Our local coop is coming!

Our local coop is coming! Hopefully summer of 2012! Right in downtown Keene!

A walking I will go!

If you live near Keene, check out their website. Let's support the locals!

A visit to Pennsylvania

Since I have a new life with 4 day week-ends, not by choice, for sure, I thought I should head south and check in on the elderly folks.

They live in Lancaster, PA. But what to do to have some fun on the way?

Check out Goggleworks in Reading, PA.

Goggleworks is an old factory which made glass lenses and goggles. There are 6 buildings of art. One is a glass hot shop; one is ceramics, one is a theatre of sorts, lots of parking, interesting art a facts in downtown Reading now. Goggleworks is a lovely facility of 60-80 art studios, mostly painters. There is a fine craft gallery, too. What a gem!

The only bad thing today was the heat! My car thermometer said it was 102 o F until I arrived in Lancaster at 1pm. Tonight it is still 90 oF. Enough already.

Yes, there are classes. I plan to inquire about their artists in residence program. What a great use of a government grant. And Reading is now a thriving city!

Many changes happening

We moved, in April, to a new/old house on School St in Keene. The house was built in 1827 and has a historical story, according to the newspaper. The builder owned the Keene Sentinel, the local newspaper.

We are still adapting as lots of work has to be done. The second floor will be my art studio. The second floor is a mess with boxes. Soon after we moved we went abroad on vacation. More about that coming soon.

But living in downtown Keene is terrific. We walk everywhere. Our green footprint is growing. When we lived in Winchester, we put about $80.00 a week into our gas tank. That is one month's budget now! One car will go soon.

The end of a snowy winter

What does one do when it snows and snows and snows? We had a whole years' of snow in two months this year. And this week-end we were blitzed again. The Snow thrower broke! No time to clean up so hire someone and run into the studio.

AHHH...it was a wonderful week-end. I created some baby clothes to sell at the Walpole Artisan Cooperative in Walpole, NH.

And while I was at it, I did two little jackets for Rachel and Maria. Those twins are so cute. Counting the days til I see them in April!

Twined knitting

Although I am doing two art journals, filled with family art memobalia I found the time on Saturday to take a class on Twined knitting. Taught by Beth Reinsel-Brown, one could not ask for more information. We saw photos of the old Swedish knitting and samples Beth brought to us. One interesting piece showed a sweater with the knitted sleeves sewn into an embroidered garment - all done by an expert tailor. It was amazing.

This photo is of Beth's fingerless mitts.

The class was at Knit or Dye www.knitordye.com in Brattleboro., VT, a lovely shop on Main St.

Brattleboro is a lovely town. Think shop small - lots of fun shops, a good bakery, restaurants, the Brattleboro Food Coop.

Artist Cards

Its a new year and time to do some new things. I did just that. I created more than 10 artist cards. They are so carefree and fun. Easy to make, easy to give.

Having a Pfaff embellisher really makes my life a pleasure. I don't know how I lived without it! I know it is hard to see in this textile postcard. However, I put various painted fabrics onto an iron on pellon, then put down some wool with cut up angelina. Over that, I put an odd shape scrap of nylon netting. Under the embellisher it went to keep it in tack. Works like a charm. So easy, quick and fun.

Glimmering Gone

I was very surprised on Friday when I received a package from the Museum of Glass www.museumofglass.org/in Tacoma, Washington.

Glimmering Gone is the latest exhibit that Beth and her friend, Ingalena Klenell have done. It is a fabulous exhibit. The book: Glimmering Gone was in the package. It is a fabulous book! http://www.amazon.com/Glimmering-Gone-Ingalena-Klenell-Lipman/dp/0295990805/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1294070331&sr=8-4