Fast and failure

Yesterday one of my meetings finished early and since I was in the neighborhood I thought I’d nip home for a prolonged lunch. The FeltUnited had been on my mind all morning and as I still had a tooth ache I said to myself “why not skip lunch and do some felting instead? “ Does that sound like a good idea to you? No? Well it did for me at the time. I had this grand plan of making a felted Torso in different shades of green to put on my front lawn …. I already had the actual Torso you see made out of wire netting and meant to be covered in moss (Making things out of moss being another passion of mine…. ) so how long could it take to cover it up in wool instead then shaping it around the netting with soap water? Not long at all I thought. Wrong very wrong!

There I stood in the kitchen with not very much time to spare pouring soap water over the wool covered netting and getting most of the water on myself. The wool and me not having the same opinion about sticking to the netting….. BUGGER! Time running out all I had for my hard work was a heap of half felted green guck slowly sliding down the Torso and landing on the floor. I got SO angry I threw the Torso away hitting the kitchen wall, dumped all the wool in the spin dryer , changed to dry clothes and left. I started sobbing in the car, ashamed over my behavior but also still angry. Angry about the fact that everything with me always has to go so fast , that I have absolutely no patience but also angry over the fact that I was now out of green wool. I would have to miss out on FeltUnited this year too.

When I got home again I found this in my spin dryer.




A pathetic sight! But I was calm now and a bit more composed so I sat down looking at it wondering what I could do with it. One of the pieces had the shape of a bird ….so I decided that I would make little green and blue birds. It sort of fitted the autumn season with its birds leaving for warmer countries and it sort of fit FeltUnited too wanting to spread the knowledge and joy of felting all over the world. I was now warming to the idea of making little winged messengers when it hit me – I would make them as gifts.

As many of you know I am always the most inspired in my artwork by creating something for a special person and then give it away. That gives me an even bigger joy than the actual creating in itself. So why not make little birds and place them in town for people to find and take home. I could attach a note that would explain about FeltUnited and thereby spread the word to others….

Said and done. Birds it will be…. FeltUnited here I come

Bird in progress

To be continued….

Take care
Jeanette

How to forget your tooth ache...almost

Today I woke up with a terrible tooth ache and since I have an enormous fear of dentists that’s about the worst thing that can happen to me. I have feared dentists since I was a kid and I would do almost anything to not even have to go on my yearly checkups. My dentist is on the sixth floor and I am eagerly awaiting some “scientific invention” that will make it possible to sedate me in the elevator going up and then miraculously wake me up going down with everything nicely completed. But today the ache was so bad that I actually felt lucky when I phoned my dentist and he had a cancellation…..

Here I am 8 hours later and I still have the tooth ache from hell! Apparently I have an irritated root canal and it will take a couple of days before I feel any better. A COUPLE OF DAYS! I am slowly dying here !!!!

Well, this could have ended a really shitty day if I hadn’t read Heather Woollove`s blog and her post about the 2nd international Day of Felt. A call for felters all over the world to unite and celebrate felt in all shapes and forms. You can read more on about feltunited here.

They say : “Join us – we felt united” and I say YES I will join!

Thank you Heather you saved my day. Now I can start planning for my contribution instead of feeling sorry for myself! But I will have to hurry up though the 2nd of October not being that far away. The color scheme for this years felt is yellow through green to blue which is my favorite colors.

So bye, bye tooth ache and welcome inspiration…..eh, think I might need some painkillers first….then boy will I start creating….

Take care
Jeanette

FeltUnited - 2nd International Day of Felt
October 2nd, 2010

Felt - intertwined, bound together, forever as one – United

A walk in the woods

Today I had a day off from work. It was much longed for since the last couple of weeks have been really hectic. I woke to a beautifully crisp and sunny day so I decided to drive down to the country house for some gardening and a walk in the woods. I planted roses and tulips and the gardening went without any problems. No wheelbarrow piled too high this time.

I had a lazy lunch outdoors and then decided it was time for the woods – it was either that or I would fall asleep in the sun… So I grabbed my camera and took off. My favorite wood is just across the fields from me and I went there with hopes of sitting on a log watching the little lake and just relax. Not Like that was going to happen any time soon. There I was walking about thinking happy thoughts and taking photos of little frogs ....

...and then suddenly - oh, oh cows!



