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!

More little houses...

This is a new set of little quilt houses that got their windows and doors last night. They still need a hanger sewn on top to make them into ornaments.
And I am still working on my stuffed mushrooms...stuffed stems on the left ready to be sewn into the tops. The tops need buttons and a hanger sewn on....that's what I do in the evenings.
Three felted wool sweater scarves with wool applique. Just made the green one with birds, the other two I made last year and just pulled them out of hiding.
Son, Jason on our Thanksgiving walk.....we stayed close to home and walked to "Flat Rock" for a view of the sunset and Channel Islands. Then back home for turkey dinner and time to relax.

Lichen on Flat Rock...there are also grinding stones from the Chumash Indians here and lots of acorns.
Henry taking a nap on Thanksgiving....hope yours was happy, too.

Today I need to take Justin down the mountain to a birthday party and while down the hill I hope to get in a beach walk, check out my favorite thrift store, and go see the show at Westmont Gallery called: "Gee's Bend Quilters: Prints from Paulson Press"...they have a couple of Gee's Bend quilts and then art that is inspired by the quilts. Always love to see the "real" quilts...show is only up until Dec. 18 so I really want to see it before its gone. I'll take photos if they are allowed.
And I must give credit to Tara Ross for my Blog make over and new header. She is such a sweetheart to offer to do this for me and she makes the coolest art too~!

Happy Thanksgiving To All!

Somehow I managed to get the table cleared off and a new fresh tablecloth put on for our Thanksgiving meal today. Added a few seasonal decorations for fun. This area is usually full of odd art supplies, sewing implements, paper, glue, pins and paint! I made a pumpkin pie last night and got my son, Jason to peel local apples for the apple pie that I am about to start. We will take our annual hike to Lizard's Mouth, an interesting rock outcropping up here in the mountains and then eat about 5pm if all goes well. I am also trying out a new recipe for green bean casserole that I saw on Martha Stewart and looked good. Thanksgiving dinner is probably my favorite Holiday meal of the year.
And I want to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving! And say Thank You for your visits and comments, I truly appreciate them all! I know that I love seeing all the wonderful creativity that I find on the internet and knowing that we share the love of making things with our hands and hearts is always inspiring and comforting to know that there are so many of us out there.
So have a wonderful day with family and those you love.

Wednesday I took off down to Laguna Hills to meet with Somerset editor, Jenny Doh. We had a fun time doing a photo shoot with Johanna and Angela of the little quilted houses and hooked heart pins. I really enjoyed my tour of their amazing offices- rooms full of incredible art getting ready for publication. The primitive doll section really caught my attention but we had work to do and I wanted to get back home in time to do some cooking. Thank you, Jenny for inviting me to come down and taking the time to show me around. I also got to meet Amanda Belle Nolan and peek at the Haute Handbags all lined up for photo time. It was really fun and interesting to see what a magazine set up looks like and all the people it takes to make things look so beautiful published.
Here are some of my little houses set out on the floor for viewing while we thought of more ways to use them in possible craft projects.

Fresh cupcakes, Art show, mushroom tops and one more house

Here's the latest fresh batch of wool cupcakes. Will be sending them off to No. Calif. and Texas soon. Think I'll take a break on these for a bit. However I have my eye on a fabric tea cup and a piece of cake pattern that look like they'd be fun to make.

I was invited to have some things in this fun looking show opening on Dec. 5th. I visited the Paul Cumes Fine Art Gallery on Saturday and got to meet Cimmi and Paul, a delightful couple, both artists, and owners of their own gallery right across from the SB Courthouse Sunken Gardens. The address is 131 East Anapamu St. in Santa Barbara. I plan to have some fiber mushrooms, a rabbit or two and maybe a teacup and some cupcakes.
Come to the Mad Tea Party Reception on Dec. 5, 6pm-9pm and see all the cool softies and other creations from all over the U.S. Plus right now they have the Brad Nack 100 reindeer exhibit up which is always fun to see.
These are some of the mushroom tops awaiting further decoration and stems for the upcoming show. And one more little quilt house below...this one is a little larger than the previous ones.

