Holiday Felting

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!

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!

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

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

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

More Houston Quilts

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

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

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

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

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.