Lovely Hearts...

These are the items that I made for the "Lovely Hearts " benefit at the Artstreams Gallery.
They still need to be juried and hopefully sent off before the deadline.
I finally got a new digital camera..a Sony Cybershot... .8.1 megapixals...a bit of an improvement over the old one.
I am finishing up a bunch of things...a hooked crow for a birthday present, Gail's houses, more workshop samples, a collage or two and I'm sure that there are other things lurking around the house that I need to work on.

Another oldie....

hooked a while back as well....under the influence of Karen Kahle, a wonderful rug hooker in Eugene Oregon. It is an incredibly beautiful day here...I think I may just have to go take a beach walk...I can see the sun sparkling on the ocean out my window and the Channel Islands in the distance.....15 to 20 minutes and I am there! Of course I can always do a few errands while I'm down the mountain.....there has been so much going on in my emotional life since the first of the year that I need a break! I have decided to make the Chinese New Year in Feb. my new beginning. I did manage to get my Art studio somewhat straightened out so that at least I can get to my painting table! For some reason, my studio becomes a "store room" for all the stuff that I collect and don't know where else to put it. Then it is too crowded to work in and I take over various parts of the house. The dining room table has a sewing machine as a permanent fixture and other fiber related things and about 5 pairs of scissors. Today I hope to get some felt work done...funky beads and other things....now for that walk....the sea is calling to me!

Little Kitty

This little kitty has a sort of primitive look to him.
I hooked this over a year ago, but until I get a new camera or find my old one I've had to resort to going into the "archives"...
I'm currently working on hearts for the Lovely Hearts Exhibit in New Hampshire, samples for a workshop I'm teaching, and a few orders that I need to attend to.
My son, Jason turns 17 on Sunday and he wants an Angel Food cake, so I'll be making his favorites ...plus he has his 2 best friends coming Sat. to spend the night. He requested his favorite peanut butter cookies for the guys to munch on. Luckily, I love to bake goodies for my boys, especially on these chilly days we are having.

Mr. Pelican....

I love pelicans! They are so fun to watch when they are flying over the water looking for fish...and then they dive straight down with a big Sploosh!!! and pop back up with fish in their pouches. I spotted this guy on one of my walks on the wharf...I think he is looking for handouts from the fisherman....
Still haven't found my camera!

Hooked art piece....

Here's a little piece that I hooked a while back....was thinking of making a little bag to put art or hooking supplies in, but it turned into a wall piece....

Funky beaded heart for Annie..

I made this stuffed heart for our Rug Hookers gift exchange in December. Annie had designed a rug with the "heart in hand" theme and likes bright colors, so I did the center piece with embroidered French knots and sewed it to the recycled red sweater heart. She has it hanging in her bedroom and sees it every morning and that made me happy! She gave me a bunch of antique fabrics to play with...I am using them in ATC's and banners and generally having fun with them.

I have to go back into my photo archives until I find that camera! Or buy a new one....I now realize how much I love using my digital camera and recording things I've made and seen and blogging about it all....

Here is what I have been staring at for the last 2 weeks! A lovely display of plumbing fixtures...but I am FREE...we get a new cashier on Monday so I will be back to my original Saturday shift ..and hopefully I can get back to making more ART. And somehow I lost my nice digital camera about a week ago....I keep thinking that I will find it soon and don't want to buy a new one unless I "really" lost it.

Today I will taking my son to the SantaBarbara Zoo for his science class study on BIRDS. Maybe we'll go out to lunch and he wants to rent "Winged Migration" for part of his science report. I want to see "Pan's Labyrinth" which is playing now...Teesha recommended it and it looks like it will be amazing...maybe tomorrow.

Lovely hearts!

If you get a chance, hop on over to this cool Blog and check out the Lovely Hearts section. This is art esprit... http://artesprit.blogspot.com. Susan has a wonderful Gallery on the East Coast and is doing a benefit for Breast Cancer and accepting all heart and valentine art to sell.I hope to make some hooked hearts and get them to her before the deadline...

Photo above is from our trip to Calistoga...a lovely carving on a headstone in the old graveyard...from the 1800's..it says "Remember Me"....

Yay, ART!

This came on something in the mail and I thought I'd post it just for fun. I spent the week working at our Plumbing-Hardware store while we wait for our new register person to start work in another week. Lots to do on my one "day off"...can't wait to get back to my regular schedule and have more time to "make stuff"!

Car trip embroideries.....

I usually take along a little art project on our car trips and I worked on these on the way back from San Francisco. I started the "art spirit" one so long ago that I've forgotten exactly what I was going to do with it. I think I wanted to put it in my blog banner...but it isn't quite the right size for that...maybe if I knew how to use Photoshop I could find a way! And the little bird pin was just for fun...

Gee's Bend Quilts in San Francisco

On our way to Calistoga I managed to get the family to take a detour to Golden Gate Park and the new DeYoung Museum to see the Gee's Bend Quilts. So glad we got to see them before they left on Dec. 31! Thanks, Debbie L. for reminding me to see them~really so wonderful in person. It was very crowded, too...vacation time and all and the fact that they were leaving soon...but I think even my husband and boys enjoyed them even though they make fun of my taking them off on artful side trips whenever possible. We also went up 9 stories in the new tower and got a scenic view of the bay area. In addition to the Quilts there is a textile room with special drawers filled with wonderful vintage textile samples including embroidery, weaving, applique, quilting, and dyed fabrics...I recommend a quick look in there too. The boys also enjoyed the exhibit of African Art while I went back and looked at the Quilts one more time...they really made your heart sing! I bought a few post cards of some of my favorites.

Got my Moo cards!!

Waiting for me in the mail when we got home from our vacation were my Moo business cards. I love the small size and they arrived very fast, especially since they came from England! I picked out about 10 different Flickr photos and they made 100 color cards with my info. on the back. At least now I have something to give out to folks at craft shows and they also will work as a price tag, if need be.
I still want to design my own business cards on Photoshop someday, but until then these are wonderful! Highly recommended! And only $20. + S&H...

A Wish for Peace for New Year's Day

When my son, Justin was in 4th grade we made this rug hooked wall hanging as an exchange in the Global Art for Peace project. Our piece was sent off to Canada and we received an art book of watercolors from them. These boys are all in 7th grade now and look very different!
I went in to the classroom for several weeks and worked with as many as 3 or 4 kids at a time. They were very proud of their work and this photo even got into our local newspaper.
Hanging from the bottom of the rug are little pockets that each student sewed by hand and contained their personal message for peace.