Art-O-Mat Time

I was so excited to open the mail Friday and find a check from Art-O-Mat.  I love getting checks in the mail! And I love being part of Art-O-Mat!  Along with the check was a request for more.  I haven't made anything for them since spring so it was no surprise.  

I started with prepping the base for my "I Felt..." series.  It involves hand dyed wool with ribbon sewn on.  I embellish the pieces with fabric paper or various odds and ends.  Then I add a feeling with with letter beads.  I do my best to match the embellishments and the feeling.  I have a good time coming up with ideas.  The challenge comes when I run out the common letters and have to get creative with the words.  

I also needed to make a lot of fabric beads for my "Dreams" series.  I start with little strips of painted fabric and glue them around a straw.  I then wrap them with various yarns.  I made sure to prep a big pile before my son's soccer game.  I found the wrapping very helpful for dealing with the tense moments of the game.  

And of  course, this is what happened to my house while I was busy working away -- eight loads of laundry waiting to be folded and chili that exploded on the stove.  And there's also a pile of IKEA furniture hiding under there waiting to be put together.  (Hopefully by the end of the week my daughter will have a wardrobe so she can finally put away all her clothes instead of them being stacked on the floor.) 

P.S. I'm happy to say that five loads of laundry have been folded and put away and the stove is mostly cleaned up!