Felted Tote bags-- The perfect Gift for a Knitter!

Hi Everyone!

I am finally finished with the totes that I have been working on. The green and orange one below is the first one that I made for myself. The others are all for gifting. A lot of people on your Christmas gift list are creative and I bet some of them are knitters! You might consider the subtle art of felting, as a way to make a really neat bag.

This particular pattern can be found in the Debbie Macomber Cedar Cove Collection. Now, you might be intimidated by the fact that, once you finish knitting a gigantic bag in stockinette stitch, you then plunge it into a hot soapy wash in the clothes washer, followed by a plunge into the cold rinse-- and no spinning!...... arrrrgh!!!! Stress!!!!

But believe me, I'm used to it now and can asure you that it is sooooo simple that you will love doing it!

You remember felting by accident? That's when you put that wonderful wool sweater in to the wash by mistake, and it come out looking like it's made for Malibu Barbie........

BUT....... when you are doing it with purpose, you open that washer and find the most beautiful bag you could imagine and you think, "I made this!? Wow!"

Working on the final rush to Christmas gift making-- next comes mittens, I hope!

Have a great day,

Barbara

Santa Claus is Comin' to Town!

Hi Everyone!

Well, the Show season is officially over for me, and I just want to thank all of you who have been so encouraging and supportive of Angel Pond Cottage and my work. Though the economy is still very slow, people have been very encouraging and there is a real community spirit among fiber artists that has been wonderful to experience.

When not engaged in working on the shows, we have been knitting baby hats for Kent Hopsital, and I am including a few pictures of Kent's Chaplain, The Ven. Robin Higbie (who is also the Archdeacon of the Diocese of RI, where I am a deacon), as we looked at over 100 hats that had been made over the past many weeks, from near and far. So many volunteers have made them for us, including some great folks from Ravelry and from Knit Happens, Rhode Island, the greatest knitting group ever! Linda made wonderfully whimsical hats with Fall motifs and Judy even made two absolutely georgeous baby sweaters and hat sets for us! The generosity of people is so overwhelming, and for that, we are truly grateful. We are still making them and receiving them, so keep up the great work!

Robin, holding as many hats as she could and looking soooo happy! Pat, Robin and Judi taking a look at what has been accomplished. Pat, me, Robin and Judi with hats. One of the hats close-up.

This morning, the snow had begun to fall in earnest and here's a picture so that you can see how lovely it looked when I went out. My friend Terry, in Australia is probably experiencing hot and arid conditions, so this picture is for you, Terry, to cool those hot Christmas days!

I still have Christmas presents to make, so my needles will be clacking away from now, probably until Christmas Eve. So, have a great week, and I will try to post some things before the holidays.

Barbara

More Shows On The Horizon!

Well, Halloween is over and there are several shows that I wanted to mention that are coming up soon. If you are in the area, I would love it if you drop in to one (or more!) of these shows to say hello and support the work of local artisans.
This is the schedule:
Saturday, November 7, 9AM to 4 PM
East Providence High School
2000 Pawtucket Avenue
East Providence, RI 02914

Saturday, November 14, 9AM to 4PM
Holiday Sale at Arlene's
23 Hamilton Road
Cranston, RI 02910

Saturday, November 21, 9AM to 3PM
Saint Thomas Episcopal Church
Corner of Rts. 44 and 116
Greenville, RI 02828-0505

Saturday, November 21, 9AM to 7PM
and Sunday, November 22, 8AM to 1PM
Saint Brigid Roman Catholic Church
1231 Plainfield Street
Johnston, RI 02919-6922

Saturday, December 5, 9AM to 4 PM
Jamestown's Conanicut Island Art Association
Annual Holiday Craft Show Sale
Melrose School
76 Melrose Avenue
Jamestown, RI 02835

I am looking forward to being at all these shows!
Barbara

Hello Everyone,

Just a quick note today to show a picture of my Diana, who I am so proud of. This is a picture of her, right after she cut her hair for cancer patients who have lost their hair during treatments.

Here are some organizations that donations are made to. Take a look at their websites! http://www.locksforlove.org/

http://www.pantene.com/en-US/beautiful_lengths.jspx

I am such a lucky Mom..........

