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Carlene and Janet Sept 2025
Busy Month (WIPs, Fibre Festival, and a Vacation)

Busy Month (WIPs, Fibre Festival, and a Vacation)

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Hey folks.  When last we chatted I was working on my Memories Sweater.  I did continue working on it for a bit and tried to do the shoulder section.  However, I am not happy with my first attempt.  So the sweater has been put in the time out pile for a bit.  I do have an idea how I want to approach the shoulder differently for my second attempt but have not had time to try it yet.

I also spent some time weaving a couple of gifts for friends.  I made these 2 wonderful scarves.  The red and black scarf is silk.  And the other one is my hand spun yarn.  I needed to finish these before we went on our trip.  (We left home Sept 7th.)

And I learned that an old friend of mine is struggling with long Covid.  So I rushed to make a blanket and get it in the mail to her.  This is what I whipped up.  I used several colours of James C Brett Marble Chunky and I really like how it turned out.  This is a great example of what you can do with a bunch of odd balls of yarn.

Chain stitch square afghan using various James C Brett Marble Chunky yarns
Chain stitch square afghan using various James C Brett Marble Chunky yarns

On September 6th I went to Fibrefest, in Almonte Ontario.  The event is put on by the Friends of the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum.  It is a lovely event at a local arena with many different vendors.  I had a terrific time shopping and came home with many new treasures for my stash.  The project bag from Van Djik Designs was my favourite purchase and ended up coming on vacation with us.  It was a perfect size to hold my knitting, a light sweater and a snack as we wandered around.  The tea towels from Artisan Originals by Susan were a special order and are a gift for my Mother-in-Law’s upcoming birthday.  The colours were selected to match her newly renovated kitchen.  And of course there was some yarn and fibre to buy.  I also found some lovely fabric designed by a talented First Nations artist, a cowl pattern and some buttons.

On Sept 7th we set off for Newfoundland, flying from Ottawa to St John’s.  We arrived quite late and eventually made it to our friends place.  From there we did quite a bit of exploring.  We visited Cape Spear, Cape Bonavista, Elliston (we tried to see the puffins but were unsuccessful), and St John’s.  In St John’s we saw where Terry Fox dipped his leg into the water when he began his Marathon of Hope.  We toured Signal Hill, the Johnson GeoCenter, and the Rooms museum.

We also enjoyed exploring the city and some of the various trails on foot.  This lead to some yarn shopping.  I purchased some yarns from local indie dyers, and some Briggs and Little yarn from the Dollar Store. We saw hand knits in many of the shops.

On September 11, 2024 I donated part of my liver to my friend Janet. Part of the reason for our trip was to celebrate the 1 year anniversary of our transplant surgery. Janet and I were also interviewed by CBC to chat about the liver transplant. If you are curious you can find the interview here. There was a party with family and friends to celebrate the Liver Giver Anniversary. You can see that Janet is the picture of health now that she has a working liver.

During my trip I worked on some Anemone Hats and many dish cloths.  These small projects were a good way to pass the time, especially on the long drives we took.  And they made lovely gifts to leave behind as well. (I gave away 55 dish cloths and 3 hats during my trip.)

We returned to Ottawa on Sept 16th.  Tired but happy.  Newfoundland is very beautiful and the people were so welcoming. We dove right back into work and I started yet another Chain Stitch Square blanket to be used as a gift for another friend.  This is my progress so far.  I’ve completed about 1/3 of the blanket.  This time around I’m using a single colourway (MC77) of James C Brett Marble Chunky.  It is a very relaxing set of colours.

 

 

 

 

 

Stash-It! in Kempville On, Canada, 2025

Stash-It! in Kempville On, Canada, 2025

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From August into early September we had 3 local fiber festivals to help top up our felting and other fiber needs. You just saw Twist, the large fiber festival in Quebec, but it is now leaning more heavily towards knitters. I had no luck with long 12-14 inch locks this year, maybe I just missed them, it was very busy on Friday!

Poster of Stash-It sheep in a cloth bag with head sticking out cute image.

1.1) Poster for Stash-It!

The next one after Twist is a much smaller festival in Kempville, “Stash-It Fibre And Textile Event”!  Don’t let the smaller size detour you. There was a good selection from fiber to finished goods and multiple groups demoing diverse fiber arts, including knitting, weaving, spinning and Needle felting.   yes I did a bit more shopping and I picked up another full Shetland fleece and a few part fleeces.

my large black walker holding bags of fleece and fiber, with no room for me to sit down.2.11 ) I think I may need to get a bigger walker or one with an attached cart for shopping.  Now I have to take everything off so I can sit down!

the first section of the big “White” fleece in the plastic bag, has just come out of the soap wash and will be going back in to soak, probably multiple times….. What was that ram doing? Was he rolling in the mud and dust daily?  As you can see, the inside cut end of the fleece is glorious, if only I can get it clean. He is a lovely (Creamy?) Shetland and I hope the weather holds long enough to get him washed. (Tonight we had the first call for frost, and we have put tarps and sheets over the herbs and pulled under the overhang the hanging baskets.) I am still washing in ambient outdoor temperature water, so I have lengthened the soap soak to make up for the lack of heat from the sun, who is not working as hard as it was just weeks ago.

2.12-2.14) I have about half the fleece in the strainer buckets and this is what remains. The water is a lot cleaner than the soap soak it came out of! I am using sunlight dish soap I can’t seem to find this anymore, so what I have left is saved for fleeces.

I have already washed the little paper bags of part fleeces and they are all draped over one of my Ikea fleece drying racks. (Ikea should add that use to their description!) They were all relatively clean and only took one soap soak and a single rinse soak to be ready for the spin dryer. The brown is, as listed, a bit short in staple length, but very soft, and will make a lovely bat to spin or felt from. I will have to find time to use the drum carder at the guild. it has a finer cloth than my drum carders have.

Shetland part fleece washed and dryed Icelandic part fleece washed and dryed Gotland Fin cross part fleece2.21-  Shetland – 2.22 – Icelandic  – 2.23 Gotland/Fin

Fusha plant in hanging basket one section is white pink flowers and onther part is purple pink flowers2.3 one of my hanging baskets this year, Fussia

Oh no, today I was going to tell you about the Needle Monika of The Olive Sparrow had. Drat, I got distracted by that dirty ram and now feel like I will leave you dyeing of suspense if I don’t give you a quick tour of the event and a link to the list of vendors. (https://stash-itfibreevent.ca/)

Ok a quick travelogue (I promise not as long as Twist and there will be felting!!)

Early Saturday August 23rd 2025 Glenn and I headed south of Ottawa to Kempville. When we got there we realized i had forgotten the camera (I thought Glenn had grabbed it, he thought I had) he left me waiting first in line and drove back to Ottawa to get it.  He stopped to get Cookies from Ann on the way back.  So, a very exciting morning, and I have less photos to inflict upon you!

Lets have a quick roll around the event.

general shot of the gym full of fiber Arts related booths3.1) the event fills a gym, and has Equipment, yarn, project bags, knitted items, fiber and demos.

sample band and pacage of ridgid heddle and shuttle Judy Kavanagh - spindles and her sample mittens (she sells the patterns)3.21-3.22) Judy Kavanagh’s Spindles and bandweaving loom, she also had the cool mitten pattern (if only I could knit and follow a pattern)

Silk Hankies hand died3.3) Alpaca tracks thread lightly silk hankies hand died

Mohair and Mohair/wool blends shot of her booth, and close ups of fiber and shopping3.4) Wind Weft, Mohair and Mohair/wool blends

ladys shopping in booth with wood turned boles, handweaving and art yarn3.5)Luna (wood turning and weaving)

handwoven top and 3 handwoven baskets close up of hand woven fabric and woven basket3.61-3.62)Janet Whittam handwoven cloths, blankets and baskets

comed top hand died and wond in braids, photo below is bags of unwashed fiber3.7) Karberry Farm hand dyed combed top and fiber (its where the dirty ram came from she always has lovely Shetland fleeces)

felted wool balls, pictures, wool batts, and wool yarn3.8) Croocked fence farm

Occasionally I spot something I think one of my friends or family may truly like. This time it was the exquisitely fine needle work making this thimble into a necklace. I think I was told it was 24 count(?) cloth, with single strand floss. It required an illuminated magnifying glass to do the embroidery. Did you see the subtle shifts of blue from one square to the next? The recipient makes teddy bears, all hand sewn so I was sure she would enjoy and appreciate the delicate work.

extreemly fine cross stitch butterfly in blues with tiny pin added to thimble and has a silver necklace added to that. makes a pin holding necklace4.1) Charm N Stitches, Butterfly embroidery in incredibly fine detail (those are miniature pins in the thimble)

3 images of multiple spindles very drecritive4.2) Top of the whorl

both with hand died yarn and batts from their sheep4.3) Les Moutons de Richard, they are new vendors and had batts as well as spun and hand died yarn.

