We are off on an adventure...

Here's our Festivus/Christmas/Solstice dinner table...complete with Sparkling Pomegranate Juice ...


Early Thursday morning we will be taking off on a trip to Northern California to visit my aunt and uncle in San Mateo and then over the Golden Gate Bridge to Calistoga for a soak in the hot springs, our favorite getaway. We closed our store for the week after Christmas so Dennis could relax and get ready for a new year. We will be soaking, swimming, hiking, eating at our favorite restaurants, and get in a little shopping in the fun shops of Calistoga. One of my friends works at the Culinary Institute of America ( I think that is what its called..) and she has promised to find us a fun new place to have dinner..so we have that to look forward to. So anyway....I'll be gone for about a week.....I am taking a project with me to work on in the car...I hope to crochet and felt a wool purse.....something I have been wanting to do for years...so now is the chance to get going on it! Might bring some embroidery too....
SO...Best wishes for a Creatively Wonderful New Year to you all! Go make stuff!

Best Wishes from me to You!

May you all have a safe, warm and happy Holiday filled with hugs from those you love....and may our thoughts of peace and happiness circle our Mother Earth in this time of renewal and healing.
Made this Peace Bird just for You...to bring you good wishes in the New Year and Peace for all mankind.
Borrowed the card from MOO....just got my 3rd order of Moo cards and a set of greeting cards....so fun to share with strangers....especially those who have never heard of them...passed out a few at our Store's Christmas party. And just got home from the trip to Los Angeles, safe and sound, stockings filled and awaiting family fun the 25th....Love to you all!

what's new....

some fun Holiday goodness....Glittery M box filled with fun stuff...a glittery Star ornament from Tracie Huskamp...love it! and my $1.00 little angel find at the thrift store!
Tomorrow we will help out at the plumbing store and then head down to Glendale to see Dennis' family...over 100 of them! Then drive back home late at night so we can celebrate Christmas here at home. Dennis is one of 12 children....and most of them have a bunch of kids..so it is kind of crazy at the holidays....his mother is 84 and has about 37 grandchildren ( or more.)..and some of them have kids, too....but it's the only time we get to see everyone at once...except for Mother's day and her birthday...so...down we go to the mayhem of Christmas Eve at Grandma's house.

funny little doll

So nice to hear from you all...people have written from Europe and beyond and it makes my day to connect with other textile lovers!
Here is a funny little doll that I made a few days ago for a friend in the Northwest that gave me a bunch of wonderful old silk kimono fabric....so fun to look at and play with. I have to sort of "make" myself use it because it seems so precious. But who will ever see the silk if it stays in it's box? So, I am having fun making stuff with silk...then always go back to wool for the hooking.Anyway....I think she has a sweet smile..

Booklace Class at ARt From Scrap

I made the sample on the left and Justin made the one on the right.....you can collage both sides of the pages for more "art fun"....each page is 1 1/2" by 2"...fun for little hands. Justin water colored some of his pages....and collaged some. And you can make the Booklace bigger if you want. We made a big one for his teacher as a Thank You at the end of the school year.

January 12, 2008 Syd McCutcheon and I will be teaching a kid's workshop using recycled paper at ARt From Scrap making a "Booklace". What is a booklace? It's a little book that is also a necklace! We both took Nina Bagley's Copper Booklace class at Artfest and I modified it for my son's elementary school class and made it all in paper. It's a fun little project that involves collage, using eyelets (which are fun for kids), ribbon or yarn and a few beads. Will be making a few more samples for the class. I also volunteered to help with the Global ARt for Peace project in March and April. I love this art exchange that only happens every 2 years. If you work with kids (adults welcome, too) it is a really fun and meaningful project to explore. You make a piece of art (anything goes) and the director matches you with a group in another part of the world. You send your art to them and they send you something to keep...so all this art is being sent all over the world at the same time and they all express our wish for PEACE in the world. If you want to check it out go to:

http://www.globalartproject.org/

Several of our art pieces are featured in the gallery...I especially love the hooked PEACE rug we made with Justin's 4th grade class...

