December 27, 2013

Mariposa Handwovens


Mariposa Handwovens

Vicki Hedrick of Mariposa Handwovens has been weaving for over 30 years and is still in love with the process of creating fabric from thread! She lives in Carlinville, Illinois (USA) and has a nicely stocked shop on Etsy. Her business name, Mariposa, means butterfly in Spanish. She often finds her inspiration in Nature, experimenting with texture and color through the use of novelty yarns and the weaving patterns she uses.

Visit and connect with her on TAFA: http://www.tafalist.com/members/mariposa-handwovens


December 11, 2013

Bear Creek Felting

bear creek felting wild animals

Bear Creek Felting


Teresa Perleberg lives in North Dakota and has her own flock of sheep. She uses their wool, dyes the colors she needs and also purchases or trades with other wool dealers when she needs other fibers. She mostly needle felts wild animals but also has an interest in farm animals and has a whimsical line of cute snowmen and other smiling critters. She has her work and kits available on Etsy and on her website.

December 1, 2013

Feuer Und Wasser

Feuer Und Wasser

Yekaterina Mokeyeva of Feuer Und Wasser is originally from Russia, now living in San Francisco, USA. A master felter, she finds her inspiration in Nature, encouraging humans to live in harmony with it instead of competing against it. 

Visit her profile to learn more: 


November 30, 2013

Cape Cod Shibori



Rachel Switzer of Cape Cod Shibori has had many interests within the textile field, with shibori dyeing her current focus. She has a shop on Etsy where she offers fabric for other artists along with finished pillows, runners and other finished home accessories. 
Rachel recently shared her home with us in our Decorating with Textiles Series, so make sure to take a look at that, too. It’s lovely!

November 7, 2013

FabricsofNature


Nisa Kiley named her business Fabrics of Nature because that is where she finds her inspiration! Her quilts are richly textured and worked, coming alive with light and shadow, shape and context. She often finishes them off with a piece of driftwood to hang them, a perfect complement.

Nisa is from Hereford in the UK and we invite you to visit her profile and connect with her there:

TAFA Profile


October 31, 2013

Bewove



Dawn McCarthy of Bewove is a Manchaster, England transplant who has made her home in New Jersey, USA. She teaches weaving in the Philadelphia/New Jersey area and at the Newark Museum of Art. Her weavings, made into functional accessories for both body and home, explore complex designs like damask, multi-harness weaving and combining elements of surface design and the structural elements of creating cloth.

Learn more about Dawn on TAFA:



October 27, 2013

Caroline Brown Art Textiles



Soft colors, minimalism, stitching pathways through cloth... We have a new profile up on TAFA! Caroline Brown Art Textiles is a new member from the UK. She has a shop on Etsy and sells through her website as well. Poetic work!



October 7, 2013

Arty Moods



Tia O'Connor's journals are inspired by her surroundings in Ireland and literature. Originally from Romania, she comes from a musical background and currently works as a translator and interpreter. Her Arty Moods creations pay homage to this creative past, present and future!

Learn more about her on TAFA!





September 30, 2013

Quick2Listen Fiber Art by Jeannie Sredl


Quick2Listen Fiber Art

Jeannie Sredl of Chicago, Illinois (USA) creates art quilts that explore color and texture, often through Nature themes. Her pieces often play with boundaries, going out of the "box", hanging in free forms rather than the traditional square shape. 

Connect with Quick2ListenFiberArt on TAFA:http://www.tafalist.com/members/quick2listenfiberart





September 29, 2013

Quilts by Valerie


Quilts by Valerie


Valerie Goodwin is one of our pioneer members, joining TAFA a couple of months after we launched back in 2010. She has become especially known for her stunning architectural quilts, exploring the idea of maps both conceptual and realistic ways. 



September 25, 2013

TAFA's on Tumblr! Come follow!


We're now on tumblr.!


Leave a comment with your site so that we can all see you, too!  We're tumblin' together....

September 21, 2013

TAFA Market: Using Merchpin to create a virtual shopping experience!

