Nuno Felt Wrap

One of my latest projects. A nuno felted scarf/wrap with a crocheted mohair border. I had found a very pretty silk scarf which had many different colors of blues and white mixed in between so I decided to use the nuno felt technique on it using a variegated merino fleece which I had purchased in Australia. I also used some tussah silk and curly mohair locks which I felted on top of the silk. I still had a skein of beautiful blue mohair yarn which matched it very nicely so I used it to crochet the border around it.

If you're interested in purchasing it please visit my etsy store where it's listed.

New Violin Girl and The Farmers Market - Sunday April 26th, 2009 in The Plains, Virginia

Well I finally finished this violin girl. She will be on her way to Belgium late next week. I made her for one of my school teachers from way back when. Kinda strange how in one way it seems like only yesterday I was in her classroom and on the other hand it seemed so long ago I can barely remember what she looked like.

This Sunday, April 26th, 2009 will be the first Farmers Market at the Archwood Green Barns in The Plains, Virginia. The market runs from 10 a.m. till 3 p.m. I will have my stall in the main barn so if you need something to do this weekend please come by and visit me. I have lots more items for sale then what's listed in my on-line shops on Etsy and Art fire so come and check it out. There will be many local farmers and other artisans as well.

Look for the big green barn located at the intersection of I-66 (exit 31) & Rt. 245 in The Plains, Virginia.

Our Ozzie Kitty Azzie

Ok, since I put a picture of our new puppy River on my blog our Australian Kitty named Azriel wanted to get in on the action so here is a photo of her. At this point she's pretty much accepted having this silly puppy around. She's gotten the point across to him that she's the queen of this house and he better behave. He, on the other hand has not gotten the entire message about not chasing the cat and wonders why on earth she blows up like a balloon everytime he does!? And how about all that hissing, my oh my that cat can talk, now if he could only figure out what the heck she's trying to tell him things will be alright.

Meet Our New Family Member - River

So here is the reason I haven't had to time to get anything done this week! Meet our newest member of the family ... our Boykin Spaniel called River. Isn't he the cutest thing you've ever seen. Well, we think he is. We got him at the Fauquier SPCA. For those who have never heard of a Boykin Spaniel they also call this kind of dog a Swamp Poodle or a LBD ... Little Brown Dog! ha He's a spunky little dog with a great personality. I tried to get some work done in my studio yesterday while he was taking a nap on the floor in the family room .... well so I thought. Out of the corner of my eye I all of a sudden saw a blue flash down the hall way so it was time for an inspection. Dear puppy River-dog had managed to take every blue pillow from the couches, piled them all on top of his toys and was trying to take a nap on top of his blue tower of goodies! I put them all back where they belonged and went back to what I was doing ... well at least I pretended I was trying to fool him .... aha which I did .... yep Mister River-dog sprung back into action and I figured by now blue must be his favorite color since he again went for all the blue pillows and left all the other ones that were not blue on the couches. But I managed to catch the pillow thief in action and showed him they didn't belong on the floor but on the couch and showed him what he could play with .... his toys and stuffed animal which is also very soft. So off I went back to work again until I saw a big brown flash slowly making it's way across the floor down the hallway ..... hmmmm what's puppy up to now? Better make another inspection. Well this time he decided to leave my blue pillows where they belong but he managed to drag the huge brown pillow from his crate, which is about 5 times bigger then he is you must know, and put it on top of all of his toys and was trying to get comfy to take his nap. Well since it's HIS pillow I let him be and off he went to puppy dreamland ..... ahhhhhhh, I could finally get some work done while he took a well deserved nap.

Here she is - Reading Girl is back

Well it's been awhile since I created a Reading Girl but here she is ... ready to find a new home. I'm actually very excited about being able to make my girls again here in the US. The product I use (Powertex a textile hardener from Belgium) is now being imported into the US, so yeahhhhhhh for me! This little girl is for sale in my Etsy store, $60.00 and $15.00 for shipping and handling ... unless you want to come and pick her up personally. Let me know what you think.

Mother and Baby

Here a couple pictures of one of the Mother and Baby figurines I've made in the past. I've started making a violin player for a client in Belgium and I hope to get it finished soon. I'm debating to put this artist business on the side for a while. I just feel like I'm burned out on making things for the market, things I know will sell. I realized I haven't been making any art pieces, or what I consider art I guess. My fingers are itching to create something different and special just to make myself feel better. I did just finish a vest I knitted for myself. I started it while we were in CA and was hoping to get it finished while driving from California to Virginia. But, unfortunately that didn't happen since I got busy doing other things. Kinda glad it's all done hopefully I can still wear it a couple of times before the temperatures are starting to rise again.

Baby Boy Blues

I finally finished a pair of blue baby boy shoes. I catch myself making girly ones since it's so much easier to make them look cute compared to the ones for the boys. But, I've come to the conclusion that if I make some good looking piece of felt I don't need much else to add to make them look pretty since the fabric will do the job all on it's own. So here they are.

