Fairs and Shows – Felting and Fiber Studio

banner tied between two flag poles says for the love of fiber

more shopping for the Mer’s, again looking for Hair

May 15, 2023 Jan Comments 11 comments

As is the way with my life, I have had another change of plans.

My goal was to find hair for two more of the Mer family. My plan was to look for long locks at the fibre festival “For the love of Fibre”, in Spencerville and if that didn’t work out I would look at the Peterborough Weavers Guild fibre fest on the following weekend. We had also discovered that because of the Coronation Upper Canada Village would have free admission the same Saturday as the event in Spencerville (much closer to UCV than Ottawa.)

So part one of my plan was on May 6^th to head to Spencerville. Then if I felt up to it, on to the Historical 1860s village at Upper Canada Village. I had a couple of friends who were working there last summer and have wanted to see it for quite a while. Let me show you how the first part of the plan went.

Last year “For the Love of Fibre” was the first post pandemic fiber festival that I got to attend. It was held in Johnstown, just a bit further south than this year. I am pretty sure I showed you that exciting.

May 6^th arrived looking like it might be a sunny day with big puffy clouds to add to the photographic opportunities. We got up extra early to gather the couple of things we would need to bring. I had planned to bring Mrs Mer as well as her son Shark Boy to look for long locks for their hair. I discovered she was…. ummmm, busy canoodling (aggressive cuddling, enthusiastic hugging?) with her husband, so I just turned their project bag around and went to find her son. I picked up my camera and Shark Boy’s1q project bag and headed to the car.

It was a nice drive down. The trees are in the budding to early leaf stage and I was suspecting we might see the first trillium as we headed south. We got there early, arriving just before Ann. She took a picture of us getting Shark Boy settled and us ready for shopping (Glenn brought a book). You can see how excited Sharkboy looks! It must be the thought of getting his hair. I think he has decided on a Mohawk with long hair down his back, sort of an extra-long mullet. I think the Mohawk is to complement his front Dorsal fin.

1) Sharkboy standing in his project beg attached to Jan’s black walker with her husband (and the back of my Grey Kea Soul, I am sure you were expecting I possessed a black soul!).

There were 3 outside vendors, with the rest inside.

2) Stone Spindle Farm Booth; with alpaca yarn, fibre and hats. The vendor is hanging up suit cages full of low-grade alpaca to provide the birds as nesting material.

I was admiring some indigo-dyed alpaca but wanted to wait until I found out if there were any locks inside. (OH the not-buying remorse I felt later!!! I do know who bought it and that it will be well enjoyed.)

3) baskets are strewn artistically under a few trees with an E-Bike near the front with pannier baskets.

Did you notice the cool bike baskets, some have lids.

Inside we found a few of our guild members had booths! I did a fast wheel around the venue looking for long locks but to no avail. Sorry, Sharkboy! We will have to try plan 2, next weekend. Even with not having the long locks I was looking for there was a good selection of vendors having Yarn, fibre, baskets, bags, and fibre tools. I didn’t get every booth but here are some of the highlights.

4) A quick overview of part of the vendors.

5) digging for colours in balls of hand died Superwash Marino fibre.

6) More fibre from the Black Lamb booth.

7) Beautiful project bags and purses

8) Moose Hill Woodworks had lots of fibre tools, all beautifully made. (Yes, I got another spindle of a type I didn’t have.)

9) Odd new spindle, I was trying it with some of the new extremely soft Finn wool I also purchased. The back of the tag says Yellow Birch, 1.3oz/39g

10) Beaux Arbres booth had basketry

11) This booth had fibre samples you could feel (the bags of them are behind the table.)

12) This is the side table of the same booth with the fibre. Check out her fine ponies!

13) Fin roving is actually semi-worsted the vendor has her own mill!!! I have never felt such a soft Finn sheep.

Ann investigated further and found out it was from a lamb. I only bot 2oz I should have bout more! Ann also got some to make her trees with.

14) This was an ingenious support spindle case.

15) The booth the support spindle bag came from had more spindles and lots of rolags.

16) A couple of booths had yarn for weaving and knitting.

17) This Was Susan Allen’s Booth with weaving yarns, I think this was a Cotton or a Cottolin that Ann was looking at.

18-19) Janet’s Basketry

20) Janet’s booth, she is just finishing setup as the first customers arrive

I wandered into Janet Whittam’s booth, she has a combination of weaving and basketry, and she also has beautiful woven jackets and wraps.

21) Shark Boy standing in his project bag, attached to my walker.

Even though he didn’t have any luck finding hair I think Shark Boy enjoyed his outing. It was still a worthwhile shopping trip with new fibre and spindle.

I was still feeling pretty good so we decided to head on to UCV, maybe it would cheer up Shark Boy! There is a mill, the blacksmith shop, the weaving house (with spinning) and the dressmaker’s house. We packed up the car and headed a bit further south and east arriving at a very busy Upper Canada village parking lot. We found a good parking spot in the mostly empty handicapped section (I was very glad for that parking permit by the time we made it back to the car!)

22) Shark Boy checks out the special parking for Mer-people (and those with walkers) as we arrive at UCV.

Unfortunately, that change of plans thing I mentioned at the beginning happened Tuesday morning and is preventing me from telling you about the rest of my visit. As soon as I can I will tell you all about the fun we had visiting the village, and a bit of its background.

23) The entrance buildings of Upper Canada village.

composit photo of the Hall for the 2023 Chesterville spin in

Super cold morning for a spin-in, in Chesterville Ont. Canada

February 14, 2023 Jan Comments 18 comments

February 04, 2023, around 6:30am-ish, it was -33c this morning and the car was not inclined to leave the driveway. It probably was afraid I would want to drive further north! It took a while to get Glenn’s car started but with a boost, she was persuaded that it would be good to go to the Chesterville Spin-in today, (not tomorrow). Chesterville is a small town almost an hour south of Ottawa and might be warmer! We should not complain, this is the first cold snap we have had and it is February.

Glenn still has his cold so he was not up to going. (It was just a really bad cold, the un-rapid test confirmed it is not covid). Ann McElroy volunteered to be Glenn who was going to do the adding up of prices and figuring out change. I always avoid self-checkouts. Since I was not deemed worthy (OK I also have dyscalculia) to be a cashier when I was young, so why would I want to be one without getting paid now that I am old? Ann offered to do the math parts, which I appreciated immensely. With the car delaying me, she got there well before I did and had explained to the organizers and other vendors she would be playing the part of “Glenn” today. She said she was asked if this meant she would be sitting in the corner reading a book and then falling asleep possibly snoring. She just laughed. (This is a common event at fibre activities, Glenn is very supportive of my interests, but tends to nap at most of them, I do have many pictures to prove it.)

