Hyde Park Community Art Fair this Weekend and $5 coupon!!

Oof...I didn't mean to be offline for so long, but I had some technical difficulties. A Trojan virus, to be exact. When I heard this verdict, aside from fearing for my files I immediately thought, "Dang, why can't I have an encounter with the other Trojan?"

So this weekend is the Hyde Park Community Art Fair, which is held in conjunction with the 57th Street Art Fair. I'm really, really looking forward to this weekend, as I have shopped this show for years, but this is my first time participating. As usual, lots of my artist friends will be there as well, which is always a lot of fun.

I've made more Nuno felt scarves and many colors of the Trellis scarves-- both are styles and weights that take you from season to season. Stop by this weekend and receive $5 off any Felt Inspired purchase by mentioning this blog.

To appease the weather Gods I waterproofed my tent this afternoon, so plan on stopping by to stay dry in case the clouds open up! I was on the lakefront to spray my tent and when I was struggling to open the tent, a complete stranger came to my assistance. The same thing happened when I was trying to close the tent. Gotta love Chicago people!!

First Show of the Year!

This weekend is the opening event for the Randolph Street Fair and my first show of the season! I'll be in the Indie Designer Market, located inside Plumbers Hall. This will be my second year participating in this show and I'm really looking forward to it. I met many fun customers who I saw all through the show season. And the fellow designers are a fun, eclectic bunch.

The show runs both Saturday and Sunday, from 10 'til 5 (until 4 on Sunday) . I'll have loads of new nuno felt scarves to show--lightweight, sheer and perfect for warmer months. Also lots of felt bowls, pincushions and flower brooches. I'm on the fence as to if I should bring any Flamenco or other warmer scarves--maybe just a few to pique interest for later in the year.

Stop by and say hi!

Happy Mother's Day!!

Hoping that all of you have a wonderful Mother's Day, whether celebrating as a Mom or with your Mom and Grandmas. All of my siblings are home this weekend (4 of us) and I'm looking foward to spending the day with everyone.

Here is my Mom, pre-kids.

F*cking Golden...

I try to come up with creative names for my scarves when I post them to Etsy-something fun, memorable and descriptive.

I've been using music references like Purple Haze, Moody Blues, Age of Aquarius (can you tell I was born in the '60s?) I thought of Yellow Submarine for this one, but the scarf is really more golden than yellow.

A more recent reference immediately came to mind, from Illinois' own infamous ex-governor. Yep, that reference. I'm pretty sure that Etsy would not let me post that phrase and even if they did, it probably would not top the best marketing ideas of the decade.....

I've gotta think of something else....

Dyeing to Play

It's a wonderfully rainy weekend here in Chicago, which is exactly what the doctor ordered. I came home Friday to my much-awaited package of a bolt of white silk gauze and fun colors of Jacquard acid dyes.

I'm teaching a Nuno Felting class in two weeks and need to prepare silk for the students to choose. Plus, I rediscovered my love for Nuno felting in the past few weeks and have been dying (no pun intended) to play around with silk gauze again. I had forgotten how easily silk gauze felts in comparison to silk chiffon.

So since Friday night, I've been cooking up batches of glorious color and felting scarves. I skipped yoga this morning and am missing swim team practice right now. It's going to be hard to save silk for the class!

Spring Cleaning

I think I came across another reason why I'm not really into cleaning--when I do get into it, I really get into it. Take yesterday for example. I simply felt the urge to clean the floor--well, "urge" might be overstating it--the floor was just really gross. Once I got started, I noticed that the windows needed cleaning. And if I'm doing that, I should really wash the curtains. While I'm at it, the windowsills and baseboards need work, too. And I should really straighten up back entryway. Next thing you know, I'm on my hands and knees with a toothbrush scrubbing between the tiles.

On the bright side, I did come across a wall hanging that I made a few years back for the Fine Art of Fiber exhibit. It's mate (the skinny on on top) happily resides in a buyers home. The birds were inspired by scultural art outside of Lakeview High School here in Chicago (see below). I've been wanting to do more home decor work, using this technique (which is a combination of wet and needle felting) for additional wall pieces and maybe pillows.

I envision making some with Arts and Craft and Art Nouveau motifs, as well as Tiffany images.

Bloody Fantastic

For those of you fretting over Tax Day, I thought I'd share a video I came across this afternoon. I'm not a fan of Idol or reality TV, but this clip from Britain's Got Talent show will make you smile and lift your spirits.