More Peace!

I guess I'm not the only one feeling the love of the Peace sign.  Here's an amazing Etsy Treasury.  So flattered to be included:

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4ccb7a9df5d68eefe0c6fd36/peace-on-earth#4ccc002ecb2a8eefc6b203bd

Peace

 I am apparently in peace mode.  I'm doing some peace work.  My latest projects have given me great peace of mind.

Okay, sorry.  I'm done now.

I've been playing around some more with the applique technique where I put large pieces of fabric together, sketch a design on the back of the stack, and stitch on the machine.  Then I cut away revealing the design.  I've done a couple of trees, one of which will be my next stair riser.  The peace sign is the latest.  The one with the black and white check and the orange is a project for my sewing group.  We pass around fabric and give each other parameters for each year's project.  My friend Angela is making a denim quilt for her son.  This square will be in the quilt. 

The other two are, obviously, scarves for my shop.  I really (REALLY) love the pastel one above with the kelly green peace sign.  The cashmere behind the green is the perfect turquoise which also appears elsewhere in the scarf.  Naturally, 100% cashmere makes it extra special.

Peace to you.

A real stunner

I'm working on scarves right now.  I probably had about 20 cashmere sweaters in all different colors.  These were a huge seller for me last year and I like making them.  It's similar to my patchwork purses of years ago but the cashmere makes them very luscious and very decadent.

This one is so pretty I thought I'd post some shots.  Usually one sweater becomes the inspiration for the scarf.  In this case, of course, it was the argyle.  A major find at the thrift store.  The argyle was only on the front of the sweater.  The back and sleeves were the beautiful turquoise color.  Then I had some pale green cabled cashmere and some butter yellow.  Funny how butter yellow looks good in almost any combination.  The final sweater in the combo was an amazing pale blue given to me by my good friend, Katie.  The sweater was vintage and the color was the precise color of robins' eggs.  Pale blue with tiny flecks of yellow and green.  Perfectly subtle and, well, perfect.

I always use the ribbing of the sweater for my fringe.  The vintage sweater had about 6 inches of ribbing but I only cut about half of it into fringe.  The edges are pinked and the double layer of cashmere makes for an amazingly luxurious scarf.

By the end of next week I'm hoping to have all the different scarf combinations listed on my Etsy shop.  http://www.ragingwool.etsy.com/   I listed this one yesterday afternoon and have already had 2 convos about it.  Sometimes you just know something is going to get a lot of attention, yes?

One of my repeat customers told me "It's almost RagingWool season."  I loved that and couldn't agree more.

We're off to New Hampshire for a reunion this weekend.  More sewing starting Monday morning.  Have a great weekend yourself.

New logo!!

How adorable is this?!  Salli Swindell, local girl and great artist, has finished most of my new logo.  I think she's fab.  Salli does terrific work freelance and blogs about stuff on http://manicexpresssive.blogspot.com/ .  She's better than I am -- posts almost every day.  Check it out.

Salli and I worked this summer to have everything ready for the fall rush.  Just in time.  The business cards arrived last week and I'm plotting getting some labels woven.  New avatar on Etsy too:  http://www.ragingwool.etsy.com/ .

If you can't beat 'em...

Everything is woodland on Etsy.  I get so frustrated.  The front page, which features 16 lucky artists, constantly has owls or faux bois, or some kind of woodland creature.

Here's my contribution:

I'll let you know if it gets me on the front page!

I do like making these gloves, though.  You probably have a pair or two.  $1.00 a pair but so plain and boring, they make your head hurt.  Two Januaries ago I found a huge pile of them at Target for half off.  I bought 22 pair thinking, well, I'll do something with them.  They were all black and I embellished them with 3 different colorways of pennies.  I love penny rugs, always have.  On the gloves, they turn the mundane into the fun.  Totally my gig.  And a great project for waiting in the car or watching (listening to) TV.

Buy 'em quick before I keep them for myself!

I'm making lots of fingerless gloves right now.  A customer in North Carolina wants to buy 12 (twelve!!) pair for her shop.  I have a few pair at a great shop in Cuyahoga Falls -- Trot Home and the upstairs fab gallery A Woman's Whimsy -- http://awomanswhimsy.com/

So, I need to re-stock.  I have about 10 pair cut out and in various stages of sewing.  Here are two pair that I finished this weekend.  Cute, yes?  These are recycled wool sweaters on the outside and recycled 100% cashmere sweaters for the lining.  Yes, they are that soft.  And, $22.

Go to the Etsy shop to see them all:  http://www.ragingwool.etsy.com/

Have a great day!  Fall is in the air.  Finally.

Chicken rug is done!

Wow.  This sure took awhile, didn't it!  If you remember, dear reader, I started this rug back in April when I went to my first rug camp.  I walked in the door with wool and a pattern.  I walked out with barely 2 chickens done.  Once I got home, I felt like I had to finish the fruit rug before finishing this one.  Then, life happened and I didn't have a lot of time to work on anything at all.  I finally bit the bullet and took the rug with me on vacation to Kelleys Island.  The border was so tedious.  The rug is 40+ inches by about 28 inches so there's lots and lots (and lots) of border to do.  But, after a few days at the lake, I had the border pretty much done.  That left me the final (darkest) chicken. 

I love the rug and I'm actually considering putting it on the floor (gasp!).  Most of my rugs are on walls because they are too precious to walk on.  But, I think I'm ready.  I just need to find a spot where my children never tread...