Finally, Natasha, if you are reading this, I appreciated your comments so very much, but I have no way to get in touch with you to send you the information you requested. Please drop me an email and I will send you the information.
So I started stitching the selvage together and came up with this nifty little zippered pouch. I added (after this photo was taken) a larger lobster claw type clip to the zipper and now I can fit my cell phone in the pouch and clip it to my belt loop and I am good to go! I love it. I kept one for myself and the rest will find their way into my etsy shop (eventually, when I've managed to edit all the photos I took!)
I also made up several with my hand painted dryer sheets. The main body of the pouch is exactly the right size for one dryer sheet. A lucky convenience! These were the colors I happened to have already painted. If the weather ever warms up, I'll get outside and paint some more.
And finally the little bits of selvage that were too short to make into a pouch have found a new home as a coffee sleeve. I love the colors and the graphic nature of the dots. The only problem is that I've used up that entire bag of selvage! So I will just have to wait for my quilty friends to give me some more.
I only have about a dozen of the square ones, but I've got gobs of rectangles!!!
So what else can I do with these? I would love to hear your ideas!
I had a little bit of covered clothesline left over from the bowl I made and shared in my last post. I finally got the idea to turn it into these cuff bracelets. I really like how they came out. I have more clothesline and am planning to make more with my more interesting hand dyes and batiks.
I nearly sold out of my altered altoid tins (I only had one left!) so I spent some time making a few more. They really are a lot of fun. The one with the skull is my favorite.
I have been tie dyeing shoe laces like a madwoman. They are so much fun! I have 45" (low top) and 63" (high top) available in my etsy shop. This pair is one of my favorites.
And I've been using those old felted wool sweaters that have been languishing on a shelf for want of an idea. I would say I am using them up, but there is quite a bit of material available in one sweater! I am also making cuff bracelets with some of the leftovers. The crochet flowers have been a fun little project to take on the go. I have my friend Carolyn to thank for the leftover bits of yarn from her knitted dish cloths.
Last year, on a whim, I also bought the pattern to make fabric bowls with strips of fabric and cotton clothesline. I've been wanting to try it, but you know how it goes, I just never took the time to do it. Well, I decided to use this fabric, and here is my new bowl ...
I made the smallest size the pattern offered, but made the sides a little taller. It is pretty big! And I love it. Yeah, still a lot of pink but at least it is tempered by the other colors. So I've decided it is my new fruit bowl. 
I finally got my dyes back out. Today's victims? Shoelaces!
Aren't they yummy? And the best news is ... there's lots more! I plan to carry them in my shop. If my tween doesn't take them all before I get the chance!
I made this fish piece for my August show at Eye of the Eagle. The fish are painted dryer sheets and I used lots of odds and ends for the background. I did a bit of hand stitching and beading as well. I finished it just in time for the show, so these photos I have are actually of it hanging in the gallery.
I just received an order from Dharma ... an assortment of scarves, shoelaces (yes, I am going to dye them!) and soy wax to try my hand at batik. Maybe I will have something fun to share with you soon.
I completed my 3rd t-shirt quilt and it is getting easier. I think this one came out nice. It was the first one I did for a boy. He's off to college this fall. I hope he enjoys it!
I also made a load of charms for Christi over at Earth Traditions. She makes Celtic and earth-themed jewelry and will be incorporating these charms into her designs. It was a lot of fun to go Irish for a bit.
As I worked along, I wasn't sure how I was going to finish the edges. I finally decided that I liked all the raw edge pieces going on and wanted to leave them. I backed the whole piece with a bit of hand dyed scrim that was just the right size. I think it was a good decision.
Here's a close up. The whole piece is hand needle-felted, hand stitched, and hand beaded. It's about 12" x 15" not including the hanging parts. Now I need to figure out what to call it! This is one of the pieces that will hang at Eye of the Eagle in Clayton in August.
Nautical Flags, Beaufort NC
Sailboats at Sunset, Beaufort NCThirdly, I am gearing up for a solo exhibit of my fiber art at The Eye of the Eagle in Clayton, NC. This is a wonderful little art gallery, tucked away in a quaint little town. Definitely worth a visit! I have to deliver my art by the end of June, so I will be busy, busy, busy, trying to finish up some new work.
