Leaf Prints

In the past couple of weeks (with Fall and Winter shows looming), I decided to get out the dyepots and get my dyeing mojo back on.  I have just been having the best time.  Using a stash of silk scarves that provided the canvas for some beautiful leaf prints, I began dyeing with local eucalyptus I collected and plants from my garden. Days have been spent rolling up leaves in between the folds of fabric, and then after hours of simmering and stoking the dyepots, the "reveal", hoping for success and not a big disappointment.  Just a smattering of the results:

 And a little experimentation with wool fabric.

Very happy with the results but not as happy as I am about the drops of water falling from the sky. Yes, it's true, we've had a bit of rain thanks to Hurricane Paine in Baja California.

Some additional results on silk -- hanging to dry.  They are a little more intense when wet and will be a little more subdued when dry and ironed.

Felting Experiments Continue

I have been continuing with my exploration of wet felting.  I am intrigued by the different flowers I can create using a wet felting technique.  Then, they come alive when I stitch on them with my handspun yarn and add a felted bead and some glass beads.

This particular felted flower found itself in the onion skin dye bath that I had going. It came out a beautiful bronze.  So glad I took that leap of faith and threw it in the onion dye bath.

I had another idea swimming around in my head for a few weeks -- to needle felt on some prefelt to create a textural piece.  After wet felting, I then dyed it.  This will make a nice table runner.

Now, I am anxious to create even more texture on a felted piece.  This week is going to be lots of fun.  And thankfully the heat wave of last week has passed, making it easier to work.

Summer explorations continue

Even through the brutal heatwave we've been having, I have been working hard on pieces for my Fall shows.  My experimentations with different felting techniques continues and I am very happy with the outcomes. Here are a few of the scarves and shawls that I will have in my booth at Artistic License on October 28th and 29th at Estancia Park in Costa Mesa.  

I will also have loads of my beautiful handspun yarn, which I work on in the evenings when I chill out sipping wine and watching movies.  A sampling of a skein of a polwarth wool and silk blend:

The summer journey through the heat continues and I'll get a short break to the Pacific Northwest in mid-August to visit my dear little granddaughter. 

Summer projects

Just a short check in.  This summer has been an adventure in trying new techniques, specifically in the area of wet felting.  For a long time, I have been wanting to learn how to make felted hats and felted flowers. I bought a wooden hat block at Convergence in Vancouver (2002?) but had never used it.  I tried the template that came with the hat block and did not like the result.  Then, I watched a few YouTube videos but they were way too basic. So tenacious as I am when I want to learn something, I just decided to wing it to see if I could teach myself.  Here are a few of my "experiments". 

This last hat with the bright red flower, won a blue ribbon at Black Sheep Gathering, which made me very happy.  

Then on to some different materials and techniques.

This reminds me of the bark on some eucalyptus trees.

These fabric pieces remind me looking in ocean tide pools.

Could not capture the jewel tones and texture of these pieces, but I love them.

Exploration continues!

Spring activities

A quick check in.  I have been very busy going through my bins of fibers and dyeing rovings for the past while.  My roving inventory was dwindling as I spun more and more yarn.  And I needed colors from which to choose and needed to perk up my inventory.  This has kept me out in the dye studio quite a bit.  But, as it started warming up and I was getting a taste of summer, I decided to take some time away from working and moseyed over to the great nursery down the road on Mother's Day.  Okay, so I got obsessed with succulents.  You know, there are so, so many different ones. So every weekend, I have been planting succulents in all the many empty pots I have found around our yard, and I've bought some, too.  These are just a few of the 30+ pots I have planted.  And, the good news is that I have such a great variety, I can propagate them.  Found a great blog on how to do that. 

And in the evenings, I plunk myself down at my spinning wheel, watch Netflix, and spin yarn, with a nice glass of wine by my side.  

Baby camel/merino wool/silk

Gray merino wool overdyed and mixed Blueface Leicester wool

Gray merino wool overdyed and mixed Blueface Leicester wool 

And I used my Mother's Day gift certificate to buy this beautiful book on Indigo.

Life ain't that bad at all here in San Juan Capistrano.

Winter Hibernation is Over

I have been hunkered down this Winter, chilling out, traveling, knitting a bunch, and doing lots and lots of handspinning. Having my first grand baby in February has also caused other interests to take a back seat -- but a very welcome back seat -- as you can see. 

So, Spring has sprung, all of my roses are blooming, and we're having April showers. The nice cool weather got my juices flowing and over the past few days, I got back into doing some dyeing.  My roving inventory was getting down, and I need to have lots of choices when I decide I want to spin.  Now I've got some choices!!

Happy Springtime!  This is also time to finish up my plans for attending Black Sheep Gathering at the end of June and the Taos Wool Festival in early October.  

Spin In 2016

Since the beginning of the year, I have been doing a lot of spinning.  My stash of handspun yarn had dwindled down to about 8 skeins and was looking a little sad, but since the beginning of the year, I have spun about 7,700 two-ply yards.  As my friends who are spinners know, spinning is a zen like experience and really gets you centered. The process of making yarn with your own hands is one of the best experiences.

