Samhain, Ancestors & a Parting Ceremony

“In the great circle of life, we hold hands with more than just our present-day physical companians - we also hold hands with the Spirits of the Animals and Trees, the Stones and the Stars - and we hold hands with all Those we love on every plane of being.

Samhain is a time of witnessing the death of summer in preparation for rebirth and spring.

Samhain is a time to honour the ancestors, those that passed before us. This year, for me, that will also include descendants. To mark the passing of Samhain I have chosen to honour ancestors and descendants through the medium of felt using the language of flowers. The Iris symbolises honour and respect.

Samhain is also Celtic New Year. A time for letting go of the old year and things that came to pass and embracing the new. I wish you health, hope and happiness for the oncoming year.

Blessed Be

Green Wisps Necklace

The HERO Initiative

This week Theme Thursday is all about Halloween. I thought about writing what Halloween means to me, Samhain, All Hallows Eve, a time to honour the ancestors, noticing the death of summer and of course MAGIC, fancy dress, parties and FUN.

Thinking back at some of the parties I've been to I can say there is always a Dracula, Cat Woman, Hellboy, a Werewolf or two...

So that got me thinking about Villains, Anti-heroes, those with supernatural powers, our favourite comic and graphic novel characters. My sister lives next door to a very successful comic artist. She's even modeled for him once or twice. I seem to remember she was the model for Judge Anderson on the Placebo album cover her neighbour drew many full moons ago.

Over the past 18 months or so I have noticed this comic artist posting pictures of his work on facebook. Its always refreshing to see art on there instead of the mundane 'tiffany's Coronation St name is...'.

What I have noticed and respected about these pictures is that he has donated the works to the HERO Initiative . The HERO Initiative is a charity set up to help veteran creators ( and their families ) who need financial support and may have been largely forgotten by the industry they helped to forge ; people who were creating comics long before things like royalties and reprint fees became the norm, and whose work may no longer be in vogue, or who simply can't draw anymore. The works below, and 99 others, are being auctioned to raise money for this worthy cause.





Many of the donated works of comic art are being auctioned on Ebay. The starting bid prices are very low. Please click HERE to visit the Ebay auction site and see the wonderful donations available for purchase. Wouldn't they make great and unusual Christmas gifts?

The success of a project like this is in ensuring that as many people are aware of this project as possible. Please feel free to link to this post and circulate knowledge of this project.

Nature Tones Necklace

Fibre Experiments and Autumn Walks

From top left, going clockwise - Bamboo, green alpaca, merino, scoured Norwegian sheep wool.

Made into this large piece of fabric. My camera isn't really doing justice to the felt. The pattern is very pleasing. I was able to make this pattern because the wool had not been carded into rovings. I had to lay out each little bit at a time. My lovely P. helped me :) What you can't see in this picture are accents of green, navy and apricot alpaca running beneath the surface. You can't see the difference in texture between the bamboo and wool, which compliment each other very well.

I intend to make this into a granddad shirt (when I figure out how to use this sewing machine I just bought, quite a scary looking thing it is!)

Autumn leaves are like conkers, you just have to stop and look...


Pine cones smell wonderful on a log fire...

Feed The Birds Day

(Click on image to find out how and what to feed birds)

The 24th-25th October is 'Feed the Birds Days' here in the UK. Feed the birds day aims to remind us of all we can do to help out birds and our garden wildlife. The winter of 2008 was one of the coldest winters in many years. This has forced birds into our gardens in search of food for survival.

With climate change many birds are migrating late or failing to migrate at all and sadly, natural habitats are at threat. Birds and wildlife need our help more than ever.

Top five tips on helping birds this winter

There are so many things you can do in your garden to provide food for all wildlife. And Autumn is a great time to plant something great for wildlife. Over the winter, there are other things we can do. The RSPB have created this top five for us.

• Plant native plants such as hawthorn, ivy and honeysuckle that will provide berries in the winter for adult birds, and insects for young birds in spring
• Make a log pile – it will be the ideal place for insects, fungi, mosses and lichens
• Provide an insect home – insects will spend the winter in these
• Install nesting boxes for birds such as house sparrows, winter hibernation places for hedgehogs, and roosting boxes for bats
• Create a water feature such as a pond or bog garden - much wildlife relies on a regular supply of freshwater

(Click on image to find out how to build this wildlife stack)

Autumn Birds by John Clare

The wild duck startles like a sudden thought,
And heron slow as if it might be caught.
The flopping crows on weary wings go by
And grey beard jackdaws noising as they fly.
The crowds of starnels whizz and hurry by,
And darken like a clod the evening sky.
The larks like thunder rise and suthy round,
Then drop and nestle in the stubble ground.
The wild swan hurries hight and noises loud
With white neck peering to the evening clowd.
The weary rooks to distant woods are gone.
With lengths of tail the magpie winnows on
To neighbouring tree, and leaves the distant crow
While small birds nestle in the edge below.

Traffic - another work in progress

It's Theme Thursday time again. I started this project a few days ago with high hopes of completing it for today. A traffic jam of herded sheep seemed perfect for todays theme. But I've got a nasty flu, might even be that killer 'Man flu' I've heard so much about, I'm sure it must be deadlier for us women :)

So I'm afraid a work in progress is all I can show as I haven't been able to muster up any energy for felting the past day or two. Sorry its not much of a offering.