Although the thermometer never went above 36 degrees today, the fact is that our fair weather birds that winter in nice, toasty warm climates, have returned... and love is in the air! No matter what the thermometer says, birds are going to nest.

So, today the girls worked on putting together Nesting Material Cages to make the bird's job a little easier, a little comfier, and certainly a lot more colorful! 

We started with a couple of new Suet Ball Feeders that I bought on Amazon.  

The girls then went through my stash of roving and loosely stuffed the cages.

Even Fargo helped!

And, just to keep things interesting, Aunt Liz read one of their very favorite Beatrix Potter books, The Story of a Fierce Bad Rabbit!

Then everyone moved outdoors with Othy. They found the perfect locations for their Nesting Material Cages to hang.

So, on your mark, get set, go, birds, go! Hope you and your babies enjoy soft nests this spring!

http://www.weefolkart.com
Copyright © Wee Folk Art 2008 - 2013. All rights reserved.

All photos, text and patterns are copyright protected. You may not copy, reproduce or redistribute any material found on WeeFolkArt.com without written permission. Wee Folk Art retains all rights.

A few weeks ago I shared a tutorial for making Peg Owls using an "adult" size, 2 3/8" x 7/8", wooden peg. Today, I am sharing a pattern for making a Large Peg Owl, perfect for wee hands, using the large wooden pegs, 3 9/16" x 1 1/8", making them large enough not to be a choke hazard. Basically, they are made the same as the smaller gnomes. The directions and patterns for those can be found HERE. Since I've shared the tutorial before, I'm not including as many photos. If you are at all confused by a step, just check out the other tutorial, and there will be more photos.

Materials:
Large Wooden Peg - 3 9/16" x 1 1/8" purchase HERE
Wool felt
Embroidery floss in coordinating colors
Crafting glue
Stuffing material
Batting - I used thin cotton batting
Pattern

READ ALL INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE YOU BEGIN TO PREVENT MISUSE OF MATERIALS.

IMPORTANT: There can be significant variations in the sizes of the wooden pegs even from the same manufacture and even in the same shipment! Before cutting the body wraps out of felt, cut the pieces out of paper, and "try them on" your wooden pegs. Make adjustments to the paper pattern before cutting out your felt.

The pattern for the Owl Peg can be found HERE.

The tutorial on How to Cut Out Felt can be found HERE.

The Stitching Glossary can be found HERE.

NOTE: BECAUSE THIS TUTORIAL IS IDENTICAL TO THE PREVIOUS OWL PEGS, I DID NOT TAKE AS MANY PHOTOS. MANY STEPS IN THIS TUTORIAL ARE MISSING PHOTOS. CHECK OUT THE ORIGINAL TUTORIAL FOUND HERE WHERE ALL THE STEPS HAVE PHOTOS INCLUDED!

Directions:
Make a copy of the pattern.

Following the photo or your own imagination, cut out felt using the pattern.

Glue body wrap to the wooden peg. Match the bottom edge of the wrap with the bottom edge of the wooden peg.

Following the guidelines on the pattern, stitch appliques to owls body as follows:
-Stitch chest to body using a blanket stitch and 3 strands floss.
-Stitch beak to body using a running stitch and 2 strands floss.
-Stitch eyes to body using a blanket stitch and 3 strands floss.
-Add eye detail using a straight stitch and 6 strands of floss. If you would like, using the same piece of thread, you can tack down every other straight stitch in the center of the eye using a small stitch. This will help secure the stitches. (Please note: the pattern says "3 strands" of floss. I simply couldn't ask Michelle to make another PDF to fix it!)
-Add detail to the chest using a straight stitch and 6 strands of floss.

Now, with wrong sides together stitch the front of the owl's body to the back using a blanket stitch and 3 strands of floss.

Add the feather detail to the wing using a stem stitch and 3 strands of floss.

With wrong sides together, stitch a wing front to a wing back using a blanket stitch and 3 strands of floss. Only stitch the sides and bottom of the wing, DO NOT stitch the top of the wing above the "attach line". Refer to pattern. IMPORTANT: Do not cut thread!

Position a wing on the side of the owl. Use photos and patterns for positioning. Pin in place.

