About Us
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The Iowa Fiber and Arts Alliance, LC has
a mission and guiding principle to provide high quality craft
and artisan experiences to people of all ages, for the purpose of promoting
life long personal enrichment. |
Diane
Fleshin has been involved in the fiber arts & crafts since her early
farm days in Iowa. Some of her earliest memories are of the area rug she
wove for her mother from recycled materials. During her college days in
Iowa and California, she dabbled with beading, quilting & needlework.
Serving in the Army Nurse Corps for 20 years, Diane was active in guilds
across the country and was enriched by the diverse artisans she met. Even
with the excitement of living in San Francisco, Washington D.C., San Antonio
and many small towns in between she always kept her dream alive of having
a farm and knitting sweaters with the wool from her own sheep!
Now, with her husband and son, she is back on the farm in the beautiful
Cedar Valley area of Iowa. The sheep, angora goats & llama along with
the mules and donkeys provide endless adventures. Visit during the summer
and you may be treated with berries and produce from the 3 acre organic
garden or invited to help weed! Diane’s days are filled with fiber
dyeing, felting, spinning, weaving & teaching along with endless hours
of fun and frolic (and weeding) on the farm.
Sue Kann became intrigued by the fiber arts the first time she combed wool
at the 4H Club in 5th grade. Coming from a sewing, quilting and needlework
heritage, her interest in creating fabric via knitting had to wait until
a friend taught her to knit while traveling on a train in Wales. The
mission of that trip quickly turned from sight seeing to fiber acquisition
and Sue’s fascination with all things fiber was reborn.
Being involved in a Waldolf style school with her children required much
fiber art work for Sue. She was very happy to fulfill her school volunteer
hours knitting farm animals, dyeing yarn, felt and silks and other indulgences,
er, I mean, work.
Sue has taught knitting at schools and summer camps for many years.
She takes great delight in seeing kids, both girls and boys, become interested
in and skilled at this age old craft. An observer might say that
Sue is having as much fun as the kids! Sue, her husband and three daughters,
along with a mountain of yarn live in Iowa City, Iowa. |
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