Christmas is over

and things can finally calm down. We have things to return. I got a Nook which I didn't ask for but an delighted to get. It is the black and white one so I am going to return it and pay the extra for a color one but B&N is out of them so we are on a waiting list. I think everyone was happy with their presents.
Am now making turkey soup with the remains. I only made a turkey breast this time but did it in the crockpot and that is definitely the way to go. Less mess, more meat.
I have decided to enter a piece of feltwork in the Hampton Gallery. I haven't sold anything there yet but the owner is so supportive of my work, it is only a matter of time till I enter the right piece. Tomorrow I am going to play with my embellisher and my sewing machine, well, maybe. We have to get JT to his hockey game at noon tomorrow and the game starts at 7pm. This was supposed to be a vacation week but so far, no art has been done.
I hope you all had a great Christmas and got what you wanted. Also hope you will be sharing new artwork with me soon, I could use some inspiration!

Merry Christmas

to all and to all a good night. We will probably be up at 6 tomorrow morning since we have Jonathan tonight. Then off to see all the family at 9:30. Will come home to cook some more, been cooking all night. Hope all of you have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Christmas time

I can hardly believe Christmas is almost here and I am close to being ready. Usually I am still working on the tree on Christmas eve but it is up now and beautiful. I tried a new mantel display this year with my Mark Robert's Santa faeries and it looks great. I love these Santa dolls and add more to my collection each year. I am about to run out of room.

My art work is almost at a standstill but 2 of my friends that I don't get to see very often are setting up play days for the week I have off. I am excited about that. Still too cold to felt but I can always bring bags of stuff and my embellisher. Can make lots of new wall pieces. Everyone loves them but I have to figure a way to come down in my price. Could also make some bodies for wall art fairies. What a joy it will be to just play for no reason.

I have no shows signed up for spring yet and after the first of the year, I will start sending out applications. Still only local shows this year but I am seriously looking at one in Big Hole Wy. That would be a great show but we would have to drive to get the tent and displays out there so it really isn't practical. I can dream big though.

Hope all of you have wonderful holidays with lots of laughter, fun and a few naps thrown in!

Teaching

I had a nice thing happen to me yesterday. I got a call from a lady a couple of towns over who wanted to learn to felt. Someone had referred her to me. She had just returned from Mongolia and wanted to felt like them. Told her I only knew of 2 people in the US who teach that though I am sure there are others. She still wanted to learn so we are starting next week and we are going to make scraves. An easy enough project and enough elbow grease needed to felt well. Will be interesting to see if she wants more lessons LOL.

I splurged

I just bought myself this incredible doll from Christy Sexton. http://www.dollsanddeadthings.com/

She had a holiday sale that might still be going on. I have wanted this doll since I first found it on the internet and lo and behold, not only does she have a huge sale, but my doll is available. Now to decide if I am going to use it for Christmas decoration or wrap it under the tree for me!

sale!!!

I am having a sale in my Etsy shop. 10% any item in my shop http://raven.etsy.com
Use coupon word 1234567 in the comments.

a few thoughts

I was reading someone else's blog, sorry I can't remember whose but she had this to say " I have come to realize that my art will never please everyone so the only person it has to really please is me". I used to always think of how to make things that everyone will love and want to buy. Now I have the attitude that the fun is in the making, not really in the selling. I think I came to realize that during the show last weekend. There were so many people who would stand at the edge of my booth, not acknowledge my hello and literally turn their noses up and go to the next booth. It used to be that would have hurt me a lot, I was so thin skinned. I am finally at a place in my life where I know it is ok if no one else gets my work. It is always great to get compliments and encouragement which do help motivate me to continue when my muse doesn't want to play. It is nice to finally accept that I enjoy being challenged (by myself) to stretch myself as an artist and to want to continue to learn new things, even if no one else gets "it"!

A Wonderful Show

I have decided to only do local shows, ones I can drive to and from with no overnight stays. So I am entering some shows that I have never heard of before. I was in one Friday and Saturday that was new to me. The shows organizers were wonderful. The show ran very smoothly. It was Christmas in Central Park in Cumming, Ga. There were 2 rooms of vendors with very a nice variety of wares. I was the only fiber artist there, I think. I did very well, best show of this year. I taught so many new people about felting, I even picked up enough people to have a class. I meet lots of really nice people who keep telling others about my booth and I totally sold out of felted soap the first day. People came back asking about it the next day. I handed out lots of cards and hope to get some orders. Best part of the day was at the end of the show. The person who ran the show, came to my booth and awarded me a blue ribbon for best in show! I was so surprised, I think I just stood there with my mouth open. What a much needed ego boost! Thanks to everyone at the show or involved with the show.

cranberry salsa or sauce

This is a recipe that I made up for Thanksgiving cranberries. I hate the canned stuff though lots of people love it. Here is my version.
2 bags of fresh cransberris
1 orange
zest of orange
Cilantro (if you want it, some people don't like it)
Orange juice
Jalapeno peppers, the more you stir into the mixture the hotter it will be so taste test as you go
1 teaspoon of sugar

Put the washed cranberries into a chopper or a food processer. You want chunks of berries not sludge or liquid. Add the cilantro and chop it up with the berries.
Take the zest of an orange, add more or less as you like it, I use the zest of an entire orange.
Put all these chopped up ingredients into a bowl.
Chop up at least 2 jalapeno peppers
Add to bowl and stir.
Add sugar and if the mix is too dry, add some orange juice until the mixture is well blended but not runny.
I love this recipe because it uses no cooking and you keep all the nutrients in the salsa.
Enjoy

feeling funky

For the last few weeks I have not felt well, I sure hope it isn't a sinus infection but it might be. Shortness of breath, constant headache and weepy eyes all the time. I even have trouble seeing to drive. So this has totally shut down my creativity. I just don't feel like doing anything. Unfortuantly I have a show this weekend and I have been told it is a big show. I have enough inventory but would definitely like to have more. Just the thought of laying out a felt scarf makes me tired. Think good thoughts for me as I fight to get over this. If not better, I will go to the Dr. after the show.

