Bulgarian Ensemble Sings like a Nightingale

I spent the evening on Saturday listening to the glorious harmonies of Slaveya, a Washington, DC based ensemble whose name means "nightingale" in Bulgarian. As a former member, I enjoyed singing along under my breath and joining in on the Bulgarian style dancing at the end of the concert. The group has just introduced their first CD recording available now to download or order.

When I sang with the group last, a couple years ago, we wore beautifully handstitched blouses from Romania, but in the past year, the members commissioned these exquisite costumes handmade in Bulgaria. It's a rather small country, but there are many regions with a tremendous variety of costume details. Take a look at the wonderful costumes available from BalkanFolk.

ravelry Love Affair

OK, I finally got the invite to join ravelry although it went into my junk mail a week ago. I set up my "notebook" with photos of all my projects, joined lots of cool groups like "Knittin' Musicians" and have been frittering away the hours reading posts and looking at great projects. It is THE home for knitting and crocheting fanatics. There is a waiting list, but it's worth the wait if you want to connect with people all over the world who love anything made with yarn.

We have Mask Appeal !

My talented and artsy friend, Anthony makes these fantastic masks which we modeled at a Brazilian carnival party. He also makes fabulous one-of-a-kind wearable sculpture which he displays in galleries and art shows. He has a variety of these comfortable all leather handmade masks for sale in his Etsy shop, Mask Appeal . We wore these at last night's performance of our all-women samba-reggae percussion band, Batala Washington at a carnival party. The Heritage Restaurant on Connecticut Avenue was packed, everyone had masks, long peacock feathers, glow sticks and the place was rocking when we played our set. When you hang out with Brazilians, you are guaranteed to have a good time !

FFF finally !

My cherished idea of posting my favorite new fiber-related Etsy shop every Friday is hanging on buy a "thread" so to speak. Here is the a wonderful shop I just found this week: Knitting Dream. She sells knitting patterns for modular knit totes, purses and hats which convert to wall-hangings. I love these shapes and of course, the colors. I'm going to order a pattern pretty soon I'm sure.

Weaving demo in Nanjing, China

Brocade loom, originally uploaded by ambrosianbeads.

I was fortunate enough to see some interesting demonstrations on my trip. At the Confucious Temple marketplace in Nanjing, we went into the museum of historical crafts where we discovered a fully operational silk brocade loom being manned by two weavers. The number of spools the weaver was keeping track of was mind-boggling. She had an assistant sitting up in the "rafters" of the loom, counting out some threads for either the warp or heddles, not sure quite what they were.
See all the loom photos

Silk Factory Tour in Beijing

Cocoon spinning, originally uploaded by ambrosianbeads.

We were taken on a tour of a silk factory where we got to see how the cocoons are unwound and the threads spun into silk thread. Double size (with two worms inside) cocoons are stretched and layered into small, round flat shapes, almost like felting, then stretched out onto a bed-size table to create quilt batting.
After seeing the process, the tour guide then ushered us into a room filled with displays of beds dressed in dazzling silk quilts. Most of our tour group bought quilts then we went into the large showroom where the shopaholics were let loose among the thousands of silk products. I purchased half of our Christmas gifts here.
See the whole silk factory tour

Favorite Fiber Art non-profit saved by pledge drive

The Springwater Fiber Workshop, a mainstay of the Washington, DC region's fiber communtity, almost went under last month and 22 years of operation. After a frenzied pledge drive brought in over $100,00 in pledges, the non-profit will be able to stay open. Read more about it
here.

Back to my old sewing gig

About two years ago, I found a post on craigslist looking for someone to help sew leotards. I love mind-numbing factory-like sewing projects because they are great for procrastinating on projects that really need to be done. This was the perfect sewing gig because the leotards are the CUTEST things I've ever seen. They range in many different sizes and the little tiny ones are so adorable. The colors are great and they are made with the softest fabric. I sew the elastic in the arm and legholes. The elastic for the legholes has a unique method for stitching which creates a "wedgie-resistant" design. The mother and daughter team who design and do all the rest of the sewing are wonderful to work for and their company is Quantum Leotards. So far, I have sewn several hundred "leos" and can sew in the middle of the night or in between violin lessons. The leotards are available at several gymnastic studios in Maryland and you can customize a leotard at their website. After about a year and a half hiatus, they asked me to start sewing again, so now I have another reason for not cleaning around here :)

FFF for the weekend

OK, I finally found the coolest shop of the week: Catirina Bonet Designs. Everything is patterns for knitting, but as you'll see, it's some pretty wild knitting. Check out the knitted turkey headdress and the coat of many colors. The sexy knitted dress is gorgeous, but I wouldn't have the courage to wear it. Then there are cute hats and ballerina shoes to knit as well.

