Kitty in the rose garden

Tuxedo Cat

Tuxedo Cat is done. This black and white cat is hand knit and an original design by Marianne C. Wille

Tuxedo will be in my shop next week.

I find that black is SO hard to photograph! Grrrr.
I think I will redo the face by making the eyes larger and the nose not so crooked. Ozzie says it looks like this kitty was in a fight. I have also sewn a pretty kerchief for this cat to wear out of a Liberty of London cotton print.

Tuxedo Cat, where is your head?

I'm working on this Tuxedo Cat this week. I haven't knit a black and white kitty for over a year...It was one of my first woolen animal designs and I still love to make these. 

Good news from Logan ~ he was inducted into Sigma Pi Sigma, the physics honor society last week. He totally forgot it and showed up for the ceremony in his KU t-shirt and favorite old shorts. He's become such an absent minded guy these days and he's well on his way to becoming a physics doctoral student. He took the GRE for physics last weekend and feels really great about the test. He'll know the test scores in about 6 weeks.

Anniversary time

Loving each other and being silly together are what we do best. Photo by Robert Denton 

This is the very first post on WilleWorks that I published 5 years ago. My dad took this photo of Grant and me at the dinner table after I had served a big family dinner when my folks were in town. Notice I still had my apron on! Also, tomorrow is my 29th wedding anniversary~ Oz tells me he is thankful that I asked him to marry me 30 years ago. I'm still silly, courageous, and loving my family of boys.


5 years ago, Logan was graduating from high school, Grant was still studying at KU and planning on studying abroad in Spain in the fall. I hadn't opened my Etsy shop yet. Oz was just starting to work for Pitman.

Flower power

Sweet Iris, Rugosa rose, blue columbine, 'Playboy' rose.

I decided to work at home today ~ just boring stuff like cleaning, meal planning and accounting. Logan's graduation is in 3 weeks! I took a break this afternoon and went outside to smell the flowers blooming in the garden.

Orange Socks

New socks for someone ~ perhaps for Logan because he's got the biggest feet. The yarn is Crazyfoot by Mountain Colors in Sandstone. I used 000 circular needles.

In my mother's garden

 Oz and I took a quick business trip to Nebraska and we stayed with my Mom. Mom and I worked in her very large garden yesterday and it was a beautiful day to be outside cutting back the huge roses bushes, transplanting some flowers and pulling up weed trees.

Tan Hat with 2 vintage buttons

I did get one thing done this week to show you. This tan wool felt hat with two vintage buttons was fun to make.

I've been felting wool and cutting it up for future hats and zippermouth purses. When I have sets of things cut out, I put them in ziplock bags to keep everything together and organized. Also, I've been knitting. The boy socks are coming along thanks to 3 hours spent with my knitting group on Wednesday night. The tuxedo cat has 3 cat legs done and am working on the fourth. Next I knit a looooong kitty tail and join the legs to start the body. I hope to have a new tuxedo cat doll to show you next week. In the works: tuxedo cat, grey cashmere hat, 2 zippermouth purses, white bunny, soft robin pillow and two one pair of socks.

Have a good weekend. xxoo Mimi

New yarn for a fox

New yarn for a new fox....or maybe it will become 2 blue cats. Who can tell? I just start knitting and the decisions make themselves. This pretty hand dyed, handspun Romney wool, DK weight in Slate, totaling ca. 640 yards is from AliCatFiberarts 

This week I'm knitting some orange socks, knitting a tuxedo cat, and sewing a tan hat with some vintage buttons on the front. I have this lovely black witch hat sitting on my to-do table staring at me but am still mulling over how I want to finish the hat. Do I line it? Yes. With what fabric? I don't know. Do I bead the brim or will that be too heavy? Don't know. Do I just find a lovely black silk chiffon scarf to add to the hat? Perhaps. Leave it alone and keep it plain? Don't know yet.

Easter

Logan comes over every Sunday for dinner if he can take a break from his studies. Tonight we are celebrating springtime, the growing light and Logan's last month of undergraduate work at KU. The menu is grill pork loin with spicy dry rub, crash baked potatoes, roasted asparagus, whole grain rolls, coleslaw and peach pie.

Popcorn, The Cat is finished

Popcorn, a hand knit cat, will be in my shop soon is now in my Etsy shop.

This morning I attended my Community Mercantile Education Foundation aka CMEF meeting and the board of directors met at the Eudora Vocational Technical High School. One of our board members is Rick Martin who is now teaching the culinary arts program at Eudora. Rick gave us a wonderful tour of the building, the school garden, and the beautiful greenhouse. All I can say is, "Oh, my!" I would have loved to have gone to this school when I was in high school. They have a graphic design program in the same building. (I didn't know that graphic design and printing are considered vo tech these days!) They have a printing workshop there with current and old tech presses, letterpress included! The graphic design teacher told me that they are going to design and print the Eudora High School yearbook there this year. Impressive!

Easter Garden

The garden is getting some rain today. Just in time! I planted carrots, beans and basil yesterday.

Blue Sky Owl

Blue Sky Owl with crescent moon, blue seed beads and antique buttons is now in my shop.

This is an original design, one-of-a-kind owl featuring some unique wool felt and beadwork. This owl is very soft.  Antique horn buttons are used for the winking owl eyes. I beaded the beak with sparkly blue seed beads.

I used a variety of fabrics for this owl. All the knits are recycled and felted wool. The owl's front is a felted wool knit from a blue sweater. The ears and cap are multicolored wool knits. The owl's wings are a blue and grey wool felt. The back is a tweedy wool knit that was once a Pendleton skirt and the face is a grey wool knit. The owl is 13" tall to the top of his ears and 9" across (22 in circumference). This owl is meant as an art piece which can stand on its own. This piece is not appropriate for really young children because of the tiny beads and buttons. I have hand beaded the front of the owl with tiny blue seed beads, antique buttons and a Victorian pearl buckle shaped like a moon with steel cut rivets.
The doll is stuffed with wool scraps to help it stand on its own and some polyester fiber fill. My signature label is sewn in the back.

© 2012 by Marianne C. Wille

Going North

Last week Oz and I took a trip north to Nebraska and South Dakota. I was able to visit with my Mom, have an art day with Valerie and spend some time with my sister, Lynn. I also loved seeing my niece and nephew when we picked them up from school. They are growing up so fast and are just beautiful kids.

Valerie is working on large mandalas made from hand cut paper. She's working on a number of them and they are gorgeous. She starts with a rough template as seen in the photos. As she deconstructs the template she cuts small pieces of paper and attaches them to the black board. She finishes the art piece with varnish so the paper pieces don't come off. I hope she will have a show this fall in Omaha.