An Interesting Discovery

I just found out that a local newspaper picked up my blog and quoted part of it. I am fine with that but it really surprised me. Luckily it was an entry that was good for a local company. I guess search engines can find anything. Shows that anything you post on the internet is not really yours anymore once you hit publish. Of course they were nice enough to point people to my blog so it was win win for everyone.

even worse than I thought

So my first knitting class is over. It is in a big room in the middle of the store and I can't count all those stitches with every talking. Had to take mine apart 3 times. I had taught myself how to cast on all wrong so that was the first thing I had to learn. Soon the 2 hour class was over. I got to knit alot today and somehow I kept adding a stitch. Have ripped it out but saved rows of stitchs so I haven't lost everything I have done. Now I have a cramp in my thumb so am going to make myself take a break. If it gets better, I will post my progress here. Wish me luck!

a new adventure

Tonight I take my first beginners knitting class. I can already knit a little but I can't read patters and that is what I want to do. Don't think I want to ever make socks or a sweater, just the basics. I hope to take the beginners crochet class next. This is a reality new shop in Cumming, Ga. It is called Fleece. The shop is small but jammed packed with some very interesting yarns. I hate to drive after dark but since I am familar with the area, well I will give it a try. There are classes on Sat. morning but I have too many shows to take that. Anyway, everyone wish me luck. Here comes Miss Clumsy.

Last day of SAFF

I had a nuno class set up for early Sunday morning but overslept and just enjoyed myself at the cabin. Too soon I had to pack up and leave so I headed back to SAFF one more time. I just had to get more roving from the buy 5 get one free ladies. I have never had merino and that much silk felt so tightly and so quickly.
I went by a booth to talk with a nice vendor who I had bought from 2 years ago. I had made a wall hanging out of her product and had entered it in the fair. I also entered a scarf that had wool from a local farm that I had dyed and felted. Well to my surprise, I won a second place for the wall hanging and a third for the dyed piece. This really made my day. I also won prizes that the vendors had given and both my prizes where Angora and I got a lot of it. Beautiful colors and sooooo soft. Can't wait to use it.
Well with my winning in my head, I talked myself into treating myself to a new carder. My old one had been home made and all the pins were bent so it took forever to card anything. This new carder is so fast and will card almost anything you put thru it. So very happy with it. Now I will be able to put much more roving on to my Etsy shop!
I decided to head home after that major expense so off I went. Drove thru valleys and mountain peaks, the leaves were incredible. This week they have had major wind and rain come thru so my visit was the perfect timing.
Got home to see my dogs that were going crazy, my step-son and DH so involved in a football game that they grunted a hello. Wonderful to be home again, now if I can just get rid of this 6:30 to 3:00 job so I can create more. S00n I hope, soon.

Friday at SAFF

I woke up thinking I had plenty of time to get to class but turns out I didn't. I flew to the classroom and was late but she hadn't started class so it was ok. I brought my piece of felt that I made the night before. We did lots of beading and embroidery to the outside of the felt. I loved doing this and will be adding this to more of my wall hangings. This class was how to make a traditional longstitch bound book, covered in felt. Lots of measuring, not my strongest area. I managed to get the piece of felt cut out ok, not great though. They had forgotten to send out supply lists so I wouldn't even have known I needed the felt piece accept I stopped by to talk with Chad Hagen on Friday. At class I didn't even have a pair of scissors so I had to wait alot and borrow the whole day. It was frustrating though every one was very nice about sharing. Chad had cut all the paper for us so we only had to fold and count. Then came time to punch holes using a template. More measuring. I tried hard but when I stitched thru the holes it was obvious that they were not lined up correctly. My little book turned out to look a bit sad but I did learn lots of new techniques and I will try this again.
My friends stopped by to say they weren't staying Sat. night which was fine with me, more alone time. I was so tired when I got back to the cabin. I rocked on the front porch and enjoyed the twilight coming. It was a full moon but you couldn't see it in the sky, so many trees still had leaves on them.
I came inside and crashed on the sofa. I missed my dogs so much. I woke up about midnight to hear something scratching at the front door wanting in. I couldn't get the nerve up to even look out the window to see what it was, gave me the willey's for sure. Slept well the rest of the night though, a little too well as I will tell you in the next post.

Friday at Saff

Woke up late on Friday so sat on the porch and had my oatmeal and tea. You could hear some distant traffic but other than that it was only the leaves falling. Closed up the cabin and headed up to Fletcher. The parking lot was full much to my dismay. I finally parked way in the back, behind all the animal stalls. The arena was a sea of people. I almost turned around, I am not much of a people person and definitely don't handle crowds well. I first went to turn in my 2 entries. Walked, dodged, waited and pushed my way thru the top mezzanine. Delivered the 2 items and tried to find some stairs to get down to the main floor which looked less crowded. Almost passed by one vendor who had the lovliest mix of merino and 3 types of silk, all dyed with one dye but each fiber took the dye differently. They had yummy colors so as I was contemplating, the co-owner whispered in my ear that it was buy 5 get one free. Get behind me Satan so I only bought 3. They gave me a pass so that if I decided to come back the next day, I could still buy 2 and get a free one. Nice ladies, we talked a long time and I must have dragged many people to their booth during the show.
Downstairs finally and I found several familiar vendors so of course went and bought more supplies from them. Eventually I am going to own their entire booth. I finally bought some solar pool wrap since I plan to start working in a much bigger format. I had to go take this out to the car since I hit someone everytime I turned around. I wandered around to see the llamas and alpacas. They are all so beautiful and their owners were willing to talk till I was ready to fall over. Tried to leave but I got caught again by the llama rescue group. They catch me each year, they can tell just by watching me with the animals that I really want my own little fiber herd. I actually have 2 acres I need to fence in so we talked for a long time. Finally I just went back to the cabin.
Enjoyed some homemade sunflower seed bread for lunch. I tried to knit but kept falling asleep. I really must have needed a break.
2 friends showed up to spend the night. We went into Hendersonville to look for GoodWills and dinner. Found a Salvation army store and a GoodWill but no good buys to be had that day. Drove by a Thai place and decided, with much pleaing from me, to eat there. The food was so good. I had fresh bamboo shoots with red chicken curry, so yummy.
Went back to the cabin where I needed to felt something for my class next day. I used some of my beautiful new roving with all the silks in it. Ahhh, it felted like a dream, beautiful and quickly. We all settled down for the evening and I slept like a log.

SAFF in 4 posts

On Thursday I drove up to Saluda, NC to an 1800's cabin I had rented. Talk about personality, I fell in love with this small place. The logs were put together with wooden pegs and the mud chinking had been replace with cement. The front porch was tiny, perfect for one or two people. After I unpacked, I sat outside and water colored. Guess what? I can't water color in the mountains any better than I do in town. Still it was fun and very quiet. No birds at all. I found out why though. While looking up at the trees I saw a huge bird that turned out to be a bald eagle and it had a nest very close by. It did seem strange to not hear birds though.
Inside the cabin, the small living room was perfect. There was a wood burning stove which was hard to light but when it finally did, it put off lots of heat. The kitchen had all modern appliances. The back door led to a fenced in back yard for dogs and rocking chairs for people. I really missed my dogs so next time at least one of them will be with me.
The bathroom was a real trip. It slanted back from the house at such a degree, you could slide down to the toilet. You felt like you needed to pull yourself off the toilet but the sink was help up by wooden wedges so it would land in your lap if you pulled hard enough. Taking a shower was fine but a bath would soak your feet while leaving your butt dry.
There was a loft upstairs but the steps were very steep and slippery so I slept on the sofa down stairs. Figured I would kill myself if I tried to come down in the middle of the night to slide into the bath room. Quite an adventure. More tomorrow.

