Day of the Dead Shrine....

This cool Day of the Dead shrine was made by my 8th grade son, Justin in his art class. He just brought it home today and I had to show it off! I did add the flowers but he made and painted the rest. What a cool art class! Last project was an altered shoe assemblage and now this. I will post a photo of his "Wingtip" inspired by Michael de Meng, when he brings it home; it is now in the Library showcase for all to see.

Happy Halloween!

Wishing you all a safe and happy Halloween!

Tara sent me the Owl card and the coolest Pumpkin ATC with Legs!

I love it! Thanks, Tara!

Hooked the little pumpkin last night...hope to make a few more. Also on my list: Gnomes, more birds, dolls, and hearts...and maybe a cat or two...oh, and more of those flower pins.

Hooking again!

Got in a little rug hooking this weekend. Made a crow that still needs to be sewn and stuffed. Need to make some legs and feet for him. Also hooked up a bunch of flower pins for Syd's art show in 2 weeks. For the flowers, I just drew a circle around a pasta jar lid with a Sharpie, drew a smaller circle inside and hooked away. I trimmed the loops in the outside colors to give it a more flowery look. If trimming the loops, hook them higher that normal so they are easier to cut.

STrange store in Sutherlin, Oregon

This store was adorned with huge fabric mushrooms on the roof! Just had to take a photo. We didn't get inside, as it was closed on Monday. You just never know what you will find on a Road Trip! And, BTW if you ever get a chance to take a road trip with an art girl friend, Do it! I love traveling with my boys...but....it's so much fun to travel with someone who shares your same interests...like fabric stores, yarns and fibers, paper, shoes, art galleries, those little coffee drive-ins, the occasional bakery and ice cream shop and trying new restaurants and thrift stores. I am still unpacking from my trip....discovering little fabric bundles that I bought on the way up to Washington.

Spent a rainy day with my boys...picked apples and made apple crisp...soo good!

ArtFiberFest show and tell photos....

Thought I'd post a few photos of some of the cool things that were made at ArtFiberFest.

ArtFiberFest Adventure

Packed to the gills...and ready to go!

Store window in Ashland..ready for Day of the Dead!

Castle in the Air in Berkeley...visit if you can!

Yarns at Websters in Ashland...

Autumn leaves in Ashland, OR

Great spot for breakfast in Portland...

Maxine's in Seattle...Maple leaf district...a very cool store.

Syd and daughter, LE at Snappy Dragon.

View from my window at Fort Worden....

Home Hookin' class at ArtFiberFest...

Pam Garrison tells the best stories and always makes me laugh.

Gail and Debbie take a break during our Fabric book class with Kristi. Great classmates and two of the nicest people you will ever meet.

" Edge to Edge" in Port Townsend....lovely vintage things and beautiful wool, great for hooking!

What a great road trip and wonderful experience we had at ArtFiberFest! Syd and I took off early on a Sunday morning with stops in Pleasanton for lunch and happened on an antique show that happens only twice a year. Visited a cool store called American Harvest that had Ulla's jewelry and lots of other fun stuff. Our next stop was at the Castle in the Air in Berkeley. WOW! I just loved this place...so many cool things that you can't find anywhere else! They even had a place where you could take "mermaid throne" photos for a nominal fee. Upstairs was the workshop area around a nice big table. Took a few photos of inside the shop. Lots of nice shops in the area, too...I need a return trip soon!

Then on to Red Bluff for the night and next stop, Ashland for our favorite breakfast spot, the Morning Glory..always delicious. Had to go visit the Websters...bought more roving and yarns, checked out a few more of our favorite stores and then on to Salem for the night. Portland was rainy but we found a fun little cafe for breakfast called the Byways Cafe filled with all kinds of vintage plates and doo-dads. Visited a great Gallery and paper store and press and on to Syd's friend's bookstore on Broadway where she now has several of her paintings for sale.

On to Washington to stay with LE and John in Seattle. Had to visit Maxine's and dinner at Snappy Dragon...always good.

Port Townsend was calling so off we went for our ferry ride and drive to PT. Plenty of time for a little shopping at Edge to Edge, Artisans on Taylor...new socks from the clothing store on the corner and a quick lunch at the Public House...yum!

On to the Fort....welcomed by Tiphoni and Trista and helped with our carful of luggage by Ben...always smiling and ever helpful...got to meet Teesha's mother, Darlene...a very cool mom, very friendly and fun to talk to...

