Progress on the Folk Boots

Here's a quick shot of the project so far. Not the best shot but you get the idea. I need to set it aside for now to finish a custom order and put a lining into a hood for a customer who can't wear wool. I also hope to get out to pick autumn olives for jam. It would do me some good to be out in nature but first I need to plant some mushrooms on a wreath,
I have a new incentive to deal with our messy house. I have a client who is dead set on a studio visit to pick up a hat for his wife. This might just do it!

Ya Gotta Keep Yer Feet Warm

I need new slippers since the ones I made for myself three years ago have been patched and resewn about as much as they can take. My inspiration for the new ones is this pair of man's socks from Georgia. They are in that wonderful book I got at the Westport library sale, Folk Art in the Soviet Union. They are more like boots than socks, but made for indoor wear. There is so much going on in them,but the design doesn't fall apart. I splurged and bought a pair of black suede soles. My homemade ones have always turned out to be too big. If I had drawn the pattern the size of the store bought soles I know I wouldn't have believed it was big enough and I'm tired of sloppy-floppy slipper boots. The original socks were thickly knit and then embellished with beading,applique and buttons. I'm making mine from a nice piece of fulled woven red wool lined with red brocade at the top. The embellishment will be added to that base, with pieces of sweater felt and crewel embroidery taking the place of the knit patterns. Last comes a bit of beading and the pearl buttons.

I've Got My Tinfoil Hat On

Well, I did it again - fell out of the blogging habit. The weather has finally cooled off and I'll be photographing and listing hats up here so I'll probably get back to blogging. I dyed a piece of beige wool a soft blue for the background behind my hats which means I'll be replacing some photos that were taken with the overly bright blue fabric background.
This is going to be a random sort of post. For anyone thinking about signing up with Propay to take credit cards - do it! I had my first experience with it last Sat. at a fair and it worked great. I'm so glad I did it. It was a ferociously hot humid day so sales were a little down. Who wants to try on a wool hat on a day like that? That's why I don't do summer shows. I felt sick from the heat all evening even though I tried to drink lots of water. On the up side, the fair itself was great and I won Best Of Show!
The picture is my entry in a tinfoil hat challenge we had going in the Etsy forums. It was fun and I really need to do something silly to change things up a bit.