Thank You!

A very big THANK YOU to everyone that stopped by our Fall Open House!  

It was a beautiful day inside and out! 

My family is amazingly supportive and I couldn't have done it 

without them and some very sweet friends!  Thank you!!

Mark helped me hang a few quilts outside on the house an in the trees.  

I just never have time to snap like I should on these busy days!  

Thank heavens for our cell phones!

The quilt hanging by the front door was made by my sweet friend, Jolene.

The rest hung were mine with the exception of the antique ones who were made by 

Mark's great grandmother!  Such treasures :)

We had a mini trunk show from a designer I just recently discovered, Sandra at 

1894 Cottonwood House

I still have a few kits left of her Celebration's project hanging in the window above this photo.

You meet the nicest people in this industry!!

Can you believe it's already time to start thinking about projects for Christmas?

At least for me it is, if handmade gifts are involved!!

These are the cutest little acorns ever!  Pattern by Wooden Spool Designs
Modified a wee bit by me, adding wooden stems.

A special thank you to dear friends who let me borrow projects 

they have beautifully stitched for  samples!

Leslie B. made Autumn Reflection by Lily Anna Stitches

Lisa F. stitched the darling With Thy Needle project by Buttermilk Basin

Kaye N. let me borrow her playful Cold Days table runner

And Jolene H. generously shared anything she had 

that she thought I might could use!

(and I don't have photos of all of them here)

I thought I better post a photo or two of the samples 

I made up for our thank you gift.

I wanted to share where I took my inspiration for these little projects...

Ya gotta love Pinterest!

 This photo linked back to  Winding Vine Wanderings Her blog is so much fun!!
 I think she did such a beautiful job with these!!
I loved the wool on the ticking!!

At the Open House we gave everyone a little bag of inspiration with an 8 x 10 piece of 

ticking, two die cut leaves, an acorn and piece of pretty yarn to play with!

The little one shown above is in a 5 x 7 frame and the one below is an 8 x 10.

We hope we inspired you to start feathering your nest for the holidays and to get going on...

(Little Witch was an Etsy treasure I found a few years ago) 

the best kind of gifts you can give...

(Pincushion was a gift from Carol A. her own design)

 Handmade with love!

Hope to see you soon!  xo

Fall Open House

Wow!  How do our calendars fill up like they do??  This year our Fall Open House almost didn't happen.  I looked at my calendar in August and thought there is just no way! I have had so many inquire of the date that I decided to see if there was any way possible to pull it off.  I'm going to give it my best effort!  It is always so rewarding to see what you are working on and share some of the beautiful shades of autumn through wool!  It is energizing to share this studio with so many creative souls. I'm thinking simple yet inspiring.  Prayers and positive vibes can be sent our way :)  We are really looking forward to some time with each of you darling wool gatherers...

Friday September 25th

10 am - 2 pm

Black Sheep Woolens Studio

Fall Open House

...I will keep you updated on our progress!

Sunflower

Those cool nights are signaling one of my favorite times of the year!!  

I curled up for a few hours with my sketchbook, wool and needle & thread this past week.  

This is what I came up with.  

Kit and pattern for Sunflower will be available in my studio and on our website. September 1st.

It really works up quickly and is something you can leave out September thru November!

Happy stitching everyone xo

Rejuvenated!

Well, I have really been missing in action here!
Taking the summer off from a lot of business stuff has been really rejuvenating for me.
It feels great to be back to work in the studio.  Lots of ideas percolating :)

We got to take an amazing trip to Italy this past June.

We loved every minute of it! Cinque Terre is so unique.

There were quiet places filled with color and inspiration at every turn.

The trip was centered around cycling for Mark.  It was a trip he has been dreaming of for years.

I was lucky enough to go and enjoy the sites and time with him...and make art :)

Venice was like a dream and I hope we can go back one day.  

There is so much to explore!

Probably the most romantic place I have ever been.

I got to wander around the small towns and sketch and watch the people and take hundreds of photos!

The Northern area of Italy where Mark did all of his riding was magical.  

It the boasts the highest number of castles anywhere in Europe.

The scenery was truly breathtaking.  

These Alps would swallow up the Tetons.

Seeing his smiling face as he rode up these amazing climbs was the best view ever!

Getting away anywhere is always inspiring!

I'm feeling very blessed.

Cycling Quilt for the Tour!

My dear friend, Carol and I got to collaborate on a quilt for the winner of the Women's Edition: Tour of Utah Criterium Classic race.  It was a great opportunity that stretched us both.  My inspirations was a stock photo of a man cyclist.  I morphed it into women racers and left the background wide open for Carol's magical quilting!  She did a fantastic job!

It was a big day for Logan to open the Tour of Utah this year!  Lots of excitement and bustling town!

Unfortunately the weather was pretty wet, but it didn't stop these cyclists!

Here the men head up the canyon to Bear Lake.

This is Allie Dragoo. She will finish first!! She was uncatchable.  

She is breezing through before her last lap.

Carol's quilting is just spectacular!

On the winners podium.  You can see my watch and Carol's feet behind the quilt :)

We got to go up on the podium and hold the quilt during the winners presentation.  Here Allie posed with us in her yellow jersey!  Pretty awesome!  She told us her mom or grandma quilts (don't remember now!) so she really appreciated it :)

In The Studio Today

Oh, my trusty cell phone!  The light is so pretty in the studio this afternoon.  

I am finally finding a little time to finish up a few projects today!  

They are long over due for completion.

