Tuesday, August 04, 2009

Home Again and all is well!

It's good to be home again. The sheep are all doing well, the goslings are starting to honk like grown up geese, and the garden is growing well with all the rain that has come through lately. I'm so glad to have my husband take care of the animals so I can get away sometimes. The one thing he doesn't do is water plants - oh well, my peace lily has come back to life with a good drink.

I had a great time at the Midwest Felting Symposium, it was absolutely perfect. Thanks to grant funding, I was able to take five full days of classes this year. *

I was happy with the projects I made, but I still have lots of work to get some of them finished. Every night when I got back to the hotel, I would put them on the couch and photograph them. here is a shot from my last night at the hotel..Day one was a dyed, felted, stitched, and over-dyed shibori scarf...Day two was several felted paper transfer resist dyed samplers...Day three was a wool painting...wet and needle felted.Day four was a needle felted German Shepherd...it was a small class, so we had a whole day of SINCO's undivided attention.
This was the only day we didn't have to do the strenuous process of felting and fulling the wool. But it was still a lot of work getting our dogs looking somewhat like real German Shepherds. I still need to finish the paws on mine.
Day five was a felted embroidered bracelet which didn't get embroidered before it was time to go. There will be time for that later.
I had a very nice hotel room, complete with a sink, fridge and microwave. I was even able to connect my old laptop to the internet.
Thankfully, I met Tricia and Skeeter at the hotel during breakfast the first morning. Since I had gone all alone, I was glad to see them and other felters at the same hotel. Tricia and Skeeter were so nice to let me tag along to dinner with them too. Here we are in the felted jewelry class with instructor, Annemie Koenen, on the right. Annemie was such a patient and fun teacher. Everyone was so friendly and willing to share their knowledge of felting. I wish I could have cloned myself and taken more classes! Susan McFarland did a great job of organizing. The food was really good and the whole event was so much fun. I'll have to save my pennies to go again next year!

*This activity was funded by a grant from The McKnight Foundation through the East Central Arts Council/East Central Regional Development Commission.

8 comments:

  1. Oh, Becky! I SO wish I could "tap your brain" and learn everything you learned last week! I'm thinking we really do need to have a MSSBO gathering this fall and perhaps you'd be willing to teach a class or two?????

    ;-)

    I think I might even start looking into places where we could meet...

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  2. Wow, I'm amazed at your lovely work. What a wonderful time it looks like you had, and you are very talented.
    Tammy

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  3. Welcome home, Becky. Those projects are AMAZING!!!!

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  4. Thanks ladies! It was so much fun being able to concentrate on felting for the whole five days. I can't wait to try some of the dyeing techniques on my own here at home. But I'm back to work and doing my sheep chores, etc., etc.

    Nancy, I think having a get together and doing some felting projects would be a great idea! Shetland wool felts up so nicely and comes in all those wonderful natural colors.

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  5. Becky, it looks like you're blessed with a real artistic flair. Such beautiful items...

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  6. Becky, I have read many of your posts to the shetland and BFL lists. This is the first time I have taken the opportunity to look at your blog. WOW! I went there to look at your sheep, but happened upon this lovely and fantastic entry! I absolutely love the sheep scarf! Thank you for sharing. I shared a link to your blog with a group of fiber people here in Oregon, hope you don't mind. Your work was just to inspiring not to share! Again thanks for sharing it with us!
    Donna

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  7. Thanks for stopping by Donna! Your comment came through just as I was writing up my final report for the grant. One of the questions was, "did the project result in a wider audience for your work?" And with you sharing the link to the blog, the answer is an even more resounding YES. Thanks! I'm really looking forward to my first trip to Oregon next summer for the Black Sheep Gathering.

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