Annie's Keepsakes

Houston 2011

2011-11-23T17:31:00.000-08:00

This year I really outdid myself, not only vending Houton Quilt Market & Festival, but also teaching 2 classes, participating in 2 round-robin samplers, giving 2 "Meet the Teacher" lectures, and even taking 3 classes myself, what in the world was I thinking?! I enjoyed it all immensely and am still cherishing the memories of meeting Jinny Beyer, chatting with Eleanor Burns (shown in the photo above in period costume, as she was promoting her new book about quilts of President's Wives), networking with my fave silk velvet dyer Brooke (on Halloween, see photo above), & teaching my Wool Geode class and the Texas Birthday Candle-mat class (the students were great! A true joy to teach, and their projects turned out awesome, as can be seen in the photos above.) One of the highlights of my stay there was visiting with my friends Patti, Michelle, and Danielle, some of whom live in Texas, what a breath of fresh air they brought to my visit! Always good to reunite with treasured friends. I really enjoyed the classes I took, too, all of them involving color on silk (lol imagine that!) Tuesday morning I took a painting on silk embroidery class with the very talented JB, and learned lots of extra tips and tricks for coloring silk with Colorhue dyes, plus made this fabulous silk piece I'll turn into a little purse someday. As I sat next to the awesome Diane Ricks (what an artist! puts me to shame..), I found out Diane was teaching a silk chiffon dyeing class the next day, so I signed up for that too! OK, my piece turned out a bit bright, I'm saving it for the next Grateful Dead concert lol or maybe I'll overdye it to tone it down, but we sure had fun and learned lots too. Then Friday night I took a class on decolorant with June Colburn, learned lots and we also got to see real silkworms and silk cocoons in June 'n JB's classes, what a treat! Saturday night we finally got to unwind a bit at the "Gala on the Green" in the park across the street with some authentic Texas-style BBQ and live music,yeah!

Of course I always love visiting with others who share my passion, this year I was so blessed to win an award, my first Houston blue ribbon! My little Flower Fairie Quilt won 1st place in the Sleep Tight Doll Quilt 'n bed contest in the art quilt category, you can see it on display in Houston at the very top. My most talented daughter Maxi Clontz actually made the bed out of vines she gathered and branches from my dad's peach orchard that had blown down in a storm, they were perfectly gnarled and crooked as you would imagine a fairy bed would be. Maxi also gathered up flower blossums and dried them, and I made a sheer organza mattress in variegated greens and browns which we stuffed with the blooms. This was covered with my art quilt, a nuno-felted concoction of hand-dyed silk chiffon,hand-dyed merino wool fibers, curly mohair locks, hand-dyed cheesecloth, gold metallic mesh, wet-felted flowers, beading, vines, and even a wet-felted fairy teacup resting on a felted leaf saucer. The piece was full of textures and mystery, and one of the nicest compliments I received was that it was full of stories, I love that! I also heard from fellow felters that it was their favorite piece in the show, wow! I know I really enjoyed making it.

With all this going on, I barely had time to run around and do any shopping, much less see all the quilts. But I did manage to take a few pictures, and am posting them for your enjoyment, may they bring you much inspiration! I know I'm already looking forward to my trek back to Houston next year!

Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair 2011

2011-11-21T05:58:00.000-08:00

SAFF was amazing & magical this year! Asheville is such a beautiful place, and especially in the fall of the year with all the leaves putting forth their best show of color; this year we had spectacular weather too, T-shirt weather in the sunny afternoons. And what a crowd! I think all the awesome vendors were very happy this year, I taught 5 classes in 2 days and didn't get to shop until the very end of the day, but even then things were still pretty busy as folks shopped for every imaginable yarn, fiber, handmade button, needles, tools, even finished wares. And I loved the new teaching venue! All the classes were held in the new building in the back of the Agricultural Center, we had lots of space, great tables, and I was just steps away from running water for all my wet-felting classes - a dream!

My Wild Wooly Flower class is always popular, and this year was no exception as one class quickly filled up and we had to add another flower class Friday morning. I was thrilled to see familiar faces all weekend, even some friends from Salisbury had driven up to take a class, what a great time we had! All the flowers turned out gorgeous, you can see some of them in the photos above. Saturday I taught 2 Wool Geode classes, hard to photo as the students have to wait until their geode has dried before they can cut into it to reveal the beautiful swirls of color hidden inside. Several of my students made longer geodes so that they could cut them in half and have one pincushion to keep and one to give away, and one student even made a long narrow one she could slice into segments and use for a necklace or bracelet for some one-of-a-kind jewelry. My last class was the Wool Beads Bracelet, I was thrilled to see several young folks in this class who made beautiful beads and wore their finished bracelet out of the class. We even had 3 generations at one table, with mom, grandma and granddaughter all making beads together, the youngest was a real go-getter and even made her mom a pair of earrings, what a sweetie! And I even learned something from her; as she was adding her sparkling Angelina fibers to her wool beads, she commented on how like angel hair these metallic fibers were. "I'll bet that's why they call it Angelina," she said, duh! I never thought of that, and I learned something from my youngest student that day. You can see my wonderful students and their creations in the photos above. All in all, a great show, and I can't wait for next year!

Cabarrus Quilt Show 2011

2011-10-23T13:09:00.000-07:00

The Cabarrus Quilt Show this year was awesome! So many beautiful quilts, great vendors, and I loved my booth, I had such nice neighbors and was conveniently located near everything I needed - always a help when you're doing a show by yourself. I didn't have time to see everything, we were so busy (lol a good thing!) but here are a few photos of some of my favorite quilts. I was so blessed to win 4 ribbons at this show - 3 of them blue ribbons, I love getting rewarded for something I have a passion for, creating! I guess I was the most thrilled with my "Felted Garden" quilt, I put so much time into this one, between the design, sewing and lots of wet-felting, there are so many different techniques on this quilt. I hope to be able to teach some of these at some quilt shows in 2012. And my friend Rebecca Verrier-Watt won a ribbon for Best Longarm Quilting in the show, go Rebecca! No surprise there, she did a phenomenal job! All in all, a very good show.

Asheville Quilt Show 2011

2011-10-23T12:24:00.000-07:00

I was thrilled to be included as a vendor at the Asheville Quilt Show this year! I've been wanting to do this show for years, and when they changed the venue to the new building at the WNC Ag Center, it opened up the show to have more room to exhibit quilts and also, more vendors. We were busy all weekend, but I had a chance Sunday morning to zip around and see just a few of the beautiful quilts, here are a few that caught my eye, along with a quick pic of my booth.

PA National Quilt Extravaganza

2011-09-25T19:46:00.000-07:00

It was so great to visit the Oaks, PA again and re-connect with creative souls I met last year! Lots of exciting things happened at the show; my friend Karen from Quiltricks and I were on either side of an vendor who was unable to attend the show, and so we were privileged to have a bit of additional wall space to display our quilts. I had brought a special "Felted Garden" quilt I've been working on with lots of felted embellishments, it was for my "Walk on the Wool Side" demo, but I took the opportunity to display it for the attendee's enjoyment. I had a wonderful response, and am hoping to be invited to teach some of the felting techniques shown in my quilt, will definitely keep all posted on that.

Meanwhile, I did teach my Wild Wooly Flower class at the show, we are garnering quite an interest in felting I must say. The girls in the class created some amazing flowers, here are a few photos of some of their beauties. I even had one high-achiever, Janeke, who made 2 flowers in the class, then slipped them together to make a double-layer flower, gorgeous! Another gal Lois brought in some absolutely magical needle-felted animals she had made from wool from her very own sheep, we were all so impressed: lambs, flying pigs, a dog from a photo, rabbits...the cutest were the "hunting foxes" with their little red jackets, hats and bugles, adorable. I'm looking forward to returning next year, what felting fun we will have then!

Tranqwool Nuno Scarf Class

2011-09-10T18:12:00.000-07:00

What gorgeous scarves the girls made at Tranqwool Knitting Provisions in Salisbury today! Each piece turned out so unique and different; Elizabeth's beautiful autumn colored scarf reminded one of fall leaves scattered on a forest floor. Ann's blue scarf was in colors of Monet with lots of bling, and she even added some glow-in-the-dark yarn for a fun night surprise! And Karen did something totally different with her scarf, embellishing the ends with a little mini-flower garden scene, it was just spectacular! All of them works of art...and something else different happened today, too: a family shopping in the store pitched in and helped do some of the felting, giving the girls a nice long break, wow! Life's full of surprises, and this was a very nice welcome one. All in all a fun day, so proud of my students for their beautiful creations.

Summer classes

2011-08-29T19:21:00.000-07:00

I had so much fun teaching this summer, here's a few pics from some of my recent classes. We had a blast at Dawn's Sewing & Embroidery shop in Albemarle making flower brooches out of zippers, and the girls did a great job! I also got to see a couple of the Needle-felt Tree Cloaks the girls finished after the class, they got a great start during the time we had and did a fantastic job completing their gorgeous cloaks, so proud of all their awesome creativity!

20-Year Anniversary Contest Winner!

2011-08-05T21:16:00.000-07:00

Above: Congratulations Donna! Her prize for winning our Pincushion Contest (Below:) Donna's winning Sunflower Pincushion, so cute!

A HUGE Congratulations to Donna Phillips, winner of our 20-Year Anniversary Pincushion Contest! Donna made this adorable Sunflower pincushion from our #139 "Make-do Medley" pattern and was the lucky winner of our drawing, winning a $50.00 gift certificate to her choice of Annie's Keepsakes merchandise. She chose some beautiful colors of Woolfelt along with a variety pack of bright 'n vibrant colors of wool fibers and our "Needle-felt Blues" pattern to make them up in! We are so thankful to all our customers for making it possible for us to continue to serve you and share our love of creating with you all these years, I hope to do this for many more years to come! A big thanks to all who entered our contest, hoping to do another one soon...who knows, maybe next year!

Summer Retreat in Asheville

2011-08-05T20:10:00.000-07:00

My roomie Suzanne and I on our way to Bellagio in Biltmore Village, 2 tired but happy campers.
Awesomely beautiful posies from my Wild Wooly Flowers class!
These sisters were so much fun to have in class!

Love this ring 'n earring set, she did a fantastic job...and they matched her wild wooly flower too!
The gals in my Nuno-felted Scarf Class worked hard and it really paid off, beautiful scarves, each one a work of art!

These Needle-felt Cloaks were well on their way to beautiful wearable artworks, can't wait to see the finished products!

Above: having dinner with Suzanne 'n friends my last evening in Asheville, see ya this fall! (Below:) Taking a little break with Anne Marie of Smoky Mountain Fibers on my way to my fave java spot in the mall.
We had such a good time at Summer Retreat in Asheville! It was so good to see familiar faces from Winter Retreat, and also made some new friends too. I had the privilege of rooming with Suzanne M. again, a fellow felter, always enjoy the little bit of time we get to spend together. As usual, the weekend went by much too fast! I look forward to seeing everyone again at Winter Retreat in January, in the meantime, here's a few photos from our felting fun in Asheville!

Cabarrus Quilters Flower Class

2011-08-05T19:12:00.000-07:00

The Cabarrus girls felted up some beautiful flowers!
Visitors to our guild, these fun gals were eager students and fast learners!
This young lady was a natural felter, and made a gorgeous flower!
Happy colors!
Carolyn took great care with her layout, and made a beautiful blue flower...
...as did Rosie!
Barb adding some pizazz to her posie...
Hmmm...what else does it need...
...anything? This will be so pretty on Sharon's awesome wall hanging!
Earlier this summer I had the privilege of sharing my felting skills with my very own quilting guild, the Cabarrus Quilters Guild, and we really had a blast making these Wild Wooly Flowers! Every flower turned out unique and absolutely gorgeous, and the girls learned several felting techniques while keeping me and each other quite entertained! Here's a few pictures from our fun day, the flower photo truly does not do their finished projects justice, I think the sun was a bit bright. But it did allow all the components to dry quickly, so they didn't have to take home too many wet items!

Summer Fun

2011-06-14T19:45:00.000-07:00

Projects from some of my classes I'll be teaching at the Summer Fiber Retreat in Asheville July 15-17!