1) 2018 Wheels on Fire Spin-in

2) 2018 Peterborough Fiber festival

3) Handmade Sign for the Chesterville spin-in with a drawing of fiber bearing animals.

A few of the vendors and some of the participants could not make it this year. There were lots of non-starting cars, and frozen pipes due to the sudden cold snap. Considering this is February, it is a bit of a late start to winter cold so we should not complain too much! By the time I arrived, there was a bit of reorganizing the vender spots and we had been upgraded to a prime location! We were the first booth you saw as you walked past the organizer’s table.

4) looking from the back of the table towards the front door.

This is the first time I have been a vendor. We got the table set up (it’s sort of like doing a demo set up but Ann has more experience at selling setups.) there were a few things I either forgot (business cards) or could not find (my sharpie for last-minute price signs).

5-8) my first felting supply table with blacksmith-made hooks.

I had examples of 2D felting (the ram with a friend), sheep broaches, felting needles and holders, a spot to try out the needles and Glenn’s blacksmith-made orifice (for spinning) and Slaying (for weaving) Hooks.

9-11) Mr. and Mrs. Mer were there as examples of 3D needle felting.

I was pretty sure there would only be a limited number of people interested in felting supplies at a spin-in but it would be fun and there was more interest than I had expected. I sold some needles, a couple of holders, a sheep magnet broach and an orifice hook.

We were beside Wendo Van Essen, a local felter with a hilarious sense of humour.

Ann spent a lot of the time chatting with her.

12-13) Wendo and her pincushions and Ann and Wendo having a good chat.

14) Chesterville Legion Hall overview shot of the event (composite of 3 photos)

The event was held at the local legion hall. The space was divided into about 2/3 vendors and 1/3 spinners this year. The weather defiantly put a damper on some of the spinners travelling but it was still a busy event. The organizers had arranged for Coffee, tea and a selection of homemade cakes and cookies! The Cranberry cake was particularly good and I was sorely tempted to go back for a second piece. I did find the last molasses cookie too.

15) the legion bar had 2 bunt cakes and a few plates of cookies on it.

16) This is a Lendrum folding wheel, made by Gord Lendum, in Odesa Ont. Canadian 17-18) There were even a couple of wheels for sale, as well as Angora.

There was a good selection of yarn and fibre to add to our fibre hordes. Let me show you some of the other shopping opportunities.

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19 -34) Slide show of Various booths at the spin-in selling yarn, baskets, fibre, weaving and spinning tools, felting, needles, and blacksmith-made tools.

At the end of the day, Ann helped me pack up and get everything back into the car. It had warmed up to a balmy -19c, I had the heat blasting in the car but just could not get warmed through. I went to bed early and woke up with Glenn’s cold! (There are better things to share, I was glad I had worn a mask all day at the spin-in I don’t want to share this stupid cold with anyone.)

I hope you have enjoyed a trip to the Chesterville spin-in. it’s a wonderful opportunity to expand your fibre hoard, as well as chat with lots of fibre friends. Visiting vicariously is also cheaper than attending in person!

I hope you will have the opportunity to attend a fibre festival or local Spin-In or Felt-In soon, both are wonderful ways to have something to look forward to, and then enjoy, which will hopefully make winter feel a little shorter.

Have a wonderful Valentine’s day I hope it brings chocolate and time to felt, spin, weave or enjoy some fibre prep!

PS. The computer ate my homework and I had to re-rite my post so I hope I didn’t forget anything the second time! (stupid computer)

Fibre and Friends

December 14, 2022 welshfelters Comments 21 comments

It’s been a while since I published anything, as I have been going through quite a difficult time. But I was determined to finish the year with a blog, so this one is a bit of an amalgamation! Way back in April, I was lucky enough to be invited on a day trip to Wonderwool 2022 by my friend Debbie. I hadn’t even heard of Wonderwool when she invited me, but when she told me all about it, I couldn’t wait to go!!

For those of you (like me) who have not heard of Wonderwool, it is an annual wool and natural fibre festival that is held in The Royal Welsh Showground, Llanelwedd, Builth Wells, Powys, Wales. It was first held in 2006, ‘to promote the market for Welsh wool and add value to product for small wool & fibre producers in Wales’. The festival has grown over the years, and ‘covers everything from the start to the end of the creative process’. There are exhibits of sheep, raw and hand dyed fibres, yarn, embellishments, equipment, dyes, books and also finished textile art, craft, clothing and home furnishings. Basically, it’s a felt and fibre artist’s dream come true, where like-minded people can find almost anything they need, and it instills a feeling of excitement, much like a child in a toy shop (at least that’s how I felt!) Because of the covid pandemic, it hadn’t run for a year or two, but this year was to be the first event since the pandemic, so there was great anticipation of the resuming of this popular event.

Around the same time, I had been looking for a carding machine, as I wanted to start making my own wool batts to spin. Just before my friend invited me to Wonderwool, I had found a lovely Pat Green Carder for sale on Facebook Marketplace, and I had decided to purchase it. However, the lady selling it (Mary Rogers) lived in Birmingham, England, so I was trying to work out when I could make the drive up to Birmingham to collect it. As it happened, Mary told me that she was planning to go to Wonderwool, and could bring the carder with her! Fantastic, I thought… this is definitely meant to be!! Don’t you just love it when things just fall into place?!

Having made all the arrangements, Debbie and I took the drive up to Builth Wells for the day, and boy, was I totally inspired! When we walked into Wonderwool, I can honestly say my eyes must have lit up! I really did feel like a child in a sweet shop!! There was stall after stall of beautiful fibre, yarn, and all things sheep (not to mention other types of fibre, including alpaca, angora to name a few)!! What struck me first, was the wonderful array of colour. There were exhibitions of different fibre craft, demonstrations of spinning and weaving, with exhibitors from all over the UK. We also had the chance to talk to a range of like-minded people, who were happy to share their tips and techniques with us. Wow, what a wonderful time we had!

