down time

Not only did my external hard drive give up its ghost, I have also been so busy working on the garden, walking, hanging out with my son and husband and scheming on goodies for the holiday fairs I am planning on attending. We've been blueberry picking with my in-laws and Huxley – which lead to the making of blueberry jam, blueberry butter, frozen blueberries, consumption of fresh blueberries, blueberry pie (I need to get better at that), blueberry scones, blueberry smoothies – blueberry dreams….

When my new hard drive arrives I'll be able to upload and process pictures of the felting workshop, Trips to Black Creek Pioneer Village, St. Marie among the Hurons, my friend and her family in Bracebridge, general summer fun.

Thank you for visiting despite my rather unpredictable posting schedule.

Wet Felting Workshop – Learn from me

There are now only a few spots open for the wet-felting workshop that I will be teaching at Loyalist College In Belleville, Ontario from July 12 – 15. 

Here are the details:

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(Click on Image to see it larger)

To register, please sign up here

There is also a description in the Loyalist Summer Program on page 18

The cost of the workshop is only $289 (plus the material cost for all the yummy wool $75). If you need to a place to stay in Belleville, the school offers their residency for a very minimal fee of $40 (plus tax) per night. There are also many lovely B&B's in and around Belleville. 

I would love to see you at the workshop, I have 4 huge boxes of the most amazing wool coming from Europe. Some of those qualities are not otherwise available in Canada. 

Message me if you have any questions about the workshop, and you may contact Heather at Loyalist College for registration information
Heather Cockerline (613) 969-1913 ext. 2467 or Email:  hcockerline@loyalistc.on.ca  

Show Pictures

The shows I did a couple of weekends ago went well. It was lovely to meet so many new people and exhibit my work. I "hired' our son to be my helper for the day on Sunday. He was amazing! I still remember when I was pregnant that I just thought that our son would come along to the shows, play quietly behind the tent, get used to the life of doing shows and start helping with little things. As I told him the day of the show, he was not that kind of a child when he was younger. Whereas I have seen the children of others be the perfect assistants and quiet companions, my son was always too active (although I did have him along at an art exhibition when he was a mere 6 weeks old and that was a wonderful experience). Now, at eight, he can help me unload the car, set-up the tent, watch the booth for a few minutes, and also, especially at a Waldorf fair, go about doing activities that he likes to do and enjoy him self too. 

Here are a few pictures of my show tent to share with you that come from far and away. 

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Welcome to the lair of the Olive Sparrow (give me a shout-out in the comments if you spot the little birdy – he always travels with me). 

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Fairy tote bags – sized just perfectly for children to use as their lunch bag, a carry-all to take ballet slippers to class, a toybag to bring just a few precious things along on an outing or for momma to use as a small handbag.


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Playsilks – look soon in my etsy store for an update in colours and sizes.

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Hats and pants for three sizes of dolls. I love seeing all the clothes laid out like this and ready to be combined with tops to every doll-mommas own tastes and desires. 

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Dresses, tunics and skirts. I am already excited and inspired for the new clothes ideas in my mind.  

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The doll table – with Olive Sparrow Children (11 in all, although one was hiding in this picture) – the plan is that early next week the dolls and I will go on a photo outing – there are a few lovely places I have in mind to take photographs. All in preparation to have them listed within the next 2 weeks. They are all very excited to find their future families. In this picture you can also see wet-felted flowers, hand-dyed dress-up crowns both for children and their dolls, as well as Floppy dolls, nature-table fairies and Mother Earth (from the previous post). 

Shows are a wonderful way to share my work and to inspire moms that make their own dolls for their children. I also enjoy setting up the displays and seeing the expressions in the face of children when they respond to a doll. It's always a tad sad too though, to see how some of the parents really love to get the doll for their child, yet simply can't afford it. That is also why I offer doll-making workshops. I had planned to hold one this coming weekend, but it seems that after the summer vacation will be a better time for it – summer is to be outside and enjoy the weather and time with our families – I love the coming of September and the return back to hand-work and preparing for the holiday markets. 

PS: If you would like to receive advance notice of the dolls becoming available for sale, please send me a message to: info@www.theolivesparrow.com and I will add you to my early bird list.                   

 

 

Mother Earth and her Fairies

Time has slipped by me again – time that was busy with a trip to Montreal to deliver artwork to my agent, purchase paper for my art and seeing friends. I also dropped by Loyalist College where I will be teaching a 4-day wet-felting class in July to meet the lovely Heather Cockerline who I have been working with. 

Back at home I have been busy felting flowers and creating dolls for the two Mayfair Festivals I will be attending this coming weekend: Westdale Children's School in Hamilton on Saturday May 26th from 11am – 3 pm, and Halton Waldorf School on Sunday May 27th from noon – 4pm.

These fairies, star children and Mother Earth will be available at the shows (if you have your heart set on them, I recommend you come and visit me in Hamilton, or send me an e-mail before the show). They are 6" and 8" tall. 

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I am also working on a new group of Olive Sparrow Children that I will keep under wraps until the show. (A girl has to have some secrets.. giggle)… There are a couple of large 52 cm dolls as well as smaller ones available. 

Other Olive Sparrow goods – playsilks, crowns and doll clothes will also be available. 

 

Of Kids and Lambs and Blue Eggs

These images – the second batch of our wonderful March break week, was meant to be posted a few weeks back. Yet looking at the pix and processing them for this here blog made me realize how seasonally appropriate they are. 

Enjoy!

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At the farm of my friends co-worker and friend in Mount Albert, Ontario. 

Angora Goats and kids (2 days old), sheep (sorry I forgot the exact breed), wonderful medley of different breeds of chickens and their gorgeous eggs, lambs – a bit early this year, papa-sheep before and after his shearing, Huxley and the youngest daughter of the farm with a lamb. 

I did not notice how beautifully subtle and harmounious the colours of the animals where with the landscape until I started to process the images. 

Easter is such a wonderful festival to celebrate the re-awakening of life in nature! This has been the greenest celebration I have experienced in my almost 25 years here in Toronto. It is wonderful. I hope you have a chance to go for a walk outside and fill yourself up with reawakening life.