Washington!!

I had a terrific show in Washington, DC! I met lots of 'Blog-Stalker-Friends' and just plain nice folks. The show was not as crowded as previous years, I was told, and many artists, unfortunately did not do as well as last year.

I met a few fellow felters, too! Lisa Kalkualk of Strong Felt was there. Her work is always amazing. And she looks just like her pictures, which for some reason I always find amazing.

It was an exhausting 4-5 days filled with hours of driving, setting up and standing around chatting and selling. The evenings were great. I reconnected with old friends that moved down to Arlington. VA and my family came down for a picture perfect day of touring.

All in all a great weekend.

Westchester Craft Show

I've been promising pictures of my booth at the Westchester Craft Show and, well, here's a partial photo! It's of my favorite color and design story this year, my "Twilight" Series. Many of these scarves were sold, some I've remade, others are one of a kind. I'm still fight myself for time to photograph and post on my website.

This week is gear-up week for the Washington DC Show. Lots to do and so little time.......oh and I was in a car accident yesterday which kind of put a damper on my spirits. :(

Welcome New Toy!!!

I just got home to find this big box in my mudroom! It contained a mini spinner that I ordered from The Laundry Alternative a few days ago. It's used to spin dry small loads of wash or hand wash. I bought it because I read on a blog a few years ago that a felter was using a similar machine to spin the excess water from her work. I thought that that was a great idea and forgot about it until last week when I was pulling wet clothes out of my washer to put some scarves in to spin dry them. I just though that I was using up too much energy to use the front loader for such a simple task, yet I needed to finish these scarves up right away.

After conferring with my CFO (my husband) we decided it was worth getting, if not just to dry my kids swimming suits since they both swim between 3 and 5 times a week.

Well, it's here! I can't wait to test drive it and I'll let you know how it works!

Family Time

We all took time out from our busy schedules to do a little pumpking picking this weekend. Here my son, daughter and fur baby are walking down one of my most favorite coutry road in CT at Warrups Farms to find a pumpkin field. There's a corn maze, hay ride and make their own maple syrup as well as other seasonal goodies.

I really have fun with my kids, I learn a lot from them. It's great to see the world from their point of view. One of my favorite websites to go with my daughter is My Life is Average.
We laugh and joke about all of the submissions and a lot of the times it leads to stories or events that actually take place in her life!

With my son, it's a little harder because he would live on the computer if I let him. I try to encourage more human to human contact that computer to human contact, but I have to admit, when he's here with a friend and they are playing the game called Runescape, (we have 2 computers in the room) they do interact and talk, devise and compromise situations that they are in. I don't understand it. But I don't have to as long as he can talk to me about the game and I can connect with him on that level, it's ok. Now, he is limited to 1 hr a day and only when his homework is done!

Just Checkin' In!

Lots going on here! You know Halloween is approaching, and if you live anywhere my house, you know that this can be a month-long event. My son had his first 'dance' at the Middle School called the "Monster Mash". 6th graders LOVE it! It's their first chance to really go wild!! My son got dressed the the greatest costume EVER!!!! It's a upside down man. I 'Googled' it after he told me about it and do you know why it's so great!!!.....It didn't cost a dime! Yep, FREE! We had everything at home. Even the extra head! No money. Nothing. Easy. Fast. Fun. I didn't have to spend all of last weekend looking for overpriced costume accessories. Nada. Am I happy? YESSSS!!!!!

What A Difference A Year Makes!

Last year, at this time, packing up for a show was an all-out project in booth styling. I had, what seemed like, tons of props. Chairs, quilt racks, ladders anything to show off my scarves. This year, because of my ProPanels (not being paid for the promotion) booth, it seems like I really have less and less to carry. Just 3 bins (and I should have cut it down to 2 and maybe I will) , 1 bag (with the dress form body and lunch) a mirror and of course my booth display, which is huge!

Needless to say, there will still be a lot of going back and forth from the car to unload, but a lot less to set up once it's all unpacked.

This next show is surly a test. I'm unpacking and setting up on my own for the first time. I've been struggling with bronchitis and sinusitis all week. Getting there and unpacking is not the problem. It's staying focused until 5 or 6 and then driving home for 90 minutes. That's what I worry about.

Well, I think I've Found My Scarf!

People have been asking me, "Why haven't I been wearing one of my scarves?" The answer is because I only wear my 'rejects'. Scarves that, for one reason or another, have been felted wrong. Well, luckily, this season has been pretty good. I really haven't had a scarf that wasn't felted properly. I've made scarves that I didn't like. But that's in a different category all together.

Today, I was making a replacement for a scarf that was sold and I got lazy and didn't turn the piece over to check the layout. Well, of course, the silk buckled on the underside add to that, some of the edges didn't felt through the silk, either. Happily, it's one of my favorite scarves on my line. It goes with the colors I usually wear. Soooo, I've got my new scarf for the season!

Happy me~!