Fiber Earring Challenge

Pat Riesenburger, of the The Crafty Retailer, has offered up a Fiber Earring Challenge too good to resist. The prizes are, to say the least, tempting. I offered, for consideration, two pair of my felt ball earrings. I enjoy combining the hard and shinny metal,

with the soft and often whispy fiber.

This link will take you to Pat's blog and information ( when you scroll down)

about the Fiber Earring Challenge.

The deadline is Feb. 23, so hurry and enter your own fiber earring creation.

Cookie's Shawl

I had a delightful, fiber filled day yesterday. My students from the "best friends" workshops, and I, met at the Quilt Visions Gallery in Liberty Station. Liberty Station was a huge Naval Training Station, dedicated in 1923, that today is being revived with unique and interesting art related shops and organizations , restaurants, and lovely areas to stroll and enjoy our great weather. The quilts in the gallery are well worth a visit. Best of all there are shopping opportunities. In the gallery gift shop, Quilt Visions members sell such things as hand dyed silk hankie and gauze, both perfect for nuno felting. Needless to say we all bought some of these goodies to add to our felting stash.

On my way home I stopped into The Shepherdess, a wonderful bead and fiber shop, to pick up some findings for earrings I'm making. Cookie , as you can see, took one look at the Sevilla Nuno Felt Shawl I was wearing, and bought it on the spot. Good taste, Cookie, and don't you look terrific wearing it. The interesting side mark is that Cookie's family come from Sevilla, Spain, the inspiration and namesake for the shawl. Coincidence? I don't think so.

Paras News

Here is a tip for locals. I have lived in San Diego for the past 10 years, but only discovered the best magazine store in the city, yesterday. In the North Park area, corner of 30th and University is Paras News. What a store! The racks of magazines go on forever. The section pictured below confirms that they might just have every, sewing, knitting, crochet, beading, and fiber related magazine published. As you can see the selection is huge.

I picked up the latest FiberArts mag, a favorite publication of mine.

Ever the foodie....I recommend you enjoy the great Mexican food at Ranchos,

directly across the street from Paras News, before you browse the magazines.

Wonderful Wool Festival

The Taos Wool Festival was such fun. No rain or soggy grass this year, the weather was perfect. I love the size of the event and the mix of producers who proudly present unique wool offerings. My husband snapped this shot of me with the first of my booty. Driving rather than flying gave me the luxury of buying as much as I wanted without concern for suitcase space. I'm inspired by all the lovely fibers I brought home, and have been busy in my studio putting them to use for the upcoming holiday sales. Below are a few of my finds.

A good start, don't you think?

Among the many treasures I found

are these soft and silky hand painted Wensleydale rovings.

Lots of ideas for how to use these beauties.

Ruth Walker offered up these richly dyed rovings of

merino blended with cashmere, or silk.

I got back to the hotel and decided

I didn't have enough of them,

so, went back for more, and a couple of her pre-felts as well!

Check back with me soon, for more photos of our scenic road trip.

Studio Workshop

This week my studio became a classroom, for the first in a series of Nuno Felt Workshops.  The space is perfect for classes.

I posted some beautiful photos on Flicker, of the class , and the lovely work it produced.

Thanks to Jan, Pat, Jocelyn, and Kirstin for a great two days. 

Here are some photos from those two days

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