Busy summer!

 Wow, it's been almost 2 months since my last post... definitely a busy summer this year, but very successful!

August brought our 27th Annual Flagstaff Open Studio tour, and I topped my all time sales this year!

This last photo is my hanger holder - at the start of Saturday it was empty... this is at the end of Saturday!

We had 5 artists this year, and all of us had sales, and a larger than normal crowd, so another successful event.

At the Artists' Coalition of Flagstaff gallery, sales have been brisk all summer long, which is delightful!  Hard to believe we've been at the mall nearly 15 years already!  For all who have stopped to browse and shop, we truly appreciate your support for our small band of local artists! 😍

Here are a few things I've been working on recently:

My "To do" list is still very long, so I've expanded my dyeing space to let me dye more items

at a time, and splurged recently to have our ice maker repaired!

Coming attractions:  Cotton kitchen towels, more socks, jackets, mug rugs, hot pads, sheesh!  No time to write more, have to get back to it!  I hope you have all had a lovely summer, and I look forward to the changing seasons ahead!

Almost Winter!

 I looked at the calendar this morning and realized we're 2 short weeks away from Winter!  This year has just flown by for me... so many projects, cranking out the dyes and bowls, selling my socks off!  And we still have a few weeks left of 2023... looking forward to maybe having a little "down time" to rest and recouperate!

Two things of note:  After almost 3 years, my friend Cinde and I have decided to pull out of Sedona Artist Market.  Cinde has done very well there this past year, me not so much.  But having to schedule one day each month to head down, restock and tidy our booths, has become a little more than we want to commit to.  We are leaving on good terms, and may at some time decide to return, but for now, it's a relief to know we don't have to make the trip down unless it's for a hike on our favorite trail, or because we just feel like it!

The other thing that has happened this year is that I've added a few new items to my inventory!  Late last year I started offering zip up hoodies, but didn't really know the best way to dye them, but this year I've become a little more adept at tying the "Geode" pattern, which for me is a diagonal stripe rather than the more irregular circular version many dyers create.  

And I just added Rayon/spandex open front cardigans to my inventory, as shown in the above photo on the right.  They dye up beautifully!  And the one in the photo got snatched up by one of my fellow artists the day I put it on display!  Got another one I'm getting ready to dye for Cinde as soon as I take delivery of one of the dye colors needed.  And of course, there are the aprons - what can I say?

I wasn't sure how these would dye, let alone if anyone would buy them, but they've turned out to be one of my best sellers for the year!

Oh, and one more item I added that I think I posted about last month:  my "Peeper Keepers".  Not great sales yet, but I get the feeling they will grow on people in time!

So with just a few weeks left of the year, (Holiday shopping time!  I'm going to be jamming

at Arts Connection!) I want to wish you all a very Happy Holiday and hope the coming year

will be your best yet! 

Fun new projects!

I've had several projects I wanted to try and recently decided to dive into my creative "bucket list" and see what I could come up with!  This first is a "wave" bowl which I have seen for ages, and finally had to just try it - not bad for a first try, and I found just the perfect sea shell to adorn the front.

Next, I tried a bowl with swirls on the side - this was a challenge!  I wasn't sure how to space them out when I attached them to the base, and it was pretty wobbly to stitch together. But I do like the results, especially after I sewed on some small wood beads to give it a more finished look!

The bowl below is a cutie, if I say so myself!  I came across this fabric and decided it would make a fun bowl for Independence Day celebrations - made one and posted a photo on my Facebook biz page, and got an inquiry from a friend about buying it!  So I sent it off to her in California!

One of the groups I belong to on facebook does tie-dye color challenges, and I decided to try one with these colors - very different than what I normally use in my dyeing, but I thought it really popped!

Then I decided to try it on one of my rayon dresses:

Yikes!  Did I go too far with the orange?  Guess I'll find out - it's heading to Sedona Artist Market tomorrow.  If it languishes there over the summer, I guess I'll have my answer, lol!

I saved my latest Spirit Doll for last - she is quite different than most of my dolls - mounted on painted canvas that has corrugated cardboard added for texture, I really had fun playing with creating her... took awhile, but I love how she came out.  She's heading to Sedona tomorrow too, but if she doesn't sell, my heart won't be broken... I have had her hanging in the studio for over a month now, and she makes me smile whenever I see her!

So what else has kept me busy of late?  I'm doing a lot of promotional work on social media for Arts Connection!    We have several new artists who have joined us recently, so I've been posting on facebook and Instagram to highlight them and also our other artists - regular posts help keep followers interested, right?  If you're on either Facebook or Instagram you can check it out: https://www.facebook.com/ArtsConnectionAZ and https://www.instagram.com/artsconnectionaz/

I really love seeing our local artists coming in, and our community is very supportive! 

