Success!

What a weekend. 

 

It actually began on Friday with the First Friday art openings in downtown Fredericksburg.  It is the Fredericksburg Spinners and Weavers Guild's 30th Anniversary.  To celebrate we hung a beautiful show in the gallery at LibertyTown Arts Workshop.  An AMAZING show that should not be missed if you are in the area.  I had two pieces to contribute (the black and green cotton chenille blanket I showed in process in previous posts was a miserable failure. So you won't be seeing that.)

 

 

Woven by me with wool.  And then felted slightly in the washing machine....

 

I wove this of cotton.  Two different greens in the warp, and a black weft.  (I'm testing you Tracey.)

 

A needle felted witch by my good friend Barbara Posey.  She ended up with a basket of wool twizzlers before the day was done!

 

This is one of my very favorites.  This picture does not do the beautiful colors justice. I believe this is a boundweave technique.  It allows you to do more hand manipulation to create amazing patterns.  VERY time consuming.  Way to go Janet!!

 

 

 

 

This brilliant piece is by my friend Lynette Reed (she uses my handspun in a lot of her work.) She is a woman of many talents. Weaver, painter, illustrator, fiber artist and also the planner of this fantastic exhibit.

 

Coiled koi fish mobile by Lynette. 

 

This is part of the retrospective wall, showing the results of a project where every participant shared a bit of handspun; then created a project with their collection of bits and pieces.

 

Knitted Shawl by our illustrious treasurer Anne Nourse.

 

 

After mixing with art lovers and then spending some time spinning for the crowd in my studio, I headed home and was in bed by 11:00 since I had packed up the truck earlier in the day for Fall Fiber Festival!

 

 

 

I left the house Saturday morning by 6:45 am, wondering if this was REALLY what I wanted to be doing??? Picked up my friend April who came up from NC to help me....but we didn't have room for her to stay with us in our tiny rental so she stayed with another friend....(we had to borrow chairs too since we have no idea which box ours are in....this show was really a bit of a community effort!)...and off we drove to Montpelier Station, about an hour from Fredericksburg.

 

 

Unfortunately I took no pictures.  The big vendor tents are often too dark for my camera, and we were so BUSY.

 

The weather on Saturday was gorgeous.  I managed to run out and get some of Carpe Donut's amazing organic cider donuts and then hit the ground running.

 

At one point we had a line out my booth and down the aisle!  A show like this one makes all the hard work worth it.  I admit as an artist my ego needs some petting and a successful show is the just the right medicine.  And nothing makes me happier then to be able to create pots that satisfy me, and then see them enjoyed and purchased by so many pleasant fiber folk!

 

By the end of the day April and Greg and I were amazed and POOPED.   AND a big surprise!  April had submitted one of her own felted creations into the judged competition and won first place in her category!!

 

These pictures really do not do her dragon justice. He is breathing raging orange fire!

 

All this.

 And we still had another day!

 

Sunday started out with pouring rain (literally as I stepped out the door and headed to the truck the skies opened up....) but after that it was one of those beautiful (to me anyway) misty cold days.  Sales were a whole lot lower then Saturday but everyone was still so pleasant and INTERESTED.  I love that we had very few people just walk by our booth without a glance.

 

The funny thing, (this is evidence that stating your intentions has great power) first thing upon rearranging the booth on Sunday morning (I had had to run by LibertyTown Saturday night to pick up more pots!) I said that if the two biggest pieces were to sell, and very little else I would be happy.  And you know those two pieces were gone by the end of the day!?!

 

By 4:00 we were tired and ready to go.  Packed up in 30 minutes and were out of there before any serious rain.

 

And now it is Monday.  I am home considering unpacking the truck, packing up yarn bowls for a consignment order at the local yarn shop, replying to a show invitation that was offered on Saturday and just basking in the success before plunging in and starting the making process all over again.

 

I am so grateful.

Fall Fiber Festival!

This weekend is my big show of the year. Fall Fiber Festival at Montpelier Station here in Virginia.  Rain or shine.  (It's been a damp week....) This is such a great festival.  It began as solely a Dog Trial event and the festival has grown up around it.

 

Now there are vendors of all types of fibery goodness, supplies for making, animals of all sorts and good food too.

 

Come see me! The Festival runs both Saturday 10-5 and Sunday, 10-4.  $5 per person.  I'll be in Tent 2, booth number 3.  And while you're at it pick up a couple of yummy donuts from Carpe Donut! mmmmmmm!