TAFA Market


Recently I wrote a post about Selling on Etsy that got quite a bit of feedback and attention. One of the comments left by Beverly Rustica suggested that we look into Merchpin, a service that allows you to pull in product feeds from different places and display them on any site. We were sold on the idea and moved ahead to create our own marketplace!

Merchpin behaves much like an Etsy mini, but you have more control over how it displays, so you can build themes (like treasuries) and organize your products in different ways. It works seamlessly with Etsy shops, creating an easy import into a huge main catalog that can then be sorted by tags. The great thing is that we can include other TAFA members who are not on Etsy, thus being much more inclusive about who we can invite to participate. The service is not cheap, costing us $99/month to run and is quite labor intensive to set up, especially since I wanted to have lots of pages and feature different collections. Right now we have about 11 members participating and I am hoping that many more will join us.

There are a couple of downsides in using this and we are trying to figure out work arounds for them. When you click on an image, it takes you to that person's shop, leaving our site. So, it makes it hard to keep people on site to explore other pages. Another big problem is that the currency doesn't convert over to the service, so it doesn't reflect our international base. It took a lot of pressure from Etsy shops for a long time to finally get Etsy to display other currencies besides the American dollar, so it is disappointing to be back to square one on that again.

The great thing about this service is that any group of friends could band together for joint marketing efforts and display the code on their blogs or sites. We have our Team blog here, so I have added a redirect page to the Market as most of our participants will have Etsy shops. But, one wouldn't need to have a dedicated site.

We invite you to visit our TAFA Market and please share it with your friends! Comments are enabled on the Market pages, so please feel free to use them over there or over here. Sign up for our blog updates over there, too, as we will announce new shops and collections on that blog.  Lots of eye candy!




September 14, 2013

Siamese Dream Design


Siamese Dream Design


Siamese Dream Design joined TAFA in April of 2011. A mother and daughter business, Barb and Amy's family moved to Thailand from the American Midwest 11 years ago and have built up a stunning accessories business using Hilltribe vintage fabrics. They have a strong focus on shoes and sandals, but also offer bags, pillows and other gorgeous accessories and garments. Make sure to visit their blog where their trips into the Thai mountains document their relationships and adventures!

Visit their profile: http://www.tafalist.com/members/siamese-dream-design


September 11, 2013

klaradar


klaradar


Klaradar (Rakla) is our only member in Bulgaria. Klara paints on silk and has a fun, full shop on Etsy. She also nunofelts. She does a great job with her photography so be sure to check out her vibrant style!  "Dar" mean's "gift" so her shop name translates as Klara's Gift.

Visit klaradar on TAFA: http://www.tafalist.com/members/klaradar


September 10, 2013

Jacki Sleator - Textile Artist and Feltmaker


Jacki Sleator


Jacki Sleator - Textile Artist and Feltmaker is our newest member from Ireland and makes gorgeous felted garments and accessories. She has a small shop on Etsy, accepts commissions, and teaches workshops. 

Check out her lovely profile: http://www.tafalist.com/members/jacki-sleator


August 19, 2013

Kelly Darke - Fine Art


Kelly Darke - Fine Art


Kelly Darke – Fine Art  brings a fascinating combination of fine art and art therapy to our mix. She is a Michigan (USA) artist, has a shop on Etsy, and uses stitching to add texture to her textiles.

August 18, 2013

Thrums Textiles

Thrums Textiles

Susan Harvey of Thrums Textiles is a Vancouver Island Canadian who weaves luxurious scarves, shawls, and home accessories. Her blog documents her process and she has loads of information there that other weavers will surely enjoy, so be sure to check it out and follow it.



August 5, 2013

Two New Treasuries! Scrumptious and Schooled


We've had two new beautiful treasuries in the last couple of days! It's so fun to see what our members come up with and there is so much to pick from so they can be so different from each other...  Visit them both and explore our TAFA Team member's shops!