Have a great week,

Barbara

And now the shows begin!

Hi Everyone!
Well, today we had a very nice show. It was great to see some old friends and make some new ones.
Here are some pictures of the set-up. As you can see, we used a shoe rack to set out a very nice display of Tea Towels. It was Roger's idea, and I am sure glad that he has such a good thought. It will now be a regular part of my set-up. Here is a shot of the two racks and the table. The rack of Tea Towels had Thanksgiving/Harvest/Fall on one side and Christmas designs on the other. The table display is Wine Bottle Bags and Anglican Prayer Beads.

In this photo, you can see the back rack a bit better. On that rack, I had knitted scarves, followed by weaved scarves, then table runner in brocades and then pieced and quilted for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. I was very pleased with the overall layout, though we will continue to make adjustments.

For those of you in the area, our next show will be 9AM to 4PM on November 7, at East Providence High School. I hope you can come by and visit-- and bring friends to look at all the good stuff! It's supposed to be quite a show. My first time, so I'll let you know.

I took a few days off this past week, with Roger to see the beautiful Fall colors in New England, and we had a much needed rest and a lot of fun.

Well, I need to go watch my favorite Baseball team (The Yankees, of course!) take on the LA Angels. I feel like it's going to be a good night!!

Barbara

A Sampler of Wedding Cakes

Michael and Wendy's cake

Hi Everyone,
Several people have been asking about my wedding cakes, so I thought I might share them with you today. A little bit of background first, though!

Missy and Joe's cake

When my daughter was really little, I took a cake decorating class with my sister-in-law, just to have some fun and time off, and I discovered that I fell in love with the challenge of wedding cakes. The Wilton Method was enjoyable and easy to learn and I began to make wedding cakes for friends and family.

Michael and Barbara's cake

Bishop Wolf and Tom's cake

Michele and Tommy's cake

Kate and Jon's cake

Colleen and Stephen's cake

Judy and Jim's cake

Catherine and Joe's cake

Nowadays, I am thrilled to be able to offer to make wedding cakes for those I am close to as a gift for their special day!

So, enjoy the pictures and have a great day!

Barbara

Gearing up for Shows

Good Morning and Welcome Fall!

With the coming of Fall and the cool and crisp air, with its refreshing wave of change, the season of fairs, festivals and shows begins in earnest here in Rhode Island! I have been working very hard at finishing inventory and preparing for my first show of the season, which is on Saturday, October 3 from 10 AM to 4 PM. It is located at St. John's Episcopal Church, Barrington, RI. It is in the center of Barrington, directly across the street from the Barrington Shopping Plaza. So, if you are in the area, I'd love to see you there!

Here are some pictures of some of the work I will be displaying for sale.

Looking forward to seeing old friends and making new ones!

Have a fantastic day!

Barbara

Visit my website at www.AngelPondCottage.com

Coming Back to Quilting!

Hi Everyone,
As we come toward the end of summer, my thoughts always turn to quilting. I am including pictures of two quilts that have combined two different arts: quilting/sewing and embroidery. In the baby quilt, you can see that I have used a set of alphabet motifs that have a cute little bear, climbing on each letter. In the bottom corners, one side has the information on the child-- name, birth date and weight and the other has a quote- "Babies are a gift from God." The other quilt is from an alphabet motif set called "Alphabet of Life." Each square has a letter and a thought starting with that letter. In the bottom corners, you can read, "The Alphabet" on one corner and "Of Life" with a floral spray in the other.
All the embroidery was done with my Bernina sewing computer, and I embroidered them onto the quilts before finishing them.
In the coming months, I am planning to expand my use of the interraction of these arts for table runners and quilts alike. I'll let you know how it's going!
Take care,
Barbara

Getting Things Done!

Summer has finally come and the heat is so wonderful! I have been working on many things since I last wrote.

If you are familliar with http://www.ravelry.com/, you might have seen the beautiful knitted lace wrap on that site called, "Meandering Vine." This scarf is a variation of that, and it is such fun to work with. I have started to work with Addie Lace needles from Addie Turbo. They can make lace work go so easily!

