Professional Fiber Artist MORNA CRITES-MOORE

I am so excited to showcase one of my very favorite fiber artists, Morna Crites-Moore, here on my blog.  I discovered her work last school year in an issue of Quilting Arts, and it was love at first sight!  So I immediately went onto her website to see all that she creates.  In fact, I enjoyed her work so much that I required my Beginning 3-D students to visit her site as homework when they were learning how to sew and embellish.  I am especially inspired by her hand stitching, all her tiny decorative stitches, and by the fact that she likes to work with recycled wool sweaters.  Below is a statement of her work that I copied from her website http://www.mornacrites-moore.com/ 

"I learned to knit and sew when I was a young girl - and that was when I fell in love with textiles. I am especially fond of old textiles - their soft hand and faded palette, the occasional mended patch. I like to make new things from old things, including a wonderful felted wool which I make from old wool sweaters. I often wonder about the life that was led by the abandoned articles of clothing I use in my work. Does this little pair of mittens have memories of building a snowman? Does that cardigan sweater remember its freshman year at college?

Recently I have been exploring jewelry design and the art of the metal smith. I have learned how to saw, forge, solder and braze shining sterling silver and other metals. It is a learning process which continues, as I discover the joy of working with pearls, crystals, precious stones, and found objects.

There is quite a challenge involved in trying to serve two loves; nowadays my fiber muse and my jewelry muse have little power struggles over who gets to be in charge of my studio, my head, my hands, my heart.

Among the many aphorisms I heard as a child, the one that stays with me best is waste not, want not.I think that's a clue to why I save pretty much everything.

To visit my studio is to be surrounded by collections of all sorts. I try to keep my fabric in order, but the wool, linen, and silk overflow their spaces, wandering into the den next door. And the den is filled with items to sell in my vintage shop. My daughter's room is home to an entire wall of gorgeous wool tapestry threads. Boxes overflowing with sweaters sit in a corner of my bedroom. Back in the studio, dolls and their tea sets share shelves with piles of velvet and lace, cups filled with markers and paint brushes, and jar upon jar of antique buttons. Baskets hold tea bags and their tags, wool roving, projects in progress, wool scraps waiting to be strung as garlands, and bundles of old letters. There is a large drawer devoted to dryer lint and hundreds of teeny containers, each holding a different type or color of bead, pearl, clasp, sit stacked one upon another, at the jewelry table." 

I also follow her blog at http://www.mornacrites-moore.blogspot.com/

Thank you Morna for allowing me to share you and your work.