Show Season draws to a close

I will be showing with my fellow Susquehanna Valley Spinners and Weavers Guild members in the Gutelius House in Mifflinburg starting tomorrow. Since it is a Christkindle celebration the snow in the forecast is more apprpriate than the soaking rain we have been experiencing! The flood in September certainly interrupted my schedule for several weeks but it got back on track in October... only to get surprised by a snowstorm that temporarily closed the "Holiday" craft show in Kutztown. November was a good month and I enjoyed working with my fellow crafters, seeing many returning customers/friends and meeting new ones. I will still be working diligently over the next few weeks to get all orders shipped before Christmas.

I know , I know...I said no dogs...but a very persuasive customer talked me into giving it a try. These two beagles belong to her daughter.

Solar Dyeing Silk

This incredible heat wave we are having is great for solar natural dyeing! The concept is much like making sun tea. Along with water and a piece of silk, the jar on the right contains black hollyhocks, the center is onion skins and the left is coreopsis flowers. The heat from the sun pulls the color from the plant material and deposits it on the silk. I pre-treated the silks with alum and rinsed them before adding to the jars. It is so hot that I think we will have results very quickly.

Ice Flower Dyed Scarf

From a photo it is impossible to appreciate the gorgeous teal and aqua shading created by the ice flower dye on silk. The dark areas are prints from the iris touching the silk. I think the copper pipe may have contributed some of the greener tones in combination with heat from the July sun. To achieve blues through a natural dye other than indigo is pretty special. I am so happy with the outcome! An added bonus is the dye smells like iris, one of my favorite scents.

Vegetable Wool Tiles

tomato tile, eggplant, pea, carrot, onion and radish Several visitors to Kutztown inquired about tiles other than the three I had with me. Here are several more. I will post additional veg, and fruit too, as I get them done.

For the uninitiated: These are approx 8" square, ready to hang, 100% hand felted wool for both the base tile and the image. They are $39 each.

Ice Flower Dyeing

I am back from the nine day long Kutztown Folk Festival and getting ready for
my next big event, the PA Guild Fine Craft Fair at the Chase Center in Wilmington DE.

During our short spring I saved all of my dark blue and purple iris along with some blue pansies. As the flowers started to wilt I popped them in a Ziploc bag and tucked them in the freezer. I removed a couple handfuls of frozen iris and placed them in an old stocking. I plunged it into a gallon jar of warm water and squeezed to release the gorgeous blue dye. Then I added two silk scarves, one is loose and the other is wrapped around a section of copper heat pipe from my house that had frozen and split this winter.

This concotion has to sit still for a day or two. I will post pictures of the dyed silks when they are ready!

Show Season in full swing

So far in June I've been out to Pittsburgh (for the first time) and to the pan handle of West Virginia. At Three Rivers I lucked out with no bad storms during the first weekend time slot. The volunteers at 3Rivers were the absolute best I've encountered anywhere, thank you! They made me look forward to doing the show again in spite of the distance and obstacles.
The weather for the Mountain Culture Fest in WV was really hot and then the inevitable T-storm. My show results were not too good.
Now the preparations for Kutztown's nine day folk festival are occupying my every waking hour.

...like a diamond in the rough

This is my newest felted piece, Diamond in the Rough. I made it for the North Mountain Art League's exhibit that has just opened at the Northumberland County Cultural Center in Shamokin PA. The reception for the show is Friday eve April 8 2011.

My wall hanging is approx 18"x24" of wet felted wool. The beaded felt flower and leaves are 3D so they stand out from the background. I stitched the natural dyed jute rope in place and added texture by stitching with cotton and wool yarns in between the felt "rocks". It doesn't often happen, but the result was what I has hoping for!

Spring is here?

I took these photos in the Shady Grove section of my yard early yesterday morning. It was around five inches of the wettest, heaviest snow that you can imagine.

I am so anxious to get started on the garden but no such luck yet. March snows don't usually last long but this morning it is still flurrying.

Yes, I have been gone for a very long time. I couldn't figure out how to deal with posting "bad" news. Things like losing two of my uncles, losing my mommy alpaca, the barn roof getting destroyed in a wind storm... Not every day on the farmette turns out the way I pictured it. So I decided to bite the bullet as they say and dump it all at once. Then on with the new season, new shows, new products and I am even sporting a new haircut!