Where's Beth?

I'm right here at home. I can't believe how long it's been since I've written. Just been so busy - no quilting really but busy. I'm back up to a normal schedule at work and get home too tired to do much. I have to get working on the Fiber Divas project. I've only finished Marilyn's quilt.

Two weeks ago, Kara and I went on a girls weekend to Houghton College in Houghton NY. Where's that you ask? It's south of Buffalo. Ten hours west of Plymouth. I was really happy that Kara and I made good time getting to Houghton. I drove the first 5 hours and Kara drove the second 5. She picked out her classes for the fall semester and lined up a work study job. I sat in on talks about financial aid and other talks about Houghton. Kara stayed in the dorm while I stayed with Gary's younger brother and his family.

Geri Ann leant the Fiber Divas the 3rd season of Quilting Arts TV. I ended up with it first and really enjoyed watching it. A couple of my favorite episodes were the ones with Beryl Taylor and Melanie Testa. There was a third person who I really liked but can't remember her name right now. Watching Beryl's episode on machine felting with unusual fabrics is where I got the idea for these pieces. I have a collection of scarves and other fabrics that I've been wanting to use in something. I experimented to see which ones would felt and which ones wouldn't. I used my hand felters since I don't have a machine and it worked!! I added some beading and big stitching.
I painted warm and natural batting to use as the backing for the felting. I had been wanting to try painting the batting for a long time. Just hadn't taken the time. I also wanted to see if these different fabrics would felt to the batting.

These were fun projects that I could make without really thinking about. Which is great when I'm really tired.

This blue one isn't quite finished. I still need to add some more beading. I took these pictures before I started the hand stitching and beading on the blue piece.

Now I just need to figure out how I want to finish these. I think it would be neat to leave the edges of the different fabrics sticking out. Before I thought of that, I cut a couple off on one side.