Happy Summer Solstice Everyone!

These dollies are coming with me to Artfiberfest and are looking for new homes.
This basket of creatures will be coming too....
Two brand new mushrooms made last night....
And I made it to the Festive Summer Solstice Celebration in downtown Santa Barbara on Saturday. About 50,ooo people or more lined the streets. We have an annual parade...all of the floats are made by hand, no motorized vehicles allowed. It's a great community celebration of creativity and a fun day for everyone. Dancing, art, food, crafts followed in the nearby park. I somehow left my camera in my car and had to take these from the Sunday paper....

The fabric animals...now painted....
The two kitties asleep on a rocking chair.
And my ole pal, Tiger totally relaxed on an antique quilt.

I leave tomorrow for Portland, Oregon....so this might be my last post for a bit....Thanks to Marie, Sheri, Jude, Chris, Tara and all you others who stop in for a peek...I appreciate your comments and visits!

Busy week...

It's been a busy week here with the boys out of school and getting ready to travel to Portland with all my class stuff. I did manage to get these two dollies finished up and the ones below are needing to be painted some more. We shall see if I can get them done in time for our trip.


On Wednesday we had a fun little felting day here at my home. Barbara, Kate, and Cindy came up the mountain and we felted with prefelt and had fun making things and trying out new techniques. I made these little circles for pins for my felt collage class, Barbara made a cool "Welcome" sign for her home, and Kate made a sweet little collage piece before heading off to Montana.

Looking forward to Artfiberfest...and busy getting all my kits together....just a few more days and we will be heading North!

New Cats!

I finished up these two new cats last night. And the girl on the right is wearing my new "Susan Skinner" bug-found object necklace. I decided I had to have it when the numbers were the same as my birthday! (2-3-48)
I am trying to finish up dolls and hooked things I have been working on for Vendor night at Artfiberfest, my best art sale of the year. We leave for Portland, Oregon in one week!

And Good News! Syd and I will be teaching at Artfest next year!!! There is an incredible bunch of teachers coming (Tara, Jill and more) and it will be fun to take classes and teach. The hard part is deciding what to take out of so many choices. I hope you can join us!
And other news....I will have several cats and mushrooms in the new issue of STUFFED! coming out this July 1. And in the Autumn issue of Haute Handbags one of my felted totes will be included.....making me happy and good for the ole self esteem!

Kuba cloth and a visit to Ojai

My friend Cindy and the musical bamboo....
Some Kuba Cloth from the Congo was hanging outside a store in Ojai called Verandah. Wonderful textiles and ethnic art inside, a visual delight.
Woven bags outside the main doorway....
Cindy is visiting from Kona, Hawaii and we took a little day trip to Ojai where a jewelry artist that I love was having a trunk show at the Human Arts store. Susan Skinner lives in New Mexico and makes fun, whimsical silver jewelry using found objects and semi precious stones inlaid into silver.
I bought a necklace and earrings and got to share some fun time comparing stories of growing up in the Los Angeles area and going to cool music concerts in the 60's and 70's. Ojai was having a Music Festival at the same time so we crossed the street where there was a Pottery Show and sale and other fun stuff going on. There was a solar powered bamboo music project that was fascinating. I'm not quite sure how it all worked but it made some interesting sounds as the bamboo went up and down in the tubs of water.
This solar powered disc had something to do with the musical bamboo....a bit other worldly!

Spirit Cloth

Here is the beautiful "Spirit Cloth" from Jude Hill. It is called "Persistence" and you can read more about how she made it on her blog, "Spirit Cloth", at the top of my Links list. I still can't believe that I have it in my possession, it is such a treasure!
Close ups of some of my favorite parts.....we have exchanged fabric and messages for quite awhile now and it is so fun to see bits and pieces of fabric show up in her creations. I like to play a little "I spy" game with myself when I see something that I think came from the West Coast.

Cuffs

Added a bit more to the cuffs or bracelets.....these are fun and easy to make.

Visit to Napa Valley...

A Celebration of Life decorated bicycle on the streets of Calistoga...
A visit to the Castillo Amarosa near Calistoga. It took 15 years to build this copy of a medieval castle, complete with a dungeon and large dining hall. And a gift shop filled with wine in the back...
On the way up to the Castle, lots of pretty flowers. There were sheep grazing nearby and 100 year old olive trees.

Flowers next to the Calistoga train station...
There are some wonderful shops in St. Helena...loved the vintage bird cage in this one....
and Vintage Home always has an interesting window...didn't have time to go inside...
this one was fun...a giant papier mache pair of flats in a shoe and clothing store specializing in "flats".
And my rug hooking friend, Katie recommended this wonderful bakery in Yountville. We got tarts for my relatives in San Mateo and some cookies for our trip home. Delicious!!! Heavenly!

Opening my mail when we got home, I received the sweetest surprise:
my very own "Spirit Cloth" from Jude Hill!
I am beyond thrilled, I love her work so much. Thank you, Jude! What a generous spirit.

Totes and Chalk Paintings....

Made these little totes yesterday and finished them up this morning. The bird fabric is from Japan and I loved the fun colors and it is sort of like oil cloth with a vinyl coating. I think these would be good to put little fiber art projects in for weekend trips...like the one we are taking tomorrow.
We are off on a short vacation to No. California...to our favorite little place- Calistoga- where we soak in the hot springs and go out to dinner and take daily hikes in the mountains.
Both boys are out of school so they are coming too.
So I be back around Thursday...in the meantime here are some photos of the chalk paintings that cover the ground in front of the Santa Barbara Mission every Memorial Day. It is called" I Madonarri" and hundreds of folks come to see the artists create their temporary works of art. I usually take the boys to see all the paintings a few days after the crowds are gone and before the chalk art disappears. These are just a small sampling of the many creations.








Have a great week~!

and now, more circles!

More hooked circles that will be pins or flowers. This group I hooked on burlap, trimmed and glued the sides to the back. Next I will cut a felt backing and sew on a pin back.
The group I posted yesterday I hooked on monk's cloth...I like using both backings and tend to use whatever is on hand.
Today I am in "Fiber heaven"! Both boys spent the night at friends' homes, Dennis is at work and it is quiet and raining! I have fabric on the floor, cutting out little totes from some very cool oilcloth that Colleen and I bought in Ashland, Or and now I am finally using it. NPR on the radio, Piano Jazz, a cup of hot tea...I'm a happy girl.

New stuff....

A little fabric collage I just finished up for the Circle theme at Art From Scrap.
All made from kimono silk fabric that I collected from the bins at AFS. It is 8 1/2" x 11".
These are hooked circles that will turn into flower pins for my hooking students at Artfiberfest.
The cat on the left is the only 'new" addition to the cat family, but I like to take group shots.

Rug Hooking at Penny's

We had our monthly rug hookers meetings at Penny's wonderful home Monday evening. Nine of us showed up and there were some fun rugs being worked on. Above is Barbara's rug based on a Deanne Fitzpatrick design. Love those colorful houses!
And this is Jean's little sheep rug made from a purchased pattern. It came out so lovely..with the fleecey white wool used on the mama sheep.
Jean was the only one to bring her hooked vessel. It's about one half done. I think the rest of us have sort of given up on the project for the time being.
This one is a close up of Anne's rug for friends who lost their home in the "Tea Fire"..It's called "Hot Donna" in honor of the chicken who survived amidst many who didn't. Hot Donna is her real name and she has a new home closer to the ocean.
Penny has started a great new series of rugs...this one is a close-up and reminds Penny of pineapple upside down cake.....yummy colors!
Penny loves red (can you tell?) and this one is still being worked on. The bottom two are completed and ready for finishing.