Martin's Magical Menagerie

This was my view from my booth at the North Country Fiber Festival. We stared and stared, trying to figure out exactly what everything was. Finally, we had a lull in customers and were able to check it out.


Here's a peek. A little felted tiger, squirrel, fox, bear, alligator, and ....puma? All of these are made entirely of wool. Compacted, needle-felted wool. Now, I'm good with wool, and have even felted a bit. But I don't have the artistic eye to pull off any of these! Have a look!

But what really impressed us, was this little guy here:

We could see this giraffe fairly well form our table, but we SWORE it had plastic eyes. But no! They are also felted, with some glitz mixed in so it looks like they have wetness in them. Amazing!

Not to mention the llama...

Or the camel...

Want to see more? These amazing sculptures were created by Linda of Martin's Magical Menagerie! I spoke with Linda a bit in between customers and she is a very nice woman who drove all the way from Wisconsin to hang out with us at the fair. If you need any felting kits, she's a great lady to buy from. I got a simple tiny llama kit (first on her kits page) and when I get the hang of that one, I plan to move on to a couple of her other ones.

Catching Up

Has it really been over a month since I blogged? Wow! So much has happened!

When I last left you, I was packing up for the North Country Fiber Fair. Here is my booth. It looked to bare next to everyone else's but I did quite well I think! I've already signed up for the same booth spot next year.

I love the tray I got to display my magnets! The basket held more magnets in individual bags.

Something I haven't yet added to my website, but took the to show were these cute hair clips I made with sock monkeys and sheep. Expect these to be added to the site soon!

Before the show, my mother came to visit for a few days. The girls were absolutely thrilled!! They just couldn't get enough of Grandma.

Here, Grandma and May watch a movie Grandma bought for the girls.

Grandma went with us to the park and found out quickly that Kate insists on swinging....indefinitely.

But that's okay, it gave me the opportunity to get this candid shot....

This is my new favorite picture of Kate. :)

Moving on, a couple weeks ago I was haunting on of my favorite thrift stores for clothes for the girls and such, when I spotted these great wooden spools of yarn. I have no idea what they're from, but my best guess is an older industrial loom or knitting machine. I was just going to get the ones that still had yarn on them, but knew that I'd kick myself if I didn't pick up the whole collection. So here is my find. If you know where these came from, please share!

Later today, I will blog about a very talented woman I met at the North Country Fiber Fair. I will also share a couple of the new products I've added to the JL Yarnworks website.