Thursday, September 25, 2008

Bag Pattern


Well I have done it! My Classy Bag pattern is finally done and ready to print.

I have learned alot about using a digital camera and publisher in this process. I will be debuting it at the Chautauqua Quilt show this weekend. It has been a stressful couple of weeks but after this weekend I hope to get back to the creative side. There is a fiber and quilt show in Meadville in October and I want to showcase some new fiber items. I hope that you will stop by my booth at Chautauqua. I am in the Hotel lobby...so you can't miss me. It will be a great weekend with Eleanor Burns coming as the main speaker. So I am off to finish some things and I will talk to you after the show!
Anita

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Quilt show 2008

Hello:

I belong to a quilt guild called the Happy Scrappers. We are having our quilt show this weekend and oh MY...what beautiful work there is!!! We have is every other year so there is time to build up a stash of quilts, wallhangings and wearable art. The workmanship this year was outstanding. We usually have some type of guild challenge for the show and then there is viewers choice on the work. This year the challenge was using the log cabin block somehow in the piece and then applique. Of course with my love of wool, I knew immediately that it would be appliqued in wool. I had this vision of a fish pond. so I made one big log cabin block with white on one side for the sky and blue water on the other for the pond. I added a extra pieces to each end to get the length I wanted and then just had fun with the applique. There were 16 entries in this category and I am proud to say that I place SECOND!!! You can see the piece below. I am so excited that I placed. Now I have to decide where I want to hang it! I also entered another piece and it placed FIRST!!! This piece also placed first at our local county fair. That piece is going to hang in my office at the University. I have had lots of compliments on the color choices. Well off to the second day of the show!



Have a great day!
Anita

Thursday, September 11, 2008

My Website...

Happy September:

Hard to believe we are heading into fall already. The leaves are turning and these are some of my favorite colors. I don't like, however, that it is so cold at night I have to close most windows! If you got here by way of my website then welcome!!! I am so excited to finally have it up and running. There will be much more to add as time goes on but we had to start somewhere. So check it often as well as the blog and see what is going on at Anita's Homespun Treasures.

Happy Creating!
Anita

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Spinning again!

I have been having fun spinning some new yarns. I am excited that I have an etsy.com store now http://www.alhdesigns.etsy.com/ I have posted some of my handspun yarns on there. Here is a sample of what you will see.


This week I will be dyeing wool fabric as I need to get ready for the upcoming quilt shows. Fall will be busy and with being back to school time will be precious!

So I will post some pictures of the dyed wool fabric next. I just love the dyeing process. You never know what is going to come out of the dye pot!

Anita

Monday, July 21, 2008

Spinning & Weaving!

I can't believe how fast the summer is going now. Soon I will have to think about going back to my full time job of teaching at the University...no more playing for awhile then. And playing I have been doing. I wiped the dust off the spinning wheels and have been trying my hand at some chunky spun yarn. What fun I have had doing this. I dyed a whole fleece into three different colorways and getting ready to spin up some for the next scarf I am making. I also purchased a new rectangel loom. After several trials to get going I finished my first one. Check it out:



I have another one on the loom and am spinning some wool and silk to make another one. They really do up pretty quickly. I am surprised but I like it. Well off to finish knitting a purse that needs felted for a class project. More to come later!



Friday, June 6, 2008

wool quilt!

Well today I hope to dye the last three colors for the wool quilt. I have been cutting all week and everything is done to date. When the last of the dyeing is done I will be ready. Looks like a good turn out. Today I am also making our first block. When I get it done I will post a picture of it for you to see. Everyone is so excited and anxious to get started. In the mean time I finally got the computer fixed and some pictures sent to the weblady for the website. This has been a long time in coming. So many things to do and so little time. Now with the weather finally approaching 90 degrees today....working with wool won't be as much fun!

Happy creating!
Anita

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Wool quilt

I need to recognize Erica Kaprow as the designer of the wool quilt "Summertime". Someday I hope to have designed my own!
Anita

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Summertime!



Hello!


