I just recently received a couple of things from The French Needle, a really nice online shop I've ordered from a few times. The first is a beautiful kit for making a tiny felt fox in a natty little suit.
And the second is these adorable fox-n-chickens counting pins.
I don't do really large projects, so I have no need to grid my fabric, but I do occasionally need to keep track of long rows of stitches and I love to use counting pins for this. As I wander around the blogosphere, I don't see them in use much, and I'm not sure why. They're so convenient and quick to use... and they're super cute! The French Needle has some lovely sets. And we all need more toys.
Another Woodland Baby finished! I used the recommended threads for this one, but I may stitch another one at some point and make him blonde. Mr. Wonderful and I had a bear experience in Sequoia National Park a few years ago and it, uh, made an impression on us. And the bear in question just happened to be blonde, and just happened to be a baby. Where was mama bear? That was the question we were asking ourselves as we high-tailed it out of there. We had been warned by the rangers that baby bear encounters are particularly dangerous and we took them at their word. Yikes.
And here's my first attempt at making a little feltie, a little gift for my panda-obsessed cousin. The pattern is from a book called, "Felties: How to Make 18 Cute and Fuzzy Friends" by Nelly Pailloux. Naturally, I took liberties with the pattern, including using sparkly white felt. Because pandas should sparkle.
And finally, cookies. Including a bear. And a fox and a squirrel... all the Woodland Babies I've stitched so far! Mr. Wonderful preferred the moose, because they were the biggest.