I just figured out today that I neglected to post any of my christmas holiday crafts. Whoops. Better late than never?

Well, I guess it wasn’t a high priority because I didn’t actually do a lot. For the kiddos we decorated their dollhouse christmas trees. We made these last year but this year I decided they needed some ornaments. Cute, yes?

Then I also made a couple ornaments based on a blog entry I have since misplaced (eek, sorry!) and while I liked them, I wish they were a lot smaller. This entry advised not making them under 4″ and I have no idea why, I would much prefer then around the 2″ mark, I think. Anyway, we did these as part of our monthly child-friendly craft group. I planned six but made two. Hmm. Oh well, here they are:

(The wool bead garland was from last year and I liked it so much it stays up all the time!)

While there are many christmas-related things I have been meaning to make (tree skirt, more santa sacks), the only thing that was somewhat urgent was a stocking for the baby, I mean toddler. Last year we could get away with him not having his own stocking, but at almost two I figured this year he would notice.

I really didn’t want to knit one as  I wasn’t overly pleased with Boo’s, and it would take too long, so I got it in my head that I should use my newly acquired wet felting resist skills (courtesy of Spiderfelt classes!) and make a blue stocking with polar bears on them (inspiration from Chasing Fireflies catalog but the stocking is no longer listed so no linky). This turned into a project of ginormous proportions.

First I had to find the perfect color blue, which I was lucky enough to source from local Etsy shop Indigo Crane Fiber! When I did the math on how big I wanted to stocking to end up, the only water resistent item I had on hand that was large enough was a trash bag. This sucker was HUGE. And it looked like I was felting Cookie Monster.

I also wanted it somewhat sparkly, so Leah suggested sandwiching a sparkly layer between blue layers, which I did. I got this batt from Butterfly Girl Designs on Etsy, but had a helluva time getting out the black. Next time I’ll either make more time to place a custom order somewhere, or find a source for just the angelina myself! This is the middle layer — more blue went on top of this and then I began the wet felting process.

Anyway, it worked, for the most part. On one side you can see some of the black peeking through, but I think the appliques will hide it. Here’s the stocking after its initial wet felting, flipped over where you can see that ginormous trash bag resist.

And the whole thing layered and sopping wet. I didn’t have a piece of bubble wrap that was big enough either!

It took a total of four days to felt this to a level I was happy with. Here’s it’s clearly getting smaller, but still huuuuuuge! I think my toddler could have fit in it at this stage! By this point I had removed the resist and was felting it in stages on my glass washing board.

Believe it or not this was the final size. For some reason the foot was the right size but it was still too tall, so I just hacked off the top. If it were for me I probably would have just folded it over, but since it’s a kiddo and I had an appliqued design in mind, I just cut it.

That is actually the last photo I have because I didn’t get around to the applique — of course. I DID make the white felt for the appliques though, using the same method with sparkly white stuff in between. I usually get the urge to do christmas crafty stuff in the fall so I think I’ll just leave it til then ;) Bean didn’t mind — christmas is totally overwhelming at his age no matter what. A plain blue stocking was totally fine.

In a way, though, I wish I had just sewn the stocking, either out of fabric or wool felt yardage, because this sucker is THICK. Luscious and lovely in every way, but nearly impossible to hang because it’s rather heavy. So hey, it may end up as an under the tree decoration. Or I may devote wall hooks to our stockings as I could also envision making one for Boo that’s red with snowmen on it. Ah well — I have a year to decide!

So there you have it. Random christmas posting in February!

I’m not normally a morning person. I have my routines that I do by rote until my head clears and I can think properly. Moving quickly is not something I am known for doing in the morning.

However, the other morning, I opened the blinds as usual, took a gander of the weather, and paused. I saw this:

I ran and got the camera and took far too many shots of what has the be the oddest fog I’ve ever seen. In case you can’t tell what’s odd about this scenario, here’s a closeup.

I-5 just… disappeared. Talk about fog rolling in (or out, as case may be). I’ve never seen fog look so obviously like a cloud just sitting on top of something. Everything else looked normal, somewhat fall-like, not to mention cold. And yes I stood on our cold, cold balcony in my pajamas taking these pictures. Fortunately no one pays attention to their neighbors where we live.

Then I happened to notice a spider busy at work on said balcony.

I’ve never had the privilege of watching a spider actually do the round and round part of making a web. Mesmerizing. Was extremely hard to get a decent shot — this was the best I could do. I can kind of see why the lad finds spiders so intensely interesting :)

Ain’t he cute? :)

H took the best train picture ever:

I just love it. I love the perspective — it’s always good to get down and see what things are like from the kid’s height.

It also gave me another idea. I have this crazy urge to do lots of these “train scenarios”. I just think they’re really cute. I know, sometimes I have too much time to think.

We have a full moon tonight, and it is beautiful! I tried to snap some pictures, except that’s extraordinarily difficult without a tripod. Note to self: Get a tripod.

Anyway, some of them didn’t turn out too badly. Much prettier in person, but oh well.

We had such a wonderful day at the zoo on Sunday. We’ve started trying to go on the weekends because Boo just wears himself out, which is good because then he takes a really long nap. It was a grey, crisp day, and turned out the animals were in a very photogenic mood!

Finally got around to reviewing my 4th of July photos. Made a little album of my favourites.

Click here for the whole album.

We had such a wonderful location for the fireworks over Lake Union! There were a few houses in the way but mostly it was great. LOUD too. The booming kept setting off car alarms! It was a good thing Boo had his times warped since we just returned from the trip to the UK and he was awake anyway. But then he fell asleep. With all that racket! And to think a toilet flushing can wake him up… sigh!

We’ve seen two rainbows recently with all the rain. One was even a double rainbow, although the pics didn’t turn out as nice. I like this one though.

I noticed I have a crocus blooming in the front yard. How cool is it that I can get this close to it with my new suave camera? See, Jason, sometimes instant gratification in the digital age is a good thing.