I got a nuno piece to work!

I used a larger count silk and rolled about 2x as much. The wool went thru very nicely and I love the scrunch of the cotton gauze I added. Just wish I had dyed the silk and wool so the colors didn't stand out so brightly. This is a scarflet by the way. Has 2 button closure but can be worn in a number of ways.

Adventures in Nuno Felting

Well remember at the top of my blog where I would show my mistakes? Well this last scarf was a big mess. I was using the super fine Merino that Jill Gully sells at Outback Fibers (great source of info, demos and material). My silk was a silk painted scarf that I cut into window panes. I laid out the scarf so that there were 4 panes of silk and the rest was covered in wool. I put light layers of wool around the edges of the silk so it would felt into the wool.

I am not totally sure where I went wrong but after I finished rolling it, I rinsed and slammed it in cold water to shock those fiber scales together. Immediately panes of silk came out of several areas of the scarf. As I opened it and put the slightest pressure on the scarf, all the silk panes came out. Only 1 area of one pane seemed felted.

Now what did I do wrong? Probably several things but everything can be salvaged and used in other pieces so no real harm done

new meds

Well, it has finally happened. I had to pull out of a show at the last minute because of my depression. I had know something was off for over 2 months but it too that long to get an appointment with my Dr. Took some tests and some of my meds had stopped working. He upped the dosage this week but so far no results. I hate to mess with my meds, it always takes over a month to see what will work for me. That being said, I had to pull out of one of my favorite shows and I doubt they ask me back. Can't blame them though. I wouldn't want the mess I am in trying to meet the public and sell my work.
On a good note, I have been much more prolific on writing down ideas. I haven't tried to execute any of them yet, but they will great items if they work. Mean time I am mindlessly carding wool and silk, making beautiful blends of roving. I hope next year to have all felting and supplies on my site and maybe another site for my dolls so they will both get seperate attention that they deserve. What do you think? Would it be worth it?

Practical Magic

Young Sally:" He will hear my call a mile away. He will whistle my favorite song. He can ride a pony backwards." Young Gillian: What are you doing? Young Sally "Summoning up a true love spell called Amas Veritas." "He can flip pancakes in the air. He'll be marvelously kind and his favorite shape will be a star. He'll have one green eye and one blue." Young Gillian: Thought you never wanted to fall in love. Young Sally: That's the point. The guy I dreamed of doesn't exist. If he doesn't exist, I'll never die of a broken heart.

(My favorite scene in the movie, the girls in the green house lifting the petals they have picked to the moon)

Quilt show

We had a really nice weekend for the Quilt show this year. I shared a booth with Cynthia Willard and we had lots of fun. Both of us are pretty laid back so we took turns wandering around the show. I earned my booth money back plus some. Several shop owners and individuals took my cards and discussed me teaching classes. I demoed felting, gave bits of felting history out and really recieved some nice compliments. One vendor said I should enter my framed pieces into an art show at the Smithsonian. Only problem is finding the time and money to get there but still what an incredible affirmation. Some one gets my art!!!

Check back here on Sat. if you have time. I will have another diorama for "Practical Magic"
sort of like the one I did on the TeaParty. I love doing these, it is like letting your imagination go wild!

Finally cool

Well actually it was cold to me this morning but I didn't wear a sweater as I should have done. This is just a check in post. I am in a show this weekend and am spending most of my time deciding what to take and re-doing inventory. I hate the inventory part. Have decided to leave all my dolls at home for this show, I just won't have room for them.

I have been carding more fiber and I am adding silk to it. Hoping it will come out as nice as my last experiment did. Will post photo if I like it. I hope you are all staying busy and creating some beautiful pieces!

Dragon Con

I went to my first Dragon Con this weekend. In case you don't know what that is, well it is a fantasy convention. They have speakers like a panel of the Ghost Hunters and Kevin Sorbo. Those were ok but it was the best people watching I have ever done. Many of the attendees wear costumes of some sorts. Great place to sit back and get ideas of fantasy pieces I now want to make. I wore one of my shawls and every few feet someone would stop me and ask about it. I also had bright yellow contacts in and freaked out a few people. There were women with thongs and body paint as their costumes, this of course delighted my husband. I found an artist who painted a 3"x3" canvas of Larkin without even seeing a picture of him, it is so cool. Oh today is Larkin's birthday, he turns 4 where did my baby dog go?

Any way to keep this at least partly fiber, last week I mixed up some hand dyed Merino and Alpaca and made the most lovely batts I have ever made. They are so soft and the colors is gorgeous, good fall colors. I have it up on Etsy, still trying to decide a good name for it.

Would you like to own a fabric collage I made? Go to http://tinyurl.com/2cztp5b and make a comment about my shop and that you would love to win Moon over Smokey Mountains. My shop is http://raven333.etsy.com
Thanks for checking it out, so far only 1 person has voted for my collage so you have a great chance of winning!

Saturday Felting

We are finally getting some rain in Georgia and it is wonderful. It is still really humid so when I decided to felt today, I quickly came back inside. Felting soap, that is a great indoor thing to do and I have a show in about a month so I need more soap. Well, I think I have some superwash, in which case it will never felt. I am going to use up the entire soap bar before I get this to work so change in plans.



I decided to can all the tomatoes before they went bad. Then I decided I would rather can salsa so that is what I am doing this evening. Stirring, boiling and waiting for that little pop that seals the lid.



Did take some time off to go to a family reunion where I ate far too much of course but at least I don't have to try cooking around the canning. One thing happened that got me so excited. I don't have any children but married into a family of grown children and lots of cousins having their first babies. Today for the first time, my grand niece came up to me and held up her arms for me to pick her up. Of course everyone said I held her like she was a puppy and might pee on me at any moment but I finally got to hold her. She turns 2 this month and is a cutie.



Hope all of your are having a great weekend and we are all really productive for the rest of it.