Handmade ornaments and fiber fun...

Quilt scrap houses....made last night...
Marny Cardin made this incredible french knot snowman pin! She sells kits and also is a rug hooker. She has a website...
Love the little carved gnome that Syd gave me last year and the larger hand carved Santa was a trade with another craftswoman from a show I did long ago....
Cindy Knight's glittery ornaments....always a delight.
more ornaments from locals...
Made these last night from Quilt scraps....
Finally got this hooked doll finished up...all I can say is that hooking faces is hard!
And I finished up this "Door of my Heart" sample. The little door in the middle opens up..

Thought I'd show you some of my favorite handmade ornaments from local friends...
and some stuff that I've been making. Somehow I got the cold/flu that my boys had and I've had to lay low. Not too bad...because it's been raining and chilly and a good excuse to get cozy with some hot tea and do some stitching. I've been having so much fun playing with the quilt scraps that Syd gave me. Since the old quilt had already been cut into I didn't feel bad about cutting it up some more. I love the old fabrics and colors and they inspired some more of the little houses. Not sure how I will use these yet..maybe a fabric collage of some sort.
Might venture out later today for some shopping for the boys. I hear that our waterfalls are running...we got 7 inches of rain up here on our mountain top! I'll be dodging rocks, boulders and mud most likely...just part of the way of life up here and why 4 wheel drive comes in handy.

Fiber fun from friends...

Finally got all the fiber charms from artfiberfest charm swap sewed onto the cool necklace that was one of the trades. Thanks to Gail and Debbie for putting the swap together...so fun to see what everyone made and get them all into one place.

And look what Colleen, Barbara and Syd made! My newest fun fiber ornaments. Barbara did the needle felted fish, Colleen made the cool needle felted Snowman and Syd made the cool little house!

Getting in the Spirit....

My Jane Ray advent calendar...love her colors...

the Santa corner...with a few nutcrackers thrown in...

This is a scarf I made using old silk kimono pieces..(thanks, Katie) sort of an experiment..for one of our store employees.

We went down the mountain late Wed. night and picked out our tree at Lane Farms. The boys chased each other through the dark corn maze and through the Christmas trees. Justin ended up flat on the straw several times, but no harm done. I seem to remember my brothers having the same fun, hiding and chasing through the trees, as my mother tried to make sure that they weren't bothering anyone else looking for their tree. We always are the last ones to leave, having finally settled and agreed on a nice bushy tree. It got tied up on top of the car and then we went out for dinner before heading back up the mountain. I am still decorating....trying to get the boys interested in helping me...not an easy task. Syd gave me a bag of old quilt pieces that I am having fun playing with. Trying out some stuffed ornaments for little gifts, doing a little embroidery and hooking up some projects that I started a while ago. The boys will have 2 1/2 weeks off for the holidays and we get to sleep in!!! Yay!

Birthday Party at Maren's

A beautiful day, and a beautiful table with the best friends...

Fresh from the garden....

Lots of presents...

Two parties in one week! On Wed. our artfest group had a lovely birthday party for Colleen, Patti and Maren at Maren's beautiful home. She set up a table outdoors in her garden with mountain views and sunshiney weather. We had the most delicious lunch of chicken minestrone soup with her homegrown vegetables, fresh greens salad with candied pecans and her homemade 3 layer ice cream cake! Lots of fun creative presents for all....books, handmade objects, soaps and I managed to let go of a couple of Judy Wise prints that I bought at Art & Soul in Portland this year.

I only got a few shots as my camera battery died on me. Syd should have more photos of our fun and lively day on her blog...We missed Barbara, Susan and Cindy....MIA.

More from Penny's ....

Love this 4 tiered village....

Cycle of life sculptures....

a better view of the felted hat!

Anne's fun embroidery for Jean....

Anne again....Fun!!

Fran made this needle felted necklace with eyeglass holder for Katie....great colors...