I can't believe 2 months has gone by since I last wrote. I did well at the show. It was quite an eye opener. Since then I have done 2 quilt shows and have spoken at many sewing and quilting quilds. I also was a vendor at a doll show. So fibers continue to be everywhere. It has really been an exciting year so far and looking forward to much more. Now the focus is getting the kits ready for the wool BOM quilt. It is called summertime and it is done is bright colors with a black background. I will post a picture of it. So I will be doing lots of dyeing for that one. Also with the weather finally breaking I will be making some more felt.




Going to the doll workshop has gotten my mind going again on making dolls. As I get them done I will post pictures of them. As a vendor there the ladies really liked my dyed mohair. I'll be dyeing more of that as well.




Off to create something...I won't wait so long to write again!


Anita

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

almost ready!

Well the vehicle is almost all packed for the show. I was not sure if it would all fit but I'll have some room to spare.While I have enjoyed making all the bags, and I still have many ideas I did not do...I think I will be ready to move on...if only temporarily...to something else. Playing with the fibers for felting has made my fingers itchy to get back at the spinning wheel.The weather is warming so that means I can also get back to playing with the wet felting machine. Lots of things to create! I'll take pictures of the show and my booth and let you all know how I made out. So until next time...Happy Creating!!!! Anita

Friday, March 14, 2008

More about me...

Well I told you that I learned to knit when I was in third grade. After taking home ec in high school I was hooked on making clothes and did so for most of my high school years. All my money went into fabric and thread. I guess I got an early start on creating a stash. My dream was to alway have my own dress shop with my own designs. Well quite a few years later I have a shop but it is a fiber art shop. I never thought I would have a shop where there would be spinning, weaving, felting and every kind of supply imaginable to create just about anything your heart desires. I do not have sheep as yet but my husband has not said no!!!!I was asked recently if I ever feel like just going to the shop and playing. I said ABSOLUTELY!!! and in fact just that week I had let myself grab and take whatever I needed just like the designers on Project Runway! I have become so addicted to that show. So my dream is becoming reality slow but sure and I am doing some designing and will share some work with you soon. Well off to create something! Anita

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Bags and more bags

Good Morning! Well I am on a roll with making purses and bags of all kinds. I just finished another knitted bag that I will felt today! This one will be fairly large. Big bags seem to be in style right now. Here is one of my knit/felted bags:


I am having fun though and the ideas keep coming...sometimes faster then I can keep up with my hands. My brain feels on overload sometimes...but I wouldn't have it any other way. Right now I am making a group of small purses that I think young girls would like. I get to use a lot of fun fabric for those bags. I have been using my embellisher to needlefelt different things to bags. Here is a small one that I did with felt I made myself and then dyed it with koolaid. After I needlefelted yarns onto it and made a small little clutch:




Neelefelting can be used to make wall art like the small wallhanging that is in my header.I took pieces of wool batting and roving and needled them on in a random fashion I used silk organza to make the flowers and stems. I finished up with some thread painting. The fun was in adding the embellishments. I call this Grandfathers Flower Garden. My grandfather had the best roses in the county! Here is closeup of the flowers in this piece.

I hope you enjoy looking at my work as much as I did creating it! Have a great day...off to make more purses.
Happy Creating!
Anita

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Welcome to my Blog!

Hi!
I am so excited! I have finally created a blogspot. It is something I have been wanting to do for sometime. First let me tell you a little about me. I have a fiber art shop. There I teach spinning, weaving, felting, wool applique and rug hooking. I love working with wool, so most of the fiber in the shop is wool related. I dye my own wool fabric and some of my yarns. I carry alot of roving and batting for felting and spinning. I also make my own felt. I have a needlefelting machine as well as a roller wet felting machine. So the possiblilites for me are endless. Right now I have just started another project of designing purse patterns. I hope to have the first one ready by the end of March. This is a big step for me and I am very excited. Soon I will post some pictures of my work and what the shop looks like. A website is in the works so hopefully I will tell you all about that soon as well. So welcome and I am so glad you stopped by. I will have more for you to look at next time!
Happy Creating!
Anita