Are you ready to slow down, reconnect with your creative self, and embrace the beauty of imperfection?

Join me for an in person Mindful Stitching workshop at the Artists Rising Creativity Retreats in Glastonbury, CT, from June 8-13, 2025. Nestled in the serene setting of a historic inn built in 1740, this workshop offers the perfect environment to immerse yourself in a journey of artistic exploration and inner peace.

Discover the Art of Mindful Stitching

In this transformative workshop, I will guide you through the process of improvisational stitching on linen, inspired by the traditional Japanese art of Boro mending. Using simple running stitches, you’ll learn to create stunning, textured designs that celebrate the beauty of imperfection. This practice is not about achieving perfection but about embracing the process, letting go of plans and expectations, and finding joy in the act of creation.

What You’ll Learn

Through hands-on demonstrations and an engaging PowerPoint presentation, I will share my unique approach to slow stitching as a form of active meditation. You’ll explore:

• Simple Stitching Techniques: Master the running stitch and discover how to create intricate designs with ease.
• Color and Design: Learn to work with color and composition to create visually compelling pieces.
• Inspiration Everywhere: Discover how to find creative inspiration from the world around you.
• Mindfulness in Creativity: Experience the calming, meditative qualities of stitching and develop a deeper connection to your art.

Why You Should Join

This workshop is more than just a creative class; it’s an opportunity to reconnect with yourself and your artistic spirit. Whether you’re a seasoned stitcher or a beginner, this mindful stitching process encourages you to explore your creativity in a relaxed, judgment-free space. You’ll leave with not only new skills but also a renewed sense of artistic freedom and inner calm and a beautiful piece of stitched linen.

A Historic Setting to Inspire Your Creativity

The workshop takes place in a beautifully preserved inn dating back to 1740, providing a tranquil and inspiring backdrop for your creative retreat. Surrounded by the charm and history of Glastonbury, CT, you’ll find yourself immersed in an atmosphere that nurtures both art and mindfulness.

Reserve Your Spot Today

Spaces for this unique workshop are limited, so don’t miss your chance to be part of this inspiring retreat. Whether you’re looking to deepen your creative practice, find a new form of meditation, or simply take a break from the hustle and bustle of daily life, the Mindful Stitching workshop is your perfect escape.

Please join me from June 8-13, 2025, at the Artists Rising Creativity Retreats in Glastonbury, CT, and let the magic of mindful stitching transform your artistic journey.

Reserve your spot today and start stitching your way to inner peace and creative fulfillment!

Let’s make some art together,

Judy

ABOUT JUDY
Judy is an artist, explorer, image wrangler, knowledge seeker, instructor, speaker, creative alchemist, and purveyor of inspiration, helping others channel creativity on a daily basis.

instagram.com/judycoatesperez

Ink, Print, Repeat

Explorations in textile pattern design using DIY acrylic inks

In this 5 day workshop you’ll learn how surprisingly easy (and affordable) it is to make DIY fiber-friendly acrylic inks and paints using dispersed pigments and a few simple ingredients that leave your fabric with a soft hand and allow you to mix a beautiful palette of colors to print and dye fabric. And the best part is your fabric is ready to use as soon as it is dry and ironed out, allowing for quick and easy exploration.

Learn the basics of color theory and how to avoid mud, unless that’s your thing then I can teach you how to create a full spectrum of beautiful earthy colors!

Learn how to choose and combine colors when printing for maximum visual impact.

Explore a multitude of ways to create richly textured “base” fabrics by applying acrylics inks to fabric with different types of brush-strokes, sponges, altering ink and water ratios, adding salt, mono-printing, and scrunching, as well as pleating, stitching, clamping and pole wrapping fabric with a variety of shibori techniques.

Learn to make foam stamps, and how to successfully print with foam, rubber and wood stamps on fabric.

Master screen printing with thermofax screens, then apply pattern design principles using various types of repeats to print on your textured “base” fabrics.

As anyone who’s taken classes with me before knows, it’ll be a blast of inspiration, innovation, information and fun.

