Arrangements

Thanks to everyone for the condolence messages.  It's a difficult time for us that's for sure.
And it's been a very busy few days with a million details to complete. I suppose it's good to have something to concentrate on at times like these, but I sure am having a hard time remembering things. 
Thanks to some very special friends for keeping me organized and on track. I'm looking forward to being able to get back into my routine and spending more time with my woolie friends.
Tonight I am felting an urn (vessel) for Stan's ashes. Nothing like waiting until the last minute!  If it doesn't turn out, I'll be contacting Paul and Denise Morris for a vessel.  They will be playing a few tunes in the service, as will my brother Larry, and my sister Terry. 
Here is a link to the details about the services on Friday and Saturday --
http://www.aifuneralhome.com/site/2011/10/17/stan-mark-utecht

Stan

I lost my rock yesterday.  Stan has been there for me for over 36 years and now he's gone. It went way too fast. He always only wanted the best for me and he made it possible for me to do the things that make me happy in life. I only wish I could have/would have done more for him.

Fall days/Ram for Sale

What gorgeous weather we’re having! The temps are supposed to be in the upper 70’s (and maybe even 80) all this week.

I am very thankful for all the good things bestowed upon us - the sunny days and the beautiful fall landscapes.  Heck I’m even grateful for the bad things, there’s no one who escapes the bad things in life and we are no different than anyone else in that regard. But it is really hard facing some days. The good news today is that Stan's long term disability claim has been approved!  It took almost 7 weeks for his short term disability claim to be approved so this is an improvement.  Granted, disability pay is only 60% of his usual pay, but at least it's something and we are grateful for it.

We had a very good turn out for the Open Studio on Felt United Day.  In fact, it was such a busy day I didn't even get any photos taken.  Thankfully the grant coordinator, Judy B., took lots of photos so I'm counting on her to share them with me so I can share them with you.  Suffice it to say that I have lots of felted rocks and flowers for the collaborative piece.  But we forgot to make the LEAVES, I can't believe we forgot the leaves!

I am offering Sommarang Hansel for sale after December 1st.  I plan to use him on 3 mature ewes in November.  I really want to see what he produces with my F2 Holly ewe, River Oaks Hattie. She always gives me the best lambs, but last year she lusted after the BFL ram and produced mule ram lambs.

Hansel on the right

This photo shows the beautiful tips on his back.

This photo shows the color under the light tips.

Hansel’s a smooth polled grey gulmoget, At/Aa BB/Bb, he’s not Ag.  His fleece is very fine, but I must confess that I never actually sent in the micron sample I took from him this spring.  His lamb fleece is very fine and a beautiful blue grey. I’m hand-combing it when I get time (it’s not going very fast).
You would think he was mioget or fawn if not for the back on his face and legs. He has produced black lambs when bred to moorit ewes, so we know he’s not Bb/Bb.
He sired 6 lambs for me this past spring, all were gulmoget (3 of the dams were gulmoget too).

He’s a very unique genetic package, email (becky at riveroakssheep dot com) or call me at 320 679 4117 for more details and pricing.

Open Studio on FeltUnited Day - October 1st

Open Studio on FeltUnited Day!
Saturday, October 1, 2011
The public is invited to my studio to make some felt on Saturday, October 1, from 1-4 p.m.
2157 River Oaks Circle, Mora, MN 55051

This event is part of a grant project put on by the Mora Comprehensive Arts Project Planning committee.  It involves six area artists working in photography, painting, collage, pottery, metal and of course, FELT.

The six artists opened their studios to children in August and then to the public this fall.  The goal is to create art at each studio that will be integrated into a collaborative piece.  The overriding theme of the project is nature -- trees, and leaves. So we'll be making felt leaves, twigs and flowers at my studio. 

In keeping with the FeltUnited theme for 2011, we’ll be using red, blue, and purple fiber.  Come and be part of a local collaborative work and part of a worldwide celebration of felt all at the same time!

*This activity is funded in part by a grant from the East Central Regional Arts Council with funds provided by the Minnesota arts and cultural heritage fund as appropriated by the Minnesota State Legislature with money from the vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4, 2008.

Lincoln Fleece & other stuff

I finally got a good sized felting project done last night!  Linda from Wisconsin sent me a 15 pound raw Lincoln fleece last week as part of a trade for a BFL ram lamb.  I couldn’t wait to felt it!  I skirted away about half so it would fit on my pool cover/bubble wrap which is 40“ x 8‘ long -- and because wool gets really heavy when wet.

This was a heavy project, but I didn’t even use my felt rolling machine. It was all done with elbow grease and hot soapy water.  The finished size is 62” x 33”.  It’s still quite damp and heavy.  I hope it lightens up enough to be a blanket.  The Lincoln fleece is coarser than the other breeds I've felted, but it's so lustrous and those locks are so thick they remind me of pasta.

Stan spent almost two weeks in the hospital dealing with severe side effects of chemotherapy.  He’s home again now and feeling pretty good. He was very sick when they admitted him, it’s such a relief to see him doing better again. His oncologist is mulling over what chemotherapy drugs to try next.  The good news was that there was no progression of the cancer while Stan was on the previous regimen of three chemo drugs, the bad news was that there was not much change in the tumors.