Okay, time to get back to work - I hope you are all enjoying our pre-summer season, wherever you are!

 

Things are getting out of hand around here!

 Everything was going along so nicely, then BAM!  A small brush fire turned into a huge one, very quickly, and we were forced to evacuate on short notice April 14!  No pictures... we were busy trying to gather things we would need and get on down the road while firefighters were coming in to try and keep our neighborhood safe.  Many neighbors have livestock, and it was very tense for all of us, trying to make our way out onto the highway and away from the fire.  In all, it has burned over 19k acres, at least 130 homes were destroyed, but thankfully, no deaths were reported.  My friend Cinde invited us to stay in her guest room, which was so much nicer than having to be in a motel.

This is a photo I took from the internet - looks very much like the remains of a neighbor's home just 2 blocks from us.  Fortunately, his was the only home in our immediate area that was lost, but there were several others up the main road further west that were lost.

Our winds have been fierce, and that was what really caused this fire to grow so quickly.  And they are still blowing 25-35 miles per hour, with gusts up to 50-65 miles per hour, for days now!  Hopefully, they will die down later this week,

Fortunately, we were able to return home the last Sunday in April - electricity had been restored, and our gas was restored that afternoon.  Food had to be tossed and replaced, but that was the worst that we had to deal with, so we were blessed.

Once we got settled back in, I got back in the studio, and was working on a project that required some of my yarns.  I pulled down a bin, opened it up, pulled out a skein and uncovered a mama mouse and her babies - oh, joy!  Snatched some bags up and started pulling them out, then promptly put down mouse traps in the studio... one of the things Shrekkie used to take care of, but now it's on me!  I've since found another one, and realized I need to do a better job of storing yarns and fabric scraps in tightly lidded containers, so I'm working on that now.  I also ordered some sonic mouse repellants that plug in, so I'll give those a try along with the traps.  

On a high note, Cinde and I attended this month's First Friday event at Sedona Artist Market, and spent a couple of hours demonstrating some projects, visiting with shoppers and meeting some of our fellow artists.  

We have both had good sales there, and enjoy our monthly visits to refresh our inventory and browse the lovely artwork there.

Oh, and two items of interest - I have a Pinterest account, and often post my work there as well as browse for inspiration and ideas.  I had uploaded a photo awhile back of my rag doll spirit dolls:

I got a message from someone in the valley, wanting to know if she was for sale!  Since I still had her, I replied yes and she is now living down near Tucson!  

The other happy news is I got a call Friday after I returned from Sedona from a gal who had bought one of my cotton shells, loved it, and wanted to know when I would have more in her size!

  I am waiting for an order with more blanks, then will dye some up and let her know when they will be in Sedona.  So May is turning out to be a good month so far, and once the winds die down, I'll ba a happy camper!  Stay tuned...

Time has flown the coop!

 Wow, I can't believe it's been over a month since my last post... time does fly, that's the truth!  I just looked back at my last posts, and see that I can update you on at least 2 WIP's I mentioned earlier:

Here is "Bright Maiden", finished and hung at Sedona Artists' Market:

I added a tulle overdress, beads and yarn streamers plus a Hamsa charm, and called her done.

Another WIP shown in that same post was a piece of bark I had cleaned and sealed, then I mounted a polymer clay face on it.  Then it languished, waiting for me to decide what more to do, until yesterday.  I pulled out a bag of feathers, auditioned some and glued a few down... that took care of that!

On the non-creative front, my hubby Bruce had to have emergency hernia surgery after Thanksgiving, and once he got through that, there were still follow-up doctor visits from his mini-strokes to keep us busy.  They discovered he has afib, so changed his blood thinners to handle that.  But all the doctor visits, etc., took us away from our regular visits to the gym to exercise.  After 2 months of inactivity, I started getting on the treadmill at home to try and get back into a routine.  Last week, I was working to increase my speed, and also wanted to give my arms a workout so I was pumping on the "walking stick" feature... that night, I laid on the floor to watch TV and got a super strong, sharp pain in my right shoulder!  I should mention that my right shoulder has given me problems in the  past, but it had been feeling just fine for quite awhile, so I must have forgotten to be careful.  At any rate, I got xrays done Tuesday, and I start physical therapy today to see what can be done to get me back to "normal"!  Guess I'm not as young as I used to be, lol!