2 photos of booth with knitware tops and hats4.4) Originals by Lynne,  Knitwear

Knit sample hat and mitts with furry trim cuffs 2 pictures of knit samples with yarn or fiber KNit sample and second photo is knitting card decks4.51-4.53) Yvieknits Yarns

knitt candys in candy tin, second photo is kit that looks like take out chinese food! 3 photos, Knit comfort chiken. 2 images of yarn one is sitting in a hat4.61 – 4.62) Cactus Yarn Studio

mohair yarn with sign that says Mohair4.7) Les Belles Bouchlettes, Mohair yarn For knitting and weaving as well as combed top.

Demos:

Demos were along one end of the gym. I was looking at the display from the Kingston guild when I got distracted by the demo table at the end of the row, so i wandered over there next.

table display of weaving and close up of pinweaving loom5.1) Kingston weaving and spinners guild had a nice display of weaving

The Kingston guild will be having their sale Nov. 6th-9th (www.khws.ca), the weekend after the Ottawa Guilds sale Nov 1-2nd 2025 (www.ovwsg.com/sale/). (in case you are somewhere near eastern Ontario and would like to drop by!)

I promised there was felting in this blog!!

This demo was by Farmer Brown’s of Spencerville. Shannon and I had a lovely chat. (well, I was having a lovely time, I hope she was too!) This was her first demo and she did fabulously.  She was making play mats using wet and dry felting. We chatted about needles and felting with naps and sneaky way to persuade them to stay stuck.

Farmer Brown’s of Spencerville. Shannon sitting at a draped table with an exaple of a felt play mat Farmer Brown’s of Spencerville. Shannon and freind talking to shopper with dispaly in front of her on the table Farmer Brown’s of Spencerville. Shannon talking to shopper as shopper is admiering her work Close up of finished play mat with tags. little figures and tiny pumkins6.16.2 6.3-6.4) Farmer Brown’s Felted play mats.

I was so pleased when I found out Shannon has been reading the Felting and fiber studio and has been enjoying my odd distraction about needles and their origins. I did warn her there were a couple more chats about needles coming up soon.

As has become a tradition with fiber festivals, we should check in with the husbandly viewpoint of how the event went.  Was this fiber-festival up to Glenn reading and napping standards?

the table to pay with orginizors and Husband sleeping in background sleeping husband at fiber festival7.1-7.2)  I would say that was a yes.

Were you curious to see what followed me home? I took my purchases into the guild so I could spread them out and get a good shot of them for you. I seem to be on a fiber acquisition theme this festival I have defiantly increased my stash!

overvew of things i bot at Stash it. mostly fiber (Raw fiber, carded fiber, Combed braids, rolags and silk. Fiber vaarious bags and braids Close up of very dirty fleece the cleen bits are the inside cut ends of the staple the dirty end are the outside. look like it could be worth the work getting it cleen.8.1 8.2 8.3) jan’s shopping

I am not sure how I got distracted into another Fiberfestival travelogue, when I was sure I was going to chat about felting needles but I promise I will get back to the felting needles soon. I have got my hands on a needle I didn’t think I would be able to find. Monika from The Olive Sparrow was able to get her hands on some and I am looking forward to chatting about them in the near future. I also have the post mostly finished about odd comments from over the summer again about needle, I am not sure which will appear first.

I hope you have had fun virtually shopping again and have found local fiber venders to top up your own fiber supply in preparation for winter. Have fun and keep felting!!

Open Studios event insights

Open Studios event insights

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Hello everybody!

I have recently participated in a big Open Studios event and Art Trail in my area, and, since it was my first one ever as a stall holder/participant artist, I learned a lot from it and I would like to share my experience with you.

Just a short introduction about the event itself: it is the BEAT (Borough of Ealing Art Trail), an event in its 9th edition and growing more each year. It started as a smaller affair involving only a few artists opening their own studios and homes in one day during a September weekend, but today it is both of the first two weekends of September (4 days in total) and involving 66 different venues and about 200+ artists and crafters that live and/or work in the Borough: it is such an amazing celebration of the creativity of all the diverse people living in our area! In past years I loved to go around and explore some of the venues that were closest to me, and this year I was very excited to be part of it.

Some of the studios and houses are quite frankly something to drown yourself in pure envy and you may get offered high class refreshments (champagne and what not!), but there are quite a few ordinary homes and more common types of enticements (maybe a cookie for the kids if you are lucky?). A lot of the creative people also form groups or are already part of one, and band together to rent a space in public venues like church halls, our local theatre, local libraries or community centres, in an Art and Craft Fair kind of spirit that is embraced by us locals with gusto. Demonstrations may happen, and most people just go around it for the fun and vibe of it, and to say hello to friends and acquaintances taking part.

The whole thing runs with the moral support of the local Council, but through the actual work of a small group of volunteers who are also artists themselves, so all the stall holders need to arrange their own venue and get limited practical support, basically getting a packet of advertising prints and booklets, and a few reusable posters and balloons to use as signs (Plus of course the advertising benefits all of the artists involved, because it is done in the whole Borough).

This year the organisers also managed to set up a lovely charity exhibition running on the side, to raise funds for a homelessness charity, Crisis: we were asked to donate a small artwork 20×20 cm on the theme ‘Home’ that they could sell for a fixed price of 50£, completely given to charity. Check it here: I think it will run for a few more days online to see if they can sell a few more of the 70+ artworks that were donated by us artists, in different mediums.

Here is my piece, donated for this charity exhibition and sale:

The small artwork is on a square white canvas. the artwork a wet felted irregular square in light blue, grey, violet and some hints of green. On the background a lace yarn in the same colors winds itself into a maze like shape, and at the center of the piece there is a small basic house shape outlined in stitching in blue-grey yarn that helds in place a white fraying piece of silk fabric.
My piece about ‘Home’.

Sadly, it has not been sold yet. (veiled hint, isn’t it?)

First of all, I need to say that I was not on my own, but I choose to participate with my local art group, the Ealing Art Group, for a few reasons: one was to have support from fellow stall holders, because it was my first time, and to get a venue to use together, as I do not have a studio or space in my small flat, that is also not easily accessible for people with mobility issues. Secondarily, to cut costs, as you can share the participation fee and also the cost of renting the venue: this means that you do not have an individual entry in the advertising booklet, just one with your group, but still you will have your individual name in the list of participating artists, good enough for me for starters.

I was quite happy with how this decision of participating with my group instead of alone has come out: yes, sure, I had to find different ways to put my business name out there, but the support and connection that I got from participating with others were what really made a difference to me, and I will be very glad to do it again with the group next year, instead of looking at ways to do it by myself.

Here is how my little corner was looking after set up on the first day:

A corner in an ancient brick outhouse. In it there is a small table and behind it a white kitchen counter. On them there are various small framed artworks and craft things by Kiki Peruzzi
My lot was supposed to be only a small table, but, because I went there early on set up day and helped with the set up, I could get me the place in front of the kitchen counter, and use the counter as additional display space!

Our venue was a listed outhouse building attached to an ancient mansion , Boston Manor House, in one of the parks in our area, very good for footfall if the weather stays nice and people can go around to walk dogs and kiddies! As the building is listed, we were not allowed to put up nails or alter the building walls in any way: I had been told that already by the person in our group who was taking care of organising the venue for us, so I went there prepared with frame holders and small frames that already had their table stand. Plus, talking with some other artist from our group at a previous exhibition, I understood that smaller (and cheaper) items were going to be a better fit for this event than the bigger artworks that I had had in mind to bring, and a selection of craft items in different ranges of prices would be also quite good for this: thus, I decided to bring a variety of smaller things along with one bigger work, and I think that it worked fine for this.

