I'm feeling felty!

So I'm going a little bit crazy at the moment. It's one week into the fall semester and I don't have a teaching placement yet. I'll spare you the tedious details but essentially this means that the lesson plans I should have two weeks to create will have to be done in one week...or less! This, of course, is driving me batty. If worrying were an Olympic sport I would surely medal. So I'm trying to distract myself in the meantime by thinking of a few projects to finish up before I'm totally swamped with classroom hours and backbreaking coursework. That brings me to my felt garlands! To say I have an obsession with felt would be putting it lightly. Felt is the perfect material for every crafting task: it's the perfect combination of kitsch and versatility! For the past 2 1/2 years I've been working on felt garlands for each holiday. I sort of go in waves with this long-term project. I'll get on a roll with one holiday, finish that garland and then get all excited to start on the next one only to get halfway through and then abandon the project until the next year. I'm usually pretty annoyed with myself when I don't finish a project but for some reason I'm pretty easy going about these and willing to let them drag on for years. I guess I see the garlands as something that I hope will become a fixture in our family holidays, something Ophelia will look back on or see in photos and remember there being a special garland for every holiday. So who cares if it takes me years to make the whole set? Heck, I'll probably start inventing holidays to make garlands for eventually. A nice garland of dentures for Grandparents Day? Staplers for Administrative Professionals Day? No?

It all started with this Easter garland.

 

Next were the hearts for Valentines Day. They're currently in a knotty mess since I didn't properly store them after last Valentine's Day (tsk tsk) so just pretend they're very neatly arranged. I loved them so much that I hung them in Ophelia's nursery when she was first born. She was a February baby, after all!

I made these mustaches last Father's Day. It took a me and a friend days to come up with an icon to represent dads that wasn't neckties! Down with classist representations! (snort)

Most recently I whipped up these Fourth of July stars.

And now we're on to these puppies!

Last fall I started working on an autumn leaves garland. Not a holiday per say, but it seems like a crying shame to go from Fourth of July to Halloween without a garland change. I've done most of the blanket stitching around the leaves but I'd like to do a handful more to really fill out the whole string. I'll post a completed picture of the garland hopefully within the next week.

I'm going to warn you now that even though it's technically still summer, you're about to get inundated with craft, sewing and baking posts for fall. September always sets me off on this mad dash to get in as many autumn-related festivities as possible before Christmas. So I hope you won't get too annoyed if I post 75 pumpkin recipes in the next couple of weeks. Just kidding. Sort of.

xo

Mama MacGyver