Happy New Year 2013!

Today is New Year's Eve - I hope the new year brings unexpected delights to all!
I have spent my vacation week knitting and felting to replenish my shop. Mostly I have listed new mittens but I have also added two new items-Kindle Fire and Kindle Paperwhite sleeves and am currently working on a pattern for future iPad Mini sleeves.

Kindle Keyboard/ Kindle Fire Sleeve

When I haven't been working on shop items, I have been needle felting little creatures onto the little feet I made last month. Here are the first three results.

The first one I made, and my personal favorite, is the owl.  I call him Harvey Hoots. He stands 5 inches not including his head feathers.

Harvey Hoots

 I would have just made a few more owls but I only had one set of large size eyes so it was either stop needle felting altogether or think of a different creature that had smaller eyes. I decided to try a rabbit.

I call him Henry Hops. He stands 5 1/2 inches tall, just a bit taller than Harvey. I think he has a very sweet somewhat befuddled expression.

I have been watching Sons of Anarchy on Netflix all week so I think it influenced my final character choice- Biker Chick. She sports a genuine black leather jacket with a Born To Ride patch. She also has black leather accents on her shoes and a lovely chain necklace.

Biker Chick

Who Is Your Favorite Pixar Character?

Last May, on Mother's Day, we were having a"Collins' Family Breakfast" when I asked each of my children which Pixar character was their all-time favorite. The amazing thing is that of the six people I asked, none of them hesitated- they all had a favorite. My oldest son, Neil choose Woody from Toy Story. Carla, his wife, immediately picked Nemo. My daughter Kathleen chose Mike Wazowski from Monsters Inc. Her husband, Mike had two favorites, but his first response was Guido the little guy in Cars that changed Lightening McQueen's tires in record speed during the big race. Their son, my darling grandson, immediately piped in with Lightening McQueen. And finally, my youngest son, Mike, chose Wall-E. A psychologist would probably have fun analyzing their choices...even I have thought about that a bit... but I wanted the challenge of trying  to create a surprise Christmas ornament for each of them. At first I wasn't sure if I would be sewing or felting but in the end I needle felted them all. I started right away making the first three.

                                May I introduce.....

Mike Wazowski from Monsters Inc.  
5 1/2  inches tall- Needle Felted Wool

Nemo
4 inches long- Needle Felted Wool

Wall-E
4 1/2 inches tall-  Needle Felted Wool with Button Eyes

After completing these first three, I became distracted by other projects and let them sit in my workroom for months before getting back to them. Now I find it is just a few short weeks before Christmas and I am only half done. Plus, I had put off making the most difficult one- Woody! I find it very difficult to needle felt small people. Getting defined facial features on a head that is not much more than an inch long is quite a challenge. But if I was going to have an ornament for everyone I had to get back to it.
     
                     Here are the last three.....

Woody from Toy Story
6 1/2 inches tall  Needle Felted Wool

Guido from Cars
3 inches tall- Needle Felted Wool with button Wheels

Lightning McQueen from Cars
3 3/4 inches long- Needle Felted Wool with Button Wheels

And finally a group shot....

Finished just in time for Christmas Day!

Christmas Elf

Here is the first of three elves that I hope to have completed before Christmas. Recognize the feet? He is made of stuffed felt with a needle-felted face and pom pom on his hat. He is holding a tiny ornament. From head to toe he is only 6 inches tall but add in that big hat and he is 11 inches tall.

Pretty Feet

I finished the little feet! The next step is to figure out who they belong to!

Obviously Christmas Elves