Here is my vessel after a little hand stitching. At the suggestion of Carolyn of Love Stitching Red. I added embroidery and a few french knots.

Another view. What do you think, does it need more?

This is the resist I used for my second vessel. I am planning on using this same resist but will make different shaped vessels each time.

I started experimenting with 3D wet felting today. This was my resist. I had drawn a sketch of a pod looking object that sort of resembled a leaf. So this was the resist I made.

And here is the very odd looking piece that resulted.

I used red because I had a bunch of red dyed trying to get the right shade of maroon for Grizzly stuff. Although this is a very strange looking, I’m pleased with the effort. I learned a lot about shaping. I realized that I didn’t need all those bumpy out bits on the resist and I need to remember to add more length if I am doing the folds. It only took me a few hours to make and I’m excited to try some more. Next time, I’m doing a simpler resist shape.

Here’s a thank you card that I made today for my hubby to send to a business associate. He sent us three bottles of wine from his wineries. I’m not sure how we got on his gift list. This is the first time we’ve received anything from him. But we needed a card so I whipped one up from dyed papers that I had made previously and a small square of fabric that was a sample for bags that I order for the store sometimes.

I also worked on my page for the January book page swap. The theme for Johoanna’s page is “The Goddess Within”. I can’t show any photos yet as it is to be a surprise. I made it on the needle felting machine and now I’m going to add some hand stitching. Then it will be sent off to Australia.

1. Spend more time in the studio making art. I want to spend at least one hour every day and 6-8 hours on Fridays (my usual studio day). I hope to be creating work at least 12-14 hours per week and I’m going to monitor my time so I can see how I’m doing. I’m not being literal when I say “in the studio”, it’s just so I spend at least an hour creating something.
2. Complete one sample or small piece per week. I want to do more sampling and testing before beginning a bigger piece so that I’m not flailing about when in the midst of a piece trying different techniques that don’t work.
3. Practice art/design exercises in my journal for 15-30 minutes per day. This is in addition to the above mentioned “studio time”. My design skills definitely need some work so I am going to be seeing what’s available in the library. I already checked out a book called 7 Keys to a Great Painting by Jane Hofstetter and it has some very good information about using values and finding the value shapes to make a good underpinning of a painting. It’s about using watercolors but can be applied easily to fiber. I’ve only made it through the first chapter but it seems like it will be helpful.
4. Develop work in a more 3D format. I have had this on my mind for a while now but I want to do more 3D wet felt sculpture with the addition of machine embroidery. I have an idea brewing on how to do this but more on that later. In relation to this goal, I will be practicing my skills in using resists with felting, making 3D additions to my felt and practicing my machine embroidery skills.
5. Begin Level II Machine Embroidery at the Gail Harker Creative Studies Center which begins November 2010. This is a major investment in both time and money as the course lasts for 18 months and would mean traveling to Washington state at least 7 times in that time frame. To accomplish this goal, I will be applying for an artists grant through the Montana Arts Council and I will need to work out being away from the store on a quarterly basis for a week at a time.
6. Don’t feel guilty about the time spent in the pursuit of these goals. I’m not sure how one accomplishes this but I’ll give it a try.

So there it is. I have “told the world” about my goal so I guess I’ll have to buck up and follow through. Periodically, I’ll try and remember to review how I’m doing. This past year, I decided that I wasn’t going to do any more challenges or swaps so I could concentrate on my own work. I did fairly well with this until the end. I signed up to do a book page swap for the year. But I will just consider the book pages to be one of my weekly small pieces and practice making them in “my own style”.

Thanks to everyone reading my blog and for all the comments that you make. I really appreciate your feedback and it’s nice to know that there are so many kind and wonderful fiber arts people in the world. Happy New Year and I’ll leave you with a photo as I hate to have a post with no photos. There were 10 inches of new snow last night! This is sunrise at the Summit House on Big Mountain a couple of days ago. That sea of clouds is the inversion, the valley is cloudy but the mountain has beautiful sunshine!

Now that Christmas is past, I can show you the last set of coasters and trivet that I made for my sister.

Her request was for petroglyphs on earth tone wool.

I liked this set and I think it meets her request.

Here’s the trivet. It’s quite big about 12″ square (in felting squareness). She wanted it large so she could set a pizza box on it.

Here are all the coasters. Can you pick out the Swedish moose? I didn’t realize they had petroglyphs in Sweden but when I was researching, I found the moose and just had to use it. Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday – we went skiing with my new ski boots that I got for Christmas. And a miracle occurred! My feet didn’t hurt in my ski boots. It was wonderful as usually I have lots of pain when skiing. What a perfect gift for Christmas. Let it snow!

I’ve finished up all the needle felted Christmas ornaments.

I thought they looked very nice on the tree outside.

It was a little chilly getting the photos…

But the photos look very cheery.

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season. Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog and leaving all those wonderful comments. I really appreciate hearing from everyone.

The championship football game is on tonight at 8:00 pm eastern time. So if you happen to catch it on ESPN2, please cheer for the Montana Grizzlies! Go Griz!!