Polka Dots and Silks

There is so much SPRING all over the place here in southwest Michigan. Our blooming tress are in full or past full bloom, tulips are up and flowering, bees and birds all over the place. It is delightful and disturbing...snow is in the forecast for next week. YIKES! Frost and freeze could be very damaging to our fruit trees statewide.

Dad is happy in his "Man Cave" and is in good humor and doing quite well. I cannot even begin to say how happy I am that he is living with us. Perhaps it is because I am from a large family, it just feels right, even the extra laundry, food, appointments, dishes, etc....it just all works for me. Thankfully, it works for him too.

On a daily basis, I am caring for a dear friend who has terminal cancer, and my beloved husband Jim is taking over the task of cooking for her and her husband. They have no children and we have, for the time being, become their children. I had thought about going back to nursing full time...I didn't know it would come to me. They asked me to be her nurse and I am honored and humbled...and very sad for my friend.

About the hat above:
I was rummaging through some of my stuffs when I came across some of the old yarn samples I'd had from when I had the shop....hmmmmmmm....could those yarn samples be polka dots? or rosettes? or some kind of interesting surface design? Well, the answer is always "YES" ( ...which loosely translates into "try it...yes it worked, or yes, you have to try another idea") So, with that I took the wee samples from several different companies and made up the little colorful polka dots and used them on the surface of the hat. I like the effect of additional texture and the colorful pops on the black hat. The pieces on the brim are also bits and pieces of left over silks, sari silks, and cheese cloth. My mind is gathering ideas for small snippets of yarn for further applications.

The other thing that I wanted to mention is THE MIDWEST FELTING SYMPOSIUM in Madison, Wisconsin . I will be teaching there for two days and am hoping to take some classes as well.

• Patricia Spark Albany, Oregon
• Pamela MacGregor McClure, Ohio
• Marlene Gruetter Scottown, Ohio
• Suzanne Higgs Plainwell, Michigan
• Anna Gunnarsdóttir Akureyri, Iceland
• Regina Doseth Klaipeda, Lithuania
• Margo Duke Mount Airy, Maryland
• Pam de Groot Blue Mountains, Australia

Some classes have already filled, but the talent that will be there is outstanding. I wish I had the time and $ to take each class. If you've not been to this event and wonder if it is worth it, I can tell you with great certainty, it is wonderful. It is filling fast so don't wait to register. I think there is a discount for registration prior to May 1st.

Blessed Easter and Happy Passover.

Shalom and Felt Happy!

Suzanne

I Feel Like the Queen of Stupid!

(Inside before dyed)
I've got a few classes coming up and have been asked for samples to have available for the potential participants. Okay, I could do that...but why do I do what I know fails! ( by definition, in my book, stupid is doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results!) Again, I tried to put golden yellow and purple together in a felt bag.There is some silk on the surface that was golden, in hope of tying it all together....but it didn't work. The gold migrated through the purple, making it look dirty, dingy...yucky. This is not my first this doing this....and continue to try to make it work. It does not work for me. Perhaps someone else can make those two colors work together, but not me! So........


(Inside after dyeing)
As you've come to know about me if you are a regular reader, mistakes are an opportunity to try something else....like the dye pot!











(bag before over dye)
So I took this purple/yellow bag and over dyed it in purple, the extracted color, then over dyed in multiple greens and teals, then removed more color. I like it so much better now. But what about you? Do you think I made a mistake over dyeing it.

I often make the inside of my bags lighter on the inside so that when I open them, I can see what is in side my bag.





(bag after over-dye)

This is the final end result on the over dye, un-dye and over dye of the bag. These colors appeal to me more than the gold and purple....so why not start out that way? Really, I am the queen on stupid.

I hope some one learns from my mistakes.






This is a portion of a scarf that I over dyed for a friend of mine. It had become muddy during her felting process by using colors that did not blend well together. She was about ready to throw it away. She in fact, gave it away to Jone, who gave it to me to "try to fix" it with the dye pot. She had used olive, gold, gray, some purples to make the nuno scarf....but it just did not look good color wise. The nuno itself was wonderfully done, beautifully executed. I pulled all of the colors out then over-dyed it with multiple greens. Now that it's been dyed in one of her favorite colors, I'll be gifting it back to her. Hopefully, she's going to fall in love with her own creation.



The heat has been terrible here for two days. Finally, some cool weather and rain today. I love rainy, cloudy days. Looks like tomorrow will be cloudy and overcast like today. Yes! the smell after a rainy time is simply wonderfully earthy. I love that smell! We have many ferns around our home and they seem to give off a strong fresh fragrance of 'clean' after rain.

Shalom
Suzanne

Dream from your heart. Share what you have.
Live simply. Love deeply. Work with joy. Pray with love,

Thank God always.