Detail from one of my quilts embellished with needle-felting and wet-felting

I couldn't resist this morning, the gorgeous day beckoned me to come play outside, and so I gathered up some of my felted projects and spirited them away to the back yard to take a few photos. Here's one I shot of some of the projects I'll be teaching at the Summer Fiber Retreat in Asheville July 15-17 at the Biltmore Square Mall, I can't wait to get back to Asheville again! The Winter Retreat was a blast, even with the snow piled in little hills everywhere and having to navigate the ice, we had so much fun and I made and met so many new friends. I know summer will be even better, the mountains in summer are definitely calling me, and Asheville is such an art mecca in itself! I know I'll come back refreshed and inspired by all the creative energy that will be there. If you'd like to join me, you can get more info at www.friendsandfiberworks.com

Last night I took some of my inspiration/obsession and shared with my quilt guild, I hope they enjoyed it as much as they seemed to, I know I did. My son helped me put together a new PowerPoint presentation, so I was able to show so many details from my work that I hadn't been able to before, what freedom! Here is one of the quilts I took embellished with my Wild Wooly Flowers and needle-felted sunset, so many fun things you can do with felting and fibers!

Wild Wooly Workshop with Lake Norman Quilters

2011-06-14T19:27:00.000-07:00

What a fun and super-talented group, the gals from the Lake Norman Quilters Guild

These wild women all chose rich spicy colors for their blooms!

Mine's the biggest!

Puttin' on the glitz!

Getting the layout just right

The Lake Norman Quilters Guild invited me to teach my Wild Wooly Flower workshop in conjunction with my Wild Wooly Wearables lecture a couple of weeks back, and the girls truly wowed me with their creative spirit! Not to be outdone, these gals all picked rich spicy colorways for their big juicy flowers, and they truly felted some show-stopping blooms! They learned several techniques, including how to make pre-felt, how to felt dimension in their blossoms, how to create the curling tendrils, and how to make wool beads. I know these very clever ladies will put all their newly found skills to creative use in the months to come, and I hope to see their blooms on display at their wonderful quilt show this weekend! Here's a few pics we took in class, what a fun group and so talented too.

Carolina Fiberfest 2011

2011-06-14T18:55:00.000-07:00

Lisa and Angie having fun in the Friends & Fiberworks booth!

Aren't they the cutest? Young alpacas, only a few months old, they were just adorable!

These gals all made big beautiful flowers!

Her first felting experience, turned out awesome!

Getting a great layout is key...this one looks right on!

These gals were a barrel of fun and such a help, too!

As usual, things have been such a whirlwind around here, but I haven't forgotten what a great time we all had at the recent Carolina FiberFest in Raleigh a couple of weeks back! I was so fortunate to get to teach a couple of my felting classes there, the gals in my Wild Wooly Flower class were a real hoot and made some absolutely gorgeous flowers! Here's a few pics from the weekend, forgot my camera for the wool beads class which is a shame, they turned out so pretty too and finished their bracelets right there in the class. We all had a great time, even ran into my friends Lisa and Angie from Friends and Fiberworks in Asheville, NC, they had an awesome booth there! And I made some new fiberlicious friends, too, look forward to seeing folks at the Summer fiber Retreat in Asheville July 15-17 at Biltmore Square Mall and also SAFF this fall. Oh, and I couldn't resist these young alpacas, aren't they adorable? I thought they were getting friendly, but their owner said they were getting ready to fight...maybe this is how alpacas come out instead of shaking hands...?

NC Quilt Symposium, the Wearables!

2011-06-11T07:18:00.000-07:00

Once again, the Capital Quilters' Guild in Raleigh hosted a spectacular quilt symposium, and of course one of my favorite parts was the Wearable Art Challenge and Fashion Show. This year was no exception, as Roberta Morgan coordinated a fantastic assortment of wearables by Lyric Kinard, the wearable and accessory entries, and many of Roberta's own spectacular work. I was so blessed to win the top honors in the Accessories category with my "Tangled up in Blue" nuno-felted scarf, this is the perfect size for just a touch of something around your neck or wrapped around your hair as an accent piece. I also entered my "Divine Devore" jacket with hand-felted sea anemone pin. And I had the privilege to even get to model one of Lyric's phenomenal ensembles, the green jacket with circle skirt is hers, shown in the photo with Lyric (in her awesome green shirt!) sharing about her beautiful cutwork skills. Lyric also did a great job narrating/commenting about the show, here are a few pictures a good friend snapped for me, enjoy!

NC Quilt Symposium, the Quilts!

2011-06-11T06:58:00.000-07:00

NC Quilt Symposium in Raleigh this year was a feast for the eyes! Great vendors, beautiful quilts and wearables, and it was wonderful to re-connect with old friends I hadn't seen in a while. We were so busy I didn't get to even see all the quilts, but here are a few of the winners and some of my favorites from the show. The Capitol Quilters' Guild hosted symposium this year, and had so many special treats for us! One of these was the Apron Challenge, where all were invited to make and donate an apron to be auctioned off to raise $ for a local food charity. They were all adorable, one of my customers made one from my #168 "Cook 'n Craft Apron for Mommy & Me" pattern, it's the 3rd one from the lower right side of the aprons photo in the cute doggie fabric with striped pockets, love it! All in all, the show was so inspiring and the classes sounded great too.

Rami Kim

2011-06-11T05:36:00.000-07:00

From time to time you meet a kindred spirit who is so down-to-earth yet so creative and talented, and you know that God has blessed you with a special moment in your life. Such was the case when I met Rami Kim! Our guild invited her to speak and do a workshop in April this year, and I had the good fortune to spend the day with her and a few of the guild members, what a great time we all had! It was a total girls' day out as we enjoyed lunch and then headed for Mary Jo's in Gastonia where we shopped for batiks, silk and of course, wool. I found a pattern I really liked and discovered Rami had made it up a couple of times and thought how versatile and cute it was in several different fabrics, also that she is also a lover of wool! Rami was an absolute delight to hang out with, funny and playful and not at all boastful about being a best-selling author, TV star and multi-talented award-winning teacher. That day she was just one of the girls looking for great fabrics and sharing funny stories. After doing some fabric shopping we headed to downtown Concord and splurged on chocolate and some delicious Cuban coffee, then did a little shoe shopping (the bead shop was closed, bummer!) Then dinner and we headed to guild, where Rami shared her talents and awesome creations in a wonderful program on wearable art and accessories (also funny stories about the evolution of her studio in CA.) I was among the lucky to get to model one of her incredible jackets, now I don't normally think of myself as a "ruffles" kind of gal, but after wearing Rami's beautiful lavender jacket I am re-thinking that, it was gorgeous and felt like a dream on! All in all it was a magical day spent with everyone, and I look forward to seeing her again next summer when she comes back!

10 years ago

2011-05-02T05:15:00.000-07:00

In a matter of minutes, I am transported back 10 years to a day of watching in horror as the twin towers collapsed, planes crashed, thousands of lives were ended too soon, and life as we knew it would never be the same. Praise God that Osama bin Laden is finally gone, and I also pray that, although this will not bring back all those families' loved ones, it might bring them a sense of peace and closure. As our pastor said yesterday, God has a plan, and He always accomplishes it, with or without our help, it's going to get done. The prayers of millions of Americans have been answered this day.

This news brings back so many memories from 2001: hearing the news, the first person I thought of was my cousin Mark who lived in Manhattan; was he safe, or was he among the victims? Also our friend Steve who works in the Pentagon, was he OK? We quickly got on the phone to start checking on family and friends. Thankfully, ours were not among the unfortunate ones.

And finally, on a more happy note, this also reminds me that I have been working with my Woolfelt company, National Nonwovens, for 10 years! I met them at Spring Quilt Market in Atlantic City in 2001, and they gave me some of their wonderful Woolfelt squares to play with. My first design came out that fall, and in fact I ran an ad in a trade publication advertising my new pattern which was released within a week of 9/11. It's still a good seller to this day, and I have thoroughly enjoyed working with N.N. all these years, moving into fiber art along with my folk art as they expanded their product line, and now their awesome bamboo felt! I look forward to continuing a happy relationship with all the great folks there for many more years to come.

Fantastic Fibers 2011

2011-04-21T19:01:00.000-07:00

Back in February I started playing around with zippers; I made a couple of fun flower pins with some metal-teeth zippers, some I had on hand, some I found at a couple of local shops. When I was invited to teach the zipper flower, I started experimenting with fiber art that was a bit edgier in using zippers. I designed an original necklace using one of my wool geode pendants, some of my hand-felted wool beads, and some glass beads, all held together by - you guessed it- a zipper! I even left the tab on at the bottom and attached a decorative dangly bead to it. I was so pleased with the outcome I decided to enter it into a national fiber show and am thrilled to share, out of a whopping 432 entries, my little zipper necklace was one of the lucky ones (58 of them) to make it into the exhibit! Fantastic Fibers 2011 is at the Yeiser Art Center, 200 Broadway in Paducah, KY 42001 for the entire month of April. If you happen to be going to Paducah for the big quilt show, I hope you'll check out the fiber show too! My piece is titled (what else?) "A Zipper Runs Through It", and I'd love to have a photo of my piece in the show if you go. For more info on the show, you can call the Yeiser Art Center at (270) 442-2453 or visit their web-site www.theyeiser.org

International Women's Day

2011-03-08T07:31:00.001-08:00

Today marks the 100-yr. anniversary of International Women's Day, and as I was thinking of the women in my life who have inspired me, clearly the #1 on my list is my mom. Always putting others' needs before her own, a great friend and multi-talented creative soul as well, she has always encouraged me to reach for the proverbial "gold ring", and made me believe I could do things as well as anyone else. She taught me to sew when I was only 5 years old, and always took the time to show me creative techniques and the value of an imagination. What an inspiration she continues to be for me today!

Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival XXII

2011-03-06T05:21:00.000-08:00

Last weekend was the always-amazing Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival in Hampton, VA, and this year's show was the best! For me, it started out less-than-stellar, as I broke my little toe 2 days before I left for the show and also managed to either crack (probably) or bruise a rib en route, so I was not at the top of my game physically this year. Luckily I had a great helper with Lynn M., who made sure I didn't have to do any heavy lifting or shuffling and took care of lots of details including the booth while I taught my Wild Wooly Flowers Class.

We had so much fun in this class! We did have a full class, several of the girls were students in my felting class last year, and we also had some newbies including a man. Everyone's flowers turned out spectacular, just breathtakingly beautiful! And they learned some basic wet-felting techniques as well as how to shape their flowers. I'm adding some photos from the class, as well as from Show 'n Tell from Saturday night and a teachers' picture, that's me in between the very talented Esterita Austin and Gloria Loughman. How blessed I was to get to teach at this awesome show! I always love sharing my passion for felting and meeting fellow fiber-lovers. And I also got to see what the other teachers were doing, most phenomenal work. Here are a few pictures from the exhibit by Gloria Loughman who is from Australia, walking through her section of the show was like strolling through a serene rain forest with all it's lush vegetation and fresh greesn and colors; she also used an interesting woven look in several of her quilts, which were full of color. I also really liked Karen Carter's work, completely different but you know I love folk art; Karen's pieces are the ones with so much wonderful texture and dimensional embellishments. (Karen, BTW is a real sweetheart and looks so much like Meg Ryan!) And you know I love the wearable art! This was the first year I didn't submit anything, I have just been so busy, but there were some stunning pieces there, including the Best of Show by Rami Kim, a magnificent silk ensemble with folded flowers. All in all, it was a fantastic show, even with the scandal of the "controversial quilt". ^_^

Silk Dyeing

2011-03-06T04:57:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago I took a class with Mary Anne Caplinger on silk dyeing, little did I know what a pro I was studying with! Mary Anne was an awesome teacher and so talented, I discovered she has written 2 books on her particular niche in the quilting world, a beautiful artsy technique she uses in many of her pieces, several of which were hanging in her amazing studio. (You can see one of her jackets in the background of the photo of Mary Anne and me.) She has also been to Japan and studied shibori dyeing and indigo dyeing, and so one of the techniques we learned in her class was "arashi" dyeing, or in layman's terms, pole-wrapping. I had always wanted to try this, and it was a little more involved than I expected, but I loved the results! And while we wrapped and tucked, we had a lesson in Japanese culture, learning such tidbits as that the arashi technique represents rain-drops. We wrapped, dipped and dyed all day and learned so much! I'm posting a few pictures from the class, which was so much fun to take with Carolyn S., she was a great companion. (Our wipe-up rags turned out great, too. ^_^)

Scarf Class at The Fibre Studio

2011-02-05T20:04:00.000-08:00

I had the pleasure of teaching my Nuno-felted Scarf Class at The Fibre Studio at Yarns to Dye For in Charlotte, NC today, what a treat! I'd never visited Debbie's awesome shop, WoW! So much yummy yarn in one place, and I've never seen so many gorgeous knitted and crocheted samples, all kinds of wraps, sweaters, socks, cuffs, hats, bags, you name it honey and it was there! Somehow I made it through the shop to the cozy back room and we had a great class, the girls made some beautiful scarves, each one turned out different and unique in their own way. We had a great time, the girls were just a delight to teach and Debbie is a terrific host. I'm looking forward to returning to the shop April 23 to teach my Wool Geode Pendant and Beaded Necklace, how fun that will be! Here's some photos of the finished scarves drying; Jane's beautiful blue scarf cascading like a waterfall, Cindy's rich and vibrant violet and chartreuse work of art, Pat's gem reminiscent of a woodland forest with sunlight glinting through the treetops, and Debbie's gorgeous autumn glory of spicy fall hues and organic shape, all just stunning! So proud of my students, they did a fantastic job.

