Miss Rosie

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 amidst 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 everyone 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.

What A Week! Winterfest 2011

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 was 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.  I loved those girls at the Corn Wagon who were wonderful "neighbors" and my granddaughter Molly's BFFs. 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 saw!

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.  Yay 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!

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. It should be fun and a great learning experience for me.

Here are a couple of mixed media projects I have been fiddling with:

Creating

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..

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!

It's hard to believe that I have been plugging along with this little business for 8 years now! It's 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 among us and it has become evident that we all need some elbow room! The wool is taking over. I will keep you posted on the updates.

Dying wool is very satisfying. It's a study of color every time 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!