Get Ready to be STITCHED

I'm am getting so darn excited for the start of STITCHED - an online workshop of 20+ very talented fiber artists!

Preparing for this project took me waaaayyy out of my comfort zone and into new, uncharted waters - and boy, am I glad it did!

It is so fun being a part of this incredible group of women. I'm so thankful and proud to have been asked to participate - and I can't wait to finish viewing all of the great videos (yup - I've been able to have a sneak-peek since I'm "one of them"!).

So now, don't fret - there's still time to register - and you can begin viewing the workshops on January 1!

Click here to view more details

Check out the great artwork you can make! Are you kidding?  All this great stuff in one spot?? (And believe me, these photos don't do all the work justice - once you start viewing the videos, you'll be amazed at how some of these pieces are made and the fun detail you can put into them!)

2011 Wool Review

Since working on my imovies project for STITCHED, I now am like a kid with a new toy! So I decided to make a short video showcasing some of the wool work that I've done during the year.

So, here's a peek at my year in wool-review....

Happy Holidays!

It's not very often that I purposely decide to not write a blog post, but I have decided that I should alleviate a little extra stress and take one "to do" off my list. I'll be taking a holiday from my blog. I won't be posting anything until after Christmas. But I'll be back - hopefully with a lot of new projects and stories - after the holiday.

To close the year, I chose to greet you during the holiday with a snowy ski-jump story in loving memory of my mom - who enjoyed cross-country skiing when she was a young gal.

She was raised in Timber Coulee where a ski-hill, the Snowflake Ski Club, is located just a few miles from where she lived. My uncles, cousins, great-grandfather, and many family friends were very involved and instrumental in the success of the ski-hill over the years. We even had some good friends that lived just across the road from the ski-hill. I know they are all now enjoying a heaven-Christmas-season together - which I'm sure is far beyond our dreams.

This is an old photo of the ski hill - which we drove by as we headed to my great-grandparents after church every Sunday for our family dinner.

Snowflake Ski Club ski jump

This is a sweet photo of my great-uncle - who was very involved every year with the annual ski tournament. Mom always called him "Unk".

Paul Oium aka "Unk"

I wish you and your family a very blessed Christmas.

PS. Check out the Timber Coulee Cottage. It's a sweet little cottage that used to be owned by our cousins and is on the property line of my great-grandfather's farm (in photo above) - which is still being farmed by another cousin.

Dang. I best get going  - all this talk about family - I'm getting so homesick for them, that I think I better go finish getting my Christmas cards addressed to them!

My First Trailer

I'm slowing working toward completing my workshop for STITCHED. If you haven't checked it out yet, hop on over and see what great fun has been created for this learning project.

In my preparation for my workshop, I couldn't help but create a little "spoof trailer" of my workshop and I just had to share with you.

Hope you enjoy.  :-)

Giveaway Winners

Congratulations to Sequana and Tree! You are the winners of the snowball giveaway!

Drop me a quick note at anniet4204@yahoo.com and provide your mailing address. Then I'll quickly send the snowballs to you just in time for the holidays!

Ho Ho Ho at Cafe Wren

I had a great day today at an art sale at Cafe Wren in Luck, Wisconsin! (I'm the nut in the middle.)

The sale has a room full of awesome items - and you still have tomorrow and Sunday to check it out. I marked a few items off my Christmas list by the time I left today! Score!

STITCHED

It's on it's way!

Oh my goodness, I'm so excited to again announce this fantastic program called STITCHED. It is a group of 20 very talented fiber artists (oh, did I happen to mention that I'M one of them!?!). Each artist has prepared a video workshop showing how to make one of their wonderful creations. A one time fee gives you access to all 20 of the videos!

My video shows how to create one of my flower garden pillows. I have to be honest with you - it was quite a feat getting to this point - it allowed me to branch into an entirely new area of my work that I never imagined myself doing. Although we are most often our worst critics, I'm actually quite proud of my finished product.

Click on the link below to learn more about how to register for this exciting program - there is so much goodness and talent to be seen!

Click here to view more details

Snowball Give-away

Oh my gosh - I've been so busy lately with other projects, that I almost forgot to post my give-away for hitting 100 Etsy sales!

I've decided that since it's now snowball-weather here in Wisconsin, it would make perfect sense to give away some wool snowballs.

I'm going to do two give-aways - with each winner receiving a set of three snowballs.

How do you enter, you ask? Simple - just drop a note in the comment section below. Just tell me - what is your favorite thing to do in the snow?

My favorite thing, you ask? I guess it would be walking the quiet streets late at night (late for me is 10:00 pm!) with big snowflakes softly landing on my eyelashes when I look up into the sparkly sky.

My second favorite thing? Being cuddled up and warm inside my house while it continues to snow outside!

(Since this is a very busy time of year for everyone, I'll give you one week from today to enter. I'll hold the drawing next Sunday evening and have the packages ready for shipping on Monday morning.)

Just Tickled Purple

I have been fortunate enough to supply an awesome store, Simply Bungalow, (Lincoln, Nebraska) with some of my wool items. I just sent a shipment of scarves to them this morning and decided it was time I jump back on their fun blog and check up on their recent posts.

Imagine my surprise when I saw a photo of one of my recycled wool tape measures! It was part of a recent giveaway promotion. Well, you should know that I was just tickled purple to see it there - how fun!

From simplybungalow.blogspot.com

And speaking of giveaway promotions.....stay tuned for information about mine coming soon!

