pandemic Archives - Solamente

Creatively speaking, this has been a very different year. Many of my creative friends have shared that the sense of concern and isolation has slowed their creative energy.

As much as I wanted to get to my own bench and work with wire, most of my creative energy kept going to my new love: quilting. I decided not to fight it. This year, even with everything going on, I started four quilts and finished two.

I’d love to celebrate with you in photos the various colorful projects I did do, rather than dwell on the untouched wire projects. Enjoy!

The Colorwash Quilt

This quilt style, Colorwash by Wanda Hanson, was a fun color challenge for me on so many levels — and I loved it. The technique is wild! First you lay out the squares to create a gradient like you see on the design board above. It requires using muddy colors I don’t usually like, but I love the overall effect of the colors washing together.

Once I liked the arrangement (you spend a lot of time tweaking, moving the squares until it is just right), the next step was to stack the colors in order and clip them together. The strategy is to sew the color squares together by rows with links of thread to connect them; the ultimate in chained piecing. This is as far as I’ve taken the project. Since the designer’s advice was to do it in one sitting, I am patiently waiting for a free afternoon.

The Christmas Quilt

I made this lap quilt for myself to feel more festive around my favorite time of year. Bonus? It has holiday puns like “fleece Navidad” and “jingle owl the way” because laughter is the best medicine. With the border added, this is nearly done — it just needs binding!

Quilt with dark green christmas trees, red presents with bows, and cute animals wearing santa hats

Susan’s Quilt

Now that this quilt is in her hands, I can finally share photos without spoiling the surprise! This quilt uses printed fabric featuring birds’ nests, eggs, and butterflies. In the middle are panels of complimentary-color, freeform “Melanie style” blocks.

A scrappy quilt

This one is still in the works; it’s made from pieces and scraps from another project that had colors I love. My creative question was: How tiny can you go before a piece of fabric becomes unusable? These triangle squares and piano key blocks are making me stretch my imagination!

Watercolor Stichin’ Therapy Quilt

This is my most recent project and might really be my favorite. Like the Colorwash quilt, the blocks feature color gradients. The Watercolor designs can be found in the artist’s generous tutorials on her inspiring blog, stitchintherapy.blogspot.com. The difference is that for this design I can choose colors I love (no need for the muddy ones), and these botanical prints are gorgeous.

There’s a system to making the blocks more efficiently too which involves sewing long, narrow strips together and then cutting them into sections.

Watercolor Quilt with floral botanical prints

There’s a bit of an art to deciding where to place the fabric in order to get that blended-together look. It’s especially challenging because a single print can contain light and dark elements. To test it, I used the black-and-white filter on my camera to see the gradient.

The creative bonus of 2020

With no live shows for artists or the bead community this year, I found myself connecting more with people online in a new way. It has been delightful to get to know some of the bead makers I’ve collected and highlight their online efforts and shows as well. Steph and Kerri’s online show inspired me. I got to chatting with Tammy Mercier — whose animal beads I love — and made a fun connection.

At shows, the focus is usually about seeing it all. This year, I’ve noticed that I’ve felt more in touch than I would be at a show — messaging back and forth with people, watching their work develop over the course of the year. Our common interests around art brings us together in this year of connecting electronically.

A surprisingly creative year

Between quilting and encouraging my creative friends, that’s where my energy has been, so that is where I went. It has been the kind of year where it’s better not to force things and instead follow the creative energy where it leads.

It’s not where I expected to go, but I’m really grateful this year has been so rich with connections, blessings, and color. I’m wishing you a serene holiday season and a bright new year!

As an artist, I know the value of community, so I’ve been using my blog this year to highlight local art and creative businesses in the Fresno and Sanger area. In March, I featured Kathleen Mattox, owner of art gallery, Mixed Messages Art. This month, I’m want to introduce you to an innovative local company and its owner, Kalliope Sabrina Famellos.

