Black Sheep Woolens

Admiration

2012-03-03T18:01:00.080-08:00

This post is l o n g overdue! It's a story that happened back in December of 2010. I made brief mention of it on our family blog and never took the time to get the photos uploaded. I have finally finished uploading them. With the class our guild had with Kerry Green this past week - I was inspired to share this. It seems many of us have fallen in love with embroidery and embellishing wool projects. As you will see, Sally should wear a crown in this arena. She is a master at it!

***

Mark & I have made several pilgrimages to Boston. We love it back there. We love the American History, the quaint architecture, the amazing restaurants and my family roots from the New England area. My mom grew up about and hour south of Boston. This December Mark attended a conference there and we went with our dear friends the Harkers. It was their first trip to Boston and we had a blast seeing it with new excitement.

Months before the trip I was doing some poking around online to see what was going on while we would be back there. To my surprise and delight I discovered one of my favorite artisans, Sally Mavor, would have some of her work on exhibit at Danforth Museum near Boston and she would be there doing a book signing while we were there! What a treat that day was! Stacey & I got ourselves train tickets to Framingham and after one wrong turn and a walk through a dicey neighborhood - we got ourselves turned around and enjoyed the sweetest afternoon. Photos do not do justice to her incredible work. Seeing it first hand was remarkable and I was even quoted in a local newspaper article!

We looked around the gallery while we waited for her lecture to begin. It was so captivating to study the beautiful three dimensional illustrations! They were incredible!

She was very warm and gracious as she chatted with us and signed books.

It was so fun to listen to her talk about her inspiration and the journey this project took her on.

If you have a few minutes - check out this link on Sally's blog. It will give you a peek into her studio and her thoughts.

Stitching With Kerry

2012-02-28T17:47:00.002-08:00

Busy days getting kits ready and searching for a rainbow of threads.

Our guild had visiting artist, Kerry Green teach a sweet class on embellishing.

We began our individual creations of these cute Blossom Sewing Tucks.

oops...getting side-tracked admiring Kerry's beautiful bag and bucket :)

A few of us brought little samplers we were working and soaked up Kerry's wonderful advise.

We enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere and found the rhythm of our stitching.

We enjoyed a little salad buffet for lunch and had great company as we stitched.

Here are a few close ups for reference as you ladies finish up your projects.

We'll be excited to see the finished sewing tucks and your smiling faces!

Thanks Kerry for a wonderful class and for your enthusiasm and patience!

So Many Projects...

2012-02-16T16:28:00.000-08:00

So little time!! Guess I better get myself better organized :)  I really can't believe this month is half way over.  We even get an extra bonus day - but I am the lucky one who has an appointment to have a root canal done that day. Yippee.  The studio has been well used this month.  Lots of wool dying and project days with friends...sleep overs with cute little grand kiddos and lots of pondering and sketching going on.

 Lisa taught us some fun new embroidery stitches 

to embellish our wool projects with. 

We are enjoying them so much!!

We sure know how to make a creative mess!

***

The latest pillow slips for Needles and Friends

I have enjoyed creating these each month and I am thinking

about putting a little book together with the patterns.
Two more projects to go!

***

"Nesting"

A new woolie project designed for a retreat I am
teaching for Peace By Piece next month.

And...if all goes well, we will be having an Spring Open House
in the studio next month...more info to come.

Color of the Year

2012-01-02T10:40:00.000-08:00

PANTONE announced their color of the year for 2012. Their choice is Tangerine Tango (17-1463) which according to their press release, is ‘a vivacious, enticing hue’ that will ‘provide the energy boost we need to recharge and move forward’. “Sophisticated but at the same time dramatic and seductive, Tangerine Tango is an orange with a lot of depth to it,” said Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute®. “Reminiscent of the radiant shadings of a sunset, Tangerine Tango marries the vivaciousness and adrenaline rush of red with the friendliness and warmth of yellow, to form a high-visibility, magnetic hue that emanates heat and energy.” As with their Color of the Year choices of Mimosa (a yellow) in 2009, Turquoise in 2010, and Honeysuckle (pink) in 2011, we can expect to start seeing a lot of orange in fashion and interior design in the new year.

Orange happens to be one of my very favorite colors! Lucky me :)

What do you think? Will it be popping up in your home and wardrobe?

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-09T21:11:00.000-08:00

The measurements and mini tutorial for the base pillow will be coming soon!

