A New Season Is Upon Us!

Whew! This weekend I took part in the Eden Prairie Art Crawl. I opened my home and studio for this art tour, and it was fun and we saw quite a bit of traffic. It was a very good experience for me, as I was asked many questions about my work! Getting experience talking about your art and methods is always a good thing.

They are inspired by the views outside my studio windows, as well as what I see driving/biking around this new area that I live in!

 I am very happy it went so well, but also happy that it's over! I am tired, and very much ready to embrace the new autumn season with new projects! I did finish my first multiple piece series for this event, and I am so pleased with how they turned out. I'm also glad that the short hiatus from working here on The Fiber Nation is over.

I find fall to be a highly productive time for me creatively, maybe it's all the change happening outside my window.  Does autumn have the same effect on any of you?

Fab Felt!

First of all, I want to share something I saw while I was on a window shopping after lunch and wine day! I walked by a bridal store and saw this dress:

La Sposa Wedding Dress

La Sposa Wedding Dress

My jaw dropped, it really did! I went inside and after some discussion, (and the mention of havThen ing a blog) finally got the saleswoman to tell me who makes the dress: La Sposa! There are tiny little feathers sewn all over the skirt - it's beautiful! You can see the full La Sposa wedding gown and formal wear catalogue at their website.

I looked at all their gowns on their website, and they are all so pretty! Too bad I'm already married! It's tempting to buy it, to hang it in my studio -  but that's a lot of money to hang a dress!

This past weeked, I started working on an Eden Prairie series of pieces that represent the city I live it, and the nature we're immersed in. First I started with a piece of my hand dyed fabric:

Then I layered on some pieces with fusible on the back:

Then I added the netting layer on top, and also added some scrunched netting to get a water effect:

There is roving felted onto the cattails, as well as bits and pieces felted into the water area. I was doing this with my small hand held felting needle.

Here's a couple images of my local area that is the inspiration:

I can't wait to get the binding on this one!

Then last night, I was given an early birthday present (Thanks Z & S!):

A Janome Felting Machine! So far I have been playing around with things like this:

But, I did get some wool yarn felted onto a scarf I am working on:

I am so excited about the possibilities open to me with this machine! I look forward to sharing project ideas with you, using felting techniques!