Friend and artist, Patricia Hedegaard had a doll and cookie swap over the winter holidays and I participated, albeit a little bit behind schedule.  Which worked out well as I ended up swapping with another dawdler who just happens to be someone I was very excited about making a doll to live with her.

I knew that her doll was a wee creature of the great Pacific Coast redwood forests, where she currently lives.  I knew he was a he.  That was all I knew until he started to form beneath my fingers.



Here he is almost ready to bake.  You can tell already that he is a kindly soul.





And here he is all ready for his travels.





See his walking stick?  The gazing stone on the top of his stick serves a very important purpose.  It helps him to judge the health of the deep redwood forests.  For, you see, he is The Mist Maker.  He keeps a close eye on it. And speaking of eyes, sometimes you can see the mist forming deep within them.  He can tell when the forest is too dry, or too wet (although too wet is pretty unlikely, as the forest loves being wet as wet can be), when it's lonely and needs humans to walk amongst it's giant trees, or when it's feeling a bit over trampled and wants a bit of time with just the inhabitants of the green and gray and then he thickens the fog and shrouds the valleys in its damp mysteries.





It's not very damp here, although he did enjoy his short visit before he left for his new home.  He was intrigued by this giant maple tree and nimbly as you've ever seen, climbed up it's rough bark.





He sat for a moment to enjoy a bit of warmth from the sun, and then climbed some more.






He really loved being up high in the branches.  He sat there a long long time, perhaps thinking of his own forests.





We went for a walk together, The Mist Maker, Hubby, and Moi.  Surprisingly, he's a very sturdy walker for someone of his size.





He met some of the local wildlife.  He thought Maggie was very sweet to give him kisses.  He said she reminded him of a little black fox.



 

 He wasn't quite as sure of the local felines.  "Are you sure this one doesn't bite?" he said a bit nervously.





He wondered if this was an elk bone, or perhaps the bone of a dragon, it was so large.





He wandered around the yard, trying to keep up out of the heavy layer of dried leaves.



 

We had a very lovely time together, but as you can see, he is very happy at the thought of getting on his way.  So with a wave and a smile, he left us to begin his journey home.

I was blessed with a brand new granddaughter last week and while I was down helping my daughter for a wee bit with cooking and cleaning and what not, I had the opportunity to do a photo shoot with some beautiful wee faeries, Olivia and Anastasia.  Enjoy the magic.

Nothing particularly arty farty, just a walk through the local county fair to see a few fun crafts.  I couldn't spend as much time viewing the exhibits as I typically do as I had a four year old and one year old in tow. 




Silly and whimsical kitties.




More whimsy, and of course Halloween theme caught my eye!




Pink AND faeries - Joli loved it.




I liked the thin, soft, minkee backing and the butterfly quilting choices.




Cute flowers.




Sorry the photo is a bit out of focus but I think you can see that there's huge amount of piecing work in this large bed quilt.  Very nice.  It won Best of Show.




Fun bright colors, not sure what it's meant for - the wall?  A table?  This is about as artsy as it gets at the fair.  The judges don't seem to know how to judge anything that's too far outside traditional quilting style.




I liked that the trees weren't all tree colors.




I can't help it, I love scrappy quilts made from a collection of theme fabrics.  This one is all kitties!  I've made monkey quilts, faery quilts, turtle quilts, cooking/food quilts..... probably others themes I can't think of right now.




I also love aprons and I actually wear them a lot.  They were handy back in the "good ol' days" and they're still handy, I don't know why more people don't use them on a regular basis.  This one had a beautiful soft edge with zig zag piping as well.





Another pink quilt that Joli loved.  (Joli is a four year old girl, so, duh, pink equals love)



Nothing fancy but I loved the rich sherbet happiness of this quilt and the patchy framing.




Moving on to other crafts, I liked this welded spiderweb and spider.




I'd totally put this alligator in my garden.





And I'd double totally put Fred the Dragon in my garden.  He was awesome.   I wish they'd put him someplace with a more photogenic background.





There was a California Mission class, a clever way for all the California 4th graders to get another opportunity to show off their mandatory mission making.  I helped my kids make several of these and joke (only I'm a teensy bit serious too) that I homeschooled William in part because I refused to be forced to help with another mission project!  I think we studied medieval history for his 4th grade.  But to offset that, he's actually visited many of the California missions in person.  Joli was completely transfixed by the missions and wanted to leave the fair right then and there and rush home and MAKE A MISSION.  Uhm.... No.





Speaking of medieval history, this was the best I could do with all the reflections, can you see this amazing carved castle!?!




Another photo that is just layers of reflections but I sort of like it.  Joli and I were admiring the faery houses when a passerby corrected us, telling us they were actually BIRD houses.  Yeah, yeah, whatever, did we ASK you?!  I prefer our interpretation.




These metal creatures weren't entered in the fair, they were a vendor's art.  We really liked them.  Joli wanted the brontosaurus.





Instead I bought these three little worker ants.  The one in the back, a little hard to see, has a broom and dustbin.  Hopefully they'll keep my back garden paths all cleaned up so I can sit back and relax for the rest of the summer.  They've only been at work for a few days, we'll see how useful they are as time goes on.

If you're interested, the artist has a website - Man of Steel Art.   It's not a fancy website, his work is much nicer in person!

I know it's been at least a light year since I've posted.  Okay, I know, a light year is a measurement of distance, not time, but it sounded good.  Anyway, it's been a long time, and I don't want you to faint or anything that I'm posting.  It's just, I finally finished the last little creative bits on a dear friend of mine. 





His name is Drift.  He was wandering about on an Oregon beach when I found him, a bit waterlogged from the tides and all.  We got to talking.  Hit it off right away. I offered to take him home and he thought the idea of somewhere snug and warm - not to mention dry - sounded good, and so that was that. 



But he was feeling a bit restrained lately I guess. Can't say I blame him, what with the cool, restless winds we've been having the last several days.  He just couldn't stand it anymore and decided to go out into the gardens for a bit of a walkabout.




I don't think he was expecting the terrain to be quite so rugged.  I warned him.  I said "Remember, I've been so busy, I'm woefully behind on weeding.  It's like a jungle out there."  I don't think he believed me.  Unfortunately, by the time he decided maybe it wasn't such a good idea to be out there on his own, he was lost!




Eventually he found a clearer spot. He decided to clamber up to a higher vantage point to see if he could find which direction to head back to the house.  Aha!  There it was, the back door.  He just had to follow the cobbled path.





He thought he was home free when, oh no!  Suddenly a pack of ferocious gargoyles were headed straight for him!!!!  He was frozen with fear!




The creatures were almost upon him... he raised his staff to fend them off ....but wait.  The giant creatures might have looked frightful but to his surprise they were unexpectedly gentle.  They sniffed at him for a moment, and then as suddenly as they appeared, they were gone.


 

Drift didn't want to push his luck.  He headed quickly for the house, where he gratefully climbed back to his cozy home on the poetry shelf.  It might not be the most exciting location, he thought, but he'd had enough of that back on the beach what with seagulls and crashing waves and dark, stormy nights. 

Still, he had enjoyed most of his outing today, up until he'd gotten lost.  He might like to go out to the gardens again, although next time he'd wait until he could get a human to accompany him, in case those humongous gargoyles were still roaming loose.  Until then he'd stay warm and safe on his little shelf, where gargoyles were the PROPER size.