We were 10 from our group, in 2 rooms that were close but not conjoined: 6 in our room and 4 in the other, sharing a small courtyard. My fellow stall holders were all working with different mediums and each one of us has a completely different style: I am the only felter and I was also the only one working in textiles among the 10 exhibiting together (there is another artist who is a weaver in our art group, but she was exhibiting in another venue by herself). That meant that we had very different target audience, so we worked very well all together to cater to different tastes.

Here is a video showing our room and our different styles:

We also decided that we needed to make our venue and ourselves more visible by setting up some tables outside and doing demos on a rolling rota, so that the person outside could invite people to come on in and have a look. Having different mediums was very useful for that, so as to engage different people and send them our collective way. Plus, sketching and felting can withstand different weather conditions: and I can tell you that in London this is a good point, as the weather was very voluble for 3 out of the 4 days, so we had to rush in and out depending on wind and rain presence!

Here is me trying to produce an Instagram friendly video of my second day demo on wet felting, with my daughter’s help:

It was super challenging to wet felt outside, as all the days were particularly windy, so the fiber was flying and I periodically had to run after 100gr bags of wool rolling off the table! I was keeping the bags on the table to attract people by showing bold bright colours, and on the second day I also brought some felted things that I was not selling but just to show what you could do by wet felting, as plenty of people were asking about it the first day. (also, we were not allowed to sell anything outside our venue, so I could only sell the stuff that was inside the building) I partially solved the flying away issue by weighing down all the wool bags and felted objects with stones picked up from the park, and by frequently sprinkling water on the fibers that I was working with in the demo, and getting to the soaping phase as soon as possible!

I must have made an impression for my determined effort, though, because I sold the first little bowl that I wet felted for the demo before it was totally dry, so I can not show it to you (no photos, I am afraid!), but this is my second day produce, in Merino wool with silk rods and eri silk fiber embellishments:

There is a small green bowl on a light brown wooden table. the bowl has embellishments all around in vertical irregular bands, in rust eri silk, natural white eri silk and silk pod rods.
I liked how it came, though some of the visitors were suggesting different combinations of colours!

On the second weekend, I decided to demonstrate needle felting, instead, as it was still very windy and there was a rain forecast for the afternoon, so I needed something where I could control my flying fiber better and pack it up quickly if needed. I decided on a simple Christmas bauble with a core wool inner part, in red merino wool with a sprinkle of Angelina fiber and spiral of violet merino. I think that it came out fine, considering that I was constantly distracted (stabbed myself quite badly at one point, because I was calling out at a potential visitor to encourage him to go in and not paying attention at my hands):

On a blurred background with a wooden table and many small things, there is a hand holding up a red and violet felt Christmas bauble by its violet gauze lace.
Starting early for Christmas!

I noticed and encouraged interest from small kids: I would talk to them, waive bright red wool, entice them to touch it and give a wisp of wool or silk fiber for them to take home, asking them how it felt and if it was soft as a pet’s fur or shiny and smooth. I noticed that more adults were interested when I had my wet felting set up out than with the needle felting: I wonder if it was just random or if it is something about the needle felting that is less appealing or more intimidating. Maybe you also can share your experiences on that.

I think that taking a few small amounts of wool and fiber to this kind of event is very useful (note to self), as people are asking you a lot of curious questions about what you are using to make felt: I heard mentions to yarn, fabric and there were all sorts of puzzled blank stares when I was saying wool fiber and silk fiber, until I would take out a WoW bag and give them a small amount of wool to hold and touch..then more confused questions about how you go from there to that bowl. I mean, that was a proper effort in spreading the word about felting as I could. I am pretty convinced felters would do well to bring wool to show at their events, as most people are far from clear on what wool looks like before becoming yarn and what you can do with it.

Having a group to back me up also meant that I could try to focus on my demos and the persons in front of me, in the sure knowledge that if anyone wanted to buy from my little stall inside someone would come and fetch me, as I would do for them. While plying my wares inside, I knew that someone outside was doing their best to send people our way, so that we all could sell more. We would also pass on favourable comments from visitors and encourage each other during the lulls.

And, of course, chat about our medium, art, families, life and so on. I got to know my fellow group mates a bit more, in a way that just is not possible when you are stewarding for one or two hours maximum at a more sedate exhibition: I had also the chance to see some of them in action working with their chosen medium, and it was very stimulating both learning some of their techniques and explaining them some of mines!

Another good thing coming from sharing a venue with members of your same group was that I had my kids with me (long story) and I was worried about them getting bored, but my fellow stall holders managed to entice my kids into helping with the setting up, putting up balloons and they generally kept them entertained while not playing at the park playground. My daughter also got to try out watercolour painting techniques with one of the watercolour painters, so it is like as if she had a short art course activity for free! My kids were practically begging me to take them to the exhibition again, until we had a spot of heavy rain and their running around was restricted for a while and the place was, to be honest, a bit damp and coldish, so they had to cool down for a bit inside. That was on the afternoon of the last day, and we packed up early because of that (not many people going out and about in a park under heavy rain, not even in London, although we spotted some brave or silly souls still trying to play tennis in the courts…they probably had paid a bucket for the booking? who knows), so all in all it was a success also for my kids.

I managed to sell enough to get back my fee costs, and a bit more, and I felt that it was pretty encouraging as a first time stall holder. I also distributed more than one hundred of my new bookmarks: I had them printed to advertise my business with something different from a business card, and many said that it was a very clever idea and all were very keen to accept them. I guess that I am not the only one having several different books on hold with bookmarks on their bedside table!

Here it is what they look like, front and back:

There are two bookmarks placed horizontally one close to the other. On the first there is a detail image of a wet felted artwork by K Peruzzi in yellow, white and blue. On the other bookmark there are another image of a different artwork by K Peruzzi, written details on how to find other works by her, and a QR code to visit her website
People liked them: one always need a FREE bookmark!

I have had some new accesses to my website straight afterwards, so I guess that they are working in advertising it.

Here are my fellow art trail mates from my room on the last day (missing Bijan who was home with a cold the second weekend):

A group of 5 people is posing together in a room with tables showing their artworks. There is a wooden slanting roof in the background and brick walls
Tired and happy just before packing up. From left to right: me, Peter Filbey, Nava Letchimanan @nava_ml_art , Zara Salazar @zsartillustrations , and Susie Mawani. Missing here Bijan.

Hoping to do it again, maybe with different group members or the same, next year!

If you happen to be close to us in West London, also come and see us of the Ealing Art Group in October at Open Ealing in Dicken’s Yard.

I hope you enjoyed my post, and please leave your comment on your own experiences with this kind of events and being a stall holder.

http://www.kikistextileart.com

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kiki.textile.art

 

TWIST 2025, PART 3 NEW BOOTHS OF INTERESTS

TWIST 2025, PART 3 NEW BOOTHS OF INTERESTS

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PART 3 Twist 2025 new booths of interests

Part 1 (https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/2025/08/24/twist-2025-part-1-new-booths-of-interests/)

Part 2 (https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/2025/09/05/twist-2025-part-2-new-booths-of-interests/)

lether dark mits posibly seal skin and fox? white letther and fer hat14.1) hat and mitts on table

As we left off last week, I had just come to a screeching halt in front of the most exquisite pair of mitts. Then left you at the cliff hanger of what else was in this booth, and its adjacent neighbour.

booth with standing banders, table drape and interactive drawing on tall table14.2) the booth with the fabulous mitts was Cercle d’envol

I stopped to chat and find out about the mitts and found out this was a program to mentor indigenous youth into fashion design and other programs. They had a box of yellow squares of fabric and lots of colours of sharpie pens. I was asked to draw something that the students would sew together, making a wall hangings. Hummmmmm…… something Canadian would be good. I have been felting a lot of partly 3-D moose, why not try and draw one. I haven’t sat down and drawn anything in ages…. but my latest phone screen saver is a picture of one of the felted moose bags, I can use that for reference.

close up of two girls drawing on quilting squairs14.3) drawing on squares to be use to make quilt hangings.

drawing of moose useing a cuple of shades of brown perminent markers jan holding up moose drawing.14.4 – 14.5) moose seem to be a theme lately

This is what I came up with, I should have kept going with this drawing,  added water and pond plants hanging out his mouth but I didn’t want Glenn to get too bored or get too much of a nap (he might start snoring!).

I had a very nice chat with the gentleman at the booth. He was talking about blending native knowledge with non-indigenous knowledge. I asked if that was like what had happened with the very old missing arctic explorers ship problem, that had been lost until someone asked the local Inuit if they knew anything about it and they knew where it was.(no one had thot to ask them earlier?)