But I'm not letting it slow me down too much - I recently finished making another crochet rope bowl:

I used several yarns, including some interesting yarn I picked up at a thrift store, then added a piece of bark that I glued feathers to, along with a small copper colored bead.  Yep, bark and feathers - my new obsession!

And I'm busy dyeing some cotton jersey shells to bring to Sedona Artist Market next month:

I'm sure I've forgotten to mention other things I've been doing this past month, but I guess this will have to do for now.   I'm looking forward to our next trip to Sedona, and sometime in the future, my friend Joyce and I will be taking a day trip to the valley to enjoy the warmer temps, shop and browse - an annual trip we make when it starts to warm up down there!

Hope you are all having a good January - stay warm!

2021 Comes to a close...

 And what a year it has been!  My friend Cinde and I became contributing artists at Sedona Artist Market

Which led to a return for me to creating Spirit Dolls

And lots of tie-dye as well as some bowls

All in all, Sedona has been a great place to sell, and Cinde and I have enjoyed our monthly trips down to restock our booths, hike when the weather permitted, and enjoy a nice lunch together!

At Arts Connection, I stepped down early this year as co-manager and focused on keeping my booth there stocked with tie-dye, bowls, and recently some freeform weavings:

This year, we were able to resume our annual Flagstaff Open Studios tour, and although we were not sure if people would be ready to come out in gatherings due to the pandemic, we were pleasantly surprised to have a good turnout, and good sales!

On the personal front, we did have a couple of health scares - in October, Bruce had a couple of "mini strokes" which landed him in the hospital, with a myriad of follow up doctor appointments and tests.  They finally determined he has atrial fibrillation, and have modified some medications to fight blood clots.  And he has lost about 20 pounds, which is all good.  He also had to have emergency hernia surgery a few weeks back, but has healed nicely from that.  He just celebrated his 79th birthday, and we're hoping the coming year will find him in better health!

One bit of very good news - our Son Joe returned stateside after a year long deployment in Kuwait, and he and his wife Dawn will be moving from PA to TX soon, and will be coming for a visit after the first of the year.  It will be awesome to see them, and good to know they are located closer to us so maybe we can see them more often!

So as the year comes to a close, my thoughts are focused on what I want to do in 2022... right now, my creative juices are low, and I'm taking it easy, just concentrating on what I need to do, but also giving thought to what new directions I want to take creatively.  I recently bought a couple of books that I hope will get me started:

I'm always looking for hand stitching projects I can work on, especially when I work shifts at Arts Connection which is pretty much every Monday now.  And the clay book will be helpful as I strive to learn how to make my own clay faces for my Spirit Dolls.  I have another book coming soon:

I saw this in a blog post as I was admiring the blog author's freeform crochet vessels... right up my alley!  

So that's the plan so far for 2022... meanwhile, I want to wish you all a  Happy Holiday season, and a New Year of Peace, Good Health and Dreams fulfilled!

So.... what have I been doing lately?

 I've been in kind of a creative "blah" period lately... wanting to do something different, but everything I try seems to not inspire me to continue!  Every felt that?  I used to go into a creative "black hole" mostly by the end of the year, but it seems like I've been full steam ahead for the past few years.  So maybe this is just a call for time-out to catch my breath, creatively speaking.  Anyway, here are some pix of several works in progress - some may never go any further, others do have some promise... just a matter of deciding which appeals to me more.

Above, top left is a Spirit Doll that needs more, I'm just not sure what yet; top right is one in progress, but it will be a little different - I want to mount it on a flat surface, maybe a painted canvas... but haven't decided the size or shape of the canvas yet.  And below is the start of a hand stitched piece with houses.  I stopped because the first window I stitched down (lower left) is crooked, and I didn't feel like removing the stitches and doing it over, so put it aside for now.

In the picture above, I started playing with stitching swirls using a blanket stitch - the one on the dark blue background started with a blanket stitch, then I decided to make it more like a ladder stitch, if there even is such a thing!  The concentric circle is a loop stitch.  The one with the black background is more to my liking, but I have no plan for what to do next, so this is more of a stitch meditation/exercise than something with a plan in mind.  And the piece on the right is based on an article I read in QA magazine from Dec/Jan 2020 by Julie Basseches Booth where she creates small talisman pouches using layers of sheer fabrics and covers with yarn and threads she couches onto the base, then adds beads and other items before stitching the pouch together.  I've admired her work for a long time, and would love to use her techniques in my textile projects.

So other than these WIPS, what have I been up to?  Mostly dyeing shirts and tunics!  I did a few recently using a "multi swirl" pattern which were fun - here are a couple of them.

