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Post by ncquilter on Jan 11, 2015 17:06:45 GMT
I'm Mary Stori, a wanna be felter living outside of Asheville, NC. For the past 25+ years I've traveled the national and international quilting circuit as an author, lecturer, workshop leader, cruise host.....bla, bla, bla. The focus of my work began with wearable art, fine hand quilting, whimsical and highly embellished quilts. Over the years it's narrowed to primarily teaching beading on fabric. I led a quilting cruise on the Mississippi Queen a number of years ago where I chose wool Penny Rugs as my 'workshop project'. They were not your grandmother's penny rugs! I became totally smitten working with mostly National Nonwoven's woolfelt that I embellished. That ultimately evolved into to writing another book! Since then my interest in wool has only increased. I used to teach at Siever's School of Fiber Arts on Washington Island, WI....where I first met Chad Hagen. 3 years ago I attended a 2 day workshop in her home.....now I AM hooked. If I could be beamed to venues....I'd teach forever, but that's not possible (YET), so I've retired from my career at the end of this past year and I have a feeling felting will consume a lot of my time now. So.....that's enough background....if you wish to visit further....click on some of the links below: web: www.marystori.comBlog: www.marystori.blogspot.comNEW SHOP BLOG: www.marystorishop.blogspot.comAuthor - Recent books: "Beading Basics", "All-in-One Beading Buddy", DVD - "Mary Stori Teaches You Beading on Fabric", and "Embellishing With Felted Wool" 2004 Professional Teacher of the Year BERNINA Ambassador I'm attaching two photos....my first needle felting attempt (featuring mushrooms sitting on a nuno felted base) and Sunflowers : background and flower petals were wet felted and hand-dyed. The flower centers are beaded. I appreciate this wonderful group already! Attachments:
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Post by MTRuth on Jan 11, 2015 18:20:55 GMT
Welcome Mary! I'm glad you joined us and I hope you'll join in the conversations and challenges. I happen to already follow your blog so I saw your mushrooms. I really like the entire layout. It reminds me of a piece I made called "Forest Floor". The sunflowers Are also wonderful. Did you felt the flower petals into the base or attache them in a different manner? Sine you are an "expert" with the sewing machine, have you tried free motion machine stitching on felt? I love combining stitch and felt. Feel free to ask any questions and show us your projects, we love photos
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Post by luvswool and dyestuff on Jan 11, 2015 20:04:12 GMT
Hey Mary--welcome to the Form! Many of us have been quilters or knitters before becoming felters--it’s all good! Looking forward to sharing skills and seeing more of your felting work.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 11, 2015 20:47:11 GMT
Hello Mary,
Welcome to the forum.. I bought your basic beading book many years ago... I also did quilting many years ago...
Your Sunflower felted art piece is very vibrant and I love the stitching on it.. My first passion is stitching and I include Stitching on almost everything.
Your mushroom art piece with the leaves and wood would of been perfect for our 4th quarter challenge called Land Art.
I look forward to seeing more of your creations..
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Post by Shepherdess on Jan 11, 2015 20:59:43 GMT
Welcome to the forum. I am looking forward to seeing what you do with felt. You bead work is lovely.
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Post by lyn on Jan 11, 2015 23:43:17 GMT
Hello Mary - welcome to the forum and thank you for sharing piccies of some of your work (I'm looking forward to seeing more).
I'm intrigued as to what being a Bernina Ambassador means?
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Post by Pandagirl on Jan 11, 2015 23:57:23 GMT
Welcome Mary! Your work is beautiful.. We're all fiber addicts here and love sharing our work and new ideas. I look forward to seeing more of your work.
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Post by jwugg on Jan 12, 2015 8:00:13 GMT
SuperWelcome! It will be great to share ideas with you, enjoy the forum!
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Post by zed on Jan 12, 2015 8:30:44 GMT
Hi Mary, welcome to the forum I'm looking forward to seeing your felt work too.