I have been curious about the arctic for quite a while. It probably started with snow bank tunneling and the frustration we did not have the correct snow to make igloos. We used oral history as we learned the safety rules about snow tunneling, from the older kids and told the ones younger as they started to play in the snow banks. (I also made snow dinosaurs with the other local kids, i was already a bad influence).  At university, I was excited to find out that we had kimberlite pipes (they make diamonds) in the arctic and a beach made of garnets. Then I found out about the wonders of Muskox fur (well the undercoat, Qiviut). There are also Norse / Dorset archeological sites to further investigate in northern Quebec and Baffin.  I was very lucky to visit Iqaluit, briefly, while my brother was working there. I would love to go back with a much better camera than I had then. Maybe I can get a good shot of arctic cotton! (the tricky little plants kept moving in and out of my focal depth!!)

Sorry I got distracted back to the booths.

The description of this group from Twist was; “Cercle d’envol is a pan-Canadian organization based in Plaisance that empowers Indigenous youth by increasing access to career and entrepreneurship opportunities. With nearly 25 skill-building labs focused on fashion and sewing, we are training a new generation of creators. We are supported by globally recognized brands, including Janome.”

The next booth was quite different from all the fiber related booths.

Kidjīmāninān booth looked like a log cabin Kidjīmāninān booth looked like a log cabin15.1-15.2) Kidjīmāninān booth looked like a log cabin!

Twists information said that Kidjīmāninān is “Led by the Kitigan Zibi Anishinàbeg community, Kidjīmāninān brings together the MRC, citizens, community groups, and researchers to restore and protect biodiversity in the Outaouais region. Inspired by the Algonquin term meaning “our canoe,” we move forward together, sharing knowledge and respect for the Earth to create lasting impact.”

I again stopped and he was talking about biodiversity and endangered spices. I told him of my absolute joy and  amazement while hunting by hand from the family row boat, I employed the standard cray fish hunting technique (distract with one hand while the other come in from behind to grab the crayfish) on mysterious bubbles coming up through the muddy silt. I was pretty sure I knew where the turtles nose was, directly below the bubbles,   but the rest of the body could be in any direction under the mud from there. I guessed correctly and lifted up a soft shelled mud turtle the size of a luncheon plate!  I gently put it in the bottom of the boat and rowed quickly back to the dock, (staying safely about 6 feet from the shore line). Unfortunately, Mom was not amused or impressed when I showed her my most amazing catch and told me to “take it out side now! it is an outside creature”.  I released it and it swam back to its swampy bay.

The gentleman at the booth, asked if I could identify the lower part of a leg on the counter in front of him. I admired it, then told him I hoped it was a moose. He seemed surprised and pleased.  He said it was an adolescent moose leg.

hoves and bones wired into proper articulation with anamal pins in front15.3) leg to be identified (adolescent moose) and cool pin (landscape with a canou  and 3 little circles representing heads in it).

He said he was getting signatures for a petition to protect biodiversity in the Outaouais region.  We both signed it. Other kids should have the opportunity to experience catching (and releasing), many kinds of frogs, turtles, snakes and other local wildlife. We have seen a decline of plants and wild life since I was a child at the family cottage. I hope his petition will help.  As we were about to leave he gave me a bag with the logo from the pin on it. There were a few goodies inside. I thanked him profusely! (and will show you at the end)

There will be an online petition coming soon to their website, but if you are interested in finding out more about this group, check here: https://kidjimaninan.com/en/ .

bag with logo and pin with smaller vertion of the same logo15.4) Kidjimaninan bag and pin

There are still spots we have not yet visited so let’s leave the gym and head past the group demos in the hallway and go look outside. (I know it’s very hot today so we will not linger too long outside and try to stay in the shade)

Outside:

the full map of the event we are at the back of the building at the top of the map. 16.1) the full map of the event we are at the back of the building at the top of the map.

 The fist tent just right of the building doors was the kids tent (some of those kids looked quite tall and older than I had expected, but they are having fun). From the left; rare breads tent, vender tent, tent for ball winding, the talks and demonstration tent,  Beer tent, and food tent. There is also a misting station (its water misting so I’m going to avoid it, but if you are feeling hot you may want to check that out too.

kids craft tent16.2) kids tent

photo of large white tents on parking lot. with lavles and arows to tell which tent is whitch 16.3) just barley in view to the far left is the rare breeds tent, the large tent on the Left/middle held more vendors, the smaller tent to the right had swifts and ball winders. Off camera further to the right were three more tents. The smaller two had lectures or demonstrations and the other small tent sold beer.  The large tent, held the food vendors. Off camera behind me are the kid’s activity tent and the scary misting station.

Let’s take a look at the guest sheep that was visiting at the rare breeds tent fist.  You have seen this booth in previous years. They are interested in more than just sheep but they know who we want to see today! The sheep even in this heat wave was in shade, had water and seemed to de demonstrating the thermal insulation properties of wool. She seemed quite mellow and relaxed.  (I wonder if she tried the mister?)

Heritage livestock Canada had a friendly sheep 17.1) Heritage livestock Canada had a friendly sheep!

relaxing sheep in the shade of a tent17.2) sheep in the heat! She was in the shade and seemed very relaxed.

sheep enjoying getting petted 17.3) She did seem to enjoy all the attention

inside the outdoor vendor tent. 18.1) On to the vendor tent!

I know it’s getting late and your feet may be getting tired, so let’s just look at a couple of the venders in the large tent and then we can think about a very late lunch.

There was a vendor with felt but this time the felt was sewn to create her sculptures.  They were very cute

Sewen felt sculptures  18.2) Felt figures

sewen felt dragon18.3) dragon sewn felt

Did you see the Ferme Tajga booth? They had yarn, sheep skins, batts, and raw fiber. I was too tempted and bought a bit of the raw Icelandic. It was in the mettle tub on her table.

 18.4)Ferme Taiga booth

white lofty fiber18.5) Ferme Taiga booth close up of some of the very nice fiber

The sheep was not the only gest fiber producer at Twist. There were these two bunnies. The little bunny kept shifting form curious to shy.

large white rabbit with black ears small black bunny mostly hiding behind white rabit 18.6) Angora production team

colourfull baskets withgeometric patterns 18.7) Big Blue Mama’s booth had more fabulous baskets

alpaca yarns 18.8) there was a lot of knitting yarn at twist, this time it was alpaca blends

crochet figrues on top of display18.9) there was also yarn meant for weaving, and in this booth, there was yarn meant for crochet

Glenn spotted this package and bought one to try. It was freeze-dried hole strawberries, coated in chocolate. If you spot a package you may want to try it too. It was extremely tasty.

japanies treat dehidrated strawberrys covered in chocklet19.1) a treat of Chocolate coated strawberry’s (we will have to look for these closer to home!)

Just to prove that Sunday was just as relaxing as Friday was.

napping husband at Twist19.2) Proof that Fiber festivals are the perfect spot for husbands to nap.

Yes I was a horrible wife and woke him, so he could carry the last of my purchases to the car. Since it will be a year until we return next, we took the opportunity to again head to our favorite comfy duck sandwich purveyor.

I hope you have enjoyed Twist, even though there was a lot of yarn, and very little long locks, there was some fiber, and new booths that were educational and interesting. If you are driving between Montreal and Ottawa and are passing St Andray du Avalon, you may want to take a brake and see if there are any Comfy ducks sandwiches available for lunch…. I will be thinking about that sandwich until the next trip to Twist.

Comfy duck sandwitch duck, bacon, apple, celery, onion, mayo and apricot-raisin bread, salad with raspberry dressing and fries with mayo dipping sauce!19.3) duck, bacon, apple, celery, onion, mayo and apricot-raisin bread, salad with raspberry dressing and fries with mayo dipping sauce! Twice in one year!!!

Oh did you want to see what I purchased?

We can compare and see if you picked the same things!

Perchese and presents from twist 2025 20.1) Glenn gave me the twist bag which the Mer-Boy-Friend seems to have taken over. I was given a gift of green curly locks, and purchased the linen tea towel.

20.2) I seem to have a theme of mostly Felt and fiber this year.