With the help of my son, his friend and a good neighbor, I’ve got about 175 bales put away for winter, plus we still have about 50 from last year. My flock is down to 11 sheep, so hopefully we won't need to buy much more.  A storm rolled in along with some dramatic skies as we unloaded the hay rack.  When we left we realized were being watched over.

I am signed up to attend the judges seminar on th 9th at Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival, but I’m hoping that Rayna will be able to transport my BFLs to Linda and attend the class in my place.  There are just so many things going on these days!  Our art group has a show at the Pine Center for the arts and the opening reception is on the 9th.  More info on the KCAA blog.  I’ll be demonstrating felting on the 10th here in Mora at the Kanabec History Center. 

Also on display at the History Center will be a show of work created in or after the Carbonetti watercolor workshop we had in May.  Oh and several felt birdhouses are hanging in trees on the grounds. It’s about time to take them down and clean them out for winter.

Well, I'm off to pick up some fertile eggs for my broody Buff Chantecler.  This is her third time broody this year! I sold my last Buff Chantecler roosters and am waiting on a 3 month old chick to start taking over the roosterly duties.

Enjoy the Labor Day holiday to all my American friends, we're heading down to see Stan's family this afternoon and I hope to run over the Hopkins Center for the Arts Salon 300 show too. I've got a piece in that show. :-)

500 Felt Objects and other stuff

I guess I did it again.  I can't believe it's been that long since I posted here!  I've been regularly updating Stan's CaringBridge site and that seems to take up all my computer energy.  He's been in the hospital for a week now with complications from the chemotherapy.  Hopefully he will be able to come home soon. 

Cabled hat, felted cell phone case, Shetland lace scarf and "500 Felt Objects"

Lots of good stuff happening around here though. Four new chicks hatched last week to the old Faverolle hen, the first ripe Brandywine tomatoes of the season - YUMMM!, dill pickles and green beans put up, and best of all -- I got my complimentary copy of 500 Felt Objects!

It's supposed to be released in September, but I got my copy over a week ago. How exciting to see my portrait of Lena included with the work of felters from all over the world!  I hope you all get a chance to see the book, it's full of wonderful pieces, very inspirational and fun.  Lena's on page 227. :-)

Oh and I can't forget to post this photo of our great nephew.  He visited a couple weeks ago and we just HAD to get a sheepskin photo. What a head of hair!

I had to bow out of doing the Minnesota State Fair booth, I hated to do it but with all that Stan's going through, I just couldn't commit to the long hours involved.  I'm still working on my Forecast Public Art project and sending the last of sale sheep off to their new homes. I'm sorry to be so late in getting the registrations sent in, but they will go in the mail today.  I plan to keep 11 sheep for the winter. Sommarang Hansel will be available after breeding season if anyone is interested in a proven, polled, modified, gulmoget ram.  His fleece is really nice, if he doesn't sell I'll gladly keep him.

So much to update!

Sorry for neglecting the blog lately.  I've been so busy with selling the flock, making arrangements for pick up and transport, dealing with all the challenges of my husband's illness while trying to keep up with my grant projects and volunteer commitments. It's just been way too much.

The adult BFLs will be leaving for Missouri tomorrow.  I am so sad to see them go.  Lanora has been here since she was a lamb in 2006.  She's such a character.  And Harwell is so sweet.  I will miss them terribly. But I do plan to keep Harwell's four ewe lambs, two of whom are Lanora's granddaughters.

I don't know if I've posted a photo on the blog yet of this raw felted fleece project I made out of Harwell's fleece on June 20th.  That was the day of Stan's first endoscopy and creating a project like this really helped take my mind off the worries. 

It is so comforting when I can't sleep at night.  I go out on the couch and snuggle up under this soft, luxurious throw and sink my face into those lustrous purly locks.  I'm really going to miss Harwell, but at least I have this reminder. :-)

This photo shows the back of the throw, I added a layer of silk gauze along with the roving.

I've been knitting quite a bit with all the travel and waiting during medical visits.

This is a mobius scarf I did using Cat Bordi's mobius cast on.  The last one I made following her pattern was too small so I cast on an extra 40 stitches - which translates into 80 extra stitches. So this one is really long.  I made sure to work in reversible stitch patterns.  So the inner rounds are k2,p2 rib and then I went with Cat's Paw in garter stitch.  For the edging, I used one I found in Hazel Carter's Shetland Lace Knitting.

At last week's appointment I cast on this cable hat, it's out of  natural colored Shetland Mule combed top and again I worked out my own simple cable design. It's going really fast and that yarn has really nice stitch definition. This was the fiber that got lost at the processor and then was found and shipped to me.  I'm so glad they found it.  I can't wait to try felting with it.

And last but not least, the other day I had a busload of kids here as part of the Mora Schools Comprehensive Art Planning and Programming Summer Art Crawl.  This was part of a grant project* involving 6 artists' studios. First the kids come and make various art projects at each studio, then this fall each artist will have an open studio (for all ages) and the grand finale is a collaborative piece incorporating the art of all six artists and the kids in one installation.  It's a really fun project.

*This activity is funded, in part, by a grant from the East Central Regional Arts Council with funds provided by the Minnesota Art and Cultural Heritage fund as appropriated by the Minnesota State Legislature with money from the vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4, 2008.