Rug Hooking tonight!

Little mushroom I made last night....and an owl family portrait.... off to our Hookers meeting!

Journal pages

 A few journal pages.....

Little Owl

Starting hooking this new little owl last night. A different type of face showed up as I hooked and I think I like the big eyes. Tonight I will work on the body some more. 

And I am happy to have re-claimed my little art studio once again. About 4 years ago I let my older son Jason move in and have his own little space. He was keeping me awake playing video and computer games late at night and even though he wasn't making any noise I could still "feel" the energy somehow. So now he is off to Berkeley and I have been moving things back in. I still think I prefer to work in the house and have a bunch of stuff in various rooms- like my rug hooking wool and sewing fabric- but it feels good to put my other supplies in one place. I am hoping to get a jewelry set up organized so I can use up some of those beads that I've collected!

 Inside at my work table. Art from friends on the wall.

A corner of my studio....I covered the office/art chair with some cool Peruvian fabric leftover from the bag I usually carry. On the wall- Syd, Tara, Judy Wise, Katie Kendrick, Magaly, Jill...

Birds and hearts...

 Worked on these little felt bird pins last night. They have been patiently sitting in my sewing basket awaiting the time when I would get their beaks embroidered.

 

 This is the first set of birds I made...different way of doing the wings.

Now I need to put the pin backs on and they will be ready for the next craft show.

 

This winged heart is rug hooked and embellished with little felt shapes but sort of has a patchwork look.

And one more woven cloth sample. This is called "attached weaving". I got into my linen fabric stash for this one and went for a subtle look.

International Day of Peace

Today is the International Day of Peace so I thought I'd share a few doves of peace that are around the house. This one is paper mache and wire. I love the way the wire spells "peace".

 

 This is a funny little wooden carved dove that I've had for years on my kitchen window sill.

 This is a baby quilt I made for my son Jason. He's 20 now!

I think it could have used a bit more quilting...but oh well!

 While hunting for fabric to use for Jude's class I came across this wonderful bird print on some silk.

 

 A little more of the cloth weaving...made this last night. It looks like a quilt from my grandmother.

 

And a little weaving on the woven cloth piece...today's lesson.

 A Peaceful message from Jack Kornfield for today:

May I be filled with loving-kindness.
May I be well.
May I be peaceful and at ease
May I be happy.

More cloth weaving

My two latest cloth weavings. These are so fun to make...while you are working on one you are already thinking of the next one you want to do. I made a big mess yesterday with piles of cloth everywhere!

I want to make one with bright cottons now. First I need to clean up my messes! 

 

I decided to make another wool weaving. It is really nice to work with the wool-it stays put and is soft and easy to tear. Not crazy about this one but it may be fine when we get to the next step. I'm not sure what I will do with these. Just waiting for the next lesson this week. But I am sure it will involve lots of stitching.

 

 Another linen stuffie with cotton glove fingers for ears- a good tip from Denise in Australia!

 

And our weekly cat photo of Henry on his favorite quilt.
By the way, I just want to say Thank You  for your comments and visits! I appreciate each and every one!

cloth weaving

 We just started our Cloth to Cloth online class with Jude Hill and our first project is to weave a base of fabric strips. This is the latest one that I made last night of silk kimono cloth that I rescued from Art From Scrap.

The next one is made of linen, indigo cotton and some shibori silk from an old kimono.

This one is made from hand dyed wool and the next one was my first one made with linen, cotton, and silk with some of the fabric hand dyed. This is very fun and addictive! It feels good to be using up some of the piles of fabric I have collected! Can't wait to see the weaving of my art pals here who are also in the class!

Off to the Farmers Market for some fresh produce! Have a great weekend!

 

linen cats

 A little linen cat family I worked on last night. Fun to see some personalities develop.

 

Had to share my thrift store find of the week...embroidery on indigo handwoven cotton.

Odds and Ends....

 I think this little art quilt is finished. I started it months ago and it re-surfaced recently. I was ready to do some more stitching and get to the next project.

 

Don't you love surprise gifts? I do. This wonderful crocheted rock was waiting for me on my kitchen counter when I returned from my daily walk. My friend Kate, who is an amazing crocheter and knitter among other things, was in the neighborhood and left it for me. Thanks, Kate!

 

And what is this strange thing you might be asking? Well, it is an animal cell made out of fiber for my son Justin's biology class! He had to make a 3D cell using materials found at home and this is what we came up with. Everything had to be sewed down so it could be turned over to see the names on the bottom and Justin spent half an evening arranging parts and sewing them into the felted structure. I keep asking him if his teacher liked it...so far no word. Below is a picture of what the cell was supposed to look like and all the parts that had to be incorporated.

 

 And look who keep sneaking in our kitty door looking for food! A mama raccoon and her 3 babies.

They make a racket and a big mess and I have to chase them out. For some odd reason our cats don't seem to mind them coming in and sort of look the other way.

 

Birdy Heart

 I spent some time yesterday drawing up some new things to hook on burlap. Last night I hooked up this little birdy heart. It was fun to just start hooking with no real color plan, I just used what I had in my basket of wool strips.

 

 A couple of pages from the little art journal. I find that it is easy to just put one or two thoughts on a page. I am not the type to share all my personal thoughts and feelings and I think that it kept me away from doing an art journal before this. I guess the trick is to just make it work for you. So mine will be sort of a "what I did today" type thing...or what I want to make...we will see how it goes. I have another daily journal that I keep with all the things I need to do that day listed and I check off each item when I've completed them. It keeps me organized! I also have another journal where I list all the art things I want to make. Sometimes I forget something that I thought was a good idea and go back and remind myself to do it! If I had more time to devote to the visual journal I think I would do more collage and painting, but for now this is about all I can do.

 

 On Saturdays I love to visit the local Farmers Market in Santa Barbara. We have such a variety of wonderful organic produce and fresh flowers that it is a visual treat as well as a great way to support our farmers and come home with healthy food for the family. I always buy a 10 lb. bag of Valencia oranges for fresh juice in the morning and cajun almonds for Justin. Then whatever looks good for dinner. After my trip to the Farmers Market I have to take a look at Art From Scrap to see if they have any cool fabric that I can use for my art projects. Today I found some nice linen and two great burlap bags that I think I can use for hooking.

Photos of a few things that caught my eye today!

 

Elderberry dye

I gathered this bunch of elderberries (plus a few manzanita berries) on my daily walk for my little dye experiment.

 

Here's the dye pot after dyeing...a nice rich color.

 

The fabric pieces dyed a soft pale mauve color...linen, cotton, linen and some silk kimono lining...didn't dye very well. A fun little experiment...there was only one elderberry bush that still had berries on it...the birds had gotten all the rest. I think picking the berries was my favorite part. I am thinking I may use these in my "Cloth to Cloth" class with Jude.
It was cool and foggy today and I got into my fiber jewelry mood and did some stitching with the two cats snuggled up next to me and a nice cup of tea.

And another pumpkin face, a little bigger than the last one. I plan to sew him up tonight with a pumpkin colored wool backing.

 

A few more little journal pages-some from the trip to the Sierras and some from last week.
Got the urge to do some dyeing today and went out and gathered elderberries. I made a dyebath, cooked it up on the stove and put several different types of fabric in to see what would happen. I am letting them soak in the pot overnight. Can't wait to see how they turn out in the morning!