The Holidays in Santa Barbara...

These are the windows of one of my favorite little shops here in Santa Barbara called "Lewis and Clark". Every Christmas they decorate the windows with wonderful little scenes using their vintage props for backgrounds. I took these shots a few days before Christmas while doing a bit of last minute shopping.
These gnomes appear every year in the front window.


Lovely live Celtic music greeted us at the SB Art Museum. The young man in the blue kilt had just returned from Iraq, the others were still in high school.

And after a busy week-Wed. we had a dinner for our store employees in Ventura, Thurs. drove down to Glendale for the Stanley Christmas Eve Party and back home again by midnight, home for Christmas with hike in the forest, visits with my brother and his wife and now we are off on a little vacation to Calistoga up in Napa Valley.
Back in about a week....so wishing you all a very Happy and Prosperous New Year with a wish for Peace on our beautiful planet.

New little owl...

Here's my new little owl all finished up and below when I completed the hooking.

Three little antique quilt houses, a bit larger and fancier than my other ones. The quilt fabric on the right ones dates back to the 1850's!
Added a few buttons before sending this one off to a friend.
And here is what I'm reading right now. I think I've read almost everything Barbara Kingsolver has written. This one is a bit slow going but interesting and about Frida and Diego so I read a little each night before lights out.
And Marie, could you send me your address please...I found a hooked heart that wants to go to you!

Winter Solstice...

Warm wishes to you on this Winter Solstice evening!
We got our tree up last week and the presents are starting to pile up. I think most of them are for Justin who also has a Dec. 29 birthday and made lists for us in detail. I had some errands to do downtown and then got in a winter beach walk and a quick trip to the thrift store where I found 2 nice sweaters to felt. Then on home as a light rain began to fall. I built a fire in the fireplace, lit a few candles and then it's time to bake some cookies for the boys.
This little folk owl is now finished and stuffed...but this is how it looked in the beginning stages.
A little wool village of house pin cushions that I had hoped to finish before Christmas. Now I need to get out my basket of felt and trims and have fun embellishing these little cottages. They may be ready to take up to "Muse" in the Napa Valley where we are heading after Christmas for a little vacation.

And more cupcakes!

Just when I thought I had completed my Holiday orders and was putting away the fabric that has been covering the living room, I got a call from Terrell Powell in Austin, Texas-"Send more cupcakes!" So I went into high gear and came up with 22 new cupcakes that are now on their way to Texas for the Armadillo Christmas Bazaar that goes until Christmas eve. Above are the pastel ones and below the "chocolatey" ones.
Whew! Now back to making some Holiday cookies and major house cleaning and sleeping in after Friday! Yay!

Creative Females Holiday Gift Exchange

Monday night we had our rug hooking meeting and holiday gift exchange. Everyone brought a dish to share for dinner and a handmade gift for their secret partner. Before we got started we had a little share and tell. This wonderful owl rug was hooked by Katie and it says
"Who are you?" on the bottom edge. Love all the textures of the wool she used and the deep blues of the night sky. She is the same hooker that made the "Bite Me!" rug with the gator last month.

Penny's home was decorated with all manner of Christmas goodies. Plenty of sparkle and glitter!
Every nook and corner had wonderful things to delight us all.


Anne S. finished up her "Hot Donna" rug and it will now go to it's new owners. Hot Donna is the chicken that survived the "tea fire" here in Santa Barbara.
Penny shared her latest "Circles" wall piece with her favorite colors.
This is the little pillow I hooked for Rochelle for our gift exchange.
Pepa's collage with a Roller derby theme.
Katie's rusty wreath for Barbara...
Annie made a holder for wool rug strips out of 1850's quilt fabric for Anne S.
Rochelle made me this beautiful necklace with amethyst, onyx and silver beads.
I think Jean made this for Maren...a fun hot pad for the table.
Maren quilted this beautiful table runner for Carol using a technique that she learned the weekend before. Lots of ooohs and ahhhs!
Carol's wonderful "Crows" chair pad went to Fran.
Penny's incredible glass sculpture found a new home.
Barbara made this cool acorn and bead garland.
Anne S. made this sweet little box with a portrait of Pepa's doggie, Rocky in the center, inside a handmade beaded bracelet. And she made a ceramic mug with Rocky's name on it and we all got to feast on her famous chocolate cake and cookie treats later on.
Fran made this felted wool rug for Sydney with a needle felted design.
Sue made this cute bird heart ornament for Jean.
Syd made lovely cards of her art work for Annie-a great collection of drawings, pastels and paintings.
We had a great time enjoying each others company, sharing our gifts, sampling all the dishes, drinking the hot mulled cider and two scrumptious desserts and our little bag of take home cookies. I feel so lucky to have all these fiber artist friends to play with!