Libby

Saturday at the Hen House

Some of Chad Hagen's felted pins

I am finally going to make it to a meeting with the Georgia Farm Girls. We are supposed to learn about canning and freezing. Just so happens I am in the middle of a tomato explosion, we are getting at least 4 a day and one vine has 15 that will be picked today. I am determined to be more self-sufficient and eat more organic food.

Am still working on the felt for the Peace project though I never got notice of a partner as I should have by now, I think. Oh well, this will just become something else. In making this piece I have realized that I should have laid out some wool on the back too. This piece is really wispy but isn't shawl or scarf size. Maybe it will become a pillow. Will probably do some bead embellishment and maybe add some ribbons.

I have been beading much lately, my eyes are due for a check up. The class I am taking from Chad Hagen will be making felted pins and embellishing them with some beading. It is an all day class so lots of beading. Wonder if I can bring my Ott light? I won't be able to thread the needle if I can't.

There is talk of us getting 2-3 inches of rain this weekend so do the rain dance with me please. We really need it. Well water is keeping my plants alive but they aren't very happy. Hope you all have a good weekend.

An Experiment

Have you ever gone to the home page of Etsy and typed in something in the search box that you might be interested in? First of all it is a great time waster if you are waiting at Dr's office or during lunch at your desk. Second it is very interesting to see just how much stuff come up that has your request in the tags but not in the object being sold. Third it gives you an idea of the going prices and is useful to see how other's have described their products.

I did this today and typed in felt. The very first item that came up had felted in the tag but it was a brass kalidescope(can't spell, sorry) that had a chain necklace and was very cute. Then I started looking for the felt. It didn't come in a felted bag, none of the pieces of the scope appeared to have felt on them, hmmm, an intentional mistag?

Next I noticed that over 1/2 of the items were made of commercial felt, not that there is anything wrong with that but I should have narrowed my search to handmade felt.

There were lots of knitted items that had been shrunk in the dryer. That is called fulling, not felting but I guess the average person wouldn't know that. A fiber person really should though.

I was amazed at the prices on felted items similar to my own. I mark mine much cheaper, maybe people think cheap price means cheap product. Will need to re-consider my pricing. I also noticed that the people who sold the most had a much better description of the product than I did and including cleaning instructions. Looks like I have quite abit of site improving for my shop.

Last I will leave you with some beautiful felted items from http://www.wraptinfelt.etsy.com/

Atlanta is HOT

I finally did some felting. It was a nuno piece and I had trouble keeping it wet because of the heat. I am still working on it, it is going to be a very light wall hanging. I hope it ends up with lots of wrinkles and crinkles. I want to bead it but will have to see the finished product before I can make more plans. Maybe my embellisher could be used to add some velvet leaves.....

I sold all my dyed blue roving this weekend. Both the robin's egg blue and the blue with purple carded in. The carded fiber was so soft and beautiful and really did not take as long as I had expected. Now I want to dye more roving and card colors together with some silk, just to see what I get and how it felts.

Got to tell you it is so nice to be felting again. My foot swelled but nothing major, I think I am back in business again!

New review

I would like to introduce you to a shop I just found on Etsy. http://www.etsy.com/shop/frixiegirl This woman has a wonderful imagination and can actually make what she has in her head. I love the colors she uses and some of techniques are simple but none I would have thought to do. She is from Australia and the colors she uses in many of her items are shades of blues and purples, my colors. Anyway if you want lots of inspiration and eye candy, check out her site.

Home again

I am back from vacation and it is sad to see it gone but it is nice to be home too. We were pretty far up onto a mountain with great views from the deck so I had time to do a lot of thinking and enjoying the birds and views. The family wanted to go, go, go all day every day. Because of my leg I was left behind a lot but I enjoyed my time alone.
I almost got caught up with Fibers mag and I did get to go to one large craft fair. I expected to see more variety but it was still a nice show. No felting at all and only one lady who did fiber work. Lots of quilting and applique but mostly machine done. Just not as much hand crafting as I had hoped for. Sad to say, not much was selling. I bet that show cost a lot of money to get into, the convention center was a great place to have it.
Really makes me wonder if a felter can make a living in this economy. Of course the summer isn't the best time to sell felt.....
Anyone else have nice vacations? Discuss them here if you would like to, I am always interested in what other people do to relax.

Happy Tuesday

Why happy Tuesday you ask? Well tomorrow I am taking off w/family and MIL to Gatlinburg. We have a really nice place to stay with a small deck overlooking the mountains which is where I will probably be knitting. Finally went to Dr. and my leg is now infected and I am bandaged knee to toe, sigh so no white water rafting or kayaking for me this trip.
What I will be doing is checking out Arrowmont School of Arts. It is similar to John C. Campbell but it is more geared to fiber art with lots of wonderful sounding classes. If it is as nice as I hope it is and I can save the money, I plan to take a class there next summer. Will report back when I return.
Have a fun and productive week and weekend!

early July

well I went out on Tuesday night to an event where it was dark and I managed to fall down 4 concrete, metal edged steps and land on my healing foot. I bled abit, refused medical help, was totally embarished and stayed for the entire event. By the time I got home, we had to peel my jeans off. My leg was so swollen and bloody, what a mess to deal with at 1pm when all you want to do is sleep. I made it thru work all week so have keeping my leg elevated and not driving my stick shift for 2 days. Since I can't get much made, I do have a few inspirational pictures for you, just so this isn't a totally wasted post. Will have more pics of real work next time. No the lady in the first photo is not me, I was just amazed by her dreadlocks!

Happy 4th of July

Well I have finally been really busy the last 2 days. I am taking 4 classes online at the same time, not quite sure how I managed to do that. I made the bat head for Battina yesterday and it came out great. This is a bat in a box with wings that move when you crank the little shaft. It looks like a jack in the box only nothing jumps up, just the wings move.
I have been working on a birthday custom apon that was due June 20th but I should have it finished by Tues. Finally got all the ribbon rolls that I could find on my ribbon racks. That corner looks so much better. I am throwing away stuff left and right not that you can really tell yet.
I gathered together all my dyes and put back up the shelve that decided to hurl itself across the room. Have always thought this place was haunted but in a playful way. Got all the dyes put back up. Hung things on the wall that have been waiting a long time to get put up. Unfortunately my studio is such a mess, you can't see what I have done although I know it is better!
Hope you all have a safe and fun 4th. We have a bagfull of fireworks, mostly sparklers. Tonight we get to irritate the old lady across the road who comes out every year to complain that we are going to set her house on fire. We get to yell back and forth across the street at each other, just another family ritual. Anyone else have 4th rituals?

sorry wrong site for quilting arts

http://www.quiltingarts.com/ I did download the mag last night, it takes about 30 min on my computer but opened easily and the colors and details are wonderful

New Review

Quilting Arts has come out with an E magazine for only $14.95 It is not to replace the regular mag but it is so much easier to watch something being made and to hear the person who is making it. Almost like taking mini classes. I just went ahead and ordered it so I don't know if it will be easy to download but it should be. Warning!!! It will not work with Windows 2000. Here is the site that gives a great tutorial and you get an idea of what the emag will be like. Works with Macs too. http://store.quiltingdailey.com you may have to look around on this page for the emag button.