Autumn Open House Fun!

2011-09-24T08:28:00.000-07:00

We sure enjoyed our time with everyone at the Open House. It was so much fun to have our studio up and going! I was so busy that I forgot to pick up my camera and take photos! The scrap bins were a huge hit and so was the little make and take project...an adorable little needle felted snowman! I want to share the Zucchini Lemon Cookie recipe with you. They were really yummy! (As were the the other varieties, but so fun to have a new cookie flavor!) My heartfelt thanks to Ronda and her loving hours of service. She also shared some of her latest creations and we all enjoyed her beautiful hand work! My daughter had jaw surgery in the middle of all this ~ life happens. But things really went well ~ all things considered. I enjoyed getting feedback from people as to what they would like to see happen in the studio. It's nice to be finding a rhythm and getting a feel for how we can be a good resource to all those creative folks in our lovely valley.

Thank you for your support and encouragement!

Zucchini Cookies

Ingredients 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup finely shredded zucchini
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup raisins
Lemon Glaze:
1 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray a whoopie pie pan with nonstick cooking spray or line a regular baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or with a hand mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in egg, zucchini and lemon zest and vanilla.
3. In a medium bowl mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Stir flour mixture into wet ingredients until just combined. Fold in raisins.
4. Use a medium cookie scoop (1 ½ tablespoons) to drop dough into the center of each whoopee pie well or simply drop them directly onto the prepared cookie sheet. If you are using a cookie sheet, be sure to leave a few inches between each cookie.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool.
6. Make the glaze by mixing together the confectioners’ sugar, lemon juice and vanilla extract. Drizzle the glaze over cooled cookies.

Notes:

-If you are using a regular a regular sheet, your cookies will be a bit thinner than the ones pictured above.
-Store cookies at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
-Recipe adapted from allrecipes.com.

I found this recipe here. It is a wonderful blog for all things tasty :) I did use the whoopie pie pan and it yielded about 23 perfectly round cookies!

Open House Next Week!

2011-09-16T11:47:00.000-07:00

Autumn Open House at

Black Sheep Woolens Studio!

Tues. Sept 20th

4:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Wed. Sept 21st

10:00 am - 2:00 pm

We have been busy like a little bees...cutting, sorting and folding wool! Hope you can stop by and see our new room and stock up on wool for some fall and winter projects.

If you have a pattern you need a kit for, bring it over and we'll help you get just what you need for it.
Try your hand at needle felting or hooking a rug!
As always...we will have treats!

Parking is a little limited but you can park on the road and walk up the hill if the driveway is full.

Call for directions or send me an email. (Address on Sidebar)

435.755.5906

Attention Chicks from Needles & Friends:

If you signed up and paid for a Button Jack kit at Needles and Friends this past week, we will have those available for you. *I also have better reference drawing for the Button Jack that you can pick up. I forgot to sketch in the vines. And...I forgot little brown strip for the vine the bird stands on. Sheesh! I had too much on my mind and struggling with some jet lag when I put that kit together...so sorry!

Jack Button Pillow Slip

Where Did Summer Go?

2011-08-24T19:27:00.000-07:00

A new venture...an account with Moda. We have two more shipments coming our way in this fall.

We are excited to start creating some new projects that will mix wool with cotton.

***

I was able to make two quilts for a sweet friend's two daughters this past month. I loved creating them! They are full of color, life and energy just like the cute couples they went to. Sue Badley did a wonderful job quilting them...in record time, I might add. I was under the gun to get these finished. They were both pieced in about 4 or 5 days.

For Carlos & Kasey....
"Facet" from one of Kaffe Fassett's books.
Kasey loves the colors of a peacock and especially purple.

I started with a jelly roll of batiks and then went form there. Really fun to work with all of the fabrics that worked their way into this quilt.

Below is the back. I offset the strip of birds down the length of the quilt.

Samantha had given me this picture from an Anthropolgie Catalog:

Her color requests were green with a little rust and a modern feel.

For Samantha & Brandon:

I used this pretty tree motif for the backing and gave it a border all

the way around so it can be reversed for a more quiet look.

Here is a photo of the quilts at their twin open house last week. Congrats to both couples!!

The summer has been very full of busy weeks and travel and family. Fall is in the air at night now. I am looking forward to some new projects I have underway. I am so happy to be settling into my new studio. It's a great space!

