Welcome...

Fiber portrait...

Still working on this fabric and embroidered portrait for my friend, Deb. It will have a fabric "frame" sewn around the edges and maybe milagros or other little images added, plus more embroidery. She might be holding her i-pod as well....

work in progress...fiber portrait

altered shoes....

I couldn't resist messing around with these sandels. They had been lingering around in the back of my closet and I wasn't wearing them because they had a faded baby blue color that was very ho-hum. So I got out my rubber stamps, Staz-on stamp pad and some Createx permanent liquid fiber dyes (violet and blue) and went to work on them. At least now I will wear them and have fun doing so!

altered Birkenstocks...

Goodies from Gail...

Mail box surprise..

My beach partner, Justin (age 12) and I had to head to the beach today to cool off. Spent the whole day in and out of the ocean and picked up our mail from the row of boxes in our little mountain top community. There inside was a wonderfully decorated package for ME! A beautiful skein of raspberry and pink handspun wool plus 2 bonus surprises! Some gorgeous blue Merino roving for me to spin or felt with and a cool chocolate chip cookie recipe card....could be an ATC...I ordered the wool on Gail Cowan's Etsy site and she has a Blog...but I don't know how to do the "link" thing yet...
Thanks, Gail..love it!

Off to Los Angeles

I just finished this hooked chair pad for one of my mother's friends who will be 91 in Sept. We are going to LA to visit with her, see the Comtemporary Art Quilts at the Folk Tree Collection in Pasadena and then see my husband's mother in Glendale.
Should be a hot, busy day but we are on our way....

rug hooked chair pad

ATc time...

I got busy yesterday and made about 20 ATC's for our monthly trade/swap today. Here are a few that turned out OK.

some new ATC's ...

Cupcake!

something old, something sorta new...

since I am working on some new things but haven't completed anything yet, here are some "old" things...a felt purse a couple of years old that I had fun embroidering and a cupcake that I embroidered in June of this year.

felt purse back....

Felt purse front...

Velvety bird purse....

I am continuing to work on my "Teehsa" velvety bird patch purse that I started before AFF. I plan to line it with some cool fabric and put more little fabric patches on it. Having a little trouble with puckering after sewing the "bird patches" on first...should have embroidered first and sewn on later....but I tend to do things sort of backwards...oh well, learn as you go...
I have two commissioned works to do as well...a fun fabric portrait of an art teacher's daughter and a hooked seat pad for a 90 year old art friend of my mother's.
And of course after AFF my head is swimming with ideas of other things I want to do!
Speaking of swimming, my son Justin and I are off to the beach to go boogie boarding and cool off. The only down side is walking to the water in my black tank suit! When I get into the water I feel like I am about 10 years old again and embarass my son by making squeals of joy when I catch a wave.

Lauren's book and art card

Cool stores in Berkeley..

On our way back from AFF we made several stops for cool stores we had heard about or been to before and needed to check out once again. While on our way to "Tail of the Yak" we found a good fabric store on Shattuck Ave. called Stone Mountain Fabrics. They have lots of classes and rooms of fabric. They had some beautiful velvets and silks too. On the same street there is a large Art Supply store with just about everything you might need. We bought a few things and headed up to the "Tail"..Here we did more damage...this is an exquisite little store. You have to ring a bell to get inside. Great cards and displays and I bought a book with the art of one of the owners, Lauren McIntosh. Love her art. She has a show in Palo Alto Aug. 1-Sept.30 at Stellar Somerset Gallery and I am hoping to get up to the Bay area to see it.

Tale of the Yak purchases

Wonderful trades..

I received some wonderful little trades at ArtFiberFest. Two pincushions, one handmade by Edina..blue and white polka dots..so cool..and one by Lelainia..the cute folk art basket! One can't have too many pincushions...I love them so much. Plus beads, buttons, luggage tag and more..thanks everyone!

some fun little trades...

More photos from ArtFiberFest.....

Marcia's stuffed bird

Beth's piece

Tracie's piece

Darlene stitches...

Sassy art goddess...Carol

Valerie

Robin

Marilyn

Tracie

Elise

Annie..the cool bead maker

Sheryl

Suanne's hooked face...

Kimi and mermaid

Tiphoni creates..

Part two ArtFiberFest journal...

So what can I say...mostly a great sense of gratitude to Teesha and Tracy for creating this event for us all to participate in and the loving energy that pervaded the whole gathering-- a softness that was unique...surrounding us all..the incredible talent in everyone attending and teaching....and for me, a new sense of self- I feel like a different person. I have fulfilled a dream and I am ready for more.
Thank you to Syd for her friendship and helping me to set up my classes and leading the way and Pam for keeping us up laughing til 2am (sorry, sassyartgoddess)
...Gail for your sweet smile and loving energy...Lelainia for teaching me to punch needle embroider...Beth for museum tips and map...Debbie who bought "cozy nest"..

