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!