Many Irons in the Fire.

Life has been moving with increasing intensity lately! I am not sure if it is because of Spring Fever and the approaching end of another school year, or because the garden is calling me as the days grow longer and more of my wonderful plants are bursting into the spring time air, or if it is due to seasonal allergies and my head is congested and my motion sensors are impeded?!?! Probably all of the above!!

Matthew, my 16 year old is practicing his driving, with his Dad, not MY gig, and next year we will begin looking at colleges!!!! When did this happen????? Becca will be entering the wonderful Middle School years and all of the changes that come along with that transistion. I am able to stay on an even keel by working on my art and my garden!! AHHHHH! Therapy!!!!

Here are a couple of things that I have been working on lately.

I am participating in an enelope swap. Each person sends 10 decorated mailing envelopes to a hostess and she shuffles them and sends ten back to each of us. Now we will each have a wonderful stash of uniquely decorated art mail to send off goodies in. I think that the mail handlers get a big kick out of mail art. I know that the post workers at my P.O. always comment about the decor!! I had fun with paint and I used only my hand carved stamps to embellish the envelopes. One will certainly be able to see these pieces of mail coming!!!!

Earlier this week, Igot together with my art buddies Karen and Jean. Jean is an incredible seamstress and beader. I met Jean a year ago at a class taught by Lesley Riley and we have been pals ever since. She has just invested in an Embellisher (needle felting machine) and she let me take it out for a spin! i have heard lots of talk about the glories of these machines. They are a sewing machine with out thread. They have 5-7 barbed needles that puch one fabric, yarn or trim thru the fibers of another fabric. The artwork that I have seen created with these machines in breathtaking ( one of my favorite artists is Sara Lechner - be sure to go to her photos section on the right hand side of her blog to see her wonderful work!) and all who have tried one have been immediately smitten. I was walking into dangerous territory here!!

I can officially say taht I have been bitten by the Embellisher Bug!! Gotta have one!!! Gotta save my pennies (as my grandmother used to say)!!! I played with Jean's machine for about 20 minutes. The base of this piece is a piece of synthetic felt to which I added dyed chesecloth , sheer fabrics, wool yarn ,felt circles and synthetic yarn . It is like painting with fibers without all of the hassle of tension and threads and bobbin winding (my personal fav!!) What fun!!!!

Artful Display:

Over the past year I have collected a wonderful group of art pieces via swaps . So far I have been stashing all in a box and I have been meaning to figure out a way to display them so I could see them all the time. Eureka!! I got it!!!!

I simply took two long pieces of twill tape and some small nails and put up an Art Clothesline! I had bought these neat hooked alligator clips awhile back and they are the perfect thing for hanging small pieces of fiber art. Now I can see my collectiuon of Fiber Postcards and Journal Pages from anywhere in the room!!! They are such a wonderful source of inspiration and momentoes from wonderful art friends!!!