Wild Horse, Shackelford Banks NC
And finally, as you can see by the photos, we got away the other weekend to the beautiful coastal town of Beaufort, NC. We took a ferry to the undeveloped barrier island of Cape Lookout National Seashore, and just generally relaxed and enjoyed infinite beauty and inspiration. It was wonderful. While I was there, I came upon a delightful art store called Art & Soul. I spoke with the owner and she is going to begin carrying my bottle cap jewelry! I have always wanted to have representation at the coast, and now I do! I'll be making some new "beachy" pieces this week to send to her.
Cape Lookout Light
Cape Lookout National Seashore
It was time to say goodbye to the palm tree mural that has graced the long right side wall for many years. The walls needed to be repainted, and the kids are getting older - not that they don't enjoy palm trees any more, but it was time for something a bit more sophisticated (or maybe it was just as excuse!)
I painted the walls a soft chalky green (which really doesn't show up well in the photos ... the photo of the shower curtain has probably the best representation. The color is Harbour Town by Benjamin Moore). On the long wall I painted blocks of color and hung black and white prints of photos I've taken on our many family vacations. I let the kids list their most memorable places and use their lists in choosing photos. A nice way to make the space personal! I can always change out the photos whenever it needs refreshing.
I painted the ugly, old orangish oak and plywood cabinets a semi-gloss black and added chrome hardware. Ahhhh ... they look so much better, and set off the white marble vanity, which isn't going anywhere.
I swapped out the old tropical shower curtain and rings for a sleek black and chrome number. I also hung it about 8" higher up the wall which added more drama than I expected.
I, yes, I myself, personally and without assitance, took down the old brass "hollywood" globe vanity lights and wired up these new chrome and glass beauties. And I even did it right the first time! Was a leap of faith to flip that light switch on for the first time, that's for sure.
I wanted to try my hand at needle felting. I don't have an embellisher machine, but I have the little needle puncher and brush mat. The base of this piece is part of a thrift store wool sweater that was shrunk/felted. I have been adding a little bit each day, and I suppose I will keep adding to the piece until it tells me it is done. I hope you can tell that it is a beach scene. I just added the "lines" to separate the water from the sand and sky, and next I'll fill in more water colors to give the ocean depth and (hopefully) dimension. It's been a fun experiment, in spite of the fact that I have no idea what I'm doing!!!
Strawberry Fudge Cake
I am calling this piece "Spirit Tree". It is a 22x28 wrapped canvas - something new for me. It is for the exhibit at Eye of the Eagle in August and therefore is made with saved/recycled materials.
The background texture is built up with tissue paper. The flowers are fabric paper, and the flower centers are bottle caps and wine bottle tops.
The word "Spirit" rests among the roots of the tree. I have had the gulf oil disaster on my mind while I've worked on this piece, even though I started it before that happened, and it has directed much of the path this piece has taken. When it is finished, I'll share the completed piece with you.
I've added some charm bracelets to my etsy shop, and will be adding more items during the day.
And just to prove that I still know how to thread my sewing machine, here is a small round-robin quilt that I am working on with a group of three other ladies. We are going to donate these quilts to the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Inniative (AAQI) for auction when they are finished. The May quilt auction is going on right now - but ends on Monday the 10th, so check it out! New quilts are available each month and all the proceeds go to fund research for a cure.
The only "new" items I made between sales were poetry bracelets, in the fashion of the one that was published last year in Cloth Paper Scissors. It was a challenge, but a fun one, to create little snippets of poetry to fit into five small circles. The people who stopped by seemed to enjoy them and I did sell a few.
This one was my personal favorite. I loved the blued and teals, and of course anything about the ocean! I thought for sure it would sell, but I still have it. It just might find its way into my etsy shop, which is in serious need of beefing up.
This is the same bracelet, with blue and white ocean-related caps. It is almost as much fun choosing the caps as it is designing the bracelet. In case you are wondering, yes, I did add a clasp before heading to the sale! I just took the photos before that happened.
I didn't bring as much of my framed art this year, since I was by myself to set up and it takes a while to hang. I need to come up with a better method for hanging stuff along the sides. I hung the sign by bungee cords, which worked really well, but I'm not sure I'd trust glass frames to that method.
This was the first time I brought the extra card table that I put in the corner. It's up on risers, and I like how it created the different levels. Everything fit well in the space, though it was tight when there was a crowd!
