Hello from Hailey

(I didn't bring the camera cable, so you will have to use your imaginations on this one!)

I have arrived in Idaho. It is beautifully sunny and warm enough to go walking without a heavy jacket - pure bliss. I taught wet and dry felting today. The day flew by and the students were all fantastic! (Hello students!) We made beads, sushi, flat inlay pieces, needle felted surface embellishment and a flock of needle felted birds. Plus we did a little bit of koolaid dyed wool just for fun.

I have to say that I would come back and teach here any time. The house and classroom are great.

Shibori dyes tomorrow. I am off to put the scarves in the laundry now. Photos when I get back.

Teaching!

I have filled up my spring with teaching gigs! Come and see me in Idaho at the Sun Valley Center for the Arts teaching wet & dry felting, beginning shibori and hand embroidery plus a teens shibori class and a kids weaving class. Or you can come to my "Starting a Blog" or "Opening an etsy shop" at the Textile Center in March and April.

A tour

What have I been busy doing? Getting ready for my favorite holiday show at Cafe Wren in Luck, WI. This is my 6th year at the show and I think I finally have the display down to an art. This year was a little smaller than some, since I spent the fall busy with wedding activities.



Here's my set up. This is a great show, where I just set up and there is a central check out, so I don't have to table-sit. A huge plus! I brought 52 or so puppets up this year. Andy made me this great stand for them - so cute! - and the rest live under the table until it's time for them to fill in the blanks.



I made a few little tiny needle felted ornaments this year. A bunch of birds plus a penguin and a lobster (and some turtles and sushi...)



And finally enamels! This is the first show I have brought them to. I really think I made some great ones and I hope they go home with lots of people. I took close up photos of all of them if you want a closer look - head over to my flickr.



And since it is a coffee shop where the show is held, I pulled out all of my coffee cup coasters from the etsy shop and brought those along.



I finally managed this year to get a little more organized and not make myself crazy making puppets the last 3 days before the sale. What a nice feeling. I was considering doing more enamels at 10 pm before I drove up to Luck the next morning, but that's another story. The first year I did this show, my prices were too low and I had no idea how many puppets I would need. The organizer called me after the first day and said "you have to bring more!" I spent every day sewing like mad and then jumping in to the car and driving up there with whatever I had finished. It's a nice problem to have, but wow, I never wanted to see a puppet again.

Off to knit a ***** for ***** - gotta get some Christmas presents done!

Parrot with sushi

It was nice to have an extra day off but I spent most of it getting ready for holiday shows. I do basically two big art shows every year - one starts the beginning of november and one starts this coming weekend.
For one show this year I am doing something new - felted ornaments. I have made tiny little needle felted and wet felted ornaments - these sushi rolls are about 1/2" by 3/4". I have been working on them off and on for months - making a few here and there. We will see how they do.