Penny hooked this colorful piece for Patty....lucky girl!

Annie made this for Sue, who likes to work with tin.

Pepa hooked this wonderful tea cozy (soon to be completed) for Anne. She added buttons and beads for fun.

fun at Penny's..

Penny's angel decorated for the Holidays

The mantle with lots of cool stuff to look at.

Penny's little village of houses and trees....

Maren's rug made of roving!

Felted hat made by Katie! Love it!

The Association to Creative Females (our rug hooking group) had our annual Holiday party last night. Lots of wonderful gifts were exchanged, many hand made. Katie made me the most amazing felted hat!!! Lots of hooked items including a tea cozy, wall hanging and a lockneedle hooked rug made from wool roving. Also fun embroidery, aprons and plants.

Penny had all her incredible Christmas decorations up and ready for us to enjoy. Anne made us her famous chocolate cake and we each had a little bag of her tasty Christmas cookies to take home. A fun evening with great ladies.

Lots to share...

Our mantle....starting to decorate...

New shoes!

New squirrel!

Two new house blessing ornaments!

Two felted wool dollies...

Hooked Scrub Jay....they are noisey and warn the other birds when our cat gets too close to the bird feeder.

I finished up some things that I've been working on...so thought I'd share those. Plus my wonderful new shoes! Finally found a good pair of everyday clogs that fit, are comfy and go with most everything. These are "Merrell Encore Grove Floral-Smokey Blue", but they look sort of tan. Found them at our local Nordstrom's. I wore them on two beach walks this weekend and they were great. Kind of risky because we have tar on our beaches, but luckily it was one of those really low tides...so no tar, but lots of cool rocks, shells and other stuff to collect.

We have our annual rug hooking holiday gift exchange tonight and I have to show you the funny little dolls I made for my friend, Pepa. One is Pepa and the other is her granddaughter, Zellie.

Starting to get the house in the Holiday mood....beginning with the mantle. One of my art friends gave me the carved Virgin of Guadelupe for my birthday about 10 years ago. I just love her...Thank you, Joan!!!

Red bellied Woodpecker and Nuno felting

Here is my newest hooked bird. I was inspired by our local woodpeckers which have been quite active lately. They have been storing their acorns in our wooden entry arch that says "Painted Cave" and anywhere else they can find. Our local woodpeckers have a little bit of red on their head and they are called acorn woodpeckers or downy woodpeckers, I'm not sure which ones they are. But I loved the look of the red bellied woodpecker for hooking purposes...the "Classic "woodpecker, so that's the one I used for a model. I have a little field guide to Birds of North America to help me out. Still need to finish up the Scrub Jay I made.

On Thursday we had a great Nuno felting class at the Art Clinic in Solvang. Barbara Carr brought all kinds of goodies for us to play with including already dyed silk chiffon scarves to felt. This was a new felting technique for all of us and so much fun! All turned out very different...you could use a little or a lot of wool and silk roving to decorate the silk base. We got wavy edges as the silk scarf base began to shrink with the addition of the wool as it felted. We all are anxious to make more of these fun felty fabric pieces. Trying to convince Barbara to teach at ArtFiberFest...2008. My first Nuno scarf is the one on the far right above. I made a second one in greens and blues on a different silk base.

And just want to say I hope all of our art friends to the North (Ore. and Wa.) are doing OK with all the rain and snow lately. Thinking of you and hope you are able to travel safely once again.

Just a little more "Folk" art

Squirrel book ends....don't you love these?

Covered with newpaper...

Ma and Pa..

Better in person....all embroidered..!

Red tin roof...

Twins?

These are Kelp!

I took so many pictures that I'll just have to share a few more....and I have been hooking....I made a fun red headed woodpecker and a new squirrel and almost finished a new doll made entirely out of felted sweater wool...sort of an experiment. I usually mix in a little sweater wool if I need the color, but I wanted to see if it was OK to do the whole thing with felted sweater wool and so far, so good...will show when she's finished up. For now, more from "just folk"...