Maybe it's because we've had a cool spring or maybe it's because I've been so busy this year, that my annual ritual of bringing out ALL my water color paints has been delayed. But today, yes today, I gathered everything together and, well, instead of retelling an old story, I'll share a post I first shared back in 2008 on OneGenerationToAnother.com. I would like to say I took the plunge back then, and that today I'm an accomplished watercolor painter, but the truth be told, I'm no farther ahead today than I was back then. Here it the original post...

Spring is here. You know how I know? It’s not because the robins and red winged blackbirds have returned to our yard, although they have. It’s not because there is a multitude of tiny squirrels raiding the bird feeders, although they are. And it’s not because the bulbs are pushing past last year’s yard debris, although there appearance does in fact herald the arrival of spring. No, the undisputable indicator of spring is my yearly rummage through my craft area looking for my watercolors and sketch pads. Now this, in and of itself, may not seem like anything unusual. Nice weather makes us want to open windows, fly kites, plant trees, and get outside to do some watercolors. The only thing is, over the past 25 years, each spring I always assemble my watercolor collection, and NEVER paint or draw a darn thing!

 My family knows of this unrequited desire. And they try to be supportive and encouraging. Just about everyone who knows me, at one time or another, has bought me paints, sketch paper, and pencils. They’ve bought me nature journals and watercolors. They’ve bought books that inspire and instruct…yet I’ve yet to open a single tube of paint. 

Tim says maybe I need an easel. Eureka! I think he’s right. I also think he just made more work for himself, as I send him off to Home Depot to buy the supplies necessary for constructing a personalized easel. Let’s see…I’ll need a cup holder for my diet Pepsi…and a little clip where I can hang my cell phone. And, oh yes, I’ll want a stool…and perhaps it should be adjustable. And since I can, I think I’ll have him install a garden umbrella with a 360 degree turn radius allowing for the greatest solar control. Did I mention that I will need somewhere to hold an iPod? Music can be very inspirational when painting. Anyway, I’m sure with a quality easel I’ll finally start painting!

“Yeah right”, she says, with a noticeable amount of sarcasm! When it comes right down to it, I don’t paint because I don’t know how. I want to. I mean I reeeeaaaaallllly want to. I’ve signed up to take classes, but something always seems to come up, and it’s never worked out. Who am I kidding? Truth be told, I’m intimidated. When I see some things past students have painted, and I go all limp in the wrists. How could I possibly hold a paintbrush? I look at a virgin piece of paper and I get the phalange equivalent of being tongue tied! I suppose I’m use to being good at the things I do…sometimes even “the best”. I can knit and sew with confidence and ease. I can hold my own at cooking and decorating. But short of this one cute drawing of my old dog that I’ve perfected over the years, when I draw something, it’s about a 50/50 chance that others will know what it is. There was this one Pictionary incident that will live in infamy, when my frustration resulted in me impaling my sister-in-law with my uncooperative pencil! You know, you stick a pencil in someone’s forehead ONCE, and they never let you forget it! Anyway, I’m reminded of the scene in The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery where the young boy draws a picture of a boa constrictor right after it swallowed an elephant. Having shown this picture to many adults, and all of them insisting that it’s a fine hat, he gets very frustrated. I can’t remember if he gives up drawing or just showing his pictures to adults. I totally get how he feels. Perhaps my talents are simply misunderstood…Nah.

 So, as always, spring is here and I’ve started assembling my multitude of artistic supplies. Although I may not be an artist, it can never be said that I’m not a cockeyed optimist! Besides, this year is going to be different. This year I’m going to throw caution to the wind, unscrew a tube of watercolor and, and….and probably screw it back on again! No, darn it, not this year. This year I’m going to do it! I’m going to take my paints into the garden and actually use them. And then, out of gumption or sheer spite, I’m going to hang them all over my walls as if I’m proud as punch of them! When people say, “Hey, that’s a nice…mountain?” I’ll just say, “Silly adult! THAT is a dappled daisy unfurling her petals in the early morning sun! Or was it a caterpillar?” Doesn’t matter…I’ll be painting!

