Monday night rug hookers meeting...

Katie just started this wonderful "Leo" rug for her son who is graduating from Berkeley this May. She got inspiration from an ancient fresco on a postcard.....What a great face...not easy to do!
Close up of Anne's rug for her sister! Love those colors!
Isn't this just amazing! This is a big rug! See Anne's feet at the bottom...lucky sister~!
Anne's little doggies each got a portrait pillow!
The doggies favorite TV program is Animal Planet! I'm not kidding....they eagerly watch and get all excited when other dogs come on.
Sydney's "Puce" rug...getting close to finishing....she's been working on this for years!
Anne is also taking a jewelry class at Adult Ed. and is making the coolest jewelry. Sorry this is so fuzzy but I wanted to show you her Cloisonne...creature...love it!
Anne's delicious carrot cake...I couldn't resist a slice....sooo good! Did I mention she is also a chef? And makes us all a special rug hookers treat at Christmas??? And she has a lap pool back there .....
Here are some of the hookers at Anne's art and book filled home. Annie and Pepa worked on the background of "Jane's Rug" while we all visited and hooked.

Flora and Tea Party...

I made a few changes to "Flora" and I think its done now.
And here is what I am working on right now..."tea party"...I've always wanted to hook a tea pot since I am a serious tea drinker. This is a small piece about 10" x 12". I want to make a small rug for the kitchen and thought a teapot and cups might be a fun rug for in front of the kitchen sink...where I stand to do dishes everyday and look out the window at the birds and squirrels.
Just one more thing to add to my ever growing list of things to make!

The owl has landed!

Look what sweet Gail (Runner Gurl) Cowan sent me! She is the moderator for our Fiber ATC group as well as a mom, grandma, store manager, and fiber artist and runner. She sends a surprise out each month to one of us lucky ATC' ers. I think I hit the jackpot with this win!
I love this little wall quilt with a hand embroidered quote from Aristotle. Thanks, Gail!


And last night after working at the Plumbing store I needed something to work on while watching Harry Potter on TV...so I started this little teapot rug hooking. I think I will do the background in pink and purple and a hit or miss border.
And on Friday I visited Jeanette M. and got to see her 2 art rooms! One was filled with paper and other art supplies and the other was fiber related...yarns, fabrics, books. So fun to see how other artists arrange their supplies. We did a fiber "treat " exchange. She made me a crocheted "Donut" and I made her a wooly cupcake pincushion. On her first donut she sewed on the beads, and then moved on to using fabric glue for the "sprinkles"...I think they look great! Jeanette was the art teacher at my son's elementary school for 6 years and I always loved the projects she came up with for the kids. Now we see each other at our monthly ATC meetings and at our local Thrift store where we both shop on a regular basis. Right now she is crocheting wild sweaters for a local designer who had her work shown at Fashion Week in New York and got lots of orders to fill.

Flying Home...

I don't think I ever put this on my blog...so thought I'd do it now. I finished this back a few months ago, but it has a sort of "Spring" feel to it so here it is.
We had a fun day at the Art Clinic on Thursday. We celebrated Susan H. and Barbara's birthday with a PMC class taught by Carol Kemp. I wish I had taken photos of all the cool charms that everyone made, but I got distracted by some more baby holding time with Syd's granddaughter, Maddy...our sweet little art baby mascot. She slept in everyone's arms, not a peep, and seemed content with the happy voices of a dozen creative women in the background.
I made a little silver bird house charm with a bird on top and a heart charm and one more tiny bird bead. I need to do a little wire wrapping to get it to a "wearable " state...will show you soon!
Carol was a big help to us all and got everything fired and scrubbed and dipped in liver of sulfur for us before we had to depart. Lots of great salads for lunch and Barbara made 2 lemon Meringue pies for dessert....Yum! Another totally fun and creative day at the Art Clinic!

and one more Birdie....

One more birdie and that's it for awhile! And here's Tiger checking out the new one...
I am still doing a little "fine tuning" on the rug hooking project, "Flora", but it is almost completed. Can't wait to start on another rug!

Earth Day!

Another little birdie appeared last night to join blue birdie....I think another one may show up tomorrow...
you can barely see our partially completed tree house in the oak tree. I love tree houses. My brothers built one with a trap door and a special perch way up high in the branches. I loved to hang out in the tree house and just look at the sky through the branches and leaves and wonder where the sky ended. It seems that my boys would rather hang out in the house than in the tree house, so we haven' t been in a big hurry to finish it.
Rock roses in our yard....


