Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Sunday, December 20, 2009

wrappin' things up


I loved how my home-made paper turned out, I just had to use it for something--so--I made little envelopes to hold the Christmas ornaments I made for the gals I work with. Now I need to find some way to make cute boxes or something with the rest of the paper-maybe even a book cover or something. Its too pretty to just stuff in my paper drawer.

Sunday, December 13, 2009











Had a great weekend and got lots of artsy things done-ornaments for co-workers and ATC's for the trade this coming saturday, home made paper, and I even started a knitted scarf in the middle of it all--whew!! I've already patted myself on the back.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

my own flock




I don't think I'll ever have my very own real flock of sheep, so I made some-in ornament form. These little guys are presents for each of the gals in my cloth doll club-"Sew many friends". We get together at Christmas and have a super pot luck dinner and then exchange handmade gifts. I made this with raw(but washed) wool and rose stems for legs. I still need to add a little holly and a bell around their necks to finish them. My 3 year old grandaughter loved them and claimed one for her own-so I will have to make one more--oh, I think I'll probably make many more cuz they are too cute.


I made them by glue-ing 4 sticks to a piece of cardboard and then needle felting the wool around them. A small amount of black was needle felted to the neck to make the face. Super easy and fun.


Happy Fiber Arts Friday!!

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

A friend of mine found this hat at Kohl's and let me borrow it to use as an inspiration to make some of my own--love the bright colors and different yarns--I have to dig in the yarn stash to find some wild stuff to mix together. I want to try one with purchased yarns before using handspun-or I might at least put one stripe of handspun in for fun.

Saturday, October 31, 2009

fiber arts friday(a day late)


I went to the Wisconsin Spin In in West Bend today and took a drum carding class. It was Great!! I learned a bunch of new stuff, and Carol Wagner (the instructor) gave us tons of fiber to play with. So now, in honor of it being Halloween and all, I've gone "batty". I really love to make batts-I intend to spend the rest of the night carding to my little ol heart's content. Maybe tomorrow I'll spin.......

Friday, October 23, 2009

Thursday, October 8, 2009







Well, I got them done-and they turned out pretty cute if I do say so myself. The hide was very thin and fragile, I had to work very carefully. I can't wait for my friends to see them.
I have a question about drum carders--does any one out there have a newer Louet Jr-or know anyone that has one? I'm trying to find out why the teeth on the carder don't mesh-is this something new? I know the older models do. I've e-mailed the company, but they haven't gotten back to me yet. Mine works, somewhat, but I'm curious about those teeth. Any help would be great. Thanks.



Monday, September 28, 2009

Amish inspiration







After my visit to the Amish community, I was inspired to create a few batts of the wonderful colors if the clothing they wear. They are made with black alpaca, teal, straw, and white wools. I love how they turned out and I spun some yarn from one right away to see how they turn out-Love it! I have some other colors besides teal to mix in and maybe veer off to add some glitz just because I like glitz.
I have one alpaca picture here because of visiting Felvolden alpaca farm on Saturday-It was national alpaca days-I bought some fiber from them(of course) and learned even more about alpacas. What a great weekend I had!!








Cranberry Fest weekend (or just another excuse to go shopping)

Had a great weekend getaway with Carolyn and Rollie-and of course the rest of the cranfest gang. Carolyn and I didn't actually go to the fest-we went shopping in the Amish community near Pardeeville, WI. It was a very pleasant afternoon and had a chance to talk with the owner of Katie's fabric shop. She showed us her rug loom and all her wonderful woven rugs. I would love to have taken a pic of her-but I know that's a no-no so the mental picture will have to do. Had a great time.


Sunday, September 13, 2009

first batch of batts


This is the first try with the drum carder-its working great-it would take me hours to card all that with hand carders-It took about a half hour with the carder.

Last day of WI Woolfest







I walked through the sheep barns-saw triplets being born-lots of sheep waiting for judging and that crazy set of horns on the Jacob sheep. Then watched the shearing-got the before and after pictures.Of course I had the spinning class which was great-I learned a lot.








Friday, September 11, 2009

My New Toy


WOO HOO !!!!!!!!
Check out my new toy! I got it at the woolfest today-it was either that or a new refrigerator--who needs food??
Its a Louet Jr.
scroll down for the rest of the fibery fun-I still haven't figured out how to get all my pictures arranged correctly-but enjoy!

