Felting and making bags

It's raining today off and on for the next couple of days so I'm glad I got a bunch of the felting done when I did. Today I am making bags out of the felt done so far. First is a bag using a pumpkin with cats paw background I hooked for a Rughookers Yahoo Groups swap as an insert in a bag from the "salad" piece of felt. I got it inserted into the felt last night and have to sew up the sides and add a lining and handles to it. There's enough left over for a second bag without an added insert. The pumpkin one will be going in the SC state fair. Still haven't decided which rug is going in the fair yet. I've only got to the 7 or 8th of October to get stuff in for it. Then the Fall Heritage Festival is the 10th, with a demo at the state fair on the 16th, and finally SAFF in Asheville, NC at the end of the month.

I really hope I make some money at the festival as I need to get backing fabrics for my projects, especially for the RH mag ones--I'm out of everything and there is no money right now for anything--really. Playing this month's bills is scary. I don't use credit cards or charge anything so if I don't have cash on hand I can't buy anything. I'd rather not have than have a massive credit card dept I can't pay off. If I didn't have stashes of fiber and other things I wouldn't be able to do anything at all. I hate being this broke but it does force me to be even more creative and inventive with what I do have.

I have 2 more hooked pieces to add to purses-- my glow sheep done last Spring and a hooked dancing star. Still deciding if I need to make more felt before I put up all my equipment and fleece.

My article on hooking with fleece is a go with Rughookers Magazine, I will be doing a small oval rug for it and be doing a step by step instruction for the fleece hooking and it will come out next fall sometime. I feel very honored that they are letting me do this and hope my article will get more people to try using fleece in their hooking.