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Post by ncquilter on Jan 12, 2015 15:05:03 GMT
Thank you everyone for such a warm welcome.....I look forward to learning and sharing on this forum. Not know exactly yet what all the protocals are....instead of answering the questions you folks asked individually.....I'll group them here. Lyn asked what's a Bernina Ambassador: We used to be called Bernina Artisans but now the invitational program name has changed. Basically, Bernina seeks out sewers of many different styles (clothing/heirloom/quilters/art quilters) to this program which provides annual training on their machines, we provide new patterns, articles, workshops etc. for them. It's basically unpaid.....but one benefit is their sewing machine consignment program..... Which sounds fabulous BUT....there's a LOT of hoops to go through....it's often just better to purchase a machine outright. (Shushhhhhhh......I currently sew on a Pfaff....a machine I bought from them when they had a consignment program. Ruth asked about free-motion machine quilting.....nope.....I actually am not all that fond of machine stitching and def. have not developed the skills to FM quilt.....nor am I all that anxious to do so. I love hand work. She also inquired how the petals on the Sunflower piece were attached. My love of embellishing goes way back......starting with lots of 3-d motifs......and slowly other items, including beads were added to my work. These petals were attached by hand with hand-dyed embroidery floss. Detail photo attached. Again....what a great group of generous felters...and thank you too Ruth for being one of my blog followers......even though my focus over the weekend was the Green Bay Packers.....GO PACK GO!!!!
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Post by MTRuth on Jan 12, 2015 19:46:35 GMT
Well hand sewing is just as wonderful on felt as machine sewing. I like to do both or sometimes a combination. I use a Pfaff machine too
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Post by Frances on Jan 12, 2015 21:13:01 GMT
Love the sunflowers and the detail - I am sure we will learn alot from you!
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Post by Pandagirl on Jan 12, 2015 23:34:06 GMT
Mary I have a Pfaff, too. But I'm not yet adept at FM or hand embellishing.
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Post by ncquilter on Jan 13, 2015 13:36:20 GMT
I've had both Berninas and Pfaffs and honestly am a tad partial toward Pfaffs due to the built in walking foot. However, many Berninas now offer options that duplicate this valuable stitching benefit. Now that I'm officially 'off the quilting circuit'.....I need to focus on developing resources to sell my work. I'm sure like all of you....finished pieces pile up and need new homes.....and it'd be nice to replace some of my lost income!! Asheville, NC area is VERY arty....a good thing....but also difficult as their is soooo much competiton. I have an online gallery shop and from time to time, sales are generated from it. Commissions here for galleries and other venues run from a low of 35% to a high of 50%, plus some require rental fees as well. That bumps up the price of the work, however.....there's no way one can be compenstated for the hours and hours of hard work. Which is why I like to sell direct!! I'll bet this isn't news to you. I'm sharing one display method that I've been using lately......framed or mounted work seems to appeal to a wider audience. This wet felted, (which was ice-dyed after felting) and embellished piece, "A Kiss From Heaven" 8" x 10" is mounted on a batik cotton museum wrapped canvas frame. It was inspired by a white feather I found on my daily 'forced march' that the husband and I take on our steep mountain roads. (I hate wasting 90 mins. to walk but know I need to.) It's very unusual to see white feathers here.....and just the night before I read that American Indians believe finding a white feather is a symbol of a kiss from heaven. The text is computer generated, printed on sheer fabric, wisps of clouds are obviously roving and the feather is beaded. Perhaps this approach will provide a different approach for you to present finished work. I noticed the attached photos are tiny.....my gallery shop www.marystorishop.blogspot.com has numerous examples of mounted work if you'd like to explore that idea further.
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Post by Pandagirl on Jan 13, 2015 14:01:45 GMT
Mary that's a lovely piece of work and story to boot. I was just in Asheville last month. We never get much time to stay there since we have relatives in Franklin so we're usually flying in and out. Both my grandsons were in the NICU at Memorial so I'm familiar with the hospital. One day I hope to come just for the pleasure of visiting the city. It is a beautiful and arty area. I always enjoy the art displays at the airport.
Good luck with your sales and enjoy your new journey into felting!
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