Felt bracelets and 3 pincushions...

Just for fun..here are some felt bracelets that I decorated in various ways....and 3 pincushions that I made for an upcoming craft sale.

Felt and Fiber

Made these felt bead and fiber necklaces the other day and will take them as samples to Art & Soul for my felt bead class. I tried a new formula for felting using Olive oil soap and I like it way better than using the dishwashing soap (Dawn) that I had been using. I found an Italian olive oil liquid hand soap that works great...less suds, easier to rinse and felts nicely and is easy on the hands.

ATC show

Syd's collection of ATc's

Jill's ATC's

Our interactive set up...these are cards to be traded with visitors...they will make one and trade one...(or more)...fun for all ages....

Wednesday we set up the ATC show at Art From Scrap called "Swapped, not Sold"..lots of great cards and they looked really wonderful all framed up like they are. I think we have 17 full frames. We have set up an interactive table where visitors can make their own ATC and trade it for one of our donated ones. Plus AFS has LOTS of materials provided for adding to the cards. Opening reception is this Sat.....That close up of Syd's frame is for YOU<>Tara!

Monday night at Carol's

The following hooked ornaments were made by Annie and she is taking them to the Shaker's annual Christmas sale on the east coast.

Next...Fran's portrait of her husband Keith...

And Rochelle's "Start easy...."

Pepa at work on "3 Little Pigs Rug" for anticipated grandchild no.2....

Carol and her "Liberty" rug...I think she got the pattern on our trip to Nova Scotia...our rug hookers group, 9 of us ,took a 2 week trip to Nova Scotia to take a workshop with Deanne Fitzpatrick and roam around looking at folk art and soaking up the incredible scenery. What fun!!

We had our monthly Rug Hooking meeting at Carol's home. Lots of wonderful new things for "show and tell".....plus Carol made us her delicious Lemon Bars...so good!

Some new things....

Finished up a few new things this weekend....Mama kitty with a pocket full of love, a softie owl from recycled sweaters, a tiny hooked doll, and 2 more of the funny little dolls that have been showing up.

a rainy day...

Lots of hail and rain last night and today is cloudy and cold....just the kind of day to stay inside and sew! My cat companion, Tiger found this basket to get cozy in and keep me company.

Been a busy week.....Back to School night...Justin has a great art teacher....taught a practice felt bead class at the Art Clinic....Kate visited and gave me some cool fabrics and an antique beaded purse and wool and more wool. We stopped at the Village Spinning and Weaving Shop and got even MORE wool roving in beautiful colors.

Might even be a good cookie making day!

Things are getting Funky...

The fuzzy wool creatures face's seem to be getting funkier. Guess I got tired of doing the same embroidered faces and started to branch out a bit...it's fun to try and get different expressions on their faces. Made some more tiny dolls and tried out some new hair ideas. The wavy hair is actually unraveled fabric from some Peruvian cloth that I had lying around....and last night I hooked a tiny doll body with a linen face...still need to finish it up.

Hooked a small house charm for a class sample for upcoming Art & Soul...I wanted to see how long it took to do something like this and we only have 3 hours...but I think it will work.

Sew Somerset...Playing House

A brand new magazine just came out called Sew Somerset and there was a complimentary copy in my mailbox today....I wondered why, since I didn't remember sending anything in...so I kept looking at all the wonderful stitched and collaged creations and then I came to the little fabric ATC houses that we made early in the year for our fiber ATC group and remembered that Tracie Huskamp had sent in a few of the collaborated houses to the magazine.

I was excited that my "door" would be in the article but had forgotten all about it.

Amanda Nolan did a great job writing it up and the photos are super...plus there are doors and windows that I hadn't gotten to see before. The article is called "Playing House"...I love seeing the fiber work of Sharon, Tracie, Alma and Edina. The house I received back in February was made by Tracie, Syd, and Sammy...