Join me on the West coast

Ink, Print & Repeat: March 30-April 4 Empty Spools Session 5, Asilomar, Pacific Grove, CA

or the East coast

Mindful Stitching: June 8-13 Artists Rising Creativity Retreats, Connecticut River Valley Inn, Glastonbury, CT

let’s make some art together,

Judy

ABOUT JUDY
Judy is an artist, explorer, image wrangler, knowledge seeker, instructor, speaker, creative alchemist, and purveyor of inspiration, helping others channel creativity on a daily basis.

instagram.com/judycoatesperez

My attraction to stitching began with a piece of navy blue linen and a bag of blue embroidery floss that I brought on my teaching trip to New Zealand in January 2020. My plan was to stitch a scarf inspired by my surroundings, letting the work evolve organically with improvisation.

That turned out to be the ideal travel project, because it didn’t require a lot of supplies, it wasn’t messy or need any set up, fit in a small zipper pouch, and most importantly I could work on it for long or short periods of time while on planes, busses, trains, cars or just sitting on a park bench.

By the end of 5 weeks I had stitched a scarf inspired by rolling hills, mountains, clouds, water, waves, rowing paddles, and vegetation.

A week after our return we were asked to shelter in place, so I figured I would spend the time filling in the background of the scarf with dark blue floss, naively assuming the pandemic would be over in a few weeks.

Stitching became a great way to distract myself and pass the time. It didn’t require any great skill and it was relaxing in a time of unprecedented stress.

I liked the heavily stitched texture of the finished scarf and found that the more stitching I added the softer the linen became, giving it a lovely drape. After I had stitched every inch of that blue linen my hands itched to do more.

I had a piece of dark orange linen that I had previously bought for a second teaching trip to Australia in 2020 that was cancelled, so I started stitching it using a palette of warm colored threads.

I stitched branches coming in from the edges of the fabric in dark reds, then filled in the background with echoing lines of stitching in yellow, pink, and orange.

I also added a few covid molecules in the center of the scarf to identify when the scarf was made.

By the time I finished that second scarf I had more ideas I wanted to explore.

The next piece I made was inspired by the Sacramento river and the agricultural area surrounding it.

Developing a daily practice of stitching during the first two years of the pandemic was pivotal to keeping a peaceful state of mind. It was so easy to feel overwhelmed between the pandemic, politics and fires. However, I found solace in stitching.

Each day, I set aside time to sit with my needle and thread, and as I stitched, I could feel the tension ease. The repetitive motion of the needle moving through the fabric created a rhythm that allowed me to quiet my mind and find a sense of calm. It became a daily ritual that I looked forward to, a way to slow down and be present in the moment and remind myself that despite the chaos, in my small world everything was ok.

Not only did stitching provide me with a sense of calm and peacefulness, but it also allowed me to express my creativity. I experimented with different stitches, colors, and patterns, allowing my imagination to run wild. There were no rules with this freeform way of stitching, only the freedom to create. It was a way for me to channel my emotions and thoughts into something tangible and beautiful. Stitching became a form of self-expression, a way for me to explore my inner world and bring it to life in a whole new way.

I intentionally decided to use improvisation to develop the design of each piece for a number of reasons, but foremost, I wanted the meditative process to be the focus of the work. So often we are impatient to get to the end of a project, stressing about how it’s going to turn out. I wanted to stay present with the act of making and let myself be surprised with the end result and improvisation keeps me actively engaged with a project from start to finish.

Since then slow stitching has become a regular part of my life in the way a daily meditation practice becomes and I have made many large pieces as well as quite a few small ones.

I have a new gallery to show the body of stitched work that I have made to date.

Workshops on Mindful Stitching

On my recent trip to Australia, I taught several two day stitching workshops and it became clear how much this kind of work resonates with people. We all seem to be looking for ways to be creative while living in a world that feels more stressful. and it was so lovely each time I had the opportunity to sit with a group of other women stitching and sharing our lives with each other.

For several years now, I’ve had numerous requests for an online class on this type of stitching and I am very happy to announce that I have finally done it, and you my blog followers are the first to learn about it.

Mindful Stitching is a stand alone (not zoom), self-paced course hosted on Teachable, with no deadlines or pressure to create on a given timeline. Once you sign up for the course it is yours for life, and you will be able to access it at any time using the email and password you set up after registering.

Over the course of 30 lessons, I will take you step by step through numerous projects, both big and small, sharing my concept and approach to designing each one using a combination of video, diagrams, and step by step photos with informative instruction on various techniques, process, and loads of design tips.

