tongue-tied...

i dropped off my inventory last night for the rock 'n roll craft show. during the check-in, one of the organizers wanted to know more about my process, the materials i use and my inspriation. all of this information was to be fed into the computer so that they could properly discuss my work while kindly selling my goods. well, ladies and gents, the queen was at a complete loss for words. because as eloquent as i might be here on this page (hey, you--i see you giggling over there. cut that out!) one-on-one, i'm quite the shy-ster. and at one point i think i actually looked at her and said, "i've been sewing with wool for 12 weeks straight. i don't have anything left to say about that." who knows what she thought of me.

if i had been mentally prepared for the q & a portion of the check-in i might have said some of the following:

1. i love wool and wool by-products.

2. i {heart} thrift store shopping so much! and cannot pass up a luscious woolen beauty. when there are three 60 gallon rubbermaid tubs with sweaters taking up valuable space in the craft dungeon, then one must come up with a use for said sweaters. hence, the idea of the sweater bag was born.

3. who doesn't need a new purse/tote?

4. i like to use up each and every scrap of a sweater. so i start off by using the majority of the sweater for the bag itself. then i use the sleeves to make a number of tissue covers and zippered bags. then the scraps get cut into flowers and sewn into pins. i also keep all of my scraps because the center of a flower can be cut from a piece of felt as small as 1" square. i learned my crafty skillz from my gram and she grew up in the depression. in her opinion, there was nothing too small to not be saved.

5. i still haven't kept one of my creations for myself. i have sold and/or given all of them away. maybe after the holidays i'll treat myself to one really special bag.

6. i hope that when people see my work, they are struck by each piece's simple beauty, utilitarian nature and the whole reduce/reuse/recylce vibe about them. once a sweater has been accidentally washed and shrunken or has a stain in an inconspicuous spot or is slightly moth-holey, it doesn't become trash or something to be cast-off, but, in my eyes, it is transformed into fabric...my medium of choice. that's when the real fun begins.

if only i'd had my wits about me last night, i coulda wow'ed 'em.