Statesville show

2011-02-05T19:52:00.000-08:00

The Quilting & Needle Art Extravaganza in Statesville last weekend was so much fun! So many people came and showed their support for the vendors, and I think the vendors reciprocated by bringing all their extra-special goodies to the show...at least that's the feedback I heard from several of the attendees. I was so busy all weekend I didn't even get to shop! Zipped around in about 5 minutes Sat. morning and that was it, the rest of the time I was in my booth. Saw so many wonderful friends and made some amazing new ones, so much talent at this show on both sides! Here are a few photos, my buddy Carolyn in her beautiful peacock blue jacket, my friends Linda and Georgiana enjoying themselves (don't you just love that teal felted bag Georgiana made in our Needle-felt Sweater Purse Class? And lucky Linda received it as a gift, it looks great on her!) And my neighbor snapped this one of me in my booth just before we got started Sat. morning. What a great show! Looking forward to doing it again next year.

Fiber-licious Fashion Show

2011-01-25T19:37:00.000-08:00

One of the highlights of the Asheville fiber Winter Retreat was the awesome fashion show that Friday night. There were so many beautiful garments, scarves, hats and accessories there showcasing a wide array of fiber techniques: felted, hand-woven, knitted, hand-spun, crocheted...it was absolutely mind-blowing to see all that talent! I did my best to capture as many photos as possible, but alas, my talents as a live photographer fall shy. Still here are a few to help re-live the memories, look closely and you'll even spot my Desert Rose ensemble in the mix. Oh, and we had "special guests" right in the mall, too, adorable!

Special Quilts

2011-01-22T20:05:00.000-08:00

We went to see our daughter today for a birthday visit, what a great time we had! Went out for Chinese for lunch, had some tasty salmon and tuna sashimi along with my fave dish Moo Goo Gai Pan. Then a bit of shopping at Trader Joe's, where I found some French Roast decaf coffee I'd been craving and also a small bag of a variety of potatoes like they fixed for breakfast at the Hilton hotel in Houston for the fall shows, yummy! Then on to one of my favorite quilt shops, Thimble Pleasures, my friend Julie was there looking amazing as always with her awesome shop of mouth-watering fabrics! Maxi spotted a crazy log cabin quilt done up by Karen West at the shop, it really was gorgeous (Karen's teaching this class soon too.) Next we went to Yarns etc., found some great fibers for my next felting project. Then to the thrift store next door, I placed a bid on some vintage wooden shoe forms...don't you think I could felt some shoes or boots over them? They were so cute with pointy toes.

We finally made it back to Maxi's so she could open her birthday gifts and we could dig into the chocolate cupcakes. Among her presents was a very special gift from my mom. Mom loves to do hand-embroidery, and for Christmas surprised both me and my sister with a special hand-stitched quilt, I really love mine with all its happy, bright colors! You can see it in the photo above with my mom. My sister's is also gorgeous with beautiful soft vintage colors showcasing the retro-style baskets and flowers. And Mom really surprised Maxi for her birthday with a lap quilt done up in her favorite colors of green and purple, wow it's gorgeous! Don't know how she manages to do it all...she's already started planning her next quilt though, go Mom!

Power Felting!

2011-01-21T20:11:00.000-08:00

I tried something new yesterday - nuno-felting with a sander! My roomie Suzanne Morgan at the Asheville Friends & Fiberworks Winter Retreat last weekend gave me the basics of Power Felting 101 and then I came home and did some investigating on the 'net to fill in the gaps. The main issue for me was the safety factor, as you are working with an electrical power tool and water, not the best combo. But I was extremely careful and even called my friend Carolyn to be my "back-up" in case I did something stupid (like electrocute myself.) The technique worked well, you can see my first sample in the photo above...but I ended up frying 2 of my husband's sanders by the end of the day. Oops. Guess I should've let the thing cool off once in a while instead of trying it out on a full day of felting. Well it's off to Lowe's this weekend to get a replacement model (the sander that is.)

Asheville Fiber Winter Retreat

2011-01-18T17:17:00.000-08:00

What a wonderful, magical weekend we had in Asheville at the fiber Winter Retreat hosted by Friends and Fiberworks at the Biltmore Square Mall! At first I was worried about the snow, but we didn't have any problems with travel and the main roads there were clear, what a blessing that was. The weekend truly was a re-"treat" away from the real world as we were plunged into a land of fibers, fun 'n felting, all in one place! Classes were held in some of the vacant shops and other areas in the mall, and I was lucky enough to get to take a fantastic class on how to dye fibers in a crock-pot under Anne-Marie before starting my teaching schedule, which kept me pretty busy the rest of the weekend. I met so many wonderful fellow felters and fiber-holics, shared inspirations and ideas, and hopefully encouraged my students to continue their dream of creating fiber art, they all made the most beautiful felted flowers, wool beads, geodes, needle-felted garments, and nuno-felted scarves, see some of the photos from my classes above. The folks at Friends and Fiberworks were awesome, they were so nice and went out of their way to help out with bringing us water for classes and things. And the vendors! So many delectable fibers, yarns and goodies there, it's a good thing for my pocketbook I didn't have much time to shop! I did manage to squeeze in an hour of running around and grabbing things right at the end of the show. There was lots of other fiber stuff going on, too, spinning, knitting, weaving, shibori dyeing, something for everyone. And psst: the buzz is that we may get to do it again this summer...I'll be sure to keep you posted!

Holiday Felting

2010-12-02T20:07:00.000-08:00

This week I've been felting fiber art for our local Waterworks Visual Art Center. Up until now I've primarily leaned toward pretty spring colors for my Wet-felted Flower Pins, but look how festive these poinsettia pins turned out! I love the variegated red wool fibers paired with a hint of shimmer the Angelina fibers add, and I used gold metallic and cotton threads to sew the wool bead centers to add a bit more sparkle for the holidays. I'm also posting a photo of my Wet-felted Flower class from Houston, sadly this is the only one I have and I took it with my phone so it's not very good quality. If any of my students from my Houston Wet-felted Flower class have a better photo (I know some of you took pictures!), please email me one so I can post a better picture, all the flowers turned out gorgeous! My lame little picture does not do them justice.

Also, I'm posting a picture of my newest Nuno-felted Scarf, this also made its way to Waterworks, I love the colors and ruffled textrue of this one! Great for the holidays or all year round.

My first Houston ribbon!

2010-11-12T19:46:00.000-08:00

I couldn't resist entering my "Desert Rose" ensemble in the Stitch in Time Fashion Show luncheon at Houston Quilt Festival, and I was so honored to win my first ribbon in Houston! I even got to model my outfit (along with the other 30+ ladies who entered the show), and had to "walk the runway", just hoping I wouldn't break my neck in those heels. But I had to wear them, I altered my shoes to include special pincushion clips as embellishment complete with hand-made decorative pins to match the outfit, had a ball showing that little bit of humor. The whole ensemble included 7 different kinds of silk, from the nuno-felted collar on hand-dyed silk chiffon couched with a hand-spun yarn of wool 'n silk, to the hand-dyed silk velvet side panels, buttons covered with needle-felted silk and wool, hand-dyed silk ribbon adorning the hat (made from my Sun 'n Fun Hat pattern # 166), the silk tweed skirt in ice-cream colors, and even the carnation pink dupioni silk lining of the jacket. Met the most wonderfully creative ladies at the show, and I just feel so blessed that I even got to participate in this awesome event!

Houston winners!

2010-11-12T19:22:00.000-08:00

Houston Quilt Festival was HUGE!! I had never seen anything like it, here's a photo I took from up above the show on the 2nd floor, this is only about a fourth of the entire show, and I took it Sunday afternoon, the slowest time...most of the time the crowd was shoulder-to-shoulder! They said there were 50,000 attendees, and I believe it! One day they even had to call security to clear the aisle from beside my booth, people could not even maneuver through the aisle. I wish I had a pedometer clocking the miles I walked this show...we stayed at the magnificent Hilton just across the street, and were able to walk back and forth from the hotel to the show on the crosswalks over the street. However, most of the time I was rocketing around 100 mph going from class to the booth to get food or coffee and so on. Amazingly, I only gained a couple of pounds, this with the all-you-can-eat buffet almost every night, not too bad. The buffet was always a social event, where you never knew who you would run into, from my home-friend Madeline from nearby Kernersville, to the sweetest teachers from the Silk Experience at Festival, Carla and J.J...I guess the most embararassing moment for me was the first day we set up at Market after driving through Texas that morning, lugging boxes and sweating all afternoon, who should join us on the elevator that evening but Kaffe Fassett. I was so distracted I forgot to punch in my floor number, and could not think of one clever thing to say, alas.

Anywhoo...here are some more quilt photos too, I learned when I got home that these all won ribbons as well. My favorite (and evidently everyone else's too) was "Innocence" by Hollis Chatelain from right here in NC, in her description she said she dreamed of this boy's face, and in his face were many other children in various activities...can you see the children she quilted? This quilt was absolutely breathtaking...and big, probably 5 ft. in diameter. Way to go Hollis - she won Viewer's Choice for this spectacular work of art.

Teaching in Houston

2010-11-12T19:08:00.000-08:00

I had the most wonderful students in Houston! Everyone in my Wet-felted Wool Flower class made the most gorgeous flowers, I'll be adding a photo from this class later (with the help of my web-master) And the gals in my Wool Beads Bracelet class all made perfect beads, I was so impressed! Everyone in each class definitely put their own spin on their projects and added their own personal touch...here are just a few photos, we had such a great time!

Houston dolls

2010-11-12T18:58:00.000-08:00

Can't forget the dolls! They were all wonderful, fanciful, beautiful...here are just a few from the Hoffman challenge collection.

More Houston Quilts

2010-11-12T18:33:00.000-08:00

Here are some more amazing quilts from the Houston Quilt Show. I only had about an hour to really look at them, we were so busy during both shows, there was no way to see everything. But I loved this denim quilt that was made entirely of recycled denim jeans etc. And the memory quilt of the Japanese family was one of my favorites, it had the most exquisite appliqued flowers surrounding all the photographs of this very special celebration! The group quilt of the faces, "Hanging by a Thread", put my efforts at this technique to shame...I felt better though when I saw that it had won 1st place in the group category, it was quite impressive.

Houston Quilt Market & Festival

2010-11-12T18:04:00.000-08:00

Just got back from Houston this week where I vended both shows, taught 2 classes, and participated in Meet the Faculty, the Stitch in Time Fashion Show luncheon, and Saturday morning Sampler, and it was all absolutely phenomenal! Before I go any further I have to give credit to my awesome friends and helpers, Alby, Michelle, and her beautiful daughter Kara, I could not have done any of this without their unfailing help. As much as I enjoyed it (I'm already dreaming of next Market!)it was an enourmous amount of work, and these great gals never complained once about the long hours, crowds of people to help, lack of free time, and more. And they even said they'd do it again!! Here are a few photos from the shows...enjoy them while I drift back to planet earth...