To see more blogs with TeaParties, click on the illustration above.

They left so fast, the Hatter forgot his hat.

Mad Hatter's Tea Party

The Mad Hatter decided to have a tea party. He invited March Hare and the Doormouse. Every arrived but the Doormouse kept falling asleep so they stuffed him into the sugar bowl. Alice stopped by to join the party but then they were all summoned to see the Queen. Leaving a mess behind them, here is what is left of the party.

trying to prove how human

Remember the contest I just had? Well when I went to wrap the journal up and send it to it's new home, it was no where to be found. I looked thru the boxes from my last show 3x and searched my studio many times but no journal. All I can figure is that it got lifted at my last show. I have had many things stolen during shows, maybe it is the economy, maybe I need to watch more closely but I think I really learned a lesson this time. I keep great inventory before and during the show but when a show is over, I just stuff things into boxes and head home, always really tired. Now I am going to add a column to my inventory sheet and check items off as I pack them. At least I can compare that with my sold column so I will know immediately if something was stolen.
The good that came out of this is that the winner got a much better prize and I hope she wasn't too disappointed to get substitute prizes.

The winner of the book is...

reneek
www.thecrochetloft.etsy.com

Thanks everyone for entering. I will be doing this again a few times a year so stop by and see what the next prize will be. I really do appreciate you all reading my blogs.
Libby White

Finally.....

I entered my studio, worked and re-discovered what a wonderful space I have. Messy but comfortable. I cut out a dress and have almost finished it. I also have almost finished the dyed nuno outfit. Finally some progress. I still want to felt really badly and the chiro almost has my back in shape but I fell and broke a bone in my foot. I am so clumsy, one I actually fell off of a speed bump while walking, sigh. Maybe this is why I am not too fond of needle felting?

Now to decide on the next project. I have 2 classes coming up online. I am really excited about both of them. One is a mechanical bat doll that really flaps her wings and the other is a small fairy torso that is dressed up and has beautiful wings. She stands on her own wooden stand and will be so much fun to decorate. But I really need to keep my hands busy while I am in the "mood"

Thinking, thinking...

Happy Memorial Day

We have had such a nice weekend so far. It has called for rain the entire weekend but tonight is our only rain so far. My tomatoes were looking droopy so perfect timeing. Nothing much creative going on here, have lots of ideas brooding but no action yet. I got 2 new dresses from Thailand yesterday. I need to draw out their patterns and make more of them. They are very free flowing and comfortable. Went to a Georgia Farm Girl flea market yesterday and Becky had saved me more crocheted trim and beautiful old handkerchiefs that will make great pockets.
My little giveaway on the previous post is still getting some sign ups. I am very pleased with this as I am getting some new people checking my blog. Etsy is still slow, I gather it is for most people. I will keep my shop open no matter what, it is a great way to meet people with similar interests. Seems I have little to no social graces and the people in forums and at shows are teaching me a lot. I also joined Southern Belle Marketing so hopefully that will help me learn more about advertizing. So much to learn.
Anyway, hope you all have a safe and delightful holiday. Don't forget to say a prayer for all the Veterans who have given their lives to protect our freedoms and pray that the current administration will realize just how much the Veterans have done for America.

A New Give Away!

I am having a free give away that will start today and run through June 15th. I am giving away a handmade Journal/Scrapbook http://tinyurl.com/cengh9 Just make a comment on my blog http://tinyurl.com/cengh9 and I will use a random counter to pick the winner. Please leave some way I can notify you if you win. The winner will be posted here and will be offered an interview on my blog.

Losing it

It seems they only blocked my blog at work for one day. Hope I will be back to posting more now. Am still having back issues but have been able to work in the garden. Today Jonathan and I are putting in some corn. Phil said we don't have enough room for corn but I think we shall show him, even if I have to hand pollinate. We have lots of little tomatoes which is exciting, the last 2 years tomatoes haven't done well for me. I think I bought plastic cucumber and squash plants, they look exactly the same as the day I put them in the ground.
I am feeling pretty good today so after a morning of gardening, I am going to lay out a nuno felt wall hanging. Might not get it wet or rolled today but just getting it laid out will feel good. Several of the patterns I ordered have come in so I will be sewing soon.
Went to Jo Anne's and bought fabric on sale last week. OMG when did fabric prices get this high? Thank goodness for 40% off coupons. Even then the price was ridiculous.
Anyway, spring is almost over, summer is on its way. Let's hope it stays balmy instead of hot with plenty of rain for the plants. Hope you all are being creative and I would love to see what you are working on. I think you can post your photos in here but if not, just send Jpegs to me at rachae19@mindspring.com and I will post them here. Great way to share ideas, get and give advice and to get a little ego boost!

news about my blog

They have finally blocked all blogs from work which is where I am usually awake enough to post. I will just have to adjust my schedule but give me a little time. Next, some of you know I have had surgery on my back many years ago and have a steel rod in it. I have been having shoulder and lower back pain so Cynthia gave me a mini massage and told me I REALLY needed to see a good chiro. I found one close to my house who is open late and takes my insurance. He has worked on me 2x this week, hasn't killed me yet but some of the treatment makes me think he might. I took my 2007 x-rays in and he told me there is a good chance I might need more surgery on my back. Not at all what I wanted to hear. He is going to show some surgeons my x-rays and we will go from there. All the vertebra that aren't fused by my rod have intense arthritis. Soooooooo this is going to cut down drastically on my felting. I have so many ideas, I keep writing them down but for now I am going to try to sew and sell funky clothes, partly to keep busy and partly to keep my Etsy shop open. This may all be for the good anyway since felt really only sells in the Atlanta area in the winter. Adding funky clothes could keep me open as a more versitle shop. Any ideas for other things to do that would be less painful?

