A Wink from Above

As many of you have figured out by now, I have been immersed in wool from sweaters - turning them into usable items such as mittens, hats and wraps.

This weekend was the fruition marker as I invited others into my home to a once-yearly boutique in which these items would find new homes and a part of my proceeds would go towards World Relief projects involving clean water procurement around the world. What we take as such a given here is not the case elsewhere and it tugs deeply on my heart strings.

And now I will digress a bit.  I named my little design endeavor based on two things: 

1.  My name origin is Hebrew and Biblical. (And peaked in popularity in the 1950s and has never been my dream name BTW) and refers to a bee, and the industrious nature of the bee.

2. My nickname in college was Dooby. I think I have blogged in the past that this name related more to ROMPER ROOM than the BROTHERS.🎸

So the label name on my stuff is this:

DoobeeDo Designs.

And while I love projects involving sewing, the truth is that it is awkward and weird for me to be a seller...not in my comfort zone at all. However, I am passionate about working with my hands to reach a goal of donating based upon manual labor on my part. And cushy manual labor at that in a warm (or cool) home, thirst quenched. with shelter above, and a full belly to boot. So I push on in spite of my doubts to make it work.

 

In spite of freaking out at times in the process with questions such as:

Will they be offended  (house party...ewww!) if I ask them to come for this?  

Will they like what I have to offer?  

Will they think I am ripping them off with prices charged? 

My front porch

So yesterday was the day of reckoning: the Buzz Sale. At my house.

I put the swag bunting up on our porch,

placed a vintage suitcase full of felted sweaters on the chair on our porch

 

And lastly put out a pot of fresh, colorful mums behind the suitcase. And reflected about all my doubts, said a prayer that the boutique would go well and opened my eyes and in the middle of the bouquet was a

Bee.  And bee season here is over.

I like to think of this bee as an affirmation wink from God.

Thank you to all who came to my BUZZ sale this year!  You mean the world to me and I am hoping for some children to get clean water on your behalf. And that you, in turn, are warmed by what you purchased today... inside and out.

The Annual Family Halloween Bash

With 11 in our family now, I really can call it a bash! This year, though, it was a bash with a twist in that a few of the family members didn't know beforehand that this was the party.  They just thought it was a family dinner at the City Nest. No one came in costumes.

Upon arrival, there was a little craft table set up for the kiddos.

Dinner would soon be served.  (Costco to the rescue with a delicious chicken pot pie, apple slices to swirl in a creamy caramel apple dip and a chocolate cake purchased at a church bake sale.)

Meanwhile, hiding in the shower stall was my secret: a costume for me and grocery bags stocked with costumes for everybody!

A black dress with a with hat and striped socks is easy to throw on!

I slipped into the bathroom, donned my costume and came out with the bags.  Cackling. I may or may not of scared my Grands with this raucous cackling.

Glad I saved that pumpkin necklace from teaching days!

I took the three oldest into another room to change into their costumes: KMan into a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle (his Dad had his own costume years ago that wore out), Miss M into a Little Witch and Miss E into a Red Fairy.

Laughter and movement could be detected coming from outside our dressing room - the adults had opened their bags of costumes as well as the ones for the two babies. CarMan was an adorable referee and Miss H was a Forest Nymph.

Their parents consisted of a skeleton man,

Pippi, an orange-haired ice cream vendor and a French maid.

Oh, they are the Good Sports, aren't they?

We played Halloween bingo after dinner.  Candy treats for every "Bingo" kept them all interested until the cards were filled!

Then there was story time for the kids. There was chaos.

My witch hat collapsed in the process.

 

We sure had a lot of fun!

It's such a treat to be with our family!

Meant to. But didn't.

 

I meant to do a blog post about the Nelson Sisters going to Branson and how we had so much fun hanging around with fellow tourists (see above) who made us feel young, zippy and vibrant as we went to shows and hung around by the pool.  But I didn't.

