~:: Of Hedges and Hogs and More Made Things ::~

I joined Linda in the “Heart Swap” which is not actually a swap of hearts, but of kindly made things of any sort.  She paired me with a mom in Slovakia.  I sent her a felt heart, but she sent me this absolutely stunning crocheted lace.

And seeds.  I sent her seeds, too.  Together, we have just confounded the ecosystem of the planet.  And I got the best of the deal.  I could NEVER make anything like this.  It’s really just beautiful.

An old thing.  I went through a beaded rosettes stage. This one has a wound and I’ve been meaning to fix it for years.  Maybe after I catch up on the correspondence?

Another older guy.  These last things were made as part of the annual striving to make the last Christmas ornament I’ll ever do.

This year’s effort.  I suspect it will not, alas, be the end of the line for me.  It’s just that ornaments are so small.  And you can make them out of so many different materials.  Of course, a tree can only hold so many tiny things –

Fused star.  I have to remember to do some fusing this coming month.  Hotcha.

And now.  This is George.  I joined Shannon’s pin cushion exchange because pin cushions are also very small.  I am charmed by small things.  But the pc I made was HUGE.  Not his fault.  I just overshot.  He was made out of repurposed sweater and wool felt (mostly wool) and was inspired by, but not limited to, an adorable pattern by Betz White which I still have not mastered.  I sent him away(they took the package out of my hands at the post office, since I couldn’t let go of it) hoping he would serve and find friends.

If you ask me when I first began to anthropomorphize things, I couldn’t tell you.  Maybe before I was born.  George is NOT a hedgehog.  He is an American porcupine, and so has a tail.

A big fat tail upon which the quills grown in a totally uncharacteristic sideways manner.

And he has cute feet.

And he has a bit of fern growing on him.

And my sig.   A couple of days later (the day after he got to Australia, in fact), I got something in the mail myself –

Now, please understand that this was not a hedgehog exchange.  And it is a fact that Shannon can make ANYTHING, even very girly lovely sorts of things.  But for me, she decided to needle felt (thank you Lauri Sharp‘s book) a hedgehog. Whose name is now Peter.  So George and Peter can be considered cousins.  And both wear pins.  But Peter wears handmade designer pins with glass tops on them.  While George was stuck with (HAHAHA) the usual sewing store long shanked variety.

Is he cute or what?  It’s hard to stick him with anything lesser than his gorgeous original plumage.

Peter, hiding in the woods.

Then I decided to make a hedgehog of my own to celebrate the arrival of Oldest Daughter.

Same Betz White pattern, except closer to the original concept.  I still don’t quite have the character down yet, though.

The felt woman, messing about with her basket of made things on a summer’s eve.

And a dog.

Her basket of almost finished stars.

And last but not least, a story: with small Aussies, you do not need a doorbell.  When I hear the vicious madness start in the front yard, I know that someone cheeky is trying to come to my front door.  So the other day, I sighed and put down my work, and went out to see who was being announced by the dogs.  There was a young woman at the gate, a woman who I thought, at first, I should know.

“I’m actually a photographer,” she said – before I’d said a word.  And then asked if I happened to own the property upon which my garage (over there) stands.  She explained that she had a bride in the car and wondered .  . .

So I hauled the puppies into the house and closed the doors so they couldn’t escape and went about my business.  But I couldn’t help peeking out there to see what was going on.  Her bride, it turns out, is a woman married for a couple of years, but who hadn’t gotten good pictures of her dress – which, as is not true of SO many of us – still fits her.  So they were “documenting” the dress.  And when I peeked through the window, this is what I saw in my back yard:

Never a dull moment.