When you go to the course outline page there are several lessons to preview, so you can get a feel for how the course is set up including an informative and detailed page on the supplies you will need to get started.

Please follow the link below to learn more about this course and join me on a journey of Mindful Stitching.

Mindful Stitching

Sign up now!

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A self-paced online course on improvisational slow stitching.

ABOUT JUDY
Judy is an artist, explorer, image wrangler, knowledge seeker, instructor, speaker, creative alchemist, and purveyor of inspiration, helping others channel creativity on a daily basis.

I want to share a new project with you for the holidays, or really anytime if you love birds like I do.

Last December, I made some painted, fabric birds that were a big hit as holiday gifts, that were really fun to make.

These sewn, stuffed and painted birds are hot glued onto colored clothespins that I bought on Amazon, so they can be clipped onto wreaths, tree branches or even clipped onto a hat!

Since I gave so many away last year for gifts, I recently made some more.

This one I painted to resemble a Norther Flicker.

These others are more like my more typical, decorative fantastical birds, decorated with Posca paint pens.

After posting them on Instagram I had more than a few requests for a pattern, so I wanted to let you know that I have put together a 6 page downloadable booklet with the pattern and step by step instructions with photos of the process of sewing, stuffing, then painting the birds, with several examples for inspiration.

The pattern is now available in my shop here.

I have another big project in the works for a self paced online slow stitching class called Mindful Stitching that I will be posting about very soon!

Keep creating,

Judy

ABOUT JUDY
Judy is an artist, explorer, image wrangler, knowledge seeker, instructor, speaker, creative alchemist, and purveyor of inspiration, helping others channel creativity on a daily basis.

Happy NEW Year!!!

I wanted to update you on my future of teaching in-person workshops on the road. A lot has changed over the last several years as the pandemic has lingered and we re-evaluate how and where we spend our time and energy. And we need to get used to the idea that this could be our new normal as the virus may never fully go away.

The good news is we are learning new ways of being together safely and simply wearing a mask during periods of high rates of virus has proven to be very successful at mitigating spread of the virus.

In the meantime, due to our extended period of isolation many workshop venues have struggled to stay in business, unable fill classes, as more people turn to online options. Consequently, the in-person workshop experience as we know it is going to change and become a less frequent opportunity.

Over the last 5 years, my work in the city college makerspace has grown and I’m finding a lot of satisfaction teaching and working locally with a very different population of students, and with the added income stability I’ve decided to take a break from teaching on the road after I fulfill my 2023 teaching commitments.

If you have ever

wanted to take a workshop with me

this is the time to do it!

Where can you take a workshop with me this year?

I have two 5-day Ink, Print, Repeat workshops in the US, and then a big teaching trip to Australia August-September.

April 21-26 at Empty Spools Session IV, Asilomar, Pacific Grove, CA.

June 13-17 at Woodland Ridge Retreat, Menomonie, WI.

Both are amazing locations to take workshops and I’m thrilled to be able to teach at each of them.

If you’d like to join me on an exciting overseas adventure, I will also be teaching Ink, Print, Repeat as a 4-day workshop in Uluru, Australia August 5-8 at Sewing up a storm in the desert where you’ll also go home with a brand new Bernina sewing machine!

Ink, Print, Repeat is the mother load of workshops

It incorporates so many of the techniques I’ve developed and learned over the years. It grew out of my Paint and Printapalooza workshop on creating hand-dyed and printed cloth using a variety of surface design techniques with acrylic inks, as opposed to fiber-reactive dyes. While also exploring pattern design with an assortment of stamping and screen printing methods, Ink, Print, Repeat takes a deeper dive into shibori (resist dyeing), making stamps, and teaches you how to make your own fiber-friendly acrylic inks and textile paints.

Why MAKE your own acrylic inks and textile paints?

The benefit of making your own ink with a few products readily available from PRO Chemical and Dye is the ability to use a medium made especially for fabric instead of altering a more expensive off the shelf product made for canvas, and the ability to customize ink or paint to your specific needs.

Handmade inks are also a climate and eco-friendly alternative to fiber-reactive dyes, that do not require special handling or wearing a respirator to make, and the best part about using acrylic inks is the fabric is ready to use as soon as it’s dry!