Kidjimaminan pin bag and contence of bag 20.3) the Kidjimaninan bag had wonderful things inside it; Butterfly seed bombs,  Kayo-Tea, Maple Syrup, playing cards, cloth bag and enamel pin

horticultural 100% wool felt 20.4)  Horticultural felt 100% wool

died and undied silk hankies 20.5) silk hankies

braids of combed top breed of fiber listed below picture 20.6) top row tags (L to R);Top row: Solstice 2023(Grey; Cormo/Angora/Merino/Poleworth/Lama/ Tussah silk), Masham (green red black), Masham (green red black),  Cheviot (White aqua and cream). Bottom row: Shropshire (Greay gold), Exmoor Horn (Brown Blue), Faroese (Blues), Masham (Greens orange), Eclipse (Greys), Cheviot (White aqua and cream).   

2 small carded bats of fiber20.7)Urso wool batts, golden tones and cream tones

more hand died combed top 20.8) 2 braids Cheviot/Peridale

raw icelandic wool, moorit brown20.9) Raw Icelandic fiber

Thank you for joining me, it was a very big show! I hope you had fun virtual shopping if you were unable to attend in person. The dates of next year, August 7-8-9 2026, are already on their website. if you are going to be in the area there may be a comfy duck sandwich calling your name too!  Have fun and keep felting!

small section of a cityscape
Nuno Felt in Art Work

Nuno Felt in Art Work

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Nuno felt is often associated with wearables such as scarves, vests, hats etc., but if you like to make wet-felted pictures, then do consider what nuno can add – fabric can make detailing in a picture so much easier and can add interest and texture.

In a nutshell, nuno felting is the combination of fine wool fibres (we usually use merino as it seems to work well) gently felted together with open-weave fabric. Patience is necessary when felting to allow time for the wool fibres to migrate through the open weave fabric.  If you’ve never tried nuno felting before, it’s quite simple and there are many free tutorials on the internet.

Before you commit to using a fabric, it can save time and frustration by making a sample so that you can see if the fabric is suitable. Shown below is a sample layout, pre-felting, and underneath shows how the fabrics look post- felting.

squares of open weave fabric on merino wool fibres

samples post felting

In the pineapple picture below you can see how fabrics, cut into rough squares, were applied to a background of pink, mauve and yellow merino wool fibres.

The colourful effect would have been difficult to achieve with wool fibres alone especially where the thin fabrics overlap and show through.

Shown below is the layout, then underneath is the felted picture.

squares of open weave fabric to form the background and the pineapple

how the fabric looks post felting

The small section shown below is part of a large cityscape (currently unframed and pinned to a wall as the blue thumb-tack shows 😊).  All the buildings were formed from open-weave fabric. For added interest a little paint was applied to the fabric in places.

small section of a cityscape

In the next example, strings of bunting were needed to fly in the sky on the background of a wet-felted picture.

The shapes could have been cut from pre-felt, but using fabric was quicker and the effect of the multi-coloured fabric worked well.

Bunting shapes were cut from very loose-weave fabric then placed on top of merino wool fibres that had already been wetted and soaped down – in this case it was easier to accurately place the fabric on a wet rather than on a dry layout.

bunting shapes cut from open weave fabric

The wool fibres and fabric were very slowly felted together until they formed one piece.

bunting - open weave fabric felted into merino wool

This apple has ‘painterly marks’ formed by scraps of open-weave fabric.

apple from nuno felt

The jug in the picture of flowers below, was made with open-weave fabric for pattern, solidness / weight and texture.

vase made with nuno felt

This is a small section of a woodland picture. Open-weave fabric was used for tree trunks as the fabric adds texture and interest and the white adds light for dappled sunlight.

tree trunks using fabric

As well as using bits of fabric, a picture can be constructed using all nuno felt.  The final two examples show two different methods.

Full details of how ‘the pigeon and rubber duck in a birdbath’ picture was constructed are in this blog post:

https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/2022/05/30/second-quarter-challenge-the-bird-bath/

pigeon and rubber duck in bird bath

Full details of how the ‘early bird’ picture was constructed are in this blog post:

https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/2018/04/17/guest-blog-post-the-bird-and-his-breakfast/

the early bird catches the worm

We hope that this post will show how easy and how very effective the application of nuno felt can be in wet-felted art work!

TWIST 2025, PART 2 NEW BOOTHS OF INTERESTS

TWIST 2025, PART 2 NEW BOOTHS OF INTERESTS

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PART 2 Twist 2025 new booths of interests

Today Lets head back to Twist

selfie takeing spot in front of sheep on a rocket9.1)  photo selfie setup just outside the arena with a sheep on a rocket and snowball bush.

This year there was more yarn for sale at boots, but I did find a few venders selling fiber, mostly combed top, and one selling felt (which you saw last time). There were a few more informational booths that I want to point out and we already saw some of the local guild /group demos.

OVWSG Demo at twist, spinner showing fiber to 3 wimon who are watching9.2) a quick peek at the ongoing Ottawa guild demo in hall between the arena and the gym.

Lets take a quick look in the arena, there were booths around the outside and a row placed back to back down the center. The isle were wide and there were a few benches to stop and rest. (as demonstrated by Glenn last post, but most other bench users were not a somnolent as he was).

vew of arina, and two shots of booths one with yarn and one with cones of weaving yarn10.1 3 shots, one of the arena at opening, woman looking at weaving yarn, mohair top

buttons, knitting yarn and knited samples10.2) buttons, knitting yarn and samples

Christine’s booth with bats of mixed fiber and art yarn. She is spinning on a magacraft wheel.10.3) Christine’s booth with bats of mixed fiber and art yarn. She is spinning on a Majacraft wheel.

This is a booth,  A Lair Artifacts, I kept going back to. I have shopped here over a number of years. The died top is available in a number of different fibers/breeds. There are some super wash merino, regular merino, and many other breeds with greater luster as well as a few fiber blends. (you can see a list of what fibers she is dyeing with here; https://www.alairartifacts.com/en/general-5 ).  I keep being drawn to Masham, it’s a long fiber but it has such a captivating luster and is much stronger than the soft limpy-ness of merino. I keep telling myself, I am going to felt with this so if the staple is too long for what I want to use it for I can use scissors to make it shorter (which will offend spinners!)

combed top of various breeds and needle felting with dried flowers.11.1) combed top of various breeds and needle felting with dried flowers.

I am sure you spotted examples of felting in this booth too. When you look closely at the ghosts, which are very small, you will notice they have fabulous drapieness to their sheets.

ghost with dry flowers in belljar. 11.2) ghost with dry flowers in belljar.

looking up breed information tag has breed and micron count11.3)  looking up breed information tag has breed and micron count and some times staple length.

one of the shoppers asked about one of the breeds she didn’t recognize  and the vendor was able to explain about the sheep and she showed her more information from the handy little book “The Field Guide to Fleece: 100 Sheep Breeds & How to Use Their Fibers” By Deborah Robson and Carol Ekarius. (sometimes all the time i have spent in the local guild library comes in handy!)

There was a pebble mat of felted round rocks as well as an very well done mushroom!11.4) There was a pebble mat of felted round rocks as well as an very well done mushroom! (one in needle felt, one crochet and i think the last one is sewn)

I was impressed with the top but check out the filly side11.5) I was impressed with the top but check out the frilly side, very nice line work and lovely subtle blending on the stem

I got distracted and had a chat about the shallow working depth of crown needles. I hope I didn’t overwhelm or bore her too much!  The pebble rug, which was quite large, and covered the table, looked like the mushroom  was growing from between the pebbles.

Since we have had a quick look around at the vendors in the arena let’s go over to the gym and see one of the booths I wanted to show you over there. On our way there lets first take a quick look at some of the other vendors.

ecoprinting12.1) Eco printing

Cheviot combed Top hand died12.2) Cheviot Top hand died

a booth with brooms12.3) a booth with brooms

Linin tea towels12.4) Linin tea towels in basket

samples of knitting with yarn from this booth12.5) samples of knitting with yarn from this booth

now lets stop and take a look at the first of the booths in this hall i thought might catch your interest.

La laine : matériau d’avenir | The Future is Wool (Concordia University)

the Future of Wool booth, this is a group we saw  was it last year in the outside tent? This year they have moved inside and are creating a collaborative embroidery project.  Twist posted that this is a “new 3-year community stitch project, exploring cross-cultural histories and planet-healing futures of our favourite fibre, local/regional/Canadian wool! Together, we’ll create a multi-panel ‘Bayeux’-style tapestry about our wool”.

