Crochet Class Near!

Well I finished my first major crochet pattern successfully. I was able to read the pattern and it turned out!! Maybe in a couple of weeks I'll put up a Beginning Crochet class. Today is the 21st and I only learned to crochet on June 1st so look at what can be done! This pattern was in the new Interweave Crochet magazine and it uses Rowan Summer Tweed. Only sad part is looking at it just hang on the manequin. I think they need to make the manequins with a little more meat on the bones!!


Close up of the overlap area. The cool thing about this pattern was that it was worked as 1 piece. The only seams were at the shoulder. Everyone that hates finishing work has got to love that. Now if only I can figure out how to do such a thing while knitting!

New Classes Announced

I guess this past week has been kind of low key for us. Really unusual but highly relished I might add. This week is getting back into the swing of things though. We have two classes this weekend with Sharon Ahmed. Friday will be Needlefelting and Saturday is Wetfelting so the roving will be a flying downstairs!! Then next Tuesday is Crazy Quilting w/Margaret Betz who is an amazing and inspirational artist.

New Classes Announced: (don't forget our Double Your Fun deal!!)
Basic Beading on Fabric w/Karla Stuber Aug 8th or Sept 22nd
Color Cups w/Stacy Michell Oct 4th or Oct 20th
Check out the website www.fiberonawhim.com for more info or to register.

Jan is getting ready for vacation and of course has been rubbing it in every day this week. She leaves on Friday for 9 days in the New England states. She has been collecting things for her bag for days now. She just painted Lutrador and cut them down to 4x6" so that she can embellish them along the way. She also cut down PFD cotton to the same size and has a travel watercolor kit and watercolor crayons already packed. We'll see how much she actually gets done on the trip!!!

I've attached a couple of photos Jan finally downloaded from her camera....you know all in preperation for this trip!!

This is what half of the basement looked like last Tuesday during the Beaney and Littlejohn class. Can you see how many machines these 4 women have.....yes that is 7 between all of them!!


This is a picture of the Dairy Barn in Athens, OH where Quilt National is held.



That is all I've got for now! I'll do my best to take some pictures of this weekend's class.

Fun at Fiber Art Fusion Meeting

Last night's meeting of Fiber Art Fusion was led by Heidi Miracle McMahill. She did a demo on watercolor crayons/pencils. Heidi showed us how she works on paper and fabric with these and the different effects you can get. Here are the things Jan and I did at the meeting.


Yellow flowers on cold pressed watercolor paper. - Jan

A bird and I'm guessing a field of flowers on fabric!! - Jan

A flower on fabric. - Kristin

A flower on fabric. This is a take on our block for this past year's Shop Hop. - Kristin

As you can see we need a lot more refinement if we are going to continue with this or use any of these. Sure was a lot of fun though.

So many new things......

We have been busy in this past week with trying to prepare for the start of the Beaney & Littlejohn classes that mom and Sharon Ahmed are teaching. Mom's downstairs now trying to prep her machines for tomorrow. If you can just imagine.....I think we are at 8 people coming in with 2 machines a piece (sewing machine and embellisher)!!! Oh the fun to be had downstairs!

Look at all the goodies she has down there.....it's enough to make your mouth drool.

Here is a pic of some of the new Heather Bailey Fresh Cut series we got in. It is an absolutely great line for spring/summer. A lot of fun colors and patterns.

I finally finished both purses. The pink one was crocheted. I just learned how to crochet on June 2nd and already I have a piece done. That's an awesome feeling.....now if I can just figure out what to do next with the few stitches I know. The purple bag is knit. My aunt and I challenged each other to try cables for the first time and chose this purse. I'm finally done!!!

A close up of the diagonal cable.

A close up of the single crochet stitch. Color is a little off on this pic....gotta work on that.

Summer Class Bash

Double your fun! and your discount!!!!