 

I meant to do a post about celebrating the 60th birthdays of our great friends, Marny and Tracy, with our other great friends, Mark and Carol. But I didn't.

 

I meant to do yet another post about being inspired by artwork  at ArtPrize in Grand Rapids Michigan. (You really should go next year!!!)   But again, I didn't.

Then I meant to do a post about our fall cabin trip and our annual walk (almost) around the lake. But I didn't.

I also meant to write about a very special wedding we attended not long ago where there was a lot of sweetness and bubble blowing. But again I didn't reach my intention. 

Add to the list of meaning to, but didn't: the trip to and tour of the classic Marshall Field's on State Street with my sister's book club after reading the book What the Lady Wants by Renee Rosen. Shown above: the group and the stunning Tiffany Dome.

I also meant to write about the fun we had at our recent alma mater Homecoming 2015. At 

which we were joined by our family in a crazy Photo Booth session. But I didn't!

What about that SCH Gala we went to that we referred to as a Prom for grown ups? Nope, didn't blog about that either.

 

 

 

With all these missed blogging opportunities, I resolve I am absolutely positively committed to writing about our wacky family Halloween party that happened already. Nine days before the Real Deal. In which glitter, Mylar strands of orange and hot pink and every toy in the place ended up on the floor and one certain Turtle decided to add his own "deposit" to the scent of the Costco pot pie baking in the oven.  At least he meant to and DID IT!!

Do You Recognize Your Sweater?

Today is a "Sweater Weather" sort of day where I live. However, that is bound to change with the upcoming forecast. 

In actuality. though, most of my days lately have been sweater-weather kinds of days as I progress on

my creations with felted sweaters.  (Some days it is just a bit too much to deal with all that wool when it is so stinkin' hot outside.)

 

Last year I embarked upon my dream of starting up a little once-a-year boutique in my house with

sweaters turned into flowers, hats, mittens, scarves, bags, etc. and I thought I would gave another go at it this year.  My sweaters come from here and there, and friends who give their

woolly wonders to me to work on. 

Therefore, you will remain publically un-heralded in case your husband or in-laws gave you this sweater. However, I send you a huge

THANK YOU

for helping me with your former treasures.

This is how they often look once I have worked my Edward Scissorhands skills with them!

 

 

2 headwraps, 2 pr. mittens, 1 pillbox, triangles for swag, ball wedges ribbing that will turn into flowers and scraps. 
Gotta keep those scraps!

This wool was so thick and lovely!

 

Never underestimate the use of ribbing!

 

 

Because of having a Grand-daughter who is a big fan of her AG doll,

those smaller scraps are turning into cold-weather gear for 18 inch friends.

 

Those mitten are realllly tiny!

Hat, vest, sweater, mittens and snow pants,,,,Brrrr!

 

Please know you are invited to come to my little boutique on

 Sunday, November 8, 1:30 - 5:30 pm.

Pepparkakor and Glogg served!

First Attempt

Years ago, my great friend Carol introduced me to something I had never heard of before:

 

The Fairy Garden!

 

 

I was visiting her in Maine and we had an outing to the lovely Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens. (Nice to be a member of the Chicago Botanic Gardens which allowed me free entry to this garden as well!)

 

We walked past the Pinecone Sculpture trail and along the Shoreland Trail and there, tucked away in the woods, were little fairy houses made completely from the findings

of the forest floor.  Who made these?  Folks wee and small and those with imaginations that never quite grew up...and I vowed that someday I would make a fairy house, too.

 

See?  Smack dab in the middle of this map?

This vow was made even before Grandchildren entered the picture.  And last week, it was time to gather up Miss E and Miss M, head out to the woods near our cabin in the North Woods and summon that imagination and create an inviting home for a Yooper Fairy!

Easy to find fairy fixin's in the woods:  birch bark, moss, twigs and rocks.

We decided to make a little camp for our fairies between two tree trunks...and of course we needed to make a path so these fairies could go back and forth for regular visits.

