I was walking to my car earlier and trying to figure out why I was so tired and started thinking back on my week.  I think I might just need to go to bed right now.

In the last week I have…

Gone to a baby shower, got a flat tire (not my car), seen a movie…

Listened to 2 concerts, watched the Oscars, done a little knitting…

Worked with a kindergarten field trip, wrote budgets for 6 programs for the next fiscal year, gave a lecture for the MN Contemporary Quilters…

Made some slides and some handouts, worked on some more budgets, taught a digital design class…

Welcomed some 3rd graders for a field trip and then taught a group of kindergarteners how to make felt,  finished more budgets, designed custom artwork for an Etsy order…

Checked up on a class or two, bought a bunch of materials for field trip groups, wrote up a new class proposal, started design work on a gallery piece…

Opened registration for summer camps, designed a postcard, updated a website, turned in a section of a big secret project, finished budgets, washed some towels (from kindergarteners)…

and somewhere in there was a little sleeping and dog walking.

How was your week?

The photo above is a version of a design for the class proposal/gallery exhibition.  Class project is learning about how to “preserve” a vintage or fragile textile by scanning it and using it as the basis for a new design.  This is a piece of tatted lace that I have scanned and colored.  I think I am going to print a different version, as this one is a little too large scale for the project I am thinking of, but I love it and will probably use it for something else.

You might be wondering about the grid that appeared on my blog last night.  I taught a class for the last 3 weeks all about intro to fabric design.  Last night we were tackling seamless repeat patterns and needed a grid to work with in order to place all of our objects and motifs so they would repeat.  We have been working in an elementary school computer lab and they have a lot of the features of the computers disabled (so the kids can’t mess things up) and we were having a jump drive issue.  So uploaded our practice grid to my blog because everyone could get there to download it easily.  It was a GREAT class – one of the best I have ever had and I really hope that they keep working on their designs.

Our very first night of class we did this design as a group.  I didn’t tell them why we were drawing on little squares, but since our first class was just before Valentines day, we did a love theme.

We then scanned and made a repeat from this and printed it, so we each had a swatch of collaborative fabric to take home last night.

Valentine Grid repeat at Spoonflower. Collaborative class project.

In just about 10 days I am teaching a beginning embroidery class at one of my very favorite yarn/fabric shops, Darn Knit Anyway in Stillwater MN.  This is our sample project for the 5 stitches we will learn in class.  I thought it would be fun to do a “cheater” crazy quilt block.  The block is 8 inches square and is Spoonflower printed fabric.  I printed tiny white dots right on the design so that you can basically “connect the dots” with the various stitches and the dots will help you keep everything evenly spaced and remember where to put your needle.  I made 3 different colorways (because why not?!) and the embroidery 2 class will have matching blocks with 5 new stitches to learn.  For this block we will do running stitch (and some variations), chain stitch & lazy daisy, back stitch, chinese knots and cross stitch.  Embroidery 2 is couching, satin stitch, blanket/buttonhole, fly stitch and feather stitch.

I stitched some polkadotted batik fabric around the edge of my sample and it’s now ready to be a pillow cover or a “mug mat” for my teapot.

Yarn from "All for Love of Yarn". BFL/Silk and Merino/Cashmere/Silk

I share a booth at the Shepherd’s Harvest Festival with my friends Doreen (Goldfish Love Fibers) and Jen (Strawberry Moon Fibers).  I could not ask for better partners.  They both dye fiber and spin yarn and make the most outrageous gorgeous color and fiber combinations.  They are like fiber sirens – people cannot help but be drawn over to see our booth.  In addition to having my own stuff at the festival (the same things I sell over in my Etsy shop, with a few additions), I also helped staff the Textile Center’s table and I taught a class.  (Can you say busy?!)  I didn’t remember to take a single photo at the festival this year.  The weather was beautiful, the crowds were huge, I saw tons of friends there and I came home with a few treasures.  The yarn above is from Angela at All for Love of Yarn.  She does these wonderful semi-solids that have enough variegation to be interesting, but not so much that they look like confetti.

Yarn from Goldfish Love Fibers.

Doreen sent me home with some of this colorway which I promised to knit up into something and post it on Ravelry for her as a sample.  The color in this photo doesn’t do this yarn justice – it is intense!    I think I might knit a version of this Wingspan shawl, which could be fun since it is short rows and might end up looking stripey or this one called Shizuku with the little droplets on the edge.  Definitely something to wear in gloomy February when you need a little pick me up.

