Friday, August 7, 2009

Felted Playscape













The Flowers
By
Robert Louis Stevenson


All the names I know from nurse:
Gardener's garters, Shepherd's purse,
Bachelor's buttons, Lady's smock,
And the Lady Hollyhock.

Fairy places, fairy things,
Fairy woods where the wild bee wings,
Tiny trees for tiny dames--
These must all be fairy names!

Tiny woods below whose boughs
Shady fairies weave a house;
Tiny tree-tops, rose or thyme,
Where the braver fairies climb!

Fair are grown-up people's trees,
But the fairest woods are these;
Where, if I were not so tall,
I should live for good and all.

Over the course of two days, I had the urge to needle felt a larger playscape for the girls which will be used in our first grade to retell stories in our Three Day Rhythm. At the CHN Expo, we were able to take some extra wool that one presenter in the Home Arts area brought for the attendees. It was beautiful, multicolored wool that lent itself "perfectly" to the playscape I envisioned...a grassy knoll, a beautiful apple tree, a stream by a pond with cat-tails and flowers, a bit of sand by a tiny beach, a small flowered hill for the bunnies to eat their blossoms, a cave and a little camp fire for the woodland gnomes and elves who come to pick the fruit of the tree & wash their clothes near the river's edge...

I love how meditative felting is. I've said it before and will say it until my needle felts its last, but I love to needle felt. I will have to tell Tony that we will soon need to buy our own sheep so that I can continue to felt without breaking the bank with the cost of all that beautiful wool - LOL!

Anyway, here are some pictures of its construction...

And now, I want to make one even larger! Hmmmm...I sense a future etsy shop in the works ;D

10 comments:

  1. Oh I wish I could come listen to you tell your stories using these playscapes!!!! They are wonderful!!!!

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  2. Oh it is beautiful! I am sure the little dove right in!

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  3. Your felted playscape is just so beautiful :) You are very talented :)

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  4. The playscape is lovely. Great job! You have become such a pro needlefelter. The tree looks perfect on it. I'm glad that you were able to go to CHN. Maybe we'll go next year. :)

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  5. Hi guys - thanks for the comments :) Yes the girls have made off with the playscape and I keep finding it in different areas of the house with all sorts of critters (of all sizes) trying to fit into the cave - lol! It's fun :)

    And Jennifer - I so hope you guys can make it to the Expo next year! Phaedra taught a session this year and they do have home arts with lots of fun sessions (knitting, crochet, Japenese braiding, crewel embroidery, felting, origami, etc)...Jim Weiss comes every year and the Fortes who run Excellence in Education in Monrovia & Dr. Stephen Guffanti are there. It's very family oriented and they have TONS of things for the kids to do (like 10,000 keva planks, puppets, dressups, games, and this year they did mask making, hat making, archaeology, making paper airplanes, etc etc) - there is even a teen dance for ages 13 +...lots and lots of fun!

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  6. Jen,

    WOW~ I have wanting to do one of those for years now..I may try..Today, we are needle felting cats! Must be going around... I will post.. Yours is awesome!

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  7. Donna - can't wait to see you kitties :) Needle felting is so much fun. I'm sure your playscape will be amazing. The girls love needle felted animals, too!

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  8. Jen- PLEASE tell me how you made that tree!! I am struggling here...

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  9. How did I miss this post? This has been one of my near-future goals. ;-)

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