The Surface Design Association online Scarf and Shawl Auction is open.

This is my favorite scarf. I am hoping the photography, which doesn't do it justice, will help me win this scarf at the SDA online Scarf and Shawl auction. The auction opened today. 80+ beautiful things.

Anyone can bid or buy. Check it out and have it fun.

NH Wool Arts Tour, ETC

Saturday was a beautiful day. The sky was alive with dark and white puffy clouds with the sun behind it. Occassionally it rained, no big deal.

I went for a new adventure. I decided to try a different route to Washington, NH. Washington is near President Franklin Pierce's home. Route 10 north is a ho hum ride but took a ride in Lempster and there I was, literally, at the base of a windmill. The windmill looks small from Route 10 but this is a huge piece of equipment, making electricity for some business. That windmill against the fall foliage was a sight to see.

From there, I landed in Washington at one of the stops on the NH Wool Arts Tour. Nice lady from Newport has her own dyed shetland type yarn for a 1.00 an ounce. Just couldn't plan then so she is a future trip! But I found two cute pairs of infant mittens for my twin GD. Can't beat the price of $6.00 each. Lunch of a Lamburger by the local historial society is always a treat.

Next stop was Deering. My first trip to Deering. Darling town. The Spinner Farm was fabulous and the scenery was breathtaking. Large barn with lots of horses and sheep and..... Open for stroking! Found a hank of fabulous rabbit angora merino mix. And the local alpaca farm was there. There yarn is yummy but that can be a local visit. Found a shop from Manchester selling Kauni. I had read a lot about it but now I can try it for a little should shawl. Oh, please give me time!

Then on to the Fiber Studio in Henniker, NH.

Henniker is a gem! Fabulous quilt shop: Quilted Threads, great restaurant: Daniels. A local college and fabulous scenery.

Fiber Studio has new owners and lots of stock. I met up with friends from the Granite State Knitters Group doing a demo.

From Henniker, I went to Concord where I got a great deal on tires for my car. Good bargains from the Land's End store.

Very productive and fun day!

The SDA Scarf and Shawl auction is in full swing. It goes live on November at http://surfacedesign.cmarket.com/ and then I can take a deep breath. 80 items and counting.

The scarves and shawls are fabulous. Check it out as the stuff is a steal!~ I will post some more links in a few days along with photos of my donation!

Surface Design Scarf and Shawl Auction

Oh my, my closet is full of the most gorgeous scarves and shawls, CDs and books. The Surface Design Association Auction opens for bidding November 1. I will post that link later. But for now, you can see a preview at photobucket. I will definitely be shopping there.

Green Trees Gallery

Saturday was the opening for a small exhibit about the Connecticut River Gallery at the Green Trees Gallery in Northfield, MA. I had two pieces of textile art with manipulated photos of scenes from Mt. Sugarloaf in Deerfield, MA and atop Little Monadnock in Fitzwilliam, NH. Both are favorite hiking spots!

This was a great Labor Day week-end as the weather was terrific. I had time for one last swim in Forest Lake. We stacked 150 bags of pellets - yes, I am ready for winter.

New garage door!

New kitchen window! Life is ok, now. I even had time to do some art! Alright!

Rachel's Quilt and Sweater

Finally, I finished one baby sweater and pantaloons for Rachel. Maria's is done but not assembled. These took forever! Knitting for twins is tedious! I am going to see the twins on Thursday and will also take Rachel's quilt with me. Maria's quilt isn't finished yet. This photo doesn't do it justice. Moses Quilt Shop did the quilting and the binding and they did a fabulous job.

I love creating this fabric for the quilt. This is my heirloom to these children.

Now on to my Berroco contest piece. It is coming along nicely. I will post it before I mail it later in August.

Fiber Art College

The Fiber Art College PR is in full swing! Here is an interview!

Walking up Fifth Ave in NYC, I had to notice the Bergdorf Goodman windows. Window shopping at its finest. This is the sort of creativity I admire. Sort of reminded me of Barney's in December! These windows were in support of the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, MD. Eash fashion designer had a special mannequin for a special garment. Perhaps they were for sale? Another project runway idea? Don't know but I did enjoy it.

Felt and Kaleidscope Quilts

Sorry - I am no damn good at getting photos in any order! Read below! Here at the top are two close ups of parts of the Yirt. I had to get "friendly" with the guard to achieve this!

All of the hype made me go! I took a Kuz Travel Trip to NYC to see the Felt exhibit at the Cooper Hewitt Museum. Run, do not stop - it is soooooo good.

The Yirt is most interesting. The wool is felted with several different fabrics: thus each panel is different. Here is a felt wall trim, a couple of fashion items, a chair and some yirt close ups.

One European artist statement stated she is not a fashion artist because her felt jacket has no seams!

Following that inspiration, a visit to the Apple Store - a sight to behold- I landed at the Museum of American Folk art to see the Kaleidscope Quilt exhibit. Paula Naderstern created these quilts at her kitchen table in a 2 bedroom apt in NYC (who needs a studio?).

This postcard is a collage of some of Paula's designs:

Finally - the Sun!

After weeks of unrelenting rain, the sun shone for three glorious days. First, two hours of swimming and relaxing at our local Forest Lake to start our holiday week-end. Then off to Northampton, MASS (see left). There was a hula hoop party at Town Hall! We visited New Century Theatre to see Other Peoples Money which was an excellent comedy.

In Full Bloom

Wish me luck as I try to be accepted to the show: In Full Bloom. Here are photos of my submissions. These were all done with deconstructed screen printing, machine embroidery and some hand embroidery. I have become addicted to the machine embroidery.

