A Peek at Cumberland

I'm up in Cumberland this weekend for the Mountain Maryland Studio Tour. This is my 3rd year on this tour and it's quite nice. Here's a peek at my other place, my Fun House. We bought this house 3 years ago. My husband grew up here in Cumberland and our house is just 2 blocks from the high school he graduated from. He bought here reluctantly, kicking and screaming really. But now he finds it very relaxing and fun. We have a really nice group of friends here, artists, bicyclists and classmates.


The house was built in 1919, solid and sturdy. It's brick, as most of the houses here are. There were many brick factories back in the day. Most of the streets are brick.


We have an eclectic mix of furniture. Most of the furniture came from Goodwill, leftovers from the farm place or found alongside the road. With a little bit of paint and glue, most pieces are reusable. Above is a waste bin for greasy rags, used at a service station. I use it now for a side table. Makes good storage too for all my greasy rags).




This cabinet made its way back to Cumberland. It used to live at Houston's parent's house over 40 years ago. It was dark brown wood then and did not have my favorite words painted on it, like 'poophead', 'dingleberry', 'sprinkle', mystical.






This is our 'fun' house.





The kitchen was very dark, dark cabinets, dark floor so I warmed it up with pumpkin colored walls and twinkle lights.







I've collected a few pieces of art from local artists. This is Dave Romero's photo printed on canvas of an abandoned silk mill nearby. Pictured is the calender from June, 1954, the month that people just walked out of the mill and it remains as it was to this day.


I collect vintage radios, clocks, electric fans and other quirky type things.


and typewriters




the purple room


the Barbie room because it's bright pink and orange.








the circle room


chocolate and licorice




the 1/2 bath, sorta reminds me of an old Texaco gas station restroom, only cleaner.









the view from the upstairs bedroom, overlooking the rooftops


and down to the courtyard below


my studio






Stop in this weekend for a cup of hot cider and a ginger cookie!

I Haven't Done a Thing!

Someone asked me the other day what I'd been doing this summer and I told them that I've traveled a bunch and it doesn't seem like I've gotten much done. So I gathered up most of what I was working on or completed, and now I don't feel so bad. I'm a lucky girl as I can craft most any day of the week. I sometimes have to get an order out or get ready for an upcoming show (dye, dye, dye, skein, dye), but usually I have a choice of making jewelry, spinning, felting, beading, knitting, fusing, or painting.


more autumn colored jewelry


"Fairy Batts", hand carded fibers that include wool, mohair, angelina glitz, bits of yarn, cotton, and anything else that might be close at hand.


I have some new, luscious kid mohair in and have dyed it in all my colorways. This is a new color arrangement, "Summer Fun", bright fuscia and orange.


and now that fall is approaching (Come on!), I'm dying more autumn colors.


I ordered scads of swirly cotton and I'm making washcloths out of all the awesome colors. I also fired up the kiln last week when it wasn't so blasted hot and made some fall-colored brooches and a dish.


Love these colors!


I haven't been doing that much felting, except for lots and lots of felt balls that I use in jewelry or on purses.




Annie (Kiparoo Farm) and I hosted a one-day retreat in late June, "ChicKnit". We showed crocheted and felt embellishments on felt purses. I had fun coming up with ideas. This purse will be a kit for the fall tour.


Slubby Nubby yarn in Briar Patch with a needle felted flower.


Wet felted purse with a cuff of a sweater I didn't finish, made into a flower.


knitted (my Waltz yarn) and felted purse with commercial wool felt embellishments that I hand dyed.


This little green purse was made from a sleeve from a wool jacket that my friend gave me. The flower is from a Noni pattern.




I finished this Slubby Nubby blanket before it got too beastly hot. It takes 4 skeins of Slubby and one skein of my Ballet nylon yarn as fringe.


I got one sock done out of my Waltz yarn. It's an alpaca, wool blend and is oh so soft. I'm only doing one sock these days as the foot-a-quin I got is like a size 10 and it stretches out the yarn so much I could never wear it anyway.


I got a lot of this organic cotton yarn (Swing) in this beautiful creamy color so needed to make something with it. I found this cute baby sweater pattern free on-line and am loving it!


Finished the little vest out of my favorite book this summer, "Mini Knits". I used Waltz yarn again.


and finished the hiking/hunting socks for this fall. They're knit with my Bee Bop superwash yarn in the colorway, "Woodsey". These will also be available as a kit for the autumn tour.



I've wanted to do something besides socks out of my "Sock Hop" yarn and thought a lace shawl would be just the thing. But I don't do lace, so I had to search and search for an extremely easy 'lace' pattern. This is pretty easy but I haven't gotten very far. This yarn and pattern went on all my vacations this summer and this is as far as I've gotten. Nope, don't like lace knitting.


This color is "Sweet Grass".


I do like the way this shrug turned out though. It looks blue in this photo, but it's really very deep, rich purple, knit out of Loopy mohair. another FREE pattern, yeah!


Being inspired by my travels this summer, I came up with a couple new colorways. This one reminds me of the Maine coastline. It's named, "Going Coastal".


Blues, teals with a hint of white.


and this one is "Out West", a blend of light umber, sky blue and grassy lime green.




I brought up a bin of broken pottery to Cumberland and Seal and I made mosaic mirrors. I have about 25 more pounds of pottery to use up, unless I break more, oops!