In honor of Earth Day...some words from Cedric Wright's, "Words of the Earth"....

Consider the life of trees.
What man may acquire from trees is immeasurable.
From their mute forms there flows a poise, in silence.
a lovely sound and motion in response to wind.
What peace comes to those aware of the voice and bearing of trees!
Trees do not scream for attention.
A tree, a rock, has not pretense, only a real growth out of self,
in communion with the universal spirit.
A tree retains a deep serenity.
It establishes in the earth not only its root system but also those roots
of its beauty and its unknown consciousness.
Sometimes one may sense a glisten of that consciousness, and with such
perspective, feel that man is not necessarily the highest form of life.


Tree qualities, after long communion, come to reside in man.
As stillness enhances sound, so through little things
the joy of living expands.
One is aware, lying under trees,
of the roots and directions of one's whole being.
Perceptions drift in from earth and sky.
A vast healing begins.



The days of our lives must become precious.

In all heaven and earth, there is one thing to do:

take your time.

Enjoy the perfection of what you are doing.
Enjoy accomplishing it exquisitely.

Little birdie...

Couldn't resist making this little birdie and bunny from the Fun Dolls book. They are quick and easy. I made the bunny smalller than the pattern and used some felted angora sweater wool so it would be soft and cozy. I have another bird cut out....I think they look best in a group.

Almost done!

I got a little more work done on my "Flora" rug last night after working at the Plumbing store. I still need to do a little more hooking and tweaking and then it will be finished....
And I don't think I ever showed you this wonderful Mermaid pillow that my dear friend, Pepa made for my birthday 2 years ago. I love that she put in a "real" mirror for the mermaid and used different fibers to outline the mermaid's tail. Isn't she great!!!?

Sweet baby!

Had the sweetest day on Thursday! I got to hold Jill's new baby, Madison Marie....and what a sweet baby she is. She slept in my arms for the longest time....reluctantly I handed her over to Colleen for her turn. So wonderful to get to hold a new little being and I got to see her the day she was born, so it will be fun to watch her grow up. Susan Halme made the most beautiful cake and fruit tarts for the Welcoming Shower as well as fresh sandwiches from her Solvang Bakery. Next week we will celebrate Susan and Barbara's birthday at the Art Clinic and do a PMC class with Carol Kemp. Can't wait...I've only taken one PMC class and I'm ready to explore this medium once again with Syd and the art girls at the Clinic.

A group project...

Thought I'd show you what our Rug Hooking Group is working on. This is a surprise rug we are making for Jane Olson, one of our teachers and mentors. She taught many of us how to hook and dye wool especially for hooking and been an all around friend and inspiration. She learned how to hook from her mother at an early age and has been going strong ever since. Originally from the East Coast she now lives in California and still gives workshops and writes for Rug Hooking Magazine now and then.
She and her older sister, Norma (both in their 80's) gave many of us our first rug hooking lessons. Annie came up with this fun way to honor Jane. We each will do about 4 circles and outline them with black wool. Then we will all work on the mixed black background at our next hook-in.
I will show you the finished rug in May. It's fun to try and guess who did which circles. I did my 4 on Wed. night so I could take it to the Art Clinic on Thursday and pass it on to Penny. Now to get back to my other hooking project....if I don't get distracted on something else!

Making stuff, ignoring housework...

Got some more work done on this last night...I am hoping it will all come together when I get going on the border...not sure what colors to use yet....

And this little Fun Doll was fun to make! Looks pretty much like the one in the book...now to make my own patterns..like maybe a Stripey Cat?
Back side showing tail! We have BIG sandstone boulders all over our property...great for photo props!
I picked this up on my walk...and was so pretty I had to take a photo....reminds me of my childhood....loved picking Dandelions, didn't you?

Next phase...

Got a little more hooking done last night...only stayed up until midnight. Now to do some serious background work and border, too. For some odd reason I like to do my rug hooking at night. I do other crafts during the day when I get the chance to stay home. I'm back working on Saturdays at our Plumbing store in Ventura for the time being. The fun part is checking out blogs when it isn't busy and visiting the Ventura thrift stores after work...different stuff..and they have a bunch of stores on Main St.-old town- where I can find wooly wonders for hooking and softies.
And speaking of softies...I got this book in Portland and think I will try out some of the patterns.