After settling in to our dorm rooms with a view of the channel we met up with Pam Garrison, our next door neighbor. Pam can make me laugh like no one else I know...too bad we only link up once a year! We had our opening meeting with a great little quilt project from Teesha and met up with friends from last year and from art & soul just a few weeks ago. The Bellingham girls, Gail and Betsey were joined by Betsey's sister, Suzanne and Debbie from the SF Bay area. I love having them all in my rug hooking class along with lots of new friends and fellow artists.
We hope Sherri will be able to join us next year.

More thank you's to Nanci, Diane, Tammy, Pam, Linda, Pam G., Dawn, Carla and Lisa as well for making teaching such a fun and rewarding experience. I think the hit of the class was my new Townsend fabric stripper...we were greeted with cheers upon returning from Elevated Ice Cream by hookers waiting for their turn to strip their new wool before returning home. Anyway, I hope you all had as good a time as I did and I loved all the different "houses" that everyone created.

I enjoyed the classes I took with Traci Bautista and Kristi Steiner, leaning new techniques to incorporate into my art and to share with my workshop students here in Santa Barbara.

Vendor night was so much fun! so many beautiful hand made things...I got in a little shopping and trading before the doors opened. I want to thank everyone who stopped by our tables to say hello and buy stuff! I know that everything went to good homes...I am thinking of those hooked dolls and animals....and also the kozy kats and heart pins...Thank you so much! Of course I spent some of my vendor money on the way home for more fabric...there is a great little shop in Ashland that we missed on the way up and had to visit on the way back down...some cool stuff from Japan and lots of those fat quarters that add up but are hard to resist. Loved seeing Annie and Tara and Tracie and Marilyn and have to say that Teesha and Tracy did the most wonderful job putting everything together for us all! It is just the most nurturing, creative and fiberful event ...I am so happy to be a part of it and look forward to next year already.

After our fond farewells we took off for one more stop in Portland...23rd st. for lunch at Rose's cafe (good!) and a little shopping...Gilt, Wham, Hello Portland! and a few others....

Finally...home late Monday night and trying to get back in the swing of things...still unpacking and trying to get ready for Syd's Queen of Arts show in November. Happy to be home with Dennis and the boys...no more traveling until Artfest in April 08.

Thank you all for making ArtFiberFest such a great experience! And if you didn't make it this year, I hope you can join us next year...time and place to be decided!

Forest Girl and another pin cushion...

This doll is for the GAllery at FiberFest...Teesha gave us each a plain cloth doll to alter and here is what I came up with. Forest Girl is holding her pet hedgehog and a little basket for collecting berries. The most fun was making her woolen hooded coat with pockets. Reminds me of when I was a little girl making doll clothes on my mother's treadle sewing machine.

The pin cushion has some felted flowers and beads and little stuffed hearts for decoration. May do a little more stitching if I have the time.

Saturday I will be teaching at Art From Scrap and then home to pack for our road trip to Port Townsend and ArtFiberFest. Syd and I plan to make some fun stops along the way...Pleasanton, Ashland, Portland, Seattle and who knows where... Gone for about a week....

Until then...have a great week!

Cinnamon Rolls

Made these wooly "cinnamon roll" pin cushions to take to fiberfest. They each have their own container for quick take-out. I added some real cinnamon to the bottom of each one to give them a real "cinnamony" smell.

Fun in Portland...

Ceiling at Marco's cafe...lots of umbrellas

great food at Marco's...

Mural near Alberta St.

Deb and Janice on Alberta St.

After teaching at A&S I got to spend some time with my brother and his wife, Paulette in Portland. My brother went off to study Japanese and Paulette and I went off in search of fabric stores and other fun places. First stop, Multnomah Village where we found a GREAT wool store with loads of beautiful roving from many kinds of sheep, plus bamboo fibers, tencel and other mixtures. Lots of wonderful yarns, books and two nice shop keepers. I bought lots of roving in colors that we don't have here where I live. Can't wait to play with it. Then down the street and around the corner at great little fabric store with lots of fat quarters for quilters and sewers, called Fibers in Motion. Paulette signed up for a workshop to make a pieced vest. I bought a cool felt pin cushion and a little fabric. Then off to the bead store for a quick look around....I do NOT need any more beads! We were pretty hungry by this time and ambled on down a side street to the Marcos Cafe for a yummy lunch. Well fed, off to some more fun stores, a cool bakery with treats for later, and a clothing store having a sale..called Paloma...I got some of my favorite socks....the owner is an artist with her wonderful art on the wall behind the counter..her name is Kim Osgood. One more bead store stop for Paulette and back home for a bit.

the next day we took a trip down to Portland to the World Forestry Center for the Local 14, Art Show and Sale..featuring over 100 women artists. Very nice show...my brother bought some cool prints and ceramics and I found a cool silver and amethyst ring from artist Betsey Bensen. Linda Womack had her wonderful encaustic work there too...lot of great stuff!

