Bird pin and Sunday hike

I've been wanting to make some felt bird pins for some time now and last night I finally did it!
I embroidered this little guy on some hand made felt. The wing is another piece of felt that I found and stitched in place. I perched the pin atop one of Syd's much used pin cushions. My goal is to make about 2 dozen for the Queen of Arts show in November.

A closer view-larger than life.
For our Father's Day hike we chose to stay closer to home and went up the mountains to the trail to Knapp's Castle. It's a pleasant hike to the ruins of a mountain top retreat built at the turn of the last century. It was destroyed by a wildfire in the late 1920's and never re-built. The view is dramatic-you can see Lake Cachuma and into the wilderness of the Los Padres National Forest.

All that remains of the home are the rock fireplaces, foundations and walls, but it is a fun place to visit and explore. There is quite a bit of graffiti and campfire remains left from night time visitors. We were amazed to be the only ones exploring on a weekend Sunday.

The walk in is filled with the glorious colors of the local wildflowers in full bloom. Around each corner a new species appears with nature's color combinations to delight the eye.