The New Pace of Life...

In the days before I racheted up my felting regime a notch, I had a quiet November, January, and February.  I was very busy those months this year and I am now so flat out that friends have started ringing me to see if I am okay they haven't heard from me in so long.  Wake, laundry, clean, feed, small boy off to school, two hours of phone calls and emails, and then off to paid work.  After that, studio, phone, email, feed, avoid cleaning, stitch, and fall asleep in my chair.  Wake up and go to bed at 1:30am and then repeat.

Our new logo!

Craft in Kerry is off to an amazing start.  Truly, it's time had come.  I am having a hard time keeping up with all the opportunities that are coming our way.  Our craft fair on April 29th is having some teething problems, but I will figure it out.  We are on Radio Kerry for an hour's interview this Wednesday and headed to Dublin April 4th for Meitheal with Failte Ireland to promote the Handmade Sessions, our new craft education venture.  We will be teaching 4 hour workshops for visitors and locals alike from 10-1pm and 2-6pm in a variety of crafts, including patchwork, felting, woodworking, embroidery, jewelry, and much more.  Accommodating 8-10 people per setting, we will be working towards our goal of providing employment for talented craft workers and preserving handmade traditions.  The Handmade Sessions will begin in June and we are hard at work to get all the fine print sorted so we will be ready for the summer season.

New piece on the way to the framer..

In the meantime, I have my own felting workshop on April 27th to get ready for.  Located in Dingle, it is an excellent beginner's felting class.  After getting down to basics on wool materials and how to felt, we will felt a few sample pieces and then I will show how to lay out fibres using a resist to make felted journal covers.  I'm looking forward to it!  And if that's not enough, the lovely Pam de Groot will be visiting Dingle and teaching a 3 day Master Class in felting and resist dyeing.  Pam is Dutch by way of Australia and will be in Europe for a limited time, so we jumped at the opportunity to host her. Day One on Friday, June 17 will be resist dyeing, Day 2 & 3 are mosaic felting of wearables.  Day One can be taken by itself or with Day 2/3 or Day 2/3 on their own.  The fee is €50 for Day One by itself or €100 for Day 2/3 on their own or €150 for the three days.  Pam's work is best seen on her blog http://pamdegroot.blogspot.com/.  She mosaic "tiles" in pre-felted pieces to make beautiful wraps and wearable pieces, made even more beautiful by her resist dyed silks.  The three days together promise to be wonderful and great value.  The price does not include room or board, but I can help people from out of town find a good deal if they need help.  Spaces are limited to just 12 people, so please contact me at sharon1_crandall@hotmail.com.


In the meantime, I actually got two new pieces done this week.  This is a partial shot of the finished panel, awaiting it's journey to the framer.  It's a mix of felt, silk, cotton fabric and machine embroidery.  The weather has been sunny and dry this week, so I've started dyeing lots of wool and it will really show in these new pieces as the hand-dyed fibres really bling up the designs.

Meanwhile, I have marketing copy to write and a small boy sleeping in my chair.  And I suppose there's always cleaning to finish, but I don't think I can face that tonight...