“Instructions for living a life: Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.” ~Mary Oliver
I will miss you all while I am taking a break and will look forward to visiting with you again later this month…
also want to share a wonderful “Cuppa With Friends Project” that the lovely and talented Tracey Fletcher King is having here (there is a clickable Cuppa With Friends link on my sidebar)…
joining Elizabeth for T on Tuesday…
Posted in Blogging, Quote, Tea on Tuesday, Traveling Tea Cup
normally I am fairly low tech but after my friend Susan and I got together to try our hands at some wet felting (which was great hands on fun) I also had the opportunity to use her Embellishing machine…
I tried to tell myself I could live without one as I do enjoy needle felting by hand but it kept creeping back into my mind (you can see some of my hand felted work here)…
imagine no thread…no bobbin…just twelve needles that mesh fabrics and fibers together magically (oh the possibilities!) and oddly enough I feel safer with the machine than I do when I am hand felting as there are many opportunities to stick yourself if you’re not careful (focus…focus…focus)…
you can visit the talented Jane LaFazio for a wonderful needle felting tutorial here (you’ll note by the date that she’s been there and done that three years ago 
)…
the machine needle felting is a wonderful beginning for adding additional hand felted touches along with embroidery which brings me to share some exciting news with you about a new challenge blog sweet friends Theresa and Jan have started called needle thread cloth…
this month’s focus happens to be one of my all time favorite stitches the French knot…
be sure and stop by as all are welcome to join along…
meanwhile some new shimmery paints jumped into my shopping basket recently and I do not know what to play with first * paper * fibers * paint * scissors * glue * …
lots of works in progress here…
“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it.” ~Ferris Bueller
“If your eyes are open, you’ll see the things worth seeing.” ~ Rumi
for some time I have wanted to see Wisteria in bloom up close and personal…
this year my wish came true…
thanks to our glorious spring weather the traveling tea cup got out…
to enjoy the splendor of some blooming Wisteria at our favorite city garden…
which also gave us the chance to enjoy the sparkling Crystal Cloud Terrace before it leaves the gardens this May (we still have our fingers crossed that it will become a permanent fixture there)…
we could not believe our eyes…
and noses…
with so much beauty and fragrance wafting on the breeze…
several varieties are growing so bloom time would be extended…
in every stage of unfurling…
with lots more blooms to come…
helped by our cooler temperatures…
“I love spring anywhere, but if I could choose I would always greet it in a garden.” ~Ruth Stout
***also if you do not know about it already the talented and lovely Theresa Martin is having a fantastic giveaway here***
Posted in Blogging, Dumbarton Oaks, Garden, Nature, Photography, Quote, Traveling Tea Cup
in quest for signs of spring here in the Washington DC area Mr Magpie and I took the traveling tea cup out and about this past weekend…
the National Cherry Blossom Festival activities are in full swing but the cherry blossoms themselves had been slow to make their appearance…
that did not stop the hoards of visitors from coming out on a sunny and very breezy day to check on them…
while we were in the city we decided to visit a favorite garden and were delighted to find the Crystal Cloud Terrace installation still in place…
the garden will not be the same when the ten thousand Swarovski Elements crystals are taken down…
it was a treat to see the forsythia dell in all of its glory…
every season definitely has its charms in this most beautiful of city gardens…
a spot well worth visiting if you come to Washington, DC any time of year…
“Every spring is the only spring – a perpetual astonishment.” ~Ellis Peters
***be sure to stop by and visit Elizabeth of Altered Book Lover and leave a comment for a chance to win her wonderful book giveaway if you haven’t already***
Posted in Blogging, Dumbarton Oaks, Garden, Quote, Spring, Traveling Tea Cup
my talented friend Susan created her first gorgeous altered book for a round robin in our mixed media art group…
you can stop by her blog to see her interesting post on how her book began here…
working on the plain French-English dictionary pages adding lots of layers and embellishments was such a delight…
I highlighted an old French ledger page from The Graphics Fairy with a piece of pretty German napkin that I rubbed with gold gouache…
tiny flowers from a vintage hat I collected decorate a French cocoa label also from The Graphics Fairy…
some French 7Gypsies tissue paper started the background for this page along with a piece of old blue velvet for the edge…
the oval portrait of Marie was from a free digital collage sheet The Graphics Fairy shared back in 2009…
one of my golden flimmers and some delicate German scrap helped frame Marie…
white gesso, gold gouache, bits of my favorite gold patterned tissue paper, torn napkin, scraps of embroidered netting, pink silk rose petals (on the left page edge and behind Marie’s head) and a K & Company vellum border at the bottom helped put the finishing touches on my pages…
such a fun theme and a very beautiful book to work in…
…hearts…
back in November I found a pretty Liberty wool scarf at an Aspen Thrift Shop for a song…
after sending it to the cleaners I was very disappointed to discover that it itched like crazy around my neck…
then I had a thought
why not felt the scarf!
as you can see a hot water wash matted the fibers together beautifully so I got busy cutting hearts…
embroidering different stitches and such onto them…
using some of my hand dyed silk ribbons and some old (thank you Carmen Dyson) and new music papers that I stitched onto folded card stock along with a scribbled black pen border…
an easy and fun process with a few more in the works…
the lovely and talented Nancy of Sugar Lump Studios is having a very special event beginning 1 February that you will not want to miss …
can you believe it…
2012 is already history and our new year has begun…
I hope that your holidays were merry and bright…
and that 2013 will be everything you wish for
with lovely surprises and bountiful blessings…
thank you for visiting with me here
and for taking the time to help make blogland a really special place…
it means so much…
“Days are scrolls,” wrote the medieval ethicist Bahya ibn Pakuda. “Write on them only what you want to be remembered.”
Posted in Blogging, Quote, Tea on Tuesday, Traveling Tea Cup
I try to give credit where credit is due. Please do not use any images or text from my Magpie's Nest Blog without my permission.
I do not mind being pinned on Pinterest if you link back to the item on my blog. Thank you
~*~ Patty
you can contact me at:
pmsmutti (at) yahoo.com