Chunky Handspun by Doreen of GoldfishLove Fibers

This skein I am just going to wear like a necklace.  It is about as big around as my finger in the thickest spots.  I plan to just felt the ends together and tack it on a few spots so it stays in a neat loop and wear it like a cowl.  I love it.

Mawata Silk Hankies by Goldfish Love Fibers

This is a lovely orange colorway of dyed silk “hankies”.  These are unfurled silk cocoons and the crazy thing is you can just pull them apart and knit with them.  The Yarn Harlot started a craze for mittens made this way.  Not sure what mine are destined to be, but it is silk so it will be good.

I also have to give a shout out to Rachel and Sadie, who were the lovely ladies in my Photo Help class.  We were a small class but we had fun and they were both absolutely sweet and charming.

I have almost finished unpacking and will have some new little sheep for my etsy shop soon.  Stay tuned!

I am teaching this Sunday at Shepherd’s Harvest Festival in Lake Elmo, MN.

Photo Help

Sunday May 13, 2-4 pm, $20

Don’t know your MB from your DPI? This session will help you out with the vocabulary of digital photographs. Every publication, show jury and call-for-entry has a different set of requirements for your images. Learn how to re-size, crop and rename your images to fit the requirements for submitting them to gallery shows, craft fairs, magazines and more.

We are going to work through a bunch of samples and I have a great handout workbook that you can use as a reference later on.

They have closed online registrations but you can still register in person at the festival or email education@shepherdsharvestfestival.org.  Right now the class is very small so there is lots of space and I would love to see you there!

Fabrics by Heather Ross

You might recognize some of these prints.  That goldfish one has always been one of my favorites before I ever knew who the designer was!  The whole catalyst for the NYC trip was that I went there to take a class from Heather Ross about Photoshop for Fabric Design.  There were some amazingly creative people in class with me and some designs that I would love to see printed on fabric.  Although I am pretty good with Photoshop, I did love the sneak peak in to the way Heather works and the excuse to get a lot of practice with my Wacom tablet. If you get a chance to take a class from Heather, do it.  She is laid back, ready to laugh and generous with her ideas and skills.  It was a lovely vacation from the real world.

My vintage Wacom actually was a curiosity for the Mac-geeks upstairs from our classroom.  Class was held at Tekserve on 23rd, which was awesome!  The people who worked there were so friendly and the shop itself is worth a visit.  Almost any blank surface is covered with antique technology: old radios, video cameras, a Mac signed by “Woz”.  My computer station was placed right under the latch hook apple logo!

Tekserve

I haven’t quite finished the repeat of my design from class but you can see a little sample.  Just before we started sketching, I had a conversation with the amazing Ava (Mac genius, class assistant) about being from South Dakota and after that I had to do buffaloes.  A grassy version and a dusk version.

I have lots of behind-the-scenes-can’t-talk-about-it-yet projects going on here at the Project Journal so there is not much to talk about.  However, I am teaching a couple of classes and events coming up very soon:

* Textiles for Teachers: Native American Fiber Arts is tomorrow evening at the Textile Center.  This is a bit longer session than I did for the Art Educators of MN conference last year.  We are going to cover beadwork, quillwork, quilting, natural dyes, finger weaving, and twining.  I did a couple of simple natural dye samples this afternoon and hung them on the clothesline to dry.  Both coffee and tea turn out virtually the same color on wool yarn, which is essentially “manilla envelope”.  Someone asked me if you could get different shades with different kinds of tea and the answer is basically no.  Good to know.  There are still spaces available if you want to join us.

* Tuesday night is “5 Centers, 5 Media” also at the Textile Center.  This is a 5 week class where each night you get to go to a different art center and dabble in something new. We are partnering with Northern Clay Center, MN Center for Book Arts, Highpoint Center for Printmaking and IFP Film & Video.  My class is going to do shibori dyed silk scarves and some needle felting.  This class is full, but there is another session coming up in July.

* On Saturday I will be at the Walker Art Center leading a “Make a Felted Garden” project for their free family day.  My team of fiber art teachers and I are hopefully going to help about 400 people make a collaborative wet felted 3-d piece of art.  I am going to be tired by the end of that day!

* Then in 3 weeks I will be doing a demo of something at the American Craft Council show.  I know my shift is Friday 10-2, but not sure what to demo.  I would like to do some of my digital fabric work, but I am trying to decide how to make that something interesting to watch.  We will see.

* They just put out the class schedule for the Shepherd’s Harvest Festival and I am teaching “Photo Help” there in May.  I love teaching technology classes with my laptop and LCD in the 4H barn.  The juxtaposition of the high and low tech just tickles me – I taught a session about Etsy and one about blogging a couple of years ago.   This year’s class is all about how to get your photos set for submitting to craft fairs, exhibitions, magazines and so on.  How to resize, crop, touch up, rename and how to figure out what exactly they are looking for.

