Worth the Effort

I just got back from Midwest Felting Symposium in Madison, WI (which is still going on, but I could only stay until today). I met some great people, bought some new goodies, and took a wonderful class taught by Pam MacGregor called Vessels with Attitude. This is what I came home with. I'm already looking forward to the next MFS in 2012.

Here a Scarf, There a Scarf

OK, I've been on a bit of a scarf kick. My favorite is the one in the first image. It has some silk hankies embellishing it, and some decorative holes at the ends (I felt so daring making holes on purpose-haha).

Last week I visited Ginny's Fine Fabrics. She has the most amazing assortment of silks and other really cool fabrics. This is not your average fabric store. I managed to behave with admirable restraint. My credit card did not burst into flames.

Besides some blue silk (chiffon?), I couldn't resist getting a small piece of a beautiful handpainted mesh fabric from Italy. I felted it onto a black background. I'll put a picture of it in my next post. I might have to go back and get some more of it. I haven't decided.

Until next time....

Shepherds Harvest 2010

I am totally wiped out. I got up at 5:30 this morning to meet a bus and go with members of the Zumbro River Fiber Arts Guild up to Lake Elmo, Minnesota to the Shepherds Harvest Sheep and Wool Festival . Imagine a County Fairground full of fiber vendors, classes, demonstrations, fiber animal barns and a few thousand (?) happy fiber fanatics. Sound like fun? I spent the morning happily shopping for roving, silk, books and other things absolutely necessary for my survival

Lunch was deep fried walleye chunks. Yes, it was good. I wanted to get the fried pickles, too, but decided to save my money for the important stuff.

After lunch, two of my fiber friends were scheduled to take a nuno felted bracelet class taught by Leslie Granbeck. I wandered over to class with them, and lo-and-behold, there was still a spot open in the class. So I took the class, too. We used beautifully dyed cotton scrim and prefelts for one of the bracelets, and the other bracelt was a collage (mosaic?) design using various fabrics on a prefelt base. A good time was had by all despite it being quite chilly.

We got back to the bus where there was a general show and tell and lots of happy comparing of notes about what we saw and purchased. We all agreed that the bus was an excellent way to go to the festival.