One of the exhibitors we spent time talking to, was a lady by the name of Edna Gibson, who explained that she had spent time living in Japan being taught the wonderful art of Kumihimo, an umbrella term for several kinds of Japanese braidmaking that were unknown outside Japan until about 30 years ago. Edna told us that she was instrumental in introducing Kumihimo to the UK. The term Kumihimo is a composite of two words, ‘kumi’ meaning coming together or group, and ‘himo’ meaning string, cord, rope or braid. Whilst most of us will have heard of Samurai, I didn’t realise that the Samurai armour plates are laced together with cords, traditionally Kumihimo braids, which are also tied around ‘obis’, the sashes used on kimonos. Edna explained that she was taught Kumihimo by a very skilled Japanese person, and brought her knowledge back to the UK. The looms used for Kumihimo are known as ‘dai’ or ‘stands’, and are usually made from either wood or bamboo. All the dai are set up with carefully measured threads (as many as 80 strands of fine silk are wound on each bobbin or ‘tama’). The weighted bobbins are lifted and moved in specific repeated sequences to produce each type of braid. Traditionally, silk was used to make braids but today, braiders also use artificial silk or rayon.

This is my friend Debbie, with the lovely and very knowledgeable Edna.

This shows the two types of dai used. Apologies for the poor quality of this photo, but it was taken from one of the information boards Edna had put up…

The top photo shows braiding on a ‘Marudai’ and the bottom photo shows braiding on a ‘Takadai’.

Edna’s braiding…

As you can imagine, it was hard not to go on a full-out spending spree at Wonderwool!! There were so many beautiful fibres on offer, not to mention everything else!! I haven’t crocheted for many years, but was inspired by a beautiful pattern, by Janie Crow called ‘Mystical Lanterns’. I ended up purchasing both the pattern and the yarn! It’s a work in progress, but I’m enjoying the process!

These show some of the exhibits on show at Wonderwool. Hopefully, my scarf will turn out as lovely.

There were so many exhibits and stalls, too many to include here, but this will give you a flavour of a few of the exhibits on show…

To be honest, I was so busy choosing fibre to purchase, I didn’t take any photographs of the actual stalls!!

At the end of the day, I met up with Mary and her friend, to collect my drum carder. It was lovely to share a coffee and a chat with her, and she was able to share the history of the carder with me. We parted the day friends who share a passion for fibre, and agreed we would definitely meet up again at next year’s Wonderwool! We shared a ‘selfie’ before we left…

As I mentioned, I haven’t posted for a while, due to going through a very difficult period in my life, which resulted in me not having the energy or inclination to do any fibre craft whatsoever, so I had not actually even tried out my new carder until quite recently. But when I felt able to resume my spinning, I found it really helped me in a very mindful way. I particularly found that spinning brought me a sense of calm and peacefulness, with positivity and joy.

My first project was back in October, hence the autumnal colours! I put together a collection of merino fibre of different colours, with one part of bamboo in a dark shade. I weighed the fibre first, as I wanted to make two batts of fibre that I could spin ready to weave with.

Having never used a drum carder before, this was all experimental but in the end, I was really pleased with how it turned out…

I didn’t want to blend the fibre too much, as I wanted to have the different colours come through when I spun it. Also, I’d heard about people ending up with ‘mud’, so that was something else I wanted to avoid. Having blended my fibre to reflect my need, I then proceeded to spin it….

This shows the difference when using a flash (on the left) verses no flash (right).

Once I had filled my bobbin completely, I proceeded to wind it into a ball, so I could ply it from both ends of the yarn.

This is the finished yarn, once it was soaked to set the twist, thwacked and dried…

I’m quite pleased with the results. I also feel that my spinning has improved a bit since I posted on her last time! I’m looking forward to weaving with this yarn over the Christmas holiday period. Hopefully I will be able to show you the end product in my next blog!

Wishing you all a very merry Christmas and a happy, healthy 2023, from Lisa and Alex 🙂

OVWSG 2022 Exhibition and sale

November 12, 2022 Jan Comments 24 comments

Last weekend was the return of our local Guilds Sale and exhibition. It was last held in 2019. The Sale had grown over the years unfortunately the venue had not expanded as we had (Brick and Morter buildings just don’t stretch well!!)

Glebe Community Centre started life as the St. James Methodist Church In the Palladian style designed by Clarence Burritt (It was begun in 1914 and finished in 1924.) due to a merger of congregations it became St. James United Church in 1925. In the early 1970s, the congregation had declined and again merged with another Church building leaving The City of Ottawa to buy the building. In 1974 the Glebe Community Center opened.

1 The Glebe Community Centre, views from the outside. Large Palladian-style domed church a community centre.

2 Inside the Main hall. Transom windows around the base and an octagonal apex window in the dome.

This year we reduced the number of booth spaces and increased the space for the exhibition, demo and Iles which also gave the sale a less squished look. This worked out well since we had some vendors who were no longer vending and some who did not have the amount of stock for a booth so joined the Guild Co-Op booth.

Ann organized the measuring and taping group that started the setup for the sale. Once the tape was down marking the booth spaces, the tables and chairs were put where requested. The crew was moving so fast that it was hard to get a shot of their hard work!

3 part of the tapping and table and Chair crew. (a blur of activity)

Just as the last table was set into place the first vendor arrived early. Wendo had one of the four booths with felting!

4 Wendo arrives first with her car full of Felting.

The rest of Friday afternoon into the evening was spent in a blur of setting up. I had lively music to keep them moving, (including Uriah Heep, Sweet, Placebo, and lots of other lively inspirations ending with the Lords of Acid).

My focus for Friday was to both photo document the activity and find Photos of each of the 21 booths to put up on our Facebook group to inspire Shoppers for the weekend.

Booth 1 was the co-op booth. Members of the guild who only had a few items to sell put them in the co-op booth. Both Ann and I had items in this booth. (Bernadette was sharing a booth you will see some of her batts later)

5 Co-0p Booth Spindles, orifice hooks, stitch markers, Tapestry, Coasters and Mug mats

6 Co-0p Booth Handwovens, hand died yarn, Pine needle baskets, Felted sheep heads, felting needles.

7 Co-0p Booth Felted Soap, Dryer Balls, Sheep earrings

8 Flying Dinosaur!

The booth beside the co-op was Wendo Van Essen’s. Full of whimsical felted animals, kits and pincushions. I was all set to take this guy’s picture face on when he suddenly swung around and showed me his but! I waited patiently, as he slowly continued his rotation until I felt he was showing a better side of himself.

A few booths down was Molly Underhill who also had a booth full of felting. I was captivated by the thin felted bowl. It was even more intriguing when she dropped in a battery-operated candle, which produced this fabulous glow!

9 her booth and the glowing bole

Lona’s Booth also had some Felted items, as well as Wood turned yarn bowls, shawl pins, buttons, art yarn items, crochet sets, handwoven and knitted items.

10 felt picture and roles of felt (I think they were scarves)

Les Belles Bouclettes booth had high-quality mohair from Angora goats. In both natural colours as well as dyed mohair locks, roving and yarn.

