My critters are in an Exhibit in Bigfork!

 Exciting times!  4 of my needle felted animals made their way into an Exhibit at the Bigfork Art and Cultural Center called "Uncommon Thread". It runs till mid-September.  There are so many seriously talented fiber artists in this area, it's amazing.

 I didn't get pictures of everything, just the main waterfall and my animals. There are some amazing felted, knitted, crocheted, and woven items in this exhibit!  The walls of the room are covered in beautiful, gorgeous wearable articles, and wall hangings, too!

 My four contributions are a mountain lion (below), a mountain goat and grizzly bear on the top of the waterfall, and the three bears sculpture in the first picture.  I was afraid they would look awful, but they fit in okay.  Mine are some of the smallest felted animals there.  One thing about it, even though there are three or four other needle felters there, we aren't competing, each of us has a different style that is unique.  Even if we made the exact same thing, it wouldn't look exactly the same.  I really don't think there is really any competition in the fiber arts, or any arts.  Each artist is unique and has their own style.  There is room for everyone...

I do need to work on my marketing though.  Mine are the only ones without a hang tag on them!  I do have cards and a brochure out there, but they aren't attached to the animals. Something to work on in the next month or so....

A little Rain finally!

We are finally getting some much needed rain, the first since June 15th!  So far it isn't much, but it's better than nothing, and it smells so good!

I am having fun doing the Glacier Farmer/Crafters Market up in West Glacier.  Started out slow, but the last two weeks have been good!  It's a bit of a drive to get up there, about an hour and a half from here, but it's a pretty drive and I like my fellow vendors, so it's worth it.  In July, there were 1 million! people that went through Glacier National Park.  A fraction of those came to the market, but the ones that did spent some money there.

The Hipcamp thing is going well.  There is another group coming in tonight.  I have two separate sites listed on there now.  Now that we have the infrastructure up, it's pretty easy to take care of things around the sites.  We will continue to make a few improvements this year to make things even nicer for the campers that come next.

I'm making cheese again now.  I'm also starting to process the meat chickens we grew.  I'm about half way done now.  These chickens have had the best life a chicken can ask for.  Organic food, free ranging, living the great chicken life.  I always thank each one as I carry them up to the cone for feeding me and I tell them they are going to chicken heaven now.  These birds don't have the leg problems that most of them do.  They don't get overfed, they are able to run around all over the place, and they are fed organic layer mash, not the really high protein feed recommended.  That seems to keep them very healthy and active up to the end.

The goats are all well.  I am down to 38 total now.  I haven't had that few in quite a few years!  I have three varieties now.  The cashmere herd, a small meat herd, and the dairy girls.  I'm getting into the Kiko goats a bit.  One purebred buckling, and a purebred doe and her daughter.  They seem to have cashmere on them, so we'll see next spring if they really do!

There are some fires in the area, but we are safe for now.  It's been pretty smokey, but this rain has cleared the air.  I can see the mountains again!  I"m sure once it's over, the smoke will be back.  I hope they can get the fires out soon.

Well, that's it for this installment.  Hope you are having a great day or evening!