Ohio: part II

Sara and Bobby moved to Ohio because Sara got a job as a professor of design in the art department of Marietta College. The college is right in the heart of the town, and a walkable distance from their house. It reminds me so much of my Alma mater, that of course I thought it was adorable.


Marietta College is a four-year liberal arts school with about 1,350 students, founded in 1835. The campus reflects this history.




Sara spends her days in the art/music/theater building (above). Upon touring the building it was evident that it is bursting at the seams trying to contain all that creativity.

We got lucky and caught the tail-end of Bobby's show, on display in the Third Floor Gallery. Sara will be participating in the Faculty Show next, of which I hope she sends photos.

Ohio: part I

During the second weekend of October (plus two days on either end) Mike and I headed to the buckeye state, Ohio, for a long-awaited visit with Sara and Bobby. Never having been to Ohio before (short of driving through the top half on my way East/West) I wasn't exactly sure what to expect. I thought it would feel more "mid-west" with flat fields of corn. SE Ohio is a different story - it's really lovely. It's rolling hills, covered with trees and fields. There were barns, silos and lots of color.



Sara and Bobby live in Marietta, a small town at the convergence of the Ohio and Muskingum Rivers. It's an old town full of brick houses and victorians. Marietta was established in 1778, and was the first permanent settlement in the Northwest Territory. Many of the streets are still paved with brick.

Sara and Bobby have been contacted about designing a mural for this wall.

Coming from Portland, a hub for microbrews, I was a bit concerned about what Sara and Bobby would end up drinking while in Marietta. While the Budweiser flows heavily in these parts, I was relieved to see that there was a local brewery as well.

Historic Lafayette Hotel

Ohio River

Muskingum River

Downside of the rivers... it floods here.

Just outside of Marietta, at the Dillon State Park, was a small, operating lock on the Muskingum. It was operated by hand, by a "lock" guy who lives on site.

Me, thoroughly enjoying the locks (and the 85 degree weather in October - note the sundress!)

Across the Muskingum River from Marietta is a small town called Harmar. The quaint downtown in Harmar Village is only open on the weekends and offers cute shops, including Butch's Cola Museum, where we enjoyed old-fashioned ice cream sodas (cherry) and smothered hot dogs (hot dog and bun in a bowl, with all the toppings).

There was also a great little antique furniture store, outside of which were these cool ladders and bikes. Not sure if they were for sale...

to be continued...

Chirp - Happy Birthday! - Chirp

Grandma turned 92 last month - and all she got was this lousy bird!

This little goldfinch was needle felted from black, gold, butter and white wool roving. The specs came from the book Wool Pets. It's eyes are 3 mm black beads and the legs are twisted from brown wire.

Looks like a duck, quacks like a duck...

On the first weekend of October, Mike and I headed to Eugene for our annual college football game. Two years ago we sat through pouring rain; last year, cold but dry. This year, glorious, glorious sunshine.


On game day we met up with two of Mike's co-workers. While we couldn't get four seats together, we did enjoy a little pre-game lunch at the local farmer's market before making the long trek to the game.

University of Oregon vs. Stanford University

Fabulous game (this from a non-football fan)! UO beat Stanford 52 to 31, and it was a game full of excitement. The duck had to do over 100 push-ups throughout the game.
It would have been perfect, if not for the two gentlemen below...



The guy on the left is over 6', making his buddy around 6'-6". These guys stood up the entire game! Including half-time! Even standing I had to crunch down and peer through their arms.



Since we spent the entire weekend in Eugene, it's nice to get in a little something other than football. This year we went to check out one of the many local covered bridges. This one is the Earnest Bridge, built in 1938.

Ever the engineer, Mike went to check out how it was built.

I did the same for him.

Flower Girl

Pattern by Owlishly

A round of applause for fall babies, and another for the last minute scramble to finish all the baby gifts. Not only has Jett, the recipient of the Circus mobile, been born, but Annie joined the world just a day later. Welcome, Annie!


Annie is the gorgeous, dark-haired daughter of one of my college roommates, Kristin, and I hope that in the next few months this mobile will make her coo and smile.

This ladybug is essentially three easy components: a dome, a circular base and a ball.Using two strands of black yarn, I “split” the dome by sewing the strands around it and pulling it a bit to tighten it. Since I was using cotton yarn, the black spots are needle-felted onto the red.

The eye-whites are bulging circles (more stitches in one half of the circle) and the pupils are safety eyes. The antennae are pipe cleaners (or chenille stems, if you’re so inclined).

While I didn’t use a pattern for this, I did see a photo of Annie Andell’s “Lolly the Ladybug” and used it for inspiration. I don’t know what her pattern is like, but if you’d like to buy it: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/lolly-the-ladybug...

Pattern by Amy's Odyssey

This googley-eyed dragonfly is a simple crochet project from bamboo & cotton yarn. I was able to needle-felt the eye whites onto the body, and then sew little black beads on for pupils.

Kristin asked only one thing of the mobile, that I somehow incorporate their cat, Nelly, into it (a la the gnome in the Penguin mobile). As a result, a little needle-felted Nelly sits on the rim of the mobile and checks out all the bugs. The cat is attached to the mobile with a snap so that it can be removed at a later date when Annie old enough for a "toy". The crocheted pieces are attached with jump rings for the same reason. The patterns for the flowers and leaves came from Crochet Bouquet, and I needle felted the centers onto the flowers.



Next up: a present for my first-cousin-once-removed, newborn baby Cohen!

Cluck!

A needle-felted hen and chick for Katie, hand-delivered two weeks ago when we were in Seattle.


I followed the guidelines from the book Wool Pets by Laurie Sharp. The roving is mostly from Clover, with a little Felt Works by Hobby Lobby used on the chick. The more I needle-felt, the more I understand the difference in wool roving. The Clover roving is most prevalent at craft stores but it's so finely combed that it takes a lot longer to felt. I really like the Felt Works by Hobby Lobby because it's rougher, and therefore faster. Unfortunately I have to order that online and they only sell in small quantities (.25 oz). I've also used roving from Wistyria Editions which is quite nice (but same issues as Hobby Lobby), and today I found some roving by a local place in Astoria. Haven't used it yet, but it was by far the least expensive so I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Seattle weekend

Earlier this month Mike and I spent a great weekend in Seattle with Katie, Jamie and Max. I can't believe how big Max is getting, and was shocked to see that his hair has turned curly and reddish. He's unbelievably adorable and I could not keep my hands out of those curls.


Katie and Jamie took us on a tour of their neighborhood, which was a short walk from Volunteer Park and an old water tower (open for visitors to climb to the top) which offered great views of Seattle.



Our walk involved a stop at the Volunteer Park Cafe, which had incredible cookies and scones (which we had for breakfast, of course) and a stop at the swings and slide (which Max thoroughly enjoyed).