needle felting

A few nights ago Abby asked me if we could do a craft together. So, I grudgingly agreed (yeah right) and this weekend we hit the fabric store. Inspired by a recent article in Martha Stewart Living (September 2009 issue—you can also see examples here, here and here) I decided we should try needle felting.

This decision set me back a bit money-wise because of the expense of the fabric and the new tools we needed, but it was fun. 100% wool works best, and I chose the fabrics above. The girls chose these:

These are the tools we needed: a mat that looks like a giant flat brush, and felting needles.

We cut our felt shapes out with the Sizzix Big Shot die-cutting machine from Stampin' Up!


We then used the felting needle to attach the flower. The friction from the needles moving rapidly up and down through the fabric melds the two layers together.

Here Abby is using one needle to attach the leaves.

After you finish with the needles, it looks like this:

And the reverse side looks like this:

You can use it either way. For Sarah, I liked the look of the more defined shape. But for the rest of our projects we used the soft fuzzy side, because that was the look inspired by Martha. Here is Abby's finished pillow:

And Sarah with her pillow:

And here are the pillows I created:

The felting was fun, but the Amy Butler fabric I used to back the pillows was my favorite part!

I used my motivation to sew up a couple of pillows out of this brown and blue raw silk fabric I've had sitting around for ages.

summer's end

I can't think of a better way to cap off the summer than spending a weekend in Bear Lake with great friends.

^ Best buddies

^ Susan's reaction when she found out she would have to put up with the Clarks for 3 days.

^ Breakfast tastes better from someone else's bowl.


^ Breakfast on the go. No time to stop and eat.

^ Cute little Emma doodle.

^ Loading in the rented jet skis, and hoping the truck doesn't drown in the process.



^ Ready to go!


^ Tom thinks this photo belongs in a Yamaha brochure: "the perfect family friendly activity. Buy a Yamaha today!"




^ Posers

^ The view of the beautiful Bear Lake blue waters from the hills above.

^ Susan rocks a helmet

^ Setting up day camp on the beach

^ Pulling out when the weather went south

^ Sarah on her personal stage

^ Tom makes lunch

Banoffee Pie

It was suggested to us while we were in England that we should try this traditional English dessert: banoffee pie (banana and toffee). I pulled the recipe from here, and this was the result.

This particular recipe uses a great method for making the toffee. The pie was rich but delicious. It passed the ultimate test; my dad liked it!

London icons

The legendary London icons are famous because they indeed show up on every London street (and in every souvenir shop!) Most of these photos didn't happen because I was seeking them out specifically for this reason, but as I was looking through my photos later I found several coincidentally included one or more of these icons.

^ The black taxi cab. Some trivia about the black taxi: Drivers must undergo rigorous testing that can take up to 4 years before they get their license. They must pass strict criminal background and character checks as well. Only black cabs like these can be used for hire, and they are known for their sharp turning radius. They can turn on a "sixpense".

^ The red double-decker bus

^ The Ford Model A . . . wait, that's an American icon. I'm confused.

^ Harrod's department store. Harrod's has over 1 million square feet of selling space in over 330 departments. It would probably take an entire day to explore the whole thing.

^ The red phone booth

^ The red mailbox. Londoners are very fond of red.

English countryside

This post is dedicated to the beautiful English countryside; fields trimmed by hedge rows, quaint country homes, and wheat ready to harvest.

Stratford-upon-Avon

Stratford-upon-Avon is best known as the birthplace of Shakespeare. It is a beautiful village to explore, but by my estimation, so is about every village in England!

^ The school Shakespeare attended.


^ Standing in front of the house where Shakespeare was born.

^ The River Avon.

^ One of the most intriguing things for me in this place was seeing these long river boats. There is a canal system in England that was once used for cargo transportation. When the railroad came to England, the use of these canals ceased, and they filled in with silt. They have since dredged many of them out, and the old barges have been converted to house boats. You can rent them for vacations. How nice would that be?

^ When you drive a river boat through the canals you often have to navigate locks like these. The cool thing is that you operate them yourself!

^ This gentleman and his wife live on this barge full time. That is one long, skinny, home, but maybe not that much different than living in an RV. I loved how they had plants and supplies stored on the top of the barge.