FFF-More "Friday Fiber Finds"

Time to search for the next woven "goodie" on Etsy and here's what I found today: Copper Wire Creations-Large Basket . I love the burst of colorful spirals and the obvious attention to the craft of wire weaving in this basket. She has many more cute and interesting wire decorative items.

More Paraguayan Lace

On Sunday I went to the Hispanic Heritage Festival in the Mount Pleasant area of DC. Our band Batala Washington performed in the parade. It was one of the best festivals I've attended and I enjoyed seeing the magnificent costumes of dancers from many Latin American countries. There were vendors selling handmade goods from Peru, Ecuador, Chile, Columbia and many others. I found these adorable lace earrings made in Paraguay. Some of the costumed performers wore dresses that were completely or partially made with this type of lace. I also enjoyed seeing costumes made of woven textiles from Mexico and Guatemala. One of these days, hopefully, I'll make a "pilgimage" to the weaving centers of Central and South America.

Fiber Artists Collective Exhibit in DC

The Fiber Artists Collective will hold an all-member exhibit September 18th to November 16, 2007 at the American Association for the Advancement of Science located at 1200 New York Avenue, Washington, DC 20005. The exhibit is open M-F from 9:30 am to 5:00 pm

The Fiber Artists Collective (FAC), established in 1996, is an organization of professional fiber artists creating fiber art for residential, corporate and public settings. The Fiber Artists Collective's mission is to enable professional fiber artists to work cooperatively to present and market their work, educate the public and inspire its appreciation and awareness of works of contemporary fiber art.

September Etsy Beadweavers Challlenge

Time once again to help us out and cast your vote for the next winner of the Etsy Beadweavers monthly challenge for September. Just to push you in my direction, the photo I posted is of the piece I submitted. It's very simple, but was a color study and served to get me out of my usual monochromatic rut. More pictures of my bracelet are listed in my Etsy shop. Enjoy all the beautiful beadweaving from our industrious and artistic members !

FFF-Friday Fiber Finds (belated)

I forgot to keep up with my new goal of sharing a new Etsy "fiber find" of the week last Friday. I was in Austin, Texas on a recording gig and lost track, but never fear, I'll get caught up today with a wonderful selection of beadweaving from my dear friends of the Etsy Beadweavers Street Team.

Freeform Crochet

Last year I started to learn freeform crochet in my knitting study group (we got sidetracked with crochet). I still haven't finished my first project, but I might just pick it up again after finding this inspiring website called Not Just Knitting. There is a good tutorial to get you started.

1st Weekly "Friday Fiber Find"

I've decided to share my favorite Etsy fiber find of the day every Friday. Every other Friday, I staff the gallery at Artists' Undertaking Gallery in Occoquan, Virginia and we recently got wireless internet in the town. So while I'm gallery sitting, I plan to do some Etsy-surfing. Here's what I found today: Peaks and Valleys Art Basket by johnsbasketcase. I just love the way this basket looks like it created its own personality. Check back next week for my next "FFF" and happy Etsy-surfing this weekend !

An Inspiring Story

In the latest issue of the About.com-Jewelry Making newsletter, I ran across a reference to group in Colorado that helps refugee women by teaching them jewelry-making skills. To read more: A Little Something: The beaded path to self-sufficiency They are in need of stash beads and especially findings and tools.

Another group I think is a worthy organization is Bead for Life which operates in Uganda. They provide work for Ugandan women through creation of paper beads made from discarded magazines. I went to a Bead for Life sale, and the beaded jewelry was being snapped up like hotcakes. Quite beautiful.

Brazilian Lacemaking

On Sunday I was treated to the sight of a highly skilled Brazilian lacemaker in action at the Brazil Day festival in Frederick, MD. She was working with a large tufted pillow with a leather pattern pinned to it and with incredible speed, shuffled handfuls of unmarked bobbins back and forth to create the beautiful lacy patterns. If I had been carrying more cash with me, I would have brought home something. I was there to perform with my new Brazilian percussion band, Batala.

Etsy BeadWeavers' August Challenge needs your vote !

Check the Etsy BeadWeavers blog to see the beautiful beaded artwork submitted for our monthly challenge entitled "Hot August Nights" and vote for your favorite piece.

Etsy BeadWeavers August Challenge

Open to all beadweavers on Etsy, our new monthly challenge features the theme "Hot August Nights". Check the blog for the winners of this month's challenge ! Etsy BeadWeavers