GA Quilt Show

2010-10-21T20:23:00.000-07:00

There were so many beautiful quilts at the GA Quilt Show this year, I stand in awe of the skill and craftmanship displayed in Duluth, some of the most beautiful and intricate work I've ever seen. Before I even knew which quilt won the Best of Show, my friend and I were just blown away by the detail and workmanship in this orange and purple quilt. The quilting was absolutely amazing, all sorts of animals and images...and I love leaves; some of the leaves were made up of little green dots the size of a pin-head, and upon closer inspection, we realized these miniscule dots were actually appliqued and even stitched, unbelievable! I also loved the Hitchcock quilt, which was the first one you saw when you entered the show; I think it was titled "The Inspiration"...I've always been a big fan of his, and still love The Birds, although Vertigo is maybe my favorite. The quilt with the Lamb was just beautiful, should have won something IMHO, but the competition was just fierce this year! so many pretties...

I also taught several classes and wish I could've taken more photos, I only got some of my needle-felt class, didn't they do a fantastic job? I even love the renegade flower, which she just laid out and went for. We had a great time in all the classes, I even ran into some "home-girls" in my geode pincushion class! So much fun, and my friends Patty and Michelle who helped me just made it even more so. Here's some pics from the show.

Chantilly, VA Show

2010-10-21T20:14:00.000-07:00

What a great time I had in Chantilly this fall visiting with old friends and making some new ones! Ran into my Japanese friend Yoko, I always drool over her beautiful clothing and fabric, and this year was no exception; this time I even bought a haori for myself in my favorite shade of lichen green (or as my friend Audrey says, "our green". ^_^)

I also taught a fun geode pincushion class, the girls made the prettiest pincushions and I made one too! I turned mine into a ring...wish I could've seen my students' pretty creations after they were cut open. I did get the chance to see one of the gal's and it was awesome! Sure hope she sends me a pic of the gorgeous necklace she's going to make with it. Here's a photo of some of my student's workin' their wool on the bubble wrap.

Quilting in the Pines Show

2010-09-26T18:20:00.000-07:00

What a beautiful show the Sandhills Quilter's Guild put on this weekend! I was in awe of the Fair Barn, such a unique and charming venue, it was the perfect backdrop for my folksy patterns 'n wool. And the quilts! Absolutely gorgeous, there was a wonderful mix of applique, pieced, whimsical, and artsy, and the quality of workmanship was outstanding. I was so blessed to win a ribbon for my "Desert Rose" ensemble, and had the good fortune to have it displayed on the cutest vintage straw mannequin. I also had the opportunity to visit with old friends as well as make some new ones; the girls in the guild were not only talented, but super-nice, too! Here are some photos of a few of my favorit quilts and my wearable art in the historic Fair Barn.

PA National Quilt Extravaganza

2010-09-21T18:59:00.000-07:00

Just rolled in last night from an awesome quilt show in Philadelphia, what a great time we had! The quilts were absolutely spectacular, I'm posting some photos of just a few of my favorites, we were so busy I didn't get to leave my booth much, but I managed to zip around a little bit Sunday morning and take a few pictures. The quilt with the angel in the Garden of Eden really caught my eye, the angel was just gorgeous, it looked like rust-painted satin or something. And the vendors! So many temptations, good for my pocketbook that we were so busy ^_^. I did manage to find some perfect gifts for family and friends, and snag a few goodies for myself too.

Another highlight for me was my Needle-felt Saint Nick class, we had such a great time! The gals in the class were so much fun, and they made the cutest Santas, each one had his own personality with soft-sculpture face, curly mohair beard and needle-felted "faux fur" trim. I'm posting a few pics of these clever folks as well. A huge thank you to my friend Pat for going with me, she was a lifesaver and a good companion, too. We met some super-nice folks in PA and were quite inspired by all the talent and creativity we saw. All in all, a great show!

Harvest Home in Cotton

2010-08-29T19:27:00.000-07:00

I met Jill, owner of the Quilting Connection in VA at the recent Asheville Rotary Quilt show and enjoyed not only visiting with her but shopping in her booth there! She also found some patterns in my booth that she liked, and has already made up several of them, including the popular Harvest Home leaf placemats. Jill put her own unique spin on this design by using some of her beautiful sunflower cotton fabric to make them, gorgeous Jill! You can see them in the photo above; for more info on Jill's great shop, you can visit her web-site at www.quiltingconnect.com

Tranqwool Scarf Class

2010-08-28T19:39:00.000-07:00

Today we had a Nuno-felted Scarf Class at Tranqwool Knitting Provisons in Salisbury, these gals really turned out some beautiful work! They chose rich, vibrant happy colors to showcase their creativity, and each scarf truly emerged as a unique work of art. Once again Brian, Jenny's wonderful hubby, delighted us with his extraordinary cuisine as we enjoyed 2 special kinds of pizza (my weakness!) for lunch as well as perfectly made brownies with ice cream and his signature vanilla mint tea - yum yum! Jenny was as always both charming and helpful, and her shop a wonderful setting for our class, at once cozy, inspiring and I always enjoy the music there. All in all a most enjoyable day - I really enjoyed visiting with and getting to know the girls in this class!

A Visit to Floyd

2010-08-28T17:06:00.000-07:00

Last week I had the wonderful opportunity to visit the very talented ladies in the Old Church Quilter's Guild in Floyd, VA. Floyd is a quaint little town tucked away in the mountains of VA, with beautiful valleys, hills and scenery...now I know where those quilters get all their wonderful inspiration for their landscape quilts!

My first stop was at Pauline and Kenneth Hodges' wonderful home, where I was treated to a scrumptious feast of chicken and all sorts of garden goodies: home-grown corn on the cob, tomatoes, cukes, all grown by Kenneth in their nearby garden. For dessert we had homemade applie pie to die for, made with apples picked from their onw tree...yum! Pauline treated me to her very own personal "trunk show" after supper, and after a good night's sleep and a delicious breakfast the next morning of muffins and fresh fruit, off we went to the guild meeting.

The trip to town was just as beautiful as my journey up the mountain, and the venue itself was so unique - the guild meets in a converted dairy barn that used to be a farm until one of the owners was caught manufacturing a different sort of drink other than milk (well so the rumor goes according to Kenneth! ^_^) At any rate, the barn now houses a 2-story assortment of galleries, offices and classrooms, our area was so spacious, and the guild had cleverly hung their beautiful quilts from the slanted ceiling on top. I was privileged to view some of their work, then shared mine; after lunch we spent the afternoon needle-felting book covers, and these gals really did some beautiful work! Everyone's felted cover was unique, both in their color palette and even their style; one gal brought some curly yarn and that was used to enhance several designs, I like it! The green texture of the yarn really added a nice depth and life to the design. Then it was time to head home...I had the pleasure of enjoying the mountain views yet again on my journey back down the mountain. This was truly a very special trip, and a very talented and nice bunch of ladies.

Going Greek

2010-08-17T20:28:00.000-07:00

Madeline, Lorin and I relaxing after a hard day's work setting up for the Asheville Quilt Show. We had dinner at a wonderful Greek restaurant not far from the show, then rushed off to go see the quilts! The shows are a lot of work, but visiting with friends help make it all worthwhile.

Autumn Glory Leaf Placemats

2010-08-12T20:22:00.000-07:00

I got home from the Asheville Quilt Show Monday afternoon, and I've been making kits for these Autumn Glory Leaf Placemats ever since! The project is featured in the Oct./Nov. issue of Quilt Magazine, and I have to give them credit for the fantastic photography shown in the magazine, wow! I love the way the placemats look on this granite bar, and the matching chocolate napkins really set off the rich colors of the leaves beautifully. And they also look so cheery in the other photo, shown on my home page, I guess they'll just look great in most any setting! Easy to make, too, and my kits include almost everything you need. A huge thank you to Deborah Hearn and Quilt Magazine for doing such a wonderful job with this article.

Asheville Quilt Show 2010

2010-08-12T19:37:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was the annual Asheville Quilt Show, this was my first year there as a vendor and what a great weekend it was! I met my friend Lorin near the Biltmore Square Mall on Wednesday, and we made a quick trip downtown to do some fun shopping 'n sightseeing before dinner and a busy show schedule. Next day was set-up, lots of work, but the rotary club had lots of men there to help and despite some set-backs, everyone had their booths ready and filled with the most wonderful wares by the time the show opened on Friday morning.

Lorin and I took some time out Thursday evening to see the quilt show itself, and were not disappointed - the quilts were spectacular! The machine and hand-work shown were just amazing, and the creative ladies who made them so nice and eager to share their creative energy. The Shady Ladies in particular had a gorgeous display of talent, both at the arboretum and also in the room where my booth was in the Biltmore Square Mall. I was so lucky to be standing in front of a quilt that was drenched in fabric beads and beautiful quilting when its proud creator walked up; she was so sharing in the way she created her work of art, I was ready to come home and start making some fabric beads! I was also touched by the Blue Ridge Parkway Anniversary Quilt, and of course the art quilts upstairs were just amazing, I'm posting a few photos of my favorites, sadly my camera ran out of energy before I did.

I was also excited to visit the Friends & FiberWorks Shop at the Biltmore Square Mall and meet Lisa & Terry; they have a fabulous store chock-full of the most luscious yarns, fibers and hand-made jewelry and buttons, and they have fun classes in knitting and fiber arts nearly every day! I had such a great response to my Nuno-felted Scarf and also my Wet-felted Wool Flowers, and am hoping to get back up there and teach a class or 2 at their 2011 Winter Retreat next January, how fun would that be! Lots of talent in those mountains, and I feel so honored that folks were appreciative of my creative endeavors too. All in all, it was a fantastic show.

Celebrating Mucha

2010-07-25T19:12:00.000-07:00

Who knew? I was so surprised to find the Google logo rendered in the style of one of my favorite artists yesterday, and delighted to learn that Alphonse Mucha and I have back-to-back birthdays! Hmmm...maybe they're really close, like he was born a couple of minutes before midnight, and I was born a few minutes into the next day...we could share a birthday only 5 minutes apart (OK, plus a hundred years or so also.) Anywho...to celebrate Mucha's birthday, I decided to pull colors for my impending challenge from some of his work; here's some inspirations and embellishments for a new design, finished project photo coming soon!

Rainbow of Wool

2010-07-21T17:00:00.000-07:00

The "lazy days" of summer are starting to fly by, counting down now toward the fall shows and getting busy! Today I placed my first fall order of wool, even though I have over 70 colors of Woolfelt, you'd think that would be enough for anyone to choose from. But I like having lots of colors for folks to use in their pin cushions, penny rugs and such, that way they can do some shading and highlighting within their applique, use it for flower variations, etc. Am also working on new pattern designs, and will post them when they're done, hoping to shoot some photos next week...they're turning out so cute. And of course I'm gearing up for my fiber art classes at the shows, teaching lots of wet-felting, needle-felting and pincushion designs this fall...Patterns & fibers & wool, oh my!

Feather for her Bonnet

2010-07-19T18:58:00.000-07:00

Sometimes finding just the right embellishment for a project can be as simple as looking in our own back yard. OK, so none of these feathers were actually in my yard per se, but my son did find this beautiful hawk(?) feather on one of our nature walks through a local park, and wouldn't it look grand adorning my "Sun 'n Fun Hat"? I think it would add just the right touch...although I still love this flowing black plume I found for one of my first samples I made up from a thrift store beaded velvet dress for a group challenge! Can't say I enjoyed sewing this fabric, though, and it was a stretch velvet knit too, making it even more difficult. Still I love the end result...but I have since made 4 hats from this pattern out of Woolfelt, just as attractive and much easier to sew!

