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Warm Hearts, Cold Toes--February Greetings from My Studio

Each morning lately, I wake to find the thermometer reading somewhere close to -20 degrees on the farm, and I shiver at the thought of impending chores in the desperate cold, but my heart is warmed by the thought of the day's classes and creative making as we keep our spirits up during this time of quarantine. In this newsletter, you'll find a delightful array of announcements and opportunities to share in the warmth and joy of my fiber arts world.

I am Laura Berlage, an interdisciplinary artist with a passion for liberating the creative soul. I am dedicated to creative resilience during these trying times--join me in this initiative!

As this pandemic continues to impact all of our lives, I see my work as an artist is more urgent than ever before--the work of connecting hands and heart, of offering joy and comfort, of offering camaraderie and encouragement along the creative journey. Even while sheltering in place on my family homestead farm in remote, rural northern Wisconsin, I can be an agent for empowerment in every corner of the country, and even in Canada. Notes from creatives seeking guidance from as far away as Japan surprise my morning's email inbox, and I can find comfort in feeling less alone through reaching out. My hope is that this work helps us all feel a little less alone and a bit more empowered to create joy and peace and coziness in our own lives.

Students can't get enough of the needle felted loon class! P.C, an Ely Folk School Student wrote this morning: "Thank you, so much, for the fun needle felting loon class with Laura Berlage. She is an excellent teacher and it was helpful she sent us links to watch a safety video and the loon felting video ahead of time so we could prepare for our experience. I also enjoyed learning about Laura's farm and seeing the sheep who produce the wool we were using."
[2 different student loon projects shown]

Upcoming Classes

Please click on the name of each folk school to connect with their registration information. Additional details on each class that has a current listing can also be found on my studio events page.

North House Folk School

Saturdays, March 20 and 27, Needle felt a Fawn (Intermediate)
Thursday, April 1, Needle Felt Easter Eggs (registration opened TODAY)
Saturday, April 3 Needle Felt a Snowy Owl (registration opened TODAY)
Saturday, May, Crochet a Lightweight Wrap (listing coming soon)
Friday, June 11, Needle Felt a Hummingbird (listing coming soon)

Vesterheim Folk Arts School

Thursday, March 11, Needle Felt a Nisse/Gnome (sold out)
Thursday, April 15, Painting with Wool--Inspired by Rosemaling (registrations just opened)
Mondays April 19-May 24, Introduction to Tapestry Weaving (sold out)

Marine Mills Folk School

Sunday, March 7, Needle Felt a Panda

Ely Folk School

Saturday, March 13, Needle Felt a Chickadee
Monday, March 29, Needle Felt a Fox
Thursday, April 8, Needle Felt a Loon (our 4th loon class with Ely folk school!)

Textile Center

Friday, March 12, Painting with Wool--Flower Fantasy
Monday, March 15, Needle Felt a Gnome

American Swedish Institute

Sunday, May 16, Painting with Wool--Folk Heart (listing coming in March)
Sunday, June 6, Painting with Wool--Dala Horse (listing coming in March
Sunday, July 18, Needle Felt a Loon (listing coming in March)
Sunday, August 15, Needle Felt a Fox (listing coming in March)

Land O' Lakes Arts

Thursday, March 25, Needle Felt a Sheep (sold out)

A view into my virtual classroom during a Celtic Cabled Crochet Zoom class.

"I really appreciated the instructor's efforts to check in with individual students throughout the course to make sure they were doing well. I also appreciated her efforts to get the students to interact a bit. I think it's a challenge to interact virtually, so props to Laura for fostering an inclusive environment!" ~Lisa, North House student

"The instructor was very pleasant and loves her felting and enjoys teaching others. She also inserted fun fox stories and facts and invited us to share our own tidbits. She even sang to us appropriate songs while we worked. Very delightful and fun!" ~Mona, North House student

Announcing New Project Kits!

Painting with Wool--Folk Heart has just been released on my Etsy shop and our farm's e-store! Snowy owl will be close behind, just as soon as I finish filming the tutorial. I delight in designing new class projects, and then the kits can live on for you to create (or gift to a creative friend or family member) for joyful expression in wool, even when a live virtual class isn't available. These last couple of weeks, it's been all about shipping Easter Egg and rabbit kits! Hmmm...I wonder if it's because we're all yearning for springtime.

