Time and the Ginger Ottoman

These late fall and winter months I have been working on a fun project.  It is a custom order, and most unusual, I have had a luxuriously long amount of time to work on it.  The client is not yet in their beautiful new home, (being built) and I have Monday through Friday commitments that are not felt making. (aka a new job)  So the designer Laurie McDowell, who met me many years ago at an ACC St.Paul Craft Show, commissioned this piece for her client.  It will eventually be added to their collection of many other wonderful treasures in their new home in South Dakota.

I won't even call this project a labor of love because it wasn't really laborious, (aside from the actual felt making and you know what that is like!)  No, it was a lovely slow process.  And I am thankful to have a client who also had that luxury!

It gave me time to process, finding time in my weeks to play in the studio.  Time to order and wait for certain supplies to arrive.  Time to think about the adorable feet and what kind of pattern should bedeck them.  Time to work up colors for the flowers based on Laurie's color palette.  Time to hand felt the flowers and hand shape them.   Time to leave them pinned around the top, and occasionally pass by the piece or study and look at it from a different angel and then re-pin a flower into another place instead.  Time to cut and sew the check felt fabric.  Time to wait for my carpeter to cut the wood pieces.   Time to drill and a-fix.  Time to upholster.  And then finally, time finally to sew the flowers into their chosen place.  I did this mostly over weekends.  As general life stuff softly swirled around us, our new dog, visits with parents and family, celebrating holidays.  During all those activities, the Ginger Ottoman gently kept becoming more tangible.  It is finally done, I pack it up soon and send it out for the client to wait to move into their home, and finally open the box, lift the  piece out and celebrate.  I can't wait to see it in it's home.  Here are a few more close-up shots.

Felt a Flower Valentine

Valentine's is less than a week away and am am doing my Painted Flower workshop Saturday.  The studio and house are getting some sweet decorations.  I picked up a fun paper craft book called Girlagami by Cindy Ng and am having so much fun with this cutie book.  I am still stuck on the Hearts, you' see, I'll post my decorated kitchen in a couple of days. Don't you want those shoes too?  My Valentine's Workshop is so much fun, it is a girly treat - retreat for sure.  This is the third year I am doing it, and it is now tradition, I make a decadent lunch, which I have decided is wintry and yummy, apple and cheddar cheese soup and a chocolaty treat for dessert.  The felt we create are  some sort of flower, some years I do dimensional flowers like pins and such. This year we will do the "Paint a Flower", which is great for felters with a bit of experience, because we play with such interesting techniques, building upon the way we put down fiber.   Think watercolor looks, tight detail, and even some dimensional do-dads.  Here are some of my flower pieces from the past...I'll have to add a new one here after the class!