Class Announcments, and then some...

While taking a breather from feltmaking, I decided to get more of my house in order and take care of some organizational things. Since my home is my studio and my studio my home, those spacial areas often over-cross each other, creating it's own unique chaos. I can live with a certain amount of disorder, but then...it's just got to be dealt with. Feeling pretty good about the progress, but still have miles to go before I can ease up a bit. Each day a bit more gets accomplished, but focusing on the "clear out" has left me with little time to felt....but I think of it constantly!

Last weekend was the Wisc. Sheep and Wool Festival, where my friend Brigitte DeMaster and I share a booth. The weather was PERFECT, and we got to see many familiar faces and friends. Dear Martha Steines repeatedly stressed to me that I had to enter the dress and cape in the design competition. I've never entered any such thing before so was very reluctant to do so. Finally I relented and entered. Martha was such an encouragement and I got "Best in Show". Shocked and humbled, I was. There were gorgeous items in the design category. I was really honored to win and happy that I have friends who push me out of my comfort zone. God bless you Martha and Brigitte. You bless me always! (My friend Zelda is wearing the nuno dress and cape in the photo, I am wearing one of my nuno scarves.)


While at both the Michigan Fiber Festival and Wisconsin Sheep and Wool, I got to see Chris from Briar Rose Fibers:
www.briarrosefibers.net
Chris usually dyes beautiful yarns, but has started dyeing silk bricks that are so spectacular! I've posted the link and let her know that I was going to share the information with you all. I do a lot of dyeing of silk fibers...this stuff blows my socks off! Great colorways, very good prices. Let Chris know you found the information here, please. Are these silks YUMMY or what?

Often I am asked to teach and have decided that with the upcoming show schedule, I have only one more option for teaching this year, unless there is a miracle. So, I've set up a nuno felting class for Saturday, October 29th, at the Otsego Historic Society building from 9AM-5PM in Otsego Michigan. We will dye the silk and then nuno the silk, like what I've shown in the photos above. Space is limited, it will be first come first serve so do let me know as soon as possible. You can let me know on Face Book or via my website email which is: info@hookedonfelt.com Cost is 125.00 for the day. I will supply silks, dyes, mordant, and wools. Will have a complete list of supplies later. Remember, space is limited, first come first served.

The days are becoming tipped in autumn, a fresh coolness in the air, birds flocking together, spiders laying eggs for next years' crop of spinners. The sky looks bluer, the clouds whiter, a fullness of time fills the abundance of this good earth and the goodness of God seems exceptionally clear during these shortening days of daylight, even the moon seems brighter somehow. These are days of early morning walks with sweater snugly wrapping my shoulders, a felt hat on my head, an awareness that these days too are limited before the winter white envelopes us. I love these days of color tipped trees and cooler weather. They are my favorites always. I remember more easily now the days of harvest on the farm, the canning of tomatoes, pickles, beets, corn, peaches, pears...the days of final hay cutting and baling, all things harvested, fields cleared, the rush to get it all done before the snow. Just writing this has brought back a vivid memory of warm apple cider on a field trip I took with my daughter... hay rides, root vegetables, cool air, and cold nose kisses. I love this time of year.

Okay, I'd better stop before I get lost down memory lane and can't make it back.
God bless and Shalom,
Suzanne

Felting My Fingerprints Off!

Seriously, I think I could commit crimes and there would be no fingerprints to identify me! I've been felting like a crazy person...but let's no dwell on that too much!

Ms. Allison and I spent the day together yesterday and she made two scarves, one was in the white pre-felt and the other was a lovely nuno felt scarf, her first! I was very please with her designs and lay out. She felts with such ease. I love how her mind works and her hands play!

The cream/tan hat was needle then wet felted. The red hat in an improvisational piece from a former pattern I've used. I took the viking princess hat resist, cut off one of the rosettes/horns and turned the hat around. In stead of making a rose or horn, I cut it open to be flames and then ones own hair becomes part of the design.

The hood is one that I started at the Creative Felt Gathering and finally finished. You can't see very well from this photo but there is a very long tail that hangs off the back of it. It was made with pre-felts, hand dyed prior to felting.


The green, blue and yellow vessel is my beginning creation for Felt United. I am going to do some beading on it and put a floral design in it before it is completed. I'll try to remember to post pics of it when it is done.

I leave in a few hours for Wisc. Sheep and Wool Festival. Other than flying through Chicago, I love the drive there. I am bringing a lot of Bling Batts, teaching and enjoying the company of good friends.

Before I leave, I've got to make a nuno felt scarf for my friend Judy. Her son is getting married next month and she's asked for one of my nuno scarves. I am so honored to do it for her. I'll be working in blues, so those of you who know I struggle with blues, please pray. I'm going to need it!

Shalom and hugs,
Suzanne

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Slip Sliding Away

September is here already, and I for one am happy about it. I am hoping for much cooler weather as this has been an incredibly hot summer for us here in Michigan. It is raining today, perfect for napping, making felt, maybe some cleaning, but I wouldn't count on the latter geting accomplished unless there is an energy surge after a nap! I love rainy days. They seem to move at a slower pace and I can appreciate that on so many levels!

