The first nest

There are some things you can't learn early enough and among those is how to choose a comfortable spot for hanging out - literally in this case.

Melisande and Schwabhild, the new arrivals in the farmyard, were lucky to have a mother and aunts who are experienced in that sort of thing and found the perfect nests for the girls from where they don't just have a great view, but in which they can also swing!
You can tell from their wide eyes that there is truly a lot to see there.
So many new experiences for a pair of little chicks 💕

Melusine

I guess it had to come like this. Melusine had to try this after her sister Eulalia did and found it was surprisingly comfortable ... ;-)
A trend started?

Eulalia and the new nest

Eulalia was not like the other chickens. If they did one thing, Eulalia did another, just to show it could be done.
One thing of those was that she absolutely refused to build her nest inside the coop. She needed something for herself, something different, something that was just hers, and she found it.
It was a very comfortable little basket, as if it were made especially for her and there was even some nice hay in it for extra comfort.
The others began to eye her a bit jealously ... I wouldn't be surprised if more of them follow suit, but what will Eulalia say to that?

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Fall harvest

"You may use any materials you wish and interpret the theme in a way that makes you think of a Fall Harvest."
That's what our Jewelry Artisans Community challenge mistress wrote.
I had a plan almost right away, but was stopped in action because I couldn't find the essential item for said plan.
It's so embarrassing, I started looking for it on August 22 which was when the challenge was posted, I nagged about not finding it on August 27, then again on September 20 announcing that it was driving me nuts, and I found it on September 29 - IN EXACTLY THE PLACE I HAD LOOKED FOR IT THE FIRST DAY AND AT LEAST FIVE TIMES AFTER THAT!! Not mentioning all the other possible spots.
I had been looking for a box in my drawer, but I had already taken the baggie out of the box and thought it was something else.

I know that you can't wait to hear about my plan now.
It includes one of my little wire crochet baskets. No, don't leave! I'm not harvesting yarn.
The mystery item is a cute little Halloween pumpkin from clay (actually there are two, but I only used one).
Sounds like an easy challenge, doesn't it? I harvested a pumpkin from the haunted garden, put him in a little basket and took it home. What will happen there, no one knows yet.

Not that easy, actually. The pumpkin is not a bead, but a charm with a little loop at the top. How was I supposed to attach the little one in the basket if I didn't want to glue him in (which I obviously didn't)?
The only way to do it was to attach him to the handle.
So first I had to work out what size to make the basket, so I could fit the pumpkin in without hiding his face, but also without him slipping out. Then I started wrapping my handle as usual, but added the pumpkin in the last two wrapping cycles. So far, so good.
Now all I needed were some green wire tendrils. If you wonder how a harvested pumpkin manages to wrap all his tendrils around the basket handle, you have obviously forgotten that he comes from the haunted garden.

Next up was the basket filling. I couldn't just let the pumpkin dangle from his tendrils in there, it didn't look right.
After trying it with wire at first, I settled for a nice dark green needle felt cushion instead. You can only see that a little in the picture, but it's actually very important for my little pumpkin to sit on very comfortably.
He sure looks very happy with it :-)

Tackle that stash - Hugo's nap

Both Hugo and his beloved ball have been around for a while, one being glass, the other being a shimmering Polaris bead, and they got tired of having to wait for their favorite napping spot.
The basket had been around for a while as well, waiting to be filled up.
So what has been keeping me, you ask? That's easy to say. I can't sew.

My plan for this had been to give Hugo a nice cushion to sit on. I scrounged some fabric off my sewing neighbor and - failed. Oh, so miserably. I can't sew. I never learned it, but you should think I would be able to make a little pillow? Maybe I gave up too early, I don't know.
In the end, however, I did one of the things I do best. I simply crocheted a little afghan in two shades of blue. Hugo seems to be okay with that, he's snuggled up in it right away as you can see. Blue seems to be his favorite color, anyway. I mean, look at his ball, it fits right in!

Picking pearls

Have you ever wondered what mermaids are doing all day?
If you have seen Disney's "The Little Mermaid", probably not. Well, I have thought about them long before the movie came out (that I by the way never have seen to the end). Andersen's tale is one of my favorites.

Today I imagined a little mermaid getting ready for lunch. Just as you would go out into the garden to fill up your basket with beautiful flowers for the table, she maybe would swim out into her garden and pick pearls ...

This is the mermaid Catherine's fine silver basket, crocheted from wire and filled with freshwater pearls.
Catherine likes to share, so you can find this basket in my ArtFire studio now.

Francie doll goes shopping

About one and a half weeks ago a project that I started went into a totally different direction, like so often.
Out came a line of small and very small baskets crocheted from wire.
When I showed them in my forum, not quite knowing myself what I wanted to do with them except fill them up - with whatever - , Sue, another member, brought up the idea to put wire yarn in there and one of my kitty heads.
The yarn part was easy. This fine silver basket is not even an inch high, I will add a bail if requested, so it's possible to wear it as a pendant or take the bail off, else you can just decorate it.


About the kitty head I wasn't so sure. Two-dimensional was not what I had in mind. What to do? Polymer clay? The last time I played with clay was at a friend's house with his child. Must have been like 15 years ago and my pretzels were not exactly life-like. So what? I went to town and got myself some clay.

I should have known something like that would happen! When "Charlie" was finished, he didn't know anything better than to jump into a basket full of colorful yarn and play with it! And still he has that look on his face "No, Mom, it wasn't me, the yarn attacked first, I had to defend myself!"


Here is Francie, the doll (please Mattel, don't kill me for saying her name out loud), showing the latest fashion in baskets.
She just came home bringing cucumbers, oranges and a bottle of wine (I don't even want to know what kind of supper this is going to be, but everyone to his or her own taste, right?).


Then she remembered she still had to go by the farmer's house and get some eggs for a cake. A big cake, it seems.



To be true, I don't know myself what is going to happen next, but you'll be sure to find the answer here in my blog eventually. It might surprise me just as much as you. Or maybe not. Who knows?