The striped sweater in the background just might turn into a "Stripe Dog". Will post if it turns out OK.
Love this bag of fiber goodness from Edge to Edge...wool felt on top and wool recycled blanket for hooking on the bottom. Such nice ladies run the store too..and they remembered us from Artfiberfest!
Fiber finds from "The Websters" in Ashland, Or. one of our" Must-Stops" on the way to Artfest.I have plans to use some of these in my Fiber Jewelry class at ARtfiberfest.....at least that is what I told myself when I had to have them.....

Late night

I am such a night owl...once I started hooking on this new piece it was hard to stop....
I stayed up until 1:30 am which would be OK, except that I have to get up at 6:15 to get Justin off to school. I can usually get a little more sleep in before the day really starts. Looking forward to summer when I can sleep in! May make some changes as I go along but it was good to get back to my rug hooking which I love.
I picked up a few new colors of wool at "Edge to Edge" in Port Townsend and that's always fun...
Also got some nice wool felt to play with. I really want to do some dyeing with wool felt using my Magic Carpet dyes from Canada.

Back to Earth again...

Made this little Fiber ATC for April for our group last night...used the delightful kimono silk from Suzanne Lucy this time. My first "after-Artfest" project.
Today I drew up this pattern to rug hook. It is 14" square and is for our rug hooking group's challenge for May. We decided on the theme "Flora"..so I put in lots of flowers and a tiny house.
Will try and show you as I go along how I hook....
And this is just the best year ever for our Jasmine and honeysuckle! This is growing on our front railing and almost overpowers you with its fragrance.
It is hot here today! So I got #2 son and husband to take a beach walk to cool off! Folks were swimming in the 57 degree water! Just one of those very beautiful days.....
I love to be greeted by these flowers on the road up to our little community.
The winding road that goes down to the beach....once was a stagecoach road and before that a Chumash Indian trail. I've been driving up and down this winding road since my college days.
It's good to be home again....however...I'm pretty sure I left a part of my spirit up in Port Townsend....and in my dreams I am still there. When I wake up I have to remember where I am....and get centered on what I have to do....not "what class am I going to today?"
It's still not too early to be thinking of Artfiberfest....I will be teaching 3 classes and doing vendor night again, so I have things to do! Hope to see you all there!

More Artfest Images

Most of these images are from the Show and Tell event at the end of Artfest.
Wish I knew the names of the artists....but it was crowded and I just snapped photos as I walked along. Great colors and such variety...everyone did such beautiful work!

A woven book cover...
PMC bird pendant...
waxy layers class...Michelle Allen, my table partner...love her colors! the following are all from Anahata's classes..2 different ones, but they all caught my eye...







These are just a tiny peek at the incredible creations at ARtfest. the most wonderful part of Artfest is being with all the like minded souls. We were greeted with hugs by our house mates next door..Annie and her sister (with the fun hat and great outfits)...got to know Annie at Artfiberfest and found out we both were at UCSB at the same time. We had some of the same teachers but different classes this time. She made a great little shrine and a fun floor cloth and was all smiles at Show and Tell.
Got to spend a little time with Betsey and Sherri, the Bellingham girls. Loved their trades...hope we get to spend more creative time together soon...and there is always Artfiberfest coming up in October. Had a nice dinner chat with a lovely woman named Judy from Colorado. Her first time at Artfest and first time taking special art time for herself away from home. At our table was Susan Wooldridge..of course I read her book, Fool's Gold, as soon as Teesha recommended it. A fun and energetic woman and I loved meeting her. Got to see Marcia and Ty, once again...they sat behind me in Judy Wise's class...they always bring humor and keep me smiling.
Loved seeing Katie Kendrick again. She gave me the cutest softie with one of her painted faces that I love...and I just had to buy a print of her painting, "Naptime in the Forest"at vendor night. It is just the coziest soothing painting...once framed it will go in the bedroom next to Judy's work.
I am still processing all the warmth and love and creativity that is Artfest. I am so grateful to Teesha, Tracy and their families for making this happen every year. ....for gathering all of these wonderful teachers and students to share their gifts and special energy and taking chances on new teachers and techniques to further inspire our creativity in so many ways....Thank you from the bottom of my heart to one and all!!!