ABSENT!! But not gone!

It has been far too long since I've written a blog post. It's not that I've been idle. FAR FROM IT! April 6 started a six-week online felting workshop with Fiona Duthie.  Intense and intensive do not even begin to describe this….but it has been a fascinating, informative, educational, and PHYSICALLY demanding exploration with very little break.  And not only that….I've become obsessed with it.  Now some of you who know me personally might not be surprised by that revelation!  This process has confirmed for me my very real interest in pursuing felting more and more.  Not sure my body will agree, but I'm most certainly going to give it a try for as long as I can.

I wish I had begun to pursue my creative fiber arts interest MANY years ago when I had youth on my side.  But I have to be realistic and realize that I had many years of raising a family, working as a teacher, and then as a career counselor, and in retirement throwing myself into tennis and the co-op gallery to which I belong and become an very active member.  My interest in all these fiber arts (knitting, crocheting, and felting….and I could add some others) has been a natural evolution since before retiring. Just wish I started earlier!

Never too late, however!  And so I'm following a dream of mine.  If I can't get to the felting classes I want, then they will have to come to me.  The internet offers options that I would not have thought viable, and yet, wait till I show you my collection of samples representing thus far the newly acquired skills thanks to Fiona Duthie.  I have taken on-site private and group felting classes in the past (but rarely) with Jean Gauger and Cynthia Mollenkopf.  Online leaves out the hands-on instruction and immediate critiquing, but Fiona has done a miraculous job of presenting material in written form with many photos and also in videos.  She manages a discussion page for each week's new material for posting questions, comments, photos, etc.  And she responds once a day to each person's photos and questions.  What more could we ask?  And I have met a new felting friend through this class, Beth Marx, who is a very accomplished felter in her own right!  HERS will probably be the next class I take!   She has been so helpful in answering my questions, and like me, she seems to almost always be available on her computer, phone, iPad!

So now there are two weeks left to this course, including new material next week, and then a final project in which we incorporate techniques of our own choosing into a piece of artwork.  Of course, I'm thinking scarf, but I want to do a double-sided piece that is lightweight and drapey, with a number of the newly learned techniques that Fiona has taught us.  And then the next project will be thinking of ways to USE some of the samples to embellish some of my other loves: knitting and crocheting.

Many more of the samples can be seen on flickr and the Fiona Duthie felting Workshop album!  I'm sure there are many more not yet photographed.  Stay tuned!  BTW, if you have an interest in felting and Fiona's workshops, be sure to visit her website for additional info.