Georgia FarmGirls 1st show

This Sat. May 8th, the day before Mother's Day we will be having a show from 9-5. To get there, go up 400 till you get to the intersection with 369. Turn left, go to next signal(?) or 4 way stop, there will be a Citco in the corner. Turn right and keep driving till you see a bright yellow house with lots of tents and colors on the left. If you have gotten into Dawsonville, you have gone too far.
There will be lots of textiles, soap, all sorts of fun things that will be great gifts for you or mom. Hope to see you there!

finaly warming up, I think

Phil has tilled a large area for me to start my first garden here. He did a much larger area that I had anticipated so I am able to put in more than planned. I will have an entire square of sunflowers which should keep the birds happy. Am putting in 4 tomato plants, we will be giving away tomatoes as well as yellow squash and cucumbers. Didn't find any zuccini but will plant that too. Got two Thai pepper plants, am excited by those and surprised to find them. Will be doing butter beans and pole beans that will run up the outside of the chain link fence and be eatten by Larkin most likely. He already tasted my petunias today, I hope he didn't like them.
I tried to dye some silk and cheese cloth for a wall hanging. Used Walnut ink and crystals. Not sure they will be dark enough, I may have to add dye. Next weekend is Mother's day so I have to put together a shadow box I have been planning and get it into the mail. Next Sat. is the Georgia Farmgirls 1st show so I am going to be very busy as usual. Why don't I slow down and give myself a break? No wonder I am so tired. At least Phil is helping instead of grumping!

Product Review

Being a fiber nut, I seem to collect as much ribbon as I do cloth and wool. My spools of ribbon have been packed in a box for years and I always knew there had to be a better way to organize them. I saw a Martha Stewart show where a designer put up big dowels that covered a wall and that looked like a nice way but I don't have that much wall space. Then I found Creative Visions http://www.etsy.com/shop/creativevisions207 on Etsy. I ordered 2 of these 3 dowel storage units and now that little corner of my studio looks neat and clean (for the moment) and I can see all my ribbons at one time. The owner and creator, Jim, is very proud of his work as he should be. All the edges are sanded perfectly, not a snag anywhere to mess up your ribbons. He is also very nice and communitive.
Maybe these will help some of you to organize too. Spring cleaning? Sure.......

sheep

I hope this comes thru to all of you. It is a funny video but still ties in with our "wool theme"

http://www.finisterreuk.com/surfingsheep/

Halloween already?

I was just posted info about a cool Halloween giveaway that some of you may be interested in checking out. It is a great blog and website so go visit and spend some time if you can.

Hello
from Pearl Avenue

Just an update, to let you know I've been very busy sculpting.
There is a giveaway at,
http://artisticthalloweenqueens.blogspot.com/
I donated a vintage Halloween Jack-O-Lantern, Lumiere,
sculpted from paper mache. So if you want a chance to win my
one of a kind, Halloween piece, head on over for a chance to win.
While you're there, check out the Queens Castle Bootique, where I have some quirky witches for sale.

Also, I am working on more Vintage French Moons, and will list some in my Etsy shop very soon.

If you have any ideas on what type of pieces interest you, please let me know. Inspiration comes from everywhere, even you.
Thanks for your interest in my work, I greatly appreciate it.

I look forward to hearing from you,
my thanks,
Lisa

more nuno, this one a shirt

my Nuno as Promised

Learned my lesson well....

I can be soooo stubborn. I was in a show last weekend that Phil could not attend and help me set up. I was just sure I could do this alone, plus ever other show I have been in, well everyone helped each other to set up and tear down. I guess not every show is like that, I have just been lucky before. So I got beat up on Sat. setting up and beat up on Sunday tearing down. I took off yesterday and today to let my body repair itself. I was tucked into a corner of the show which I had thought would be a good spot but when someone asked me just what was Fiber Art, well I knew I was in the wrong place and time.
Now I need to check out opportunities much closer before I agree to do a show. I am supposed to be in 2 shows in May that are very close to my house so Phil can help me set up and tear down. Both shows will be a little more like country shows so I am still not sure if I will fit in there but at the very least it will be more convenient.
This was a hard lesson to learn but a good one, I just hope I can remember it. I did pretty well in the show, held my own but no one did really well. There is so much more I could say but I want this to be totally anonymous both for the show and the other vendors. Just keep our fingers crossed that the next shows are more comfortable and fun.

Nuno warning

I can not believe that I hurt in so many places. Oh, my goodness, nuno rolling takes at least 2x the time to get a piece well felted as regular wet felting. I love the end product so I guess I am going to be building some muscles this summer. Wouldn't it be nice to lost some weight too!
Sunday I made 2 smaller pieces. I have already sewn one onto the front of a t-shirt. Talk about one of a kind. I am still trying to find enough sunshine to take good pictures when I get home.
Now I want to make a really nice, large piece of art work. I talked with a realtor in John's Creek about being in a show there and she couldn't help me there but she always buys a piece of artwork to give to new home owners who buy from her. Maybe that is a market I should check out. You know all those huge pieces of framed art in Dr. and lawyer's offices? Well they can just start buying from me, good idea?

Nuno Class

I am 2 days into a 3 day nuno class and I am loving it. Kathy Colt from Atlanta is teaching it in her home. I hope all of you take a few minutes to visit her site and check out her gallery http://www.kathycolt.com/ Her work is incredible. I am learning so much. No wonder I could never get my nuno to work, I was doing it backwards. Figures I guess since I do so many things backwards. Today I made a piece that was ok but not exciting. I brought it home tonight, over dyed it and let it tumble in the dryer. The texture came out to be wonderful and it is the perfect size for a shrug. I will take pictures when it dries and will put it up for sale on Etsy but will post it here too.

This is really what I needed to get me out of my creative slump. With a show next weekend, it will be wonderful to add a few new pieces that are spring/summer weight. Hope you all are having as much fun this weekend as I am. The other women in the class are so much fun too and we all have really different styles. Well, I don't think I have a style but I am liking my work!

Finally Friday

It looks like Saturday is going to be nice enough to get felting. Sunday is might rain but if still stays warm, I can keep felting on the back porch. I have cleaned off the screened in back porch so that the 6 ft table fits, JT's bike fixed and there is still enough room to sit in my swing and relax. The Dogs can see me thru the door so they will lay down and be good. This porch has french doors that open into my studio so if I need something, I can just step in and get it. I am so glad that we thought of this when we working on the house.
I finally broke down and bought a new clay over. My old one was probably 20 years old and I got it second hand. You absolutely could not keep the temp. Even with a thermometer in it, it would spike and burn stuff. So now I can make more doll heads that are my own design and don't come from press molds not that there is anything wrong with that. Well of to more adventures. Hope to have lots of pics on Monday.

Tuesday towards the end of March

Well Mother Nature is playing tricks on us again in the South. Last weekend was so nice. 70's weather high, flowers opening, green and red buds on the tips of tree branches, just beautiful. Then comes Monday. We get up to drizzling rain, in the mid 30's and windy. Got to work and it even started snowing for a little while. What is up with this?