Then we got to go to the Alberta St. area where there were lots of A&S shoppers....found Collage, Bolt, a fun wool store, and ate lunch at a nice Thai restaurant. Ran into Janice and Deb from Canada....two wonderful fiber artists I met at ArtFiberFest last year....we were both taking photos of the bright murals on Alberta St. walls....

After vendor night, I got picked up and off we went for a late night dinner with my two nephews plus wife and girl friend...to Nostrana, a great restaurant near Portland...I had a salad and a nice creamy polenta and the others shared their individual pizzas with all. For dessert a fuit cobbler to share..delicious!

Sunday morning, my brother, Larry made his famous crispy egg white waffles with blueberries and pecans....Divine!~ then off to the airport and HOme! Now I am scampering to get ready to leave in a few days to drive up to Port Townsend for ARtFiberfest to teach and Sell my fiber goodies.

Home again....

Me and Katie and my new dolls....

Katie's Dolls...

Terry's house...

Two Julie's houses

Pam and Joanne hooking their hearts..

Me and sweet Gail...

Betsey and Gail....

The vivacious Huskamp Girls.....Marilyn and Tracie

Katie and D.J. Pettit

The ever-charming Michael de Meng posing in his kimono

Lovely ladies Carla and Judy with Michael...and martinis

Lisa and Shari, artists and teachers...

Had to go meet Angela Cartright at vendor night....and picked up her new Zine.

Got home from a wonderful trip to Portland where I got to teach and take classes at the Art & Soul Retreat at the Embassy and Sheraton hotels. Glenny and Cindy did a great job organizing everything and were right there to answer questions all day long. There was a fun shop set up right in the lobby full of art supplies of all sorts and of course, I found some things that I don't think we have here in Santa Barbara.

Lovely students in every class....we had fun with the rug hooking and the felt bead class went so fast that we hardly got to the embellishing part, much less any needle felting...I think I need a whole day to get to everything that I want to share.

One of the highlights for me was taking Katie Kendrick's Whimsical Folk Art Doll class. We got to paint our own faces or use one of hers...I did both. I made one small doll and one huge one...I didn't mean it to be so big, but that's how it turned out. Every one was so unique and creative. She even gave us a special Dilletante chocolate. And I had the most delicious Portobello mushroom sandwich at the Sheraton that ended up being my lunch and dinner.

I loved being greeted by the amazing duo of Tracie and Marilyn Huskamp! They taught some wonderful classes and even spent the evening with Katie in the felted bead class after teaching all day.
I'm so glad that I got to spend a little time and share hugs with Gail and Betsey from Bellingham...two of the sweetest artists on the planet who came down on the train. Hope to spend more time next week at ArtFiberFest with them....I'm only teaching one class and taking two..hoping to be less sleep deprived this time around.

We had a fun Happy Hour celebrating Katie's birthday. She gave us all silk kimonos!The amazingly talented and always smiling Judy Wise painted a lovely box that opened to a Madonna and child ....and I finally got to buy some of her incredible prints and some of Katie's art too...So nice to actually meet and visit with two of my favorite artists.

Going North....

My latest hooked piece is a surprise birthday present for someone at Art & Soul in Portland, Oregon. I added on some felted flowers and beads for a little decoration. The back of the pillow is a sage green cashmere felted wool from a recycled sweater...sooo soft!

At Art & Soul I'll be teaching some rug hooking and felting classes and taking a doll making class.

Should be lots of fun...can't wait to see what everyone makes...always inspiring...and a large and exciting Vendor night...look out!

I'll be staying with my brother and his wife and hopefully get to visit his beach house on the Oregon coast right next to an ancient cedar forest. I'll be ready for a nice beach walk if it's not raining.....the Oregon coast is one of my favorite places...Love the big rocks and the logs that wash onshore and get sun bleached and are fun to climb on.

Kits are ready to go and I think I am too...

Flying back next Sunday...so I won't be posting for a bit!

"Imagine" store window....

After the ATC show reception I took a little stroll downtown and had to take a shot of this fun store window all decorated for October! Love those Giant Eyeballs and the weird pumpkin faces!