Happy Halloween You All!

Four little black wool kitties wish you a Happy and safe Halloween!
I made the fabric owl in the back row but the rest are my small collection of Halloween goodies.
Now that the boys are older and no costumes are being made, it's a bit calmer around here. But in years past I think Halloween was one of their favorite holidays and they had me making costumes up until the last minute...skeletons, power rangers, grim reapers, etc. I love seeing the neighborhook kids in their costumes trick or treating. We don't get very many up here in our mountain top community, just a few groups but it's still fun.
Driving down our winding mountain top road you will come across this witch hanging from a forest tree and her two companions below. Our 80 year old neighbor has put up decorations for Halloween for 20 years and they are still fun to look for. There is a giant black spider that also appears on Halloween by our creek and the Painted Cave hanging from a tree above the road. It is always gone the next day and we have no idea who puts it up....

By the way, if you are interested in the Yarn tagging, there is a good book on Amazon that I just ordered called "Yarn Bombing"...check it out! I think it is about mostly European sites, but full of fun ideas.

New Owl, cupcakes, heart, pins and Yarn Tag!

Here's the newest owl that I've hooked up for the show next week. Tonight I will sew him up and stuff him and start another hooking project.

More cupcake photos....I made 20 of them in many different flavors.
New heart with birdie hooked up this week.
And below some heart pins....
And now for something NEW! Have you ever heard of YARN TAG? Well, my art friend Jeanette introduced me to it and we are having fun tagging trees and poles with fun wool tags around our city. We give each other clues as to where they are and then see if we can find them.
Below are some that I've done and the last one is Jeanette's latest! I just love how she used the buttons to put it on the tree!
Jeanette even created a blog called http://yarntagyarns.blogspot.com/ to keep track of our activities. Go check it out!
And start Yarn tagging, if you are brave enough!


This one has a pocket on it!
Jeanette's lastest one in the Magnolia center....

Cupcakes, hearts,acorns, and a kitty...

Here are just some of the cupcake pin cushions I put together out of my collection of recycled wool felted sweaters. My friend, Syd and I had made some fiber cupcakes for our birthday party a few years ago, but when I saw the ones that Betz White made I got really inspired and cooked these up and had fun with the embellishing.
Some of the winged heart pins that I'm working on for the next show. Some have a tin heart and some have a fabric heart.
I also made over 100 fiber acorns! These have a real acorn cap but the bottom part is made from various fabrics, mostly velvet. Last year I put about 6 in a cellophane bag tied with a nice ribbon and sold them all.
The hooked kitty is finally completed. All stuffed and ready to go, I took him to the rug hooking meeting and Carol decided that she needed him, so he now has a nice new home in Carpinteria.

Off to Rug hooking tonight!

Got lots of work done today on my tin heart pins, cupcake pin cushions, and some rug hooking projects. We have our monthly rug hooking meeting tonight at Carol's, so I'm off soon to meet up with the girls.

A few more things and dinner at the Palace...

One more pumpkin hooked up for the next show and the little owl pins are almost finished up. Must give credit to Betsey and Suzanne of Bellingham, WA for the idea...they made some wonderful owl tags for ARtfest 08 that I still treasure.

And then last night we had our now monthly family dinner out with the boys. Jason chose "The Palace" on Cota St. and it was great! Cajun food of all sorts, starting with hot tiny muffins in four varieties, cajun popcorn-battered crayfish appetizers and after the main courses we had the house special dessert- Louisiana chocolate bread pudding with whiskey creme sauce. Since we hadn't been to the restaurant in 20 years (before kids) they "Welcomed us Back"....which was nice....we'll be back much sooner this time.

Kitty

Only two weeks until the "Queen of Arts" show in Solvang! So I'm busy working on finishing up a bunch of projects I've started like this hooked cat.

I get to meet Martha Stewart!

