Felt Balls

I mentioned my felt ball obsession earlier this week.

As promised, here are the felt balls I encountered in Portland in June, 2011.

Oh, wait. Those are macaroons from Pearl Bakery 

Necklace with trapped felt balls by Denise Smitherman seen at The Whole 9 Yards 

Decoration on Adrienne's sweater

Oh, sorry, more round food. Olive eaten at Nines Hotel

There were felt balls lurking on the shelves of a stationary shop (eluded capture, but seared in my memory) and a bunch at the Museum of Contemporary Craft. Where I got this felt ring:

I sketched it, I got so excited:

Along with writing down ISBN numbers of felting books that I found at Powell's.

I saved the best for last. The largest felt balls I have yet to see discovered at Una:

Now I want to go back to Portland! 
I was there only two weeks ago, but not long enough to examine the current state of the felt ball invasion.

Fashion Design Contest [US Only] Deadline 8/9/2015

Sorry, potential winner, I'm a little late (too many shiny objects!).
Thankfully, the PR person was persistent and sent me a reminder.

[source: Brother Int'l] 

Here is the verbiage lifted verbatum from Brother's site: 

"How do you enter? Simply upload a photo of your dream design sketch with the hashtag: #SewYourDreams.
Be sure to include a brief description of the project and your dream behind it!

One lucky individual will win a two-night stay in NYC during New York Fashion Week this September and work alongside Anthony Ryan Auld and Joshua McKinley to turn their dream design into a reality! Together, they’ll shop for supplies at the Project Runway source store, Mood, and enjoy a full day of sewing to create the dream design. To celebrate the finished design, the winner will kick back and enjoy a lovely dinner out on the town accompanied by Joshua and Anthony Ryan.

Plus, the winner receive our Innov-ís NQ1300PRW sewing machine to continue to sew their dreams.

Enter now through August 9, 2015
By clicking submit you agree to the official rules
No purchase necessary. Valid July 8, 2015 to August 9, 2015 in the continental US or District of Columbia who have reached the age of majority in the state in which they reside. Void where prohibited or otherwise restricted by law.
This is a game of chance and skill plays no part in determining the winner. All designs must be original creations of the entrant and not previously published in any medium or submitted in any other competition. All entrants become the property of Brother.
By entering, you agree to receive news and product info from Brother International Corporation."

I'm in! Maybe I'll go back into the SpyGirl archives and enter one of my flower creations. Except that it's not allowed to have been "...previously published in any medium". Urgh. New design required, methinks. I'll sketch it on SpyGirl, though.

This is the one that came to mind:

original post here

Wouldn't that be an awesome fascinator?

I could really use a new sewing machine. My Elna decided to die right when I was all set to start refurbishing things.

Good luck! Add a link in the comments if you enter!

52 Pick-me-up: Crimson / Complacency / Daring

••• 

More Vancouver Meetup, the Crimson Fibres [Canadian spelling] edition.

A pile of scarves at Maiwa 

Meet Louisa of Damselfly's Delights:

Louisa took Pat [Project Minima] and me on a tour of some of her favorite fibre shops on Granville Island.
You can read all the places and get links in her post here.

Me, I'm going to show you pretty pictures of fibre art that is crimson colored.

More scarves from Maiwa

Felt balls at Maiwa. Not really crimson. But FELT BALLS people!
Oh. Sorry. You didn't know about this obsession of mine. Moving on...

Or natural and not yet dyed:

More Maiwa

Scarves at Silk Weaving Studio

Is it string or yarn --can't remember my weaving terminology. Silk Weaving Studio

We then took a bus back to the mainland, had some delicious lunch, and forged on to Dressew.
[I am slowly posting amusingly weird fabrics that I found over on my Pattern Recognition blog].
I became overwhelmed at Dresssew and had to go sit out front in a Husband Chair.
Pat eventually joined me. Louisa wore us out! We couldn't make it to the button shop.

Pat,  not disclosing her carbonated beverage, my sunglasses frames c/o Ditto [see sidebar]

So what's with all the textiles?
The chief subject for contemplation this week in Tori's Toolkit [where I'm getting the colors and key words, remember?] is diving down and recognizing and acknowledging dreams perhaps overlooked in the day to day grind. Have I ever got one -- getting my Masters in Textiles at RISD. There. I typed it. Whoa, I have the jitters. That's all I'll say for now.

Wearing crimson red, resisting complacency, being daring -- link and tell!