The premier issue came out this fall for FiberArtNow Magazine and it included two articles featuring RUGHOOKING! Liz Alpert Fay is introduced to the readership in her studio and the Beyond Rugs! contemporary exhibit at the Farnsworth Museum in Rockland Maine is reviewed. TIGHR and myself placed advertisements in the first two issues and are pleased with the responses. See for yourself, and subscribe go to www.FiberArtNow.net
Tag Archives: fiber artists
Making Flowers with Nan at Sauder
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Nan Loncharich's how-to book
This book is published by Stackpole Books and includes great directions for a wide variety of fabric flower pins. The photographs of completed works inspire the reader to get the materials and begin. Nan signed books and demonstrated at the Sauder Village Rug Hooking Week.
She includes our ArtWools in many of the creations and has a blog at fancywoolflowers.blogspot.com. Visit her site to order the book. You can also go to the Westmoreland Museum Gift Shop in Greensburg, PA and purchase a special flower for friends or yourself.
Loncharich flower using Susan Feller ArtWools
This gem is made exclusively with our wools and a great button to anchor the petals.
Retreat report
Gathered at the Falls
Wonderful new friends, great outdoors and many steps along our fiber journey are some of the memories we took away from the RETREAT INTO THE MOUNTAINS 2011 at Peterkin Camp and Conference Center.
Texture, Shapes, Form
The design sessions were very rewarding. Many of the 5 inch squares were completed by Sunday afternoon. Plans are for the 5th RETREAT to be held on April 13-15, 2012. Registration material available soon, contact Susan for a copy at rugs2wv@yahoo.com. Sure to fill up quickly.
Results from one of the Dye Sessions with Jim
Four participants worked with Jim Lilly in the Dye Studio and created wonderful ARTWOOLS.
We are live with an updated site!
If you clicked onto this blog through http://www.ruckmanmillfarm.com welcome! Look around the posts and pages to learn even more about Susan Feller and Jim Lilly at home in the Mountain State of West Virginia.
Logo designed by Michael Anderson, Romney, WV
We are thrilled to have an official logo honoring the log home Jim built and the era of time we both are reliving… the Arts and Crafts period of the early 1900’s.
Michael Anderson is our graphic designer, web creator, fellow artist, and friend. I have found him to be easy to discuss concepts with and the magic in cyberspace he has worked should make your visits enjoyable.
Let us know of any problem, difficulty or enjoyable clicks while on the site, so we can improve it.
At Home by Jim Lilly
Enough of the thank yous, ENJOY and come back soon. Susan and Jim
Loyalist Schedule
The summer program for Loyalist College in Belleville, Ontario, Canada will be online at www.LoyalistFocus.com on March 25. My class is listed for the week of July 11-15 and can be found on page 19 of the catalog. I am thrilled to add that one of my pieces was selected for the back cover also. Rug hooking on the cover of a college brochure!
Value scale and swatches
The class will focus on VALUE and the other Elements and Principles of design. Bring a work in progress for consultation. There will be daily exercises using rughooking and we will work up a new pattern for each person. Expect to incorporate contrast, and values into your design. Geometrics would be a great way to address this subtle, yet very valuable element.
I will be studying at the McMichaels Collection outside of Toronto the week before and expect to bring these experiences to the class.
I lodge at the College also and am looking forward to spending evening hours with resident students. We had a great time the last two years visiting Belleville restaurants, eating on campus and going out to the County.
Entry accepted in WV Juried Exhibition
Just received notice that “Winter in West Virginia” was accepted in the Inspired: A West Virginia Series of Juried Exhibitions Historic Buildings. The opening ceremony was on January 24, 2011 at the WV Culture Center, 1900 Kanawha Blvd, E. Charleston, WV. Show up through July 25.
Yes that is the Capitol of West Virginia! Visit www.wvculture.org, exhibits for details about hours of the Commissioner’s gallery.
Winter in West Virginia, Susan L. Feller
This piece was one of the 6 works reviewed by jurors for TAMARACK for the category FINE CRAFT. It was created in 2009 for a travelling exhibit titled STRIPES. The artists from Japan and the United States each interpreted that word using some type of rughooking. I happily packed my work up and sent it off today, for one more leg of its journey. Japan, NJ, IN and now Charleston, WV. It is for sale, but I do hope to see its return at the end of the show, since the inspiration is a view right out our kitchen looking towards Short Mountain.
FINE CRAFT artist at TAMARACK
Finally! It took a year but on November 6, 2010 Jim and I travelled 5 hours to Beckley, WV to the afternoon session of jurying at TAMARACK-“the Best of West Virginia” and by 4:30 we got the good news: I was accepted for work in FINE CRAFT. Six pieces were reviewed for technique, materials, design and I received a perfect score from the jurors.
Rainbow of Trees by Susan L. Feller
This means that rughooking will be represented in upcoming gallery shows at TAMARACK. I am proud to represent this craftform to an audience geared toward seeing craft at its finest..as ART. The extra work I put into finishing the backs of the stretched pieces, and overall presentation added to the value and worth of the textiles. One fine artist when I showed her my stitched cloth backing, said “That looks professional.” I will share these tips with rughookers in upcoming workshops and to anyone who inquires here.
Designing Challenges in Indiana
Bev and Susan
The last week of October took me out to Indiana, and Bev Stewart’s Whispering Pines Designs in Clayton. Bev coordinated two wonderful classes filled with talent and eager people. In three day sessions they worked through the Basic Elements and Principles of Design. The classes included three generations of fiber artists, and another mother, daughter pair along with people who were pulling their first 1000 loops to those who had spent thousands of hours enjoying wool.
Bev and the locals coordinate a very successful hook-in the second Saturday of September, bringing in a wide variety of vendors and over 300 eager rugmakers. The efforts of this organizing group validates the passions thousands have for pulling loops through backing whether the fabric is wool strips, yarns or plastic bags.
The wonderful Arts and Crafts home of Jim and Bev Stewart welcomed me along with its inhabitants. Jim was “treated” each morning to a bowl of oatmeal I had prepared and the animals seemed to enjoy another person around.
Kit Cat in Studio at Bev Stewart's
I will be back in May of 2012 to teach two more workshops. Interested students should contact Bev ..at Whispering Pines Designs 6583 S CR 400 E, Clayton, IN 46118 or see Calendar under About Susan Feller
Mountain State Fiber Artists Meet on Farm
October 16th dawned a beautiful FALL day.
MSFA meeting Fall 2010
By noon 22 members and guests of the Mountain State Fiber Artists had arrived at Ruckman Mill Farm. They unloaded with desserts and salads (note the desserts were listed first, and were the most in both categories contributed). And also brought along finished hooked , needle work and quilted, items which were displayed on the front porch during our show and tell.
Leaf Peeping Season by Susan Feller
We have accepted the ATHA challenge to make a 9 x 12 mat inspired by the color RED. Completed pieces will be shown at the Morgan County Fair next August and then contributed by members to the ATHA Bi-Ennial in Lancaster, PA October 19-22 to benefit the Education Committee.
Faces and Friends
The newest batch of R.A.M.P.S jewelry has been received at TAMARACK, the Best of West Virginia in Beckley, WV. Included are a variety of friendly faces, all hooked with wool strips of fabric through a woven backing and finished off with wool fabric and a pin back.
Face Pins hooked by Susan L. Feller
These join the hooked mats and small rugs which were juried in last November and have been selling very well. Another batch will arrive by early November, please stop on your journey through the southern part of West Virginia along I64 and I79 just outside of Beckley, WV.
ArtWools Studio of Susan Feller 