Christmas ornaments and workshop prep

(Above:  A boat load of embellished wooden thread spools.  Click on any image to enlarge.)

Sometime in early February, I started wrapping old skeins of yarn around my collection of vintage, wooden thread spools ... but only when attending Bill Mishoe's weekly auctions (Tuesday and Friday nights). Sometime in mid-March, they were ready for their buttonhole stitched edges ... top and bottom ... but still only when at the auction house.  Sometime around April Fools Day, I started adding the decorative stitches.  I've also done this while riding in the van ... like when my solo show was delivered to Artisans on the Square in Greenville, GA or when taking the recently finished Peacock Feathers to the Grovewood Gallery in Asheville. 

(Above:  Ernie the Cat and the boat load of embellished wooden thread spools.)

The wrapping and stitching is fun and easy.  They also look so pretty in this wooden boat made by my friend Jeff Donovan.  (Please do click this link.  It shows one of Jeff's other vessels but also includes the most hilarious and truly fitting artist statement ever!)  Well ... when the boat gets filled, I know it is time to start transforming the embellished thread spools into ...

CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS.

Less that half the boat load is currently finished but I have plenty of time before November's Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show.  YES!  I'm thrilled to announce that my artwork was accepted again ... in two categories:  Decorative Fibers (which will be my Found Object Mandalas) and Basketry (which will be my Fiber Vessels.  I've secured a one-week, late July, art residency at the Rensing Center in Pickens, South Carolina in order to make lots and lots of cording for the fiber vessels!)  

Most of this week, however, has been in "hunter-gatherer" mode.  I'm conducting a two-day workshop at QSDS called One Woman's Trash Transformed.  I'm absolutely thrilled to be returning to in-person workshops.  Steve is driving me there ... so I'll be stitching more Christmas ornaments on the way!