Ink, Print Repeat: Explorations in textile pattern design using acrylic inks

In Ink, Print, Repeat, explore a multitude of ways to create richly colored and textured “base” fabrics by applying acrylics inks to fabric with different types of brush-strokes, sponges, altering ink and water ratios, adding salt, mono-printing, and scrunching, pleating, stitching, clamping and pole wrapping fabric using a variety of shibori techniques. 

Learn the basics of color theory while making and mixing inks, and learn how to avoid mud, unless that’s your thing and then I can show you how to create a full spectrum of beautiful earthy colors!

Learn to combine colors when printing for maximum visual impact.

Learn to make foam stamps, hand-carved rubber stamps; and how to successfully print with foam, rubber and wood stamps on fabric. 

Master screen printing with thermofax screens, then apply pattern design principles using various types of repeats to print on your textured “base” fabrics.

There are so many possibilities…

As anyone who’s taken workshops with me before knows, it’ll be a blast of inspiration, innovation, information and fun.

And you can pick my brain about any of the media I use and techniques I know, I am always happy to share information about more than the topic at hand!

My Australia schedule

5-8 August Uluru Retreat: Sewing up a storm in the desert
Ink, Print & Repeat: a 4 day surface design intensive exploration in textile pattern making using acrylic inks.

Berry, NSW, AU

12-13 August Textile Fest Slow Stitch Meditation Scarf

Melbourne, VIC, AU

26 August – 3 September P’s & Qs Quilt guild: 26-27 August Shibori with acrylic inks, 30-31 Blooming Inspiration, 2 September lecture, 3 September Stitch Meditation Scarf

Adelaide, SA, AU

7 September: Lecture with the South Australia Quilters guild

11-15 Sept Quilt Encounter 11-13 Paint & Printapalooza, 14-15 Blooming Inspiration

22-23 September Adelaide, AU SA Quilters Guild SA Stitch Meditation Scarf

In a bit of personal news…

Phil and I got married in October. We had a small ceremony with friends and family all within driving distance since we had to reschedule 3 times because of high covid rates over the summer!

My quilt Primordial Sea served as a backdrop during the ceremony, and also blocked the band equipment sitting on the stage behind us.

Keep creating,

Judy

ABOUT JUDY
Judy is an artist, explorer, image wrangler, knowledge seeker, instructor, speaker, creative alchemist, and purveyor of inspiration, helping others channel creativity on a daily basis.

I have 2 very exciting gigs on my calendar this year. The first one is at Prochemical and Dye, in Fall River Massachusetts July 11-15, and the second is at Hudson Valley Quilt Retreat, Greenville, NY October 16-22 where I will be teaching my new workshop:

Ink, Print Repeat: Explorations in textile pattern design using acrylic inks

Have  you always wanted to explore surface design using dyes, but have hesitated because you don’t have a space to safely work with dyes or feel intimidated by the process, or are concerned about the environmental impact because of the amount water needed while dyeing fabric? 

Well, working with acrylic inks can be a great alternative, and the best part is no harsh chemicals and the fabric is ready to use as soon as it’s dry!

In this workshop you’ll learn how surprisingly easy (and affordable) it is to MAKE fiber-friendly acrylic inks using dispersed pigments and a few simple ingredients from Prochem. These DIY acrylic inks (and textile paints) will leave your fabric with a soft hand and the ability to custom mix the colors you want.

Learn the basics of color theory while making and mixing inks, and learn how to avoid mud, unless that’s your thing and then I can show you how to create a full spectrum of beautiful earthy colors!

Learn how to choose and combine colors when printing for maximum visual impact.

Explore a multitude of ways to create richly textured “base” fabrics…

We’ll apply acrylics inks to fabric with different types of brush-strokes, sponges, altering ink and water ratios, adding salt, mono-printing, and scrunching,

as well as pleating, stitching, clamping and pole wrapping fabric with a variety of shibori techniques. 

Learn to make foam stamps, hand-carved rubber stamps; and how to successfully print with foam, rubber and wood stamps on fabric. 

Master screen printing with thermofax screens, then apply pattern design principles using various types of repeats to print on your textured “base” fabrics.

There are so many possibilities…

And as anyone who’s taken workshops with me before knows, it’ll be a blast of inspiration, innovation, information and fun!

