resurrection fern

Plush You 2009 : Halvard

I saved the first plush I made for this year's Plush You event this October in Seattle for last. He is different from the others, not as cute and perhaps even a little odd but he was my source of inspiration for the rest. I wanted to make a simple small toy that would incorporate my silk screened image of a covered stone. I wanted him to look modern and ancient, soft and strong, having a ethereal almost ghost or spirit like feel.

So with that introduction I want to introduce Halvard the guardian of the the sea stones and merfish. I have to thank lisa for naming him for me. According to lisa it means rock defender or guardian of the stones. Perfect !!!

I hope you enjoy your weekend. I am awaiting the arrival of my daughter Rebekah with tales of her far north adventure and I heard rumors of stones :) and also of my niece, Hannah from Winnipeg.  

Plush You 2009 : the matryoshka turtles

I am so happy to introduce to you this morning from the shores of the Baltic Sea, Anna and her two little friends Ekaterina and Varenka. They are very pleased to meet you and very excited about travelling to Plush You 2009 in Seattle this October. In the mean time they will be studying English and hanging out in the garden with the giant pink sea snail. 

It started off with just Anna and Ekaterina and then they found a little orphan stone turtle in a tea dish on the porch and well the rest is history in the making.

Anna is made with hand silkscreened fabric and wool felt. Her kerchief is a small remnant of a vintage linen and is removable , as is her belt or tiny turtle fastener.

Ekaterina has hand embroidered details on the silk screen and the littlest turtle Varenka is actually a tiny crocheted sea stone made with vintage crochet cotton and a very tiny hook. 

Plush You 2009 : the matryoshka turtles

I am so happy to introduce to you this morning from the shores of the Baltic Sea, Anna and her two little friends Ekaterina and Varenka. They are very pleased to meet you and very excited about travelling to Plush You 2009 in Seattle this October. In the mean time they will be studying English and hanging out in the garden with the giant pink sea snail. 

It started off with just Anna and Ekaterina and then they found a little orphan stone turtle in a tea dish on the porch and well the rest is history in the making.

Anna is made with hand silkscreened fabric and wool felt. Her kerchief is a small remnant of a vintage linen and is removable , as is her belt or tiny turtle fastener.

Ekaterina has hand embroidered details on the silk screen and the littlest turtle Varenka is actually a tiny crocheted sea stone made with vintage crochet cotton and a very tiny hook. 

I made you a starfield to wish you a happy birthday

Lord of the starfields
Ancient of Days
Universe Maker
Here's a song in your praise

Wings of the storm cloud
Beginning and end
You make my heart leap
Like a banner in the wind

O love that fires the sun
Keep me burning.
Lord of the starfields
Sower of life,
Heaven and earth are
Full of your light

Voice of the nova
Smile of the dew
All of our yearning
Only comes home to you

O love that fires the sun
keep me burning 

bruce cockburn from circles in the stream album ( 1977)

Today is my daughter Rebekah's birthday and as I am writing this post she is slowly making her way back home from Peanwanuck and Polar Bear Provincial Park in Northern Ontario. I can't wait to hug and kiss her and hear of her amazing adventures in the land of the polar bear. I have never been that far north but she did travel with one of my covered stones so at least I feel like a little part of me has. Happy birthday my darling. I couldn't send a cake to you so I made you a starfield instead.

The porch awaits you and we will be sure to have some refreshing beverages to celebrate the day. All your favorite golden yellow flowers are in bloom and the mushrooms in the forest are even golden and I found one that had a beautiful natural smile. It reminded me so much of you.

the giant pink sea snail

I have been very busy behind the scenes working on my PLUSH YOU 2009 contributions. I was really happy to hear that Kristen didn't really want to receive them too early. These soft art toys began with an idea, as most things do. I really wanted to design them around the silkscreened image of a crochet covered stone. You might remember it from my workshop with arounna at bookhou. I wanted them to look fresh, modern and yet incorporate some old world crafting with embroidery and as you will see later with the other ones a little bit of crochet.

I wanted them to be water inspired.

One of my favorite films as a child was the original Doctor Dolittle movie with Rex Harrison and my favorite character was the great pink sea snail of course. Strange that the only image I could find on the internet of it was this little one.

I read someone describe it as a throw back to the psychedelic 60's. 

Here is what I came up with.

I have decided to name her luna after luna lovegood my favorite character in the Harry Potter books.  

