Five Shadows

A while ago, a friend told me about wool bags you can buy for about five bucks from the Army Surplus store. So I took a look and bought two. They look like they could have been made from old wool Navy blankets? My daughters and I have played around with them and here is one so far. It needs lots more embellishing. Anna used the letter tiles for the name – this bag will go to Aunt Jean for her birthday in the fall, so we have lots of time to finish up this project. Janelle added the hearts and stitching.  Charis wants to embellish the strap. I did needle felting by hand – and think one of those embellishing/felting machines would move this project along much faster! I’ve actually looked at two machines and might just convince the nice guy I’m married to that it would make a wonderful Birthday gift!  :-)
   

When I saw the amulet pouches by Wendy Coyne in the Dec/Feb issue of Quilting Arts, I thought I’d give the pattern a try. I didn’t paint, but did do some stitching in the swirls of the fabric, couched fibers on the edge and added two charms. Not sure the stitching shows up in the pictures. These could be nice for Valentines with the right fabric and embellishments.
 

My Valentines are ready to send to Lenna for the swap.  I’m so excited! as this is the first time I’ve participated in an International swap! I’ve done local swaps over the past few years – round robins for my quilting group, bag, and tag swaps. I hope the ladies receiving my hearts will be pleased! Off they go in tomorrow’s mail! They are made of woven fabric, and embellished with beads and fibers.

As a child did you ever make those paper Valentines where you cut two ovals, fold them in half and then cut slits in them? You ‘weave’ the two ovals together and end up with a heart pocket. I’m using that basic idea for the Valentine Swap. Only I’m fusing fabric to a stiff backing – the stuff used at the top of draperies. Then I started playing with couching fibers on to the edges of the slits. It looks pretty woven together. I’m thinking about beading some too. Fun!     

Happy New Year to all who happen upon my blog! This year I am venturing into some new territories. The first is a family activity of geocaching.  I gave John a GPS for Christmas and we have found 5 caches so far since Christmas. Today we trekked out in the snow to treasure hunt. It was a beautiful but cold day and we only ended up looking for and finding 2 caches. This time we took along stickers so we could trade treasures with others participating. The second new item on my list is that I’ve joined  a Valentine swap hosted by Lenna Andrews Creative Swaps.   The picture shows the fabric and fibers I’m using to create my Valentines.  I’m so excited about this swap! To be in touch with other creative souls out side my small circle here at home is something I’ve dreamed of doing, and now I have finally taken the step. I’ll show you pictures of my progress and the final Valentines once I’ve mailed them off to Lenna.