Where has the time gone?

It was recently pointed out to me that it has been forever since I posted to my blog. I didn't think it was that long ago until I looked at the last post-2009! Holy cow-where has the time gone? It seems like I have lost a whole year, and in looking back, I think I know why. I was in a car accident last March that left me in pain for just about a year now, culminating in a hip replacement last month.

I lost a whole season of gardening-my passion.

I missed an open house at a friend's Friesian farm in Vermont-another passion.

I missed the sleigh ride I had planned to take this winter.

I missed the Rhode Island Flower show last month, and it looks like I'll miss the Boston Flower Show as well. Very bummed about that, as I'm anxious for Spring to get there and the flower shows tide me over until gardening season starts.

I made the Reinbeck fiber festival last fall, but it was hard to see everything due to difficulties walking.

Why did this happen to me? Ask the woman who had to reach down to her car floor to pick up her cellphone, not knowing that we had stopped for a red light. She hit me going probably over 30 mph, without even putting on her brakes.

Cell phone + Car= Evil.

On a brighter note, I discovered a fiber that is to die for at Reinbeck-Suri Llama! it is pricey, but oh so soft. These cool dudes are Suri llamas, and were actually pretty sweet, for llamas.

This hungry guy is a cute alpaca-one of my favorite fibers to spin, especially when plied with angora bunny fiber-yummy and soft!

There were other fun things to see besides animals and fibers-pumpkins! All in all, we had a fun time-now looking forward to the Maryland Shep and Wool Festival this year!

Beauty is where you find it

Yesterday was not a day I would consider to be creative or fun-it was chicken coop cleaning day! Nothing kills the fun (and bugs) like scraping poo off of perches, but it is very important to keep my girls healthy. I rounded out the fun of the day by going to the DPW and picking up about 15 buckets of wood chips to mulch a pathway, so I was exhausted by the time I got my first glimpse of beauty-a lovely soft pink moth sitting on a weed. I would have missed seeing it if I hadn't looked at the weed to try to see what it had for blooms, and there it was! I thought the moth was a flower and it might as well have been one!

Isn't this one of the prettiest bugs you've seen?

Any idea of what kind of moth it is? Me neither, but I will find out one day.

New to facebook

I finally got talked into creating a facebook account, so more time will be consumed sitting in front of the computer instead of actually doing anything, sigh..

Look for me there-Terry Boczar

Spin, spin, spin

I have been lucky enough to attend two sheep and wool festivals so far this year and have brought home some yummy stuff. I am new to raw fleece but I felt very left out at the NH S&W because I wan't lugging around a large bag of smelly wool, so I took the plunge and bought myself a lincoln fleece just to blend in with the crowd.

I am in the process of washing it-I tried spinning it as is-(in the grease) and decided I didn't like the way it made my spindle feel. Plus it is a little smelly and I don't want to irritate my DH, who might notice the smell as I spin while watching TV with him. It does wash up nicely though, with little effort on my part. I'm carding some with my cheap version of hand cards-dog slicker brushes plus I'm blending some with angora fiber-I just love the bunny wool!

Since this is a very multi-colored fleece, I'm seperating out the white parts to try my hand at dyeing, maybe next month during my vacation.

Spin on!

The Forest Boyz

Well, instead of doing anything creative I have spent the morning messing around online. One of my friesian yahoo group members sent us this video of her 3 friesian stallions playing. I get tears in my eyes everytime I see these guys-they are just so beautiful! Enjoy.

http://vimeo.com/3100750

Cheers and hugs,
Terry

Good bye to January-hello hand made

Whew! I'm glad January is over-it's been a very busy new year already. It has been way to cold here with too much snow. But I love New England with the changing seasons and plan on being here for quite a long time.

Creatively speaking, I met up with a group of local etsy-ians last weekend and had a ball. It is very refreshing to be around people who encourage, enable and are interested in creating. In our world of cheap chinese knockoffs, original handmade articles become very important in maintaining our personal identity. It gives me a special warm feeling inside whenever I wear something made just for me, or is one of a kind. I know that when I wear one of my own knit scarves, I won't be seeing it on someone else unless I gave them one. I'm teaching myself to knit, so all my female friends/relatives got a crazy scarf for Christmas. I embellish some of my purchased clothing with my embroidery, so even though the shirt may have came from Wallyworld, or my new favorite for sales-Tractor Supply, I know that my shirt won't look like the billion others sold at the same outlet.

I have 3 pieces of jewelry that means so much to me because they were made just for me. I worked with a lady many years ago who was taking silversmithing classes at the Sharon Center for the Arts. I had Jean made me a sword pendant with a red stone in the hilt. The pendant even has a name-Kalnardaril, the enchanted blade (from my D&D days). The blade is a 2 of a kind- Jean loved the way it came out so made one for herself.

The 2nd piece was also made by Jean, not for me but rather for my departed mother. My mom loved southwestern style jewelry, so I commissioned a torquoise and coral ring-the stones wrapped with a leaf. When my mom passed, my dad gave me the ring back. I remember her and Jean everytime I wear it.

My last piece is a pewter unicorn pendant. I visited a shop in Mississippi when I was in the Air Force that made pewter jewlery on site. They had a series of chinese zodiac pendants-one being a cool horse. The designer and I took the horse and modified it into a unicorn for me. As far as I know it is a one of a kind. Note I said "as far as I know". Maybe he made more, who know? In my mind it's one of a kind.

I had stolen someone else's idea to create something on my felting machine each week and journal the creative process. I had hoped to start last month, but life got in the way (as well as embroidering 200 paw print beads for a promo). I hope to get started this week as soon as I write the newsletter for my garden club. I have one project started, so finishing it will most likely be the first of the weekly experiments. Keep an eye here for the results of my felting projects.
Cheers and hugs to all,
Terry

Happy new year!

It's a brand new year, full of opportunities to create. learn and laugh. My mind is crammed full of projects waiting for my hands to get busy. I decided to add to my crafting skills and love of soft beautiful fibers a few months ago by trying to teach myself to knit. I now have a nice collection of scarves and a soft wool wrap that is keeping me warm as I write this. I have graduated to round cat toys and hope to learn how to make a hat next. I really would like to learn to read a pattern one of these days! I have a growing collection of wool roving for my little felting projects and the thought has occurred to me to try to spin my own yarn, so I bought a pretty drop spindle. Next task is to learn how to use it. I have found a few videos on YouTube, so I have faith that I can do it.

I have been working on my etsy shop at www.BlackHorseEmbroidery.etsy.com. I have made a few sales, which makes me happy, since sitting all day at craft fairs is not my favorite activity. I would much rather sit at my sewing machine. I did sell my lovely horse quilt, which was both good and bad-I was getting attached to it and would not have been too sad to keep it. I guess I'll have to make one for myself.