I'm Teaching At This Year's Oregon Flock & Fiber Festival!

This is exciting news for me........I have been accepted to teach at The Oregon Flock & Fiber Festival 2015.  It takes place September 25, 26 & 27 in Canby Oregon.  I will be teaching my class all day on Saturday the 26th.  The official class title is "A Felted Tablet Case".... the students will learn how to make a wet felted case to hold an i-pad, NOOK or Kindle tablet.  They will learn how to wrap wool around a template and felt it to form a holding area for the tablet with an inner, seamless pocket and a fold-over flap the student will design.  The picture below is an example of what we will be doing.

  The smaller surface detail was stitched using free-motion embroidery.  We will not have the time or the equipment (sewing machines with free-motion capabilities) to do this in the class but I will give a demonstration at the end of the class to show students the basic idea.  
  I have taught felting to others before but never in a fair or festival setting.  I'm really excited at the opportunity and I have to thank my good friend Carin Engen for encouraging me to put in a proposal to teach the class in the first place! Carin has been nudging me to get out and teach at larger venues, shoring up my confidence.....and as always, she is spot on.  Thanks Carin! 
  Here is another example of a case I made in the next photo.  I love how the ginkgo inspired leaf turned out!

 Lately I have been using my i-pad to help me in making decisions about design layout, if the colors work, is it balanced...  I find seeing an image of whatever I'm designing is very helpful but I don't know the reasoning as to why it works.......it just does.  I hold the i-pad above the piece, click and then view it.  The two shots below I used in the designing of the ginkgo leaf.

  The top picture is a layout of the leaf.  I took a photo because I was wondering if some kind of veining would make it look more leaf like. I laid down some thin black yarn where the veins on a ginkgo leaf would be and took another shot.  Looking at the photo my answer was a quick and definite NO.  Honestly, I wasn't sure just looking at it on the table.  
  Time to get to work on gathering supplies.  Hopefully it won't take too long for me to post the results of my adventure!  If any readers live near the Portland area I know there are still spots available for my class, sign up is possible up to the day of class, Saturday the 26th......be sure to bring your tablet!!

Be happy!  Be well! 
  

A Foot Stool Cover.....maybe

On and off, for the past 6 months, I've been working on this project. 

 I have finally finished all the 

free motion stitching

and it done!

Sometimes I would sit staring at thread colors, pondering which one

to use where, do I want contrast or no...

But what fun!  

It was usually an ache in my back that let me know I was stitching for an hour or 

more with out taking the much

needed time to stretch or correct my posture.  

This is the completed piece on the left.

The whole thing is a 17" inch square that I intend to cover an antique foot stool with.

Maybe.

This photo on the right 

is part of the design

before any stitching was done.

 

Here on the left is that same

part of the design

now stitched with the free motion stitching.

It's such a transformation once

the stitching goes on!

I didn't have a specific pattern I wanted to stitch here, that's part of the fun, it's always kind of a treat to see what develops as 

I stitch.

I just love the pattern that developed on

this lower shot!  It's definitely

my favorite in the whole piece.  I used an all cotton thread on 

this lower part, in the picture above I used a 

polyester thread.  I find myself preferring the all

cotton thread but I haven't been able to

to put into words why...

To make this piece I used black superfine merino for the backing and the designs

were created using partial felts that I made with various 

types of hand dyed wool and wool/silk blends from my stash.

And then the vines and such are Malabrigo yarns,

I always love the way they just melt into the wool and create

great swirly texture!!