Fiber Arts Friday

It was definitely Fiber arts Friday today! I went to the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival in Jefferson. I took a class from Vanessa Kessler on dyeing yarn and fiber. It was a great class-we learned a lot and had five really nice class samples to take home with us. There was a lot to shop for after the class and I did some serious damage to the checking account-oh well---I go back tomorrow for a spinning class-and again on Sunday for a plying class-I'll be "spun-out" for sure. (That gal in the pic is Vanessa-she wouldn't hold still to get her picture taken)


















Monday, September 7, 2009




I was able to squeeze in some fiber-time-and had fun. I had to do the tedious picking of the VM out of my "Gracie" wool-but got 5 ounces done to play with. I took the idea of the "canning" method from the video on Alpaca farm Girl's Fiber Arts Friday group. I used two packages of Kool Aid for each jar-black cherry, orange, lemonaid, lemon-lime and berry blue. The berry blue seemed a bit "wimpy" for color, so I added a few spoonfuls (after adding water) of the black cherry to it. I added a cup of very hot water to each jar-a glug of vinegar and shoved an ounce of wool into each. I poked them down til saturated and then added more water-about an inch from the jar's top. I put them in the pot with water and brought it to a rolling boil then turned down to simmer for 45 minutes(or so). I let them cool overnight and took them all out and rinsed them this morning. All but the blue came out great-the blue is varigated blue/purple--but its ok. I have them sitting outside on the lawn chair to dry. I'm not sure what I will make with these, yet, but I can just enjoy looking at them for now.






Wednesday, August 26, 2009

forgotten fur







I have found that procrastination and my "swiss cheese" memory gets me in more trouble...last year I got a lovely old mink stole from a friend to cut up and make into teddy bears. I put it off for a while-hung it in the back of my closet and proceeded to forget all about it. Last week my friend e-mailed me to say she'll be in town (she's from North Carolina, I'm near Milwaukee, WI) in October. She wanted to know if she could pick up the bears then. HA! HA!!!--I had to fess up to her about my "sometimer's" disorder and needed to know how many bears to make. I've got 4 to do and PROMISED to have them done by October. So now, all other projects are on hold til the fur stops flying. It wouldn't be so bad if I sewed them on a machine-but these delicate little beauties have to be totally sewn by hand, and turned and stuffed very carefully. I am looking forward to seeing how well I can live up to my promise-and just how these little guys will look. I'll keep you posted. And really, I think I might get a little spinning done in between....we'll see!!!!

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Fiber Arts Friday's Teddy Bears


It never fails. When I decide to start a project It seems I have to finish off something else first. This time it was because of the wayward stick pins. I can't, for the life of me, find my two altoid tins full of pins. So... in order to use the pins holding the red and blue pieces together, I figured I might as well sew them up first. I was then able to sew up the little guy I just cut out. I started to stuff a few of the pieces-but as usual, life got in the way and they are at a standstill. For now.

I hope to get them finished as soon as I rearrange my sewing corner, move all my 3 year old grandaughters toys, and the bins of wool to opposite sides of the living room, clean the house, run errands, yada, yada, yada......My kingdom for more fiber-time!!


Friday, August 14, 2009

In a moment of weakness-I reached into the mohair bin and just grabbed-and whatever came out would be the next bear I would make. I was inspired to make one because of the teddy bear club I belong to-Good Bears of the World-(we give bears where they are in need) Anyway, I brought the supplies to club last night and got started, drawing and cutting. I forgot my pins, so
I couldn't pin the pieces there. I'll get to that later this weekend. Now-I have to drag out the sewing machine and dust it off. I needed this project like I need another hole in my head. Oh well,
idle hands...blah blah blah....
Oh, by the way, a big thank you to Katy for the bunny, alpaca smackdown--I was the winner of the skein of alpaca yarn--I"m on pins and needles til it gets to my door. Woo-hoo!!!!!

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Fiber Arts Friday







Finally!!! The two baby hats are done. Here they are being modeled by two of my handmade teddy bears. Aren't they adorable? I had fun making these hats-but my knitting needs a lot more practice-several oopses-but at least they are done. I may have to make another pink one because it ended up being pretty small-good thing I have lots of wool left!!

  I entered an essay contest to win a 170th anniversary Singer sewing machine. It was to celebrate the 12,000 subcribers to a YouTube channe...