A new Mr. Pumpkin

Just got this guy hooked. Wanted to do a more subdued one than last time to give it more of a vintage look....and I hooked in sort of a vertical direction this time to give it a "pumpkiny" feel.

I found a wool sweater at the thrift store the other day that was the color of pumkin pie spice..I used it for the outline of the pumpkin... and I do love pumpkin pie, one of my favorites...used to make it for my father who loved any homemade pie.

Owl and Mushroom...

I managed to get this Owl finished up this morning and on the same piece of burlap is a mushroom that has been waiting to get stuffed for quite a while. Sometimes I put too many things on one piece of burlap to hook and then have trouble waiting to finish them all so I can complete the ones that are done.

And for Carla....the best wool for hooking is a nice 100 % skirt weight wool...and if buying new wool the Dorr wool is the one that most hookers prefer to work and dye with. I get most of my wool from Thrift stores....mostly skirts and sometimes sweaters will work...I wash it immediately when I get home and cut it up and sort it by color for future use. For my classes I will have some nice hand dyed Dorr wool and combine it with some fun textures and colors from my collection. If you have color preferences for your project email me and I will try and make sure to have what you want. Just let me know which class you are signed up for....

My son and husband just took off to play basketball...it is so nice and quiet....will have to see which project is calling to me...(besides housework!)...

Happiness in the mail!

A surprise awaited me my mailbox! What could it be? Something from Katie Kendrick....

I opened it and out came the most wonderful little painting! I SO love it! It says.."in quiet"....

and it is just the push I need to get me painting again! Thank you, Katie!

In October I will get to take a fabric doll class from Katie at Art & Soul in Portland, Oregon...can't wait!

And here is a funny little mermaid that I just made....I think she needs a pearl necklace and maybe some small beads on her tail...I'll probably make some more soon....and today I am playing with some fiber necklaces that I've been wanting to make for a long time! Last night I crocheted some cool fibers together for the necklace part and today I will sew fabric charms and felt things onto it....and maybe some milagros for fun...anyway that's my plan...and tonight is the Reception for the Art From Scrap show and silent auction and I hope to go to that, too.

Heart hooking....and ATC meeting

Penny,Lucilla, and Maxine making ATC's for our swap. You can see Syd's "beach boy" art piece on the wall...

I finished hooking the background and made a little door from some felted sweater wool and put a little bird picture inside. I think I will leave it unfinished so I have a sample for the class to look at and show how to finish it up. It was fun to use the muted colors...

And yesterday we had our monthly ATC meeting at the Art From Scrap headquarters. We met and made ATC's for our up coming show there called.."Swapped, not Sold". We will have a place for the visitors to make an ATC and swap for one that we have made for them to take. I was asked to teach a workshop for kids later in Oct. on a Saturday on ATC making...should be fun....I had a good time teaching ATC's to my son's elementary school classes a few years back. I had them make one to keep (and display on the bulletin board) and one to trade. I brought a whole box of cool scrap paper and vintage photos for them to play with....they turned out some AweSome ATC's. For our show (our first one!) we each will fill a frame with our choice of ATC's and they will be on display for about a month in the ARt From Scrap Gallery upstairs....Starts Sept.29..

I took a photo of my frame full of ATC's...and included one that my son Justin made...he will like that.

Hooking sample...

here is the beginning of my sample piece for the "door of my heart" class....the center rectangle will have a little door that opens. The black stitched line around the heart will be turned under...it is there to keep the burlap from fraying when the heart is cut out to put the backing on. Hope to fill in the background tonight...if I can decide what color or colors to do. I am trying for a more subdued look...but we'll see what happens once I get going!

tiny cat and friends....

you know how when you are making stuff, one thing leads to another...well, my little doll wanted some friends and look who showed up! Not sure if they need the legs and arms...I sort of like the "primitive look" they have...more to come......and after making all those cats....I decided to make a tiny cat...he is only 5 " tall and was so fun to do! Will try and make more for upcoming craft shows. I will use only the softest wools for these little guys...and maybe a few made out of linen just for fun.

