Orange Sherbet Purse

This is my felted version of orange sherbet. It is created on a prefelt of 60% alpaca and 40% wool and is embellished with beads and buttons and features a braided yarn handle. It is a small purse to be sure, but there is no minimizing its effect.

Pink Spiral Purse

This is a pink purse I made and embellished with spirals made of 5" stacks of prefelt. It is also built on a pink prefelt base and features commercial handles which are available at local craft shops.

I have a pattern available on my website and webstore for this fun purse.

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Teal Base

Teal Wet Felted Bag

This wet felted bag features ribbon beads around the top and free motion quilting with metallic thread.

Purple Holes

Experimenting with creating holes...

Yellow Flower Garden

This yellow flower garden was created on a yellow prefelt of alpaca and wool. The flowers were created with cookie cutters. The stems are made of wool yarn.

Green Silk on Pink

More creative play as I see what the relationship is between the alpaca/wool blend and silk. More and more I am fascinated with the interplay between these fibers.

I eventually finished this sample into a small purse with commercial lime green and sparkle handles.

Pro Felter Elite

It's our new state-of-the-art needle felting tool. It was created in the mind of my talented brother, Jon, after my whining that I was breaking needles and always having to search for new ones. This beauty hold so much of the needle shaft inside the tool that it is so much more break-resistant! I'm longer breaking needles. What a novel idea. The cushion grip comes in a variety of colors (shown here is pink, but it will come as a surprise to no one that my personal tool is line green). The hexagonal shape at the right end is designed so that the tool does not roll off the the working surface onto the floor. Watch for this new tool at fiber shows everywhere. It's also available on our website at www.ritablocksom.com.

My Arizona Studio

My Arizona studio is comprised of two rooms. View 1 showcases the construction area. I have a Horn Quilters Dream table, several Berninas and Featherweights, a serger, and an ever-present laptop. View 2 shows the pegboard where many of my tools are stored to maximize the table space. The pegboard is painted white to match the walls, thus lessening the intrusion. As I travel and teach most of the time, I need to have certain tools at my fingertips. I also have a second room, my design studio where my technological resources are housed. My work includes imagery of many forms and I need access to computers, projectors, cameras.

My spaces have gone through many phases as my work has evolved and I have taught many classes on organizing and designing studios. Based on my experience, if you are thinking of organizing or perhaps re-organizing, your workspace, consider these questions…

• Do you have a designated space (studio) or a shared space, perhaps a corner of the dining room or an extra bedroom?

• Do your needs include portable work options? Is a motor home with its limitations in your future?

• What’s your “clutter quotient”? Does visual clutter prove distracting? Do you need clutter to be behind closed doors? Does open shelving meet your needs? Do you need music or a TV?

• Are you a one project at a time person? Or are you a multiple projects person? How many machines do you have? How many do you currently use ?

• How much fabric do you have on hand? How many patterns do you have? Magazines? Books?

And perhaps the most important question, in your planning, do you allow for the growth of your collections?