Little houses, a mystery, and fiber jewelry

I 've been working on these little house ornaments for MUSE in St. Helena, CA and also will send a dozen to Terrell Powell in Austin, Texas for a Christmas show there. Terrell does the most wonderful folk art paintings and metal work and has a two week show and needed some little stuff to go along with his paintings. So I will be sending him some pins, ornaments and cupcakes soon. (Terrell is on Facebook)
The little house are made from this wonderful old log cabin quilt top scrap. I think Syd gave this to me a few years ago and I've been using a little bit each year to make ornaments. I have a hard time cutting into it, but it came already cut into and it never was made into a quilt...so I feel like I am at least giving it some new life and appreciation. I love looking at the little stitches and basting on both the front and back and wondering who made them. There are a funny mix of fabrics on this piece. Wool, cotton, some strange synthetic looking pieces all mixed together.

And here is the mystery part...and I am hoping that some of you quilters may know the answer-
on the back side, in the middle of each square, there is a little hole or snip! Have you ever seen this? Is it for good luck or to let the "spirit" out? Below, in the photo you can see the little snip in the center of every square.... I didn't notice this until I was making the houses and saw the holes in the center of some of the pieces....I wonder if this is a tradition for log cabin quilts or just something the quiltmaker came up with....thanks in advance for any info. you may have.

Love how the stitches show up on the dark fabric...

Above are three house from last year....still need to add the hanger part on top.
Three little flying heart pins with french knots for decoration....
I made these fiber beads a couple of nights ago. The Japanese fabric was part of a kit for making a pin cushion that I found at the thrift store...I made beads instead....and then put them together to make a necklace....
The beads are sewn onto a crocheted necklace made from that very cool Noro yarn that I love.

Gifts in the mail and a Squirrel...

I just love these wonderful fabric post cards that Kristin La Flamme sent me. We did a little exchange and I received these last week along with some fun fabric and other goodies. She makes the most beautiful quilts and her fabric mushrooms are totally wild and creative and have inspired me to add more "stuff" to mine. Visit her website and flickr to see more:
www.kristinlaflamme.com

And here is my latest hooked squirrel holding an acorn.
This week I've been working on fiber jewelry, wool cupcakes, and more fabric ornaments for 2 Holiday orders and hope to get something sent in to Somerset for the new "String" issue!

Busy week

Somehow managed to get some things done this week....we have had on and off construction work on our house and foundation since July. Today most of the foundation got poured and that's a big step. These rolled up felted woolies will become cupcakes soon.
And here's a new crow that I hooked up last night. Below are some of the fun items that I traded for at the Queen of Arts show...
woven paper collage cards...
Angela Lang's fun felted ornaments. She had beautiful nuno felted scarves too.
Sukey Hughes collage card and the following 2 blockprints will be up on my walls soon.


Oh...and look for these two new Yarn Tags...Goleta Beach and somewhere on Patterson...parking lot...busy place....

Queen of Arts Show and Sale in Solvang

Here's my spot at the show. We had a great turnout and three days of sales and visiting with friends. Syd started this show 13 years ago at her home in Ballard and its grown to 36 artists showing their creations at the Elverhoy Museum indoors and out.
Dawn made these great planters out of recycled tires!
New art friend, Sukey Hughes and I traded every day. She had paintings, prints, puppets, cards and shrines. I now have some great presents for family and friends.
Cindy's wonderful glittery pins and angels and shrines delighted everyone.
Barbara's felt scarves are always a big hit.
Sue and Vicki has some fun new items this year, dolls, hooked hot pads, luggage tags and cards.
A smiling Penny made special gift tags from vintage art, fabric collages, and brought tin robots, postcards, and paintings.
Carol had her jewelry, book arts, paintings and more....
Most of our rug hooking group showed up to shop and visit. Half of our group was in the show so it was fun to have their support and company.
Kristen's little doggie came to visit at the end of the show and I got to hold him. We finally got a photo of his wonderful ears...Kristin had to say " Where's your treat?" to get him to look at the camera.
We had a great 3 days with perfect weather and great friends....and lots of sales....most of us are happy but tired today and look forward to next year.

Owl portraits, Yarn tag, wool.....

Stayed up late, which is normal for me, and got these 2 owls finished up for tomorrow's show and sale. Took an owl family portrait, too, while they are all together...some may fly off to new homes this weekend.

My latest "Yarn tag"...visible from Hollister Ave. near Von's....I used an afgan from the thrift store for this one. It is fun and colorful and easy to see while driving by.
A nice pile of wool goodness awaiting me for a cupcake order coming up soon.