Tranqwool Scarf Class

2010-07-17T18:42:00.000-07:00

Today's nuno-felted scarf class at Tranqwool Knitting Provisions in Salsibury was so much fun! We kept the group small and cozy so we could felt inside the shop, nice and cool and some great music to (rock 'n) roll to. The gals were all friends and had experience in felting, and what a wonderful, easygoing class we had. They each put their own unique spin on their scarf with colors, layout and fibers, rolled their silk, wool 'n fiber noodle "sandwich" like experts - and nobody complained, not even once! I do think it helped to have a gourmet lunch prepared by "Chef Brian", Jenny's hubby, who surprised us with bacon-wrapped shrimp and pineapple roll-ups, ham 'n cheese sliders, a delicious vanilla-mint iced tea (and no, it wasn't from a box!), and a home-made Key Lime pie to die for! OK, so I totally broke my diet for one meal, but it was worth it, and I only ate one slice of pie, not 2 even though we had permission to eat 2...^_^

At any rate, I was glad we were inside when the storm rolled in, lotsa noise and even a welcoming rain. Didn't slow these girls down in the least, and their scarves just felted up beautifully, lots of gorgeous texture on the back, ruffles both wide and narrow, texture and sparkle...I'd love to see them when they dry! Here's a look at the scarves and also the awesome food...and I hear Chef Brian will be back again for August's Nuno-felted Scarf Class, I can't wait! Jenny's shop is pretty eye-catching too, with tons of great yarns and samples to inspire.

Wet-felted Flowers

2010-07-13T19:13:00.000-07:00

This week I've been felting flowers and vines, lucky me! I love wet-felting with wool fibers, blending the colors, adding accents like vines & tendrils, buds & beads. Finishing them up is always the most fun, you never quite know how they're going to turn out once the wool "takes over" the felting process...it's always a surprise in the end. =)

These are some samples of flowers I'll be teaching in classes in the upcoming months. I'm teaching the Wool Flower Lariat in Houston this fall at International Quilt Festival, I'm so excited to be part of their teaching faculty this year! We're also doing a class on Wool Beads, and I'm doing a demo on Needle-felting Tips 'n Tricks at their Saturday Sampler. I'll be vending both Market and Festival, so I should be full of ideas and inspiration after that!

Waterworks Art Gallery in Salisbury is also giving me a day (Nov. 20) to teach wet-felting this fall - yay! This time it's for grown-up girls, we'll be making these pretty flower brooches along with some other projects, what a fun day that will be, and close to home too. And last but not least, the gals at the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival this year made a special request for me to teach these flowers at the 2011 show...your wish is my command! I look forward to seeing my felting friends in Hampton again next year.

"A Flower in a flower..."

2010-07-13T18:57:00.000-07:00

This is what my daughter Maxi said when she saw our colorful zinnias, and I thought that was so sweet, and observant, too, I never thought of them that way! We had a little cook-out the week of the 4th, and Steve picked mason jars of zinnias and set on the outdoor tables, we had a big fan blowing and the stereo outside and waited till evening, it was so nice to have the kids home with their friends and family all together. We feasted like royalty on grilled steaks and veggies, corn bread salad with fresh tomatoes and cilantro, and frozen cookies and ice cream, yum! As hot as it's been, I know I will miss summer when it's over with all it's rich bounty of fresh fruits and vegetables.

Every year I like to raise zinnias to have plenty of cut flowers in and around the house, and this year they have not disappointed in their brilliant colors. They really do seem to have the tiniest of flowers surrounding each center, and look so pretty when mixed with the lilies, glads and bachelor buttons.

Summer flowers

2010-07-13T18:42:00.000-07:00

What blessed music the rain makes! I walked down to my neighbors the other day, and my feet sounded like they were walking on autumn cornhusks, the grass was so dry. But we had a little shower yesterday, and tonight are getting a wee bit more, thankfully. Our garden has mostly dried up, bummer...we had some yummy tomatoes, so good and sweet! The cantaloupes and watermelons have been sweeter and juicier too with all the sun.

I don't know how the summer flowers have survived all this heat, let alone flourished the way they have! We've had some gorgeous blooms, including a unique kind of sunflower that actually changes colors as it matures. This one started out dark maroon, a very deep red, then turned to a beautiful rusty burnt orange, and finally finished up in the traditional golden yellow, I'd never seen anything like it! Really pretty blooms. Can you see the small yellow one in the background in the top photo? It started out like the big one in front, and before they opened, they were dark blood-red!

Low-sugar Peanut Butter Balls

2010-06-15T05:35:00.000-07:00

Here is a good easy recipe for a low-sugar no-bake cookie, I made some for guild snack last night and the girls seemed to enjoy them:

Ingredients:
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup honey
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2-3 cups crispy rice cereal

Combine 1st 3 ingredients. Stir in enough cereal to make balls. (Hint: moisten hands before rolling balls; I made mine about 1".) Place balls on wax paper and chill.

These are really yummy, and as they're no-bake and kinda messy, let the kids do them! (Dont 'tell them they're good for you. ^_^)

Quiltmania

2010-06-14T06:49:00.000-07:00

Have you seen the new Special Spring 2010 issue of Quiltmania magazine? There are such cute projects in here, and I am truly blessed to be included in this issue! Look closely and you'll see my little bird pincushions on their cover, and how-to directions inside, they did an incredible job with the projects. Lots of great designs to be enjoyed in this magazine, a little hard to find but I've seen it at our local Barnes & Noble; I'll be ordering some this fall so if you can't find it let me know and I'll be sure to save you one.

I met the editor and her lovely assistant at Houston Quilt Market last fall, and they really liked my pincushions, I was so honored! So much fun, they would come by my booth dressed to kill, with the latest fashions and accessories from France - I want to go to Paris and shop! I'll be returning this fall to vend and also teach at the Houston Quilt Festival, I'm pretty excited about that; I'll be teaching my Wool Beads Bracelet class as well as my Wet-felted Wool Flowers to use as accessories or embellishments; I'll also be doing a demo at the Saturday Sampler on Tips & Tricks for Needle-felting. It's gonna be a blast, be sure and come see me if you're there!

My "Desert Rose" Ensemble

2010-06-08T05:49:00.000-07:00

Look what I found as I was cruising the 'net this morning! I was so busy at the Charlotte symposium, I didn't get to take any pictures, and was bumming I hadn't gotten a shot of my outfit on display, but somebody else did - thanks, Yankee Quilter at http://scrapsandthreadtales.blogspot.com/

Crocheted Button Necklace

2010-06-07T12:41:00.000-07:00

Spring Quilt Shows

2010-06-07T12:14:00.000-07:00

I have to say, our NC quilters just keep getting better and better! At the recent "Garden of Quilts" Show hosted by the Gate City Quilters' Guild in Greensboro, I had the good fortune to have my booth directly across from the 2 top-ranking quilts in the show, absolutely amazing! There was a wealth of talent showcased that weekend, with quilts spilling over even onto the sidewalks of this church's beautiful garden. It was great to catch up with so many folks I knew, and the guild really pampered us vendors, with delectable muffins and good strong coffee every morning, yum!

My friend Audrey Flock came to the show one day and was telling me about a class she was going to teach the following week on a Crocheted Button Necklace. It just so happened that the thread you use is what I carry, size 5 pearl cotton, I usually have both solids and variegated colorways. Audrey was sweet enough to invite me to come to her class, and I did, it was so much fun! I hadn't crocheted since I was a teenager, my grandma had tried to teach me in her later years, but I never could seem to keep my stitches even. With Audrey's help I was able to get through almost half the necklace during our class, and came home and finished it, you can see it in the photo, I was just thrilled! What a great class, and Audrey was just a wonderful teacher.

Of course then I had to order more patterns, pearl cotton and buttons to share with my customers at the NC Quilt Symposium in Charlotte, and they liked it as much as me! That was another amazing show, so many gorgeous quilts, a very high caliber of work...I even won a little ribbon for my "Desert Rose" Wearable Ensemble. I ran into folks I'd met in VA and even NJ, and made some new friends too, all in all a great time. Can't wait for next year's symposium in Raleigh.

Kure Beach

2010-04-16T17:15:00.000-07:00

My visit to Kure Beach was so much fun, inspirational and rejuvenating! I stayed with a family I knew a little bit, and now I feel like we're fast friends, they were so kind and gracious to me. We ate out and feasted on wonderful seafood (yup, I broke my diet just a little bit, it was worth every bite!) Had a great time trading ideas and stories, and after the class and dinner Saturday night, we went for a walk on the beach...it was a little chilly with the breeze, but just beautiful. I stopped by the pier for one last look on my way out of town, here's a shot of the morning sun gloriously rising over the ocean.

Kure Beach Class

2010-04-16T17:02:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I had the good fortune to teach my Nuno-felted Scarf Class to the most wonderful group at Kure Beach, a very creative bunch of gals called "Uncommon Threads". These ladies made some truly extraordinary scarves! They worked diligently on their layouts, many of which were quite intricate and unique, and I'm happy to say also very successful. It was almost as if the fibers knew they'd met their match, and no misbehavin' allowed! We had a nice assortment of colors and styles, and when they were all felted and fulled, the girls spread them out on their towels to dry outside...it didn't take long, as you can see in the picture, they were dry by the time we finished cleaning up and could be proudly worn. I'm so proud of them too, they were great students!

Liliana's scarf

2010-04-06T18:40:00.000-07:00

Scarf Class

2010-04-06T18:14:00.000-07:00

What a great group we had for our nuno-felting class this past Saturday! We had so much fun creating one-of-a-kind scarves, and I am happy to say, everyone's work was a huge success! Truly this was a group of diverse individuals and each lady special in her own way, everyone was so generous to share their goodies and still each scarf turned out so different and beautiful. We took a break halfway through the rockin' and rollin' process to eat lunch, and treated ourselves to a great buffet salad bar at the Whole Foods shop just up the street. As a small-town resident, this was so special for me...most restaurants in our little town serve up bbq, chicken or fast-food, and I really miss getting to try new things. But we filled trough-sized bowls with the yummiest fresh fruits and veggies and assorted munchies, had some rich coffee and stimulating conversation, and returned to class all revved up to finish our scarves. Just when the girls thought they could roll no more, their works of art came together and did just as they were supposed to, as always like magic. I love the element of surprise that comes with wet-felting! I'm posting some photos of some of the scarves, they're still wet here, I can imagine how gorgeous they were once they dried! And the girls left with a special new accessory to wear for their holiday weekend.

Also a huge thank-you to Julie and friends at Thimble Pleasures in Chapel Hill, NC for hosting the scarf class. I had the pleasure of shopping a bit there after the class, what gorgeous fabrics! What great books! Needless to say I did not leave empty-handed.

Nuno-felted Scarf Kits

2010-03-27T12:14:00.000-07:00

Just watched the end of a visual feast of a movie about the life of fashion designer Valentino, what a talent! Evidently he officially retired in 2008, and the film showed clips of his final show, wow, talk about a party! Not only were the gowns amazing, the crowd full of familiar faces, there was a spectacular fireworks display at the end complete with ethereal air-borne girls "floating" around in long drapey dresses (obviously made of silk from their weightless appearance) to the music of beautiful opera - well, at least in the movie.

I've always had a fascination (if not the wallet) for couturier clothing, and majored in clothing design while in college. Of course, we all know life has led me down a different road - I was born in the "Year of the Sheep", after all - but I do still indulge in a love of wearable art, fiber art in particular. And so one of my favorite aspects of teaching fiber art is gathering up the supplies and putting together the kits, especially for my Nuno-felted Scarf classes! I love seeing the play of textures between the hand-dyed silk scarves, merino wool fibers, and novelty fibers, and imagining how each work of art might look. Of course, each student's piece turns out different, and that's the best part, seeing what they do with the techniques they learn in class. This morning I had the pleasure of getting out all the beautiful fibers I've been collecting throughout my travels and seeing how they look with the silk colors...I like it! Had to take a picture in today's spring sunshine...what do you think?

Georgia Sewing Expo

2010-03-19T18:11:00.000-07:00

I barely had time to catch my breath from Mid-Atlantic before it was time to go to the Original Sewing & Quilt Expo in Georgia! We made it a "family affair" this time, as my son was on spring break, and he was such a help with setting up the booth and loading. He arranged my "rainbow" of woolfelt squares like a pro, and never complained of hanging samples. What a trooper...we may have to try this again sometime!

