Fiber Art Show and Sale NEXT WEEK

YIKES!!! so much to do and so little time!  Let's see, I have indigo dyed bamboo socks, eco and indigo dyed silk charmeuse, chiffon, habotai, silk/wool blend, silk cotton blend scarves and wraps; felted soaps, felt flowers (not as many as I had planned since I only have two hands - really!), nuno scarves, a couple of nuno jackets and felted vests, AND indigo dipped leggings as well as some wall hangings and some lovely silk eco prints that I plan to hang in the gallery so they will "float" as the air moves (going to sell some of my silk fusion hand stitched samples as well to make room for new).

Hoping to do some eco printed cards and labels as well but time is running out!  If you are within driving distance, come see the show and join in the fun - have some wine Friday night and see some demos on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.

There are twelve other artists and I am the only felt maker, so there will be lots of wonderful variety to enjoy.

FELT WORKSHOP IN BALTIMORE

Still spaces left for the FanciFULL vest workshop on November 1, 2 and 3 for the Weavers Guild of Greater Baltimore!   Come join in the fun and create two pieces of creative felt on day one, cut them up on day two and stitch them up into a great creative vest on day 3.  Learn how to free-motion stitch your felt pieces together into a unique garment.  This is the front of Eve's vest from our Opulent Fibers workshop and I'm sure she and the others would tell you how fun and creative the process is!  Let me know if you need more information!

The Elusive Orange Eucalyptus - FINALLY!!!

I have grown old while trying to achieve the bright orange red euca prints - FINALLY!!!   Yesterday morning when I opened my bundles, to say I was ecstatic was an understatement - my husband came to see what all the fuss was about and the high is still with me!  It has literally taken me years - and the best part?  My very own euca tree (baby that she still is, gave me wonderful pints).

As "crazy eyes" (Orange is the New Black, actress) said on a PBS interview "my mom told me in her African accent that something always comes from working haaaard"!!!  and yes I worked very haaaaard!

So here they are!  Euca overdyed on indigo, or osage orange and the small leaves are from my sweet tree!   I also got a couple of euca plants with tiny leaves that you can see in the second picture.

Dyeing for Felting

About two weeks ago, I spent just about the whole week dyeing outside - I have a great little setup now right outside our shed, under the overhang; my clever and always industrious husband, Peter, even managed to run water out there and installed a laundry tub!  All my supplies are close at hand in the shed and it is very easy to get carried away - and carried away I did - over 50 yards of silk and cotton varieties.  Here are some pictures, although I must say that my photography leaves a lot to be desired but for the present, I'd rather work on being a master of felting and dyeing rather than a master of photography as much as I love and appreciate good pictures - maybe one day I will do better.  There are a ton of pinks/red/fuchsia/orange too but this week time is of the essence in preparation for my trip to Opulent Fibers next week so no time for more pictures!

 

 

 

 

 

Lacy Nuno Sampler Top

 Some new work this week.  After working with tons of color, I decided to work with white.  I  gathered my stash of laces that I've been collecting for a while to see what I could do - some I purchased and some was given to me by kind friends who understand my obsessions :-)

This is a really light and airy piece is full of delicious texture due to three varieties of cotton gauze and about seven laces combined with silk gauze for the base and 15 micron merino.  I also had some baby fine teeny Blueface Leicester curls which makes it soooo fun!  I'm really pleased with it, and the weight is wonderful for wearing in the South even in summer.

Planning to create a lot more as soon as I find more lovely lace - what better way to showcase than in a lacy nuno sampler.

A Good Thing

You would think that now I am retired that I would have all the time in the world to do what I want but there are always those things that are NEEDS - and there are so many distractions here - lovely friends, lovely scenery -  that I really need to get myself more disciplined; once I started thinking of all the upcoming events, proposals that are due and details that I need to take care of I truly began to panic (just a little) which was a good thing because it made me buckle down a bit. 

