resurrection fern

How to Make a Reversible Felt Basket

 This is so simple I am almost embarrassed to call it a tutorial. The background on this is that when I buy fruit at our local farmer's market it often comes in cardboard baskets like this one.  I use them to store various little bits and pieces but sometimes I have more than enough and I have to flatten them to go into the recycling bin. The handle is removed and then the ends are unattached and one is left with the carcass of a basket.

 

I wanted to make some simple baskets to hold some small gifts for Christmas. So I laid down two contrasting colors of wool felt and traced the shape of the flattened fruit basket out. I sewed them together . I then folded the shape back up into a basket and sewed a button on either end to fasten it.  So simple and yet so functional. You could make this with other fabric , stiffen it with interfacing or even hide a piece of cardboard from the original basket in the base if you wanted to. I like the softness and slight laxity to my prototype. I bet it would be really awesome made with recycled burlap. 

 

 

My daughter thought I was making a military style felt hat. I will have to think about that and see if I can convince her to model it later in the week:)

I had great fun filling it with beautiful soft things and taking pictures. Edgar found it very interesting as well and I found it increasingly difficult to get any shots without a little bit of edgar appearing somewhere in the picture. 

 

 

The elves are really busy making pompoms in the land of resurectionfern.

As the lovely Lisa so aptly reminded me today, it is the one year birthday of my little etsy shop. I still laugh at how my shop's name is knitalatte and I have yet to sell anything knitted to this very day. I am going to celebrate with a giveaway. All you need to do is leave a comment here by December 6th at midnight. The prize will be four prints from my shop of your choosing. I will even mail them to different addresses if you want to give them as gifts. Thanks so much for a wonderful year. Now if only I could get those pompom making elves to take up the hook and crochet some covers for stones! 
   
  

 
 

 

gifts to make with your own two hands

My gift to you, a list of tutorials for handmade gifts found within the archives of resurrectionfern. All of these can be made in an evening. Among this list you will find gifts that involve sewing, knitting, crochet, embroidery and some involving none of these skills. I am even planning a few extras to add to the list in the next week or so , some of which I have previewed with pictures at the end of the long list. 

 Snowflake pendant

Nahanni hat

Fabric covered button badges

Vintage lace earring display

Favorite things embroidered sampler

Liberty and a holey stone necklace

Merfish and Merfish necklaces

Rockfish

Pussy willows

Vintage hankie bunting

Heart of stone in ice

Beeswax heart garland

Sugar plum doilies in ice

Felt and Knitted Mushrooms

Knitted and Patchwork container

Knitted Rooster

Knit a Rag Nest

Knitted Bunny

Rock Babies

Crochet Covered Acorn Necklace

Crochet an Orb

Fabric Snail

Felt Embroidered Berries

Printing with Leaves and Flowers

Knit a Scarfette with Vintage Buttons

 Lazy Girls Guide to Felting Rocks

Crochet Trees

Vintage Button Mushrooms

Knit a Forest

Felt Stump

Folkloric Felt Bonnet

Crochet a Polypore

How to Whittle Gnomes from Branches

Crochet Acorns

Ice Wreaths

Floating Flower Stones

Fabric Scrap Trees

Knit a camera case

Knit and Felt a Bangle Bracelet 

Knit and Felt a Coffee Cosy

pompom pretending to be a pinecone tutorial (coming soon)

  Mathyld tassel tutorial (coming soon)

Reversible felt apple basket tutorial ( coming soon) 

Happy first bench monday of advent!!! 

 

the cold

 
How exactly good it is
to know myself
in the solitude of winter,

  

my body containing its own
warmth, divided from all
by the cold; and to go

 

separate and sure
among the trees cleanly
divided, thinking of you

 

perfect too in your solitude,
your life withdrawn into
your own keeping

 

--to be clear, poised
in perfect self-suspension
toward you, as though frozen.

 

And having known fully the
goodness of that, it will be
good also to melt.

 

Poetry by Wendell Berry

Photographs by me

Magic by nature

Hope everyone is warm and cosy this weekend

but not too warm ( for all my warm climate friends)

 

beautiful symbiosis

a photographic tribute to lichen, rain and the last days of November

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The week is just about wrapped up , as is the month. I promise more colorful things in the next few posts. I also hope to get that list of last minute handmade gift tutorials up for you before the month is over.

