Sneak Peek to Spring Studio Tour

 Spring time means new spring colorways. The above colorway is 'Spring Meadow', a blend of pale pinks, lavender and peach and spring green. In the next 2 weeks, I'll be posting photos of new things I've been working on for our upcoming Countryside Artisans' Studio Tour (April 20, 21, 22) and the Maryland Sheep & Wool Fest (May 5, 6).

 I got a new batch of 100% wool felt in and have been 'painting' it with my dyes. I actually dye these just as I do the yarns, in a big roasting pan, squirting the dyes on and 'smooshing' them in. 

 The patterns just happen serendipitously. I have no idea how they'll turn out, except for the coloring, and even that's a bit random.

When I put these on the fence and stepped back, I saw a flower on the left and a red bird on a branch on the right. I should call these Rorschach felt pieces.

 

 These are the clay buttons I made at Craft Day. They're all packaged up pretty.

 

 

 I had all the papers and card stock and had such fun picking out patterns and colors to highlight each button.

 Plenty of cute little resin flower hair clips.

New soft cotton yarns fill the shelves.

'Splash' a new colorway inspired by my trip to the Caribbean. 

 Blue for the sky, turquoise for the water, white for the sand, with a hint of lime green for punch.

Wingspan, a popular free pattern on ravelry. I knit mine with my Hip Hop yarn.

 Krista is my guest artist, showing her vintage inspired aprons...

along with her upcycled posie pockets, a place to hang your little pansy.

Market Days

 

This past weekend was Market Days at Chartreuse in Buckeystown, not far from where I live. Housed in an old dairy barn, they are open just once a month throughout the year.  This was a special event as they invited other vendors to sell their antiques, shabby chic, and once loved wares.

Along with the dairy barn, a bank barn is stuffed with thrifty finds.


There were about 20 additional booths set up around the property, with the crowds checking out all the vintage stuff. Most of the wares were under tents but plenty of things were spilling out onto the lawn. It was lucky it didn't rain, as the weather forecast had called for showers.

I loved, loved, loved this old bike. It was hanging ON the wall but alas, it was not for sale, just for pretty.

Even real bunnies for sale!

and concrete bunnies too.

If you fancied a jug, there were plenty to choose from.

Old scale weighing the word 'PIE'. How much does this pie weigh?

Cheery vignettes, with springy, happy colors.

I'm so going to steal this cute idea....yards of colorful ribbons (of which I have scads of), hung to make a 'curtain'.

What to do with your old water trough...hang doo dads from it! And yes, I do have one of these.

I'm going to be looking for a little trike like this. I already have the spray paint. I came away with so many ideas that I had the rest of the day to round up some of my old rusty stuff, got out my spray paint and chalk paint and got down to work. Nothing like a little inspiration!

Sometimes We Spin

My spinning  eating group meets monthly. Sometimes we actually spin.

But usually we knit.

 We met at Marsha's this week which is always fun because her home is filled with ethnic items from all over the world. And the food is amazing.
I get an inquisitive look from Marsha's cat. Maybe I should try spinning some of his fur. Hmmmmm.

 We all bring a vegetarian dish to share. These folks are into grains, preferably locally milled grains, and the food they create is a usually Moroccan or African inspired. I can't say deeeelicious enough.

 

We used to live in Marsha's house (in fact she was our landlord but we didn't know her) and it's so nice to see her fixing the place up. She recently had a potting/wood shed built right out back. Our local village carpenter designed and built it using wood he milled and doors and windows he's collected from old buildings.

 It has a little shelf for potting plants with a nice view into the woods through the wiggly glass window.

 On the front porch is a little bird and pine cone vignette.

This is the view from the front porch. I would sit here when Aramin was 3 (he's almost 36 now!) and watch the cows graze. The cows are no longer there, but the view is still lovely.

Potting Around with Pottery

My Crafty Craft Day group got together a couple weeks ago to experiment with clay. Krista got into making pottery about a year ago and introduced us to this fun craft. I had never worked with clay (unless you count making the ubiquitous rope vase in elementary school) and I was quite the novice. Above, Ann and Susan cutting slabs for vases and faces.

Krista has a great studio, lots of light, plenty of space, Pandora streaming, and even wine chilling in the fridge. She's teaching us how to slap the clay.

 

 I wasn't up to the challenge of using the wheel, but Krista has mastered it, churning out bowls and plates and mugs. 

 Krista had laid out plenty of books for us to peruse, getting ideas about what to make.

I chose to do buttons, as I thought this would be a good beginner project. Keep things flat and all.

 Bev and I made dozens of buttons, using various objects for texture.

 A few days later, Krista fired everything for us, then we came back for another Craft Day to glaze our masterpieces.

 One of Susan's happy faces, before glazing.

 We wanted a rainy, chilly day, but the weather was just being too nice, so we decided to set up outdoors and glaze away. I didn't really like the glazing part very much because I just couldn't tell what the colors would look like when fired. Everything was just grey or brown. I'm all about the color, so I was totally out of my element. I guess that's what experience does. You just get to know the colors and combinations that work.

 Krista re-fired everything and lo and behold, the colors emerged.

 My buttons will someday grace a hand knit cardigan.

And Susan's happy face turned out so charming.

Of course Krista's bowl is wonderful. Next time, I'm on that wheel. I have a great appreciation for the potters I see at craft shows. 

Next up on Crafty Craft Day: dyeing eggs with natural ingredients