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.

Felting at Mary Jo's

Last fall we even did some wet-felting at Mary Jo's Cloth Shop in Gastonia! Yes Mary Jo's has all kinds of classes now, sewing, quilting, and even felting. These students had taken my nuno scarf class up near Greensboro a couple of weeks earlier, and so they brought their beautiful felted scarves in to match up for their felted flowers, aren't they gorgeous? I just love the colors and textures in their scarves; the green reminds me of a landscape with water running through it, and the pink is like yummy ice cream sherbet. And these gals did a magnificent job felting their flowers too...look at the beautiful shapes and dimension they achieved! True artists, these ladies should be very, very proud.

Nuno at The Fibre Studio

Here are some photos from a Nuno-felted Scarf 'n Shawl class we had at The Fibre Studio in Charlotte last fall, another great place to have classes! While Tranqwool in Spencer has all the wonderful ambience of their combined art studio and shop in the historic area of Spencer, The Fibre Studio has an awesome classroom in the back of their wonderful yarn 'n fiber shop complete with running water, stove, and floors that can hold up to the sometimes mess we make! Love the scarves and shawls these gals made, some of them had never felted before and they just did a terrific job.

I provided the basic kits with hand-dyed silk chiffon scarf or shawl and fibers, and they chose their own embellishments, the curly locks, angelina, bamboo, etc. I brought in some photos and materials for inspiration, and they just took off! Here are some of the finished scarves, most are still wet here.

Nuno Class at Tranqwool

After I did a program for the Olde Rowan Fiber Guild here in Salisbury, there was quite a bit of interest sparked in felting classes! Not only did we do the Double-layer Flower class at Tranqwool, not long after that we also did a nuno-felted scarf class there. The girls did a phenomenal job felting all colors of wool fibers into their hand-dyed silk chiffon scarves, here are a few photos from the class.