favorite pictures

love this picture of Maui...  the view from the lanai of my condo...  May, 2012 - I needed to post this so I could look at it from time to time.  sigh!

During the slow time...

Sales and activity have been slow this last month.  I understand it's because of the time of the year. But I hear all the complaining, makes me wonder if it's more.  Well this is a good time to really start creating and getting ready for the holiday season. BUT first I need to create something for my granddaughter.

Kalyn is a 2 1/2 year old with so much charisma..  she melts my heart!  Anyway, a couple of weeks ago, my daughter, while shopping over on the Washington Coast, texted me this picture and said that Kalyn loves it:

the caption read: "she wants this... 33 bucks"..  so I wrote back "and are you asking me to buy it?" no, mom, make it...  My kids think I'm this miracle creator!!!  I also don't know how to say "no" especially when Kalyn wants it (yeah, she was begging mom, right...  I think it's "mom"who loves it!!! Kalyn is the best dressed two year old around!)

I went on a hunt for the fabric. Every fabric I found was dry clean only...  ha ha ha!  so I kept looking and this is what I found:

 I really don't know what the material is made of,  but first it's washable.  Second, it glitters! And it's a light weight knit fabric (I think it's the kind of stretch material used in dance outfits.  It's light weight and should gather well.)

Then I surfed the web/you tube for instruction on how to do ruching (the gathering on the bodice).  Looks easy enough...  so now I'm off to my machine.  Let's see if I can come up with something similar (though it definitely won't be exact) to the store version...  I'll check back in later this weekend with the results.

and other fun things...

I have an urge to learn new things, well actually to create new things in new mediums. Jack of all trades and a master of none!  Thought I would take a minute to share some of my other creations.

About 12 years ago I lost my job. Though that may sound tragic, it was blessing in disguise! I was able to go through a retraining program for web design and graphic design.  During that time I had an opportunity to take some art classes... black & white photography was the first. I won a scholarship for some of my pieces. Here's a print of Portland Oregon at night (I have a print of it for sale on Etsy)

Since it was an art scholarship, I was required to take an art class each quarter.  I tried drawing... and discovered I could draw (though no pictures to prove it!).  And then I discovered metal sculptures.  Ended up taking classes for a year.  loved it!  I'm not the best welder, but grind it down and it's called art! - well that works for me! here are some of my pieces:

Churn Dash wall hanging

Crazy Quilt 5' x 5' (frame 6' x 6')

Sunflowers - 5 to 6 ft tall

Tree of Life - with quilt (bird net & dragon fly too)

Close up of the quilt hanging from tree

another quilt using steel, copper & brass - all scraps

And the latest is fused glass. I only have one piece to show you.  I made a 1" square of fused glass.  My daughter was inspired to create a ring with it...  here's our collaboration:

side view

top view

It's been fun trying all sorts of art..  Next month I'm trying torchwork glass and borosilicate, should be interesting!  I'll try posting the results.


Don't be afraid to try something, you may be greatly surprised, and so much more enriched!

Looking for new ideas...

Hi! I've been very lax at writing in my blog, so once again I'm saying this...  but darn it! I'm going to follow through, starting with at least one blog a week...  I guess it's kind of hard to take the time to write these, and realize there isn't anyone reading it.  Well I need to make changes to that as well!

Etsy has been a fun creative outlet for me.  It's exciting that there are people who want to buy my product!  I am someone who needs to change things up too...  so I'm always looking for ideas that will be fresh and new but still cohesive with the rest of my shop.

This morning I went to my local craft store looking for some do-dads in the scrapbooking section.  Well darn if they didn't place something close by that would catch my eye.  A few minutes later I walked out with three Pashmina scarfs.  Now I have to admit, I don't know what Pashmina is, but these scarves are 100% of it!!  So on to discovery (it would have been smart to research before buying, but that would have been too much common sense on my day off!!!)  Here's a before picture - it even looks soft and luxurious!

I did find some information, I think...  Pashmina is a wool from goat, also considered cashmere.  Well there are so many things out there I really can't tell what it is... but it's really soft! (but no mention of cashmere on the label, so it's probably isn't!)  I'm going to try to dye it and see what happens... (that's a big what if...  not sure which type of dye to use...  I'll let you know what I find out). The other thing that I'm working on is felted soap with a batik gift bag.  I'm trying to dye the roving to be a close match to the colors in the fabric.  Here's a sample:

 ok, I'm off to the craft room for organization and creativity!

pooled knits

Have you ever knitted with a hand painted yarn and didn't care for the way the colors pooled? Unless you fuss with the yarn, it's a fact that it's going to happen.  Last July I went to a class at Sock Summit in Portland, Oregon.  It was a class on how to work the pooling to your benefit. If you're a member of Ravelry, here's a link to the group Pooled Knits.

It is amazing the results these ladies are getting with a little planning.  With a little preliminary swatching you can turn the pooling into gorgeous argyle or lace scarves with beautiful stripes. Rainbow Arches Pooling by Wenat.

This scarf inspired me.  So I've been hand painting my yarn with this design in mind. I'm dying the yarn across the hank so as to create a stripe. I'm trying to be creative in the color combinations, but is has been a challenge.  I know the colors I like, but will the customer like them?  This weekend I'm going to try a new approach to the color selection.  I'll let you know how it goes. You can see some of the yarns in my Etsy store.  Here are a couple of samples. one of them has sold, but I wanted you to see what to look for if you want to do the planned pooled knits.

Ok, now it's time for you to give this a try! I would love to hear about your adventures in color!

creating new items...

I was reading one of the many emails I get from Etsy...  (encouraging emails). One of the things it said was to find your own niche...  I'm finding there are a lot of people selling scarves and yarn...  so I wanted to find something that would make my store stand out...

the first thing I came up with is "felted" lamp shades...  today I posted my first two...

it's a learning experience but I'm thrilled with the results!...  and I'm ready to really break out and get more done..  I've got some more experiments in the works...  as soon as the wool is dry I can assemble and post on Etsy!!!  yeah!

a new direction...

I love participating on Etsy.com.  But I'm finding that my store really isn't standing out amongst the many other stores (I think there's over 1000 stores). This store is suppose to help me raise money to pay for my trip to Slovakia this summer (mission trip with my church to teach Conversational English).

There was a recent email from Etsy, encouraging us to find our own niche on Etsy...  so after looking at my stuff, I decided to make a little bit of a switch...  But how do I do that?  It has to be something that people want to buy (I guess that's a duh thought!)

If you don't know me, it won't take long for you to realize that I love to create!  I've always thought of myself as a little edgier...  love rust, sticks, amazing color...  this has brought me to welding, photography, texture (wool felting) and now hand dying (yarn, silk, fabric).  My full garage keeps me from welding right now (though I plan to change that soon), the weather has kept me from my photography of the NW, which leaves me with hand-dying.

Through lots of trials and errors, I think I've discovered the technique for my hand-dyed silk (I think of it as a "monet" watercolor style...  now I'm working on the colors...  some softer...  I'd love to do a beige, but edgy scarf.

Now my "new" item...  I've got an idea...  I'm using color, wool, silk, maybe even some mohair!  there's texture, light...  something for your home...  I can't wait to reveal it...  hoping for next week...   see you then!