After writing things down and prioritizing all the lists and giving myself deadlines, I've been able to accomplish a bit more, check a few things off the list and calm down just a little - of course, having a darling man to beckon to your call makes life good; I do have to remember that and make time to enjoy him and appreciate all the lovely things he does to take such good care of me.  It also helps to have a baby fix whenever we get the opportunity - our two little grandsons live within a half an hour and I'll drop everything in a heartbeat to spend time with them;  I miss the others in our family terribly especially when they get together for family celebrations, it really hurts that we can't always join in the fun since we were so used to being the "go to" house for a multitude of birthdays and  all the other family celebrations.  Making memories for our grandchildren is such a great pleasure and privilege and I miss planning special meals and surprises for everyone in our wonderful family and extended family that are far away; what a true blessing it is to have your children grow into kind, generous and hard working adults who take such good care of the grandchildren that you adore.  We are very blessed and I thank God for this every day.

Lately I've been working through the things on my list, some of which are for an upcoming show at ArtWorks in Beaufort at the beginning of October.  The group's name is FAB (Fiber Artists of Beaufort) and I'm SO fortunate to be a part of this creative group - this will be a fun event so please come if you will be near the area.  As time draws near, I will be posting more information about this event.

In August, I will be teaching two workshops in Portland, Oregon and in preparation, I have been working on yet another vest.  It is so easy to get lost in the details and such a surprise once the garment is finished, really - no matter how you imagine it ahead of time, it is always different since the felted pieces have their own ideas about placement.  In addition to wet felting, I'll be showing some tips on how to use the Embellisher to enhance your felt work - so fun and easy.  

I have no idea why I keep creating these elaborate and fancy pieces - only thing I can think of is that in addition to being fun to make, maybe "Her Majesty" was in a royal court in a past life - makes me smile to think of that, especially when I know that they didn't wash their clothes very often so they may have looked pretty, but then again there are other things to consider  . . . .   A good thing that silk and wool can be washed!

 
 
 

 
 

 

 

 

Side Tracked

Well I got a little sidetracked a few weeks ago by a welcome request from a very dear person who needed two eye-glass cases - one for readers and a little larger for sunglasses and it was my pleasure to make these for her!

 

 

Day and Night

I've got a great thing going - in my studio, in the garden, pool late afternoon and/or gallivanting and/or visiting the family during the day; doing prep work for some easy felting or stitching while watching tv with my husband in the evening (when we are not out and about).  I hope to have a whole bouquet of flowers by the first weekend of October; I've made four so far and already given one away as a thank you to the person who organizes our Habersham knitting (social) group.  Didn't get a picture of the pink one but I'm sure there will be many more.  These are lariat necklaces which are perfect for the Southern woman - a blossom arranged around her delicate neck while she sips her sweet tea (wine!) under the palmettos and crescent moon - hahahaha! I've been reading too many Southern novels so fun!

Anyway, still stuck on Joomchi (layers of delicious mulberry paper rolled together with nothing but water and then manipulated with your hands)  which is one of the other things I do in the evening as I have to be busy doing something with my hands to be happy.  I visited the Savannah Dick Blick store (what a treasure trove of everything an artists loves!) and spent some time with the resident artist brainstorming about the best way to display my Joomchi for the FAB (Fiber Arts Beaufort) and now I cant wait to see how my ideas will transfer into reality- stay tuned for more!

Green FanciFull Vest

Here is another FanciFull vest - so fun to make one or two pieces of felt, cut it/them up and stitch creativly back together - there is so much leeway; you can choose to seam a lot or a little depending on what you want to do; you can make it long or short, add a collar or not, use silk to bind the edges if the organic look isn't really for you.  It is fun and creative just to go along with the flow adding pieces here and there.

This one, however, has absolutely taken me forever to finish because I began it right after I finished six weeks of physical therapy because I very stupidly did something that caused me to fall flat on my back and then just when I was better, somehow I injured something in my ankle and it was so hard to stand for any length of time to layout the design - it wasn't really enjoyable and very frustrating because once I get started, there is nothing I love more than to let the design process take over but I just couldn't think straight . . . then there was travel and I brought my darling mom home here to SC for a week's vacation and she just left last Tuesday.  It is hard to be creative on demand so I just got back into feltmaking late last week and now I'm raring to go with a zillions ideas.  My fiber group is going to have a show/sale in early October, so my goal is to create something towards it each day and to try some new things.  