* Finally I am teaching a hands on Digital Fabric design class in Stillwater MN at Darn Knit Anyway also in May.  My last class was so much fun that I hope this one fills up too.  This class we are going to go step by step through how to make a “fabric label”, or basically a design that incorporates an image and some text.  It could be a label for the back of a special quilt; it could be a banner for your art fair booth; it could be a pillow for a special event.  Simple project, lots of ways to use it.

* I am also very excited to be assisting once again for Stephen Fraser of Spoonflower.com, who is coming to teach a workshop at the Textile Center on May 5.

It’s been quiet around here but really I am working on all kinds of things.

This exhibition opened at the Textile Center and light rail construction “officially” started.  Constructions in Concert.

I taught a digital fabric design class.  Hi Class!  This was their “grid works” fabric design based on a celestial theme.  I am teaching another class at Darn Knit Anyway in May.  You should come!
I started knitting another “Venomous Tentacula” shawl.  I wear my other one all the time and I love when people ask me what the pattern is and I say “venomous tentacula” and they look at me like I have lost my marbles.  The photo of my other one is actually featured on the pattern page – the designer asked if she could use my photo (cool!) and will be featured on another site that is putting together kits to go with the pattern.  This one is merino/silk yarn that I dyed and I have been waiting for the perfect thing to knit with it.
I have very recently become the co-Captain of the Etsy Sellers Assisting Sellers Mentoring Team.  (Team SASsy)  My job is keeping track of the team blog and Facebook page and doing a lot of mentoring in between.  If you have an Etsy shop, you should know about us.
I submitted an article to a new e-zine about teaching embroidery to kids.  We will see if they like it.

And somehow it is March already.  How did that happen?

A while back, I took a class about writing crafty e-books from the lovely Diane Gilleland at craftypod.com.  She decided to take all of the information (and more) from the class and turn it into a book.  So, it’s literally an e-book about writing crafty e-books.

What’s an e-book, you say?  In this case it is a .pdf file that makes an 84 page book, with photos and links and more.  Since I had taken the class and chatted with Diane a few times about other geeky things, she asked if I would review the book.  Absolutely!

So, I really liked the e-book publishing class, but I think the book, Write, Publish & Sell Your Crafty E-Book, is even better. The book format appeals more to me because it is so self directed.  I can read, highlight and make notes on the .pdf and have Google open in another window to check things out. I can print it out if I want to.  I can skip ahead or back when I feel like it.  It was also great to see concepts in practice – for example, I could see right away what she was talking about with clickable chapter links or the copyright on the bottom of the page because I had an e-book right in front of me with those very features.

Diane has divided the book up into 4 chapters, which are roughly: Things to Think about, How To Make It, How to Get it to Customers, How to Market it.  You get a sense of Diane’s personality throughout -  friendly with a little humor but professional at the same time – which makes it a really easy read.  I also appreciate that she shares a lot of “things she has figured out the hard way”, real examples to illustrate topics she is talking about and why she makes certain recommendations.

Chapter One has a lot of really great tips to get you thinking about your own e-book project and making a plan.  She encourages you to think in very specific ways about the audience for your book throughout the process.  As crafty people/artists I think it is easy for us to get caught up in the “fun of creating” and forget about everyone else.

Chapter Two is probably my favorite section of the book.  This is the “how to make it” part and is a really thorough list of not only all the parts of your book you should think about, but some basics of design as well.  The beautiful part of this section is that a lot of the design suggestions and concepts could really be applied to all kinds of things you might self publish – single patterns, artist statements, exhibition postcards, class handouts.  Making a really appealing and professional looking publication is a great skill to learn.

Chapter Three and Four are the technical “delivering it to customers” section and marketing.  This is in some ways the most intimidating part of the publishing your own book process, but I think these two chapters are a good foundation with plenty of examples to help you “get it”.  They are also packed with resources (e-books can have live weblinks!) to other places (articles, podcasts) where she has covered a certain concept or topic in more depth.

I am teaching a mini-class on publishing .pdf patterns for a group of the International Old Lace Society in August and I plan to have Diane’s book on my Recommended Reading list.  (I am going to read it myself a couple more times before then.)

“Kids don’t remember what you try to teach them. They remember what you are.”
– Jim Henson

Three of my very favorite fiber artists showed these kids what it is like to be super excited about fiber art.  Job well done, ladies.