Back to rug hooking...

I am working on this little elephant for my friend, Mary. Don't usually do commissions but this one is fun! I finally got some much needed house cleaning done yesterday. I took over this wonderful armoire made by David Marsh and put my wool for hooking and a few other art supplies inside. Previously it held Legos and games and art magazines....and was not being appreciated fully...so I moved it into the big living room (my art making place) and all is well.

Now, I am going to go make some blueberry muffins for the boys after school snack!

I Madonnari

Here are a few quick photos of some of the chalk paintings from the Santa Barbara Mission...

I think I need help....

I can't seem to stop making fabric house charms! Or little stuffed hearts either....

I keep trying to make them smaller and smaller so they will work as an actual charm...but so far the smallest one is about 2" tall. And somehow they have gotten much brighter! Must be that fabric I bought the other day!

Background fabric is something that I painted months ago, inspired by Alma Stoller.

And I know that I can't resist joining Debbie and Gail's fabric charm swap for Artfiberfest! So I must start NoW!

And if I can bring myself to leave the house, (I love being home) there are artists from all over the world creating incredible chalk paintings down at the Santa Barbara Mission..it's called " I Madonnari".....they started on Saturday and will finish up today. I usually take my boys for a look after all the crowds have gone later in the week but it's fun to see the artists at work....if I do go, I will try and get some photos to share...

And on this Memorial Day...I think of my brother, John...who got drafted and sent to Viet Nam...he survived that....but later took his own life at age 39. I still miss him...he was funny, a great athlete, supportive of my art, a Mensa member and had collections of all sorts. One whole wall of his bedroom was covered, floor to ceiling with cigar boxes! He had a little book in which he kept all the boxes catagorized...there are some kind of numbers and letters on the bottom of the boxes and he had favorite brands....the wooden ones were the best! He made the rounds of all the liquor stores in South Pasadena and would ask for empty boxes. When I was growing up I would take my friends in and show them his wall of cigar boxes to their amazement. He also glued coins on floor to trick you into picking them up, only to realize you'd been caught once again! And while John was stuck in Viet Nam, my older brother was in the Peace Corps in Nepal. He brought me back a funny hat and a cool purse made from Yak wool, long gone... don't know why these memories are popping up....but, oh well....

And needless to say...I have always been a PEACE advocate. I marched for Peace in the 60's and again today. As part of my daily meditaion I send Peace around the world (Love, too!) and support those who are doing their part to make the world a better, safer, healthier and more loving place.

If you want to get invovled in an artistic way...visit the www.globalartproject.org/ ...a great way to get kids involved in a global art exchange...(adults welcome, too..)

...OK...that's all for today!

Beach houses...

I drew these beach houses when we lived in Hermosa Beach in the 1950's. My uncle sent these to me recently, along with some other drawings that I did when I was about 5 years old. When I look at the little fabric houses from a previous post....I see that my art hasn't changed much over the years!! Another little drawing of me and my imaginary twin...my mother sent this to her sister and put the note on the side. I remember having imaginary playmates, but didn't know that I told my mother about it. And that is vintage scotch tape on the sides....yuk!

My father, who was a teacher in the L.A. area wisely purchased our beach house right on the ocean. We just walked across the Strand and there was the sand and ocean. Some of my favorite childhood memories are of the days spent playing all day in the water, riding waves, bike riding, listening to live music on Pier Ave... all the cool jazz musicians came and played at The Lighthouse and there was another neat place called The Insomniac that had live music and a big open air bookstore with bins of art prints and people who sat and played chess all day. There was also a great bakery and my mom actually did most of her grocery shopping by bicycle.

I try and take my boys down to Hermosa at least once each summer for bike riding and a swim in the warmer waters of the Southland and a stop at Mickey's Pizza, which is still there and still has the best pizza in town.

Paul Klee rocks!

