My scarves and a lots of felted items will be available this Saturday and Sunday, November 24-25m 2018 from 9 am to 7 pm at 2001, A Space Art Gallery, 2001 5th Street NE in Minneapolis. I will also be participating in a home sale at 1510 Hythe Street in St. Anthony Park neighborhood of St. Paul on Friday, November 30 from 6-9 pm and Saturday, This sale is being held in a home, so don’t be shy - come on in and find many wonderful gift ideas handmade by local artists. And anyone is very welcome to come to my home near St. Kate’s in St. Paul to see what might catch their eye. If you let me know what you might be interested in, I can also send photos and we can work something out with email, telephone and the postal service.

On weekdays, first thing in the morning, I enjoy a coffee with friends at a local coffee shop. On my way home, caffeine in my system, what I’ll do in the studio that day often pops into my head. Sometimes I know this ahead of time because deadlines and obligations dictate my day. But often my ideas of what to create on any given day arise on my drive home from coffee. And there are always a number of things to chose from, depending on the season.

The eco printing season here in Minnesota is about to end. Some trees are bare, others still hanging on to a few leaves, and a few species have yet to release their foliage. Many blossoms are gone but others, such as the marigolds, zinnia, and cosmos are still happy and going strong. Once we have a freeze, though, the leaves and blossoms will no longer be able to call to me to asking to be preserved by eco printing on paper or fabric. When this moment arrives I feel both regret and relief.

The workshop was called “Textiles con Alma” (Textiles with Soul) and was held for ten days in the Pyrenees Mountains, in a small village named Azanza. Although Azanza was only 20 minutes by car from Pamplona, we thirteen participants and the handful of support persons felt we were in another world. Azanza is a small collection of old Basque homes and we stayed in one that had been converted to host large groups. It was the perfect location – enough bedrooms and bathrooms to accommodate everyone, a large dining room and kitchen and a giant workroom, where much of the magic happened.

Wow! The dye worked quickly and well! Dark, dark blue, immediately. It was stinky and messy and I ended up with blue stains everywhere, but the results were beautiful.

This winter I’ve been spending my studio (aka basement) time mostly wet felting. I was honored to be commissioned to fill an 8 x 11 foot wall space with felted landscapes for a winter show at Gallery 360 in Minneapolis. Over the holiday season Gallery 360 also featured my wet felted animal toys, holiday decorations, cat toys, vessels and eco-printed cards. I also felted vessels for several shops in the Twin Cities, including Three Rooms in Edina and Fleur de Lis, a flower shop in Saint Paul. Once the holidays were over andI had a bit more creative free time, I dyed some silk scarves to be ready for eco printing in spring and then got back to something I’d done twice in workshops and only once at home and wanted to try again– indigo dyeing.

After a winter of creating felted tapestries, dolls, animals, bowls, hats and gnomes I switched to my new summer passion - eco printing.

While I hear it’s snowing inches and inches in Saint Paul, I’m here visiting my sister, Maureen, in Iowa City where it’s still fall. I’ve been taking advantage of my last opportunity this year to collect leaves to press and keep for winter eco printing. Before I left home I laid out two silk scarves and a felted hat and simmered them in black walnut dye and brought the packages here to Iowa City to cure and dry. Yesterday as we unwrapped them it felt like opening a surprise gift. You never quite know exactly what you’re going to get.

While I hear it’s snowing inches and inches in Saint Paul, I’m here visiting my sister, Maureen, in Iowa City where it’s still fall. I’ve been taking advantage of my last opportunity this year to collect leaves to press and keep for winter eco printing. Before I left home I laid out two silk scarves and a felted hat and simmered them in black walnut dye and brought the packages here to Iowa City to cure and dry. Yesterday as we unwrapped them it felt like opening a surprise gift. You never quite know exactly what you’re going to get.