Friday Etsy Feature - The Merriweather Council
I am so excited for you to meet Danielle from The Merriweather Council for my first Friday Etsy Feature!!! She is such a nice person and an amazing artist! Enjoy!
She sells a variety of hoops featuring hand embroidery like this one with multicolored wishbone stitches.
This patchwork hoop is made of a beautiful combination of vintage fabrics!
She also sells several versions of fabric bunting that are extremely popular at the moment. They are a great way to dress up a room.
How did you become interested in crafting?
I think I am genetically predisposed to crafting. My grandmother was a seamstress and many of my great aunts were quilters and sewers. Most of my early crafting experiences revolved around providing for my family of 5 american girl dolls. I would cut up my old clothes to make clothes for them, and I learned to crochet and made blankets and scarves for them. All my life I was into “art” but no one ever used the word “craft” around me. My family knew I was creative and in school I was an “art kid” but when I went to college I discovered this magical place on the third floor called the Fibers Dept and the rest is history!
Where does your inspiration come from?
I feel most inspired by colors and color combinations. I love to experiment with different colors and mix things up. I often refer to my photographs for color inspiration. I also like to just take little walks around my neighborhood and Boston, that usually gets my mind thinking. Much of my motivation comes from looking at what I have and seeing what I can come up with. I am not a planner, I do not buy materials with a set plan for them, having my stash of fabrics is an inspiration to me! My approach is to just jump in and see how it goes and work off of that!
What is your favorite piece you've made and why?
I think my favorite piece I’ve made is my Light Box quilt, which is not for sale in my shop but that I made a year ago as a conceptual piece for my studio class in college. It is a basic block quilt but the colors were eyedropped out of a photograph of the front porch of my parents house at night with the lights on inside. The photo is one of my favorites and it truly reminds me of home. I made this quilt as part of a series of objects translated from memories. You can read more about the conceptual details of it on my website.http://www.daniellespurge.com and even though I made this as a conceptual piece I love it for it’s craft and color qualities, the things about it that are not conceptual at all.
Now, everyone go visit Danielle's beautiful shop! It is not to be missed!