This is one of my favorite Paul Klee pieces. Found this picture in a book on children's art and nature and reminded me of how much I LOVE his art. His work is mysterious, playful, secretive, and well, just plain, wonderful! When I was in high school and had to pick an artist to do a report on for my art history class, I picked Paul Klee. I had seen some of his work in the Pasadena Art Museum and that was it! My report was a huge collage book on his life illustrated with his work and combined with collage work that I created... each page was about 24" X 36". It disappeared somehow in all the moves that I've made, but when ever I see some of Klee's art I feel like I've entered a magical world of line and color and music. Jude's work spiritcloth.typepad.com/ with fabric reminds me of his wonderful intuitive color sense.

Fun fabric fat quarters...

A quick visit to a great fabric store called the Treasure Hunt in Carpinteria and i picked up some fun pieces of fabric to play with.

And a great Thrift store find...7 little appliqued hankies for $1.oo! will have to find a way to use these somehow...

village of house charms almost ready...

worked on these little cloth house charms for the village charm swap for A&S. hope I don't get in trouble for posting a photo...still need to put in an eyelet on the top. Up until 1 am sewing and fiddling with them...

And I promise not to post more photos of beach rocks, BUT, look at this one I found yesterday! Is that a perfect heart shaped hole or what????

Art in the Mail...

I love it when there is something fun in the mailbox ....like these Atc's I received in a transcontinental trade from Susan at art esprit http://artesprit.blogspot.com/ and the hand painted water color heart card from my friend, Mary here in Santa Barbara.

new little pouch..bottoms up!

just finished up this little pouch from Kumiko Sudo's book, "Omiyage".....has lots of fun little projects to sew up. I just used fabric that I had on hand, but would be great to use real Japanese kimono fabric. This pouch is called "candy twist" because the fabric twists as it goes down to a fabric covered button on the bottom. It is lined with pink cotton and I put little hearts on the drawstrings because I already had them made.

Today at the thrift store I found a brand new Japanese handkerchief that would be fun to use on my next pouch project.

Path to my Art Studio

a few years back I got into making these mosaic garden squares for a school project for my son's school auction. Then I thought, why not make these for the path to my little art studio? So, square by square I made these from broken pottery, plates, tiles, marbles, whatever...and then assembled them into a path. One square I made from heart shaped beach rocks. Filled in the edges with little shapes from the craft store.... Now, behind the art studio is a stack of thrift store plates....waiting for me to get interested again....maybe this summer?

another nature shot....

I was out in the garden trying to find spots to plant my new lavender plants and there were 2 lizards sunning themselves on this mosaic covered bowling ball. When I came back with the camera I scared one away....still grabbed a shot. Got the idea for covering the bowling ball from my friend, Penny. Found the bowling ball at a thrift store and you can use Liquid Nails adhesive and cover the ball in sections and then grout it. They make fun garden ornaments hidden amongst the plants. I have one on each side of the driveway...near the Gnomes!

a few more pins....

got a few more heart pins finished up. I am kind of liking this new wing style...

off to the Store today, so no art until later....

worked on a collage or two yesterday and felted up the 10 (!) sweaters from the Thrift Store. I must stop going there....Now have boxes of felted sweaters...but each time I see a sweater for
5 cents each I see a stuffed wooly owl or squirrel or other imaginary creature and into the pile it goes.

Look who's visiting the Bird feeder....

This frisky grey squirrel was having a nice lunch on the bird feeder when I snuck up on him and took his picture. Look at that bushy tail! There was a Blue Jay in the background waiting his turn impatiently...

Now to see if I can capture this little fellow in my next hooked squirrel project...

Have to go pick up Justin later from a Jr. High dance...titled "Viva Las Vegas!" Can't wait to hear how it went...he informed me that he didn't plan on dancing. He's going for the pizza and casino part. Whatever.

Flying Heart Pins leaving the nest....

