Little houses, a mystery, and fiber jewelry

I 've been working on these little house ornaments for MUSE in St. Helena, CA and also will send a dozen to Terrell Powell in Austin, Texas for a Christmas show there. Terrell does the most wonderful folk art paintings and metal work and has a two week show and needed some little stuff to go along with his paintings. So I will be sending him some pins, ornaments and cupcakes soon. (Terrell is on Facebook)
The little house are made from this wonderful old log cabin quilt top scrap. I think Syd gave this to me a few years ago and I've been using a little bit each year to make ornaments. I have a hard time cutting into it, but it came already cut into and it never was made into a quilt...so I feel like I am at least giving it some new life and appreciation. I love looking at the little stitches and basting on both the front and back and wondering who made them. There are a funny mix of fabrics on this piece. Wool, cotton, some strange synthetic looking pieces all mixed together.

And here is the mystery part...and I am hoping that some of you quilters may know the answer-
on the back side, in the middle of each square, there is a little hole or snip! Have you ever seen this? Is it for good luck or to let the "spirit" out? Below, in the photo you can see the little snip in the center of every square.... I didn't notice this until I was making the houses and saw the holes in the center of some of the pieces....I wonder if this is a tradition for log cabin quilts or just something the quiltmaker came up with....thanks in advance for any info. you may have.

Love how the stitches show up on the dark fabric...

Above are three house from last year....still need to add the hanger part on top.
Three little flying heart pins with french knots for decoration....
I made these fiber beads a couple of nights ago. The Japanese fabric was part of a kit for making a pin cushion that I found at the thrift store...I made beads instead....and then put them together to make a necklace....
The beads are sewn onto a crocheted necklace made from that very cool Noro yarn that I love.

Gifts in the mail and a Squirrel...

I just love these wonderful fabric post cards that Kristin La Flamme sent me. We did a little exchange and I received these last week along with some fun fabric and other goodies. She makes the most beautiful quilts and her fabric mushrooms are totally wild and creative and have inspired me to add more "stuff" to mine. Visit her website and flickr to see more:
www.kristinlaflamme.com

And here is my latest hooked squirrel holding an acorn.
This week I've been working on fiber jewelry, wool cupcakes, and more fabric ornaments for 2 Holiday orders and hope to get something sent in to Somerset for the new "String" issue!

Busy week

Somehow managed to get some things done this week....we have had on and off construction work on our house and foundation since July. Today most of the foundation got poured and that's a big step. These rolled up felted woolies will become cupcakes soon.
And here's a new crow that I hooked up last night. Below are some of the fun items that I traded for at the Queen of Arts show...
woven paper collage cards...
Angela Lang's fun felted ornaments. She had beautiful nuno felted scarves too.
Sukey Hughes collage card and the following 2 blockprints will be up on my walls soon.


Oh...and look for these two new Yarn Tags...Goleta Beach and somewhere on Patterson...parking lot...busy place....

Queen of Arts Show and Sale in Solvang

Here's my spot at the show. We had a great turnout and three days of sales and visiting with friends. Syd started this show 13 years ago at her home in Ballard and its grown to 36 artists showing their creations at the Elverhoy Museum indoors and out.
Dawn made these great planters out of recycled tires!
New art friend, Sukey Hughes and I traded every day. She had paintings, prints, puppets, cards and shrines. I now have some great presents for family and friends.
Cindy's wonderful glittery pins and angels and shrines delighted everyone.
Barbara's felt scarves are always a big hit.
Sue and Vicki has some fun new items this year, dolls, hooked hot pads, luggage tags and cards.
A smiling Penny made special gift tags from vintage art, fabric collages, and brought tin robots, postcards, and paintings.
Carol had her jewelry, book arts, paintings and more....
Most of our rug hooking group showed up to shop and visit. Half of our group was in the show so it was fun to have their support and company.
Kristen's little doggie came to visit at the end of the show and I got to hold him. We finally got a photo of his wonderful ears...Kristin had to say " Where's your treat?" to get him to look at the camera.
We had a great 3 days with perfect weather and great friends....and lots of sales....most of us are happy but tired today and look forward to next year.

Owl portraits, Yarn tag, wool.....

Stayed up late, which is normal for me, and got these 2 owls finished up for tomorrow's show and sale. Took an owl family portrait, too, while they are all together...some may fly off to new homes this weekend.

My latest "Yarn tag"...visible from Hollister Ave. near Von's....I used an afgan from the thrift store for this one. It is fun and colorful and easy to see while driving by.
A nice pile of wool goodness awaiting me for a cupcake order coming up soon.

Tiny sweaters, more owls, and books....

Four tiny felted sweater garlands that I just finished up for the show this weekend. One more on the way!
Hope to finish up these owls by Friday....I drew them a little too close together but I think I can cut them apart and sew them up if I am careful.
Am enjoying this book.... and the one below is about the Yarn Tagging that I mentioned before.

And just want to say that I hope to be putting some of those little hooked heart pins in my ETSY shop later this month and thanks for asking.

I really appreciate all your visits and comments, I read every one and sometimes have to think a bit if you ask me a question, so I'm not ignoring you, I just don't know the answer right away!

Getting ready...

Mushroom ornaments for the Queen of Arts show...I think I made 2 dozen so far...

some wooly felted hearts with buttons and stitching...
and a funny doll that just got her new hairdo last night....lots more to do before the show on Friday.....