Honing my skills, Holiday wishes

Now that my shows are done for the year, I promised myself I would work to learn some new skills, in this case, learning how to make bowls in different shapes.  I have been doing round bowls with sloped walls for over a year now, and wanted to branch out and try some new shapes.  Yesterday, I put the finishing touches on an oval bowl:

 The 3 shots above were taken before I added a small embellishment, shown below.  But they give a good idea of the color and fabric patterns.

The bowl measures 10 1/4" long, 7 3/4" wide and is 4 1/8" high.  I am sure I will be making more of these in different sizes.

I also finished a crocheted shawl in homespun yarn:

This yarn is a soft homespun in a variegated Seafoam green that is just yummy!

And finally, I got around to dyeing a tank top I started sometime last summer - I painted a heart shape on with soy wax to resist the dye, and ended up using Burgundy and Maroon in a scrunch dye:

Little by little I am finishing up projects and trying new techniques, in preparation for next year's shows.  I hope to spend a little time in the next week or so, planning what I hope to tackle and accomplish in 2014, as well as reviewing what all I have done this year.  That's what I hope to post about next.  Meanwhile, I hope you all have a Happy Winter Solstice, Merry Christmas, Happy Boxing Day or Kwanzaa season, and a very Happy New Year!