Families choose different ways to document their family vacations. Some collect brochures from all the sights they see along their way, putting them into family scrap books. Others take advantage of technology, putting together movies of their travels, or keeping travel blogs. This past week, we had a family stay in our Farmhouse Suite, who chose a very unique way to document their travels and record their memories. 
This family has traveled across the United States with their four children, making a trek through New England and down the east coast to Florida. When they arrived to our farm, they were 10 days in to their 4 week journey. Months of planning went into their trip, and they had hit the major points of interest along the way. When they contacted me several months ago to make their reservation, they inquired about doing a custom fiber class for their entire family. 
After breakfast, their first morning here, we headed out to the fiber studio in the barn. They had decided to make a needle felted mural, depicting their journey across the states. We first showed them the murals that our summer campers have made, so that they could see the many different textures and felting techniques. Then, they gathered around dad’s sketch book to decide upon their design. After a few minutes of planning, they all set to work.
Making people for their mural became a top priority, so we began with a lesson in how to make three dimensional figures. Each family member made a wool doll of themselves. Next, they began working on needle felting their back ground. Each child was given a small square to work on. Their job was to felt a mini mural of one of their favorite places along their vacation. The mom and dad felted a large map as the background, using yarn to mark their route. After several hours of working in the studio, and a break to make a trip to the Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream Factory, they had a wonderful mural to take home with them. We carefully rolled it up, and gave them a bag full of more wool, needle felting needles, and foam, so that they could continue adding features to their piece as they traveled. In the end, they will have a felted picture to remember their trip across the United States.