11 Combed Top, Kid Mohair Locks and Died Yarn

Booth 6 was Judy Kavanagh and Don Haines. Both work with wood. Judy repairs wheels, makes spindles and sells fibre. Don makes doffers, nostepinne, Inkle looms, warping boards and a loom bench with a shelf!

12 fibre arts tools made by Don and Judy and some of Judy’s fibre

Booth 7. Studio 3 had hand weaving; hand-dyed clothing, textiles, scarves and fibre art.

13 Handwoven shawls, scarves, stoles, hand died and hand-knit Mitts, tam and scarf

Booth 9. Wool, emporium de laine Amélie Blanchard raises cashmere goats. (She is also one of the people who run the fibre festival Twist). She had hand-dyed yarn and fibre, fleeces, and cashmere.

14 Fine yarn, Art yarn sweater with skeins of art yarn behind, Fleeces from Rhinebeck

Booth 11.Fab Fibre Two (Jean Sharp and Bernadette Quade)

Jean Sharp is a spinner and weaver. She had unique yarns suitable for weaving and knitting projects. As well as handwoven and knit articles.

Bernadette Quade is a spinner and weaver She hand cards, drum cards, or combs the majority of her fibre and tries different dye techniques on her handspun yarn. Her fibre and yarn may include Fine wools, silks, linen, cashmere and angora as well as alpaca, llama and other exotics. (I have used her batts for landscapes and have found them fabulous!)

16 small bats in a hat box and with her business card. There is a depth of colour that flat colour batts can not match.

Booth 12. Handweaving by Janet Whittam Handwoven clothing, fashion accessories, rugs, household linens, and baskets in vibrant colours and always with something unexpected woven in. She also teaches both weaving and basketry.

17 Janet’s booth, rag rugs, jackets, shells, close-up of lace inclusion and fringe.

Booth 13. Cavadelo Flax Garden “Established in 2021. Our goal was to spin and weave flax/linen. We started with a (12 x 12) plot and tools replicated by our local Men’s Shed and learned the process of fibre prep, spin and weave. We have a much larger flax crop this year and it should be ready for the exhibition to spin.” They had a display of the tools of flax preparation, a small loom weaving with linin as well as a spinning wheel spinning the prepared flax into linen. It was a fabulous display! They are hoping to expand their production next year.

18 a hank of flax sitting on a woven linen mat, explain the stages of using hackles, small pouches of linin seeds in a handwoven linen bag.

Booth 14. Beaux Arbres Basketry (Michael Peterson) Basketmaker for about 30 years. Inspiration from historical techniques from various sources to make functional and artistic baskets. He teaches basketry, check his website. It is fun to watch a basket appear out of a pile of wet sticks.

19 weaving cane between the ribs of a small basket.

Booth 16. Wayside Weeds and Wool (Amanda Carrigan) Handspun and natural-dyed yarns, hand-knitted accessories and original patterns and kits. She is published in the ‘101 Lace One-Skein Wonders. She teaches spinning and natural-dyeing workshops.

20 Hand knit gloves, Hand Natural dyed yarn

Booth 18. Yarnsomniacs Handraised and homegrown sheep and llama fibres and yarns: raw fleece, washed fleece, roving, handspun and hand-dyed yarns, handmade SuperJumbo knitting needles, and more! Rambouillet Merino, Romney, Babydoll Southdown, and crosses of BL/BFL/Polwarth with either Romney or Rambouillet.

21 Many baskets and containers of raw and washed fibre

Booth19. Cannaweave Weaving and Fibre Studio and Accessories (Laurie Harkin-Chiasson) Loom weaving articles and baskets, including pine needle baskets, tools for the fibre enthusiast, nostepinne wool winders to mini tools on jewellery chains. Also woven bookmarks of handspun dog fur, spinning wheel hooks, wrist distaffs and rug hooking hooks. All the equipment for Japanese braiding (Kumihimo) including finished jewellery with Kumihimo braids. She uses beautiful exotic woods in many of her tools.

22 Laurie’s Booth, with tools and baskets. A basket of Kumihimo bobbins

Booth 20. Off the Loom (Liliane McKennirey) Hand Weaving using recycled materials for the weft: t-shirts, ribbing, furs, leather, VHS tape and plastics. Liliane is very well known for her recycling of old fur coats into lap rugs and pillows.

23 Lap rugs, a purse, and rag rugs.

Booth 21. Lin en ville Weaving eco-friendly linen essentials for the bath and kitchen. If you look closely you will see how fine the yarn she is using for her tea towels is. I could not pass up the lozenge twill pattern in blue and white!!

24 Tea towels in Linin (lozenge twill pattern!!)

We also had an exhibition. The theme this year was Then and Now: A Maker’s Journey. We were to select an early piece and one that was current to show the progress we had made in our creative journey.

25 a few shots of the exhibition

We also had a make-and-take table (Kumihimo on cardstock, Turkish spindles and Tapestry Necklace)

26 the table showing the moridi and samples, the necklace tapestry pieces and the parts to make Turkish spindles.

There was also a demo area. (Spinning and weaving, I was felting in another corner with the Mer’s while I was taking photos and trying to get the music to run.)

27 the demo team changed over the weekend but had weaving, and spinning (wheel and drop spindle). It was quite busy most of the time.

Overall the sale was busy, vendors seemed happy with sales and the shoppers seemed happy with their purchases! I mainly was distracted by fibre but also impressed with the linen display. Even Ann did a bit of shopping!

28 Ann took her new spindle for a spin!

Mr. and Mrs. Mer also attended the Sale but did not do any shopping. I was working on Mrs. Mer but yet again Mr. Mer was caught Flirting!!

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It’s That Time of Year Again

October 19, 2022 Shepherdessann Comments 11 comments

You may be thinking No, it’s not Christmas time yet. I am still enjoying cooler days with amazing trees putting on a show. And you’re are right it’s not Christmas time. It’s getting ready for sales time. and that means making dryer balls and soap for the guild sale and the Log Farm Market.

I don’t have a booth this year at our Guild sale, https://www.ovwsg.com/sale/ instead, I am joining the co-op booth where members who only have a few things to sell can put things and the guild takes a small commission.

The Log Farm where we do the Farmers’ Market has a small store, https://thelogfarm.com/karens-kountry-market/ that is open through the lead-up to Christmas. They want dryer balls and soap.

So off my son and I went to find the Corriedale wool and the soap I know I bought and the bag with the pantyhose/nylons/stockings( depending on where you are from).

We found the wool and the pantyhose but no soap. We dragged out the big boxes of wool. One has all my dyed wool in it. I will need that for making soap. I am sure there is soap in there somewhere but that’s enough searching. I will go buy more soap. I will find the other stuff eventually and it doesn’t go bad. The other good thing I found was a box of frames. I hope to get a few things framed for the show too.