These little stuffed fabric heart pins will be on their way to New Hampshire soon. They are going to Susan at artstream gallery. Feels good to complete this order which I started months ago!

I hope to make a bunch more to take to Vendor night at Artfiberfest in October.

Had a nice beach walk today in the fog. For my destination I chose what I thought was a big white rock up the coast. When I got closer I realized that it was a 30' sailboat on its side! The mast was missing and it was full of sand and kelp. Lots of funny stencils on one side...so there it sits...must have washed up during the last bout of high winds that we had. I guess that is one of the things that I like about beachcombing and thrift stores.....the element of surprise...you never know what will show up, what treasures you will find (or not!)...And while it is foggy and cold down at the beach today, it is sunny and pleasant up here on the mountain top. Might get some felting done outside while the weather is so nice.

Can't believe I washed Justin's cell phone...Again! This is the second one....OK..now i guess we'll get the phone insurance! I was sure that I checked his shorts pockets....I'm not a big cell phone user but they are good to have since we are so far away from the local schools and sometimes the buses don't get all the way to where we live.

So ...on to the next 10 projects on my list!

Thrift store finds....

All I can say is that there have been some interesting things showing up at the Thrift store lately.
I met my friend, Mary, who I've known since my days at Stampa Barbara this morning and delivered her owl and squirrel that I hooked. A call later and she put in an order for elephants! This will be fun to do...I used to make an elephant shaped clock a few years back so I have something in mind already. Made a quick stop at my other place with the 5 cent rack and came up with the above cache.....a book over 100 years old tilted, "The Pathway of Life", a sequined skirt, and a George Bush doll. Wonder if Michael de Meng would have fun embellishing this somehow.....(I added the camo pants)....
Had a fun day yesterday with my "boys". We slept in, then went to the local nursery and picked out plants for our yard and garden, a quick stop at Trader Joe's and I introduced them to "Panino"...best spot in town for sandwiches! Also picked out some pretty tulips to enjoy this week...a relaxing and low key Mother's day....

Felted sweater flower

My son Justin had to make an imaginary flower for his science class and needed a little help last night....so what is a fiber mom to do? I pulled out the boxes of wooly felted sweaters that I've been collecting and said, "what color?"...He wanted yellow....so here is what he created with a little help from mom. He drew a design and sewed up the petals. I kind of put them together into a flower shape. He made the stamens out of some red handmade paper in my art paper pile and glued them into the center with my felt glue. Then we made a stem with green fabric and put florist wire inside and sewed a sort of puffy base to cover up the gathered petals....not bad for Sunday night homework! And I've been wanting to experiment with felted flowers anyway...

now if this was my flower, I'd be getting out the embroidery thread and beads!

New little notebook...

Just got this little notebook for my daily notes to myself...loved the cover with the bird on it.

One on left is my old one...almost filled up...so I treated myself to a new one.

Happy Mother's Day to All...

The boys came through again! All I ask for on Mother's Day are handmade cards and they did it. Not bad for teenage boys. So I hope you don't mind my showing off....

ATC's, Wool, and Owl family

Had a fun day trading ATC's on Wed. Here are the ones I made. I used some hand dyed paper from Gail for the background..(thanks, G.) and birds from Syd's collage sheets. Got a cool gift of handspun wool from Colleen, love the soft browns and tans, can't wait to use this!

And here is our Owl family....I think maybe it is OUR family....Dad, Mom, and 2 teenagers....

You can see that I fixed the eyes of the newest one...on the front left..

I worked on some little house charms for the Village Swap for A&S in Oct. Needed to get a jump start now...they are actually due in August...so if I start now...they might actually be done on time.

Using felted sweaters for Hooking...