What unrequited dreams do you harbor?

Last fall Tim and I were sitting side-by-side at our computers just surfin'. It was a leisurely Saturday evening, we were staying in, and we were playing a little game we often do where we take turns sharing songs, usually songs that have meaning to us, or songs that we grew up listening to. One of the marvelous things about marrying a man your own age... we both graduated from high school in 1972... you sang the same songs, watched the same movies, and experienced the same social and cultural phenomena. All-and-all, it makes for many delightful conversations... but I digress! Shocker, right?

Anyway... songs like You're So Vain, Super Freak, Knights in White Satin and Dreams by the Cranberries were filling the air (btw... totally extraneous info for the true story, but I'm setting the mood ;) So, in my surfin' the net, I stumble upon these a.dor.able egg cozies. I have never owned an egg cozy, as a matter of fact, I've never owned an egg cup BUT I now NEED to, if only to own these cute cozies. While reading about the cozies, the writer spoke of "soldiers". Now, I know she's not talking about people in uniforms, it has something to do with soft-boiled eggs. I ask Tim about it. He knows EVERYTHING. Truly, this man is amazing... the amount of trivial info bouncing around in his cute head. But, shockingly, he comes up empty.

I forbid him from Googling soldiers. Instead, I hop on Wee Folk Art's Facebook page and ask our readers about "soldiers". As I expected, lots of people knew about "soldiers" and I was delighted to learn about them from "friends" rather than just off a search. (For those of you that have no idea about what I'm talking about, you'll find out soon :)

So, Tim and I spent the rest of the evening looking at egg cups and egg cozies, egg spoons and egg cutters. By the time the evening drew to a close, I felt like a bit of an authority on soft-boiled eggs, and gave sufficient hints, knowing full-well I'd be receiving egg paraphernalia as a Christmas gift. Although my Christmas stocking... actually, my Christmas shopping bag... was filled with many "squealable" delights, I was rather surprised that there were no egg cups, cozies or cutters amongst the gifts. It wasn't like Tim. He ALWAYS picks up on those kind of things. But, we shared a perfect Christmas together, so it was soon forgotten.

HOWEVER, Michelle had not forgotten about my continued intrigue with the whole soft-boiled egg experience. And, this Mother's Day, I received 4 adorable chicken egg cups and spoons, a handy-dandy egg snipper AND (drum roll please) 4 felted GNOME HATS that she knit to keep my eggs cozy while waiting to be ate! How exciting!

So, this morning, I set out to make my very first soft-boiled egg. As I said before, I had read all about them, so I was ready. I decided to steam my eggs. It was simple:

Bring water to a boil in the bottom of a steamer. Add eggs directly from the fridge. Steam for 6 1/2 minutes.

When you remove the eggs from the steamer, run directly under cold water to stop the cooking process.

While the eggs are cooking, make your "soldiers". (Told you I'd get back to them!) Soldiers are simply a piece of buttered toast, cut into long strips, so you can easily dip them in your egg. Brilliant!

Now, the fun part... place your egg in an egg cup, and cover with an egg cozy to keep it warm until you are ready to eat. 

Use your spoon or an egg cutter to remove the top of the egg, removing any little pieces of clingy shell. If you like, you can salt and pepper your egg. (I found the buttered toast added enough flavor without condiments.) If all went well, you have a perfect soft-boiled egg. The white should be thoroughly cooked, but the yolk should still be runny.

Now, dip your soldiers in and eat up! Note to self: when using the wide toast, make sure to cut into 5 pieces instead of 4 so they fit in the egg better!)

Yum! For a first go at making soft-boiled eggs, I'd say it was a major success. 