Their own description about themselves is :

“The Future is Wool uses wool and craft to propose the questions: of Does the pleasure of handwork and the chance to work in community with other makers bring us comfort in this time of [post?] pandemic anxiety? Does wool’s biodegradability ease our ecological grief as our planet faces what seems like catastrophic climate change? This project is ongoing”. https://re-imagine.ca/the-future-is-wool/

13.1-13.4 “the Future of Wool” booth close up of image they are making, pictures of people embroidering,

They had a range of ages helping with their embroidered tapestry and all seemed to be enjoying themselves.

13.5) a large age range participated in the embroidery.13.5) a large age range participated in the embroidery.

Each time a went past this booth, there were new people helping by work on part of it. the promotion of wool is always a good thing for felters and spinners!

Just around the corner was another booth that cot my attention (ok, so I may be easily distracted but did you see what was on the table?)

inuit mitts and hat14.1) hat and mitts on table

Since we are now on page 11 as I am typing this up, I should probably stop and show you the rest of this and the neighbouring booth, and a few of the outdoor vendors and the guest sheep next post, part 3. In the mean time I will let you drool at those mitts as I did. Do you think that is seal and fox fur? I would never have cold fingers again!!!

i hope you are enjoying the vicarious shopping and have room for a bit more next post. until then have fun and keep felting, or maybe washing he last couple fleeces before the snow arrives again!

Mitred squares detail view
Memories Sweater (Work in progress)

Memories Sweater (Work in progress)

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This blog talks about my attempts to knit the Memories Sweater pattern by Sally Melville.  I will start by sharing the project photos of Sally’s inspiring sweater.  As you can see, this is a neat pattern and a great way to use up random bits of sock yarn.

My first attempt with the pattern was in May 2022.  I dug out some sock yarn and started.  After 5 weeks, this is all the progress I managed.  I had a few hiccups… one was that the various sock yarns had slightly different gauges.  And the bigger problem was the square itself.  The mitred square in the pattern had a spine going down the middle of the square.  I found making squares in this style to be frustrating.  And so the project got put into a bag on a time out.  Three years later it has not been retrieved.

Modular knitting panel
First attempt (June 2022)

Now we advance to June 2025.  My husband I and were going on a long car trip to visit family.  I wanted to find a project that would be good trip knitting and also that would not take too much space.  I began to wonder if maybe I should attempt the Memories Sweater again.

To try and avoid the gauge problem, I decided to use a single brand of sock yarn.  I had this selection of Patons Stretch Socks, which is a fingering yarn with lots of cotton (41% Cotton, 39% Wool, 13% Nylon, 7% Other).  I thought it would be a good match for a summer top like this.

Patons Stretch Socks
Patons Stretch Socks

Next I decided to look around for another mitred square pattern to use as a substitute.  I found the Knitted Patchwork Recipe by Martine Ellis and gave it a try.  I was very happy with my first square.

Knitted patchwork recipe and first square
Knitted patchwork recipe and first square

And in late June I started knitting in earnest.  I knit steadily from June 30th to mid August.

Along the way I began to worry that I would run out of yarn.  I posted an ISO (In Search Of) post on Ravelry and a few people came to my aid and sold me spare balls from their stash.  These new colours got added into the panels.

 

Eventually I had 2 completed panels and then I began to add edging on 3 sides as the pattern instructed.

And here is a view of the panels with edging complete.

Completed panels (edging complete)
Completed panels (edging complete)

I then tried to figure out what to do next.  I read and re-read the pattern for the shoulder/sleeve section and was stumped.  In the original sweater the designer had more squares in her panels than I had in mine.  So after searching through pattern notes and looking online I resorted to emailing the designer for help.  Luckily Sally Melville kindly answered my questions and has provided some clarifications to help me move forward.  However, I have not yet had the time to devote to implementing her directions and starting the shoulder section of the sweater.  But I am hoping to get to that soon.  I look forward to sharing my finished sweater in a future blog post.

 

 

 

 

Snape Textile Group exhibition – prep

Snape Textile Group exhibition – prep

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This is just a very simple post as I frantically prepare for our Snape Textile Group’s exhibition of work, showcasing our work from a year’s worth of interesting monthly workshops. These are given mostly by external tutors, but we usually have two ‘in house’ lead activities and an annual challenge. I must admit I haven’t completed the latter….I simply can’t get my head around altered books, no matter how I try!

I have enjoyed many of the workshops with the keen intention of finishing them at home, but life has a habit of dictating otherwise and then suddenly I am up to my elbows in the next workshop. So, anyone remembering the subject of two previous posts relating to Decovil, one of this year’s workshops….NO, I haven’t finished it and….YES, I can hear you nattering at me from here! One day I will surprise you all 😁

Our hardworking group leader always plans our workshops 12+ months ahead and once booked, sends out our group programme complete with the websites for all our tutors. Over the last few years, I have taken this opportunity to see what our tutors are creating, what their tastes are and what we might be doing. The result of my homework and exploring ‘G’ online (thank you to all the authors of the info/pix I have used for inspiration) is that I usually go to the workshop armed with lots of inspiration photos….it helps me consolidate my thoughts.

Herewith the projects (in no particular order) I have finally managed to complete and will enter into our 2025 exhibition –

Paper Collage with Sharron Bates

From her work online I knew it was to be a ‘whimsical’ theme on houses, many of which were seaside based. Exploring, I found many other whimsical houses to whet my appetite.

That set me off thinking about my past and very happy times living by the sea (I now live smack bang in the middle between coasts!), resulting in a collection of photo views of my most memorable locations.

The bottom set are of Langstone Harbour (South England). The Royal Oak pub (extreme bottom right) was a favourite late teenage venue, sitting on the footpath dangling our legs over the edge with the tide coming in, particularly when cars parked on the sand were being slowly swallowed by the rising water. The publican would always be shouting for the owner/s to retrieve their car/s. It was extremely entertaining watching the shenanigans as ‘unfamiliar’ motorists tried to rescue their cars particularly those who didn’t want to get their shoes or trousers wet!!! It was hysterical at times and great entertainment. Sadly (er-hmm) they have now got barriers to stop folk parking on the sand – spoilsports! But I digress….

Top is a view across the water to Bosham, further east along the south coast (Bosham is pronounced Boz-am – we always took great delight in listening if folk were local as not far away there is a Cosham pronounced Cosh-um!). Please forgive another digression again related to water…. On the seaward side there is a lower tarmac road which you can access from either end of the village. However, when the tide is in, the road is totally covered. You are probably ahead of me here….we have seen many folk removing socks and shoes and rolling up their trousers to avoid the inevitable knee-deep soaking – sometimes folk just won’t listen to the locals 🤣

Back to the workshop….

Our tutor provided us with ample supplies and examples of how to achieve her houses which we would work onto a page/s of an old book.

There was an amazing collection of houses at the end of the day.

As always, I did follow all the instructions but with my twist on Bosham as my subject! I was lucky as my chosen book had fold out pages allowing me to create the wider landscape format. It does however remain the only picture in what should be another altered book!

 

Cyanotype explorations with Kim Tillyer

I have not experimented with cyanotype before, in fact very few of our group had, so for me this was to be quite an exciting day of exploration. Our tutor had certainly gone above and beyond in terms of preparation, having pre-painted about six A5 sheets of artist water colour paper of various thicknesses, plus some fabric for everyone, before we then painted our own remaining sheets of paper and fabric.

I was so wrapped up in the process I didn’t take any photos at all.

For those who are new to cyanotype – it is a light sensitive solution made by combining two chemicals (ferric ammonium citrate and potassium ferricyanide) with water. From the moment it is mixed, and the yellow liquid is applied to the surface it is reacting, so it needs to be placed in total darkness to dry. Then the fun begins….

Objects – vegetation, hard objects (keys, stencils, plastic etc) – are placed on the dry painted surface and to assist holding the objects in position, a glass or Perspex sheet is placed over the top. More can be added on top of this sheet, but it won’t be quite so clearly defined. The whole package is taken into the sun and the magic happens….the yellow surface becomes blue with white impressions of the objects. Once this has happened the painted sheet must be washed thoroughly.

It is a quick reaction, only 2-4 mins, and a very addictive process!

I later stitched into two of my watercolour paper pieces with white and copper threads and was honoured that one of them was used for the exhibition promotion poster.