What is Anzula?

Located in downtown Fresno, California, Anzula produces hand-dyed luxury fibers from ethical sources. Anzula offers 25 different types of yarn—from merino and cashmere to silk and linen—in 140 colorways, shipping to local yarn shops around the US and the world.

Who is Kalliope?

Anzula owner, Kalliope Sabrina Famellos, was first introduced to the world of fiber as a six year old, learning to crochet with her mother’s help.

Even while working and going to college full-time, Kalliope brought along projects to keep her hands busy. Any fiber fan knows that when you work on yarn projects in public, it starts conversations. To Kallope’s surprise, people started offering to pay her for what was on her needles.

Soon, Kalliope was doing booths in Bay Area farmers’ and crafters’ markets. When she learned to spin fiber at age 21, she added skeins of hand-spun yarn to her offerings. Then she learned to dye the fiber.

Thriving in hard times

The 2008 economic crisis brought an unexpected opportunity. While she lost her full-time job, she decided to try grow this creative “side hustle,” bringing her fiber to national trade shows and yarn markets across the country—and it worked. Orders took off. Compared to many, the recession was a time of opportunity for Kalliope. She had many friends who were out of work who were willing to step in to help with this sudden influx of orders.

In the early years, Kalliope ran Anzula out of her home, which slowly got taken over by yarn—hanging to dry in the bathroom and boxes everywhere tripping her up.

Eventually, she said, “I couldn’t take it anymore and started looking for a space.” In its current 4,500 square foot location, Anzula employs four people full time.

How Anzula creates ethical, luxury yarn

According to Kalliope, “I wanted to create colors that could be a beautiful canvas for lace and cable stitches to shine.” This is hard to find in a hand-dyed yarn which is often dyed in small batches creating great variation between dye lots. “And so I created a semi solid palette with 45 colors. We have a specific method to keep the colorways consistent. We work very hard at it.”

When it comes to the fiber itself, “I’m looking at certain qualities,” Kalliope explained. “The less texture from twist you feel, the softer it seems. But if it’s not spun tightly, it’s going to fuzz out, making the garment look old and sad just moments after you put it on.”

Anzula produces multi-ply yarns (most are three- or four-ply). “I want people to be able to create heirloom pieces with our yarns. I realize I’ve turned into a yarn snob,” she laughed.

Their impact on the community and its health matters a lot to Kalliope. At the beginning, after reviewing the types of dyes available, she chose citric acid or vinegar-based dyes. “We take the environment seriously. I don’t want to expose my employees or the planet to hazards.”

The sources of Anzula’s fibers reflect that commitment as well. Their merino wool comes from non-mulesed sheep in New Zealand (a painful practice banned in some countries). “We work with our mills to make the most ecological and ethical choices for silks and cashmere. We don’t outsource labor and strive to pay our workers a living wage.”

When I asked if Kalliope has a favorite colorway, she laughed. “That’s like picking your favorite child!” Among her favorites are jasmine, aqua, marigold, and cedar.

“Stitch in Place”

Although Anzula sells their yarn wholesale, Kalliope decided to do a program called Stitch in Place during the pandemic. They are temporarily selling direct to customers—giving 25% of the sale to the customer’s local yarn shop (which may be closed due to state orders) and 25% to non-profits of sales of their For Better or Worsted line.

“People’s budgets are obliterated,” Kalliope said. “So we are also offering a single skein to people for just the cost of shipping.” This project she calls #StitchInPlace has been a huge success, with free skeins going as far as New Zealand and Australia.

The story gets better. “People reached out to me asking how they could cover the costs of skeins we were giving away.”

In these challenging times, it’s so heartening to see this local business thrive, pay it forward, and get paid back again by caring people. As Kalliope put it, “It’s a win win win.”

See more Anzula

See all the gorgeous colors of Anzula on their website, and follow them on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest.

2020: A (Surprisingly) Creative Year