Judith Finkelstein's life with fibers, as seen through the eyes of her first-born son, Jordan (please keep in mind that this is just a funny story for enjoyment and is highly embellished.)

Born in Bristol, Ct., Judith sheered her first sheep at the age of three at Schur Farms, which eventually evolved into what is now the University of Connecticut School of Agriculture and the Connecticut Public Department of Health Services Water Control Quality Testing Office. Her first hand knitted sweater was complete by the age of 6. At 10 she was producing complex crochet and needlework items, collecting Mickey Mantle memorabilia and obsessing over the New York Yankess and attending that school just a short distance from Grandma's House, where she had to walk through wind, snow, sub-zero temperatures and boiling summer school temperatures to....graduate. Her senior class project in home economics class involved making hand made mittens for the entire graduating class - of six. If grandma would not have thrown out all the Mickey Mantle and Yankees baseball cards and memorabilia that belonged to Judith, the entire family could have retired to an island resort lifestyle in Southampton, NY, many years ago.

The children were severely traumatized and inconvenienced by Judith's early fiber pursuits and experimentations. As children we were forced to shop for antiques at every store with a sign reading "Antiques for Sale" outside the shop, looking for carting tools, wool, spinning wheels - ANYTHING - and other relics from prehistoric times that eventually filled living rooms and basements of our homes. We all suffered from early whiplash as she braked hard and pulled over to these places. Her favorite hangout in Tenafly, New Jersey was called "The Needlepoint House" or something like that. Yeah, cool.

Not only were vast amounts of funds deferred from our upbringing with this thing she called "antiquing", but our friends in our teenage years were scared of some of the objects she collected, some resembling yard arms and weapons from the Civil War Period. All that was missing were sheep running around the house, although Judith did develop a fetish for collecting glass chickens. However, I do have fond memories of going apple picking in conjunction with some of the thrilling antique shopping trips through the New Jersey and New York State countryside, and every time I bite into a McIntosh I think of and love my mother very much.

Subsequently, the artesan was dragged with her four offspring to, of all places, Galveston, Texas (infamously known for abstract artists). Even though she was very talented and could make clothes and the like, it seemed the children all wore hand me downs or shopped at the Galvez Mall. I personally hardly remember wearing ANYTHING she made for me at all. But I guess I was just young and stupid and didn't know the difference. Plus, she wasn't into felt back then. Despite all this, the children always really liked making those wall hangings that appeared in the family's beloved summer home in Southampton, NY, and this made them love their mother very much. Plus, she stopped going into all those antique stores by this time. She had no where else to put anymore of the stuff, thank god.

Her thesis project while attending Galveston College involved making multiple presentations entitled "Dickens Evening on the Strand with Judith Finkelstein" where chestnuts roasted on open fires on top of 50 gallon drums in the middle of the street and the children froze their asses off outside in the middle of December trying to sell her baked goods and other needlepoint stuff piece by piece in near darkness just to put food on the table. Now in their teens, the children feared they would never escape her lifestyle of spinning wheels and carting wool in darkness and freezing cold, and ran like slaves out of Texas, attending and graduating from colleges such as Ithaca College, George Washington University, Northern Arizona University, San Diego State University, Penn State University and the University of California, San Diego.

Suffering from empty nest syndrome during this time, Judith combined her love of baking with a bit of the profits that now started to trickle in from her work and provided the children with money and baked goods via the mail. This strategy worked fantastically, and the children loved their mother very much. Especially when she sent the Sturbridge Village recipie Lumberjack Cookies.

Eventually opening Two Friends Gallery as a result of her Success on the Strand but unfortunately forced to abandon that successful venture because of an unanticipated relocation assignment AGAIN - as a housewife to State College, PA., she now owns Winterdown Fiber Studios, located in the middle of the woods in the middle of no where, but some where near the Amish Countryside.

With this solitude (read: nothing else better to do) and her children mostly self sufficient and healthy (except for a few mental health disorders here and there), Judith seems as happy as ever and her children love her and her business very much. And yes, she even had live chickens and roosters in the backyard for a while until the "Storm of 94," when they were forced to use those as food when they were snowed in for three months. She has never owned any sheep, however, she resides with just a dog and a husband, or a husband and a dog, however you want to phrase it. But they all love each other very much, and the children love her too, especially her first born son, who loves to administrate and maintain her website and sew patches on to his Rush Jacket.

Thanks Mom.

Love,

Jordan