I didn’t really know what to do with my lovely blue pieces but then had an idea – to use most of them (90%) in a collage, which then ended up as a machine stitched patchwork combined with other plain and eco-printed fabric pieces. When I say I used most….I included all the watercolour paper and even the under-paper (used to protect the table) which instead of throwing away I had washed! Everything was carefully machine stitched into and ironed!

The actual patchwork is A2 (420x594mm/16.5×23.4in) in size, so the framed piece is quite large!

 

Fabric boxes with Suzette Smart

We have had the pleasure of Suzette’s tutorage before, this time it was to be boxes. She has a lovely collage style of work often with birds, which, whilst I’m impressed by and admire, isn’t exactly my cup of tea so to speak.

However, I followed all the making instructions (almost) but did the collage as something I would happily have at home.

We were given two pieces of iron-on pelmet Vilene, kindly pre-marked, one slightly smaller than the other. The idea being that two half boxes would be created allowing one to be the base sliding into the other. We created collages of our fabric (brought from home) which we ironed onto the Vilene and then machine stitched over.

Having examined the tutor’s example completed boxes, I noticed that cutting the shape to her design, meant that the stitching would also be cut and the corners would have raw fraying edges….remember, I’m a neat-nic so, ‘fraying’ struggles to get a place in my vocabulary! Uh hmmm….my brain told me if I cut it differently, I would not cut my precious stitching, and the corners would be folded. I did say ‘almost’! I spoke with the tutor and having drawn and then cut my idea out of rough paper she gave her approval and even took a photo! I have placed both templates in my records file for future reference.

At home I completed both half boxes as fully decorated ‘tops’ having decided to make card/paper bottoms for each, using my fiddly template.

 

 

Sea and stones with Rachel Singleton  

I have followed Rachel for several years and was looking forward to meeting her in person. She came armed with so many examples, which I loved seeing in the flesh. I was not disappointed.

We had to bring fabric and potatoes….yes, we were going back to our childhood doing potato printing using just a limited palette of acrylic paints….woohoo! It was fun swapping cut potatoes too, which enabled many stacked stone images to be created that day.

I made mostly single prints rather than immediately printing stacked stones, as I had an idea in my head to create a stack out of more 3D stones. I even printed on some very textured fabric as an experiment….both the tutor and I were pleased that it worked. The texture gave me a good starting point for stitching into the stone which I then padded. Thus far I have two 3D stones….I need to make more….so this project remains a WIP.

 

From sketch to wall with Tansy Hargan

Tansy is another artist I have followed for many years and looked forward to her workshop. She had brought numerous examples of her vibrant collages.

It was a very different workshop in that we had to sketch from real life outside using a ‘viewfinder’ (for want of a description) and a combination of only 3 pens of different colours, types and thicknesses, onto pre-drawn small rectangles on our sheet of paper. We then had to translate our sketches into mini collages, with small scraps of paper.

Setting our mini paper collages aside, we randomly painted larger scraps of fabric with acrylic paint. Finally, using our, now dry, painted fabric and other fabric scraps, we had to produce a larger collage based on our original sketches/mini paper collages, into which we machine and hand stitched.

By the end, although not complete, I had laid out two collages, the smaller (15x15cm) came from one of my original sketches! The larger (23x23cm) was based on the lavender and its shadows. In hindsight, studying the now framed lavender collage against Tansy’s work, I think I could certainly have added even more vibrant coloured stitching….workshops are a learning curve!

 

Finally – Autumn trees with Fiona Robertson

As I have already written more than intended, I will leave you with my final submitted piece (with a hastily cut paper mount), which is still a WIP, and hope that you will follow its progress in another post!

 

 

I’m skidding in on the seat of my pants with this post and almost as a post script….I have just returned from seeing our group’s exhibition which is always very popular and well attended by visitors. We have so many talented members….I will always be in awe and learning all the way.

 

For those familiar with my posts, you’ll know I often think at a tangent, but I was beaten hands down with this one. One of our members completed the altered book challenge by altering hers into a ‘FULL-size’ Kimono. It is stunning. She has backed the pages with iron-on Vilene and even stitched a long plant design onto it. The handbag is made from the original book’s hardcover.

Now why didn’t I think that an altered book could also be altered into 3 dimensions? As I said above, I’m always learning 😁

I hope you’ve learnt something new lately!

Twist 2025, Part 1 new booths of interests

Twist 2025, Part 1 new booths of interests

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Twist 2025 new booths of interest

Some of you have joined me in previous years on the trip to Twist Fibre Festival in Saint-André-Avellin, QC. It’s about an hour and 15 minutes from home, a bit longer with construction detours this year. It is worth the drive in shopping opportunities and usually has lovely scenery. (We had some of the smoke from fires much further west so it was too hazy for the views overlooking the river). Twist is also the largest of the close fiber events to Ottawa.  Please join me as we take a peek, first at the demos and a new booth that I hope will catch your interest too. We will take a look at more of the event in the next post. Don’t forget to meet me at La Toquade restaurant for after shopping Dinner of comfy duck sandwiches.

photo montoge of line up getting into Twist on friday morning (it was very hot) and close ups of the decorations by the sign which is a sheep on a rocket1)Lining up to get into Twist 2025

Demo Hall way,

There are two halls (Gym and Arena), one on either side of a main hall, which also leads to the back of the building, where more vendors in a large tent were located. The hallway is where the demos from various fiber arts groups are located, including the local weaving guild and our neighbour guild across the river. Let’s take a quick peek before heading into the main hall. I was sure I had taken pictures of the knitting guild, and author and one other group at the end of the hall by the tent but I don’t seem to see them. This year we had examples of weaving, spinning, and a bit of felting at the guild table.

OVWSG Demo table table loom on table OVWSG Demo table Suport spindle spinning2.1-2.2) OVWSG Demo table

Gatineau Guild of weavers banner and table display2.3) Guilde des tisserandes de Gatineau; our neighbour guild on the other side of the Ottawa River

lace makeing pillow with hands moving bobins2.4) The Lace makers guild

Association des Artisans de Ceinture Flechee de Lanaudiere banner Association des Artisans de Ceinture Flechee de Lanaudiere table of finger woven bands2.5-2.6) Association des Artisans de Ceinture Flechee de Lanaudiere

While at Twist fiber festival, I spotted a few new booths which caught my attention and I thought you would also find interesting. So I am going to focus on one of the booths today but we will look at the rest of the event hopefully in the next post.

New Vendor has felt

At this point, we had arrived, said hi to the morning demo team, and started looking for booths selling fiber or (Needle) felting supplies.  It was close to opening time, and was still quite busy with a rush of shoppers.  I had to wait to get into the booth. The little I could see from outside had me curious as to what else might be in there. I was sure it would be worth the wait.

glimps of wool felt between people stopping and walking in front of where i was trying to see in3.1)I see wool! Yes, that definitely looks like wool. I wonder which booth this is?

As the crowd parted, I could see the signage “Field & Fleece” and “WoolGrown”.  Behind the sign was a 3 foot tall roll of felt!! As well as bags of fiber (I think I overheard the bags of fleece were mixed rideau-arcott sheep fleeces?)

montage of photos, signage and bags of wool, lamb covers, wool pellets for gardening3.2) When the crowd parted and I could see part of the booth!

rolls of various lenths and widths of horticultural felt.3.3) Precut lengths of felt, some have holes cut out for planting plants, others are solid.

samples in booth of poducts made from this felt, jacket bag, art, and small bags of fiber 3.4) There were examples of wool Felt use; Jacket, purses, art, small batts in bags

There were also small strips of wool rolled up on the table. They were selling them to start seeds in. I looked at them and saw name tags!!!

3" and 4" widths of felt in long strips, they are to plant seeds but i am going to make name tages 3.5) wool strips  for sale in the booth

The strips were being sold as “Seed starting wool strips the eco-friendly evolution of the innovative seed-starting method known as the “Seed Snail.”” The concept seems to be to un-roll the wool strip about 4” x 4’ long, add moistened potting soil mix, roll up the dirt with wool, making something that looks like a less tasty cinnamon roll. Plant the seeds at the top of the roll, so the roots will grow down between the circles of wool. That sounds like an interesting concept but I still see name tags when I look at these rolls. There were a few different widths so I selected a few of the wider (about 4”) and a couple of the cheaper 3-ish” ones.