The tunic above was tie-dyed

The shirt above was "Ice dyed", meaning instead of using a liquid dye where the dye powder is dissolved in water, I apply dye powders directly onto the tied shirt, then cover with ice cubes.  As the cubes slowly dissolve, they gradually dissolve the dye powders.  Most dyes are made up of several different dye colors, so there is color separation as the item batches.  I love how they come out, but they do take a lot longer to batch so I don't do them as much.  But I love this latest batch, so may have to get some more going soon!  I got a shipment of rayon tunic blanks yesterday which are selling well at Sedona Artists' Market, so maybe I can get a bunch done before I go down next month.

So that's what I've been doing lately... how about  you?  Happy Thanksgiving to you all, and I'll see you soon!

Summer: heat, rain and FOS preparations +++

 I swear, someone has set the clock and calendar ahead again... the time just whizzes by before I know it!  My last post was in May.... what happened to June?  And here we are nearing mid-July already!  I just re-read my last post... seems the pace has not slowed since then, but part of the reason is:  my Spirit Dolls have been selling at the Sedona Artist Market, woo-hoo!  I sold one in May, and I think 2 or 3 in June, and at least one so far this month!  So you  know I'm cranking more out as quickly as I can, especially since we are planning to resume our annual Flagstaff Open Studios Tour the end of August!  So there's that to get ready for, and keeping inventory ready to put in both galleries.  I think I will try to take a day or two off in September, lol!

In the garden, I have some basil, parsley, chives and tomatoes growing, and some nasturtiums are sprouting in planters on the deck.  My 2 geranium cuttings are doing well.  I had hoped to do a lot more planting this year, but it's still really hot most days... monsoons in the forecast for next week which will lower the temps, but it might be too late to get much going, so I think I'll focus on cleanup and maybe get a handyman to come do some maintenance work to spruce things up.

I promise to do better about posting more often, honest!  But for now, the housework needs to start, and I'm in production mode at least for the next month.  Stay cool, and I hope you enjoy the summer!

Crochet Bowl project, Sedona Artist Market and more

 As I mentioned in my previous post, I have begun experimenting with making yarn bowls, using the same cord for a foundation that I use in my fabric wrapped bowls.  After trying the wrapping method, I decided to try a crochet design, and find that I can do these without too much pain in my shoulder.  This is the first one I made:

I love the shape, and it was a good first effort, encouraging me to make more.  But somehow, the next few efforts were not coming out right and I ended up ripping them out and finally changed the yarn to a blue and brown worsted variegated yarn, and made a small adjustment to the pattern I was following.  Here's the pot in progress:

I actually thought I was done when I got to this point and put it aside to work on something else.  But

I had a feeling I wanted to do something more to it.  This morning, I decided to break out some of my "Homespun" yarn, which has been in my stash for quite awhile.  But I love the copper color, and thought it would enhance the look of the pot if I wrapped it around the exposed rope for a few rows.  Here it is now:

I'm pretty sure I'm done now, but I'm going to give it another day or two to be sure I don't get

further inspiration!

Meanwhile, I'm ramping up now to put some of my inventory in Sedona Artist Market at the end of this month, and I'm really excited about the opportunity!  I'm busy dyeing rayon Ruana jackets 

                      

and gathering some of my coiled fabric bowls together.  I bought a new clothing rack:

This is just right to display my jackets, along with some of my rayon tunic tops and Easy breezy dresses!  And I have a small baker's rack  for displaying some of my coiled rope bowls:

Here is one I finished recently using fabric I dyed with the "Desert Sky" colors I used for the jacket above: 

These colors make me think of the bright blue sky with wisps of clouds and the glorious sunsets we get here in Arizona!  I also used these colors to dye some scarves for my friend Jana to add to her Red Front Door Store inventory, which is open now online:

You can find her e-commerce site here.  We're getting together later this week so I can give her the scarves, along with some others, to add to my collection that she is offering on her site.  Love friends who collaborate!

My next post, I should have photos of the displays at Sedona Artist Market, and I will share those along with (hopefully) pix of yet another variation I have come across for making hand sewn bowls... never a dull moment, and always more things to try!

Lastly, I am happy to announce that Bruce and I will be getting our first Covid-19 vaccines tomorrow, and I'm so glad!  Hopefully, this will give us the added security of knowing we are a little safer from this horrible pandemic, and maybe we can venture out a little more often, once we have both doses and wait the prescribed time after the second dose.  Something to look forward to this year!  Stay safe, all...