Il Madonari

These are a few of the wonderful chalk paintings that were done over the Memorial Day weekend in front of the Santa Barbara Mission.

Fiber ATC's

This little group of fiber ATC's got sent off to Kansas yesterday....I made them in a bit of a hurry....used an old vintage table cloth for the background, a felt bird and silk grass and added a little flower for color....we will eventually get 10 new ATC's in the mail...all with birds...can't wait!

Embroidery and felt

Finished the little Tiny Village embroidery...
Barbara Carr made this beautiful felt vessel at a workshop on Whidbey Island in Wa. recently..and the wonderful yellow felt purse below. Barbara will be helping me teach Nuno felt scarves next fall at ArtFiberFest in Oct. 2008.

More Hook-in photos...

This is part of Penny McCall's fabric house assemblage for Art From Scrap....isn't it wonderful!
Here is our group circle rug for Jane..so far...a few people still need to do their circles and then we do the center and background.
Lovely Maren working on a new pillow...
Katie's lion rug....
Close up of the back of Penny's rug so you can see one of the ways to finish the back. She binds the edge with wool...matching the colors of the edge of the rug and then sews the twill tape to cover the rough edge...
Another of Penny's rugs back side....so nice!
Here's a close up showing the shiny ring on the hand....
Here's the front with the unfinished edge showing....
Close up of Penny's flowers....

REal flowers at Carol's...I love these Matilija Poppies....and the bees were loving them too!

Hook-in at Carol's

Carol's primitive cat...almost done...love it!
Maren's beautiful flowers...made into a pillow with great trim.
Barbara's fun flowers...love the earthy part on the bottom!
Penny's "Flora"...great mix of colors and textures of wool...like a walk in the woods...
Sue's vibrant "Flora" creation...WOW!
Katie's soft "Flora"..with felted centerpiece...(made in a day!)
Jean's...Home piece in progress...
Anne's very fun piece..inspired by a New Yorker cartoon from 1971!

These are a quick sampling of the Flora pieces from our Hook-in challenge for May. All so different and fun. We had a great time hooking and visiting and sharing wool and stories at Carol's art filled home in Carpinteria. We had yummy brownies, a berry crumble and lemonade for refreshments and set up our next challenge for August..."Fauna"... Several of the ladies are going to the Cambria Rug Camp in June and invited us to come up for the show and tell part.
I'll post more photos and close ups of rugs later....

another quick post....

This pillow was an experiment using lots of different yarns and textures to see how they would hook up. I first sewed the bird print into the center of some monk's cloth and then hooked around it...fun to try different fibers and techniques.


This is a little piece that I found in an Antique mall in Nova Scotia...such intricate work! I think it is a napkin ring....
View this morning out my art studio window....I usually can see the Pacific Ocean and the Channel Islands...but today it is raining and overcast...unusual for this time of year. Our vegies on the deck seem to like it though! (But not the feather bed that was airing out...eeek!)
And here is a view looking up at our loft...once my art room, now Justin's bedroom....the hand carved wooden crow came from Nova Scotia...I wish I had gotten 2 more of them!I'll try and get a close-up of him later....off to the store again....I'm late!

Quick post...

Here's the little embroidered village so far....and some fun bird fabric that reminds me of Tara for some reason! Now I'm off to take Justin to school and drive to Ventura for work...

Busy week...

Some brightly colored wool for hooking...sent to me by a dear and generous friend...(T.M.)
Hooked bird, now stuffed and ready for some legs...
Bird and friends.....all awaiting bird legs....

This week I will be working at the Plumbing & Hardware store replacing our regular register person who is on a week vacation...so I may not get to Blog as much as I would like to. Of course I still have lots of fiber projects going on...can't wait to start on a new bright hooked bird for Elizabeth in Australia...finish up a fiber assemblage piece for a show in June at Art From Scrap, fiber jewelry to sell at Artfiberfest...more samples for my classes....fiber ATC's for our group...need to make 11 cards with birds....finish my piece for our hook-in this Sunday...and keep sorting all that wool and fabric I've managed to collect.....and I'm sure there is more.

After working I rushed home, changed clothes and went with my son, Jason to honor the seniors at his school for their Outstanding Academic GPA's and community service. I can't believe that my cuddly little boy is now about to go to college! He has a bit of "senior-itis" right now...but I'm proud of all the work he has put in this year and I love him to pieces, even though he won't let me hug him anymore....

Birds

Almost finished hooking this Bird last night, just a few more rows to go...
And I made this little piece on the new Embellisher to try it out. Things change shape and disappear into the felt at times, so I need to keep playing with it to really know what I'm doing.
But I think it will be a fun tool and I can't wait to do more experimenting with it.
Off to the Plumbing-hardware store today......Oldest son, Jason has his Prom tonight but is being very mum on the details.....guess that is normal for 18 year old boys....

Hooking dolls....

These are stamped faces that I may use on the rug hooked dolls. I also like to embroider the faces and sometimes hook them, too.
These are two doll bodies that I've hooked. I used wool that was already in my rug hooking basket and didn't think too much about what colors I was going to use...they just sort of "happened".
A Green flower? Another unplanned piece of hooking just using what was in the basket.
These are the drawings on burlap that I use to make the doll body. I later add felted wool arms and legs when I'm sewing them up.

and here is the bird that I started to work on last night...purples, blues and rose colors. I think I am going to try and mix it up a bit on this guy!
And I picked up my Embellisher yesterday! I'm still staring at it and wondering what to do! Too many choices....but I am excited at all the options and the opportunity to have more ways to play with fiber.

Fiber collage.....

A small fabric collage that I've been working on.....I actually made the little silk bird for another piece that I'm working on, but it seems to fit in here...so I may let it stay.
And this little guy is going off to a new home tomorrow as a teacher gift, for a pre-school teacher who likes squirrels.

finishing up and starting ....

Just started this little embroidery piece...inspired by the stamped patch on the back of my flannel jacket....below...I can work on this while doing register at the store when it slows down in the afternoon.

These 2 crows finally got their legs!
and here is my latest Fiber ATC for our group for May...all kimono silks...