I should have spent that beautiful weekend dyeing silk and wool, maybe even felting some. Instead I wasted too much of it on the computer and working on dolls inside the house. I do have one doll that I should finish soon and will share with all of you.

I do have some good news for those of us in the Atlanta area. The knitting, spinning, crochet and all wonderful things made with fibers groups and guilds are in the first stages of getting a Fiber center where we can all meet, take/teach classes and just have fun being around like-minded people. Read about it here, it is so exciting http://surfacedesignassociationofgeorgia.blogspot.com/2010/03/southeast-fiber-arts-alliance.html

The Sewing Expo

I was quite surprised to not see one piece of felting on exhibet.  Not even a nuno scarf to be found.  Lots of embroidery machines, images for machines etc.  The embroidery was the main theme of this show or at least it seemed that way.  The good vendors, a Button guy who sold those beautiful Checz buttons very cheaply.  He had so many I couldn't chose so I bought nothing.  Found a shop that sold machine felting needles.  They appear to be universal and expensive.  Vogue fabric was there with lots of their reduced priced batiks, silk, gadgets etc.  Only place I dropped some serious money ('$50) got to stay on that budget.

Now the classes.  This is the first time I have tried classes there and I won't waste that money again, could have afforded buttons,,grrrrr..  The first class, I paid for an infomercial about one of the vendors booths.  She showed samples and gadgets then told us to stop by her booth to buy her books that showed her patterns and techniques.

Next class was taught by a lovely lady who drew patterns, answered questions and showed many different ways to wear her easy vests and what she made them of.  You don't even need a pattern. 

Third class was a mini nightmare.  I had totally misread or understood what we were making and how we would do it.    We were attempting to make collaged totes and no one in the class finished.  Only one teacher, 20 students and everyone needing help the entire time.  She needed several helpers.  I knew I was in trouble when she said me down at one of the nicest embroidery machines I have ever seen.  I have never tried an embroidery machine and after cussing at it alot, the nice women next to me got tired of my whining so they help me A LOT.  Then I got to use a serger.  What a complicated piece of junk that was.  Nope I never will need one of those.  So I stayed the entire class, got about 20% of the piece done but that was ok, I didn't really like the purse anyway but it gave me a new found respect for Etsiers who do make them and sell them at good prices.  I don't see how they make any money.

So I have completed this experiment.  Go to the show floor and buy next year, don't waste money on the classes.  Oh I did get into the last spot in the Nuno class in April, yeah!

Why did it get so busy?

Suddenly it seems like all sorts of good things are coming my way.  Last weekend I took a clay doll class and it was lots of fun.  I really like the "creature" that I made and as soon as I finish dressing him, I will post him here.  This Thurs. I am going to take my first sewing classes since my grandma taught me at 6 years old.  This should be very interesting.  I think 2 classes are demo's but the third one we make something and we get to use an embellisher so maybe I will learn more about that before I break all my needles.  Got to find a source for those.  Next weekend I am taking an on-line class about making human troll hermit crabs.  Will post that too, it should not take any dressing.  I seem to be on this kick of making odd/ugly dolls.  

It is almost warm enough to start felting again.  I want to try the nuno now that my hands won't be shaking.  What is everyone else up to?

Today, March 1, is St. David's Day - the patron saint of Wales. So all =


the corgis should get an extra treat in honor of this feast day.

A play day for me

This weekend I have spent all my creating time just on pleasing my self.  It feels so freeing to not care if something will sell or what others like about it.  I joined a prayer flag swap and had so much fun designing and making these flags.  I send it off and recieve 5 back.  These will hang in a tree in my backyard to get weathered and hopefully bring my household the messages on the flags.  Here is my banner.  Try to ignore the background, my studio is in a mess no matter how much time I  spend organizing it.

Now to try a new techique

I have been reading a lot about nuno felting lately.  I have also seen some incredible pieces of artwork.  Now off to find good directions.  There are quite a few on line including Utube but this site on Flickr has very simple instructions with step by step pictures.     I just ordered some dyed silk from The Funky Felter who has a wonderful blog and Etsy site.  OK I can't get this site to come up so just search for direction to nuno felt . Go to Blingo to Search,  click How to Nuno Felt scroll down to the 13rd entry and click.   You must search thru Blingo first.  Going directly to Flickr doesn't seem to work.

Remember I promised to show pictures at my attempt to dye wool chartruse?  Well here they are!

Sorry to be absent so long

I hope you all had a chance to read the interview I did with Frances and her wonderful photography.  Today I am dealing with hard things, things that make me want to howl but that won't help.  A lady I have never met named Renee is dying very soon of stage 4 breast cancer.  All I have heard of her have been wonderful stories and I having trouble understanding why rapists and murderers are getting such "fair" treatment while she and her friends are suffering so.  Please light a candle for Renee tonight that she will pass over and soon be out of pain.  I know she will be crowded by loved ones who will be in pain too so send up a prayer for their healing too.  And life will go on.

An interview with Frances Seward

Today I am going to interview an artist who has nothing to do with fibers. One of the reasons I am interviewing her is to show her artwork as another medium for felting ideas. The colors she blends would be a great guide to making a felted scarf or picture. Of course none of our fiber work could ever match her beautiful photographs.

This artist’s name is Frances Seward. You can see some of her work on her Facebook page

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Frances-Seward-Photography/201211002539?ref=ts

She also has an Etsy shop. http://www.etsy.com/shop/FrancesPhotography and there is a contact button on Etsy if you would like to talk with her directly.

I asked a number of questions and here are her answers;

1. When did you get your first camera?

I got my first camera when I was about 9 years old and was surrounded by photography all my life because my mother was a photographer.



2. Why do you focus on nature photography?

I love nature because it really is such a spiritual experience for me. That is how I started to photograph as I do now.  For years I spent hours at a time photographing up, close and personal with nature.  I am now in love with color ,color combinations as well as the  quality of light and how they make one feel. That is what I strive to do, to create images that are spiritually moving for others as they are for me.

3. Your style is quite unique. Is this what sets you apart from many other photographers?

I currently use a digital camera because I can create the raw image in my camera and do use Photoshop to ensure colors, contrasts and saturations as they should be. All the textures, the space and raw colors are created with my camera. The important tools for creating my art is light and my camera.

My technique does set me apart from other Etsians and photographers although there are photographers who do what I do, the method I mean not the subject matter. My photography is very painterly and a lot of people think they are paintings. My images are created in the moment, never to be seen again except on paper. I find the unpredictability of this technique, working with light and my camera, irresistible allowing me to be very versatile with my work.