Similar to last year I will be donating my portion of the sale of my plush to a charity. This year it will be the the Greenpeace defending our oceans campaign.

Tomorrow a stone and sea inspired little trio with Russian ancestry :)

Welcome to Monday

It seems like ages since I showed you some thrift store treasures. My daughter and I made the rounds on friday and we spotted a few lovely items. Funny how it seems that only after you get them home , tidy them up a bit that you notice that everything seems to match. I am only showing some of our haul since most of it is still in the wash or trying with futility to dry. You see it is still wet weather here.

Yes that would be me trying to dry scarves on the porch.

I also had a chance to wash up some treasures that I noticed in the rich dark earth on my walk in the forest last wednesday. I believe there was a farm and homestead just south of one of my favorite trails. I may return there to see if I can dig up a few more. I especially like the "it" bottle although I have so far been unable to find out what "it" is. I wondered if it was a tonic of some sort or a hair product by the size and shape of the container. The brass compact with the map of Canada in relief on it intrigues me.

While on the blue green theme I started work on a hand stitching late yesterday afternoon when the sun came out for a few hours.

Have a great start to your week. Don't forget today is the last day to place a silent auction bid on the next poetry stone. You can do so my emailing me at margaretoomen@mac.com with poetry stone for autism in the subject line.

IT's Raining Golden Buckets

It was friday afternoon, the roadside flowers were gathered and containers were filled to brighten up the porch tables. I sat down after a long wet week, put my feet up and enjoyed a sip of delicious apricot beer from Quebec. I don't think the first sip had even hit my stomach when I decided I just had to make some maya*made buckets. I had everything I needed, a beautiful coffee sac that was sent to me by my ever so kind friend Pat , the pdf of the pattern purchased and downloaded on my imac. The only thing I couldn't locate was my cotton batting so I made these unlined with some inspired by my roadside flowers ( golden yellow) felt. I decided to make this first batch handleless , resurrectionfern exclusive fabric (from spoonflower designed for me by geninne)  pockets inside, and to fold the lining over the top edge for a little dramatic contrast.  Maya's pattern was so clear and easy to follow. If you need some buckets in your life, and who doesn't, be sure to purchase her pattern and get sewing.

I hope you will forgive me these are not ironed. It was just way too hot and humid to fire up my iron that evening. I really love how the sun came out very briefly in the morning and the golden lining shone through the loose weave of the burlap.

This gives me an idea for my next set of buckets. With rain in the forecast through till Wednesday that might happen very soon.

Hope you are all enjoying you weekends no matter what the weather.

Showers and Flowers

It has been raining again almost steady for the last day or so. Soggy  shoes, wet basement, damp kitties and mud everywhere got me thinking that I forgot to post about a different sort of shower, a wedding shower and the not you typical shower gift I gave. My beautiful  niece is getting married this fall in the Muskokas. 

On my last trip back "home" family and friends got together to celebrate.

My gift to her was a bright green market collapsable market basket, gardening hand tools, a pair of the most comfortable bamboo gardening gloves, the awesome book Garden Anywhere and a indoor/outdoor planter with culinary herbs already planted in it to get her started.

I almost forgot the most important part of the gift was a framed photograph of a totally adorable little couple at a wedding long long ago. In some ways she hasn't changed a bit:)

This time her little twin nieces will be the flower girls and I will be sure to capture that moment on my camera:)

Have a sip of shrinking potion and take a little walk with me

Meet me at the bright orange fairy lamp post. Please remember to take big strides and do try to keep up!!

Watch out for the black earth tongues, they can be a little cranky at times.

The tour ends at this tiny delicate lace like mushroom. I am not certain but think it might be a type of pinwheel mushroom. It is a good thing we are so small today or we might have missed it. It is only .5 cm in diameter and the stalk is the width of crochet cotton. 

Reminder the second poetry stone for autism is up and I am accepting silent auction bids.

Auctioning off Another Poetry Stone for Autism

The next stone is up on the auctioning block. If you would like to place a bid on this stone please email me at margaretoomen@mac.com with your offer. Please put the phrase auction for autism in the subject line. I will close bids at midnight on Monday, July 27. I explained the nature of this auction on this 

post.

This was the first poetry stone I made and it remains my favorite. Who knows I might just bid on it myself :)

This stone was made in collaboration with Cathy Cullis of November moon.