Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Well we had a rather chilly day here in the South, but there's nothing like a bit o' the green to lift my spirits! I was working on a fresh fascinator from my Fascinator Fun! pattern and after seeing a few shamrocks this morning it occurred to me, I could update this little guy easily with some of that green wired ribbon in my stash. It only took a few minutes to twist the ribbon into 3 loops to form a shamrock shape, stitch them in place with a steampunk "gear" button, and wrap a green ribbon band around the hat, and voila! A snappy topper fit for any self-respecting leprechaun.

Mid-Atlantic Quilt Show

The quilt show entries this year were spectacular! I was so busy running from my booth to classes etc. I saw most of the show in passing and did not get to take as many pictures, I did get to look a bit on the last day of the show, and captured just a few images to share. Here are a few ribbon winners and a few of my favorites.

Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival Show 'n Tell

This year's show & tell was a real hoot with Laura Wasilowski hosting, Jennie Rayment joking, and the Mancuso's celebrating the 25th year anniversary of the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival! A special quilt was made for them featuring their images along with appliques of pins from the shows over the years, I know they will treasure this special memento.

There were some incredibly talented teachers and students this year, and we saw some absolutely exquisite work. I had a couple of students there representing my classes; Chelsea donned her adorable fascinator hat, she had only been sewing for 2 weeks! And my nuno-felted cuff gal had never felted before, her cuff turned out absolutely gorgeous, so proud of these gals! Here are a few photos from this fun-filled evening.

Mid-Atlantic Nuno-felted Cuff Class

Our nuno-felted cuff class was awesome! We had the best students, each gal chose a basic kit which had a rectangle of hand-dyed silk chiffon, merino wool fibers, curly fibers, bamboo, and metallic Angelina fibers. Then they got to pick goodies from the "embellishment buffet" of laces, silk and more fibers. After laying out their cuff we added soap and water and rocked and rolled until everything was felted together. Then we fulled the cuff, shrinking it down to fit, with a little room for overlap; each student could do their own personal closure once the cuff was dry. I was so proud of these girls, some of which had never felted before! They did a beautiful job, and I know they'll each enjoy their cuff for years to come. Here are a few pictures of fibers and lace I hand-dyed for the class and also the girls' gorgeous felted creations, still wet but you can get the idea, just beautiful!

Mid-Atlantic Fascinator Class

Just got back from the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival in VA yesterday evening, and oh what a relief it was to get home safely!I love teaching and vending this show and re-connecting with all my creative friends there, but this year a snow/ice storm snuck in a few hours early, making our trip back home a little scary. We just took our time though (especially after seeing about 10 accidents within a mile on the interstate!) and made it home just fine. I'm so glad the storm waited until after the show to arrive! We had some great classes during the show, and I would have hated for anyone to miss them. My first class was "Fascinator Fun", a fitting title, as I think everyone there had a really good time...I know I did! The hat was from my fascinator pattern, and I brought in kits with hand-dyed flowers in all colors: purple, blue, green, red, raspberry, black and white herringbone. I had also brought in a special kit I dyed for a student who had just dyed her hair teal - it was a perfect match! All the hats were just incredible. The girls got to choose their own color for the hat base, the flower, netting, and feathers, and they made the whole thing from start to finish. These gals should really be proud of themselves, here are some pics from the class.