It's easy to find us on Etsy! Just type TAFA into the search bar and you will find our members. You can add key words to narrow the search: TAFA hat, TAFA pillow, TAFA yarn, etc. Come shop with us! You will find almost 4,000 textile/fiber art items. Make us your destination on Etsy!

TAFA on Etsy




July 31, 2013

Shabby Apple Dress Giveaway and TAFA Treasure Hunt


I received an invitation from Shabby Apple asking whether we would be interested in offering one of their dresses as a giveaway here. I've never been big on giveaways, but after studying their site, I thought it might be fun! What sold me is that their dresses look well made and they support Accion, a non-profit working to eliminate poverty through micro-credit loans and giving access to other financial and business tools around the world.

Would you like to win one of Shabby Apple's dresses?

Here is how it's going to work: 

We want you to explore both our TAFA Team members' products on Etsy AND our main site.  You are going on a treasure hunt!

1. Go to Etsy and type TAFA into the search bar. That will give you our TAFA search results. Our members who have shops on Etsy use TAFA Team as one of their tags, making it easy to find their products. There is one item showing up that is not one of ours: wall tile. Just ignore it. Tip: Narrow the search by adding keywords that interest you: TAFA bag, TAFA hat, TAFA silk, TAFA quilt, etc.

2. Find you treasure! Pick something that you really like. There are almost 4,000 items there, so you
should be able to find something that you love.

3. Now go to TAFA: www.tafalist.com.  Find the Member Profile that matches that item. Who made it? Where did it come from?  You can try using the Member List, but many people use different names on their Etsy shops.  The easiest way is to do a search using the search bar. The shop owner name should do the trick.

4. Come back here and post your treasure in a comment.

Like this:

Treasure: (etsy link to the item)
TAFA Profile: (TAFA link to the profile)

That's all you have to do for our treasure hunt!



Some guidelines:

  • Crabby Apple is only offering dresses in their Vintage Clothing Styles.
  • These are the dresses that you can pick from: Snapdragon, Heart of Me, Dressage, 
    Grand National, Hackney, Captain, Admiral, Cut the Cake, At last, At first site, My vow to you, Maid of honor, Together forever, Ever after, Save the date, Moon River, Ski Bop, Some like it Hot, Tiber, Andes Skirt, Jetty Skirt, Ballerina, Nantucket, Boogie Woogie, Marigold Skirt, Lime Ricki Skirt, Park Picnic Skirt,
    Hully Gully Skirt, Newcomb Skirt  (Note that there are several skirts)
  • Winner's address must be in the United States. (If you live somewhere else, perhaps you can use a friend's address and have them ship it to you.)
  • TAFA members are allowed to participate.
  • Giveaway ends at midnight (Central US), August 8th.
  • The winner will be announced on August 9th, using a random number generator.
  • Make sure that we have a way of contacting you when you leave a comment. (Do NOT include your email or phone number publicly.)
  • If we cannot contact the winner within 24 hours, we will run the random number generator again and choose a new winner.
We'd love to hear more in your comments about how your treasure hunt went! Did you learn anything new about TAFA? Was it easy to find your treasure? How about your trip to our website? If you liked what you saw, please share TAFA and Shabby Apple with your friends!








We have a winner!



Lakeisha found this as her TAFA Treasure:
"I like the personalized journal made by Christine Marie Ford in Canada."

July 6, 2013

In Memorium: Heather Lair


It is with great sadness that I share the news of the death of our TAFA Team member, Heather Lair.  Heather was from Gimli, Canada, and actively involved with the quilting community in her area and online.  She was funny, joyous, sweet, and a beloved teacher.  She made beautiful art quilts and carried smaller works in her Etsy shop: art cards, pouches, etc.

Please visit a tribute to her on our main site: In Memorium, Heather Lair

She is sorely missed!


June 26, 2013

Images In Bloom


Barbara Bloom does Shibori on silk, crochets wire into beaded jewelry and makes soap with her husband. She lives in Parma, Ohio (USA) and has a nice shop on Etsy. 

