What are these? Some more of Her Majesty Margo's "fluffs and fancies." These are batts: fiber that I've carded (combed using a drum carder) that makes it as light and as fluffy as a cloud -- they even have hints of glitter, compliments of Angelina (fiber that is!) This is the stuff that "dreams" are made of'; now they are on their way to become scarves but I'd be happy just padding my studio with them so I could keep on touching and looking at them every day.

I'm almost finished doing the hand emroidery on my silk piece -- I'm considering mounting it but it needs to be easy to pack and/or ship as part of my trunk show. I know that I don't want it to be framed and that it needs to be stitched on to something firm and in a colorway that will enhance and not detract from the piece itself. What am I considering so far? Painters canvas dyed or painted in that same soft ochre or perhaps a quilted irregular shape? If you have any ideas let me know!

I'm posting a progress picture of the silk flower garden I needle and wet felted last week. The plan is to add hand embroidery, silk ribbon, beads and anything else that comes to me. So far, I've added some (a lot!) of french knots and silk ribbon. It has been really difficult to capture just how delicate and interesting the piece is -- a mix of pleated hand dyed silk (by me!) and fiber. I want to really not overpower the piece itself but to make each corner interesting enough for your eye to linger a bit before moving on to the next.

My "Rosy Posy" sweater! A few years ago I knitted a ribbon yarn sweater which I absolutely love; HOWEVER, I noticed that each time I wore it, the sleeves "grew.' To prevent this next time around, I'll knit the ribbon together with a fine yarn. This past weekend I finally took the time to fix it since I just couldn't wear it the way it was anymore. The solution was to measure the sleeve and mark where it would be cut and machine stitch three rows around each sleeve before (bravely) cutting them off below the stitching. As you can see from the ruler, the sleeves were 6" too long!

I decided to needle and wet felt a cuff using a Vilene base, silk chiffon, wool roving, silk velvet and some of the same ribbon yarn. I also used some free motion stitching before wet felting it. I couldn't be more pleased with the results of my "Rosy Posy" sweater!

For any of you who live in Maryland, I'll be presenting my trunk show on November 3 during (Ellicott City) Sew and Vac's Sew Fair and then I'll be doing an Embellisher workshop there too on November 11. We'll have a great time creating a crazy patch pillow top. For more information contact Janice, the owner http://www.sewfair.com/

Here are is an example of some of the materials we'll use in a blue/green colorway with touches of vibrant pink. I'll post a picture of the finished sample when it is complete. It will be Embellished and free motion stitched.

This post is to help those machine needle felters become familiar with the use of Vilene or other water soluble fabric. I began experimenting with this several years ago and it has become one of my very favorite means to create fabric. Once we learn how to create fabric, the possibilities for using it is unlimited. Sometimes the work is so pretty that you'll just want to mount it to hang on the wall; other times it would make a gorgeous pocket or lapel to dress up a sweater or jacket.

This piece is as light as air -- the materials used were silk habotai, silk rods, silk throwsters waste and mohair roving all dyed by me with the exception of the mohair. It was all machine needle felted on to Vilene and then some areas machine stitched. I have just begun to add hand stitching along with some beads and at the moment that is all I know for certain; I'll let the piece "talk" to me as I go along -- it may end up being mounted because I love the different textures.