Here's my little story: Normally I don't watch TV during the day, but last week I had some hand sewing to do so I turned on the TV and Martha was on. It was a fun show and she made the toadstools and snails out of pumpkins and squash similar to the ones on the cover of her latest Martha Stewart Living magazine. At the end of the show she mentioned that she was going to be in California doing a book signing of her latest cook book and invited us all to come meet her.
So I thought that I might just do that if I could work it out schedule wise. Sunday night I hooked a little pumpkin for a little gift for Martha (and a little shameless self promotion) and finished it up Monday morning just in case I had a chance to drive to Los Angeles. I was hoping that my husband could go with me and we could get in a visit to his mother and maybe a quick trip to Ikea. It turned out that he couldn't leave the store so since the book signing was at 5pm I headed on down by myself. I got there early, bought her book inside Sur La Table at Farmer's Market and went back in line. While we waited we were served appetizers from her cook book and offered wine, (none for me thanks, I'm driving,) still a nice gesture. The line started moving and we finally got inside. There was no posing with Martha and no personalizing of books, just a signature and a quick hello. When my turn came, Martha looked up and I told her I wanted to thank her for bringing so much beauty into the world. Then I said, "I brought you a little gift." She said, "What's that?" I said, "A rug hooked pumpkin! I'm a hooker...." she gave me a funny look and I said, 'You know the wholesome kind!" She smiled,thanked me and handed the pumpkin to her assistant and off I went. I had one of the folks from the line take a quick photo before I had to move along. She looked great, was very friendly and let some young girls pose with her for photos. After the signing I strolled around Farmers Market where I used to go with my parents when I was little and then went over to The Grove, the cool new mall where the celebs hang out.
In the center of The Grove was a small lake and thousands of little lights in the trees. I took a quick look in Anthropologie and then off to IKEA for a little shopping. The Holiday tent was set up already so I had to take a peek and found some fun things to bring home. I got home about 10:30pm, so not bad for a trip to Los Angeles on a school night!

Shrine, mushroom, hearts

This is the third shrine I sent to Portland for the Day of the Dead show. I call it "Lost Loves" and it is dedicated to those I've loved and are now gone on into the great unknown. On Thursday I took my little shrines over to Syd and Carol's Art Clinic for a show and tell. It was great because I got some good feedback on this piece and lightened up the background and moved the heart up and forward. It helps so much to have another artists' eye look at your work and make suggestions.
This piece was made in a cigar box. I covered the doors and top with paper that I painted and stamped in a Traci Bautista class at Artfest. I hand dyed the velvet for the heart and the stitched "x's" are for those lost loves.
More mushroom tops....can you tell I have fun doing these?
And the wool hearts that will turn into ornaments soon....
And last night I hooked up some more of the little hearts for pins instead of working on the other things on my hooking list, like finishing up the cat I started last week. These are just so fun and easy to do.

Shrines, signs, and mushroom tops

"Shrine for my Mother"....
and below....shrine for "Pets in Heaven"...
at the bottom are three little things dangling...a dog bone, a heart and a fish...hard to see in the photo...
These are two of the three shrines I just sent off to the "Dia de los Muertos" show at the Guardino Gallery in Portland, Oregon. Wish I lived closer so I could see the whole show. They will also have a parade and grand reception on Alberta St.

Our internet service hasn't been working lately so I couldn't blog or read emails this week! Hopefully we will get things fixed up so I can stay on top of things.
I made this little reversible sign out of felted sweater wool for the store in St.Helena, CA called "Muse" that sells some of my hooked creations and pins. They didn't have a sign for their door and I thought this might be fun. Just sent it off this week with some new things for the store.
I think I may make some more tiny sweater garlands for Syd's Queen of the Arts show coming up in November. So much to do!
And these are some mushroom tops that I've been embellishing for ornaments. I plan to put a yarn loop on the center top for hanging from a Christmas tree. Also in the works...red wool heart ornaments....will try and post those tomorrow!

Fun evening at Just Folk!

Last night I headed on down to Summerland to Just Folk for the opening night fete of the
Bill Traylor Unfiltered show. Just Folk recently acquired 28 of his works and they are now on display in their light filled upstairs gallery. Traylor was born a slave and only began his art career in his 80's, selling his drawings and paintings to locals for 25 cents each. Now they are worth thousands. A great collection so close to home, worth a visit if you are in the neighborhood.
For the opening there was a great swing band playing outside on the porch, delicious appetizers all evening, and special adult beverages with wine being served in little mason jars. I had fun meeting folks from all over- New York, San Francisco, L.A. and the authors of the above book on Bill Traylor came from New York to share their insights on Bill's life and work. A really fun evening for all.

Some of Bill Traylor's works...

Below are works of folk art by others artists....

Had to include some of the wonderful quilts in their collection for the fiber people out there...



And a fun little Howard Finster in the bookshelf!

New crow, visit to Whole Foods Market, and kitties

Finished hooking this crow the other night and now I just need to make him some legs to stand on.
I just had to take a look at the new Whole Foods Market that just opened up here in Santa Barbara. It really is a beautiful store and it was hopping with shoppers and people just checking out our newest natural foods store. Lots of local organic fruit and produce plus a nice deli and bakery. They even have Clover milk which is from Northern California and rated one of the best in the country. I took a few photos to show you some of the fresh goodies available.


The cupcakes had cute flowers on top!
And here is the weekly cat photo...the kitties were sleeping with their arms around each other!