A FELTED BAG

I just finished this bag. It's made entirely of kunin felt, with the exception of the handles and lining.

The design is a pattern that mimics a Clarice Cliff pottery design. I put 3 pockets, a car key clip and a magnetic snap.

I felted it on my Baby Lock embellisher.

One thing I learned from this was that cheap felt doesn't needle felt very well. If you want to tackle a project like this, you need good quality felt.

ANOTHER PADFOLIO

I love these PADFOLIOS.

Sue B. http://suebleiweiss.typepad.com/ was kind enough to share her pattern with those in her fiber art group and having made 3, I'm hooked.

Sue B. also teaches some very creative classes on www.Joggles.com

I made the button with paper clay and braided ribbon and yarn for the tie. I also attached 3 "inchies" that I made to the ends of the ribbon.

The fabric for this is a leaf print, embellished with metallic thread painting and covered with a sparkle black tulle.

A very impressive way to take notes at a meeting. It contains a 5x7" small legal pad.

MORE ANGELINA FIBER

This is a bowl I made, using 2 colors of Angelina.

When I first saw this fiber I thought "how pretty....but what can it be used for?"

I'm finding out now ! The more I play, the more I see how much it adds to fiber art.

The fish on my wall hanging (shown in a previous photo) are made using Angelina.

ANGELINA SAMPLES & PADFOLIO

I recently made some samples of fabric, using Angelina fibers in various different combinations.

The flowered item on the right is called a padfolio. It contains a 5x7 pad when opened. The flower head applique was purchased, and the flower center face was made by me. The leaves are all combinations of colors of Angelina.

Another phase beginning

You know, I just begin to think....well, this is it....I'm busy, I'm happy what more is there for me to do.
I left the after school program and miss my kids, but was getting way too many colds for an old
patoot.....and was proceeding on, taking lessons at the local quilt shop....learning more about fiber art and surface embellishment....trying to figure whether to list on Ebay or give Etsy a chance, when out of the blue, I was asked if I would be interested in teaching some classes at my local quilt shop!
I almost fell over.....but decided I'd give it a try. I'll be holding classes in making fabric postcards, needle felting by hand and machine and some other special techniques "mini classes". So....another phase begins. A fun phase for me, and hopefully for my students.
The programs are just getting started and I hope that they will be successful.
Later this summer, a new branch will open and I hope to teach there as well.
Now, every day is busy and creative and just flies by!....(which, as my age isn't the best thing...the flying by part, that is ).
I belong to several creative on line groups with members younger than my own children and admire that they are handling jobs, families, parents and still are able to set a small amount of time aside to be creative and clever. Maybe that's what keeps them going.
Nope, no complaints from this old broad.

My CREATIVITY MANDALA

I have recently joined an on line group who has chosen "the Artists Muse" book by Betsy Dillard Stroud, to discuss and work on assignments together. The first challenge is for us to create our own mandala. Well, I'm gonna tell you, I had no idea what a mandala was.....so I googled it and got some sort of an idea as to what it was all about.

We could make our mandala using any medium we chose and I chose fabric. Now---the subject---another tricky one.

After the recent horrific events at VTech. I thought of gun control....man's inhumanity to man....peace....ethnic cleansing. JUST TOO MUCH TO CONTEMPLATE .

Luckily I found some fabric in my stash that represented what I wanted to portray, which was to describe my own CREATIVITY.

The back ground piece represents the swirl of imagination and ideas that constantly run through my mind. Wanting to try new things....learn new things....be artistic and develop my skills. Where do I start? What do I choose to do next?

The larger circle is a kaleidoscope, where individual ideas are beginning to form as I slowly turn them in my mind till they begin to confirm their own identity.

The center circle is where these ideas finally end in a cohesive design that's ready to express itself through the artist.

This proved to be an interesting challenge and I look forward to seeing all the other mandalas that the group members come up with.

I'll finish quilting this piece and hang it in my studio as a reminder that eventually all of the ideas that want to be born will eventualy happen if I let them grow.

Bathing beauty sewing kit

Here's a sewing kit I made for our "baby" sister, who is now living in Florida with her husband and livin' La Vida Loca......and....who also happens to be a red-head. The scissors stores in the toilet tank and the needle holder is under the bath towel, with a pocket behind the sink for odds and ends.

This is an Elinore Peace Bailey pattern......just couldn't resist making it ! :-)

A different style post card

This card was the result of a "sketch to stitch" challenge. It's made of several materials, including metal mesh and sewn on to a pretty buff faux suede cloth.

Belonging to a postcard swap group allows you to explore all different techniques and apply them to 4"x6" pieces of art that go out in the mail.

A felted fiber postcard

Here's a postcard I made of hand felted wool with a hand needle felted spring lamb.
This card would never make it through the mail, as the lamb well exceeds the 1/8-1/4" card width limit.

A New Job

I've recently been asked if I'd like to teach needle felting, by hand and machine as well as some surface embellishment and postcard classes, at my local quilt shop. Since they will be opening another branch in a couple of months, I'll be teaching at the two shops.
I'm thrilled to have been asked and am now planning the dates of classes and preparing samples to show at both shops.
I love the Baby Lock embellisher and need to devote some time to making some awesome samples that will bring in the students and hopefully encourage them to purchase an embellisher for themselves.
I hope to catch up with my blog and add some photos of what I'll be doing with the embellisher.