Piggies and doggies.....

These are my "piggies in process". I used vintage linen for the bodies and then painted them with acrylics. Still need to do detail work. I am using the logo pig for inspiration and these will be a surprise for the owner of Just Folk. And since they are "dog people" I made 8 doggie ornaments out of felted wool. I first drew a pattern to roughly follow, stitched, leaving an opening at the stomach area, turned inside out, stuffed them, added eyes and ears and a collar. Now I only need to add a hanger.

The wool has landed!

All this beautiful hand dyed wool roving arrived from Australia today! I love the gorgeous colors. It makes me want to get my spinning wheel out and do some spinning by the fire side. Or do some felting......All of this wooly goodness came from Elizabeth Armstrong a wonderful fiber artist and teacher.... you can reach her at www.frostfair.com for more info. If I ever get to Australia again I will definitely take some classes from her in her very cool studio which was featured in a recent magazine.
Here's Mr. Tiger taking a Thanksgiving nap on his favorite quilt.
This is some rug hooked Indian Corn that I made years ago. Our rug hooking group sponsored a teacher from the East coast to come and teach us how to make 3 dimensional objects...we had a choice of corn, squash or a pumpkin. I went for the corn. We put real corn husks on the top so that you can hang them up if you want.

Happy Thanksgiving!

So many things to be grateful for.....

Thanksgiving

For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food,
For love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Justin and I went and picked apples in the rain for tomorrows apple cobbler. We made a pumpkin pie today, built a fire to keep warm, played several rounds of Tiddly winks and other fun stuff. May you have a wonderful Thanksgiving full of love and hope, friends and family and good food. And thank you for your visits to my little corner of the world.

A dove and little houses....

Here's the dove of peace tree topper that I made last night nesting in our toyon berry bush.
And here is why I haven't been rug hooking lately...these little house ornaments...I think I can stop now! It looks like a little European village...
And I finally got the table cleared for Thanksgiving. No small task for me....I use this table for sewing, ATC's, jewelry making, collage and one project just led to another. I managed to get things cleared off and had fun putting some fun things together along the middle of the table.

Quite a gathering....everyone is welcome!
Tom kitty asleep on my sewing chair.

Felting at the Art Clinic and a reunion...

Sunday was spent in Solvang at the Art Clinic where Barbara Carr treated us to a fun felt inlay class. I am thinking this might be a great class to offer at Artfiberfest. It is a bit easier on the body than the Nuno felting class and I like the way you can get fine detail with the pre-felt, like doing a collage. Above is my first attempt, then I did the flying bird, below and the pink confetti, just for fun.


Jill is laying out her felt as she starts designing her piece.
A beautiful scarf that Barbara made.
i think this is Jill's piece....
More felt pieces....close up.
Syd's fun piece.
This is stage one..before felting.....laying out the design...
another close up of one of Barbara's pieces.
Saturday found me at a lovely memorial for one of my South Pasadena school friends'
father. There was a large gathering of friends and family who spoke and shared stories and memories among the giant oak trees of the Carpinteria Cemetary. I asked Diana's daughter to take a photo of 4 high school friends and added a photo from 20 years ago at my wedding (no.2) on the hottest day of the year here in Santa Barbara.
Marsha, Diana, Mary, Debbie
Diana, Debbie, Mary, Marsha

A basket of birds and mushrooms....

These are just some of the ornaments I've been working on for "Just Folk"....I am enjoying the process....hand stitching, stuffing, looking for interesting fabrics to play with and imagining them on their big Christmas tree.

A little peek at Teesha's studio ....

Going back in time a bit here...but thought I'd share some photos of Teesha Moore's fun studio and home that I took on the way to Artfiberfest. Syd and I got in a quick visit and had so much fun looking around at all the colorful and wonderful art collections that Teesha and Tracy have put together. If you want to get a look for yourself, take one of their art journaling workshops held right there in their great new studio space!

Silk scarf...and enchiladas...

I got a call reminding me that I had volunteered to make a silk scarf to be auctioned off for a charity event. I thought that I had until the weekend and was thinking about what fabrics to use. They needed it today! So yesterday I jumped into action and found these silk kimono scraps and put them together into a scarf. The back is black silk...all made from recycled silk from Art from Scrap!
And below is the Enchilada dish I made for a potluck tonight that will offer moral support for some dear friends that lost everything in the fire last week. The sweetest, kindest, most generous folks you could ever meet...they hosted meditations at their home, did Waldorf schooling for their kids, built their own home and always had a kind and positive word for all. My heart goes out to all those in our community who lost their homes in this devastating fire.
The red hearts are cut out of red bell peppers...adding some additional love to the dish.

Pincushions, post cards, and badges....

Some of my fun new pincushions from Artfiberfest friends...Liz, Tammy, Lori, and Susan...
Fun post cards from Felt club event...everyone had great cards and lots of badges were for sale...
and I had to get these fun ones....

Felt Club Field Trip

After a bit of deliberation, Colleen and I set off on a spur of the moment Reconnaissance Trip to Los Angeles for the once a year event called the Felt Club. This is a large gathering of Indie crafts folk selling their handmade wares, everything from cards, books, clothing and jewelry to handspun yarn, felted hats, scarves, supplies and classes in needle felting and charm bracelet making. An incredible turn out! Hundreds of people showed up and the line outside the Shrine Expo hall went around the corner and down the street. Most items were in the $5.oo to $ 45. oo range and things were selling fast. We had thought about being a vendor at the show but felt we needed to check it out first. I think we will put it on our list for next year.
Another fun part of the show was the "Swap o rama rama "that was held in the mezzanine area. You brought items of clothing to recycle and for a small fee could go and cut up other items sorted by clothing type (a table for pants, shirts, tees,etc.) and remake them into wearables to take home. There were stations where you could silk screen your creation, embellish with the Janome Embellisher, photo prints...all of these with staff to help you with your work. It reminded me a bit of the Art Asylum room at Artfest, but with all clothing being worked on.
After strolling every isle and a bit of shopping, we headed towards home with a quick stop on Melrose for a delicious late lunch at a cafe and bakery called Pai'n. We had wonderful open faced sandwiches on fresh bakery bread and shared a dessert of chocolate mousse cake tart.
One of the booths....
View from above...
Upstairs in the mezzanine where the recycled clothing tables were set up.
I couldn't resist this cute tote bag made by Susie Ghahremani. I enjoyed meeting her and have admired her work for quite awhile.
Why is this girl smiling?
We get to share this yummy dessert!

Random shots from October Road trip to Portland, Or.