I’m only teaching a few workshops in 2022, and these are the only ones on the east coast, so don’t delay signing up at Prochemical and Dye, Fall River, MA July 11 – 15 (7 spots left at the time of this posting) or at Hudson Valley Quilt Retreat, Greenville, NY October 16 – 22.

Keep creating,

Judy

ABOUT JUDY
Judy is an artist, explorer, image wrangler, knowledge seeker, instructor, speaker, creative alchemist, and purveyor of inspiration, helping others channel creativity on a daily basis.

PIQF

It has been interesting to watch the last couple Mancuso Brothers in person quilting events and hear from teaching friends who travelled and taught at them who have come home virus-free due to the strict mask wearing and social distancing protocols at those shows. This gives me confidence we can do this, if we all do our part.

At PIQF I’m giving a lecture called It’s All in the Process and on Saturday teaching Tea and Ephemera. Here’s a video with info about the lecture and workshop.

You can sign up, find the supply list and get details if you click on the links below.

Lecture, Fri, 10/15/21, 4:30pm

It’s all in the Process: Making an award winning art quilt and everything that can go wrong along the way

Full Day, Sat, 10/16/21, 9am-4pm Tea & Ephemera

Craft Napa!!!

I’m thrilled to be teaching at Craft Napa in January! This will be a 2-week event with online workshops and one set of teachers the first week, and an in person event with a different set of teachers the second week.

Proof of vaccination, and masks will be mandatory for the in person event. And to keep everyone safer Pokey has reduced the class sizes to 15 students so it will be easier to socially distance.

Here are some important dates and information:

• Event Dates: January 13-16, 2022
• Registration Open: September 30, 2021
• Registration Close:  December 13, 2021
• Craft Napa 2022 IN PERSON will be a live event in January at the Embassy Suites/Napa Valley. The 3-letter booking code is “CRL” for the special discount rate of $199 (single/double). Call (707) 253-9540 and ask for IN-HOUSE reservations and reference this code.

I’m excited to introduce a new mixed-media workshop for Craft Napa this year:

Thursday, January 14, 2022

Inspired by Science 

9:00 AM – 4:30 PM

Create a mixed-media fabric panel with an illustrated scientific document theme by printing vintage diagrams and text with thermofax screens, collaging sheer printed abaca paper images of flora and fauna, and then painting the illustrations with a variety of paint media to bring them to life.

Get more info about the Inspired by Science workshop here

Thursday, January 14, 2022

Slow-Stitch Meditation Scarf

6:00 – 9:00 PM

Slow down and find you inner peace while spending a couple relaxing hours freeform stitching a linen scarf, that looks equally beautiful on both sides. Learn how to stop and start threads without making knots, and create beautiful patterns with different line work, stitching and color choices. No previous stitching skills necessary.

“Improvisational slow-stitching became my anti-anxiety medication to get me through the pandemic.”

Get more info about the Stitch Meditation workshop here

Friday, January 14, 2022

Learn to Make Fiber-Friendly Acrylic Ink and Artfully Dyed Fabric

9:00 AM – 4:30 PM

Acrylic inks can be an easier, and more environmentally friendly alternative to coloring and dyeing fabric than using fiber reactive dyes, and the best part is being able to use your fabric in projects as soon as it’s dry.

In this workshop learn how easy and affordable it is to make your own fiber-friendly acrylic inks with just a few ingredients from ProChem. Judy will walk you through the process of measuring and mixing ingredients to make a full spectrum of permanent, colorful inks that leave fabric with a soft hand.

Then we’ll spend the day exploring a multitude of ways to create richly colored, and visually textured fabrics by applying acrylics inks to cotton fabric with different types of brushstrokes, using sponges, altering ink and water ratios, mono-printing, adding salt, as well as scrunching, pleating, and clamping with a variety of shibori techniques.

Get more info about the Acrylic Inks workshop here

Saturday, January 15, 2022

Blessings in the Wind Prayer Flags 

9:00 AM – 4:30 PM

Traditionally, prayer flags are used to promote peace, strength, well-being and wisdom, and when blown by the wind, spread good will and compassion.

Make a string of colorful prayer flags to spread your positive message out to the universe using acrylic inks, stamping techniques, and thermofax screen printing.

Get more info about the Prayer Flags workshop here

Remember Craft Napa tends to sell out fast so be ready to register September 30, 2021.

