Off to Artfest!

Leaving early Sunday morning on our road trip up to Port Townsend, Washington for our annual pilgrimage to the wonderful gathering of creative souls known as Artfest. Got the Landrover packed and ready to go. Hoping to stop in Berkeley for lunch and a peek at the "Castle in the Air" and a few other favorite places and then onward on our journey.
Back in about a week. Will try and get some photos of the workshops I'm taking and the one I am teaching on Saturday- "Charming Fiber Wearables"- can't wait to see what everyone makes!
Have a great week and keep making stuff!
Some little felt stitched heart necklaces I made for vendor night.
Fabric cuffs ...
two linen flower pins and a vintage fabric cuff...
Fresh mushrooms for Spring...
a funny fabric bird....
and the two kilim sisters....

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Wishing you all a Happy St. Patrick's Day.....these two little chocolate guys are for my boys since they are one half Irish. They better hurry home after school or these just might disappear......

Made these little fabric rings as ideas for my workshop coming up next week.

Got a bit more work done on the felt cuffs last night....getting interesting.

A group of linen creatures got their eyes sewn in last night. Some need mouths now and the birds need some wings, too.

More stitching...

For some reason I like the simplicity of this little piece....it was going to be a little pin but I think I will leave it as is for now.
For Artfest we like to make a little present for our house mates. I thought a little pin might be be a fun little gift for my art pals. Everything seems to have a Spring feel to it right now! Must be the beautiful weather we are having this week!
Bird pins....
and a rug hooked bird that I finally got some legs sewn on to.
Two friends sitting in the garden.....
more friends added to the group. All made from recycled fabric from Art From Scrap and my thrift store adventures.
Three more tiny linen rabbits with cotton ears.
Tags for my Artfest workshop ....still working on these. I hand carved the stamp a few years ago and decided to use it again.
I will be busy this week finishing up things I've started for Artfest vendor night. Hope to get some fiber jewelry done in time. We leave next Sunday on our road trip with stops in No. Calif, Ashland, Portland, and Seattle.
Artfest is always a great experience. So fun to see old friends and meet new ones. Learn some new art techniques and teach a few, too. Being surrounded by so many artists who love creating as much as you do is a great joy and life changing experience. Highly recommended to all! Hope to see some of you there!

Playing with fiber

Had fun the other day playing with fabric and making lots of layers to sew together. These will be pins soon.
A funky little felt ladybug pin.
Using some Japanese fabric from one of my trips I made these pins as samples for class.
Two fabric bracelets using a covered bangle...fun and easy to do.
Stitched up some interesting fabric for some more cuffs.
The 12 owls now have wings, eyes, beaks and feathers sewn on. Now to finish up the bunnies!

Lots of sewing...

Cuffs up close.....
I've been busy preparing for Artfest. Making lots of things to sell at vendor night like these cuffs and owls and rabbits. Also I have kits to prepare for my students that include some samples of things we will be making and materials for fiber charms and necklaces, bracelets and rings.

Saturday Colleen, Sukey and I took a little art field trip to Cambria for the 10th anniversary of "Birds of a Feather" and see if we could purchase any of Julie Whitmore's wonderful pottery.
Alas, every piece was snatched up before we got there! We still had fun, bought a few things and had a great lunch at Blue Indigo and stopped in at the Cotton Ball in Morro Bay.

Sunday I took myself( boys weren't interested) to see "Alice in Wonderland" and loved it! Highly recommended if you like Tim Burton's work. Great mushrooms at the beginning of the film...so creative!
A little bunch of bunnies awaiting noses, mouths and a pom pom tail....
And a second batch of cashmere rabbits-stuffed and ready for faces.

Little owls

A basket of little felted wool owls that I am working on. Still need to sew the eyes, beaks and some wings on. I received a whole box of felted wool sweater squares that my friend Annie was using to make quilts out of. I thought I could just "squeak" a little owl out of the small size and it worked. I also have some little bunny rabbits made out of some of the squares. I am thinking of making a group of "cashmere" bunnies, too...hopefully in time for Easter baskets.

Little hooked pins

Just for fun I hooked up a few circle pins. May take these to Artfest with me.
And I got the hooked hearts finished up and they will go off to "Muse" soon.
Just fooling around with some of the linen in my fabric stash and came up with these fiber necklace charms. I think I will still do a little more detail work on them, maybe add a button or bead somewhere....but fun and quick to do.