Miss M found her calling as a rock gatherer.

Here is my fairy house.  A little hole in the ground was carved out with a stick, and a flat-top rock was placed over that hole.  On top of the rock were bark pieces and five shells -

Miss E, the scavenger, raided them from our neighbor's sand supply (Sorry, Nordlunds and Anderson's).  Pine cones and moss were added as landscaping.



A couple of tiny purple and yellow flowers were added to the shrubbery.

Meanwhile, the neighborhood was expanding...



 

Miss E was creating her own world as well.  She stacked rocks on top of rocks

to create her tiny dwelling, then placed rotting forest bark as a roof on top of these rocks.

Because of its larger-than-mine size, I think this is going to be the pace for larger

groups to gather to socialize - more fluttering wing room!!

 



 

 

We ended up with a lot of extra birch bark and pine cones, so we did some

additional landscaping and added a "barking" lot - ha!



 

 

It's funny how these fairies work...both of us were just sure things were happening in this

little clearing that we made for our little winged sprites as we stepped away.

Like a rock that was white turning into a rounded gray stone....like a flower that was moved to a doorway from a moss bush...like a piece of bark shifting its position...like a pine cone

separating from its group.

 

Let us never forget the magic of childhood.  Or fairy power!

 

A Very Hairy Birthday to You!

 

Kari, John, Wes, Anne, Jed

Yes, it's that time of year once again.  The five adults (not me) in our family all celebrate their birthdays within about a three week time span. Our usual routine is to celebrate them all together while on vacation at our cabin in the North Woods of the Upper Peninsula in Michigan.  I come up with a goofy theme, prepare accordingly and then we have our bash.

 

But this year we had a couple of twists in the celebrating: the births of two more kiddos and the passing of our Patriarch who also liked to celebrate with us.  The time to have the party was uncertain...but certainly our time together would be more "hairy" in the jargon of past years referring to chaotic times.  This got me to thinking of the theme

"It's Getting Hairy Around Here!"

and I was off and running with the use of moustaches to represent the hairy part.
 





Moustaches, headbands, treat bags, stamps, stickers, head coverings..

So I headed out to Hobby Lobby, Dollar Tree, thrift stores and my own supply cabinet and got busy.  I packed a bag full of these items and waited.  And waited. And waited a bit more until we headed up North with the family as we gathered to have a graveside service for Elder. If the

opportunity came, I was set to do the first EVER combined birthday party as a

Surprise Party!

And for the first time, it would include most of the siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews!

The food would be the dinner planned by Renee - our family "Foodie" who makes everything

soooo good.

With the moustache gift wrap and napkins from my bag, the table décor took on a party feel!.

Two cakes for 23 people seemed about right.  One was for the younger kids "UnBirthday" Party
and the other I brought along with candy and popcorn.

We lucked out with weather that allowed us dining el fresco!

Once the eating was taken care of, it was time for the group to come on over to the

Woodsy Photo Booth.

All those props came out of my pre-packed party bag.  I hung a blue table cloth from a clothesline, pulled up a bench and we were ready to go.  I used my cell phone to take the pictures...it was a snap!

Miss E and Papa

 

MeMo with the Grands

Who is this Moustached Miss? Our youngest party goer, Miss H!

Two birthday celebrants with three googly-eyed girls!

Two more birthday celebrants with a uni-browed baby and a son who's lookin' for gold!

Oldest Sister and F

Younger Brother and family

 Youngest Sister and family


Every party could use a blindfold and challenge, right? Miss M and cousin L made this
"Melody" person for us to "pin" moustaches on her face. (They named her.)

Miss E and Miss M loved this game!

Finished the game with all 23 moustaches in place.  Poor Melody!

 

 

Here's our gang no longer in disguise.  Thanks, one and all, for going along with this party-planner --- I know you were good sports!

 

And, Happy Birthday to EVERYBODY!!