Mothers and their Babies April 20, 2015 00:00

Our wonderful mother died this past November. 
All through the coldest, longest, and darkest winter in recent memory,
all we could felt were mothers and their babies. 
Some of our best felting to date!
Enjoy.....

We miss you mom......

A felted chess Set April 13, 2015 00:00

As mentioned in the previous post we were invited to create an art piece for the gallery at Vogue Knitting Live in NYC.  We decided to create a felted chess set, with the pieces consisting of Gnomes (obviously) vs. Vikings. 

 
Viking King and Queen

 
Gnome King and Queen

We wanted the set to be larger than life so we chose to make it a 4ft. x 4ft. board with the pieces averaging around 12-14inches tall.  It was a challenge to create pieces that people would be able to recognize as their traditional counterparts. Mushrooms were an obvious choice for the pawns on the gnome side,  as were a gnome king and queen and viking king and queen.  Bishops presented a bit of a representation challenge, being settled with tree gnomes on the gnome side and howling wolves on the viking side.

Gnome Bishops

Viking Bishops

Viking dragon riders and gnome bear riders were fun to make for the knights. 

Viking Knights

Gnome Knights

The most frequently asked questions about building this felted chess set were: How long did it take?  Did you each make a side?  Can i make a move?  We spent a total of about 200 hours working on the set, and were thrilled with the results!  We both worked on both sides, though one of us made each set of companion figures (ie I made both wolf bishops on the viking side and gnome king and queen, Jen made both dragon rider knights and the viking king and queen.  We both spent many hours making mushroom and rock monster pawns! We did let people (carefully) play the game both in NY and in Seattle - boy are there are a lot of chess enthusiasts out there!!  Most were thrilled that the set was complete with a chess clock and and a gnome time keeper!

New ideas for new large scale art pieces are always swirling around.....stay tuned....

INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEOS!!! April 10, 2015 12:52 1 Comment

SO Going Gnome's big news is that we have the first of 4 needle felting instructional videos being released later this month (APRIL 2015)!! The videos are being produced and distributed by F+W Interweave and will be available on craftdaily.com, as well as in the Interweave store.  Earlier this year we flew out to Fort Collins Colorado for the video shoot.  We had an amazing time, the crew at Interweave are amazing to work with, it was a blast! The 4 videos are

Mini Gnome
Mini Mushroom House
Owl Babies
Sleeping Fox

The videos are going to be for sale and paired with our kits so you can felt right along with the instructions using our amazing kits.  We will have links to the videos here on our website as soon as they are released so don't forget to check back soon :)

Here are some pictures from our trip out to Fort Collins.......

During filming: Mini Mushroom House

This sweetie was thrilled to be included on the set with her gnome friends

Filming videos is tiring!

All packed up and ready for the trip home.....

Going Gnome is getting a kick start! August 4, 2014 14:58

So, we've enlisted the help of our gnomes to get our kits packed with 100% US materials, and now in 100% US packaging!  We have spent the past few months working hard to improve out great instructions - we've even added photo detail in them!  The new kit design is amazing, but having the packaging made in the US means buying them in large quantity.  The gnomes have launched this Kickstarter project to help us get the tubes here.  Please check it out, share it with your friends, and back us if you can.  You can get some great rewards - just a $25 pledge gets you a brand new, never before sold or seen felting kit - Prickle of Hedgehogs!! 

Kickstarter Going Gnome

Thanks for supporting us!

Where do your gnomes travel? April 17, 2014 12:42 1 Comment

2013 ended with, and 2014 began with our gnomes spending a lot of time on the road exploring new places!
The first big adventure was the trip to Chicago for Vogue Knitting Live!

 We drove out and had an amazing weekend in the windy city with our dear cousin, and introduced so many mid westerners to the art of needle felting! We also got enjoy a trip down memory lane to the place where I was born - South Bend IN! We stopped by our old house, and low and behold the rock that our Dad painted with our initials 30 years ago is still there! The gnomes were excited to check it out.

 We also got to see the amazing walnut forest that our neighbor planted for the future in his retirement - incredible how a forest can grow in 30 years!!! And though we didn't stop, we drove past good old Bonnie Doons Ice Cream!
   

We also detoured to Niagara Falls on the drive home!

After Chicago it was off to Brooklyn NY for the Renegade Craft Fair. 
It was a great weekend accompanied by a bunch of visitors and some great holiday shopping for us all! 
Some of our shop customers even stopped by to see us :)
   

We rang in the new year with another trip to NYC for another Vogue Knitting Live!  Vogue New York was a first for us - we were asked to build an art piece for the artists gallery at the event. We created a 4'x4' chess set - Vikings vs. gnomes. It was so well received and was so much fun to create! Check the next blog post for details and more pictures. 

Here is the set mid game:   

With its great success in New York, the Chess set was invited to travel to Vogue Knitting in Seattle! this was a first trip to the west coast for going gnome. We added a few days to the trip to do some exploring on the Olympic peninsula which was breathtaking!

Now we are in high gear getting ready for our spring shows and our next trip to Maryland - This is a great one for us as we get to see so much family while we are there.
 
We will miss seeing our cousin Jay, as he has set off on his own gnome accompanied journey to thru hike the Appalachian trail from Georgia to Maine! His backpacking gnome friend Winthrop is keeping him company on this amazing 6 month hike.
   
They have already covered over 200 miles and are hiking strong!
Check out Jay's travel blog and witness his amazing woodland travels!
We are so lucky that our gnomes take us to so many wonderful places and allow us to meet so many amazing people.

So now we want to know - where do your gnomes travel???

New Gnome Photos September 20, 2013 12:46

With all the rain we've had mushrooms were springing up all over the place! what better inspiration for a gnome photo shoot could there be! Here's a few of the shots we got.  We are felting away getting ready for the busy busy show season which begins in (gulp) 2 weeks.  The ever present million dollar question remains - can we make enough stuff? Better get back to the felting, more to come.........

30 Gnomes in 30 Days January 10, 2013 17:16 2 Comments

2012, June??? June 12, 2012 12:59

Greetings from Going Gnome!  This blog entry has been waiting to be written since January, I am amazed and somewhat horrified to see it is now June!  I had great intentions for posting my thoughts and reflections on 2011 and all that happened for Going Gnome.  Well, now that just seems like old news.....seeing as we're already in full swing with 2012 felting and show season. 

First off how about a shout out to the beloved sheep that provide us with such an amazing substance to work with!! WHoop WHoop! Here are a few I pass everyday when I drive my kids to school, lambing season on a sheep farm is a wonder to behold, with new tiny babies arriving every day:

For my second shout out I'd like to thank my Aunt, Uncle and cousins for hosting us for the weekend of the PA Fairie Festival at Spoutwood Farm!  It was at this event that we debuted Going Gnome's latest new creations: DRAGONS! In a burst of creative inspiration 4 dragons were born and travelled to the Fair and were loved by many:
              
Give me a " Huzzah!" for 30 pounds of wool not blowing off the top of the car on the return trip from PA.

And my third and final shout out is to my sister and partner in gnome crime - Jennifer!  I can't really begin to describe how amazing it is to have your work (and i use this term loosley since having as much fun as we do it can hardly be called work) be so fullfilling.  We really have more fun than should be allowed, she keeps me inspired, and Going Gnome wouldn't be here without her. 
Next stop: the Stockbridge Arts Festival.....Keep an eye out for more new creations, Melissa