Happy Halloween to One and All!

I am interrupting my ARtfiberfest programming to Wish YOU all a very Happy Halloween!
I have only one week to get more stuff made for Syd's " Queen of Arts Show" in Solvang, so I am busily making more hooked things, cat softies and whatever else the creative muses come up with. And last night I finished up Mr. Owl, just in time for Halloween.

Faces of Artfiberfest....

At Teesha's on Tuesday before Artfiberfest. Syd and I got a wonderful tour of Teesha and Tracy's home and studio. So fun to see all the art that I've looked at in Art + Life and on her website in person.
Ty and Marcia...the wild ones...at Show 'n Tell....

Gwyneth with her hooked heart....
Tammy, Jerome the gnome, and me.
Alma Stoller came all the way from New York to share her tasty scrumbles....
The Huskamp girls...Marilyn and Tracie, always smiling..
a fellow rug hooker with her new tote....
Nancy and Syd
Gail, Mary, and Syd
Betsey and Gail
Syd and LE, aka Zemlet...dorm buddies and fellow ice cream enthusiasts.
These are some of the happy faces that I managed to get photos of during our 4 days of fiber fun.

Artfiberfest!

Here are a little peek at some of the action in the Nuno felting class...Sarah's beautiful scarf revealed...
I'm just posting a few photos of Artfiberfest tonight...so much fun ..so much inspiration...so many wonderful fiber artists....the highlight of my year...I get to take a fun road trip up to Port Townsend, teach the most lovely people...sell the stuff I've been working on for the last 6 months, see all the cool fiber art created in all the great classes...get to hug Teesha and Tracy, take a walk on the Washington beach, buy socks, eat ice cream at Elevated, buy vendor stuff, and think about next year....make new friends, see my fiberfest pals...fiber HEAVEN!
Caron's first layer of soft colors....she is an incredible needle felter and teacher, by the way...
Anita's first scarf with yarn inlay...Chris in the background working with greens and blues...
Sarah and Deb working the wool into the silk...Mary B. in the background...I think they are having fun...
Jodee on the right designing her first scarf and Nikki working on hers.
The fiber jewelry girls with their finished pieces...what a great group...we had fun sharing family stories and creating cool necklaces, pins and bracelets. Lori, Sarah, Juanita, and Sarah K. made the last day of classes relaxing and intimate.
Here are the Hookers from our first class on Thursday. By the end of artfiberfest there were finished owls and hearts to share at Show n' tell. Everyone made the most wonderful wooly creations...all so different and unique...I liked them all better than my samples! What an incredibly talented bunch of fiber artists! A little bit of instruction and off they all went...like they'd been hooking for years.
That's Tammy back there with the gnome...she and Betsy were returning hookers from last year, so fun to have them in the workshop again! Where's Liz? She took the photo for us! Had to get some of her wonderful yo-yo pin cushions!

MOre to Come....

Leaving soon!

Made a few more flying heart pins.....and a few more hooked flower pins for the rug hookers....

One more tote bag finished up last night. I used the Embellisher to add the wool designs and then embroidered around them for a little stitching and color.

This pile of stuff is going with me to ARtfiberfest. I hope it all fits into Syd's car...materials for 3 classes plus stuff for vendor night and I still haven't packed any clothes! Leaving Saturday morning and back in about 10 days. I will try and take photos of the cool fiber creations at ARtfiberfest and share them with you when I return. Bye for now!

More stuff..

This little basket is full of my "Cell Cozies"..felted wool cell phone holders, fully lined and the strap has a snap so you can put it around your purse strap....whatever I don't sell at Artfiberfest I will put in my poor empty ETSY store, I promise.
And here is the newest member of the cat family....
and party girl, in her Hula outfit....
and a little lady bug pin cushion with party hat...can you tell I'm having fun making party hats???
Another little purse made from recycled sweaters...

Party hats...

These three birds got their party hats.

And these are some of the felted wool tote bags I've been working on.

Family portrait

A group shot of most of the woolie creations I've been making. Most of these will go with me to ARtfiberfest to sell at vendor night....a 2 hour frenzy of fiber fun. Syd and I will be driving up to Port Townsend, Washington state next weekend to teach workshops and visit friends and family and buzz back home. I'm still working on a few things to take ....some felted totes with applique and fiber jewelry that is half finished. My blogging may be a bit sporadic as I pack and get everything ready to go.
These two strange guys showed up on Saturday! Couldn't resist using the felted tassels on the end of a felted wool scarf as "ears"....
This is some NUNO felt that I overdyed. I like it much better now....
The edge of the nuno scarf that I overdyed.....
This is the back side...you can see how the fibers have migrated to the back side....and through the silk fabric.
I decided to do some dyeing of various fabrics while overdyeing the silk...cheesecloth, scrim, velvet, and felt. Fun to dry it outside in the sun and on the jasmine vines at the front of our house.
It reminds of me of the women who do their laundry outside and dry things on boulders and bushes.

Miss Kitty

Miss Kitty, AKA "Queenie" has arrived for a visit. More relatives on the way....

Bird pins and bumper stickers....

Did a little more work on the bird pins.....and below...my kind of bumper stickers! I come from a long line of peaceful folk; teachers, poets, artists, midwives, Quakers and I think we should use our creative intelligence to solve our world's problems. I don't think drilling and killing are the answer.

Stitching faces....

I was experimenting with stitching on a rubber stamped face to use for some dolls and when I turned it over the face above appeared! I like it better than the stamped one! Hmmmm...now which side should I use?
And the bottom one is another face I stitched...interesting...need to explore this more I think.

New stuff!

A funny new doll that showed up yesterday.....she looks sort of Egyptian with that hairdo!
and a wooly bird ...in our Toyon bush...
this is a necklace I made as a sample for my Fiber Jewelry class at Artfiberfest. I made the fabric beads out of recycled kimono fabric and the necklace is crocheted out of 3 strands of Japanese fibers from Habu textiles. I also added some Thai silver charms to give it some weight. Today I am hoping to make more necklaces to sell at vendor night.

More birds and cats....

I've been having fun making these felted sweater wool bird softies.

More softies, 2 cats and a long eared "something"....

The kitties...."look deep into my eyes....."
..... they keep me company when I'm sewing and inspire new cat creations.