Next week I leave for the Wisc. Sheep and Wool Festival, and will be teaching two classes there, and getting to see my dear friend Martha. One class is the needle to wet felt hat class and the other is the fingerless mitten class. I had not made a pair of fingerless mits in a while so decide to attempt do a pair as a sample. I messed up my cuts, and really wanted them longer, so back to the drawing board on them. I'll have to perfect it again before I teach it. I've lost my original resist on them. I am also using a very fine merino on the pair that I just did and forgot to sample my shrink factor! What was I thinking????? I used silk noil and silk top for surface elements. I can't believe I messed up the cuts! I get so frustrated with me sometimes!

Yes, I did make another cheese cloth wrap. Can't help myself, I just love them. They are so light, wonderful drape, and a bit unusual in texture. I put hand dyed tencel on the surface. When the light hits it....it's very high on the "wow" factor!

Lat night, I just wanted to sit and do mindless hand work. I played a couple of games of Bejeweled on FB, then made the crocheted ear warmers. The solid color yarn is alpaca, the sparkle yarn is mohair. Since there are so many small samples of yarn laying around here, I am going to be making more of them.

Friday can't get here fast enough. Elis, Rachael, Jone, Dawn and I will get together for the day. I am so looking forward to making one more memory with Elis before she heads back home. It has been a wonderful experience to meet and love this woman. There is a wise tenderness about her that is breathtaking, refreshing and at times overwhelming. I unabashedly, love her and am a whole lot in awe of her!

Jone and I are planning to get together for many play dates! I can hardly wait. What a treasure I have found in her, as fellow felter, more over, as a heart to heart friend. She is pure delight and I am looking forward to many play dates with her. FUN! We live about 30 minutes from each other...and we'd never met? How can that be?

Off to enjoy this rainy, cloudy, slow paced day.
I wish you joy in the day, and great peace all day long!
Suzanne

Michigan to Maryland- ROAD TRIP!

I am accustomed to working alone, but these days prior to a show, I need all of the help that I can get. Kate, much loved daughter and Zach, much loved son to be, have been working so hard to help me get ready for Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. I leave on Monday and will be gone for 10 long days. I'll be staying with my sister for the whole time and am very much looking forward to seeing her and her husband. I'll be in Susan's Fiber Shop and will have a bunch of felting spinning batts, feltmaking kits and some fun stuff to share.
Orders have been coming in, kits have to be made up, batts to be made, locks to be dyed, hats to be made, ( which I fell of the wagon on getting one completed per day...what was I thinking?????????????????) van to pack, then re-pack, check list, re-check list, pay bills due while I am away, where is my check list? , where are my directions, did I fill the tank? and so on. Still, with all of the work, I am looking forward to being with my friends, meeting new people, and sharing the absolute joy of feltmaking. I get a bit scattered while I am getting ready for a show, there is so much to do and wool is flying everywhere. I sometimes wish I was one of those more organized folks, planned, all put together, but that's just not how I operate when it comes to this art form. It does overwhelm me at times, and then I sit in front of my computer, and go to youtube.com and listen to Susan Boyle. It somehow helps. I thank God for her voice and her sweet, spirity self. I laugh and cry when I watch her and it is a good thing for me.
I'll write more when I get back and oh, I did want to mention that Martha Ely Steines will have my hat forms at the Shepherds Harvest: Here is that information:
shepherd's harvest
washington county fairgrounds
lake elmo mn
may 9th 900am to 5pm
may 10th 10am to 4pm...
it is great fun with lots of classes and vendors
shepherdsharvestfestival.org
she is listed under rachels moms-nordic bohemian
Martha has been making some amazing hats using my extra large needle to wet felt hat forms. She is full of fire and joy when she talks felting. Be sure to pop in to see her works!
God's Peace to you all,
Suzanne

ADHD and Feltmaking!

One of the great things I love about ADHD is the fact that I do get bored rather easily. I know that it bothers most of the people around me on a daily basis,... but I love it! and count it as a gift and a blessing. Easily bored...such is the case of the dark berry colored hat. It's been to shows with me for well over a year now...and as I am preparing to leave for Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival...I just couldn't take what was a tan hat out of the house one more time. So I decided that that hat needed a visit to the dye pot; warm, colorful, changing color and hue into something far more stunning than an odd looking tan hat. I am pleased with the way the felt fabric took up the dyes. I used three different berry colored dyed, adding one on top of the other and allowing the slightly stirred waters to wash over the fabric, creating a great depth of color. I hope it finds a home in Wisc.

The blue hat was a playful adventure in hat making. While I've used all of the items in the felt previously, never had I used them in one hat. This hat has geometric design, Teeswater locks, both dyed and natural, and fabric. The fabric did not show up in the photo, and I am sorry for that not showing up.

Both hats were made on the Extra Large Needle Hat Form that are on my website. Both were needle felted first, then wet felted after the design work had been completed. Working with the Needle Felt Forms allows felting to be totally portable. These two hats were needle felted while I was at a fiber festival. While it might be for everyone, it is perfect for me. I use the forms and flat resists in felt-making and find that both have their place and space; just as felting needles are not for everyone, but do have their place in my work. Needle to wet felting just makes good sense to someone like me who loves to make felt, and is on the road as much as I am, or time doesn't let you finish a project in short time. I also like to show people the possibilities of what they can do with the forms. This form is also great for vessels, and handbags, and felted baskets.

I'm building a felt-making library. Anyone have books they'd like to recommend?

Shalom,
Suzanne

Post Script; Both of these hats did find their new homes in Wisconsin.