May Day Posies and new Spring outfit....

Wishing everyone a Happy May Day! Here are some of our local wild flowers and one wild manikin!

Needle felting class in Ojai

Katie and her cloud covered journal cover....

Lauren and her journal...

Wo and I taught a Needle Felting workshop all day Sunday. Everyone had lots of fun and did completely different designs. Several folks made journal covers and wall hangings. There was enought time to make several things so small and large purses got decorated as well.

I am getting ready to do some serious felt bead making...want to try more multi-colored beads and different sizes and then try needle felting on them.

Other projects on my" to do" list include making some new "softies"...saw some cool ones during my blog search during my store shift at our Plumbing-hardware store.... I think I will start with some owls made from felted wool sweaters and see where it takes me.

Fiber ATC's from tracie...

Just received this in the mail....love how Tracie put this all together for us! I got Syd's fun windows and cool felted and embellished door from Sammy Stafney....I have it hanging in my bedroom under the "HOME" banner from this same group...

Thanks Tracie for hosting and getting this all together and mailed to us!

Blessed by the Kachinas and La Virgin....

We all had a wonderful day!

Susan's Rug! I love this color of blue! I need a rug like this!

Look at this gorgeous handspun wool.....from Colleen, Susan's sister...and she did the most exquisite embroidered pieces for each birthday girl, too!

Penny's wonderful hooked rugs that she made for the birthday girls....

birthday girl, Susan and....yo!

the girls and the glorious view.... we each got to take home one of those colorful flower pots as a party favor!!

More photos of the birthday celebration....gifts, girls, house.....

Santa Ynez Birthday celebration

Tasted as good as it looks!

the front door..

Had so much fun over in the Santa Ynez Valley celebrating Susan H. (and MIA Barbara)'s birthdays. A beautiful spring drive passing by Lake Cachuma and green mountain meadows and on the way home saw about 2o deer feeding in a pasture of tasty alfalfa.

We had a delicious lunch and incredible dessert from Susan's Solvang Bakery! Lots of photos of her delightful home, presents, food and artgirls....many handmade presents...What a wonderful day!

Here, kitty, kitty...

Cat is sewn, stuffed and finished!

This and that....Betz White pin cushions!

Art girls birthday party tomorrow! I made a couple of things...pretty sure thay are not Blog readers...one is a chenille pin cushion and the other is a little felted purse or cell phone holder that I needle felted. I also ordered 2 items from Betz White...a "cup o' Joe" and a cupcake. I love them! Had to take a photo before they get wrapped up!

New kitty cat and other things...

Here is the latest cat that I hooked over the weekend....I will try and sew him up tonight. And also a photo of some of the smaller felted purses that I worked on last week at the Studio. I had fun using rock art images that I've always loved. When I had my own wearable art business, it was called Painted Cave Designs. We live near an ancient Chumash cave that is painted inside with wonderful images. We have a little community up here on top of the mountain called "Painted Cave". I carved rubber stamps of cave paintings and petroglyphs and stamped them on my hand painted silk clothing, scarves and ties. I sold these and my handwoven items at shows in the Los Angeles area....one of the highlights for me was to have some of my ties used on the TV show "Thirty something"....of course this was back before I had my 2 boys. After the boys were born I did only local shows and changed from weaving and silk painting to hand painted wooden clocks! Now I am happily back to what I love most....Fiber art of all kinds!

Also ... more bags that have the appliqued pockets with embroidery that I made a few years ago and didn't know what to do with them....Wo found a good use and sewed them onto denim bags of various sizes. These will go in the new little retail store that is almost open in Ojai.

Happy Earth Day!

Here is my favorite Earth Day tee shirt from Blue Fish....as you can see it is from the year 2000!It is getting pretty faded, but I still love it. It is raining today so the Earth Day festivities at our Courthouse will be a bit dampened. I may just have to stay home and do some hookin' with my recycled wool!

When I came home the other day there was a Blue Jay sitting on the loft railing! No doors were open, no one else home....all I can figure out is that he came in through the cat door...or the cat brought him in. I had to catch him as he tried to fly through the glass window and set him free.

Spent a busy week working on needle felting at the Fibre ARts Design Studio ..... setting up a retail store soon. I needle felted hats and journal covers. Then worked at the Hardware store

where I scan Blogs in between customers. That's the fun part.

I've got two new hooking projects that I am working on....a sitting cat and a sign for vendor night. Want to make more dolls, birds, and how about a hooked heart garland?

Hooked House Blessing Charms

These are samples for the class I will be teaching at Art and Soul Retreat in Portland in October later this year....

hooked cat and heart...

worked on this kitty cat and heart that will have a "door" soon....got the cat finished. It looks a little like our cat, Tiger....

Journal covers.....

These are the needle felted journal covers that I made on Friday...still need to be sewed up...these are samples for a weekend workshop that we are teaching on April 28 and 29..

Needle felted purses...

Here are 3 of the needle felted purses that I designed for the Studio...WO sewed them up and I worked yesterday and made 2 journal covers and 2 more bags....

Owls and squirrel finished!

finished sewing up the owls and squirrel last night....

Hooked houses with door that "open"

These hooked wall pieces are samples for a class that I am teaching at ArtFiberFest in Oct. The little doors actually open and you can put a little photo or picture in there.

Squirrel and owls...

I've been working of these woodland creatures for the past week...mostly at night when things quiet down....

Hope to sew them up today and stuff them and then start on something new~ or finish up the little heart pins that I started a few weeks ago.

ATC group meets tomorrow at the Good Cup Cafe and then Thurs. the Art Clinic has it's ARt Day.

On Monday I worked at the Fibre ARts Design Studio on 3 needle felted purses...samples for an upcoming class later this month. Today I needed an "at home" day...working on organizing all my wool by colors and type...I have wool for rug hooking and felted sweater wool for other projects...and they have begun to take over the living room.

Happy Easter to Everyone!

We had our little Easter egg hunt with Justin....had to show you some of our best hiding places...