The theme for one of my April artist trading card swaps was paperless. It was quite a challenge! We weren't allowed to use any paper whatsoever, and I had a hard time figuring out what to do.

I experimented with metal, Fun Foam, Shrinky Dinks, and other materials before settling on needle felting.

My sister thoughtfully sent me a bouquet of flowers at work the other day, and I brought them home on Friday to enjoy over the weekend. While attempting to photograph them, Charlie decided to strike a pose. I love how this one turned out-- he looks like a superhero who just sensed the bat signal. (Cat signal?)

Friday night I treated myself to a pedicure and an issue of Somerset Studio magazine. That magazine gets my creative juices flowing. I stayed up until two in the morning working on this collage.

I'm working on some simple knitting projects, completing a few rows each day. For the above striped wash cloth, I'm using Blue Sky Alpacas Skinny Dyed Organic Cotton. It's loverly.

This one is going to be a mat for an end table. The yarn is called Geranium from Needful Things, and it's a combination of linen, acrylic, and viscose. I love the turquoise blue running through it.

I recently found this booklet of felted projects at a craft store. It doesn't include much in the way of detailed instructions, but the pictures are inspiring.

You know how you hear those stories about people who clean out their attic or closet and find a valuable treasure, like a rare baseball card or a Monet painting? Well, it happened to me. Sort of.

While cleaning out my closet I found this not-so-rare and valuable-only-to-me tiny felted bag! I made it about a year ago and forgot about it. A cute blank canvas for needle felting!

I decided to test drive my Clover Needle Felting Appliqué Mold to see if I could make a flower for it. The flower turned out pretty good, but it’s awfully thick. Next time I won’t use as much roving in the mold.

Then I found another treasure. I bought it at a craft fair last Christmas and tucked it away in a kitchen drawer. It’s a gift card holder made with a vintage postcard in a clear plastic cover. I t has a stamp and postmark on it-- it was sent from Crabtree , Oregon in 1910. I can see a tiny bit of the letter inside, written in pencil and addressed to Martha in neat handwriting, but I can’t read too much of it without taking it apart.

Wouldn ’t this make a nice birthday present with a gift card from some place good, like Michael’s or Joann’s or a place that sells cupcakes?





Today really was a day for treasures. My Amazon.com order arrived:



And I saw a Great White Heron on an afternoon walk along the creek with my dad.




The birds were out in force at Almaden Lake.





I wonder what tomorrow will bring. Hope your weekend is full of treasures, too.

I made this envelope purse so I could practice decorating it with my new needle felting skills. I knit it with Lion Brand Wool and and then felted it in the bathroom sink. The strap is a felted I-cord.

The pitcher was made by Teresa Wik of T Pots Pottery . I was given several pieces of her pottery as gifts, and I adore her work.

The swirlies are needle felted sock yarn. The button is needle felted, too.

More swirly-whirlies on the back ...

I didn't write down the pattern for the purse, but here is what I remember-- I used size US 11 needles and knit it in one long strip, and then created the flap by doing a K2TOG at the beginning and end of each row. I seamed up the sides and attached the strap inside along the seams after felting.

The Lion Brand Wool felts up nice and thick.

It's my favorite kind of Sunday-- rainy. Outside, birds are twittering, and inside, I'm puttering around in my pajamas, chatting with the cats and indulging in my new obsession, needle felting. I'm so glad I took that class at Stitches! The instructor, Debbie Radtke, who designed these charming hedgehogs , made it fun and stress-free. She encouraged us to experiment and play with the needle felting, likening it to finger painting.

I pulled this felted PDA case out of my drawer last night and got to work. I made it a few years ago based on a pattern from Leigh Radford's Alterknits , but I felted it too much-- it turned out too thick and too tiny, which is why it was stuffed away in a drawer with my other knitting mishaps. But the needle felting has breathed new life into it.

Here it is before:

And here it is after:

The ceramic button is the work of Carol Milich. I adore her buttons! Here are a few more I bought at an antique store in Boulder Creek last summer.

I also worked on the Kureyon bag last night. First, I decided to line it. I bought some cotton fabric at Joann's , but I don't know how to sew, so I had to turn to my handy-dandy Girl's Best Book of Knitting, Sewing and Embroidery for guidance.

I'm glad you can't examine my stitches closely because they are rather awful. But I did manage to line the bag.

Then I attached a leather handle I bought at Stitches on Friday. These handles are kinda different-- the buttons really do go on the inside of the bag.

The bag has a million imperfections, but that's okay. It'll work as a shopping tote or a book bag. And at least I got to practice my sewing skills.

The needle felting class was awesome. Here are a couple samples I made in the class ...

The short row class was disappointing-- too much info to cram into one hour. Here is the scarf that was our class project ... you can't tell yet, but the short rows are going to give it a wavy effect.

I bought this purse handle from Homestead Heirlooms , which I assembled for the photo. It consists of two dowels, two finials, and two leather straps.

I also bought two skeins of Kollage Corntastic, which is made of 100% corn fiber. I'm going to use it to make Elisa's Nest Tote .