Whitman Craft Fair December 5

Lots of surprises and two hours of shopping fun on the Whitman College Campus Monday December 5.  We'll be there with our Finch & Leigh wares to share.

11th Annual Mighty Tieton Holiday Crafts and Antiques Bazaar

We're off to our favorite 

Bazaar of the the year! 

Mighty Tieton 

Holiday Crafts and Antiques Bazaar

December 3

Tieton WA

We're bringing lots of good things......

• 100% wool dryer ball sets
• Embellished wool mittens
• Three new series of brooches
• Needlefelted wool ornaments 
• Holiday JOY doorway garlands with beads, balls, buttons and wool hand applique
• Bags and pouches
• Special Wool hand appliqued Angel, Snowman and Dove ornaments

New Brooches

Working on Brooches...no two are a like...having fun....So much to get done.....gotta run!

Hand dyed wool in Fall colors

New hand dyed wool just in time for Fall. Oh the possibilities are endless. Finch is posting these in our Etsy store this week. 

She had tried a new supplier and received natural wool fabric from Dorr Woolen Mills. It has a lovely feel after dying, washing and felting process is complete. 

Repurposed wool over-the-body bag

This over-the-body bag was a special request from a friend who loves sweaters.  She started with re-purposed wool from my felted sweater collection, and then we selected hand dyed felted wool for the body of the bag.  I just love this bag pattern.  I've made it half a dozen times this year.  It's got a pocket on each side, that holds quick-to-reach items like a phone, or key snugly.  Then it's got a zipper pouch in the middle, and one set of inside pockets for even more organizing.  I started originally working from a pattern for a very small bag, and have adjusted and made the pattern my own.  This size is roughly 7  inches by 9 inches.

I I see each pocket as an opportunity to change it up and try something new.  I developed this modern daisy motif for pincushions.  Now enlarged, it's just right for the pocket.  The front pocket features a goldenrod yellow flower, that is reverse appliqued under the felted wool sweater.  Then I added the brown center.  The stitching around the center gathered the fabric slightly  and inspired me to trapunto the center to form a small peak.  I exaggerated the dimensional quality for further stitching and applique.  I love this raised quality.

The second pocket is a more subdued blue wool applique with embroidery embellishment.  I worked the stitches in #8 pearl cotton.  

Brooches

Its always fun to take our work to the Mighty Tieton Antique and Crafts sale in December.  This year we took a large selection of brooches.

I like to make brooches.  No two are the same.  It's a great way to showcase color, and texture.  The mix of hand-dyed felted wool, velvet, embroidery, machine stitching, glitter and beads makes each piece a new opportunity to experiment.  and

This paisley brooch introduces some decorative machine applique, and mixes lavender hand-dyed felted wool with a mottled green  eggplant purple crushed velvet.  The juxtaposition of velvet and wool is complimentary for both fiber types.  I use some Peltex-type interfacing material to stiffen the brooch form.

The glittered white work embroidery houses were popular at the show.  We had fun coming up with different decorative stitching to fit the miniature houses.  German glass glitter lightly frosting the snowy roof line and window trim was the final touch.
In the background, you might see some of the felted ball dangle ornaments we brought to the show.

I had some truly "mod" broaches for sale as well.  Wild colors, ric rac, beads and stitching.  I experimented with the Proddy stitch used in rug hooking for a few brooches as well.  


The striped cat brooches also were a hit.  Cat lovers can always use another cat piece, can't they?

These brooches use vibrant scraps of hand-dyed wool to create stripped tabby cats with attitude.  It was my first time wrapping wire, and using a hammer to flatten it.  I added assorted beads to the tail.  I liked the effect of light-scattering faceted beads with bright wool .  I look forward to trying my hand at more wire work, beads and wool in the future.

Sewing with my niece

My 13-year old niece spent a few days with me over Christmas break.  I had a great time, and I think she did too.  This was her second overnight visit, and she's worked on sewing projects each time she is here. All the sewing aside, we did leave time for brownies, homemade nachos, watching several of the Harry Potter movies again, as well as the animated moves Frozen and Inside Out.

My niece is a cat-lover.  While she was visiting, she received a morning text from home each day with a photo and message about her kitty, Honeybee.  One sewing project she picked to work on was Little Kitty from Melly and Me.  We each made a kitty.  I demo'd each step on my creamy, white felted wool kitty and she completed all the sewing and handwork on her cotton print grey kitty.  I've made this pattern before, and the corners are tight for turning and stuffing.  It's easy to clip the corners to close to the seam line, and have a seam pop out while you are stuffing.   I can tell you that making it with white felted wool was a breeze.  The slight stretch and give resulted in easy construction and stuffing. The cotton print my niece worked with was a bit more tricky. It turned out to be smaller in stature.  We were happy with it as well.

During her stay, my niece primarily worked on a quilted cotton square pillow top using the Candy Dish pattern by little Jaybird Quilts.  She planned it as a Mother's Day gift, but I've since been told it was scarcely out of the car and into the house before it was gifted to my sister...a little New Year's present, I think.  Its a good pattern and I can see it in felted wool as a future project.