Felted Bangles

I love these colors together. They remind me of honeydew melon and long summer days!

Sunday Morning

After spending all day outside doing yardwork yesterday I am really enjoying my Sunday Morning cup of coffee while the family sleeps in. I am a bit sore today to say the least, but the yard is ready for what summer will bring us this year. Our farmer friends delivered a heap of fresh from the farm fertilizer so all that is left is to til the garden. Of course, planting won't be done till the end of May because we still have the chance of more snow up here!

It's been a long winter and and I feel like a bear coming out of hibernation! The birds are singing and the daffidols are blooming.

Voting for the EFC APRIL CHALLENGE ends on the 28th, so if you haven't voted and would like to, please stop by and cast your vote. And don't forget to stop by the EFC Store as there are several items suitable for Mother's Day.

I have been busy creating Felted Wool Bowls this week and have played with some new techniques that have proved successful!

I have found a way to make them bigger without loosing stability. This method takes much longer to make, but well worth the effort. I will be sure to make more!

This bowl measures 8 inches wide and can be used as a fruit basket or perhaps for your rolls at dinner time. It is double knit on the sides for extra stability and will look lovely in any room.


Also new this week is this lovely pot with a 3D daisy on the front... what a lovely unique item for Mother's Day!


And here is one to help you celebrate Memorial Day and the 4th of July!


Hope you all have a great week ahead and that you will stop by my etsy and artfire shops.

My Latest Purchase

Everyone who has been keeping up with our remodel saga knows that for some reason this project is taking a very, very long time. We are currently in our 6th year of the re-do and only have 3 rooms completely finished!

We just finished room 3 and I bought the perfect artwork from emcisaac and couldn't be happier with it!

I have been admiring her work for a long, long time. But with all the dust and remodel work going on here, I wasn't sure which picture to buy. When the room was completed, it was a very easy choice as it is perfect for the look I wanted.

Now that this room is complete we are moving on to the next area - a space that includes a hall way, entry area and a pantry space. I can't wait to get going on it and select more artwork. These are some of my favorites from emcisaac's shop:







Thank you so much Esther!

Etsy Treasuries ~

I love making etsy treasuries but it seems that lately I am either at work or in a deep sleep when they open up. My goal is to have one of the treasuries I curated have a spot on the front page. It hasn't happened yet, but I came close a few times.

The second best thing is being included in a treasury and I can't believe that currently I am in three treasuries (and another as an alternate) at the same time! This is very unusual for me, so I just need to show them off here ~~

Many thanks to ThesePreciousThings for including me in this one ~~


And to ClaryceDesigns for Thingamajigs and WhatNots ~~



And CapeCodConsignments for Treasures ~~




And to Ebruk for including me as an alternate in this lovely white treasury ~~



Thank you so much ladies!!

Romantic Rose Felted Wool Lariat Necklace

Here is my second lariat necklace and I am in love with it.

I donated the first one to EtsyForCharity and it made it to etsy's front page! I think both are pretty cool and they are fun to make.

This one has a rose pin with two leaves attached to the pin and the lariat has 2 leaves. Several different looks can result from this combo ♥♥





Valerie's Gallery on etsy
Valerie's Gallery on artfire

New Felted Bowl

A couple weekends ago, my husband and I went for a drive and we spent the afternoon at the Hardware store in Old Forge, NY.

Now, if you haven't been there before, you may think that this was a very dull trip, but I really LOVE going there. Half the building (a HUGE building) is hardware, tools and all that stuff that men love. The other half has sections of kitchen ware, rustic furniture, a HUGE book store and of course, my favorite ~~ a wonderful yarn section. So this is one shopping trip that we both enjoy and we have been known to shop for hours there.

The local ladies knitting circle was having a meeting while they sat around the table knitting away and as I slowly browsed through the fantastic yarns, I must admit I was listening to everything they were chatting about. It makes me think that I would like to start a knitting circle in my town and already I have ideas on getting one started.

I found some fabulous wools and picked up some colors that I don't normally have on hand... I really like these two together!
What do you think?



Valerie's Gallery on etsy
Valerie's Gallery on artfire

Sunday Morning

Good Morning ~

This past week flew by. I've been making several wool bowls that are on the drying rack as I write, so there will be a great variety of new items in my shop within the next few days. Meanwhile, I was able to list these two brand new bowls that even surprized me how well they turned out!

Wool Nesting Bowls ~ Americana
This set is made with shades of red, white and blue that give them an antique look.















Wool Bowl ~ Field of Violets
My entire front yard blooms with violets each spring, but they only last a few days. That inspired me to make this bowl of violets so they can last all year long!



Don't forget to visit my etsy shop and look for several items that are on Spring Clearance for super savings!

Valeriesgallery on etsy
Valeriesgallery on artfire

Hooker Spotlight ~ UnravelMe

Happy Hump Day ♥ Which reminds me that I haven't featured a Hooker in awhile.

Browsing through the EtsyHooker Team's shops, UnravelMe really caught my eye. Her work is creative, fun and includes housewares, scarves, hats, patterns and all sorts of goodies! I love the colors and textures that combine to give her work that special look.

Come on in and browse around for yourself!

Sunday Morning ~~ Happy Easter

I woke up on this lovely Easter Sunday Morning to find I was included in the beautiful treasury! The colors are perfect for Easter.

Happy Easter everyone!

♥♥ 2000 ♥♥

I have been watching my etsy shop hearts grow since joining etsy in August 2007. Every morning as I sip my coffee the first thing I do is log into my shop and check my hearts. I will browse though their shop if they have one and then browse through their favorites. I have found so many great etsians that way and it has become a morning ritual.