Using the same thread, continue blanket stitching the top of the wing, but now you will also be sewing it directly to the owl's body. Do the other wing in the same manner.

You are now done with the owl's body.

To attach the body to the peg, begin my cutting a strip of batting 1" wide. I used a thin cotton batting.

Depending on the thickness of your batting, wrap the batting strip around the peg to get the width you want. With my thin batting, I wrapped the peg twice. Cut off additional batting. Note: Use enough batting so when you slide the owl body over the peg, the owls chest is firmly stuffed. Before you glue the batting to the peg, "try the body on", by carefully sliding it over the batting, to make sure you are happy with the fit.

Place glue on the peg where the batting will go. Glue the batting to the peg. Note: If you are wrapping the peg twice, start wrapping the batting around the peg, then place more glue on the batting that is wrapped around the peg, and finish wrapping the peg. Press together and allow to dry completely before going on to the next step.

Using a small amount of stuffing, stuff the ears of the owl and place a little at the top of the head. When you place the body over the peg, you want the top of the owl's head to almost sit directly on the top of the peg. Do not over stuff!

Place glue on the batting and the top of the wooden peg and carefully slide the peg into the owl being careful not to get glue on the outside of the owl's body. Note: Position the peg so the seam of the body wrap is at the back of the owl.

Before glue dries, fuss with the owl's positioning, making sure the body is centered. Hold the owl's body against the peg until the glue begins to set. This should only tack a couple of minutes.

Allow to dry completely. Now, make a friend or two for your new owls and introduce them to your gnomes, fairies, and other woodland animals :)

http://www.weefolkart.com
Copyright © Wee Folk Art 2008 - 2013. All rights reserved.

All photos, text and patterns are copyright protected. You may not copy, reproduce or redistribute any material found on WeeFolkArt.com without written permission. Wee Folk Art retains all rights.

Statement: My floors are covered in mud. Period. End of story. As the near spring thaw begins to turn portions of our yard into a gooey brown viscous substance, my dogs joyously, nay, exuberantly, prance, dance and generally wallow in the stuff! Don't want this to be common knowledge, BUT, I've even tried dog boots. I think they ate them. Seriously. Or... they are buried somewhere in the yard, and I can just hear them snickering and nudging one another as they bound over the recent boot graves, proud of their clandestine tribulations.

So, no more dog boots. I've resigned myself to believing the mud on my floors is just another way of bringing the great outdoors inside. My floors will again be clean in the summer, but for now, I try not to begrudge them their joyous romps, and keep a mop handy, along with a good sense of humor.

Truth be told, although I'm willing to cut my dogs some slack when it comes to muddy paws, I don't have the same tolerance for humans. We can wipe our feet at the door, AND, wear awesome boots when we are outside. Rain boots have come a long way since I was a little girl. I remember these awful black buckled boots my brothers use to don, and as for me, my rain boots were always a solid colors and blah. Today, Holy Shmolies! There are so many awesomely cute rain boots out there, it rather saddens me when it is time to turn them in for sandals. (Mind you, I love my sandals, too!)  

Today, I am sharing an applique block for what I think are some awesomely cute rain boots. I can just imagine little feet, or big feet as the case may be, stomping in puddles and leaving footprints in mud. As always, this applique was designed to fit a 6" block, but can be enlarged or reduced to meet your needs. Whether you are getting ready for spring or anticipating fall rains, hope you find yourself in a pair of playful rain boots, stomping in standing pools of water and negotiating tempting mud puddles!

The pattern for the Rain Boots Applique Block can be found HERE.

The tutorial on How to Enlarge and Reduce can be found HERE.

The tutorial on How to Cut Out Felt can be found HERE.

The Stitching Glossary can be found HERE.
 

DIRECTIONS - Refer to pattern and photo for applique placements and cutting instructions.

Make a copy of the pattern.

Cut out felt. Transfer any embroidery markings.

Using a blanket stitch, sew boot to block using 3 strands floss.

Using a lazy daisy stitch, embroider flowers using 6 strands of floss. (Do not add flower centers yet.)

Using a running stitch, sew back handle to boot using 2 strands floss.

Using a blanket stitch, sew boot lining to boot using 3 strands floss.

