A Little Family

I made this little family of sunflower faeries for my friend's birthday. Taryn and Jeff, are expecting a baby in the coming weeks, and I wanted to make her something honoring the beautiful little family they are creating. Sunflowers are very special to these folks. They had them in their wedding, they have beautiful photographs of them in their house, and they pop up from time to time on Taryn's blog. I decided they absolutely needed a sunflower family. I had a lot of fun making a little beard, so you might be seeing some little bearded fairy men on my Etsy store sometime soon. I also have more teeny tiny baby acorn hats!

Wave Rider

I just finished this needle felted wool wall hanging as a custom order. The parents from a Kindergarten class at our Waldorf school wanted to give their teacher a gift that honored her other big passion in life, surfing.  Although I have never surfed myself, as I was working on this, I thought to myself that it looked like a lot of fun! Standing there on the shore with the waves spread out before you, as you prepare to travel upon them must be a great feeling.

 Living here, in the Willamette Valley, I am always impressed by the diversity of regions and landscapes within such a short distance, and all the ways in which folks get out there to enjoy the outdoors. Surfing, skiing, kayaking, white water rafting, mountain climbing, backpacking, canoeing, and the list goes on and on. I'm glad to see all these people getting out there and connecting with the earth in their own individual ways. We all need it, really. It's just a matter of finding what your way is.

Happy surfing, Miss Robyn!

Homestead Mornings

It's that wonderful time of year again. When I go out in the morning to feed the chickens, the air is cool and crisp, the roosters are crowing, and it feels like fall is here.  This is my favorite time of day, full of the possibilities of the golden autumn day to come. Soon the smell of wood smoke will fill the air from our neighbors chimneys and our own.  Squirrels are busy up in the oak trees building nests and storing nuts (and driving our dogs crazy!) I'm busy right along with them, gathering, harvesting, and storing food for the coming winter. I love every minute of it.

I needlefelted this wool wall hanging a few weeks ago in celebration of these sorts of mornings. It was so popular, apparently, it sold to two different people at the same time! Both to someone at our Waldorf School store, and an Etsy customer in Greece on the same day. What are the odds? It must mean that other people out there love homestead mornings as much as I do.

I am busy at work creating an identical one right now.