MI. FIBER FESTIVAL and SUZANNE HIGGS

Last weekend we were in Allegan for the Mi. Fiber Festival. It was Hot and Humid setting the booth up having recently rained. We had wonderful weather FRi-Sun which is so unusual for Aug in Mi. It was in the 70's and no rain!! Got to spend an hour Sun with Suzanne Higgs- Hooked on Felt.blogspot. Check out her blog, it's well worth it even tho she hasn't posted in a while due to her family having a huge amount of hurdles in their lives. She makes beautiful hats, nuno felt and bird pods . She had 2 gorgeous sleeveless dresses with shawls in nuno felt in her booth-one in white and the other in copper-absolutely gorgeous. Wish I had my camera along or had come back to take pictures of them. I have long wanted to take a hat making class with her, it's on my short list for next year. Suzanne is very gracious and giving with advise and answering questions. I watched/listened to her interacting with customers and she made everyone feel welcome and no question was "stupid". Starting next week I will be doing posts on being a vendor. Erin, Desigknit.com did her first show in April and did a post on lessons she had learned from that show.She lamented that there was no place to learn about shows as a new vendor so I emailed her to offer advise and decided to do a sseries of posts on this subject. Who inspires you to take a class from them or to spend time with visting at a show? Are there any questions you want answers to regarding being a vendor?

Ann Arbor Art Festival

 Hot,Hot HOT at Ann Arbor for the art fair this year-it was 105 the day the vendors set up and in high 90's on Wed when I was there.  I had been toying with the idea of adding art fairs to my list of places to sell in the near future but this year brought home the fact that setting up outside, especially if you have to do it by yourself, is not always easy or comfortable.  So i've shelved that idea and will look for inside shows instead. Now for the pictures-the first two are from Easy Street Studios, artists I have long admired- Michael and Jane Lewis.  The top one says Cherish Yesterday- Dream Tomorrow- Live Today -along the top, side and bottom.  The second one says Arrange whatever Pieces Come your way. I have to get frames for them yet but will do that this week. The last two pictures were taken thru a gallery window and of are felted pillows and I really liked them.  What do you think?

Silk Necktie Necklace and Brooch

Have been making brooches and necklaces from silk neckties and having great fun.  The brooches can be used on hats,purses, jackets or shirts.  The ones shown are rather big but I've seen people wearing huge felted flower brooches so I'm ok with their size.  The necklace uses part of the tie for the "flower" and then it continues around the neck and snaps behind the flower.  What do you think of them?

Pictures from Co. and N.M.

I gave up trying to download pics while on vacation, internet at motel was too slow.                                     Picture #1 river/stream along mountain road.                                                                                               #2 S curves thru the mountains                                                                                                                    #3 window shopping-vintage velvet/sheer fringed tablecloth that was made into a sleeved poncho                 #4 Bright turquoise pattern on bottom of black skirt                                                                                      #5 even Mc Donalds are adobe in Santa Fe                                                                                                #6 interesting rocks with holes on the way to Madrid                                                                                   #7 Canyon rd in Santa Fe - Buffalo sculpture -White front and dark back                                                    #8  pretty purple flowers outside one of the  galleries                                                                                   #9 fun sculptures outside one of the galleries                                                                                                 #10 sculpture at a Mo. reststop out of traffic barrels.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Downtown Santa Fe

Yesterday I spent 6 hours wandering the streets of downtown Santa Fe.  I can show you some of the pictures I took since Windows has decided to work today, yay.  Santa Fe is very friendly to people and dogs alike.  It is not unusual to see bowls with water for the dogs sitting outside the shops or inside their doorways and some of the galleries have glasses of water set out for people.  I did not see any misbehaved dogs and they are welcome in the shops.  I delight in looking at art that I cannot afford but can certainly enjoy viewing and getting inspiration from the shapes colors.You can find contemporay works,westerndesign, art noveau, and antiques.  Clothing stores abound and there are wonderful one of a kind creations, limited edition, and tourist clothing/tshirts.  Something for everyone.  I ate at the Coyote cafe cantina and had the navajo taco- pulled pork, roasted chicken, ground buffalo, lettuce, tomatoes, tucumcari white tangy cheddar, drunken black beans and chili on a thick tortilla (more like bread than the thin tortillas we normally think of for tacos).  Oh so good and filling-I wasn't hungry again until 7:30 pm and I ate at 11:30!!  I managed to eat 1/3 of the tortilla and most of the topping.  Pictures (someday I'll learn to write under them, maybe -lol) #1 Jill Gully, in Outback Fibers warehouse  #2 a gracious vendor at Estes Park wool festival who let me take her picture, I lover her hat-it has felted band with large embelishment    #3 & 4 downtown Santa Fe mostly adobe buildings No modern hi rises #5 my navajo tacl   