This was the first time I'd been to the spring Expo in Georgia, and it was surprizingly different, I loved it! You know I love wearable art, and this particular show was chock full of all sorts of embellishment tools and tricks, gorgeous fabrics, wonderful patterns, and fun new "stuff". My friends Patty and Michelle came down and helped in my booth Friday while I taught my "Peacock Pincushion" class, and they were absolute lifesavers! We had a great class, too, what a creative group of gals we had! Even though everyone had the same basic kit, each student put their own spin on their project and made it their own...even our youngest lady had a ball with the embroidery machine. I'm looking forward to returning this fall to re-visit my friends in Georgia.

Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival

2010-03-19T15:58:00.000-07:00

What a blast we had at the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival this year! I was thrilled to see many of my friends there, and also to make some new ones. Someone posted on my Facebook page that there were 10,000 attendees this year, and I believe it - I was finally able to get out of my booth and zip around the show a bit Sunday afternoon (no, I'm not complaining. ^_^) And although I was momentarily disappointed I didn't win a ribbon for my wearable art submission, I quickly recovered when I saw the incredible workmanship of my competitor's entries...truly amazing!! There were all sorts of works of art there, including several evening gowns and nationally-known names, so I felt a bit better then. And the quilts were gorgeous! To see some of the winning entries, you can visit their web-site at http://www.quiltfest.com/gallery.asp

I was thrilled to be able to share my skills in felting in my Wool Beads Class; every class is different, and I have to say, this was one of the most entertaining and also sharing groups I have taught! Everyone's wool beads turned out just beautiful, and we had a fun time too. Saturday night's Show 'n Tell was equally adventurous, and I was so impressed with many of the students' work that was shared. I had the good fortune to meet Connie Hindmarsh at the show (she's the one with the cute bears in the teacher photo at far right), and what a warm and talented person she is! I believe most of her class was on that stage sharing their newly made cuddly friends; I was most honored when Connie purchased some of my "vintage toy" patterns, she's already made up the Bunny on Wheels, you can see her adorable version on her blog at http://hindmarshstudios.com/ Just precious!

All in all a wonderful show, a special thanks to Alby for all her hard work helping me in the booth.

I Made the Cover!

2010-02-21T07:04:00.000-08:00

I was getting ready for the quilt show in Lancaster, SC Friday when the Fedex truck pulled up in my driveway, my Quilts and More magazines had come with my project in them...imagine my surprise when I opened up the box and saw my humble little "Sweet Treat Pincushion" project on the cover! I am just so thrilled, and the magazine did a super job with the inside article too, great photographs and tips. I'm posting a picture of the cover below left.

The Lancaster show was great, too! I love visiting my quilting friends down there every year, I've been going since it first started and am starting to get to know those SC gals. I love the big round tables they give us, I took about 70 colors of Wooolfelt squares this year and "rainbowed" them around the table in front, glad to be able to help the girls find all the colors they need for their projects.

Have a Heart

2010-02-21T06:18:00.000-08:00

Recently I vended a quilt show in Statesville, and as they were forecasting snow later that day and the weekend, everybody ended up coming early Friday, it was like one big quilting party! I saw so many wonderful folks I knew and met some new creative souls too, it was just a fun, very busy show. One very clever quilter from Kernersville, Glenna, bought a pattern and kit for my "Queen of Hearts" Pincushion at the show, and mailed me a picture just a few days later of her finished project! I believe she made it to celebrate her anniversary, at any rate I couldn't help but notice the "love puppy" figurines behind it. She's accented her heart with some great vintage buttons and needle packs in the front pocket, a decorative scissors pin "crown", and of course her "queen" sits atop her rusty throne! Thanks so much for sharing, Glenna, you can check out Glenna's heart in the photo below left.

Wearable Art

2010-01-22T18:17:00.000-08:00

Maybe it's the cold weather, but my Flirty Fedora hat pattern has sure gotten a lot of attention lately! The same week we made ours in the wearable arts group in China Grove, 2 quilt shops also ordered patterns for hat classes of their own. One of the shop's teachers, Katherine P. of Sneeds Sew & Vac in Charleston, WV, was kind enough to let me share her gorgeous hat photo with you, shown below left; I love the lace and feathers Katherine used to embellish her hat, the textures work together beautifully, especially with the herringbone wool. Thanks so much, Katherine!

I myself have been working on some of my own wearable art for a certain quilt show coming up at the end of Feb. and submitted photos and application this week - yay! Can't divulge the actual ensemble yet, but I sure enjoyed gathering up the fabrics 'n fibers in shades of apricot, pinks and desert rose. Amazingly, the fibers I dyed during our fiber workshop in Greesnboro last Nov. with Wilton icing gels were the perfect harmonizing colors to blend with the 6 silk textiles and various cottons and blends I used to create my design (see photo below left.) Maybe I'll see you in Hampton this year where hopefully my art will be on display!

Hat Class

2010-01-13T21:16:00.000-08:00

Our Wearable Arts Group (WAG) started our year off with a bang with today's "Flirty Fedora" hat workshop, taught by yours truly. We had a great time, and the girls really did a super job with their hats, especially considering we're not exactly milliners! Most everyone got about half-way done and I demo'd techniques on how to finish them up, I can't wait to see their finished product! Hopefully they'll bring them to the next meeting, when we make our velvet flowers to embellish them with. For those who wanted something different, one gal brought in colored feathers for accent, so cute! Of course we had the usual wonderful food and fellowship, we always have fun. Such a talented group, one of the ladies Carolyn Sweet sent me photos of her purse from our Needle-felt Sweater Purse class we had last fall, I'm posting it on the left. Carolyn's sweater was unique not only in its wonderful use of color (don't you love the teal and gold?) but also in the fact that it was a button-front sweater with grosgrain ribbon trim. When Carolyn felted (shrank) the wool sweater, of course the ribbon did not shrink but instead made this wonderful somewhat ruched effect...I love it! A true work of art, Carolyn, thanks for sharing.

Sanford Show

2010-01-10T08:43:00.000-08:00

What a great time we had at the Sanford show! I ran into so many folks I knew, some I hadn't seen in years...including a girl I graduated from high school, still as sweet and beautiful as she was then. And I made lots of new felting friends, so many creative souls yearning to unleash their inner visions through fiber art! I totally understand, being a felting fanatic myself. I love to sew, but there's something so therapeutic about stabbing those fibers into a needle-felted work of art, or coaxing them into a different form with soap, water and a little "elbow grease".

I was also able to coordinate a couple of nuno-felting classes, so many gals want to learn to do this! And I bought some gorgeous silk scarves for my classes from my friend Lorin Fields who does incredible hand-dyeing, I'm so excited about the possibilites of these new colorways! It'll be fun to see how my students express themselves with these new palettes.

Avatar!

2009-12-21T20:20:00.000-08:00

Went to see the new movie Avatar for the 2nd time today, this time with my daughter Maxi along...what a phenomenal movie! The graphics are just incredible in this film; what I'd give to have some hand-dyed silk colored like the wings of those dragon-bird things the Navi fly around on! The story is pretty neat, too, and I love the strong female characters in the movie. It'll be interesting to see how the visuals from the film branch out into the commercial world...will there be new plant species? Navi Halloween costumes next year? Only time will tell I guess, but this is one of the best movies I've seen in quite some time.

Fresh snow

2009-12-18T17:14:00.000-08:00

Today we're getting our first snowfall of the season! I'm listening to the tinkle of ice against our roof, thankful to have a warm home, most of my family here, and to be almost ready for Christmas, barely a week away. I ran my errands early today, found a couple of new books on tape to listen to while I sew, and I am ready to be snowed in! Well for an evening anyway, it can all go away by Sunday to make room for our daughter coming safely home.

Hard to believe Christmas is almost here! The fall has absolutely flown by, I don't think I've ever had so many shows, programs and classes, and I have had a blast doing it all. We had a wonderful Needle-felt Sweater Purse Class with those sweet Kernersville gals back in September, and I was so proud of the beautiful bags the girls made...and they hardly broke any felting needles! What a creative group. Then came the Original Sewing & Quilt Expo in Chantilly, where I taught a couple of pincushion classes, saw many old friends and made some new ones. And then, the most exciting show...Houston Quilt Market! This was my first year vending there, and I was thrilled beyond words at the response I had to my patterns, especially my Pincushion of the Month Club. I'm planning to go back next fall, and who knows? I may even try vending both Market and Festival next time, I can't remember when I've had so much fun! Or worked so hard, it was absolutely exhilarating and also very exhausting, especially that drive...but you know, it was all worth it.

Since Houston I've done some local things; the Asheboro Quilt Show was so nice, I really enjoyed being near the guild boutique and chatting with the girls there, and we had beautiful fall weather too. And one of my favorite activities was the felting classes with the Piedmont Quilters Guild in November, we had so much fun dyeing fibers and wet-felting, and what pretty fiber projects emerged from our classes! I look forward to teaching more felting and wool workshops next year.

Speaking of next year, I can hardly believe that 2010 will mark the 20-year anniversary of my pattern company, Annie's Keepsakes! How things have changed since my daughter was toddling around and I was a stay-at-home mom, wanting to work from home, make a little money, satisfy my creative needs and provide a nurturing home for my family. Keeping a business alive and thriving is no small feat, and I have some exciting activities planned to celebrate this milestone event! More on that later...tonight I am just enjoying my family and being thankful for the holidays that bring us all together once more.

A Milestone Week

2009-08-22T19:41:00.000-07:00

Well, it's finally here, back to school time for all the kids. Sadly, this also marks the departure of our youngest into his first year of college, we are officially "empty nesters" now. Where did all those years go? Seems like just yesterday we were reading together, watching cartoons, and playing "go fish". I am so proud of both my kids as they continue their academic careers, but they sure do leave a quiet house behind.

Another memorable day this week, Tuesday would have been my grandma's 99th birthday, and this is the first one without her here to share it with. In remembrance of her, I took the opportunity to use several challenges due this fall to create a special little quilt in her honor; it's called "My Grandma's House", and will be featured in my guild's calendar next year for the month of April - quite an honor! It was truly a challenge for me, as I haven't done many landscape quilts before, but it was a lot of fun too; amazingly, the scene is a little reminiscent of her actual house...only instead of a dirt road, we have a street of gold, and a house in her favorite color, lavender. My favorite part of course were the wet-felted flowers, based on the morning glories growing beside our driveway, my grandma always had flowers all around her house as well. I'm posting a photo of the quilt at left, enjoy!

Birthday Jaunt

2009-07-21T18:48:00.000-07:00

We celebrated 2 birthdays today - mine (early) and Carolyn's, and drove up to Cary to see a wonderful exhibit at the Page-Walker Arts Center called ARTQUILTStransitions. If you haven't seen this exciting collection, it is worth the trip! 2 floors of art quilts showcasing techniques of all sorts: hand-dyed fabrics, beading, embroidery, 1" photo collage, phenomenal quilting, and much more. One reason we went was to see friend Karen Fridy's big beautiful landscape quilt, what a work of art - well done, Karen! Another favorite was a trio of wall hangings by Charlotte quilter Nancy Cook, oversized botanicals of soft colors and exquisite quilting. Then we had a fantastic lunch at a local cafe, followed by visits to some awesome shops in Cary. One of the most incredible yarn shops I've visited, Shuttles Needles & Hooks, was just up the street; they had the most mouth-watering selection of yarns in yummy colors, fibers, and gorgeous buttons! Heads up to my Triangle friends: I may be teaching a wool beads class there sometime in the near future. After that we headed next door to Etc. Crafts, which is really a quilt shop; Jean had such a nice collection of fabrics, I even found a piece that I think will round out my challenge project nicely. When we finally headed home, we made a surprise pit stop at my friend Sharon's adorable quilt shop, Plain & Simple Quilts. Of course the shop was all decked out with the most irresistable finds in hand-dyed wools, fabrics and even some of my patterns. We finally drug ourselves home, happy and content with a celebratory day full of inspiration and friendship; see Patty and Carolyn in the photo at left in Cary.

