Improvising - A Snowman Pincushion

Last weekend I headed up to the mountains.  My goal was to deep clean our cabin after the bathroom remodel we'd been working on.  A weekend in the mountains, surrounded by beautiful old trees and deep quiet is a blessing.  I almost never get to do this by myself so when I do, I treasure every moment - the sound of the heavy rain on the roof and the occasional falling piece of tree debris, the crackling of logs burning in the wood stove and the gentle hiss from the steamer on top of the stove (shaped like a dragon with the steam coming out of its nostrils!), the speedy scampering of bedraggled squirrels along the deck and the drilling of woodpeckers in the trees.  The clouds hang low, pierced by the trees.  All sounds are softened, the colors muted.

I clean and tidy and sort.  It is satisfying.  In between I sew, watch some Netflix and sip cups of tea.  

I had planned to sew some of my fairy door tree stump pincushions.  I'd carefully packed everything I'd need ...... except the herringbone felted wool fabric I use for the actual tree trunk!  I had to have a re-think.  I had limited felt with me so I did some sketches and came up with a snowman design.  After some conversations on Instagram about working with metallic threads, I'd purchased some to try.  I usually dislike working with metallics, they split and tangle and cause me to mutter things I wouldn't normally.  I was looking forward to trying this white sparkly thread and a snowman seemed appropriate.  

I used the sparkly thread here and there, not for all of the white, and it didn't split or tangle!  This is such a happy little snowman, snowgirl really.  The whole time I was stitching this pincushion, I had the snowman song from "Frozen" stuck in my head!   

When the rain eases and the sun makes an appearance, I drive further up my mountain to the lake.  It is quiet up here this time of year, in between the summer lake season and the winter snow season.  I like not having to share my view!  The mountains in the far distance have a lot of snow on them but my mountain is still green.  The lake level is low as it always is at the end of the year.  Soon it will be frozen over and people will drive noisy snowmobiles  over it but today it is all mine.