Bill Boyd's Kansas City Jubilee

if it stops pouring we'll be loading up the cars and heading out to the KCI Expo for tomorrow's bear show sale. Set-up is this afternoon followed by the banquet and auction....
Hopefully I'll see some of you there!

New bear...

well... not totally new but with a new look. Just "HAD TO" after I found this neat witch's hat!

I am still making pumpkins... I've already used up more wool than I thought I'd need. I've used two plus boxes of RIT dye and just bought two more.

By the way... my grand daughter Lili wanted to take this bear home with her... the moment she saw him, down he came and into her arms. Luckily I didn't have to say "no"... her mother beat me to it!

UPDATE!!! Hal will be moving to New Mexico along with two other bears!

pumpkins...pumpkins..pumpkins and a spider

I've been having fun dying wool and making pumpkins ... and a spider. Everyone but the David Letterman look-a-like ( the middle one) has sold!

challenge

The needle felting group I belong you has a monthly challenge... and this month's is Halloween.
Here is the first pumpkin of 2008! I think I will "alter" a small wooden cube for him to sit on. I used vintage glass eyes on wires for the eyes. They came from those mink wraps that were the whole mink... head, legs and tail! I have a jar full , leftover from the real fur bears days. I did use superglue to make sure they stay in place.
One of the needle felting challenge requirements is to list the item on etsy.

Fourth one

Here's my fourth little knit then wet felt basket.... and here's a new little rabbit beside it! Should I call him "Peter" after " Peter, Peter Pumpkin eater, had a wife and couldn't keeper.So he kept her in a shell and there he kept her very well" ?

The basket is 4.5" in diameter, 4.5" in height and has a 2.5" opening. It fits nicely into the palms of your hands!

new basket

This is my third basket. I learn more each time. I was amazed at how much it "shrank" and am wondering if I could have made it even smaller.
The fourth basket, which I will add after photographing it, started out bigger and more loosely knit than the first. But when it shrank, it got VERY fuzzy, though it did shrink a lot! I needle felted it to smooth it out and to give it its shape.
This whole process has proved itself to be quite engaging to me. I needed something a little different from "bears and friends"!

Hickory Dickory

a new mousie... 8 inches tall! He's up on etsy.

I'm still having fun knitting and felting baskets. I think I may have finally gotten the wet felting part almost as rigid as I'd like. The only problem is that the basket keeps getting smaller and smaller each time I run it through the washing machine! My latest one is drying currently, but I will post a picture shortly.