Rebecca Varon's work in Tokyo

I'm so proud of Rebecca Varon, artisan of the Etsy shop Nushkie. Her work is premiering in Tokyo. Here's the article:

Fiber Artist Rebecca Varon’s Needle Felted Soft Sculptures to Debut in Tokyo and Raise Money for Habitat for Humanity, Japan

Peace and Quiet-- A Felt Board Story

Why has it taken me so long to acquire a copy of Judy Sierra's The Flannel Board Storytelling Book? Her stories are easy to tell and the felt-board pattern pieces are distinct. After borrowing the library's copy, I ordered a used copy for my own collection.

I recently used patterns for a Eastern European Yiddish folktale called "Peace and Quiet," which follows the same plot-line as Margot Zecmach's It Could Always Be Worse. In "Peace and Quiet," the rabbi's role is played by a wise woman, and the harried protagonist is a farmer who lives alone but cannot get any sleep due to the creakiness of his house. I simplified the pattern pieces, used thread instead of glue, and opted for imagination instead of cutting out a felt house. I acknowlege that goats generally are not green and cows are not pink.

Here's what I came up with:


The farmer consults the wise woman


The harried farmer tries to get some sleep

I try to use craft felt as much as possible because pure wool felt is expensive and I need to save it for my dolls. Craft felt can be found at many hobby stores as well as textile shops.

Completed Dorothy Dress

As I mentioned in a previous post, I was working on a Dorothy from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz dress for Lucia's Halloween costume. She was going to be a witch until I found blue and white cotton gingham fabric. I had told her, "You know, you could still wear the silver shoes and be the Wicked Witch of the East before Dorothy's house landed on top of her," but Lucia did not think that was funny.

Here's the dress (Princess the blue dog plays Toto):



We saw four other Dorothy costumes last night, including a wee toddler in arms, but Lucia was the only Dorothy from the book, not the film.