On to making dryer balls. Here is one leg of dryer balls ready to go to the washer and dryer.

And this is what they look like after I got them all done.

Monday evening I took my bag of dryer balls to the guild with me and with the help of another guild member( sorry I do not remember your name, sometime between 2 and 10 years of knowing you I will remember it) They were all removed. this means untying the knots between each ball that are now tight and pealing them out. they are stuck pretty good.

Now I am putting them into the pantyhose again so they can have another trip through the washer and dryer to get rid of their fuzzies from being stuck and peeled out of the pantyhose the first time.

After another trip through the washer and dryer, I will need to bag them, put a topper on them, and then label them with a unique number so they can be tracked in the co-op booth. and I then need to make the soap too. and I haven’t started that so they will have to be another post.

Coastal Felted Pictures

September 19, 2022 Lindsay Wilkinson Artwork Comments 16 comments

I had a few weeks of sales / exhibitions coming up and was rather low on felt pictures so I decided to go on a little picture-making binge.

First an oystercatcher. I’m particularly keen on square pictures but I know some people prefer rectangles, so last time I had a batch of box frames made for me by my friendly local framer, I ordered four large rectangular frames – two finished in oak & two white wood. (Frame size 84 x 64cm / 33 x 25”)

I’m afraid I didn’t take many ‘in progress’ shots of the oystercatcher. I’d wet felted the bird’s body a little while ago. I then wet felted the background to fit the frame using a variety of pebble-coloured prefelts for the foreground, some incorporating bits of recycled silk scarves. The waves are merino wool with lots of small locks and some sort of tube of knitted yarn designed for scarf-making that I’d picked up in a charity shop. The patches of sea foam are bits of cobweb prefelt and I also included some blue cobweb prefelt to suggest light reflected from the sky. These were added to two base layers of pewter-coloured merino with additions in green and mink.

I needle felted the bird into place then needle felted in the eye, beak and legs, using orange prefelt and hand-dyed fine merino wool.

I wasn’t sure what I’d put on the right-hand side of the picture. I’d considered a second oystercatcher with its back to the sea but there wasn’t really enough room. I live in Whitstable, in south east England – a town famous since Roman Empire times for its oysters – so thought oyster shells might work well for an oystercatcher. I wet felted a pair of 3D oyster shells using bits of different recycled wool and silk yarn on the outside and some pearl fibre from World of Wool on the inside. I like the pearl fibre as it adds a sheen and is presumably made from the insides of shells (i.e. mother-of-pearl) so it seemed appropriate.

I thought it needed another shell so cast about in my stock and found a wet felted mussel shell to add to the collection. I messed around with the composition a little then needle felted them into place before framing. I now use sticky backed hook strips (like the hook half of Velcro) when framing felt – the hook strip attaches to the mount board and the felt is held in place by the little hooks. The felt can easily be removed without damage or residue if I need to move it or someone decides to reframe it.

Next up I made a very lightly felted cobweb prefelt to use in the next three pictures.

When making cobweb felt I tease out a piece of wool roving rather than laying out separate tufts of wool in a single direction. This is part way through the teasing-out process. I prefelt it very lightly – in fact it’s scarcely more than wet wool – so I can stretch it out as I apply it to a picture.

I then started on Summer Sea. Again a pewter-coloured merino base but with lots of other colours applied in wisps on the surface.

Then a layer of blue cobweb prefelt topped with some white cobweb.

Here’s the final picture ready for framing. I’m happy with this, even though the wisps of colour aren’t quite as visible as I’d have liked. (64cm / 25” square)

Next picture is a single wave. I start with 4 layers of pewter merino for the sea area and two layers of natural white for the wave and beach. In the past I’ve forgotten to take into account how much extra material goes onto the wave and beach. If I have 2 layers for the whole of the base, the sea part shrinks a lot more than the rest.

First I added some lighter grey/blue merino on the sea alongside some strips of darker blue cobweb prefelt. Then some cobweb prefelt in front of the wave to suggest water from a previous wave. Next I layered on broken baby alpaca top, mohair, silk hankies, wool locks and wool burrs to create the wave itself. I’ve also put a few strands of silk on top of some of the background waves and the wet-look front area to create sea foam.

Here it is from the side so you can see how high that wave is piled!

And here is the final picture. I spent a while when it was dry picking up some of the wave elements with a broken felting needle to enhance the 3 dimensionality of the wave before framing it. (64cm / 25” square.)

4^th and final picture was a smaller one (framed size 43cm / 17” square) called ‘Choppy Sea’. Base layout is pewter with highlights in green and mink, with sections of blue cobweb prefelt and silk hankies for wave tops.

Here it’s felted and dry, sitting on top of its frame waiting to go in.

Again, I’ve used a broken felting needle to tease up the silk hankies that make the wave edges to enhance the depth. And here is a view from a low angle to show the 3D.

So, that’s how I’ve been keeping myself busy recently.

To end with, a few shots of these pictures in situ in a gallery.

These pieces didn’t sell in this week-long exhibition but some older work did – which is a great result for me. I like to live a while with the new pictures so we get to know each other but prefer older things not to hang around for too long! However, the last week and a half I’ve been in the beach hut gallery in my local harbour and yesterday both the oystercatcher and the single wave found new homes, which made me do a couple of very happy ‘shop small’ dances.

If you sell your work do you also get that ‘I’m not ready to let it go’ versus – ‘ok, you need to find somewhere else to live’ feeling?

Almonte Fibrefest and Demoing

September 17, 2022 Jan Comments 18 comments

As Ann was saying, last weekend was the first Almonte Fiberfest since 2019.

Almonte is a small town about 30 minutes from the west end of Ottawa. In 1818 David Shepherd was given 200 acres (0.81 km²) to build and operate a mill. However, it did not go well, there was a fire and Shepherd sold to Daniel Shipman by 1821, who rebuilt the mill. In 1866 the Rosamond Woollen Mill was built to manufacture fine tweeds. By 1850, the area had seven busy woollen mills and was one of the leading wool cloth production centres in Canada.

1) Rosamond No. 1 Mill is now a condominium

2) Left the old mill Right the Annex

3) Mississippi Valley Textile Museum Entrance

The last textile mill closed in the early 1980s. By 1987, Rosamond No. 1 Mill was empty and was considered for a textile museum. The main Mill building was located by the lower falls. It was a large, six-storey, flat-roofed, stone building. The second building was the last of the outbuildings and referred to as the Annex which had housed the mill’s office and large warehouse space. It was a stone building on two floors, both of which could be reached from ground level (it was built on a slope). It was decided that the Main mill building would be renovated into condominiums and the Annex would be the new Mississippi Valley Textile Museum.