 The Ring Around the Rosies Pillow will be available on the website sometime next week.  The fun thing about it is all the pieces are die cut and ready to stitch!!  We sold a few kits for this at our Spring 2014 Open House.  I had another look at it this morning and decided to make the four corners with the same size flowers and throw a little embellishing with embroidery and felted wool balls. I love how it turned out.  I'm thinking it might have been better on a larger background so it isn't so crowded.  I am always learning from my work.  It's a good thing.  I think the kits will have a little bit bigger background piece :)  I'm so tickled with the the texture on this little pillow.  It is just bursting with joy.  The embroidery only took me 75 minutes - I timed myself!  And that was with the TV on.

And... Monday I picked up my applique quilt from a friend who did such a beautiful, thoughtful job quilting her!  I'm in love!  I'm hoping to get the tiny little red binding sewn on this afternoon.  It was so much fun cutting into that scalloped border!  I'm getting antsy to finish her up and toss her the washer and dryer to see how puckered and vintage-y she comes out.  There are hours and hours of hand applique on this quilt.  It was a group project I did with my Purple Cats group y e a r s ago!  Realizing that I would probably never get to hand quilting her,  I decided to bring her to completion!  My daughter E is going to cringe if she reads this, don't think she is a fan of personifying quilts :)  I am just pretty attached to this sweet little quilt.  Lots of memories.  Every quilt has a story.

A these little birds!!  

I stitched them up over the weekend and they are now ready 

to be strung up with baubles and beads.  

They just make me smile!  

We have had requests for kits so watch the website for their debut.  

Happy Stitching, everyone!  I know my yard and garden

will be calling me very soon!  I'm enjoying the rainy days.

No Fooling

The studio willl be closed today. I had to leave town to help family. I will be available tomorrow, April 2nd. Sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused you.

Be Brave

Guild: an organized group of people who have joined together because they share the same job or interest; especially: an association of people who made and sold goods in the middle ages.
                                                                                                                                         ~Websters

So there you go! Guilds have been around for a long time.

I especially loved this definition from Guild.com

"We create environments and experiences that evoke creativity and inspire interaction through technology, art, architecture and the intersections between."

That is my hope in my wanderings with my little business and studio:  To create an environment and experiences that evoke creativity and inspires interaction one with another.  I feel it actually blesses our lives to share and work beside one another.  I believe teaching can profoundly affect the teacher and the student.  It is a glorious thing that causes such growth and admiration.

My experience at the workshop put on by Utah Rug and Fiber Guild with Diane Stoffel.

               

So above are my two inspiration pieces.  We fell in love with the gorgeous painting

at the Museum of Art at BYU a couple of years ago.  

(The Agony in the Garden by Danish artist, Frans Schwartz, 1898) 

They had an amazing exhibit of alter pieces from Europe.  

It is such a beautiful piece.

The print size we chose is too small to stand alone 

so I decided to create a little gallery wall in our living room.

What to pair with a painting of Christ?

I decided on the tree of life and small watercolor of 

a sheep that I we bought from a friend years ago.

The collection of trees above were inspiration for the little piece I would be

hooking at the workshop. Using the colors and shapes to create my representation of theTree of Life.

I had my work cut out for me since I really only had a vision and no "plan".  As you can see below, most hookers will begin with a well drawn out design and then work on the color planning.  I hoped that the teacher would have guidance for me! And lots of patience :)

I got right to work.  I believe when you create from the heart something special happens and 

it is a very neat process to work through.  I knew in my mind and heart what I hoped this 

tree would "feel" like.  I  wanted something organic and watercolor-like. 

Shelley is working on a little rug of one of her darling Alpaca's.  

She is was an inspiration because she is just a beginner and is jumping right in with both feet!

And one day I hope to be able to show you Marliss's Mermaid!  She was so fun to sit by :)

In settings like these you find heart touching stories that inspire works of art out of love.

I don't know the very details of Michelle's story, but that she lost a darling baby boy

at the tender age of 7 months.  He would have been 23 this year.  

One of her dear friends' husband is a very gifted artist and he drew this rug

design for her.  (This friend is a remarkable artist in her own right!!)

For the story goes that they nick named their dear baby boy, the Tin Man,

because he needed a heart that worked.

This piece will be a treasure!

We took a some time to look at the progress of each other's rugs.  

Some prefer not to have their work online and I respect their wishes.

Gayle is whom I credit introducing me to this fine Guild in Utah.

We met each other through our blogs :)

So lots of teaching and demonstrating and hours of time on our rugs.
Diane had an interesting philosophy with her teaching.  She didn't bring her
own rugs to show and I was quite surprised by that.  In her cute New England way, she said, "What would the purpose of that be?  It's one thing to show you I know how to do what I am trying to teach you - but the important thing is to get each of you to do what I try to teach you."

I have thought about that a lot over the past few days.  

It makes complete sense to me now, and I love it!
It's like teaching a man to fish rather than feeding him, right??
It is the hope I have when I try to teach others.  

Encouraging them to do their own thing, find their own voice.  

Be brave.  

It isn't easy to do as a teacher or as a student.  

But when it happens, it is glorious! 

A gathering of like-minded people.  

Such an inspiring place to be!

Where people like Pat give hours of their time and creativity.

Little surprises were shared with us over the three days with the Cape Cod theme.

Pieces finally completed get cheers from everyone!  

Beautiful job, Lisa!

Dedicated people who show up with a smile on their face

despite the fact that they are not feeling up to being out of bed.

Londi and Pat are incredible organizers!

And in the end there are friendships formed and mentors made.  

We have so much teach each other and so much to learn from each other.

I encourage you to get out there and do something you love.

Be Brave!

It will be worth it.

Thank you, Diane - you have taught us so much from your heart!