"Art on Easy Street" festival

2009-06-20T20:59:00.000-07:00

Today was such a scorcher! Still that didn't stop many folks (including me) from visiting the art festival on Easy Street in Salisbury, this show just gets bigger and better every year with 102 vendors this year, wow! A special treat for me today was visiting the Looking Glass Art Collective down on Lee Street. I had not visited their shop, and was surprised to see the quality and variety of art for sale there, from funky upcycled clothing, to beautiful jewelry and paintings, hand-made baskets and pottery, there is something for everyone there. I also ran into a couple of old friends, and who knows? I may join this very talented group myself!

As it is now, I currently have my fiber art in 3 galleries/shops; I just sent my newest batch of geode pins to a museum shop in Lincoln, Nebraska yesterday, and I think this was my prettiest group yet! I used some of my own hand-dyed fibers for several of the pins, mostly blues, limes, & greens, and I love the way the colors pop...you can see them at the bottom of this page, just scroll down & enjoy!

NC Quilt Symposium '09

2009-06-16T08:48:00.000-07:00

I barely had time to fill orders and catch my breath before it was time for NC Quilt Symposium 2009 in Raleigh! What a wonderful show it was, gorgeous quilts, great vendors, inspiring classes and teachers, and busy, busy, busy! I had never vended a show in the Triangle area, and I met some fantastic folks there, as well as seeing lots of friends I knew. One of the highlights for me was meeting Rachel Clark, she is just as funny in person as you would expect! And what a talent she is; she was judge and host of our Wearable Arts Fashion Show at symposium that Friday night, and I was so shocked when my "Tribute to Hiroshige" jacket won Best of Show out of 26 awesome entries! What an honor, it really was very humbling. (See photo of my jacket with Rachel and the 1st-place winner of the jacket category at left.) Then we had a treat: entrants got to model Rachel's wonderful trunk show of jackets, coats and capes, and what a feast for the eyes! Her eye for color and design is truly amazing, and the attention to detail on each garment was so special with unique buttons and embellishments on each and every piece. The final garment in her show was her most recent entry in the Bernina Fashion Show, a breathtaking blue floor-length cape that was a real show-stopper! What an inspiration you are to us all, Rachel!

Pittsburgh Quilt Market

2009-06-16T07:50:00.000-07:00

International Quilt Market was held in Pittsburgh, PA this spring, and what an awesome show it was! I had never been to this beautiful city, and was pleasantly surprised to see how artsy it was: lots of gorgeous architecture, history and culture. We were fortunate enough to stay at the historic Renaissance Hotel downtown, located right across the street from the Allegheny River (see photo at left.) If you look just under the arch on the right, that is where our room was, and we could look out the window and have a beautful view every morning. The hotel itself was extraordinary with its exquisite winding staircase and elegant decor, and we were close enough to the quilt show to walk back every evening (we caught the free shuttle in the morning.) One evening we were walking back and noticed so many pretty girls in long gowns around the hotel, some of them accompanied by tuxedo'd young men, and found out our hotel was hosting their high school prom! What lucky ladies to have their prom pictures taken on that glorious winding staircase.

The quilt show itself was just up the street, also just across from the river; at left is a photo of one of the beautiful bridges we had a view of from the 2nd floor lobby of the convention center, the front of which was a wall of windows, and so you could see for miles. The quilt show was just huge! To give you an idea, my booth was #2655...that is a lot of 10' spaces! I met so many wonderful people there, so many nice shop-owners from all over the country, and I had a great response to my new pincushion patterns and also the hats, everyone seemed to know someone who needed a hat, often due to cancer, and they loved how quick and easy these projects were. One highlight came at the end of the show when Eleanor Burns strolled through my booth and ordered a Cozy Cloche pattern to make a hat for someone close to her, what a nice, very classy lady. I also met some fabulous vendors, both in the fabric area and in publishing, and also ran into lots of old friends! I did notice some trends: lots of vibrant color this year, brighter hues to bring joy and happiness to our world with its sluggish economy, limey green, teal & turquoise, richer shades of warm colors saturated in sunshine, warm toasty browns...I also noticed a lot of bird themes, my "Peacock Pincushion" fit right in, as did all my newest pincushion patterns with their bright fresh colors! National Nonwovens introduced their new line of XoticFelt, made of bamboo and rayon, gorgeous colors and softly drapeable. All in all it was a great show, and I'm looking forward to seeing folks again this fall in Houston.

Spring "bling"!

2009-05-05T18:42:00.000-07:00

Here in the South we are having lots of natural "bling" this spring with a profusion of flowers, budding trees and lots of green! Must be contagious...in my classes my very talented students have added their own brand of bling to their projects, from the gorgeous wool fibers and hand-dyed silk velvet used to "upcycle" felted wool sweaters into unique needle-felted purses, to the gossamer beauty of finished nuno-felted scarves, and the perfectly wet-felted wool bead bracelets (with no wrinkles, wow!), I am so proud of each creative soul I've been privileged to share my inspirations with. I'm posting a few pics from classes at left, and looking forward to seeing what works of art future classes will bring about!

"Hats for the Cure" Workshop

2009-03-18T08:30:00.000-07:00

Last Friday I was fortunate enough to be a part of a wonderful group of gals who devoted their day to "sewing for the cure". We made a beautiful assortment of about 20 hats which will be donated to cancer patients going through treatments at a local hospital. A huge thank you to the ladies who gave their time for this worthy cause! And also to Randy's Quilt Shop, who was so gracious to host the workshop - a benefit was that we got to shop Randy's great sale! Thanks to all who made this gathering such a success; I've posted a photo of some of the merry stitchers at left.

Winter Quilt Shows

2009-03-18T07:59:00.000-07:00

What a crazy, wonderful time I've had in the last few weeks at the quilt shows! Although I didn't really expect things to be quite as "wintry" as they turned out, I can think of worse scenarios than being snowed in at the Embassy in Hampton, VA (^_^) We saw so many amazing quilts, made some wonderful and talented new friends and ran into lots of old friends, and found inspiration everywhere we went. I was especially gratified to see folks from last year's shows who had caught the "felting frenzy" from me, and brought their own magnificent felted creations to share with me...wow! For me, there is nothing better than seeing my students' success. A special thanks to Alby and my family for putting up with me and my crazy schedule.

Wool Beads Bracelet Class

2009-02-01T20:36:00.000-08:00

We had such fun in our class at Ben Franklin's yesterday, the girls made some gorgeous bracelets, and one of them even sent me a picture, you can see it below left - isn't it beautiful? Margaret chose rose and chocolate brown for her 2 fiber colors, and with the addition of some Angelina fibers, her finished wool beads reminded me of frosted raspberries, so pretty. The artsy glass lampwork beads she chose as spacers gave a nice Rennaissance feel to her bracelet, a true little art piece she finished in class.

Another bracelet was made with earthtone colors,a creamy ivory and mocha brown; we were thinking how pretty the ivory beads would be if you needle-felted little animal stripes on the lighter beads with the brown fibers, a great way to cover up any little wrinkles BTW. Her bracelet also turned out so pretty with some nice earthtone beads that pulled together both colors. Great job, ladies! And we had fun trading ideas about all sorts of other creative venues as well...a great class!

Wet-felted "Water Lilies"

2009-01-29T10:42:00.000-08:00

I've been indulging my passion for felting lately, and recently had a landscape challenge to create for a local group. Why not try wet-felting a landscape? I thought, and so I started browsing for inspiration. I had been fortunate enough to see the extraordinary Monet exhibit at the NC Museum of Art a few years ago, and one of my favorite pieces there was his "Water Lilies" painting; unless you've seen it, you don't realize this piece is close to 6' x 5' in size, it's huge! The richness of the colors and brushstrokes used to create the water and water lilies is just spectacular...hmmm, I thought, that purple is almost the same shade as my Wilton icing gel wool fibers I dyed! And so I decided to re-create this work of art; of course, mine is less than a foot tall, and doesn't hold a candle to Monet's, but it was still fun to do! I used my Wilton purple fibers, some hand-dyed buttercream fibers for the sun glinting in the corner, and silk strands and strips for the plants with fibers to hold them down. I wet-felted the whole thing, and it didn't turn out too bad; I'm thinking to put it on the back of my denim jacket and maybe add some silk ribbon or felted sprites or something for the border. I'm adding a photo so you can see, enjoy!

Holiday busy-ness!

2008-12-23T18:47:00.000-08:00

Well, it's happened again...Christmas has snuck up on me and I am counting the hours as I bake cookies, address cards (fewer this year), email friends, and make a few last-minute gifts. I wish I had time to create something hand-made and unique for everyone on my Christmas list! But time does not permit, and so this year I kind of "cheated" on some of my hand-made gifts and let my washing machine do the felting for me! When making a few wooley pin-cushions to sell/display at my next show, I made them big enough to have an extra slice off the top to make a wool geode pin. They turned out so cute, here's a few of them in the photo below right; and yes, I gave some of them as gifts! I'll be teaching this technique a couple of times in 2009, so stay tuned for that.

Hope your Holidays are merry and bright! See you in 2009!

Altered Couture Magazine Project

2008-11-17T11:53:00.000-08:00

Only 38 days until Christmas - are you ready? Or are you still looking for that perfect gift for a special friend? If so, you might be interested in my newest designs I created for Altered Couture Magazine Winter 2009. These simple accessories are both trendy and practical, and best yet - they're made from things you probably already have on hand! For a sneak peek, visit their web-site http://www.stampington.com/html/altered_couture_winter09.html My designs are on their home page, the "Coming up Roses" set. My daughter was the inspiration for this sweet set, and I kept it quick and easy to make! Enjoy!

SAFF Fiber Show

2008-11-17T09:39:00.001-08:00

In October I attended my first BIG fiber show in Asheville, NC. What a treat! I signed up to be a helper in a class about painting wool fibers, and that was a great experience. The teacher was wonderful, as was the class; we learned all about dyes, painting the wool top, the kind of stove to use to steam the fibers, etc. I even got to join the class in dyeing my own wool fibers! (see photo at left) And it was pretty interesting to be the helper as opposed to the teacher; I spent much of my morning carrying buckets of water from the barn to the little overhang where we did our dyeing outside...good thing I'm a country girl! ^_^

I also made a special needle-felted wrap to wear to the show (see photo at left.) I made the wrap from black wool, then needle-felted my original tree design to the back in Merino wool fibers. I then added silk leaves I hand-dyed with some luscious Colorhue dyes I got from June Colburn at one of the shows - these dyes are great, they're so easy to use! And I love the wrap, I've worn it so much since I made it, it looks great on every body and is so warm and flow-y!

Nuno-felted Scarf Class

2008-11-17T09:03:00.000-08:00

In October I taught a nuno-felted scarf class to a group of very talented gals from Winston-Salem, Faith and Mooresville. Sara was kind enough to host the class in her spacious home,and we were fortunate to have beautiful, sunny weather. I brought kits for the girls to choose from in an array of colors (see photo at left) in hand-dyed silk chiffon, merino wool fibers and some novelty fibers, and the girls also brought a few of their own fibers to individualize their scarves. We rocked and rolled all morning, and by early afternoon, each student had a beautiful hand-felted silk scarf to wear with pride! At left is a photo of Gail and Sara modeling their gorgeous scarves. Well-done, ladies!

Fall Show Update

2008-11-17T07:54:00.000-08:00

Wow!What a crazy, busy, wonderful fall it's been with so many great quilting and sewing shows, workshops and classes! I can't believe it's been 3 months since I last blogged, but that just shows how hectic things have been around here. I was fortunate enough to be a part of several awesome shows up and down the east coast, both vending and teaching, and I couldn't have done it without my wonderful friends Alby and Debbie. They were with me keeping the road hot and helping me through thick and thin, setting up and tearing down booths and meeting all sorts of interesting people in between, even a couple of 4:00 a.m. fire drills! We dined with Carol Cypher one night, the very talented fiber and bead artist, and she was so down-to-earth and full of advice on all sorts of things like writing, getting published, etc. We had the opportunity to hear Marianne Fons speak, and how she and her friend Liz Porter got started years ago with kids in tow but with a dream...sound familiar? We met June Colburn and marvelled at her soft-spoken words of wisdom, and we drooled over Sue Spargo's gorgeous hand-dyed wool. All my students were amazing, from the sweet little 10-yr. old girl who made the most perfect wool beads, to the young lady who proudly sculpted her "pac-man" beads with big wide smiles, from the beginnig sewer who painstakingly worked hard on her Santa, and was so pleased she bought kits to make more for Christmas gifts, to the expert dollmaker who put her own spin on her Needle-felt Santa, and all the girls who skipped dinner to make big luscious needle-felted lily pins and proudly wore them to the show the next day - my thanks to you for making the shows so very, very special!