Visit her profile on TAFA: http://www.tafalist.com/members/images-in-bloom



June 2, 2013

Smudged Textiles Studio

Smudged Textiles Studio

Lynn Krawczyk from Plymouth, Michigan (USA) is well-known in our circles for her thermofax techniques, instruction, and services. She offers lots of ready made screens and will create ones from your images through her Etsy shop. She also makes beautiful collages, layers of fabric and paint finished off with stitching and beads.

Learn more about Smudged Textiles Studio on TAFA! http://www.tafalist.com/members/smudged-textiles-studio


June 1, 2013

Delighted with Colin's Creatures!


I am Clairan Ferrono, a member of the TAFA list, an art quilter.  Recently I saw a post about a new member, Colin's Creatures.  My daughter's birthday was coming up and she loves goats, so I thought I'd check it out on his Etsy site.  Colin Richmond makes engaging porcelain and wool animals, usually sheep and the like.  I was going to order one, but he had a good deal on a set of three Nubian goats, so I decided to go all out. His prices are very reasonable.  I was absolutely delighted when I received them.  Each one is individual, has a personality, and is a lovely collectible.  I am totally satisfied with my purchase. It's a pleasure to support a fellow artist, and to be able to give a beautiful piece of handcraft.


May 30, 2013

Atelier Iona Loyola Textiles

Atelier Iona Loyola Textiles

Atelier Iona Loyola Textiles actually started out with weaving, but then took a felting class a decade ago and fell in love with the process. Iona is originally from Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), but now makes her home in New York City and enjoys walking around Central Park for inspiration. Her felted garments and accessories are luxurious, rich in color and texture, and reflect her lovely spirit.

Go visit! http://www.tafalist.com/members/atelier-iona-loyola-textiles
 



May 23, 2013

Sunflower Design



Marcy Horswell of Cumberland, BC (Canada) loves sunflowers! She makes quilts of them, draws them and named her business Sunflower Design! Her quilts and graphic design business all come from a place of creative exploration. She states:

"Why do I pursue creativity? When I turn to my studio, it is to escape the fast-paced and stressful world I live in. Time slows down when I walk through the studio door; in fact, time becomes irrelevant. As I familiarize myself with my space and collections, my life takes on a quiet rhythm. My senses become acutely aware of colour, texture and the quiet. Sketches go down on paper, needles go through fabric and layers form one on top of another. My heart beats to my own rhythm and a new idea is born."

Visit her profile on TAFA: http://www.tafalist.com/members/sunflower-design


May 21, 2013

Silks For You



Caroline Spooner, native of England, lives in California and enjoys mountain views from her studio.  She primarily works with silks, using many different techniques, but especially enjoys shibori.  


April 11, 2013

CherScapes Fiber Art Studios


CherScapes, one of our pioneer members, joined TAFA in July of 2010. Check out her profile for her gorgeous textiles, garments and the launch of her new book, "Fabric Surface Design".


April 5, 2013

Donna Burkholder



Donna sells beautiful quilt patterns and kits that she designs in her Etsy shop.  She also dyes fabric, also available for purchase!



February 27, 2013

MOLICA Natural Fibre Art and Craft


MOLICA Natural Fibre Art and Craft


Michelle Jose is our newest member from Australia! Woo hoo! She creates great Waldorf inspired toys using felt and fleece. Fun, safe, and a green product!

February 25, 2013

Julaine Lofquist-Birch


Julaine Lofquist-Birch


Julaine Lofquist-Birch is a mixed-media artist from Rockford, Illinois. She sews, knits and embroiders and has just started working with nuno felt. Come visit her profile! http://www.tafalist.com/members/julaine-lofquist-birch


February 24, 2013

Denise Kovnat



Multi-talented, Denise spins, knits, dyes, sews, and weaves beautiful garments and accessories. She lives in upstate New York and aside from her Etsy shop, sells at local shows and galleries.



January 4, 2013

HeartFelt Silks



Beautiful silk scarves, felting tools, workshops and kits from Stillwater, Minnesota!



January 2, 2013