Keep creating,

Judy

ABOUT JUDY
Judy is an artist, explorer, image wrangler, knowledge seeker, instructor, speaker, creative alchemist, and purveyor of inspiration, helping others channel creativity on a daily basis.

I feel like I need to write an essay on what I did over summer break, except this one would turn into a very long essay. I feel bad (but kinda not really) that I’ve neglected my blog for so long, because I have been really busy I just haven’t written about it, most of my creative activity has been documented on Instagram instead. I’ll probably start writing a bit more in the coming weeks.

Now, after close to a year and a half, we are finally recovering from the pandemic. This is our first mask free week in California and boy it feels good, but I’m worried that we may be wearing masks again soon to deal with smoke if predictions come true about our fire risk this summer. Last July was the most depressed I think I’ve ever been (and my 2010 was not a good year!). While not only being in lockdown, we were also trapped inside our houses because of smoke for 6 weeks, then to top it off we had a daily barrage of stress inducing rants from the tangerine blow hard, it was all just too much. 

Today is a good day!

Like most people, I’ve thought a lot about life, and priorities, as our lives slowed down to a calmer pace. I’ve also been apprehensive about life returning to “normal”. Am I ready for that?!?! I’ve gotten very used to this slower pace of not jumping on planes or driving for hours to do workshops each month. I’ve really enjoyed the opportunity to explore making, designing and creating things that I haven’t had the ability to focus on with my usual busy schedule. There are many things I’ll miss about our time in lockdown, aside from trying not to die it was really pretty nice, but now life is picking up and my calendar is starting to fill up again with postponed teaching commitments.

Here’s what’s now on my schedule:

This edition of Craft Napa Harvest at Home is like a flight of wine: smaller tastes of processes and techniques in shorter, 3-hour online zoom classes. Registration will open on June 30th at 9:00 AM Pacific.

September 10  DIY Fiber-Friendly Acrylic Inks

This one I’m really excited about. While in lockdown, I did some more experimenting and have a new recipe for making acrylic inks from SCRATCH using ingredients all from Prochem! These acrylic inks leave your fabric much softer and pliable than commercial inks. The dried fabric has a hand similar to using textile paints, while giving you the full range of benefits for techniques that the thinner viscosity and saturated color provide from acrylic inks. (And bonus, it’s a lot cheaper to make your own!!!)

September 11 Artfully Unique Fabrics Using Acrylic Inks

This class is like the first 3 hours of my Paint and Printapalooza or 10+ Techniques with acrylic inks workshops. It’s a fun intro to learning all the ways you can create beautifully textural painted fabrics using different types of brushstrokes, sponges, altering ink and water ratios, mono-printing, adding salt, as well as scrunching, pleating, and clamping fabric. It will open a world of possibilities for creating colorful fabrics without using dyes.

September 12 Slow-stitch Meditation Scarf

I have fallen in love with slow-stitching linen with embroidery floss, I am now working on my 3rd scarf since January 2020. This process made a perfect travel project, and became my stress buster through the pandemic. In this workshop you’ll learn how to make a linen scarf that looks equally beautiful on both sides using simple running stitches in an improvisation manner. I’ll show you how to find inspiration in simple designs and color choices, stop and start threads without making knots, keep fabric from distorting while working without a hoop, and use a chalk pencil to create your design as you go.

FYI January’s Craft Napa sold out in an hour, and this event is smaller so set an alert on your calendar if there are classes you want to book. Registration opens June 30th at 9:00 AM Pacific. https://craftingalifellc.com

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Pacific International Quilt Festival An in person event!!!

October 15  Friday Lecture: TBD

October 16  Tea & Ephemera: an intro to mixed-media techniques on fabric

.

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October 23 Saskatoon Quilters Guild, Online-zoom workshop, Blessings in the Wind: Prayer Flags

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2022

July 11-15 Prochemical and Dye, Fall River, MA
Ink, Print & Repeat: a 5-day surface design intensive exploration in textile painting, printing and pattern making using acrylic inks.

Sept – Australia crossing fingers overseas travel will be back to normal

October 16-22 Hudson Valley Quilt Retreat, Greenville, NY
Ink, Print & Repeat: a 5-day surface design intensive exploration in textile painting, printing and pattern making using acrylic inks.