New Fiber Kits

Snowy owl (pictured center as part of the "winter critters" series) is about to release as a kit, but once I got started I just couldn't stop making adorable owls! Would you like to see barn owl (left) or Great Horned owl (right) as kits too? Reply to this newsletter and let me know!

"Gifted this kit [cardinals] to my mom for Christmas and we both absolutely adore them! The instructions are straight forward and easy to follow. We made the little birds right away and they make us smile every time we look at them." ~Meg, Etsy review

It feels like so much longer than a year ago that I was offering punch needle rug hooking as an in-person course. Now it's time to try it online!

Trial Run Punch Needle Course Starts Tomorrow

Oxford-style punch needle rug hooking is a most delightful way to turn wool yarns into a beautifully expressive and colorful pictorial piece. This time last year, I was offering my "Birds of the Northwoods" class at North House Folk School--also during a chilly cold snap. This year, a group of six intrepid students are going to road test running that class over three different sessions via Zoom. I'm excited to add this medium to my online offerings. If you would like to be kept abreast of potential future sessions, please reply to this newsletter!

Is this enough wool for today? Yes, I do have a reputation for hauling lots of materials around on the farm, and of packing full loads along our farm's delivery routes.

Shipping or Deliveries--Knowing Your Options

While many of you have heard the stories of our lovable sheep that make the wool included in the kits, you may not have heard of some of the other hats I wear on the farm like shipping/receiving and delivery route management. As I package kits and yarn to send your way, many of the town names are along our farm's twice-monthly delivery routes.

This means you could coordinate your order with a delivery and not have to pay shipping! It also means that you could add some of that delicious sheep's milk gelato or cheese I talk about in the about-the-sheep slideshow. Or, for that matter, any of the numerous delicious and delightful offering from our farm could be yours.

Here's the scoop on when/where our current CSA delivery routes run. Anyone is welcome to partake of this service--no need to be a member of our CSA (yet). While the towns listed below currently have pickup meeting locations, we are happy to meet you anywhere along these routes that works best. For instance, if you live closer to Turtle Lake, we drive right through that town on the way home from the MN route!

Minnesota Route: First and Third Wednesdays of the Month
Marine on St. Croix, Stillwater, White Bear Lake, Minneapolis, Pine Island, Rochester, Redwing/Wacouta (and home on HWY 63)

Wisconsin Route: Second and Fourth Thursdays of the Month
Hayward, Minong, Spooner, Sarona, Rice Lake, Chippewa Falls, Eau Claire (and home on HWY 53)

To pickup along these routes, place your order on our farm's e-store and in the checkout section choose "local pickup," then select the delivery route of choice, then in the order notes tell us where along the route you would like to meet. I'm also happy to add details as to where each current pickup is and the approximate meeting time. If more details would be helpful, reply to this newsletter, and I'm happy to help!

Thank you to everyone who has been heartwarmed by our farm's story and chosen to support our continued efforts.

Explore the Farm's E-Store

My farm's e-store is not only a great place to find kits and supplies for your projects but also as a source for finding delightful and giftable creations I've made, including this newly-released pair of framed painting with wool roosters that include real feathers from my chickens.

Where else can you find Erindale Tapestry Studio treasures? Currently, North House Folk School (Grand Marais, MN) and Dovetail Cafe (part of Duluth Folk School in Duluth, MN) carry my work, and just around the corner Vesterheim Norwegian American Museum and American Swedish Institute will also be featuring my kits and creations. I'm grateful to be featured in these shops and to be helping keep these schools and institutions vibrant.

Works-in-Progress Spotlight

The story of the creation of the new Painting with Wool--Inspired by Rosemaling class had quite the epic journey, including an exciting collaboration with rosemaling gold medalist Patti Goke. Here, the piece is shown nearly completed. You can read the full story, with lots of colorful images, in my new blog post on my studio website. Thank you Josh at Vesterheim for this unique challenge!

Visit Erindale Tapestry Studio Website

Thank you for reading this newsletter! I hope we may stay in contact to inspire creativity, expression, and learning. Please feel free to forward to anyone you feel may benefit from knowing about my studio and offerings. Best wishes to you on your creative journey~Laura Berlage, Erindale Tapestry Studio