Getting a Start on 2016 Goals

First, I wanted to thank everyone who attended the Holiday Artisan Faire at Chemers Gallery on December 5th.  It was a fabulous event and very successful.  I had a wonderful time and so happy to have been included as one of the artists.  It was the icing on the cake of a great 2015.  Now I am on to fulfilling my 2016 goals, one of which is to knit some super cute sweaters, dresses and other things for my first grand baby who is due to arrive on February 22nd.  Here's her first sweater.  This is the Babies and Bears pattern.  I have knit this a dozen times, and it is fun every time.

Another goal that I have set for 2016 is to start dyeing sock weight yarn again.  I have been on a sort of hiatus from sock yarn for the past couple of years but this past week, I got my dyeing mojo on again and began working on that goal -- only a few colorways so far, but here are the results.  I will be selling my sock yarns in my Etsy shop in the very near future.  

So once I get a good inventory of sock yarn, I will photograph and get them listed in my Etsy shop.  Phew, a jump on 2016 goals.  I'm on track for a great year.

Holiday Faire

Last year, I participated in the Holiday Artisan Faire at Chemers Galley in Tustin and had a great time.  The gallery was packed with art lovers and holiday shoppers.  I am so honored to have been asked to be a part of their holiday faire again this year.  It will take place on December 5th from 11:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. There are some wonderful artists who will be there with their work so I hope you'll stop by, enjoy the festivities, and take home some very special holiday gifts.  Check out the Chemers Gallery Facebook page to see the work of some of the artists who will be there.

Fall in New Mexico

This past week, I journeyed to New Mexico with my good friends, Michelle and Janet, for our annual Fall retreat to Chimayo, Santa Fe and Taos.  It's a week of girlfriend time, relaxing, stitching, knitting, exploring and taking in the Taos Wool Festival. This year we  invited two friends to join us, Dinah and Lorraine, and we think they had as great a time as we did. They got a real education in fiber.  Our first nights are spent at Casa Escondida in Chimayo, an out of the way little B&B -- that's after we stop at Maria's in Santa Fe for enchiladas "Christmas" style on the way up.

We spend a day in Santa Fe, shopping for fabrics, beads, Indian fetishes and just generally poking around until it's time for lunch at one of our favorite places, Il Piatto.  

Then off we go to Taos for four nights, on the way into town looking for a special purveyor of dried green Hatch chilis being sold out of the back of her truck.  We never know where she's going to be and unfortunately, this trip, we couldn't find her anywhere.  Where were you?

Lots of relaxing in Taos at the Old Taos Guesthouse, and then the weekend is full with exploring the Taos Wool Festival. Our girl, Michelle, received a Grand Champion award and silver medallion for her felted dress that she entered in the fiber arts competition, using predominantly raw wool she bought at the Wool Festival, processed herself and then dyed with natural plant materials. The mama bears (me and Janet) were so proud. (That's not the winning dress she's wearing but another one of her beautiful creations.)

We were very fortunate to have been able to watch Patricia Quintana judge the fleece competition.  Because it's such a small venue, we were able to get an up close and personal education on judging a fleece. Patricia has a small sheep ranch down the road from where we stay in Taos -- Rancho La Fina. 

And it wouldn't be the Wool Festival if we didn't come home with piles of wool.  I distinctly remember the conversation before our trip -- we don't need any more fleeces. We're not going to buy any fleeces. Yeah . . .  okay . . . .  Well, I thought I came home with more, but then again, I think I agreed to split a couple of fleeces, too. It is very hard to walk away from the extremely clean, beautiful fleeces at the Taos Wool Festival. 

Wensleydale/CVM/Cotswold/Bond cross (2.9 lb.) -- How can you possibly turn this down?

2.2 pounds of the Grand Champion fleece (one quarter of the whole fleece) -- gotta have it!  Lincoln/Cotswold/CVM.  This is a variegated gray that runs from light gray to charcoal.

OMG!  A Blueface Leicester/Wensleydale lamb fleece.  Only half a pound.  Is this sweet or what?  

A 2.6 lb. Blueface Leicester fleece -- white.  Oh this is so beautiful. It's gonna wash up white, white, white. 

And a 2nd place from a 3-year old colored Blueface Leicester, 2.6 lb.  Had to jump on this before someone else got it.

I guess there are a lot of people out there who don't get what the hubbub is about, but I think my spinning peeps totally get it and that's what counts.  I also made a few purchases of handspun yarn. Even though I spin my own yarn, I like to buy yarn from other spinners when I see something that is exceptional, like these:

Handspun angora from Sharon Dalrymple of Woodlake Woolies (Elbert, CO).  She does an amazing job of spinning the fiber from the angora rabbits that she raises.

And a lovely skein of handspun Wensleydale and Teeswater lamb from Wendy Luna Clarke of Animal Spirit (San Cristobal, NM).  

And no trip to the Taos Wool Festival would be complete without a trip to the colorful mohair curls salad bar at Lisa Shell's Kai Mohair booth. What an amazing color sense Lisa has.  It doesn't get better than this. 

So now it's back to work and prep for Artistic License and the Torrance Fiber Fest, but the warm feeling for New Mexico and the time spent with friends remains. And in the back of my mind, there's something to look forward to next Fall.