The Red Bowl - Version Wool Mittens

Although the weather has been quite pleasant the last few days (and I'm loving it!), the time will come way too soon that we'll need some cozy wool mittens to keep our hands nice and warm.

Okay - sure - these are so teeny that they will only fit a small cat's paw, but they are wool...and they are mittens. But instead of kitten mittens, I think they'd actually work better as a sweet little tie to a fun Christmas package.

Happy Thanksgiving

Sweet holiday blessings to all of you.

TA DA!

I just hit my 100 sales mark! How exciting! Watch in the next few days for my wool give-away announcement and how to be included!

pbblogspot.com



Flowers are a-Blooming

What? I don't think that November is typically the big blooming season in Wisconsin - but, believe me, flowers are a-blooming at my house!

I've been making wool flowers magnets and they are multiplying (and rather addicting to make!)! Here's just a few...

In the 100's

Ooohhh La Laaaaa!

I've been creeping towards my 100th sale on Etsy for some time now. When I was at 75 sales, I promised that when I make my 100th sale, I'd celebrate the milestone by giving away one of my products.

Well.....I'm just about there! You can see below on my "Shop Info" that I'm now only one sale away! I'm hoping that I'll be able to announce my give-away to you soon - so stay tuned!

And, I'm really not trying to boast, but last year I shared with you when I received 100 shop "hearts" and how exciting that was. Right now I'm am over-the-purple-moon-truly-honored to show you below that I now have 430 admirers! I still can't believe it - because I'm just a little wool fish in a big old pond - but it's sure been fun learning to swim on Etsy! Thanks to Etsy and all of my supporters!

Shop Info

            Policies

            Request custom item

            Opened on Jul 6, 2009

            99 sales

            430 admirers 

The Green Potholder

I got the story below in an email a few weeks ago. Now I'm not trying to beat up on any age group and don't agree that a "young cashier" would really say something like this - but there really was some truth in what I read.

The Green Thing

Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the older woman that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment. The woman apologized and explained, "We didn't have this green thing back in my earlier days." The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations." She was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in our day.

Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled. But we didn't have the green thing in our day.

We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. But she was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day.

Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw-away  kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that young lady is right. We didn't have the green
thing in our day.

Back then, we had  one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by  hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire
up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she's right. We didn't have the green thing back then.

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But we didn't have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus, and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.

But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?

And after reading this story, it made me think of how my grandma would save every little thing (hmmm....wonder if it's hereditary...because I think I have the same condition as her!). Every scrap of paper, every scrap of fabric, every beat up bread bad twist tie, every bread bag - nothing wasn't worth saving and reusing.

I have this little potholder that my grandma had in her things. It's the teeniest hot pad - but I suppose whoever made it used just what they had available. I happen to just adore it (and not just because it's purple!).  I don't know if grandma made it or if someone else did, but whoever did, I'm thankful for it.

Wool Coasters

I've been making sets of coasters with wool. Some are made with circles and stitching, while some are more simple. These were made with just squares. I then stitched leaves on the ends of a piece of twine for the tie.

I thought they turned out kind of fun. These happened to be with a great colored/striped sweater, but I've also done some with solid colors as well. Easy little holiday gifts for friends and family!

Berries

While walking into work, I pass by these cute little berries hanging on an otherwise bare tree. (I'm talking about my full-time "day" job - not my "wool" job.)

When I saw them the other day, I knew I wanted to snap a quick photo. They were so cute on a sun-shining morning and yelled to me, hey-I'm-fall-but-winter-is-on-its-way-quickly! I listened to the fall-talk, but promptly ignored her comment about winter!

Sonja

When I told you about my apple pie making weekend, I told you about a sweet surprise we had when at the apple orchard. 

The gal working at the orchard was giving thin slices of apples to the customers to taste. She said "This is a good one for eating. It's new this year. It's name is Sonja."  What? That was our mom's name!

Here we were together for the weekend to make mom's apple pies and we have the pleasure of tasting a new apple called Sonja - well, that was the perfect addition to our weekend! And in all honestly, I do believe it is the best tasting apple I've eaten! It was perfectly sweet - just like our mom.

Although they spelled her name differently, I believe it was a message from mom saying she was pretty darn proud of us carrying on her apple pie tradition.

The Red Bowl - Version Harvest

The other day I had such a sweet surprise. A friend, who I haven't seen in a long time, dropped by with a gift for me from her special homegrown harvest. I knew the best way to show it to you was in the Red Bowl. (As you can tell, I adore the little "daisy" gourd!)

Eating Apple Crisp

I still had some apples left from my pie making weekend - yes, they really stayed nice - so I decided yesterday I should make some apple crisp using my mom's absolutely delicious recipe. The topping is thick...sweet...crunchy...and fabulous!

The full pan...

I'm going in...

Oh boy, it's looking good...

Yup, I'll finish this pan in no time!

Snowballs in November

In my quest to prepare for upcoming shows, I thought it would be fun to make some holiday ornaments.

I've been in a white-mood lately, so I dug out as many white/off-white/cream sweaters as I could find in my stash. Unfortunately, it's often hard for me to find white sweaters. But I happened upon enough to make some white-on-white-on-beige-on-cream snowball ornaments. I'm packaging and selling them in groups of three with varied sizes. I hope people like them.

Happy Holidays! Oops......I got just a little ahead of myself!

Upcoming Shows

I've been busy, busy, busy......

I've been getting ready for several shows. I still have a lot of work to do yet - so I can't talk long - but here's a peek at three shows.

The Space - New Richmond, WI

Whimsical Wares - Marietta, GA

Cafe Wren - Luck, WI