Over the years the building has been updated with HVAC, an elevator and even bathrooms! A large number of volunteers and small staff support and run the museum. It contains a gift shop, permanent exhibits and gallery space. One of the fundraising activities to help support the Museum is the Almonte Fiberfest. (See I did get back to the point eventually!)

2022 was the 27th Annual Fibrefest. Originally held in the Museum, as the number of vendors grew larger it expanded to include other locations, now it is located in the Almonte Community Centre (arena). This year there were 69 booths (about 30 booths smaller than in 2019). The smaller number gave a wider aisle and made the arena feel less crowded. Workshops were again offered but there was no cantina this year. While twist fibre festival was, quite noticeably, heavily loaded with knitting yarn, Almonte was more diversified having both finished goods and supplies for many of the fibre arts.

Let’s have a very quick look around then head out to see the demos.

4) Three booths with felting supplies or finished felting for sale (FiberCraft, Wendo and Starbright Curios)

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5-15) A Few Shots from Booths

Outside the arena, there were various fibre arts guilds and groups displaying or demonstrating their skills. (spinning, knitting, weaving, rug hooking, lace making, smocking and quilting).

16) West Carlton Fiber Guild (the guild just to the west of Ottawa)

17) The Ottawa Valley Guild of Stitchery

18) Home Hospice north Lanark Comfort Crew

19) Ottawa Knitting Guild

20) Ottawa Rug Hookers Guild

21) Ottawa Guild of Lacemakers

The arts collective Out of the Box was there but I cannot find their photo. The Smocking guild is usually there but I don’t remember seeing them this time.

22) Ottawa Valley Weavers and Spinners Guild Demo (Sat.)

Not forgetting of course is the demo for the Ottawa Valley Weavers and Spinners Guild that Ann was participating in. We had different volunteers on Saturday and Sunday, so the table display changed each day too.

23) Part of table display on Sat and Sun

24) Pine Needle Basket Demoing

25) Part of the Sunday demo Team

Demoing is a great way to introduce the public to something you enjoy and are passionate about. It allows the public a chance to connect and possibly join your group. We have also had people ask if we take donations of books or equipment, which can help the group.

You don’t have to be an expert to demo, you don’t have to know all the answers. If you don’t know the answer to a question you can ask them to contact the guild website or Facebook page or you can ask one of the other demo people if you are in a demo team. It’s often good to have a new weaver or spinner or felter who can say “I am just starting, this is fun, you can learn this too!” it’s important to smile and look like you’re having fun, scowling at your work is not conducive of others wanting to join you in your endeavour!

One thing I have enjoyed over the years demoing is hearing people’s stories of their mother or grandmother or Aunt who spun or wove and the descriptions of their equipment. In Almonte, I have heard stories about working in the textile mills from some of the older people attending demos.

Demos don’t have to have to be planned events with lots of people and a display table. You can find yourself demoing when you thought you were just using your drops spindle waiting in a slow line, or needle felting while waiting for a doctor’s appointment. If your guild or group has business cards with your web contacts keep some with your spindle or felting to hand out to anyone that seems interested. The stranger you give a card to may be a fibre friend in the near future!

If you get the chance, I hope you will try demoing, either a formal demo or a spontaneous accidental demoing. Both are fun! Keep Felting!

A little spinning

September 15, 2022 Shepherdessann Comments 8 comments

I really haven’t done much of anything since I did the jellyfish. I did go to help with a Demo at the Almonte Fiber festival last Sunday. It was so lovely to get out to an event and a demo. I have missed doing both of these the last couple of years.

I am sure Jan will show you many pictures of the event as she is the official photographer. So I will only show you my end of the display table. well for the first half of the day. Then the other felter left and a weaver arrived and my end of the table worked better so I moved to the other end of the table and didn’t take a picture. Jan will have. Yay Jan!

It’s messier than I remember someone must have been looking at it. That’s a good thing. and then of course I put my spinning down in the middle of it and took a picture. The basket and flax and silk and cotton are Bernadett’s and were not quite that hidden from the front.

At the demo, I was using my drop spindle. I spun up some rolags I made with Wool from Bernadette and some saree silk.

That’s really all I have done lately. So here are some of the rolags I have left and some of the spun yarn.

These are two I spun earlier that still need plying. It’s fun to see how the different colours of sari silk affect the same colour wool.

Next, it’s the green wool, with different sari silks.

That’s it for now. I hope to do some felting before my next post but you never know it might be more spinning.

Hair shopping at Twist Fiber festival with Mr. Mer

August 18, 2022 Jan Comments 19 comments

Finally, the big day was here! It is time to take Mr. Mer shopping for Hair! I had persuaded him to wait to broaden his choices by looking at the Fiber Festival Twist in Saint-André-Avellin, Quebec. That would be a bit over an hour’s dive east of home. I had a few bags to put purchases in (optimism!), the camera, something to drink, Mr. Mer in his project bag and a good audiobook to start the trip off (today’s driving was accompanied by “A Lady’s Guide to Fortune hunting” by Sophie Irwin).

1) Mr. Mer is napping in his project bag before the big drive. I promise I will get him a bigger project bag!

Ah, summer, the other season of road maintenance in Canada. Oh well, at least the scenery is lovely, driving through the rock cuttings along highway 50. To see all the geology from the comfort of your car, (ok there were a few potholes and truck ruts to distract from the view). You get glimpses of the Ottawa River as it heads south then into the hills and more rock trees and farmland. Turn at the town that makes me think of pineapples (it’s a French word that has nothing to do with pineapples) and go north over a stream, past the cows and eventually into the town of Saint-André-Avellin. A couple more turns and you are at the arena complex wondering where they put the handicapped parking (no I do not actually have the special parking for my e-“specially” great spelling ability). I stopped to ask a man in a sheep hat with horns, I bet he will know! Oh, it’s right here? And don’t run over the line of people waiting to get in. What a close parking spot to the line, amazing! I got out, organized and was already in line, we were ready to go.

2) in line at Twist, handicapped parking is adjacent to the line, now that is close parking!

There are a few changes since the last Twist festival (2 years ago), there has been construction on the building and a covid clinic has taken over what used to be the classrooms. There were, as in previous years, tents outside for Emerging Artists and the Food court.