4. Tell about your Esty shop and why you created it.

I started Etsy because I was recommended it by a friend. It is hard to sell your work in this economic climate but she convinced me I would get sales on Etsy. She proved me right and it has been an amazing experience. I love doing what I do and love to create new and exciting environments striving to develop my technique further – the whole process is part of the experience. It is perfect really!



5. Tell us about your self.

I grew up in the UK and currently live in the high deserts of New Mexico in Santa Fe- very contrasting lands. Both water and the desert have a huge influence on my work- I yearn for the sea and my imagery brings me closer to it. I yearn for space and this is what I find in New Mexico. I am married to a writer and have a 4 year old son who is the light of my life. Great muses for me were the sacred photographer and his writings: Minor White. My absolute favorite painter: Mark Rothko.



I would like to thank Frances for sharing her photographs with us and telling us so much about her technique. It is always wonderful to talk with someone who has so much love for her work.  Make sure when you visit her sites that you notice she has named each of her pieces with delightful names.

One World One Heart Blog and Give Away

Welcome to all new visitors and returning visitors. I have joined with a large group of bloggers all over the world. The idea is to get to know more creative people. If you read my blog and reply to this post, you will be eligible to win one of my beautiful green felted scarves. You have to reply by Feb 14th and the winner will be announced on the 15th. This should be a fun experience for all of us. This is the 3rd year this event has been held and it has grown each year. Here is a picture of the scarf. It is cobweb felting so is very light to wear but still warm. In this picture it almost looks like a magic carpet.

Some of this and that

Some of you may have noticed that I have not been blogging as much or posting as many pictures as usual. I have problems with depression and I took a downward spiral during the middle of Dec. All I wanted to do was sleep. I had no energy or interest in doing any of my artwork and that is definitely a sign that something is up. Yesterday I went to my doc and starting today, my meds have been changed. It might take awhile until we find the right meds and doses again so I may remain quiet for a bit longer.
I am really wanting to get back into making things, I have thousands of ideas, just no drive to start on anything.
The saga of the chartruse roving is now over. I never did get it quite as the buyer wanted but she was so sweet and patient with me and left me good feedback. This weekend I hope to gather all my greens together and take a picture to show here. I think my next few projects will have some green in them!
Thanks for hanging in there with me, I promise my next post will be more fun and have pics!

Review of a Wonderful Artist and Her Shop

The artist I am featuring in this post is Jane M. Loedding. Her decorative wall art is both colorful and full of whimsey. She paints on both canvas and wood with acrylics. Soon she will be offering prints of her lovely art. Her shop on Etsy is http://www.Etsy.com/shop/jlmart

Jane is a happily married mom of 3 lovely children. She also runs 2 other website shttp://www.imagesofhome.com/ and http://www.creativenamesigns.com/ Jane also does custom pieces. You can contact her on her Etsy pages.

oh yea

I forgot to tell you to scroll down to my mini etsy on the right hand of the page and you will see that I have added 4 new items. More coming this week.

Quiet start for the week

Well last Thurs. evening, we had snow, rain,ice and freezing rain. It was a total mess. Here in the south we don't often see bad weather so most of us just stay home and watch the idiots on TV that are trying to drive in it. My only way to work was actually closed on Friday so I had to take a personal day but that is ok. I got out my ancient carder and started working on blending some greens. They are really turning out pretty.
Our temps are climbing back up into the 50's tomorrow so if it stays nice this weekend, I will be felting again. I found a website with freeformed felt pieces that were knitted and crocheted today. Looked very cool and I would love a vest like that.
So what is everyone else doing? Are many of you snowed in?

too cold to dye

You know it is too cold to dye wool when it starts to freeze as soon as it comes out of the dye pot. Also when it is warmer hovering over the dye pot outside than it is inside the house, well for Alpharetta, Ga that is just too cold. Predicting snow on Thursday but it will never happen. We want it so much in our area that I sort of feel sorry for our local meteorologists. They have cameras right there if even little flake shows up. I do wish we would have a decent amount so I could watch Larkin's reaction to it.

Back to art, I stayed home today with the makings of a huge cold but I still did some art. Aside from freezing wool, I did take lots of photos of items that I have been making lately. I finally got one up on Etsy today. I would love to get to the point that some others do which is list a new item a day. Here is what I uploaded today , a new collaged necklace that is enclosed in glass. Fun to make and a good way to use scraps for all of us who don't have the heart to throw anything away.

Today's drama, there always is some isn't there....I opened the door to my studio and in flew a little Carolina wren, one of my favorite cheeky little birds. So now I have a bird flapping at the windows, 3 dogs insisting the little bird is theirs' and pieces of art work flying everywhere. Not going to discuss the bird poo. I finally get the dogs out of the studio and spend 20 minutes trying to convince this little bird to go out the studio door and be free again. She stops panicking, almost lets me touch her and finally flys out the door with no damage to anyone or thing. That is all for today!

Happy New Year

Well we really did intend to watch the big ball drop but the Blues Brothers was on and that was so good, we missed the ball. LOL, this was probably a much better way to ring in the New Year anyway. Phil and JT went to the movies and I have dyeing wool all afternoon. I have a sample of yarn from a good customer that you would think would be so easy to match. We decided it was chartruese (sp) and when I dyed wool that color, it came out fluorescent yellow. Hmm, not what we had intended. I added some Key Lime green which gave me yet another pretty color but still not the right one. I finally made a pot of chartruese with some dark gold in it. Very close so I dyed 2 ounces which is what fits into my pot. Went to dye the last 2 ounces and the dye was not exhausted but had really lightened in color so I added some more green and gold and it is sitting overnight. Last check was fluorescent green. Hopefully I can get the 4 ounces she needs but I am going to have lots of dyed green wool, all merino if anyone needs some. Just ask and I will send a photo.

I also set up my embellisher today but haven't played with it yet. I have the clay station all set up for our clay night, which was supposed to be this morning but I overslept. We may have to put this off until tomorrow. The guys are going to love making these little odd dolls.

Hope you all had a good start to the New Year. I have been going back over the old year in my head and it is amazing how far I have come. I have learned about marketing, social media and all sorts of things I never even thought of the year before. We are blessed that Phil's health while still a mystery, seems to be better. Jonathan is doing so well in school this year, it is amazing. The dogs are hanging in there, hopefully Jack's ACLs will stay repaired this year and Harley will have no more tumors. Larking will continue to be the king of all he sees. We have been really lucky in so many ways, you have only got to believe that it is only going to get better this year. Thanks to all of you who follow me and I hope to get to know all of you better!