Missouri's Best Kept Secret.

Because balls. And beads.

Beaded edge on felt coaster. A nice finish.

Wool, silk, and copper. Small, about 2" by 3"

Wool, silk, glass beads. About 2.5" square.

Terrible photo of a lovely bunny. Light gray at my back porch.

Tough guy narcissism.

Felt hat, second version, with cockade. 

Small felt pin

Shawl pin. Really a neat idea. Third attempt nailed it.

I gave my natural dye talk and demonstration yesterday at the Art Center. I was able to
speak coherently for 45 minutes.

Passed out from life.

I found this great table last weekend! Finally a place to mount my vises. And keep my drum carder. And all my little felt bits. Also, cat.

So somewhere in transit, I lost the gray and red hat shown previously. So I made another, better one that looks just like it. But better.

I have been making felt rope things. These fellas are bookmarks. 

And these are future spikes for a cat cave. I once said I would never make a cat cave, but well, these are the perfect decoration. I'm not sure what the green bean-like things will be.

The spikes are lengths of roving with wool yarn wrapped around before felting. I like the technique.

$8 a month

Flowers and Dragon Eyes from today's class of eight. (!)

,

And this? Is a hat, a toque if you will. It looks really cool in real life, on a real person. I will add some decoration
 but I don't know what just yet. It makes me happy.

Hold it with your thumb.

I had an anxiety attack last night, and didn't get to sleep until 2:00. I am writing this because it is remarkable, in the old sense of 'worth noting,'  because I have been feeling so well lately. It was the old bogie man of self-doubt, and the voices played on a continuous loop - I should have done this, why did I do that, why did I say that, I can't possibly do this and so on. Today, I feel fine and am preparing for class tomorrow at Hillcreek Yarns in Columbia, where I will teach my Felted Flower Class, with a bit of Dragon Eye thrown in. Everything is in order, and I am sure it will be super. Also, I am looking forward to getting paid. 

I am working on a few new things, one being this felted bracelet.

Clicking embiggens. It's an idea in progress.

Also, made two new berets. Haven't made a hat in a long time, so it was fun. I have been trying to work with the idea that, as in opera, More is More, so I am adding beads and layering different elements. 

I hope to teach this in Fulton before Christmas, at the Art House.

I have always personally favored simplicity, so it has been hard. I feel clumsy. Maybe that is where the anxiety is coming from.

Here is a purse from last week. I don't know. It's colorful and busy, but not my style. I do like how I did the handles, though. 

Whenever I make felt rope, I am reminded of the opera singer from The Fifth Element. 

Blue Bird of Happiness

Class is over and I am home. I feel competent enough to clean and lube a machine, to set the hook timing, and change out a few parts here and there. I am not ready to totally disassemble and reassemble a machine. Out of four machines, I have made two whole again. Another is a puzzle, and another needs a part that I don't feel comfortable changing out just yet. So, I guess I should be happy with that - but I'm not. But I will get over it.

Thornton, from Canada, Ray White, Billy from South Carolina, Amanda from the Penland School of craft, David from Knoxville. Not shown is William from Illinois. 

Ray White, Instructor.

As I look at these pictures, and remember the progress the other students made, I do feel better about what I accomplished. I was right up there with them in most things, so maybe with some time and more and different machines under my belt, I will feel more competent. (I hate being and/or feeling incompetent. I want to be head of the class. I want to be the smartest, and it's a blow to my pride when I am not.) I was a solid B student and I got my certificate.

The red socks are knit. These are from yarn I dyed last fall. They have gone to a friend with size 10 feet.

I heard sad news from a friend over the weekend. He and his wife came home from their lake cottage to find their 24 year-old son dead from a heroin overdose. My friend had told me his son had talked suicide at times, but he was in therapy and on medication for depression, so he was hopeful that his son could get well. He also told me his frustration about that son, who couldn't seem to finish projects or stay out of trouble or keep a job. His other son was never a problem - good grades, good kid, good worker, good husband, good father. It makes me sad and I feel their pain. It's horrible. I know he wonders what he could have done to prevent this tragedy. My friend said he is sure it was an accidental overdose because he had bought new speakers for his car that morning and was making plans for the future and he had been doing better and all that. And I won't tell him otherwise, but I doubt it was an accident.

This comes 6 weeks after another friend lost her 18 year-old son in a truck crash. So much sadness.

Y'all come back now, ya hear?

Here I am in beautiful downtown Pilot Knob, Missouri, in my motel room. Sewing machine repair school begins tomorrow. I am excited.

Also, grateful to my guild, The Columbia Weavers' and Spinners' who have kicked in $1000 toward my tuition and expenses. If I eat frugally, (there is a fridge and a micronuke in the room, I may not be out much, out of pocket. I have promised to give a program about the history and mechanics of the sewing machine, and to also hold several free or low-cost clinics for guild members.

I have a borrowed MacBook. I have wifi. I am set.

Now with More Flavor!

I keep making things. But Blogger has decided I can't upload photos.

And now Blogger cooperates.

Layers of adornment.

Another purse thing, this time with no flap and different handles.

And felt lariats. I have made more and better since I took this shot this morning. 

I messed around with wire working, but I think the flowers are better.

I have another purse drying downstairs in the basement. I am worried that the basement is too cold for felting, as I am having all sorts of little problems working down there. I can just as easily, and maybe betterly, make things at the kitchen table, but I have gone to some trouble to make that space livable. Anyway, the new lariats look much nicer than these two.

News is that I have been contracted to teach 3 different felting classes at the Art House in Fulton, beginning in October. They requested a bio and a headshot, (almost wrote head shop,) so I asked an actual photographer to shoot me. 

I liked this shot the best.