International Quilt Market 2011 Salt Lake City

2011-05-16T11:40:00.000-07:00

Lindsey and I enjoyed a day of classes and getting to know some of the designers better.

So much creativity and inspiration everywhere we went. Anna Maria Horner gave everyone in class a cupcake.

Lindsey was smitten with this pillow and everwhere you looked there was handwork and embroidery embellishing quilts and pillows and home dec. items.

We met Sarah Jane, a local designer who is a children's book illustrator and young mom. How do they do it all? Her work was wonderful!

Paula Prass is a favorite of mine. She talked to us about the process of designing a line of fabric. It was very interesting to hear about. She handpainted a lot of her art work. It was gorgeous. AND...see that little piece of fabric in the bottom right hand corner of the photo? I won it! I am in love with this piece called Wing Study from her newest line. Paula is a darling lady.

This is right after sample spree Thurs. night. We had a blast shopping and looking at all the goods. Emily found an adorable bracelet and cute purse and Lindsey and I stocked up on jelly rolls and fat quarter bundles. We are really happy about some of the new patterns we found.

Friday we spent the morning taking in as many booths as we could.

Here is Paula's booth. She used my favorite piece of fabric to cover this chair seat.

We were so very impressed with Edyta Sitar. She is a very warm and genuine person as well as a very talented designer and teacher. She has a passion for her work and it shows. She is eager to share everything she has learned with you. She has designed some gorgeous batiks and the way she mixes them with other cotton fabrics is magical.

Edyta's Booth ~ Laundry Basket Quilts.

Sandi Henderson

So many quilts to enjoy and be inspired by.

This booth was serving sorbet :)

Looking down into the vendor area...sooo much to see. It is overwhelming.

One last designer I wanted to touch on is the very talented designer of Don't Look Now. I think her name was Kellie and she is from the land down under. Her booth was incredible to see and I didn't have my camera when I went back to get some of her patterns. You can visit her blog here and I would highly suggest you take a peek. One of my favorite pieces was a framed family tree. The background she used was copies of her daughters favorite story book pages as a child. It is the sweetest idea ever! Her work is executed meticulously and is so colorful and vibrant!

The little pocket project is called "25 More Sleeps" and is the cutest little advent calender.

The exciting thing for us was chatting with the Moda reps and deciding to look into getting an account with them so we can order fabric to use in kits with our wool. Lindsey and I are looking forward to designing some new projects. Since market I was able to meet with the reps in my home and I have placed my first order. We are also ordering some silk fabric to try some overdying on that. Exciting things in the works!

Color of the Year

2011-03-04T12:11:00.000-08:00

I never realized that there was an actual color of the year. I just thought that with each new season there were new trendy colors. I am liking this color of the year. It will be fun to incorporate it into my business. Last year the color of the year was Turquoise. It was a hot color in the fabric industry and I certainy dyed my fair share of it. This year we have....

I love this! I will be working on some yummy formulas that I can dip my wool in. I can hardly wait to get started! I wonder who gets to pick the color of the year and what the runners up were? I tell you...you learn something new every day. Too bad I'm so slow with the cutting edge most of the time... Hope you find a fun little shade of honeysuckle in an item for yourself or your home that you adore! Happy hunting! Are those pink boots the cutest things EVER?

Miss Rosie

2011-02-06T21:05:00.000-08:00

The last post seemed kinda crazy to me...so I thought I would save the post about Miss Rosie for a post all it's own. It's always fun to meet someone "famous". Carrie was at Winterfest as the visiting national teacher. You can visit her web site here. I really enjoyed her trunk show and chatting with her on the last day. Happy for me, some of my wool went home with her in her suitcase. I wish her success and also some quiet time admist her crazy busy schedule. She is a lovely person.

Miss Rosie from the famed Schnibbles patterns shared some pretty sweet quilts with us and and great stories, too! I was most impressed with her generosity after the show. She told eveyone they could come and examine the quilts on the table and ooh and awe over the beautiful machine quilting her quilters had done on the quilts. She adds some great little thoughts as labels on the back of some of her quilts.
Loved that!

Loved being inspired.

Carrie is in the black vest - I thought this candid shot was perfect!

She loves to chat with the girls.

Wow. What A Week!