3) the first outside tent

Inside there are two halls, the arena and the gym and locker room spaces which they are using for classrooms this year. My plan of attack was to cruise through the larger hall first, looking for long locks (the Olive sparrow and a couple more booths might have some) but taking a quick photo of the Black Lamb’s mill ends on the way by. Continuing on to the small hall where the booth for Fibercraft might also have long locks. We were in agreement and had a plan of attack!!
With Mr. Mer leaning over the back support of my walker, the line started to move and we were off! We breezed through the emerging artist’s tent (I will look more carefully later) and took a fast sweep through the main hall looking for the elusive long fibre locks.

4) Inside the Arena (lots of knitting yarn but looking for those elusive locks)
5) Half of the Black Lamb’s booth. They have mill-end fibre.

Pausing briefly, I took a quick shot of the pile of mill ends at the black lamb’s booth. I am fascinated by the hugeness of the pile as the weekend starts and the speed it dwindles as the weekend progresses. I will be back shortly and do a bit of shopping there myself. I hope that some of the other guild members will post the after pictures from Sunday! Finding only a few booths with any fibre, none of it as long as I was hoping, we turned our vehicle to the small arena to do a quick fly-through there.

6) AH ha! We found some locks, not as long as he wanted but a good colour.

We headed past booths with knitting yarn towards the Fibercarft booth, which was looking like our last hope for anyone with long 12-inch or longer locks for Mr. Mer’s hair. I hope he will not be too unhappy if he winds up with a military haircut if long wavy locks are unattainable.

7) Success!! We bought a bundle of green and a bundle of orange-red for his daughter or wife’s hair.

These were the only extra-long locks we were able to find this year at Twist. There may have been some in the back of a booth I did not see, but we were pretty thorough in our such (Next year there will be lots I’m sure since a short bald Mer-fish was asking for them!). The green locks look a bit bright but there is the option to over-die or it may be ok as an accent with the locks from Bernadette. He will show you his loot in a bit.
We met a relative of his while we were in the Fibercraft booth. She was also inspired by Sara’s “Mermaid-felt-along” at the beginning of the pandemic. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hljS4YRmz9w&t=1992s) this was a great way to keep us sane and busy during our time isolating. I am not sure if Sara realizes what she has inspired!

8) Mr. Mer met another Mer from a different branch of the family. (from the same Sara Felt along!)

We said goodbye to his cousin, I didn’t get her name so we referred to her as Ms. Coral Mer. With his shopping now done, we can relax and see what else is on offer.

Around the next corner, we spotted some familiar looking felt. This is Richard Hanna, he is an excellent sculptural felter and sometimes member of the local guild. It has been inspiring watching him work on some of his large pieces during meetings (the Narnian Lion head and Marilyn Monroe head were both very memorable). He has made some interesting green men and tree people more recently. He was quite busy so we didn’t have much time to chat. It was great to see him again, I hope he will have the time to come back to the guild and attend socials.

9) Richard Hanna’s booth at Twist

We stopped to have a quick chat with another guild member, weaver and basket maker Janet Whittam.

10) Janet Whittam’s booth

I took one of Janet’s basketry workshops years ago. To begin we went for a walk down country lanes near her home, collecting wild grapevines and other interesting vegetation. This salvaged material was used with various cane to make a basket. It was so much fun. Janet mentioned while we were chatting and I was admiring the new baskets, that working with the antler as she wove the basket was quite challenging. The final effect was definitely worth the extra work!

11) needle storage

In one booth I saw this lovely little pottery needle holder. What an elegant way to store needles!

12) These mice were so cute but I have no idea what they cost, I could not find a price and the vendor seemed very busy so I didn’t ask.

13) This is a prin to skene winder.

The Prin to Skene winder was incredibly cool and I would love to have bought it, I don’t know where I would put it but it turned easily and was just so cool! That is a giant bag of superwash merino mill ends, it’s sitting beside ($10.00 per LB). This means we’re back in the arena at the Black Lamb’s booth. Here are a few more shots to drool at. I got the last of the BFL (Blue Faced Lester)/silk which is fun to spin and it will also felt!

14) A few of the specialty blends at the Black Lamb booth

15) Mostly superwash merino but other blends of fibre too

16) a few of the Felting supply’s at the Olive Sparrow

We wandered back to the Olive Sparrow and perused silk in fish-appropriate colours then l checked out pieces of felt backing for pictures in so many colours. I spotted the painting in Wool book and one of the two recent Landscape paintings in wool books was also there. I found some extra-large leather finger cots by the cash so added that to my order too. (It’s hard to find thumbs that fit unless you sew your own.)

17) A Majacraft dealer booth

There was a booth selling Majacraft products, (they make spinning wheels that are very posh). I did not realize they also made fibre prep tools. I spotted blending Hackles, mini-combs, a tiny blending board and regular-sized drum carders.

18) A booth of mixed weaving equipment and weaving yarn

Mr. Mer was particularly excited about this Jane loom by Louet, I think the lack of treadles was appealing since Mer-persons would have a challenge to operate them with their tail fins. I did not point out that looms are usually made of wood so tend to float and would be hard to operate in an aquatic environment. In addition, getting wet would not be good for the loom.

19) This booth is Fibres of life

Fibres of life had cat caves, mice, balls in felt as well as felt backgrounds, really nice backpacks and bags as well as examples of the heavy commercial felt used in storage baskets (you can see them under the cat caves and holding the mice and balls). There were also mysterious giant balls of felted roving that looked like balls of snakes.

20) It was good to see such interest in spinning from a range of ages

21) this year the majority of the booths did seem to be more knitting oriented.

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22-23) One of the outside tents was filled by the rare breeds conservancy group.

Rare Breeds Conservancy group brought four sheep, a mother and son and two twins, I think the twins were Shropshires. There was interest in the mom’s pretty fleece too!

24) Sheep dog demonstrations

We stopped to watch the sheepdog demo. One of the sheep had figured out it was bigger than the dog and was being stubborn.

With all the fibre I had purchased (as well as Mr. Mer’s shopping), it was time to drop things off in the car. We headed back through the food tent, I was very tempted by the “Hamburger de Bison 1/4lb”, available “avec Sanglier Effiloche” if you wanted for a bit more money. (I had it without the extras last time and it was delicious!)

25) Exotic lunch options

We stopped to have a chat with a lovely lady who had driven up from the states with some friends to attend. She had enjoyed the scenery of the drive from the 1000 island bridge through the southeast of Ontario and then into Quebec. She mentioned she enjoyed our weather (the heat wave the states and parts of Canada were having, had broken in eastern Ontario after a heavy rain storm last week. It was either that or the weather feels cooler when posted in Celsius?) She is presently a knitter but said she is a future felter who is just waiting until she retires to start felting. I hope she will be inspired to jump in and try both wet and dry felting sooner.