A highlight for me at one of the shows was when some of my creations were modeled by "volunteers" during a wool lecture I gave; a huge thank you to those who graciously gave their time to show off my designs in front of everyone at the show! My wearable art never looked so good!

I also had the opportunity to create a special sample showcasing my talents for the Faculty Display at some of the shows. I created an original wall hanging called "Wallflowers", shown at left. First, I drew a stone wall, then created the wall from different shades of Woolfelt appliqued to a dark wool background. Then, I needle-felted all sorts of different kinds of orchids separately, and I nuno-felted orchid lips from hand-dyed silk and merino wool (you can see them all lined up.) I sewed the lips to the petals, and after appliqueing stems and leaves to the wall, sewed the dimensional orchid blossoms on top. I needle-felted dark brown wool "dirt" in between the Woolfelt "stones", and needle-felted harmonizing fibers to the lower part of the quilt to represent the decaying at the bottom of the wall (in contrast to the beauty of the flowers.) The final touch was some green yarn "Spanish moss" stitched randomly on the quilt. Lots of research went into those orchids, I'm telling you, I felt like an orchid expert after finishing that quilt!

I also had some "orchid lips" left over, I had made a few extras so I could pick and choose my favorites, but I hate to waste anything. So I made a little flower pin out of the leftover lips, sewing them together for flower petals with a button in the middle. See the photo at left, amongst the peaches from our tree (yes, I finally got around to picking those peaches!)

Altogether, it was a most exhausting, exhilarating autumn, and I look forward to returning to the shows and both seeing old friends and to making some new ones._

Opening ceremony in Beijing

2008-08-09T07:54:00.000-07:00

I was headed out to pick peaches yesterday evening on our last tree when I remembered the opening ceremony of the Olympics was about to start. Well, I'll just watch a few minutes of that first, I thought; little did I know, I would be on my couch mesmerized by the show for the next 3 hours!

My first clue was the countdown: 2008 drummers playing and twirling in harmony to music, and then a visual countdown as we saw an aerial view of drums lit up to form 60, then 40, and so on until they reached 1 and everyone cheered; the cameraman found one drummer who breathed a huge sigh of relief; his part of the show was over.

Ony 13,000 performers to go! And they covered all the bases: singers, dancers, children in traditional costumes from the 50 different parts and people of the country, proudly participating in the most important day their country has seen in a very long time. It was absolutely, stunningly amazing! China put on such a show, and the people worked so hard to bring to the world a positive view of their country: as this year's motto says, one world, one dream, we could almost believe it for the next couple of hours. One of the highlights of the show was the little boy who survived the May earthquake in China and rescued some of his classmates walking with Yao Ming carrying the flag in the parade of nations, a bare spot on the side of his little head, a hero's badge of honor. (The U.S. looked very smart in their coordinated suits and hats in that parade, BTW!) And then the closing ceremony, the lighting of the torch: the flame was passed to 8 honored athletes (8 being a very lucky number in China, thus the opening date for the games of 8-08-08)The last athlete was then hoisted into the air, where he "jogged" airborne around the upper edge of the "birds nest" stadium (think about those Chinese movies where they sword-fight in the skies) in front of a visual "scroll" that unfolded beside him on a huge screen that ran around the entire upper edge of the stadium until he reached the enormous cauldron, which he then lit with his torch. Then ensued the largest display of fireworks I have ever seen! All in all, a breathtakingly beautiful show, I can't imagine how many people it took to put together such a visual work of art for all the world to see.

And I couldn't help but think, quilters also do this! I was fortunate enough Thursday night to visit the Asheboro Quilters' Guild, where they presented a quilt they had made to their local hospital for the new cancer wing, and what a work of art it was! Again, several of the quilters had worked together to create a beautiful quilt, with so many special details: dimensional floweres, embroidered birds, scenic mountains and clouds, a picket fence, even a quilt within the quilt, all parts working in perfect harmony to bring beauty and pleasure to the viewer. Something to think about besides what lay behind the doors at the hospital, this quilt was a work of art, sweat, and joy, and what a sense of pride these ladies must have felt! Just goes to show how much good we can do in our own back yard, working together to bring a little joy and hope to our community. I hope you're able to do that this year as well.

A "Green" Idea

2008-07-24T11:06:00.000-07:00

What a busy month July has been! After months of gathering fabrics, embellishments and supplies for several quilting and wearable art challenges, the last few weeks have definitely put me to the test in getting them finished by the deadlines - all of which seemed to fall this month. As usual (and like many of you I suspect), my design ideas far out-reached the actual time I had on hand to complete all the projects I wanted to. But I was able to do a few, and am happy to report that one of my designs was accepted for an upcoming issue of Belle Armoire Magazine, and also my Wallflowers wall hanging was juried into the Pennsylvania National Quilt Extravaganza, an awesome show this September I will be vending as well as teaching (for more info visit their web-site at www.quiltfest.com)

My most recent endeavor was a wearable art ensemble for the Hoffman Challenge 2008. I have entered this contest once before with a simple paper-pieced purse similar to my Han-di Sak pattern #138, which ended up in their traveling exhibit for a year. But many of you know, I love wearable art! And so I decided to create a jacket and dress ensemble for this year's challenge; the fabric was so gorgeous this year! I particularly loved the peacock, and my outfit ended up being very green (surprise! only my favorite color) not only in color but in the newer sense as well. I did of course use the challenge fabric along with a soft heathery celery woolfelt I had for the jacket, and I bought a rich contrasting batik that set off both of these materials. But then I dug through my stash and found a wonderful teal taffeta that matched the batik fabric beautifully, as well as a cream silk I used for the dress bodice, a recycled dress zipper...I even "re-vamped" one of my old college drawings for some graphics on the dress. And borrowing on one of our old favorite board games, I titled my piece, "Ms. Peacock in the Parlor with the Pipe", a tongue-in-cheek reference to the "Clue" game.

I'm including a picture in today's post of the peacock pin I made for the jacket lapel. This was quick, fun 'n easy to make! I just drew out a teardrop shape on Woolfelt about 4" long x 2-1/2" wide, couched assorted fibers on it radiating from the peacock "eye", needle-felted the eye over the fibers, couched a darker fiber around the eye, and sewed it to a Woolfelt lining, turned it right side out through a slit I cut in the back, and voila! Instant embellishment, and it's great for using up all those little bits of decorative trim too pretty to throw away. And that's my "green idea" for the day - enjoy!

I Felt the Challenge!

2008-06-24T18:14:00.000-07:00

Today I had a meeting with a wonderful little art quilt group I get together with once a month; we had each received a "fortune cookie challenge" back in December, and this was the big day the challenges were due. Well, being such a "wool-aholic" (have you had your daily dose of fiber? ^_^), I decided to do some nuno-felting, and so I made another silk 'n wool scarf, this one in a brilliant fuchsia silk chiffon with indigo, wine and celery merino fiber accents with just a touch of Angelina thrown in for a little pizazz. I loved the way it draped, but it needed a pin, so I made a wool "geode" pin to hold the scarf in place. I guess I got a little carried away when I ran across the matching fuchsia fibers, and so I found myself wet-felting wool beads last night to make matching earrings and a bracelet to wear with the scarf. I was definitely feeling the challenge as I burned the midnight oil to complete this whole wet-felted set of accessories! By the way...I got lucky with my fortune; it said "You are original and creative", which applies to most every quilter and stitcher I know! Anyway, see below left for a photo of the nuno-felted scarf, pin and matching wool beads jewelry, maybe you'll be inspired to challenge yourself, too!

Bead Show

2008-06-09T07:44:00.000-07:00

Have you ever been to a bead show? When I was a little girl, one of my favorite things to do was to go through my mom's or grandma's jewelry box...what a privilege! With pearls, rhinestones, onyx, all sorts of great 50's costume jewelry (which BTW is hot stuff now!), it was like digging through a treasure chest, and I dreamed of being a princess and being able to wear such beautiful finery.

Well multiply that times a million, and that is like a bead show: rows of tables covered in strings and bags of gorgeous beads in every color, size and shape imaginable, what a feast for the eyes! The Bead, Gem and Craft Show I attended yesterday at the Cabarrus Arena was just incredible, I've never seen so much glittering eye-candy in one place! My eyes feasted there for about 3 hours as I found the perfect beads to go with my fibers for my wool beads kits, check out a sample in the picture at left. Some of you know that I've been invited to teach at the Original Sewing and Quilt Expo in Chantilly, VA and also the Georgia Quilt Show this October, and they've requested I include beads in my wool bead kits, so I have the perfect excuse to engage in one of my favorite activities...shopping! I'll be gradually adding beads to some of my wool bead kits, and will even have a few at the Clemmons quilt show this weekend (see my Schedule page on my web-site for more info on the show.) Anyway, the vendors and folks at the bead show were so nice, they have invited me to teach the wool beads when they bring the show back at the end of September, so I'm going to try and squeeze that in...I'll definitely be going back either way! You should check it out...even if you don't make jewelry, beads are a great embellishment for your quilts, wall hangings, bags, and wearable art...and what better place to find exactly what you're looking for than at a bead show! For more info, you can visit their web-site at www.americangemexpo.com

June News

2008-06-04T12:28:00.000-07:00

What a busy couple of weeks it's been! Last week I visited the super-nice and oh-so-talented Lake Norman Quilter's Guild, and it was like a family reunion, I just love those gals. We talked about needle-felting and wet-felting and then broke out the wool 'n fibers and played, I'm telling you, those girls are fast learners! They made a beautiful array of needle-felted heart pins and everyone's was different and so pretty, you can see my sample in the photo next to my nuno felted scarf. And yes, I made the scarf, too, it's wet-felted from some very yummy hand-dyed crinkle silk that I hope to be carrying soon and also gorgeous colors of merino wool fibers. I love how it feels, it's kind of sculptural, yet light as a feather and drapes beautifully.

And this week we all piled in my mini-van and went to see Billie Lauder in Kernersville, what a fun program that was, we laughed till we cried, she is so funny. Who knew you could do so many things with simple squares and triangles? And the Kernersville group were the perfect hostesses, they had snacks and drinks arranged for us "weary travelers" like a 4-star restaurant, I've never seen so many home-made cookies in my life, yum! They were extremely gracious to all their visitors, of which there were many who turned out for Billie's special presentation. A truly enjoyable night; I especially enjoyed seeing all my quilting friends there, some of whom I only get to see at shows and such, it was great catching up with everyone. Can't wait to see who turns out for the Clemmons show June 13-14, I know those girls have been working hard to put on a great show...maybe I'll see you there!

Saturday "News"

2008-05-03T20:23:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my new blog! I'm so excited, my daughter came in for a visit and set it up for me; now I'll be able to share my "inspirations" with you on a more regular basis!

I do have some new things: first is my "Needle-felt Flower Pin" I'll be teaching at Ben Franklin Crafts on May 17 by request from the girls that were in my April needle-felting class. You can view a photo of the pin on my Schedules page of my web-site, of course you can make yours any color and Bonnie has some gorgeous new colors of wool fibers in stock! Come learn how to make this easy pin, you won't be able to just make one.

I'm also nearly done with my newest "Cuddle Buddies Quilt" pattern, so be watching for that on my web-site in the next few days. Can you believe this is my 50th pattern? And that's not including magazine projects etc. Speaking of which, I have 2 magazine projects coming out this month, I'll keep you posted on those as well, some fun new things to make!

I learned something else this weekend; some of you know that my daughter is specializing in Japanese and Asian studies. Well, just out of curiousity, we were looking at the Chinese "Year of..." web-site, and guess what the animal for my year of birth was? You guessed it, I was born in "the year of the Sheep"! I guess it really was fate for me to end up all about wool! ^_^