new work

backpacks and purses made from recycled grain/feed bags 

and repurposed coffee bean bags

available online in my Etsy shop!

gifted hand 2011

 

One of my most favorite shows both as a vendor and as a shopper is coming up this weekend - The Gifted Hand Fine Art and Craft Show!
This show takes place Friday November 11th, 11am-7pm & Saturday November 12th 9am-4pm at the Ramada Inn (tennis court area), 215 High St. Ellsworth, Me.

This show has been listed as one of the top ten winter craft shows to attend in New England in the Boston Globe.com Travel blog - and for good reason!

Be there or be sqaure!

no tricks, just treats!

This savvy shopper (and one of my biggest fans!) snapped up this most unusual OneWomanStudio tote bag at the recent Hall-Dale Art and Craft Show in Farmingdale, ME. The tote is fashioned from a SolidGold dog food bag which appears to be made of a reflective type of material. I think it would make a great trick-or-treat bag!

Joyce is also sporting a gorgeous strand of chunky amber from local jeweler Laurie LaBar of Spirit House Jewelry - my very entertaining and delightfully irreverent neighbor at the show!

But wait! That's not all!

Later that afternoon Joyce was lucky enough to be holding the winning raffle ticket and scored one of my Alpaca totes as well! Woo-hoo!

But was it luck or was it karma? You see, Joyce co-owns McKenney Tree and Landscaping in Richmond, ME, which earlier in the week had donated their services to hang a banner over Main St. advertising this very craft show!

Yup. See how that works ;)

common ground fair 2011

Busy, busy, busy! The turnout at the fair has been great! Lots of happy customers sporting my bags :)

The horse totes are a big hit this weekend!

show time

This Saturday, August 27, I'll be hauling my self and a truck load of my work to the Designing Women  Art & Craft Show in Manchester, ME. The show takes place at the enchanting Longfellow's Greenhouses from 9:30-4:30 and a luncheon will be available. This is a juried show featuring high quality work from many of Maine's most gifted artisans!  Let's hope this Saturday is as sunny and calm as the day this photo was taken! 

 

Can you believe that ALL of that stuff fits into my teeny-tiny Toyota pick-up? My Daddy - who packed his family of 4 and all their accoutrements into a station wagon every summer and headed to an island in Maine - would be very proud :)

bread winner

It was a proud and happy moment when I delivered close to 100 of these tote bags to Skowhegan, Maine earlier this week. These totes were created especially for the Maine Grain Alliance's annual Kneading Conference which kicks off today in Skowhegan, Maine. 

I've been recycling King Arthur Flour bags into totes for a while now (read more here), so when I heard that they were again sponsoring the Kneading Conference and the Maine Artisan Bread Fair - which wraps up this 3-day event on Saturday - I knew I had to come up with something special for the occasion!

The custom graphic (created by yours truly!) was screen printed on the totes by Beth Burke who owns Custom Cottons in Sedgwick, Maine. Beth opened her shop a few months ago and has been going non-stop ever since! And I can see why - she's great to work with, creative, and FAST! Not to mention she does beautiful work!

To get your very own limited edition 2011 Kneading Conference tote bag, stop by the conference headquarters at the Skowhegan Fairgrounds July 28-30. They'll be for sale during the conference and at the Artisan Bread Fair (same location). Hope to see you there!

new work

I've been busily working on some fun new designs and finding lots of 'new' recycled materials to feed my passion! Pictured here are burlap coffee bean bags, Maine grain sacks, rescued seat belts, designer fabric samples, and of course... pet food bags!
These styles and many others can be found at The Maine Grind in Ellsworth, Works of Hand in Winter Harbor, and coming soon to the Center for Maine Craft pop-up store in The Maine Mall, South Portland!

first show of the season!

The 2011 Northeast Livestock Expo is happening this weekend, and OneWomanStudio will be there! This will be my first time at this event, and what a perfect venue for my recycled feed bag totes!

The Expo takes place May 20-22 on the grounds of the Windsor Fair in Windsor, Maine. Look for OneWomanStudio in the Fiber Arts tent. Hope to see you there!

Oh, and could you please bring some sunshine with you?

re-box

Call me crazy... but I make my own shipping boxes. I just can't see buying a brand new box when there is so much perfectly good cardboard out there being thrown away! And while I do love sewing, my first love was construction. As in building construction. Bird houses, sheds, a house... yes, a house! Granted, I did have help. And if he'd followed my plans, it would still be standing today... but that's a whole 'nother story...

Anyway, I love taking solid, flat material and turning it into a 3 dimensional object; Designing, measuring, figuring, cutting... it's just a fascinating process.

Although as I was doing this photo shoot, I noticed that this box looked remarkably similar in size to a 18" pizza box... If only I'd thought of that before! I could have saved myself a lot of designing, measuring, figuring, cutting... ;)

The graphics on the appliance boxes I re-use are just fabulous! I love the 'universal language' of instructive images!

sunday project

Making interior pockets for some of the messenger bags,

evolved into a new idea using the scraps... Love that pieced/patchwork look!