 

 

 

A Couple of Plates

Fall Fiber Festival is next weekend! My pots are made. Will spend the week organizing and making sure I have all the required bits and pieces. I still have not done enough shows to have any kind of rythm or system.   Everything seems to be pretty spread out between our rental, the shed out back and LibertyTown!

 

 

Studio Update

I know I promised pottery pictures next...but I woke up with an awful migraine this morning.  Managed to finish up a weaving project at LibertyTown, with an October 1 deadline (more about that later,) and that was about it.

 

Here it is while I was in the midst of it.  This project was much harder then I remembered (I've made two others in the past.)  Especially with all the interruptions that come with weaving in public.  Cotton chenille is very touchy...and the minute my mind wanders, it usually is followed by a half hour of UNWEAVING and trying to figure out where I am in the pattern.   I still have to work the fringe and then I will post a finished picture. (really.)

 

 

On the way home from LibertyTown I ran into the post office to drop off a birthday surpise for my Shepherd Friend in Vermont (you know who you are!) and stopped by The New Old House.

 

No one was working this morning.  Which is a result of all the work that has been done that doesn't require a permit.  We are in waiting mode now.

 

But LOOK!

 

 

 

And NO SNAKES.

 

Spent the rest of the day in bed with a heated bed buddy on my head.

 

For Tracey

Heaven on Earth

Caravatis was NOT a disappointment.

 

The BIG building was a bit dark and I was pretty excited so the pictures will not do it justice.

 

The funny thing is we were there for doors and radiators and I didn't take one picture of all the radiators!

 

We did not buy anything this trip...I was a little overwhelmed....but we will go back soon because they are HAVING A SALE ALL MONTH!

 

Yup. Heaven.

 

 

Need a spindle or two?

 

Lotsa, lotsa, locks!

Somehow I didn't get any pictures of all the gorgeous DOORKNOBS.  OMG.

 

Would love this matching pair hanging in my kitchen....

 

 

This was the coolest. A window I think?  The grate inside is WOOD.  And the patina.....GORGEOUS.

 

Lots of plumbing fixtures too....

 

And the SMELL.  I just love that smell of old possibilities just waiting to be discovered!!!

 

We laughed out loud at this sign.

 

We left with lots of potential purchases in our (well my) heads.

 

Ate a fantastic lunch at a vegetarian restaurant, Harrison Street Cafe, right near VCU, jumped into Elwood Thompson's (a fantastic healthfood grocer, not only do they give you that usual .05 credit for bringing your own bag, they give you a credit if you take the bus or WALK!) and then drove home in time to pick up dry cleaning and to stop by the old new house.  Greg hadn't seen all the work done this week!  (He should read my blog for updates!)

 

Promise pictures of pots next.  Really.



 

 

Progress!

So. Despite delays in acquiring the city required construction permit work is moving along on our new old house. (Ya'll said you would be interested!) They have been working hard on all the things that can be done without that magic piece of paper.

 

Rather then pay the big money for new windows we are having the old ones scraped, reglazed and painted.  It's already a huge improvement.

 

Once the paint cures they will install new storm windows.

 

Here is the kitchen before.....

 

 

The beginning of demo....

 

And this is what greeted me yesterday afternoon!!!  I am SO glad we can afford to stay in our rental while all this dusty work is being done!

 

Meanwhile the work is starting on The Studio!!

First the old animal shed is ready to be torn down.  (Our house sits in a portion of the city that was not annexed in until after WWII.  That means it is quite possible that this old shed was used to house some sort of livestock....)

 

After finding FIVE copper heads I have taken to calling this gentleman "Snake Man".

I was considering saving the shed.  Thank goodness I listened to those with better sense!

 

The siding on the small garage was in pretty rough shape.  So we are basically keeping the skeleton and going from there....(notice Snake Man still hard at work...probably finding a few more black widows....)

 

 

And this is today. Alot of progress this week.  Fabio will be installing the two windows and french doors next week.  It will get all new siding, a new roof and a new coating of concrete on the existing cracked concrete floor.

 

 

 

Tomorrow we head to Caravatis in Richmond.  A very well known (at least locally!) architectural salvage place.  We will be looking for pocket doors and radiators....but I have wanted to visit this place for literally years...so who knows what else I might find!?