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As we return to some semblance of normalcy, most of my teaching will happen in the Sacramento City College Makerspace during the academic year, aside from my previously scheduled workshops, with summer months open for teaching on the road. I’m excited about this shift in teaching and look forward to what the post pandemic future holds.

Keep creating,

Judy

ABOUT JUDY
Judy is an artist, explorer, image wrangler, knowledge seeker, instructor, speaker, creative alchemist, and purveyor of inspiration, helping others channel creativity on a daily basis.

Well, here we are in the holiday season and the pandemic is worse than ever, unable to gather with our loved ones that reside outside our bubble. So with a quieter month ahead, I think it’s a good idea to have a few feel-good projects at hand.

I love making felted wool ornaments for Christmas. It must have something to do with seeing the beautiful, rich colors of the wool and stitching them with bright colored embroidery floss, felt and pretty beads. Or maybe this year, I will be taking out my frustrations by stabbing those little fuzzy balls imagining they are coronavirus!

Either way, they make the perfect portable project for around the house when you’re watching tv or relaxing with a cup of tea. Just throw a couple felted wool balls, a few small pieces of felt, some embroidery floss, a crewel needle, scissors and a couple pins in a small basket and you’re good to go.

To make the ornaments as shown in the 2008 issue of Quilting Arts Gifts, you first need to make felted wool balls.

Warning: once you start making these, it may be really hard to stop.

To make the felted balls you will need:

• wool yarn- this is a great way to use up leftover odd balls of yarn. Other fibers can be used, but the wool yarn felts when they are washed so the centers will be more solid.
• colored wool roving- my favorite place to order is Outback Fibers, they have close to 100 colors of wool roving.
• panty hose or tights (great use for old ones with holes!)

To embellish the felted balls you will need:

• Wool/rayon felt, If you don’t have a source nearby I have ordered from Prairie Point Junction. They have a great selection of colors.
• embroidery floss
• large embroidery or crewel needle

To make a felted wool ball

Begin by rolling golf ball size yarn balls as a base for the felted ball. The finished ball will be slightly larger.

Wind yarn into oblong shapes to make a berry shaped ornament.

I usually use wool yarn because I know it will felt better, but in a pinch I have used other yarn fibers too.

Unwind a length of roving, while holding it in one hand, grasp the end portion with the other hand and gently pull off “tufts” roughly 5-6 inches in length.

Spread the fibers into a thin flat layer with all the strands going in one direction.

Pull off another tuft of roving and layer it on top of the first at a 90 degree angle.

Repeat this process several more times, criss-crossing thin layers until it’s about half an inch thick.

When lifting the blanket of roving there should not be thin spots or gaps.

Changing the colors of roving in the layers will create a heathered multicolored wool ball.

Wrap the roving blanket you have created around a yarn ball, making sure there is full coverage of fluffy roving with no bare or thin spots.

Close the roving covered yarn ball in your hand and bring it to the foot of a knee hi panty hose. (buy cheap ones at the dollar store, or use those ancient ones in the back of your sock drawer) Gently remove your hand from around the ball and tie a knot with a small piece of yarn around the hose to secure the ball in place.

When all the balls have been wrapped in the pantyhose, place them in the washing machine, set the water to lowest level and hottest setting. Add about a tablespoon of laundry detergent. The exact measurement is not crucial, but soap is important in the felting process. I usually run it on a long cycle, the more agitation the better the felting.

When taking the chain of balls out of the machine, you’ll see little fibers have come though the mesh of the pantyhose. Snip the tied yarn between the balls, gently peel away the pantyhose removing the ball and roll the ball in your hands to smooth the fibers.

Let the balls dry before stitching, they’ll dry in a couple hours in the open air or if you’re impatient toss them in the dryer and let them bounce around for about 15 minutes.

These make great cat toys, but dogs will shred them to smithereens. My chihuahua thought there was nothing more fun than stealing felted balls when I was not looking and peeling all the fuzz off.

To embellish the felted balls

Cut leaf and flower petal shapes from wool/rayon blend felt to stitch onto the balls. I use wool felt because it’s softer than polyester craft felt and the colors are so much nicer.

Click on the link to download a copy of the felt shapes pattern. It will open a second window and then click on the link again.

I use a straight pin to secure the cut felt shape to the ball, and after I have a few stitches in place I remove the pin to make it easier to sew down.

