Crafting a home-based business

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This article was published 18/01/2016 (3608 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Chris Uhres-Todd bundles up to feed an alpaca and five sheep in a fenced area behind her home on a cold January morning.

It’s not a glamorous task, but it makes her happy.

“I like taking a break and getting outdoors,” she said.

Uhres-Todd, her husband François and three children age eight, five and 21 months, call their 10-acre property near the RM of Rosser’s southern boundary Sunnydrift Farm. Chris and François travelled many miles before buying their property and building their home seven years ago.

Chris grew up in Northern Ireland, and François is originally from the tiny country of Luxembourg. They met while attending university in England, then taught in Rwanda and Togo before moving to Winnipeg about 10 years ago.

Chris said she was familiar with Winnipeg and the surrounding area since she’d visited her parents Joan and Matthew Todd, who immigrated to the RM of Cartier in 1997. After meeting François, she brought him along for visits.

“We fell in love with Manitoba,” she said.

Her parents now live in Headingley  — close to the Uhres-Todd family’s home.

Chris said the experience of fostering a lamb last spring led to the family purchasing five more sheep last summer, and more recently, an alpaca from a nearby breeder. She is now using fleece shorn from the sheep for her felting.

Chris joined crafter Terena Hantleman to make and sell felted items at the Headingley Christmas craft sale last October and holiday craft sales in Elie, Starbuck and Selkirk.
Chris said they knew they were lucky to get a table at the Headingley sale as it’s very popular with local crafters who return each year.

Their best-sellers at the sales were figures resembling the popular Minions movie characters, and pairs of mittens suitable for Christmas tree decorations.

They also sell a kit containing coloured wool, two felting needles, a pad and instructions on how to create a felted landscape and small owl.

“We have lots of ideas,” Chris said.

She’s now experimenting with dying fleece using food colouring, and also plans to try natural colouring agents such as beet juice and turmeric.

“I want to be involved in the process from the beginning,” she said.

She’s also eagerly awaiting delivery of a drum carder to help speed up the process of carding her animals’ fleece.

Chris has taught yoga and children’s art classes and play time sessions through the Macdonald-Headingley Recreation District.

She and  Hantleman are now offering two needle felting classes through the MHRD on Mon., Feb. 22 and Mon., March 7 from 7 to 9 p.m. in Headingley’s Phoenix Community Centre (153 Seekings St.).

“We can play on each other’s strengths,” Chris said.

Hantleman has an education background and teaches landscape horticulture at Red River College.

Those attending the first class can expect to make a garland of felted shapes, such as hearts.

“They’ll learn the basic skills,” Chris said.

In the second class, students will learn how to create small felted creatures.

The women are selling their handcrafted items at www.etsy.com under Sunnydrift.

Information on the MHRD classes is available at www.mhrd.ca

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