2011-02-06T20:18:00.000-08:00

Chrysanthemum Pillow

Last Tuesday I got to tote some of my wool scraps to our Needles & Friends

guild class. My cute friend Kris (center photo) was teaching. She found the most beautiful

pillow at Anthropologie and worked with the most talented Jessica (bottom left) who

drew up the design for her! It was a great class the pillows everyone were creating

will be stunning. They will be using little scraps of wool as well as scraps of upholstery

fabrics. I am the very happy owner of the cream one Kris is showing in the photo. It was the best Christmas gift ever!

Winterfest 2011

We enjoyed our time at Winterfest - a quitling retreat attended by over 100 wonderful, happy and creative ladies. It was great to observe and meet some very sweet people. We learned a lot about the crazy fun industry of quilting and quilters. Love those girls at the Corn Wagon who were wonderful "neighbors" and Molly's BFF's. Daniels Summit was a beautiful place.

We were able to work on some projects during our down time.

It's never too early to start working on something for Christmas!

Thursday morning was one of the most beautiful mornings I ever seen!

We left Midway just after 7:00am and the entire valley looked like this.

Absolutely spectacular.

The girls from Pine Needles

Little Miss Molly - just happy to be with all the ladies toting around

her mommy's purse.

The Lazy Daisy Cottage...all the way from St. George.

I didn't really get any great photos - my camera's battery died

shortly after we arrived and I didn't bring the charger. Yea for

the cell phone camera. This was our corner of the room.

The insides of one of my kits :)
Lesson learned: The ladies to love to buy a kit!

Winterfest Is Coming!

2011-01-19T06:21:00.000-08:00

I will be one of the vendors at Winterfest this year. It's held at Daniels Summit.
I have never been able to attend before so I am looking forward to it.
I'm still very new to the retail side of this business. I have been working
on some kits, a few new designs and dying LOTS of wool!
In my head there are visions of how I should set up my booth.
Should be fun and a great learning experience for me.

A couple of mixed media projects I have been fiddling with:

Creating

2011-01-15T10:42:00.000-08:00

This is a new friend of mine. She came over this morning to pick out some wool with her mom. Rachel is an adorable little girl with a gift to create. I gave her a bag and let her choose some of her favorite pieces out of one of my scrap bins. They have plans of creating bracelets and wool cuffs..maybe some stuffed animals or scarves. They will embellish them with embroidery. The sky is the limit! She told me about the cute baby quilts her mom had made for gifts. Its so exciting to watch people who have bin bitten by the creative bug. It brings me such joy. Children are delightful to watch as they create. I showed her how to make a little dimensional flower and before they left she had the little rolled flower down pat. This is why we are remodeling the studio, so we can have lots of space to create and learn new things from each other.

I love this definition of creating:

1. to cause to come into being, as something unique that would not naturally evolve or that is not made by ordinary processes 2. from one's thought or imagination, as a work of art or an invention..
W

Each of us are unique and have our own way of seeing the world and expressing ourselves. It makes the world a wonderful place to be. These quotes are nice to ponder. Its a gift to have time to ponder.

"As the season of believing seems to wind down let me gently remind you that many dreams still wait in the wings. Many authentic sparks must be fanned before passion performs her perfect work in you. Throw another log on the fire."
- Sarah Ban Breathnach

“Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun.”

- Mary Lou Cook

“There is no doubt that creativity is the most important human resource of all. Without creativity, there would be no progress, and we would be forever repeating the same patterns.”

- Edward de Bono

“Everyone who’s ever taken a shower has had an idea. It’s the person who gets out of the shower, dries off and does something about it who makes a difference.”

- Nolan Bushnell

It is good to feed our souls daily.

Happy Birthday Black Sheep Woolens!

2011-01-13T12:37:00.000-08:00

It's hard to believe that I have been plugging along with this little business for 8 years now! Its an adventure for sure but a very enjoyable ride. I have begun to do a little design work and develop some patterns...very s l o w l y. I have grown out of the second room (first a bedroom, then the room over the garage) in our home and we are currently underway with a very exciting remodel of our studio! I used the word "our" because it is very much a family venture. We have creative souls amongs us and it has become evidient that we all need some elbow room! The wool is taking over. So I will keep you posted on the updates.

Dying wool is very satisfying. Its a study of color everytime I start stirring things up in the kitchen. In the past I have sold my wool wholesale to quilt shops but have recently done a little retail out of my home. With the new studio, there should be plenty of room for teaching classes and creating! I love sharing the art of stitching and creating the most!

I felt like it was finally time to step out into the world. I'm hoping time will allow to keep this blog up. I certainly enjoy my time visiting others!

Welcome!