Photos of the Apple Green Baby Shoes

A long day

Went to the FHS, was there from 7 till 3 and didn't sell much but got lots of nice compliments (thank you if you're one of the many nice ladies who I talked to today!). The Apple Green baby shoes found a new home. Even though green is definitely not one of my favorite colors I forced myself to make a pair of booties in that color and after I needle felted some dots on them with an aqua dyed fleece (which my 12 yr old dyed for me with food coloring) they ended up to be one of my favorite pair. Anyway, I'm happy they are off to keep some cute baby's feet nice and cozy. Since we didn't get a lot of buyers to show up I kept myself busy with knitting another gumnut beanie. Still have to put it together but that won't be for this evening. I'm still amazed how this crazy economy is affecting everybody. Talking to a couple of folks at the show today and hearing their stories about loosing a job and trying to make a living doing other things made me realize how sheltered we were living in the middle of Australia in Alice Springs. It's a very remote area but business (at least my business!) was booming compared to here in the US people want to buy my stuff but just don't have the money. Ok, this is just making me more depressed and sad so I better stop talking about it and get busy putting that gumnut beanie together, I just hope things will turn around for everybody and life will be good again.

Fauquier High School Craft Show

Oh my ... I was a bit in a panic earlier this week when I received an e-mail about the Fauquier HS Craft show. I had signed up for it and I must admit ... totally forgot about it! Needless to say I've been pretty busy the last couple of days getting everything ready. I haven't done a market since we left Alice Springs which was July 2008! Gosh I can't believe it's been that long. Anyway, I'm very excited and just about ready for the show which is this Saturday, the 21st of March from 8 till 3. I figure this will give me a practice run for starting the Farmers Market the end of this month and attending the Warrenton Spring Festival in May.

I've attached a couple of pictures of my Chime Girl I made and sold while living in Australia. I really need to get started on making these again .... if only I had more time.

Pretty soon at the Farmers Market in The Plains!

Went to the meeting at the Archwood Green Barns in The Plains yesterday to find out all about becoming a vendor at their Sunday markets starting the end of April. Great meeting and a great bunch of people. I'm so excited about being able to set up my booth and start selling all my felted items. Not sure how I will handle having enough to sell on a weekly basis but I'm sure I'll manage somehow. Of course if I don't sell much I won't have to worry about that part! Come to find out that Robert Duvall (the actor) owns and lives on a farm in The Plains. I don't think he'll be purchasing any of my baby booties anytime soon, but then again ... maybe he has some grandkids he needs to buy something for. Hey, it never hurts to dream you know. Talking about kids ... mine decided to sew up some pillows for her room and I must say she did a great job. She wouldn't let me take any pictures of them yet, not until they are completely finished mum!

A view of Violin Girl

Here are a couple more pictures of Violin Girl.

Pretty Pink Felt Baby Shoes

I managed to finish another pair of felted baby shoes which I put up for sale on my Etsy and Art Fire sites. I love making these little shoes. Making the felt and sewing them by hand are my favorite parts, cutting out the little shoe pattern is my least favorite part. These I made from only sheep's fleece and tussah silk, I didn't use any llama or Alpaca fleece this time. These little shoes always bring a smile to my face when I look at them. My best friend Erna, said to me the other day that these little shoes almost make you want to have another baby! BUT, then we both remembered the sleepless nights, the dirty diapers, tantrums and figured heck no, we've been there done that and we wore the T-shirts! She has 2 teenage daughters and I have a tween and we're both very happy to have these wonderful kids, we'll just leave having babies to that next generation.

Violin Girl

Since I'm not sure where to start with my story I might as well just jump in and go with the flow. In case you're wondering about my violin girl ... I created her, I made her from wire, painters tape, foil, 2nd hand T-shirt, some other fabrics and a textile medium called Powertex. She's one of many girls I made while living in the Australian outback. I haven't made any for about a year since I got in a rut and wanted to experiment with other things, so I went back to felting, another one of my new found loves. Well, maybe not so new since I've been felting for about 4 yrs.

Back to violin girl. I was never sure of what to call my pieces ... statues, figurines, art dolls? Not sure where they really belong, or what category to put them in so I just called them my girls. I did make a boy one time, I will have to post the photo down the road of the little guy, he was part of a mother, daugther and son piece I made for a client of mine. After making and selling about 100 of these girls over a 2 yr period I realized I didn't want to go mass producing them, that just took all the fun out of creating them ... so I stopped.

But, for some reason ... today I made up my mind that I need to get back to work on making some more of these girls and share them. I know they will sell, I've had some people here in the US asking me when I start making them so I figured it's time. I will not go crazy and mass produce them but pick and choose which one to make and make them very special. I hope that all the ones I've made in the past have a good home, wherever that might be. I wonder sometimes where they are at, who purchased them and why. If you happen to be the owner of one of my girls ... I would love to hear from you. My business name in Australia was called Purple Platypus in case you are wondering about the name. I changed my name to Bits of Fiber since Purple Platypus was already taken here in the US.

Love to hear from you.