A rose is a rose is a rose!

Whirlwind week-end trip to MI

We left for Chicago Midway airport on Friday, the 5th of June with our ultimate destination as Kalamazoo, MI for a wedding. Upon arrival in Chicago we drove to WI to see our daughter and the new babies. So cute!

Saturday we drove to Kalamazoo for the wedding. My cousin, Daniel Eichinger married Katie Bentz. My "baby" brother was there - see him on the left - he thought wearing our niece's teddy bear to impress her, Kaylee, was cute! What do you think? You wouldn't guess that he is an Executive Vice President of a business in Silicon Valley, CA!

Niece Kaylee was at the wedding. She has beautiful eyes and a kalik like her father!

She was not impressed by her Uncle with the teddy bear on his head! Here is a distance shot of the couple taking their vows.

Tomorrow we are going to Chicago for a quickie visit to Sheboygan WI where we will see our granddaughter twins agains. Here is Maria with Beth - I think they look alike. She looks like Beth at 2 months.

Saturday we are driving to Kalamazoo, MI for a wedding, the son of my cousin, Judy.

Weather is so nice I would love to be on the lake in my kayak - next week maybe!

Surface Design Member Show

Last week at the Surface Design conference, Off the Grid, in Kansas City, MO there were many great activities and so little time. I stole a few hours to attend the Member show at the Belger Gallery. Kick me for not submitting a piece. Here are a few pieces and my photography does not do them justice.

The most inspiring lecture was by Ray Materson. A jailbird who created miniature embroideries in jail and made it big time. His book, Sins and Needles, is terrific. It just proves that anyone can succeed when we apply the energy correctly.

UFO's

We all have those UFO's. Unfinished Objects. I have been on a path to complete them. My latest is an orgami quilt square I started in a class a year ago when I took a class with Jennie Rayment.

This is a combination of my painted fabric and store bought fabric.

Now I am on the hunt for a coordinating batik which is very subtle and it is quicker to buy it. Next up, this will be a tote bag by week's end. In the interim I need to finish part one of my CYCA Crochet class. Hooray, things are happening.

Thread Painting!

Yes! It was a great artsy week-end. I did some new deconstructed printing and tried it on some t shirts for the first time. That was more difficult but I can make it beautiful, none the less.

After seeing a video and reading Terry White's book on Thread painting, I tried my hand at it. Yes, it was stressful but after 30 minutes I was so into it and relaxed. Look at this little thing!

I can't wait to try more.

This is a good way to use up those old Coats and Clarks threads, learn more about threads and buy more~superior threads.com here I come!

Happy Mother's Day to all you moms!

Creative Spurts

Wonder why I haven't been posting? For one thing, I have been creating for the newest family members - my twin granddaughters. Here is sweater no 1. No 2 is still being knitted!

I bought two books of French baby knitted designs from a lovely shop on Madison Ave last October. Everything in those books is terrific but there isn't enough time. Unfortunately, this photo could have better colors as the orange is nice soft peach which accents the sweater.

I will see these babies for the first time on April 8 so I need to finish the second sweater this week. Bye bye for now!

Brag night at Not Just Yarn

Here is a glimpse of my Wednesday night knitting social at Not Just Yarn in Brattleboro. This was brag night as several of my friends are making baby gifts for my granddaughters!

Art cloth round robin T Shirt

I joined an online group named complexcloth. It is artists who create art cloth using complex cloth techniques. Jane Dunnewold is the leader in this field. Her work is fabulous. Check her out at http://www.artclothstudios.com/.

Here is a photo of the t shirt in its 1st phase- died in MX Procion Lapis blue shibori style. 6 more people get to do their thing so wait and see - oh la la la!

Deconstructed Screen Painting

Finally, back to the studio! I spent last week- a few minutes here and there, preparing to do some deconstructed screen printing. Except for one piece, I love all the results.

Here are some photos of soda soaked pink dyed fabric. Ummm. I think this will become one of two baby quilts!

Fair Isle Handbag

My oh my, it feels good to finish a UFO! Here is my Fair Isle handbag. This was a KAL on the yahoo traditional knitting list. Liz Lovick created the Fair Isle pattern in a sport or fingering weight yarn. But this yarn is grown and spun right here in Cheshire County so I had to use it. And I didn't want a hat, I wanted a handbag. Thank you Liz for the inspiration and design.

Creating this was a good finishing lesson for me. I did icord bind off and finishing for the first time. Lovely and fun! Then I had to cast on stitches on the bottom to do an I cord seam - live and learn, I should have done that cast on with waste yarn - life would have been simpler.

I designed the front flap- nothing special - used my painted fabric that I planned to discard for the lining. Other things I planned and did were I reinforced the button hole with the blanket stitch. I purchased the handles and never before machine sewn those but I think, since there are no knitting police, this turned ok.

Ocho Rios, Jamaica

Christmas Day we left Logan Airport in Boston for Ocho Rios, Jamaica. This was our first trip to the Carribean. Learning about new cultures, food and having total relaxation was the reason for the vacation. It was an education. But the good food: Indian cuisine, Jamaican jerk chicken with some delicious rum drinks - oh my! And to sit on the beach and look at the beautiful water! Just a treat.

The houses all have wrought iron grilles. Some of the architectural details are very interesting. Their so called arts and crafts are all Indonsian imports. Didn't need to spend money there.

The gardens are fabulous. Their gardens are filled with our house plants (or maybe the other way around!)

Came home New Year's Eve to a snowstorm. No Problem, as they say in Jamaica!