After a good bye hug with Teesha we are on our way home.....visit with my brother, Larry and wife Paulette, in Portland who are off to Guatemala and Japan soon...
fun stop in Dunsmuir at the Brown Trout, more shopping in Ashland...fabric and Keen shoes....long drive home...presents for the boys, happy hugs...back to normal...almost...something has changed inside...my heart is full...a healing has taken place, hard to describe but there is a little suitcase full of wonderful ArtfiberFest memories residing in my heart still to be unpacked...

Syd at Maxine's in Seattle

Patti, Susan and Sheryl

Lelainia

Ty and Marcia

Edina

ArtfiberFest and beyond.....

This is sort of a little travel log...a rambling journal of my ArtfiberFest adventure...
Syd and I leave early Monday, drive all day, pass mystical, majestic, Mt. Shasta and make it to Ashland....window shop...find fiber store..looks good. Morning Glory for breakfast..yummy! Then to town for a look around...bought roving to felt with and irresistable yarn from Japan...great store.."The Websters"..

On we go, forests, farms, lots of green and flowing rivers...books on tape, sharing family stories..short stop in Portland at "Ella Posie"..cute little shop with fun things..
finally arrive in Seattle just in time for a "Snappy dragon" dinner at 9:15pm..we made it!

Wednesday. Cloud City Cafe for mocha and quiche and then to "Maxine's"..a wonderland of a store with flowers, real birds chirping, cards and more...

time to head to Issaquah! We take the long way through Renton but arrive...greeted by the lovely smiles of Gail C. and friends...entering, fabric art pieces are being shared. Check in with Teesha and Tracy and Keith, our incredible and accessible hosts.
Ooh..a new tote bag and goodies to explore...find my room..feel like a college girl..happily enveloped between Pam G. and Patti E. and showers close by.
Meet e-friend and expert blogger, Lelainia and friends, Janice and Deb from Canada.
And there's Pam Garrison, our ever smiling, exhuberant, fun and funny companion.
She has helped me to get here to teach. she doesn't remember telling me last summer at Teehsa's Art journal class at the ArtBar, that teaching at AFF "was empowering!"
Teesha told me, "you should teach!"....so here I am...for me this is a dream come true....to be teaching what I love..to be with others who love to learn and share and take risks...here we all are together...I couldn't have asked for better students...

Smiling faces, supportive energy..love..acceptance..thank you to all for making this such a great class: Patti E., Edina, Sheryl, Elise, Annie, Patty, Beth, Robin, Tracie, Suanne, Marcia and Ty, Lelainia, and Susan--all made such wonderful and creative hooked pieces.

Painting with Fiber ...and off we go: another great group of smiling faces...Gail, Kimi, Darlene, Edina, Carol, Chris, Marilyn, Valerie, Deb, Lori, Paula, Sheryl, Tiphoni, and friend Susan B. ...
a short demo. and off they go creating the most amazing little works of fiber art. I love all the different designs and colors that they come up with. Some even managed to get to part two- the 3" square- more amazing little artworks. Laughter, stories, music and lots of sewing-loved every minute. Got photos of most but not all...happy faces!

On to Vendor Night!...set up, a quick shower and back to my table at 7pm to be greeted by folks actually waiting to hand me $$.I have done art shows for over 20 years and this was my best show ever! Thank you so much to all who took home a pin, bird, gnome, necklace, heart, doll or embroidery. It was so fun to sell to fellow fiber artists. A special thanks to Kimi and Cindy P. who bought my 2 "big" pieces.
I got to shop and trade a little with Traci, Denise, Darlene and Tiphoni-I love my handmade treasures! Whew! a little ice cream to celebrate and bed.

Next day a lovely small class with generous Jana Newton who helped us to create a "Day Book Duvet" with great fabrics and vintage laces...a nice way to end the week.
Show and tell was a visual delight- so many wonderful creations, paper, fabric, books, dolls, tassels, houses, banners, and Marcia's completed hooked Bird! (Did you know that she raised triplets!) Fun having her and Ty in my class..what a cool and creative couple!

coming soon...ArtfiberFest musings...

colorful hooked flowers for ArtFiberFest...

Love bird and more .....

a few more things....

