they are here in the States on furlough and are heading back to their home in July to Papua New Guinea. They have been missionaries in PNG for the last five years. Even though we have been together several times this last year this will be their first visit to NH since they went over seas. So the next few weeks are going to be FAMILY TIME because after a week together we are joining ALL the kids for a big reunion at a lake house that we have rented.  RELAXING (and maybe a little noisy)!!!


It is hard for me to describe all the feelings that go with having a part of my family so far away. It is FULL of  bittersweet emotions.  So sad to miss out on so much time with them, BUT so proud of what they are doing to share the Good News with others, so sad at how hard it is to have a relationship with my grandkids, BUT so thankful for email and the ability to visit them occasionally. In the end I have to trust God with my up and down emotions and thank Him for His abundant goodness in giving me such a wonderful family.

Online Shopping

Well this is embarrassing! I forgot to mention that I never thought I would ever buy anything online (see my first post). Oh well, I will just have to confess that I now love to shop online because I wanted to share this beautiful box of wool yarn I got in the mail. Yes I ordered it online and it is not at all my first purchase however it is my first yarn purchase. I have always loved to crochet but it has been limited to scarves and afghans.

But when I saw some wonderfully felted wool bowls online-I had to make some too. I love how I can combine my two favorites, crocheting and felting wool into one project.

So I have been on a crochet spree making little bowls. They are so soft and wooly after they are felted.

What's in a name...?

When thinking about a name for my crafting, we came up with an amazingly long list of names mainly having to do with wool, sheep or needlefelting. Some were already taken and some were hilarious such as the one my son came up with--Wool Slayer. He thought it worked since I have to stab the wool so many times.

In the end I used Scarlet Cord because of its meaning to me. I love the incredible story of faith and salvation in the book of Joshua. How the woman Rahab had the faith to help God's people and trust God to save her and her family.  She hung a scarlet cord out her window and when the walls of Jericho fell, her house was still standing. The scarlet cord to me is a reminder of the salvation that I have received through the blood that Jesus chose to shed on the cross for me.  It helps me keep all things in perspective.

Needlefelting-Who Knew?

 Almost two years ago I was visiting my daughter Liz and her hubby Steve in N. Carolina. One of my favorite things to do when we are together is to go to the book store, sip carmel machiattos and read magazines. That's when I found an article about putting a wool design onto a wool scarf with a special type of needle and I was totally mystified. So of course I went online and found a whole new world. A special thanks to so many people who share their knowledge and time so generously. I have done a lot of crafting over the years but this one (and crocheting) is totally ADDICTIVE! I thought I'd share a then and a now picture.

Fascinated with birds from the beginning!

Getting a little creative.

I remember when...

Yes, I'm dating myself badly but I remember when microwaves were the new thing and I said, 'Why would we ever need a microwave'.  And I continued to be sooo predictable through the years with the cell phone, cable TV, computers, email and even blogs. And yet each one of those has become a part of my every day experience. So I am sure some day in the future I will be looking back and wondering why I waited so long to have my own BLOG.