How to help with the oil spill

Everyone has heard about the oil spill and all the horrid things that are happening because of it.  Did you know there is something you can do about it?  It may be a small thing, but every little bit helps.  You can collect hair and sign up to send it to the people who are making Hair Booms. 

Go here to sign up. http://www.matteroftrust.org/

Here is a You Tube video that shows what a good job the hair booms can do to help clean up the oil spills:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W68L53WkIAw

I sent off a bag yesterday.

Okay, back to our regularly scheduled blog posts...............
Be well. 

Wonky Heart

Here is my latest felted stitched piece.  First I wet felted some colorful roving to a piece of salvaged white wool batting.  I didn't felt it completely and finished with needle felting the roving down a bit better before I began adding the stitched and beaded embellishments.

Here are some close ups

Added a few buttons also.  I am enjoying this slow cloth process.

I don't know if I will do anything else to this piece, the edges might need something but I kind of like it just the way it is.
In other news, I was fortunate to win two giveaways this week!  Wow!  First I won Marie's gorgeous hand made cabochon, I will hope to do something cool with it.  You can find Marie here:  http://mariesegal.blogspot.com/  She is so talented and generous and seems to be just an all around nice person. Thanks, Marie!!
Today I won Tristan's giveaway.  He was giving all sorts of cool art supplies and I was excited to win.  I will be sure and put these things to good use.  Tristan is here: http://tristanrobin.blogspot.com/  He has the most eye candy and the funniest posts anywhere.  It is always a treat to stop by his blog, you never know what to expect.  Thanks Tristan!

Hope everyone is enjoying their week.  It is still raining here, it got up to a toasty 55 degrees today!  Practically let the fires go out it is so warm.  Still some coals there, I believe I shall toss another piece of wood on, warm it back up in the studio here.  No sense making art with cold hands if I can help it.

Listening to Chris Smither today.  Beautiful guitar music and fun lyrics.

Be well.

Natural Hearts

The heart wood from this stump is gone but the heart itself remains.

Here is a definite heart shaped leaf from the Wild Ginger Plant (Asarum caudatum). Unrelated to its Asian namesake, various native and European wild ginger species provide a similar but more subtle flavor. Wild ginger is thought to have antibiotic properties, and Native Americans used this plant to treat headaches, intestinal pain, knee pain, arthritis, indigestion, tuberculosis, colic and as a general tonic.

I am always eager to find the flowers which grow so close to the ground they can't easily be spotted if you aren't searching for them. They look so exotic to me. Definitely worth the effort to find them.

Our weather continues to be cold and wet. The wild plants are thriving, the forest floor is covered in greenery, especially that Miners Lettuce which I am still picking and eating. The good side of this weather is that I am still spending time in the studio, too wet and cold to be out gardening much. Plenty of little garden plants started, some, like cabbages and lettuce are planted out and doing all right. I'm sure if we got a bit of warmth they would really take off. It is a battle trying to keep the slugs out but the copper strips are helping a lot in that area.

I want to send out a welcome to my new followers.  I appreciate your signing up to follow my mutterings and photos on here, I am always surprised to find someone new.  I always appreciate comments, and have been trying to reply to everyone with a private email.  If you don't have a link to your email then I leave comments on my blog.  Thanks to everyone for taking time to write!

Today I'm listening to Andrea Bocelli for a change.

Be well.

Tristan is celebrating with a giveaway!

http://tristanrobin.blogspot.com/  
Tristan is having a giveaway!
Here is what he says on his blog:

So, how do you enter? Easy as pie! Just a leave comment below. If you would like another entry to win, leave a second comment saying you've become/already are are a follower of Enchanted Revelries. If you are greedy (like me!) and want a third chance to win, grab the button below and place it on your sidebar and blog a sentence or two about my giveaway! The button should link right back here!

And, for a fourth chance, be the person who has the most people comment that you referred them here!

So I say, jump on over for this fabulous giveaway, and don't forget to tell him I sent you!  Pretty please!

Nehalem Newt

One day I found this little visitor on the floor in my studio. I have no idea what he thought he was doing in here, searching for a pond? The door was wide open so I suppose he just wandered on in. Could be a she for all I know. These little creatures are newts. They live in ponds but are frequently seen crossing the road on wet days, searching for greener waters. After taking lots of pictures of this one I took him outside and released him near some water and he crept away.

I was inspired to create a little quilt and titled it "Nehalem Newt". Nehalem, because that is the name of the river I live on.

I gave this one to my cousin, Karen. She has it hanging in her dining room and seems to enjoy it still.

This final photo is taken in their natural environment, a pond. Benign creatures. I enjoy seeing them about.

Raining today and my door is open again, who knows what will wander in. I don't have screen doors, I have a sheer cloth hanging over the doorway so Charlie and Rocky can come in and out as they please, but it helps keep the flies out.

Listening to The Avett Brothers today. Nice music.

Be well.

Consider the dandelion

Mossy fungi

It has been a rather cold wet spring around here.  Hard to get a garden going, it is not good to attempt to dig the soil up when it is so soggy.  Other things are growing quite well, as you can see by these photos of moss covered fence posts.  I hope you have time to click on these photos to view these miniature natural gardens up close.

Look at Lisa's giveaway!

Lisa over at http://indigosbeads.blogspot.com/ is having a giveaway of one of her fabulous beaded pieces, pictured above. Go sign up and then look through her blog and her Etsy site for some wonderful beadwork, soon to be featured in a major beading magazine.

Here is a little piece I finished recently. I had that rock in my pocket and I suddenly thought it resembled a Madonna, so I had to put it in a little stitched beaded piece. I'm always carrying rocks around in my pockets. They get smooth after awhile if you carry a couple around and they tumble together in there.

Be well.

Free salad

Here is another wild plant that is abundant around here and quite delicious. Miners Lettuce. It carpets the ground in places in the forest and around the edges. I believe it is called Miners lettuce because it is one of the first edible greens that come up in the spring and the miners, maybe gold miners and such, living out in the wild, would be starving for some greens and eagerly picked this tasty plant. It has a slightly peppery taste but is quite mild.  I suppose any people who went without greens all winter would welcome this plant in the early spring.

It can be picked bare handed, unlike the stinging nettles. I didn't even need to wash it because we have had so much rain here, it was clean as could be. I did check it for bugs but it was ready to eat as is.

Or with some home made dressing. Yum! Notice my fork. Isn't that a beautiful design?  I just love my old silver ware. This pattern is called Evening Star even though it is a flower design, no stars. Eating with old silver ware is so much nicer than using modern stainless steel, to my mouth, anyway.

Bon Appetite!!

Gecko

I finished this needle felted, beaded Gecko last year, and it has been hanging on my design wall ever since. I always thought it would look good on a jean jacket so finally I trimmed it up and stitched it on one, using a blanket stitch.

I like it there, hanging over my shoulder.

It's been raining and windy for the past couple of days. What happened to spring? I remember almost bragging about our early flowers back in March but it has been raining nearly every day for the past two months. It's only about 50 degrees today, I'm waiting for a break so I can go for my walk.

Still listening to Greg Brown, sent out 5 copies of that last show so far.

Be well.