And I started a new "door of my heart" piece for an upcoming class.....wanted another sample to show more possibilities and color combos....will post tomorrow..(hopefully)...

and FYI...

Terry Weiss wrote me with a good rug hooking site for everything you could need for hooking: http://www.fraserrugs.com/ inexpensive hooks..only $4.oo and in different sizes.

Rug hooks.....

Photo of some of my rug hooks....my current favorite being the one on the far right with the bent tip....I like the finer tips for the things that I have been working on, although any one will work for the classes that are coming up. The strips we will be using are size 7 & 8, if that helps. Rug hooks can be found on eBay under "rug hooking " and also many rug hooking suppliers can be found here:

www.rughookingonline.com/

I found one site that has the bent tip hooks...a little pricey...I'll see if I can find more..and post as soon as I do....

http://letshookrugs.com/

Another resource for inexpensive hooks.... www.http://rugartsupply.com/ in OR. has supplies and looks good, although I have never ordered from them....

also a photo of 2 hooked pumpkins and a funny little doll that I made today....( arms and legs by ArtGirlz...)

Fun stuff from Tara..

I just LOVE these wonderful fiber creations from Tara Ross! We did a fun little trade and these came in the mail today. Check out her cool blog and etsy store if you haven't already:

http://www.tararossstudios.blogspot.com/

more hearts and other things...

made these tin heart charms and trying to figure out how to use them...possibly on a fiber necklace.....and funky little mushroom charm.....and stamped and painted "sacred heart" fabric charms...may be included in the fiber charm swap at Artfiberfest....

Oh, and dinner last night was DEliciOUs! We went to a place we'd never been to before called "JADE" and everything was SO good! It is in the San Roque part of State St. for you locals....highly recommended! Best salad in S.B... fun entree's and passion fruit creme brulee for dessert! Yum! We are definitely going back to try more of the things on the menu. The chef even came out to each table and asked how everything was....it's a small one room place with art on the walls....it used to be called AJA.....sort of Calif. cuisine meets Asia and India...?

Anniversary...

Today is our 19th Anniversary. Going out to dinner to celebrate soon and thought I'd post this old photo of Dennis and I dancing at our outdoor reception on one of the hottest days of the year in 1988. I've had this photo on my kitchen sink ledge for years and its kind of got water spots but I still love looking at it...partly because we were both skinnier then! He's been a good provider and father to our 2 boys and happily doesn't mind my art messes and is kind and generous and likes to build things.

some felty goodness....

been working on some tags, pins, and beads using felt and embroidery....little fabric hearts now are beaded and ready for their wings.....

tomatoes from our little garden ( and I do mean little)....but they are tasty and I have been putting them in my son's school sandwiches every day.

new kitties...

I can't seem to stop making these kitties...must have over 3 dozen partly made. I keep finding new fabrics to try and see how they look....velveteen, flannel, kimono silk....help...somebody stop me!

These new kitty eyes appeared last night as I was embroidering the faces. My son Justin says they look more "cat like"...it's fun to see how a project evolves and changes. I want to make some simple clothes for the kitties...like skirts and maybe shorts. Some will have lots of buttons and some will have scarves and maybe a bow.

Survived the first busy week of school and have been back working the last few Saturdays at our store....we now have a great crew (mostly women) and it is more relaxed but still very busy on Sat. I think I sat down only once! My favorite thing is to catch up on blog reading in between customers. I seem to have a different set of Favorites on the store computer and try and get in some quick viewing at all the cool fiber stuff going on out there in the world!

And after work yesterday I made a quick stop at the Ventura Thrift stores and came home with some really cool wool scarves and sweaters to felt up...like I need any more wool!

more from the fiber show...

thought I'd post a few more photos of the fabulous fiberfest show in Santa Monica....lots of interesting quilts and wall hangings....one of the booths had lovely vintage quilts and antique pin cushions which I loved looking at....the pale blue bird quilt was one of my favorites!