Another set of scarves shown today are weaved, some large weave and some smaller. The variegated scarf in shades of green, blue and yellow is made using a 25 dpi (dents per inch) rigid heddle and the others are made using 4 ply knitting worcested in the warp and specialty fibers in the weft, and using a 7.5 dpi rigid heddle.

Finally, I was delighted to have been asked by my daughter's lifelong friend to make her wedding cake. I am showing that as well today. The cake topper was sewn by one of the bridesmaids and is a lovely set of birds.

My vacation in July from my Cathedral responsibilities gave me time to concentrate on my inventory for the Fall shows, and I still have a long way to go.

But for now, I feel very accomplished with getting all this done!

Have a great week!

Barbara

How we get two things done at once!

Hi Everybody,
I was thinking that it might be important to say a word about multi-tasking. As you may know about me, I love doing multiples of things all at once! I can be found on any particular day knitting, embroidering (on my sewing computer), washing dishes (dishwasher), washing clothes (washing machine/dryer), making bread (bread machine),making ice cream--soy based of course!! (ice cream/sorbet machine), creating newsletters (computer) and/or weaving-- all at the same time!! Yes, we women are pretty good at that--and some men are good at it, too. Machinery and technology can make our lives so much more complex and I feel at the end of the day like I have really accomplished something.
In this regard, I also like to listen to books. I love to read, but don't seem to find the dedicated time for that too often these days. So, instead, I "read" with audio books. In the beginning, it was tapes, then cd's and now I download to a portable lightweight device with a subscription to Audible.com. You can find them at http://www.audible.com/ . I like unabridged books the best, and there are literally thousands to choose from in all categories. Often, when I am doing motifs on the sewing computer, I am also listening to a good book. Most recently, I am reading Ken Follett's "Pillars of the Earth." I highly recommend it.
Today, I'd like to leave you with some pictures of my deck garden-- just for the sense of relaxation that it brings me, and hopefully you, too.
Have a great day!
Barbara

Working on Knitting and Machine Embroidery

Hello Everyone,

So, lately, the weather has been soggy and cold here in Rhode Island. In fact, it is almost as if summer has decided not to come. I keep reminding myself that once it kicks in, I will be longing for a cool day, but for right now, the rain is making me a little bit crazy!!

Anyway, I wanted to show what I have beem working on since last I wrote. I have been doing a lot of inventory work, adding to the ever growing stash of embroidered tea towels and and knited scarves this week.

Here are some pictures of that work. Also, I am working on learning lace work in my knitting. Hopefully next time I write, it will be to show some pictures of some lace pieces that I can't wait to get to!

Here's to hoping that the sun will find its way to Rhode Island sometime soon!!

Barbara

The Wiggins Memorial Preemie Hat Project

Hi All,

Today I am posting for our wonderful knitting group, Knit Happens http://www.khappens.com/ . Over the past few months, we have been making preemie hats to present to Dr. Doreen Wiggins, in memory and honor of her husband, Dr. Michael Wiggins, who died very unexpectedly last winter.

It is our hope that when she receives and donates these preemie hats, it will bring to her some comfort and joy in knowing that some precious new lives are being kept warm in her husband's memory. This project honors both Drs. Michael and Doreen and the importance of the work that Women and Infants Hospital does for all babies, but particularly premature and at risk babies.

We started knitting hats and were beginning to collect quite a few. Sue mentioned it on Ravelry http://www.ravelry.com/ and at the Knitting Guild at the Slater Mill, and soon hats began to arrive from Tennessee, Great Britain, Colorado, New Bedford, MA., Slater Knitting Guild RI, Wisconsin, Indiana and even a knitting student of Sue's. Everyone has been so very generous and we want you to know that we have 216 collected and made to date.

We are very grateful to all of you who have helped to make the Wiggins Hat Project so very successful. Here are some pictures of Knit Happens members, stuffing and boxing the hats for delivery and some great shots of our members "just doin'what we do!"

Have a great weekend!

Barbara

Rhode Island Special Olympics and my niece

I wanted to show some pictures of my niece Kathy and her friends at the RI Special Olympics this past weekend. She asked me, and I was very pleased, to embroider a cap for her for her team, The Trudeau Tigers. You can find a lot of good information on the RI Special Olympics at http://www.specialolympicsri.org/

Enjoy!

Kathy's very proud Aunty Barbara