I am not afraid of cows. I swear! It’s their boss I am scared of. I had a run in with him a couple of years ago and I haven’t recovered still. You can read more about that here.

At that time he had a great resemblance of a German tank and I fear that he hasn`t joined weight watchers since then .....

I couldn’t see him anywhere so I convinced myself that he was probably at the local Bull Convention or something. But I couldn’t shake off the cows. Whenever I looked round they where still there.

Yep, I am still here!

I wasn’t anywhere near a relaxed feeling so I gave up and went home.When I got back to the house I found a little baby grass snake taking a nap in the sun.

I am not all that crazy about snakes either but I’ll choose a snake over a bull any day.

Take care
Jeanette

Unknown territory

Right now I have tasks at work that are taking me to unknown territories. Most of the time this is very exciting and inspiring but sometimes it is lonely and a bit terrifying. Maybe the terrifying part mostly is due to the fact that I am hard on myself telling me that it is entirely up to me if change is going to happen. Of course this isn’t true but I have a master degree in self doubt you see. I absolutely excel at it!

Today I stumbled over this quote when I was looking up something else. I took to it right away. Everything suddenly felt so much better.

Those who only walk in someone else’s footsteps will never experience the joy of coming first.

Not bad eh?

Take care
Jeanette

Age limit?

When are you too old or too young for wearing something? This was one of the topics that my dear creative friends and I discussed last Monday. We started out with discussing the upcoming government election but soon drifted over to the clothes the candidates wear and whether or not the politicians had a personal stylist. We decided that most of them probably hadn’t or if they had they were no darn good.

Then we started to talk about clothes in general. Is there such a thing as an age limit on clothes? Well it’s a tough one isn’t it? I mean we have probably all met men or women wearing clothes that would suit a teenager better…..but is our reaction really due to the age thing or is it all about the fact that they try too hard? That they are wearing something not because they seem to like it or feel comfortable in it but because they want to look young or fit in? I am thinking about all the 40 + men with a ponytail that grows longer with the receding hairline or the 40+ women out shopping with their teenaged kids wearing exactly the same clothes as they do and speaking with the exact same high pitched voices…. Or the 35 something men with a hoodie showing of half of their underwear while they pass you on their longboard…..



We didn’t quite reach a conclusion but we were all leaning towards it being not an age thing but a trying too hard thing. That there is no real age limit but sometimes there is a fine line between looking good and looking pathetic. ….

And that my friends was the exact moment when I (with my cheeks burning) rose from the kitchen table and went and got my newly purchased Dr Martens. In black patent leather!

I have wanted a pair for like ages. My secret dream as a teenager was being a punk rocker, dressed all in black with laced boots and pink hair. I never dared. And here I am at 47 buying myself a pair of Dr Martens….Now how pathetic is that?!?!?

Do I need to say that I LOVE my friends? Of course they quickly said that this had nothing to do with me wanting to be young again. In fact it was just a question of semantics right? Grannies wear laced boots too don’t they? ( in patent leather I wonder?) So this was the very non-pathetic thing to do. Showing that I was just being me – not too young and not too old!


Oh, what the heck. I love my boots!

Take care
Jeanette

Doilies

As maybe you know I am a keen doilies collector. Many are the trips to flea markets when I have come home with loads of them. I simply can’t just pass them by. It’s something so sad about all the amount of work that is put into them and there they are being sold for almost nothing.

Unfortunately I don’t really like to decorate my home with them…..They are sort of ugly and bad taste…. but I would like to make something else out of them instead.

This evening I found Dottie Angels blog and now I want to make this



Since crocheting really isn`t my forte I just might use another collection of mine – the kettle-holders!

Crocheting them together instead of making new squares would do the trick don’t you think ?

Tomorrow I am off to another flea market so maybe, just maybe I will add some more to my collection…..

Have a great weekend!
Jeanette

Norwegian mittens

I want to make these! Aren’t the absolutely gorgeous?



Found them on the blog 365 things you can knit. They post a knitting pattern each day! Very inspirational. Mostly in Swedish or Norwegian but some English patterns too.


I have another 365 things blog that I like – 365 things you can craft. They post a new craft idea everyday. I always take a peak when my creativity has hit an all time low.



This is one of the latest post - might try it out on Sunday.

Take care
Jeanette