I finished up a few more things that I made for ArtFiberFest. And the crown on Penny's head in the following photos was a fun group project put together by Cindy Oberholtzer. We each made a section, embellishing however we wanted and she put it all together. Birthday girls get to wear it at their party. At our gatherings we usually have a group project where one person will teach us something new or we have a challenge to bring to the mext meeting. Our newest project will be to make something out of tin using ideas from Linda and Opie's Metal Craft Workshop book.
Early Monday morning I will be driving up to Issaquah, WA. with Syd McCutcheon for AFF...so may not be posting for about a week or so... Syd will be selling her wonderful creations at Vendor night...She is the one on the right in the following photo...she taught at Artfest in April..

The Art Girls Gather.....

A visit to Penny's

Penny's Rug

Penny's Living Room...

have you ever seen a toilet collection?

I love this angel

Queen Penny!

Penny has a birthday party!

Out artfest group, sometimes called the Call Girls, loves to celebrate birthdays. Today we gathered at Penny and Wayne McCall's incredible home for a birthday lunch and to exchange our self-portrait pages to be made into a book by Barbara, our felting expert. Penny served us a fabulous lunch and delicious birthday cake. You would not believe the wonderful art collections in their home. I always find new things to delight my senses, even though Penny assures me that it was there the last time I visited. Penny is a rug hooker, too, and has her colorful rugs sprinkled throughout the house. My favorite is the "TV Dinner" complete with metallic fabric TV tray. I will post some photos of this amazing visual paradise....you will not believe the collections that they have put together! Enjoy!

Justin graduates

My 12 year old son, Justin graduated from 6th grade last night. They had a nice ceremony at his school with each student sharing a personal memory. Jason, 16, came along to try and distract him and make him laugh. There was lots of music and a great slide show of their trip to Catalina Island last fall. Then out to Justin's favorite pizza place to celebrate.

6th grade graduation....

a little woven nest with felted eggs....

today is necklace day....

Seems like today is the day to work on my felt bead necklaces. I am set up on the dining room table (as usual) and since it is a foggy day, I lit some Votivo candles and made some tea and am putting these funky necklaces together. One week until we take off for Art Fiber Fest so I have to get it all together now. I have the cat and a bird for company and music ...boys won't be home 'til 4 pm....

felt and fabric necklaces...

mermaid

The kids did chalk art at their school this week and I spotted this wonderful little mermaid and had to take a picture of her.

chalk art mermaid

Peruvian baskets...

Every Saturday I drive along the ocean for about 45 minutes to my husband's hardware and plumbing store where I work at the register. In the back of the warehouse are several small businesses that share the same parking lot with us. One of these was a wholesale importer of Peruvian baskets and ceramics. They would have a sale about every 6 months and I would always go and look and buy something. So, yesterday as I drive up they have their sale sign up and everything must go! I think the Fiber Goddess was smiling on me as I gathered several armloads of "stuff".. thinking "birthday presents" for all my friends! I am sorry to see them go (bankrupt) but grateful for all the goodies. There are actually more things in my art studio, like the 3 reverse painted mirrors with little flowers on them and woven vases. The owners said if I didn't take the stuff it would end up in the dumpster!Couldn't let that happen! So anyway that was a fun surprise.

New fiber art project started today....a velvety purse with bird patches...hope it turns out the way I imagine...will see..and if it looks any good, I will post a photo.

Spiral girl...

i must be a spiral girl...I love using them in my art. The spiral of life..I love how it shows up in nature...the swirling galaxies...whirlpools of water...it is a fun thing to draw and paint. This piece is the back of my hooked journal cover, which I seldom use but enjoy looking at.
To get back to the felted beads...I found the glue bath technique in a book I have called "Feltmaking" by Chad Alice Hagen. She has good directions for bead making and in her directions for the spiraling bracelet she says,
" Make a mixture of equal parts of white craft glue and warm water. Place all the felt beads in the mixture and squeeze them several times, making sure they are saturated. Squeeze out most of the excess liquid. Roll the spiral beads back into their oval shapes. Let dry. The glue mixture hardens the beads and prevents them from getting too fuzzy."
Of course, I should have done the needle felting first...I don't think it will work once they've had the glue bath...oh well, I usually do things backwards anyway.
When making into jewelry, just poke an embroidery needle through the bead and then string...it goes through pretty easily.

making felt beads...

Having so much fun making felted wool beads! I am using Maren's hand dyed Merino wool roving for the beads and then sewing little glass beads onto the felt beads after a glue-water bath to keep them from getting too fuzzy. Plan to make some necklaces with them when I got some more made. May try and do some needle felting on the beads, too for more decoration. Stay tuned!