If you and a friend sign up for a class in the month of June you will receive double the discount on class supplies! That's 20% off! This includes all classes not just the ones in June.

We've just introduced many new classes so make sure you check them all out.

Beaney/Littlejohn Study Group **Starts June 12th** so hurry!!

Fabric Dyeing 101

Fabric Dyeing 102

Patti Culea Tome Series Block of the Month

Clandestine Bag of the Month

Setacolor Play Days

Embroidery

Crazy Quilt

Needlefelting

Wetfelting

Pamela Allen's two classes

Summer Sew/Knit In

Keep an eye out for soon to be announced classes such as:

Our Twist on Beginning Quilting w/Jan Girod

Painting with ProChem Paints w/Karla Stuber(remember the man/brick wall)

We've been left alone for too long!!! Lol.....We miss the monthly regulars so back by popular demand is a new session of Patti Culea's tome series.

Finally Back from Yarn Market

Well after my less then stellar drive back I can say that this weekend was a huge success!!!!

On Saturday I took a class on crochet with Melissa Leapman. I have been fighting learning it for a while and finally broke down. I finished the purse project(see pic below) that she gave us and decided the hat needed to be done on a smaller hook as right now it is the size of a bucket.

After the class I went to "walk the floor" to see what I could find. I managed to swing by a publisher's booth twice to snag 2 new autographed books(pics below). I left feeling a success as I found a lot of new companies and new product. We will be looking at getting in different roving, mohair curls, hemp yarn, perle cotton, and it seems like the list can go on and on. So basically this trip was successful for not only the knitting/crocheting side but also for doll making, felting/needlefelting, and quilting! I rock if I do say so myself.......lol. I can see mom rolling her eyes as she reads that one.

Yesterday I took a class with Lily Chin about getting press coverage. All I can say is she definitely knew what she was talking about. She is so good with words and quick one liners it makes anyone envious. I wish I could think that quickly.

That unfortunately was the end of my fun!! On the drive home I got stuck for 40mins just outside of Columbus, OH due to a tractor trailor that had flipped and caught fire. Then in KY it started pouring and the wind was gusting so bad. I caught a gust just so and hydroplaned. In the process got a flat tire. So all in all an 8 or so hour trip ended up taking about 11!! :) Gotta love driving. Just glad to be back with my bag full of goodies and new info. Now mom gets to start ordering.......that's the fun part.

This was my ID badge and my first attempt at crochet. Now I only have to figure out how to seam it up.

These are the 2 books I managed to snag while at market.

Best thing is that they are autographed by the author.

Kristin's Friday Adventures in Ohio

Well I arrived late last night to Columbus, OH. Now granted that was because I left after a 2008 Shop Hop meeting and then made a voluntary detour to a store I loved while living in Cincinnati!!

So my first day of TNNA started off with Basic Pattern Drafting with Melissa Leapman. I must say she is a great teacher. She knew just how to handle the class of beginner-advanced students/good math abilities - not so good abilities. She was able to explain it in a way the first time then go back over it a second time if need be without losing the interest of anyone. I'm so excited to now use some of those great ideas/explanations to make up a tank sweater idea that has been floating in my head for months.

After the class ended at 11AM I took a little time before leaving at 1:30 to head to Athens, OH and the Dairy Barn. Yup that's right I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to go to Quilt National!! Especially after mom had been there just last week. I have to say my favorite of the show was "Hidden Agenda" by .....?? (oh no I forgot her name!!!) out of the UK. Now I surprised myself even that this was my favorite. I love color yet this was the most neutral piece there. It was light tan to cream in color. The piece was fabulous with a knitted background out of a boucle yarn with blocks of trapuntoed felt ontop of it. Each block had a full letter/symbol or only a partial piece of it. I thought the detail and use of material was striking. I hope everyone that is able to get there before it is taken down at the beginning of September should go. It is truly amazing to see the different art that all of these individual artists see in their "mind's eye."

I must say overall a day very well spent!!!