The ladies at the ticket table were very helpful in making sure I got safely back to the car (which was much appreciated). Mr. Mer and I must have been looking very tired and I was going quite a bit slower than when I arrived. We got the shopping in, but I said I just wanted to rest for a few minutes, in hopes that I was up to another trip around the venue and take a few more photos to let the guild know what was there. Mr. Mer seemed very pleased with his shopping so he got comfy in the passenger seat as I had a short rest. We had another Guild member stop by, say hi and linger for a chat. It was a very restful chat and I was ready to take one more round of the shopping options.

26) Having a chat with Mr. Mer, who has retired to the car to recover from his shopping trip.

27) He checked out Mr. Mer. (Safety first- always wear your seat belt), Fish fatigue from shopping!!

I left Mr. Mer to nap in the car with the shopping and headed back in for one last lap around the booths. The crowds had thinned and I was able to get into most of the booths with the walker. I found a bit of fibre but was wanting to save a bit of money for a treat after the shopping. There was a booth “the Campaign for Wool, Patron: HRH The Prince of Wales” which seemed to have literature but it was still too busy to ask questions.

28) I admired the Baskets from Big Blue Moma’s booth but didn’t get one.

The baskets were in the first booth just inside the first tent. It was a great strategy. You could buy your basket then fill it with purchases or after buying everything inside you were wanting, buy a big enough basket to hide it in for taking your new hoard into the house! Many would make excellent presents for a family cat but only if you didn’t fill it all the way up with fibre.

29) I stopped to admire the Kromski wheel

I did finally get into the booth with a Kromski spinning wheel, I cannot afford one of their ornate wheels but I now have a Kromski drop spindle! I took it for a spin when I got home with a bit of the BFL/Silk blend I had also purchased.

30) Kromski makes a drops spindle, which is more in my price range!

The tag says it’s an 85gr spindle, so reasonably heavy but It still spun quite fine yarn. At 32.00+ Tax, it was also the least expensive spindle I saw and now I can say I have a Kromski brand yarn maker! (Ok, technically it’s not a spinning wheel just a drop spindle but it is wheel-shaped and it does spin!)

Some of us have a post Twist tradition of heading to a small restaurant at the far end of town. We discovered it was there quite a few years ago. I had checked online, to make sure it was still there and that the comfy-duck-club-sandwich was still on the menu. (YES!) Therefore, I had carefully saved enough money to get 2 orders of the drool-worthy sandwich. Unfortunately, I arrived to an empty parking lot and new hours, I found out that the restaurant is having trouble getting servers for the evening. We will have to make another trip of just over an hour or wait until next year to get the comfy duck!!

31) La Toquade restaurant, with Club Sandwich au confit de canard (comfy duck served on apricot Raisin and sunflower bread, garnished with bacon, onions, green apples celery and mayonnaise, with a side of your choice of French fries or salad.)(this explains why the duck is so comfy)

I was too tired to go back to Twist and shop till my pockets were empty but my car was full. Instead, I put on my audiobook and headed home. It was a bit slower traffic due to the roadwork, but the book makes the time pass quickly. Now all that is left is to show you the results of our hunting expedition.

Mr. Mer seemed quite pleased with himself. He had a lovely time, enjoying women (and some men) admiring his 12-pack abs and his fine butt. He had acquired the only long locks we could find, for both himself and ether Mrs. Mer or Teen Mer, as well as picking up a little friend.

32) Mr. Mer shows off his shopping

33) My loot!

I was looking for felt bases for pictures but got distracted by the soft fluffy BFL/silk blend (the large bag of white) and the blue batt looked so oceanic (yet dry) I could not talk myself out of buying it too. I was pleased by the leather thumb covers (finger cots), they are good for protecting fingers if you get momentarily distracted while felting.

I hope you also have access to a local Fiberfest with shopping, workshops and fabulous food. It was a fun day and productive hunting. I hope all the attention Mr. Mer got doesn’t go to his head or I will have to find more hair!

Quilt & Stitch Village

May 8, 2022 Karen Lane Comments 14 comments

I’ve just taken part in my first show after two years of Covid restrictions and it felt great to be back to normal! The event was the British Quilt & Stitch Village, an annual 3 day textile show held at Uttoxeter Racecourse in Staffordshire.

It was my first time exhibiting at Uttoxeter and I wasn’t sure what to expect. Would visitor numbers be low? Most ladies attending shows like this are of a certain age (me included!) and I know some still have concerns about mixing in large groups. This is predominantly a quilt show, would there be enough interest in feltmaking or would the majority walk straight passed? I was manning my stall alone…. would the neighbouring stall holders be too busy to relieve me when I needed a loo break? I needn’t have worried, when the doors opened at 10am the visitors flooded in and it turned out to be three very “full on” days! These are a few of the items I had on show……

I’ve recently made these collars, narrower than previous designs, with a roll edge trimmed in a contrasting colour.

The felt brooch I made to wear with the grey/green collar gave me the idea to make more “Splat” brooches in bright colours.

A few days before the Uttoxeter show my Felting group spent a day experimenting with cords and reversible pendants. I made mine using Superfine Merino, hand painted silk fabric and seed beads.

For me the main aim of being at the show was to advertise my workshops and this is a new workshop sample for a Wallhanging class exploring different 3D techniques.

My pitch was next to Project Linus, a charitable organisation that provides quilts and blankets for children in need. Their aims are to “Provide love, a sense of security, warmth and comfort to children who are seriously ill, traumatized, or otherwise in need through the gifts of new handmade blankets and afghans, lovingly created by volunteer “blanketeers.” And to “provide a rewarding and fun service opportunity for interested individuals and groups in local communities, for the benefit of children.”

Project Linus always attracts a lot of interest and the two lovely ladies on that stand were swamped with visitors for the three days! Somehow they still managed to cover for me when I needed a comfort break which was really appreciated!

I didn’t get much chance to visit other stands but when Jane (Wylde Oak Artistry) came over to say hello and told me she was working with Spun-bond fabrics I had to go see her work. I loved her masks and corsets, made on the theme of body dysmorphia, and came away feeling that there is so much more I could be doing with Lutradur!

Another stand I particularly enjoyed was “Traverse”, a group of exhibiting textile and mixed media artists. Apologies for not getting close ups of their work…….it’s worth following the link and taking a look at their website.

It’s a great show, spread over three large halls as well as various other smaller buildings. Most of the photos I took were prior to opening but as you will see from the last three, we really did get visitors! Roll on Quilt & Stitch Village 2023!