Alpaca Shearing Day

Wednesday was the long awaited shearing day. Bud and Karen from Shores Fiber Farm brought their trailer down from Ulster to use as a shearing shed. My friend Denise stopped by and took this photo of me clipping burdocks out of Boo's topknot before he was sheared. Bud handled the actual shearing and shots while I collected fiber and attempted to keep them as calm as possible! The strange surroundings and buzzing of the electric clippers got them rather excited. They all look so different without the bushy fiber. The first thing they did back in the pasture was roll in the dirt, I guess it is itchy like a fresh haircut. It was a long but satisfying day.

We did it!

I got up bright and early yesterday. All my jury items were packed and ready. I drove to Shamokin Dam to meet up with Dixie, a friend and fellow member of the Williamsport Chapter of the PA Guild of Craftsmen. She does awesome wheat weaving and was scheduled for the same jury session. Her husband Matt drove us the rest of the way to Lancaster. She seemed like a cool cucumber, until we got there, then she admitted that her nerves were frazzled too! We set up our displays and went for a walk. We stopped at a few galleries and then decided on a bite to eat. If we were going to get bad news we preferred not to hear it with empty stomachs! At the scheduled time we returned to the jury room... and both of us were greated with our seals! The feeling of relief is a wonderful thing. So happy!!!!

Art Tote

Here is one of the many projects I've been working on. The picture is one of my paintings, Valley Sunset, reproduced on canvas. All of the fabric colours are natural dyes and the button is natural dyed felted wool. Inside are two pockets, one is zippered.
This month was filled with deadlines for show applications, and I am attempting to get juried at the state level. My jury session is scheduled for March 31st in Lancaster, wish me luck! I have fleeting moments of confidence interspersed with long stretches of trepidation.
I also moved some of my equipment over the last two weeks. The loom that was on the downstairs enclosed porch is now upstairs in the loom room. The sewing and yarn processing station had to move across the hall to make space for the loom. The downstairs porch is now available for seed starting. (I still need to place my seed order!) The trick now is to remember where everything is so I spend less time spinning in a circle.

Philadelphia Flower Show

Yesterday I embarked on my annual sojourn to the 2009 Philadelphia Flower Show. Philly got nailed pretty hard with the snow storm on monday. The severe cold temperatures kept the March snow intact, but inside the convention center it is spring. The theme this year was Italy and some displays were better than others at evoking Italia. I am, however, never disappointed at the opportunity to experience flowers. Spring bulb flowers, incredible tiny iris, blooming cherry trees, wisteria, azalea, roses, delphinium and an incredibly fragrant blooming grapefruit are just a few of the flowers we saw. An exhibit that got raves from me featured a plethora of lilies and amaryllis in amazing colours. All the way home I was imagining how to recreate the beautiful shading with my natural dyed wool. So many ideas that my head is spinning! I must get to work...

Lily Vessel

This project has kept me busy for a few days. The idea came to me one night and I had to make it. The wool for the inside of the flower was natural dyed with brazilwood, the outside with coreopsis. The petal portion was done with wet felting and the removable stamen and pistils were done with needle felting using alpaca fiber. The inside of the flower looks like a flame and it is 13" wide. The inspiration for this piece came from the luscious photography in the seed catalogs that I pour over this time of year. Come on spring!

Warm Wool

This odd looking pile is natural dyed wool drying on the coal stove. It actually got too hot so I had to move it over to the edge. It is a coarser wool than the type usually used for felting, but it is what I have available. I scoured it, dried it, carded it, cooked it in a mordant bath and then finally dyed it. I also dyed some red from Brazil wood and orange from coreopsis, but I couldn't stack any higher!

Last evening was 'Art Walk' in Bloomsburg, where artists are paired with downtown businesses and the public follows a map to visit everyone. I was a participating artist in a clothing store called Kricket Square. The weather was cold and blustery so the event was more lightly attended than in the past. We did have some wonderful visitors though, especially the BU art students who hung out for a while. Hi guys!

Today I am heading to NJ to investigate freelance designing of handbags, drop off my painting "Blue Moon"to it's new owner and go to a tea party with Alice at my former guild.

Fulled and Felted Handwoven Scarf

After spending a week working as a "freelance floral designer" for Valentine's Day, I am happy to be back in my studio. The bottom picture is the scarf as it came off the loom. The warp is natural dyed merino wool, the weft is natural dyed corriedale, nat dye handspun alpaca and a nat dye silk scarf that I ripped into strips. I carefully fulled it by hand so I wouldn't dislodge the silk scarf strips. Then I added bands of wool that I dyed with goldenrod to the selvedge areas to create a border, and help hold the silk in place. The colours are like warm sunshine and day lilies, they make me happy!