But today I was so excited when I reached 2000 hearts in my shop! This marks a huge milestone for me. Who knew that I would have a great collection of hearts? I love etsy ♥♥♥

My 2000th heart is from flirtbuttons whos shop is filled to the brim with buttons, pocket mirrors, bottle openers, magnets, pendants, earrings, bobby pins, jumbo paper clips, rings and braclets....... Oh, her shop is just the CUTEST!

Here are just some of MY favorites... come find some of YOURS!




Sharon ~~ THANK YOU for visiting my shop and adding me to your favorites! I am just feeling the love today. ♥♥♥

Knit Afghan ~ For the Manly Man

My 22 year old son recently moved to his own appartment. He's a lucky guy and found a great little one bedroom, kitchen, bath and living room flat in a nice neighborhood that is less than a mile from where he works.

After a weekend of moving his bed, dresser and 'stuff' (he has alot of 'stuff') he was quite at home - home without furniture, chairs, kitchen necessities, or groceries. But he was persistant and and wanted to do this on his own, so my husband and I drove away (after doing a bit of grocery shopping to stock the fridge) and let him at it.

The next weekend, he asked us to come visit to see how he had furnished the appartment. He found a great second hand sofa and chair at a great price in sage green and got a couple of his buddies to help him move them in (I'm sure he paid them with a few beers!). Then he bought a roomsize rug to cover the hardwood floors, again in sage green. But his most impressive furnishing is the 62 inch flat screen TV that takes up one complete wall. And that was it... A couch, a chair and a TV. Furnishing is completed! After all, what else does one need? And all in sage green with white wallls... (except for the black tv).

He did a great job... but it definately needs color. So, I rumaged through my yarn stash and found some browns, blacks, greens and white in acrylic (it must be washable!) and started knitting up an afghan for his couch. I set out to make something that would be manly, yet colorful and I think I suceeded.

This project took 2 full weeks of knitting every evening and some marathon knitting on the weekends but was extremely easy. It measures 42 x 56 inches and has a total of 48,544 knits and purls. The basic stitch is a repeat of 8 simple rows and changing up the colors is what makes the pattern pop. It can be made in any size just by adding or subtracting stiches - but always keep an even amount. I bordered it with seed stich around all 4 sides to give it a nice edging.
I think this stitch would make great scarves, baby blankets and if your dedicated enough, even a bed blanket.



Here is the main stitch pattern:
Row 1 : K2, P2 * repeat across row
Row 2 : P2, K2 * repeat across row
Row 3 : Knit
Row 4 : Purl
Row 5 : K2, P2 * repeat across row
Row 6 : P2, K2 * repeat across row
Row 7 : Purl
Row 8 : Knit

Repeat these 8 rows through out entire project

I used size 10 circular needles, but I wanted it loosely knit with 4 ply worsted weight acrylic yarn. Size 8 needles would work for a tighter stitch, but would make it a bit smaller.

I cast on 164 stitches and did 6 rows of seed stitch (K1, P1)
I followed the pattern above with 5 seed stitches at the beginning and end of each row, changing colors as I went along to reach the desired length and then ended it with another 6 rows of seed stitch.

I did a matching pillow in solid brown working in the round. This was made in a tube shape and because it wasn't worked in rows, the pattern goes a bit differently:
Row 1 : K2, P2 * repeat across row
Row 2 : K2, P2 * repeat across row
Row 3 : Knit
Row 4 : Knit
Row 5 : K2, P2 * repeat across row
Row 6 : K2, P2 * repeat across row
Row 7 : Purl
Row 8 : Purl

If you try this easy pattern, I would love to hear from you how it went for you.

He's coming home for Easter dinner on Sunday and I am giving it to him then. I hope he likes it!

Floral Felted Wool Lariat Necklace

Not many folks are buying wool scarves with Spring just around the corner. But that doesn't mean my fingers are idle during these warmer months!

I designed this knit lariat to resemble floral vines, added some crocheted leaves and pretty rose buds and then used a felted rose pin to hold it together. I am pretty pleased with the results!


This lariat combines knit and crocheted work and felted with 100% wool. The large flower is a pin that holds the lariat together, so the pin can dual purpose when the lariat is not worn. Lariat has 3 leaves and 2 rose buds in a lovely rosey pink.


Perfect for Mother's Day gift!

Lariat measures 26 inches long and you can adjust the neck length by where you position the flower pin. Pin measures 2 inches wide.


I am donating this one to EtsyForCharity, but plan to make more for my own shop.

I would love to hear your thoughts and comments! Please leave me a note on what you think!

Congratulations to EFC Challenge Winner

Congratulations to Layla ~~ Winner of the EFC March Challenge!

EFC is a great Etsy Street Team whos member donate items to the EFC shop. All proceeds from sales are donated to a charity of the month which was Save the Children during March. The challenge theme for March was 'Green' and there were many great entries and Layla came out the winner!


Here is the winning entry, which you can purchase from the EFC Shop:




And in layla's shop, you will find everything from fragrant sachets and eye pillows to huge fizzy bath bombs and luscious bars of soap!

And great news - She donates a healthy portion of every sale she makes to It's Meow or Never Animal Rescue & Sanctuary - meeeeow! She is also a proud member of Etsy for Animals (efa): etsyforanimals.com, Seattle's EtsyRain and EtsyVeg.

So take a stroll over to the EFC Shop or Layla's and have fun shopping, knowing that you will be helping others!
Just check out these goodies ~~