If you noticed the little square about an inch thick by about 4 inches, I picked up one of those too. I will try it out as a felting surface later.

Since I had finally got to the front of the booth and had already found a small selection of items, I kept looking.

ceramic sheep bole with blacksmith made masonre nails. (to use for mordenting dies)3.6) OH my! What is that?

Not the prins, look in the cup! I was just apologising to Glenn, as we drove here, that I suspected the booths selling blacksmithing items or supplies would again be rather thin.(ok, None. I am sure it’s just an unintentional oversight that will be fixed at some point in the future.) Those rusty items are square-headed nails, and look like blacksmith-made objects! I asked about them and was enlightened that they were the “nails” from a brick wall that had been taken down and she didn’t have the heart to toss them. She was selling them for dyers to mordant their dye baths. I bought a little bundle for Glenn so his day was not just carrying my packages and taking naps on a bench while I shopped or photographed.

Since you have seen the extreme relaxation (napping) demonstrated at various fiber festivals I should not deprive you of another sighting.

Husband sitting on bench sleeping peicefuly while shopping happens behind him4.1) Fibre festivals are a good spot for extreme relaxation.

Mer-Boyfrend self-feling his own abbs Mer-Boyfrend self-feling his own abbs another vew4.2-4.3) The Mer-boyfriend got impatient and started to work on his own abbs. I spent too much time explaining why I was making another mer-person to people stopping to ask what I was doing and how did it work? (Yes, I got another voodoo comment too!)

I filled in at the OVWSG Demo Friday afternoon, as the demo started to pack up, I “rushed” back to buy the roll of felt but they were unfortunately closed…. Drat. Ok almost everyone is faster than I am at the moment.

While we are still in town, we can go enjoy the comfy duck sandwiches at the La Toquade Restaurant. It’s part of the enjoyment of going to twist, and I think about this sandwich for a year between twists, so let’s go see it they are still as memorably delicious as it was last year. (Oh yes it was!!)

on a long rectangle plate, good fries, a small salid with rasbary balsamic vinagret, frenchfrie dipp and the amazing sandwich ingredients listed below photo5)“Club sandwich au confit de canard- Servi dans un pain abricot-raisin-tournesol garni de bacons, oignons, pommes vertes, céleris et mayonnaise maison et un choix de frites ou de salade mesclun” / (Google helped and translated the above to English for me: “Duck Confit Club Sandwich – Served in an apricot-raisin-sunflower bun topped with bacon, onions, green apples, celery and homemade mayonnaise and a choice of fries or mesclun salad”.  the dip for the very tasty french fries was “choix de mayonnaise maison” and the small salid had a fabulouse rasbary baslamic vinigret. Desert was Mousse au chocolat (I think that has to be one of the best types of Moose). If you make it to twist, this may tempt you to stay in town for dinner or a late lunch.

After a delicious dinner, we headed for the highway, through rolling hills and past a very picturesque stream, which I keep meaning to stop and take pictures. Unfortunately, shortly after getting on the highway, we found the highway was closed, so wound up enjoying rock cuttings and farm land while following a very round about detour. (We eventually found out the road was closed for paving.)

pick up truck (licence plate obsured) has bound (tied up) small couch in back.6) I suspect I have been watching/listening to too much US political news on you tube. We saw this in front of us on the detour. Can you guess my first thought as to who must be having a quick getaway visit to Canada?

We did make it home after enjoying parts of Quebec we had not seen before. I spent the rest of the evening reviewing Fridays photos and posting some on the OVWSG Group FB page, I did a bit of investigating on the internet since I regretted not buying one of the rolls of felt.

WoolGrown Company web site: www.woolgrowncompany.com

WoolGrown Company on Face book: www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61568471715075

This is a Canadian company, based in southern Ontario. It is a lot closer to drive to Twist (Just over 1 hour east), than to drive west, well past Toronto (Over 6 hours south-west of Ottawa). (Which is why I was trying to get back to twist on Sunday.)

As I heard at twist and saw on their web site, they were looking at ways to diversify their farm production (sheep farming).  On their web site i found links for Wool pellets for mulch, Garden & Horticulture Felt (which was the felt I purchased on Friday, but not the option with holes precut in it for plants) and Sheep Tea Pouches. In their booth, were also examples of; felt art, Felt Jackets, Felt Bags and felt Pots as well as the felt itself.

I tried messaging the company on their Facebook page (but they were likely very busy recovering from day 1 of twist) since I knew going back on Saturday was not an option. I would have to hope to be up and running… er, walking… ok rolling on Sunday.  Glenn said he was up to joining me again, (he was hoping for more Comfy duck), so off we went back to Twist early Sunday morning.

large roll of felt (hordicultural) 3' tall and very long. sitting partly behind sign saying Feild and Fleece7.1) 3 foot tall roll of wool felt!

Ah good they have not sold out, but as I got closer, there was a lot of stock missing. The 10 foot by 1 foot rolls were gone and so were the other sizes I had seen on Friday (Drat). Luckily, Sunday morning at opening was not as busy as Friday, or I heard Saturday had been, so they said they could cut me a piece from the big roll.

mesureing out 4 feet of the lenght from the roll mesureing out 4 feet of the lenght from the roll7.2-7.3) I got 4 feet of the big roll.

I am hopeful I will be able to use this with my picture felting students. I need cut pieces that are a bit bigger than 5”x7” finished picture size.  I want my students to feel the difference 100% wool felt feels, when compared to the cheap part wool, to full acrylic non-woven options for picture felting bases.

close up of some of the pices i purched from this vendor. 8.1) “Horticultural”, as you can see there is some kemp and a bit of VM. Even so, it looks like it will make a good base for picture Needle felting.

Let me show you some of what I wound up with from this vendor, I will show you the rest later. I am looking forward to investigating this wool felt, hopefully soon.

Today (which will be yesterday as you read this) we headed south of Ottawa to Kemptville for a much more intimate fiber festival. I had wonderful chats about felting and fiber and thoroughly enjoyed myself. (Glenn read a book and had another nap, I told you fiber events were extremely relaxing, soon all husbands will want to attend with us, just for the quality napping!!) I would like to show you a couple of interesting displays and booths there too, but let’s finish off visiting Twist next. Don’t forget to save a bit of virtual or actual money for shopping at Almonte Fiberfest on Sept 6th 2025 if you are in the area!!

Silk Hanky Dyeing

Silk Hanky Dyeing

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I have a Flower Workshop coming up in September at a local museum. Just outside Ottawa, at Pinheys Point. If you’re interested, sign up here.

One of the flowers we make uses a silk hanky. I was running low on most of my colours, so it was time for a dye day.

New undyed silk hankies are hard to get wet. There is still a lot of sericin in the hankies. Particularly in the thicker edges. For those who don’t know, silk hankies are usually made from the cocoons of silk moths that hatch. The cocoons are stretched out into rectangles or caps. The cocoons are held together with sericin, it is like a glue that doesn’t easily dissolve in water.

In order to get them properly wet, I use a little soap in the water and let them soak overnight.

 

 

Here is what I had in my box of hankies

I had quite a few of the pink and grey. It’s not a popular pick for anyone in classes. I don’t know why I think it’s really pretty.  There is quite a bit of magenta the purple, and pink. I will over-dye some of those.

For silk dying, you can use either acid dye, like you use for wool or other animal fibres, or MX dye (fibre reactive dye), like you use for cotton or other plant fibres. I use a variation of low water immersion dying with MX dyes.  The site I like for dye information is Paula Burches’ All about Hand Dying

Then I added colour to the new ones.

This one, I added the kelly green first in a few spots, and then a mix of the amethyst and navy to get a blue-purple.

This one folded the hanky by pinching the middle and folding the edges down. I added the yellow where the point is.  and a little at the bottom. I mixed some red to the peach to get a more burnt orange colour and poured it over the rest. I elevated the pointy end a bit so the red-orange wouldn’t flow over it.

For this one again, an orangy red and ice blue.

And lastly, seafoam and plum blossom. I don’t use seafoam often; I always think it will be an icky pale green colour, but as you see, it is not. I need to find my dye chart and hang it up somewhere. I almost forgot to take a picture of this one.

 

I didn’t take pictures of rinsing.  So you don’t get to see where I forgot to put my gloves on and turned my hands blue. The one thing to note with MX dye is that the colours do not exhaust.

Then it was onto the drying racks.

Have you been dying lately?