Note: Make sure you check your eggs before you steam them. If there are any little cracks, the steaming process with cause them to crack open while cooking, and you have an egg that develops this globby thing that looks like a goiter! BTW... the dogs said it tasted just fine :)

If you are interested in knitting some gnome hats for your eggs... and if you are a regular reader at Wee Folk Art, I'm going to assume you've got your yarn and needles out already... Michelle found the pattern for the hats over at  Silver Lining Knits. You can visit them to get the complete directions. 

Thank you so much, Mich. I love them AND you :)

Photos 5-14-13

Here is our latest applique block. I love doing hand sewing, so all these lines were right up my alley! As always, they were designed to fit a 6" x 6" block, but you can enlarge or reduce the pattern to meet your needs.

I'm often asked what to do with the completed blocks. First off... I only sew them to blocks because it makes them all uniform. I haven't used the blocks for anything other than display purposes. But, you can use our appliques in any way you'd use any appliques. I designed this block to use in a panel of a quilted knitting project bag I was making for a friend. I forgot to take a photo, but this is basically what it looked like:

It turned out lovely! How will you use this applique?

The pattern for the Yarn Ball 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 using the photo and pattern as a guide. Transfer any embroidery markings.

For this applique, stitch pieces to the block following the lines on the pattern. Use a running stitch and 3 strands of floss.

Make sure when piecing together the yarn ball, you do it in the following manner, making sure to cover the overlap lines:

Piece "A"
Piece "B" 
Piece "C"
Piece "D"
Piece "E"

PHOTOS: 6-26-11
 

You've heard of Snowflakes... well, get ready for what we have termed "Flowerflakes"! This past winter I did a blog on creating traditional snowflakes. The post can be found HERE.

Besides adding beauty to the house, it served a purpose. Our bird feeders are right outside this window. Our feathered friends can mistake the glass window for "sky" and fly into the window. We discovered that when we put up the snowflakes, we had far fewer mishaps! We decided that we'd need to do something similar in the spring when the snowflakes came down.

Since we liked the airy look of the snowflakes, we decided to make traditional snowflakes using colored computer paper, add a few leaves, and wah lah... our indoor flower garden was created! It works much the same as the snowflakes, giving our birds a visual barrier. Plus, it looks lovely :)

Directions for cutting out snowflakes can be found HERE, plus, if you Google cutting out snowflakes, you'll find tons of patterns. We like to just start cutting, but sometimes it's nice to gather ideas, too :)

The PDF for the leaf can be found HERE. Begin by making a template out of a heavy paper like cardstock. When it is cut out, fold a piece of green paper in half and place the leaf template on the fold. Using a pencil, press lightly, and trace the leaf on the paper. NOTE: I used marker to trace my leaf for purposes of the tutorial. If you use a light pencil, you won't see any leftover marks.

With the paper folded, cut out the leaf, cutting away the "X"ed sections.

Using fishing line or invisible thread, randomly hang leaves and flowers in your window.

 
A lovely Spring decoration, and a safety feature for your backyard birds :)

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.

Photos 4-28-13,4-30-13

If you've been following me for any period of time, you'll know that over a year ago, we needed to move my dad into a home for dementia patients. It was a very hard decision, but, fortunately, the right one. He is happy there. He thrives in the routine and quiet. And, my Mom can visit with him daily, without being his primary caretaker.

A few days ago, when I went to see him, he was vacant. I couldn't get a response from him... no hint of recognition... and he seemed deep in his own world. I came home and wrote a blog... one I intended to share today. It made me cry... you would have cried when you read it, too. But, yesterday, when we went to visit him for his birthday, it was a wonderful visit. Michelle's children were able to snuggle with him, and there was pure joy on his face. It was a wonderful day.

I know that there will be more and more days when we won't be able to make my dad smile. I know it will continue to get harder and harder to get through to him, but yesterday WASN'T one of those days. Yesterday, if even for a minute, we had a part of "Papa" with us, so no tears today.

EDIT: Just for me... Just for the record... these are photos I took of Dad 2 days ago. A very mysterious disease, indeed...