Easter Felt

Some weekends you just get to do something fun with friends, and the bonus is when you get to take something tangible home with you, besides the glow of friendship. This was one of those weekends. I spent most of Sunday at my friend Jennifer's house with about 12 other ladies (and young ladies), a big bowl of colorful hand-dyed wool roving, some felting needles, and our imaginations. Jen's mother Pat (http://www.decadentfibers.com/ )was there to guide us, and the above picture is some of the fruits of our labors. Aren't we good?!

This little chick in a basket was Nancy's creation--she has sons, and doesn't get to do "girly" stuff very often. This was her first time trying needle felting, as it was for many of us. She was VERY enthusiastic about the whole thing--as you can see by her creation. Fantastic!

Needle felting consists of a barbed needle, some wool roving, and a piece of foam. You punch and stab your wool with the needle until it holds together in any shape you wish. Obviously, we were working on an egg theme. It was very interesting to see what everyone decided to do with their eggs. Some of us decided on flowers, while others went for bunnies, chicks, and butterflies.
This one's mine--a blue egg with 3-D flowers, which I felted separately, then applied to the egg.

Kathleen felted a bunny directly onto her egg. I was very impressed with the perspective/pose she used. The kid's got talent!

And of course, there was a bunch of food, including a blueberry buckle that Jennifer made, that I could just NOT stop eating. I grabbed the recipe from her, and I'm going to share it with you...as soon as I can put my hands on it! I know it's here somewhere.....in the mean time, how about a picture of it--just to get your mouth watering? :)

That crunchy topping was to DIE for. Yum! Needless to say, BF was extremely disappointed at not being invited to this little shindig...he had to stay home and do "boy stuff"....lol...I'm SO sure he was crying in my absence. :P To make it up to him, I harangued him into cutting 8 pieces of plywood for me later that night. With his tools at work, we were done in 10 minutes. If I had had to do it myself with a jigsaw or something, it would have taken me 10 times longer. Thanks, BF! ;) (Ya' gotta love a man with power tools.)

UPDATE 3/2/08 Recipe for Blueberry Buckle

350* oven for 45-50 minutes for 9x9x2" greased pan

Sift together:

• 2 cups flour
• 3/4 cups sugar
• 2.5 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp. salt

Beat together in a bowl:

• 1/4 cup shortening
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 egg

Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and bead vigorously for about 2 minutes.
Stir in 2 cups of blueberries. Spread batter in pan. Sprinkle topping (see below) over this, and pop it in the oven.

Topping: (mix together until crumbly)

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 cup soft butter (NOT melted)

Let me know if you try out this recipe, and if you like it!!