Using a running stitch, sew front handle to boot using 2 strands floss.

Using a blanket stitch, attach cuff and sole to boot using 3 strands floss.

Using a French knot, embroider center of flowers using 6 strands floss.

Off to spend some snuggle time with the out-of-town wee ones. See everyone back here in a couple of weeks, with stories, photos, and new projects!

I grew up on Joni Mitchell. She is a gifted song writer and a talented performer. Still, to this day, I will frequently have a night with Joni. I'll dim the lights, light a few candles, get a lovely glass of red wine, put on Joni Mitchell's Blue album, and as if in H. G. Wells' time machine, be whisked back to my college years. If pushed to choose, I'd have to say "Both Sides Now" is my favorite song she wrote, which ironically, was first made popular by Judy Collins, not by Joni herself. But, perhaps, this is too much info, because all I really want to do here, is to pull some lyrics from that song : )

"There's something lost but something gained in living everyday."

As time marches on, and things change on a daily basis, I am well aware and thankful for what's been gained, but I'm also painfully aware of what has been lost. Not wishing to become overly morose, I'll focus on one singular item, dare I say "tradition" that is almost lost... and that is "the letter".  

There was a time when going to the mailbox was motivated by something completely different than checking for boxes from Amazon. Without the internet, the mailbox was a portal to the outside world. As a child I'd check the mailbox for letters from penpals, chain mail, letters and postcards from friends that were away at camp and vacations, and important correspondences from The Beatles' Fan Club of which I was a card carrying member, thank you very much :)

As a teen, the mailbox was the source of anticipation and angst, while sending and receiving the most delicious of all letters... the LOVE letter. I remember writing long letters on the thin "airmail paper" to a heart throb that went to Switzerland for a year as a foreign exchange student. At the bottom of each page I wrote: O.D.W.W.B.M. Every time I'd get a response from him, he'd ask... "What does O.D.W.W.B.M mean?" I told him I'd tell him later. "Later" never came. At that time I truly believed he was the love of my life, and that someday he'd be my husband. On the day of our marriage I would reveal to him that O.D.W.W.B.M. was short for "One Day We Will Be Married". I wanted him to know that I knew it was true love from the very beginning. As it turned out, we didn't marry, which is probably a good thing since we really had nothing in common, but writing and waiting for responses from him was the single most important experience I had my senior year in high school.

 It is hard for young people today to fully understand how difficult and costly it was to communicate with friends and loved ones. Today, with cell phones, texting, twittering, and Skyping, every thought you have can be shared, at any given moment, with others. Because of the high cost of long distance calls back then, we had to rely on letters. I can remember writing a 26 page letter to my sister-in-law about my birthing experience with Michelle, only to turn around and write another letter, of similar length, to a good friend.

But writing letters helps us become word smiths. Today's communications call for quick response time. When you write a letter, you have all the time you need to contemplate your words. Your vocabulary is as vast as the dictionary that sits beside you, and the words, once written and sent, become a permanent record of events. Much of history is based on letters that were preserved through time. I have a stack of letters that I have received over time, and although they will never be of any historical value, they do take me back to special moments in my life, that I can easily relive by reading the letters.

Time goes by, technology changes the way we live our lives. I do not wish to give up my cell phone or my ability to Skype. Although 2 of my children live out-of-state, these technologies help me feel very connected to them. I get a text from a son when shopping, asking for the ingredients to my stroganoff. Another son takes a video of his daughter running in circles (which he use to do) and sends it off to me... I get it immediately. Something is "gained". And, although letter writing may never be as important as it once was, we don't need to lose its magic completely.

If you want to tickle a friend, write her a letter. If you want to touch your partner's heart, send him a love letter. If you want to instill a love of language in children, write them letters. If letter writing becomes routine between you and a child, he will experience the anticipation of receiving letters and joy of crafting letters in return.

One of the perks of letter writing, is the ability to select beautiful stationery and note cards. It is also fun to create your own. Also, I like to keep small "tuckables" around to add to letters I write to children. The meekest of tokens become treasures when received in the mail.

Do you have someone in your life that would be thrilled to receive a letter? I'm betting you do :)      

Photo 3-1-13