   
 

 
 
 
 
 

thankful

Happy thanksgiving to all my American friends. I am thankful for all the little moments that make up a day and also for being able to share so many of them here with all of you. I left the house today at 7:30 am and returned 12 hours later. These are some of the little snapshots of my day. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The picture of the embroidered button snail and stones is part of a project organized by Kathreen Ricketson and the very soft elongated alpaca pompom is the first prototype for an idea for making shaped pompoms. This one is pine cone shaped. It was a gloomy grey all day long and then the sun came out ever so briefly just before it disappeared into the horizon. 

Have a wonderful day filled with special moments. 
 
 
  
 
 
 

ta da

Yep if you can believe your eyes you will see that this show is curated by none other than a goddess of things hand made, Faythe Levine. If you don't know of her you must have been sleeping under some very large stones this past year. She is the author of Handmade Nation and also the director of the newly released DVD of the same name. I purchased a few copies of the book last year to give as gifts and my sister Kathy have me one. This year I think the DVD will be on my personal christmas list. So now you know what a fan of Faythe's I am and just how I must have felt when exactly two months ago, on a friday evening when I was listening to music, cuddling with the kitties and received her first email. She did more than acknowledge my existence but asked me if I would be interested in taking part in a show she was curating in an awesome new gallery. I didn't even hesitate but emailed her back almost instantly with my positive response. I had no idea the show would only feature the work of two artists. How exciting is that!! Now you must check out Merilee Challiss's work. It is amazing and according to Faythe the pieces are quite large which makes them even more exciting to see in person in January. 

 

So over the next month I will be busy preparing for this show, getting my home and porch ready for Christmas, making and sending gifts, baking, cooking, sharing meals with friends and families and loving every minute of it and of course sharing most of it with you.

thanks for listening:)

 
 

hurray for pompoms

 

my latest little distraction

Main Entry: ¹pom–pom 

Pronunciation: \ˈpäm-ˌpäm\

Function: noun

Etymology: alteration of pompon

Date: 1873

1 : an ornamental ball or tuft used especially on clothing, caps, or costumes
2 : a handheld usually brightly colored fluffy ball flourished by cheerleaders

There is something strangely exciting about the moment when you cut the edges, pull the drawstring tightly together to reveal the pattern you have unknowingly (well almost) created.  In my mind this makes me thing of protein folding and embryology. One day I hope I have some time to describe why if anyone is interested. For now I only have pretty pictures of my very low tech pompom making method. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don't you love the little guardians of the pompoms or perhaps they call them pompons since these are Parisian owls made by Mathyld. They are already world famous, having made it to explore on the weekend. 

Main Entry: pom·pon 

Pronunciation: \ˈpäm-ˌpän\

Function: noun

Etymology: French, from Middle French pompe tuft of ribbons

Date: 1751

1 : ¹pom-pom 1
2 : a chrysanthemum or dahlia with small rounded flower heads

During my brief research I discovered another sort of pom pom. Wouldn't it be amazing if this would shoot beautiful colorful soft pompoms instead of bullets. 

Don't be surprised if you see these colorful creations turning up just about everywhere this holiday season. We have plans....

Hope to see you tomorrow where the BIG SECRET PROJECT will be revealed!!!!

to Paris with love

My parcel is waiting at my door, signed and sealed and ready to drop off at the post office tomorrow. If everything works as planned it should be in the hands of Mathyld early next  week for the big event. I really wish I could attend the Supervente craft market in person because I am sure from the tiny glimpses of loveliness that I have seen I could do most of my christmas shopping there. Here are a some pictures of what I have contributed.

 

Oops, Arwen so wanted to go to Paris but I told her she wouldn't fit in the box:)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There you have it on the kitchen table before being packed carefully into the box. My favorite thing was the crochet covered sea glass. When you hold it up to the light it looks very similar to the doilies in ice from last winter.

Have a great start to your week. If you happen to be out and about in Paris in early December please don't forget to attend the event of the season.

Land Art for Kids - Pebble Fish

Land Art for Kids - Pebble Fish, originally uploaded by Land Art for Kids.

I am so excited about this amazing new project involving environmental art and children. Please go now and check it out. These books would make the most wonderful gifts for the children you love. They target children from the ages of 3 to 8 which I guess means the dirt and stone eating crowd will have to wait. I think it might just awaken the child in each and everyone of us. Open your eyes and your heart and get out there in nature and PLAY!!!!!

what if

What if there were two suns, one in the sky and the other in the water.

What if they spoke in colorful language

just before dusk

and then darkness fell

like the last leaf from the ancient oak tree

what if

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a music video that my daughter,  shared with me this week. It reminded her of Iceland, the arctic, Nova Scotia and me. I loved it.

Have a wonderful weekend!!