When I’m finished, I thread a string for hanging on a needle and poke it into the ball coming out the top where I want it to hang from, gently tug on the thread and it will pull the knot into the center of the ball. Poke the needle back down into the center top of the ornament taking a tiny stitch, pulling the thread to make the desired size hanger and tie a knot.

This is my friend Martha Tsihlas, sewing an ornament in a Make it University workshop I taught at quilt festival years ago.

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While I was in Paducah, one of my students, Vanessa McCallum came over to show me a lovely basket of felted strawberries she had made along with a copy of my article from the 2008 Quilting Arts Gifts magazine. It’s always so much fun when people show me projects they’ve made from articles I’ve written over the years.

These felted ornaments will always be one of my favorite holiday projects, and each fall as the holiday season approaches I like to post this tutorial.

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Here’s a few ideas to get you started

They look pretty simply stitched with seed and bugle beads too, there are so many options. In fact, I had an idea the other day to make some 2020 coronavirus themed ornaments with those 3 sided bone shaped plastic beads, lol.

I know, I’m kind of a weirdo that way, but you probably know that by now!

Enjoy!

Keep creating,

Judy

ABOUT JUDY
Judy is an artist, explorer, image wrangler, knowledge seeker, instructor, speaker, creative alchemist, and purveyor of inspiration, helping others channel creativity on a daily basis.

It started by designing mask fabric and then I moved on to designing a repeat pattern from my mushroom painting. After designing the repeat, I printed Fungi Fantasy in 2 different scales because I love the idea of seeing big mushrooms that can be used as a focus print, and then coordinating a secondary smaller scale print to go with it.

I used the large scale mushroom design to print fabric on cotton twill to make throw pillows. The cotton twill prints so vividly, it is gorgeous!

Awesome quilter and textile artist Kristin LaFlamme made this adorable dress from the smaller scale Fungi Fantasy printed on Spoonflower’s Sweet Pea Gauze, and then she designed a mushroom embroidery image to stitch on a coordinating mask!

The next fabric I designed was Technicolor Covid. 

Obviously, I have a dark sense of humor about things, it’s kinda how I cope with stress, lol. This pattern started out as a painting on canvas, but then I switched to painting the design completely in graphics software.

I printed this one on the Petal Signature cotton.

But, what I’m really excited to share with you is…

Bee-loved

Bee-loved has 5 coordinating bee themed fabrics.

The Bees in the Meadow print comes in 2 different scale prints. The large print bees are 3.5” tall from their antenna to the tip of their stinger on a deep minty green floral background, the small bees are approximately 1.75” tall.

My Bees in the Honeycomb fabric is an intricately detailed bright yellow, orange, and red honeycomb design with hovering bees, segmented flower parts and a nod to bees amazing, geometrical skills with a bit of mathematical graphics. 

I also designed a coordinating Honeycomb border print, that is predominantly honeycomb with a wavy hexagonal edge along a row of large bees. The fun thing about this design is the fabric changes depending on the type of fabric you have it printed on.

If you buy the Petal Signature cotton that is 42” wide there will be one row of bees along the border, and if you buy the 56” wide cotton sateen you will have 4 rows of large bees along the border. Personally, I always buy the cotton sateen, it feels more like a fine pima cotton with a nice drape. The Petal Signature cotton is heavier, and I’ve noticed the color isn’t quite as saturated and bright.

The final fabric in this collection is Bee Hive Botanical that has patches of honey comb surrounded by an elegant entwined floral vine that creates a repeating medallion design.

But wait there’s more!

I know, I was on quite the rampage, and I had spoondollars (my commissions) from mask sales that helped fund my designing frenzy.

These next two fabrics are inspired by the modern quilt aesthetic, and are designed using my hand painted and printed fabrics that I teach people to make in my Paint and Print-a palooza workshop.

Raindrops Keep Falling in My Head

Diamonds in My Eyes is a print you can use like cheater cloth, and show off your free motion quilting skills.

Now the best news is Spoonflower just happens to have a 15% off sale on essential cottons today!!!

Keep creating,

Judy

ABOUT JUDY
Judy is an artist, explorer, image wrangler, knowledge seeker, instructor, speaker, creative alchemist, and purveyor of inspiration, helping others channel creativity on a daily basis.