Fiber-licious Fashion Show

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

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!

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

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!