Outback Fibers -Estes Park Wool Festval

Got into Colo. Thur night and stayed in Colorado Springs. After turning on the tv in my motel room I was greeted by the weatherman talking about tornado,thunderstorm and flashflood warnings all in the area where I was staying and I looked at the sliding glass doors leading to the small patio outside my room and thought "not a good place to be in a tornado". None of that developed thankfully and Fri I went to "the middle of nowhere" ss Jill Gully had described where she now lives and has her business, Outback Fiber . I spent a delightful houur picking out fiber from her vast selection. My laptop has decided to not work so I can't post the picture I took of Jill in the warehous or any other pictures I have taken. I drove up to Ft. Collins where I was staying Fri/Sat (I couldn't find a room in Estes Park when I was making reservations. Sat I drove thru the montains along winding hairpin curves with a bubbling stream along the road and the occasional fisherman in the water-very picturesque and I could have enjoyed it more if I wasn't driving . I stopped periodically as I wasn't willing to take the curves as fast as the locals and some others. Looking up at the mountains makes you realize how small you are in comparison and marvel at the work that was done to put in the road. The wool festival wasn't as large as I had been expecting. There was only one building of vendors. I counted 51 vendors. Though not a large number of vendors all of the items for sale was of high quality. I was very pleased when a weaver of wonderful clothing (out of my price range) complimented me on the pin I was wearing (one I made with the handwveen fabric and beads and sell). I did find a number of different rovings that I had to have. On thhe way home I passed a Goodwill store and stopped by on a whim only to find a 1/2 price sale of everything going on. I was good and only bought 2 paperback books but I did find 1 silk blouse and 2 silk dresses to use for nuno felting. Today I am in Santa Fe,N.M. Will post more later this week.

Window Shopping Inspiration and Decadent Dessert

Yesterday I went to Traverse City to window shop and get craft supplies.  Found a pretty beige shirt/jacket with crochet embellishment and a lovely colorful long sleeve mesh top.  The beige on beige with the different crochet designs contrasting with the fabric worked well and could be used on many items we make or already have ie. shirts, jackets, purses, hats.  The crocheted motifs can be dyed to match or contrast the item they were embellishing.  The dyed shirt went from cool blue on the bottom to orange flames on top with pleasing graduation of the colors. (It looks like the shirt has woven sleeves but that is the  flowing vest that gives it that appearance).  Hope they inspire you to make something wonderful.                                          In a little walkway I saw a tree surrounded with knit/crochet and a sign saying it was a work in progress and to please respect that. Had seen pics on the web of similiar pojects but never in person. hearts have "I Love" messages embroidered on them, wonder if there are carved hearts under the knit panels. Have any of you seen similiar decorated items in your neighborhood or done a project like this?  Please share your story and pics.                                                                                                                                           Now on to the decadent dessert, I ate at Poppycocks on Front st. and noticed the pastry display when i entered.  Oh the eye candy, key lime pie, cakes, tarts, chocolate creations, creme brule.  I knew right away that I wanted dessert so only ate 1/2 of my parmesean crusted whitefish sandwich on sour dough even tho it was very good. It had tomato (would have sworn it was fresh from the garden if it wasn't May and too soon for that),lettuce, red onions, and a lemon leek aioli complementing the fresh fish.  I choose the polka dot chocolate mousse tart. It was layers of cake,strawberries,choc. mousse, choc. ganache 3" high wrapped in a shell of dark chocolate with white choc polka dots topped with a ring of  choc. and a fresh strawberry on top with whipped cream along side, Definite eye appealing presentation and so so rich and decant and delicious and worth every calorie.