Catching up....

We've had a bit of wild weather here...60 MPH winds and freezing temps. and our internet service has been out for days so I am finally catching up while I can. Had a fun busy week. On Thursday we had a Christmas ornament exchange at Syd and Carol's Art Clinic. Lots of handmade ornaments exchanged hands. I got a photo of a few here. Above is Syd's felt Santa...we all wanted one and told her she'd better make a dozen for next year.

This beauty is from Colleen...the tiny center heart is from Mexico.
Love this collage of Syd's that she is working on for a calendar.

And back to last Saturday...here are some shots from the opening of the "Go ask Alice" show.
Loved these crocheted treats and container with embroidered messages.
Two best friends holding my cupcakes...
Some of my fabric mushrooms on Cimi's fabric tree.
A lovely Waldorf Alice and rabbit next to my two linen rabbits which I've heard have sold!
Two of Cimi's fun dolls...
The Tweedle brothers...
A great show opening! Lots of folks came and bought stuff. Delicious tea from "loop and leaf" and Cimi put out lots of yummy treats to go with the tea. A fun evening for all.

Here's the driftwood tree made by Greg. We had a fun Holiday party with lots of friends and Kate made lots of good things to eat. Had fun talking to someone from my high school days, then off to the Alice show.
Did one more Yarn tag at Goleta Beach. This tree now has two of my afgan tags. Can you find it?

And now I am back to rug hooking. I am making something for our rug hooking gift exchange this Monday night. Photo soon. Missed you all....and glad to be back!

Funny rabbit...

This funny little linen rabbit will be at the "Go ask Alice" doll and plush art show tonight. The "Mad Tea Party" reception is tonight from 6-9 pm and I think I might even wear a hat to this.
Loop and Leaf, a fine yarn and tea shop is providing the tea and Cimmi is making cupcakes.
And my friend, Kate is having a Holiday Party tonight so after the reception I am heading over to her home to mingle with old friends and see if they have their driftwood trees up yet.
Yesterday I went to the annual Folk and Tribal Arts Marketplace at the SB Museum of Natural History. Over 30 vendors with wonderful art and crafts from all over the world sell their wares.
I only bought a few things....house construction and the economy are making me behave.....
I couldn't resist these baskets from Zimbabwe...made entirely from recycled wire from inside radial tires! I love the fun decorations...the small one was only $8.!
And these two ornaments or pincushions from Peru were too cute to pass up! Makes me want to go back to Peru and collect textiles again! I also bought a nice soft alpaca scarf for my SIL for Christmas.
Still working on some Christmas orders to ship out next week (mushrooms and pins) and then I think I am free to do some rug hooking!

And yet.....

we have even more little houses! These are new ones with their hangers on top. I really must stop making houses! And mushrooms! Plus I miss my rug hooking and want to get back to that as Michele at "Muse" is awaiting some things for Christmas sales in her Napa Valley yarn store.

I made this little group out of some very old quilt scraps that my rug hooking friend, Annie gave me. She used to have an antique store and every now and then she brings me a bag of wonderful old textile scraps to play with.
Had to see how the houses looked mixed up together for a "neighborhood" shot.
And I made these this morning instead of cleaning the house. There was a barrel of free fabric at Art From Scrap and I just had to take home a bit. These are the result of my "barrel diving".
And I promise, no more houses or mushrooms, at least for awhile!