Here is another thing that I have been working on. I think that I started this before Christmas, I did the lettering, and then it sat for months while I made other things. I thought it would be sort of a sign to put on the wall or table when I do Art Shows....OR it could be a header design if I ever get my web site done... The flying bird up in the corner is hooked with a really cool wool angora sweater that I felted and put through my cloth stripper. You have to do a bit of experimenting to find knits that will work for hooking...can't be too loose or the strips will fall apart. My other use for the felted sweaters is to make "softie" creatures and dolls. I made a bunch last week at the Design Studio but don't have a photo yet...next week I'll take some...these are really fun and easy to make and pretty quick. OK...now I really must finish up the Somerset thing...

beach rocks...

got in another beach walk before heading home to write up the Somerset thing. I kind of know what I want to say but it feels like homework or the research paper in high school that I kept putting off until the last minute. So here I am blogging instead of writing! so I need to make a nice cup of tea and get to it. But first here are the new owl and pineapple finished...well, almost...today I looked at the owl and I think the eyes need to be outlined with black yarn like the other ones I've made....so I will do that later tonight after I've done my writing. And a photo of the beach rocks for today....I seem to be in the "rocks with holes" mood...and of course, anything mildly resembling a heart....

Monday news...

Almost didn't take my morning beach walk, but SO Glad I did! What an incredible day...84 degrees, water glistening, kayakers out exploring, low tide with rocks to take home...put my feet in the water.....cold! 54- but refreshing, especially after a day in LA. Had a good visit with the Grandma and Ikea was fun, but very busy on a Sunday. I did manage to get some new dining room chairs and storage boxes, but the boys ended up getting most of the stuff for their rooms-new floor lamp, pillows, a palm for Jason, and new cool mesh waste baskets.

Hooked and finished up my "pineapple" and the owl is almost done. Am finding lots of good wool sweaters and skirts to felt and hook or sew with.....this seems to be the best time of year to find wool at the Thrift Stores....my favorite store in the Magnolia Center has a whole rack of things for only 5 cents!

Flowers above are at Goleta Beach... and our cat, Tiger just for fun!

Pineapple for Breakfast!

Got to work on my pineapple last night so we could have it for breakfast this morning...and it was Delicious!!! Still a little to finish up tonight after work at the Hardware store. Next to the pineapple I started another Owl. I had some hooked items accepted into the new "Somerset Home" issue coming out in August and now I need to write up the techniques and all that jazz...the hard part for me.....but needs to be done by May 7, so I better get to it. And tomorrow we will go to Los Angeles for a visit with Dennis' mother, who is a Grandmother to at least 37! I think she is also a great, great grandmother...84 years old and has always been generous and funny and good to me. She always embarasses my boys by asking if they have "girl friends" yet. I hope to get in an IKEA visit or Folk Tree (not likely) and Jason has to get fitted for a TUX for a Prom he is going to with his new girl friend from the Cruise, Katie....who lives in Illinois!!! All of a sudden he is interested in working at the Store so he can pay for his air fare....LOVE motivates....!!!

Happiness in the Mailbox!

This is me smiling when I opened my wonderful package from Gail (runnergurl)! I love getting goodies in the mail...and couldn't resist ordering this hand spun and hand dyed wool from Gail's Etsy store. My plans are to knit (someday) and felt a large purse. Right now I am having fun gathering the yarn .... I also have another skein of Gail's wool that is two tones of pink!

Sweet Gail also tucked in some extra goodies for me...see the cowboy hiding in the hair? and the nose is a mini-skein that she added too! WOW! Thank you Gail! Love my new yarns!!!!

What I've been up to....

got the inspiration to hook a pineapple from a Trader Joe's shopping bag.....then thought I'd better get the "real" thing to try and get the colors right. Will be a treat for my boys for an after school snack.

On Tuesday at the Fibre Arts Design Studio I made some fun "softies". Three felted sweater creatures that still need stuffing and faces and two owls that were so much fun to make. Still need to work out a few design problems and do some embellishing but here they are anyway.

May Love.

Not sure what this is supposed to mean....one of my thrift store finds.....but since it is May Day here's wishing you a month filled with May Love.