Samples

My Dad taught me never to use the word "hate"  - but I am allowed to STRONGLY DISLIKE and very frustrated with my new computer and Windows 8 - I've been using computers and photo software for a very long time but trying to work with this operating system is awful and eats up my time!!!  

Enough of that, for those of you who are interested, the workshop at Sara Felts in Vancouver had to be postponed - Vinitha put so much effort into making it work, but arranging for the machines was getting way too complicated so we decided that it was best to put it off for the time being; it WILL work out again but the next time will be much more simple and I'm ready!

I'm still working on achieving a good routine for work here in our new home - I admit that there are lots of distractions and travel; the time goes so much faster when you are having fun :-) and a lot of the fun we have been having is spending time with our adorable grandsons who are just 30 minutes down the road and we know that road well :-)

I've met some lovely creative souls and have joined a fiber group, FAB (Fiber Arts Beaufort).  We are having a show and sale in early October so besides workshop samples, I've been making lists (growing daily) of ideas for items to show and sell.  I thought after I retired that I'd have tons of time, well I do have more free time but I have sooo many creative ideas and not enough time for them all so I have to schedule and focus on each or I'll get nothing done - in the mix there is felting (of course), hand stitching, joomchi, dyeing, collecting leaves/flowers for eco printing/dyeing and gardening (add to that jewelry experiments).

I'm also teaching in Portland, Oregon, in mid-August, for a guild that meets in Charleston in September, and for the Baltimore Weavers Guild in November, so I've been working on another vest sample to ensure my pattern will work for students.   If you are a feltmaker and enjoy creative sewing, you have no idea of how much fun it can be to make felt fabric, decide how to best utilize the most interesting focal points in putting together a piece of wearable while learning techniques that can be utilized in other projects; you can truly get lost in your imagination, texture and color.  I find the process extremely liberating and relaxing working on a piece of wearable art that tells it's own story of what colors and textures you most enjoy.  Anyway, these pictures are of a new work in progress in the green/blue range.

Working with Mulberry Paper - Joomchi Beginnings

I've found another obsession - just can't get enough of Joomchi!  I'm completely enthralled by the way that working with simple mulberry paper and water can produce such lacy results and I have BIG plans to work with these pieces further.  I took a workshop a few years ago and the process really intrigued me.  If you want to know more, I love the book Joomchi and Beyond.  Basically, the process entails layering mulberry paper/water and lots of squeezing and the process reminds me very much of felting.  I'm still very much in the experimental stage and the ideas for enhancements and display are dancing around in my head!

Workshop at Sara Felts This June

Please - come join me at Sara Felts this June to enjoy playing with an Embellisher (provided) and creating your own one-of-a-kind gorgeous vest; the techniques you learn can be used again and again!

FanciFULL Mosaic Felt Vest

After delays due to a fall on my back (carelessness on my behalf because I still think I'm a spring chicken!) - thank goodness nothing was broken but I've had six weeks of physical therapy and on top of that a sinus issue that left me with no creative energy, I'm finally feeling GREAT and ready to roll :-) 

I have been working on vest samples for upcoming workshops; I found that I love nothing more than to create felt fabric - sometimes with the Embellisher and sometimes not - before cutting it all up and piecing together to take advantage of the texture.    It is easy to get lost in the design and it really is quite a creative and enjoyable process; using one simple pattern, you can make it as long or as short as you would like to showcase the felt.

This pink felt felt fabric was made right before I hurt my back - the inspiration was a gorgeous but quite wild swirls; a silk scarf from TJ Maxx in reds, fuschia and touches of plum - something I would never wear but just perfect to use in felting since the wool tones it down a bit.

The pictures aren't the best but it is too cloudy today to take better pictures outside, but you get the idea.  I will be doing this workshop for Opulent Fibers in Portland, Oregon, in August and for the Baltimore Weavers Guild in November.  I'm designing something similar but using more of the Embellisher for a workshop at Sara Felts in Vancouver this June.  I'm so excited to meet new people and to see what my students come up with - felters are such creative souls and this technique provides just another outlet for them to showcase their creativity.

Here is a another that I posted to Facebook a while back in a soft peach showcasing lots of silk and some velvet.  

If your group is interested in a workshop - it can be arranged!  just contact me either on here, email hermajestymargo@aol.com or message me on FB!