Lots of hearts..

 There has been lots of stitching going on around here. Sewing up these little felt hearts to put on some necklaces.

 Felt bird pins underway...

 Tin hearts with wings are coming along for a store order due Feb. 1.

 Having fun with some new ideas for heart pins...

Heart garlands made from recycled book pages. Sewn together by sewing machine...quick and fun.
Idea from Dottie Angel's blog...

Off to Solvang for a fun art girls weekend overnight! Pam Garrison and Charlotte Lyons are coming up for a visit and it will be so good to see our Artfiberfest buddies!

Cats with sweaters

 Two wool cats with sweaters....ready to go out for their daily walk.

 Finished up Mr. Owl. I only had to do one change on him. When I do my rug hooking at night sometimes it is hard to see the actual color of the wool strips I am using. I had hooked a sort of purple gray strip under his chin thinking it was brown ...so I changed it after looking at it in the morning light. I also hooked another row around the body because when you sew and stuff your critters they tend to shrink in a bit.

 Added a bit of fun to my winter hat....

 new little kittie...

 Hooked house charm and bird pin flying off to Grace in Texas....

 Here are some gray sweater cats that I am working on...need their tails sewn on and faces finished.

And I am off to the Farmers Market this morning for fresh salad greens, cajun almonds for my son, and whatever else looks good! Have a great weekend!

Owls and acorns

 I have been working on the Owl family for a while now. I still need to get their legs and feet done. I sewed up a piece of cotton muslin that I had drawn the owls on, turned it inside out, stuffed it with polyfil and started painting. I also used some molding paste for eye brows and had to sew up a special little beak and then glue it into the front of the face...lots more coats of acrylic paint and then today I got to the fun part...decorating!
My art pal, Tara Ross inspired me to make these and one will be a belated birthday present for her.

I 

  My latest hooked owl...he is quite big, over 12" tall. This one is for Marci. I am letting him sit for a bit to see if there are any changes I need to make before I sew him up.

I finally got my little velvet acorns stuffed. These were on my "to do" list before Christmas and I had hoped to bring them to my last craft show but didn't have time and I still wanted to make them. I collected the acorn caps on one of our trips to Calistoga on one of our hikes to the Bale Mill. There are some big beautiful old oak trees with these great acorns and I filled my pockets and they have been sitting in a basket patiently waiting for me to do something with them. Today was the day!

Workshop News!
I am teaching a "Heart Garland" workshop at Art From Scrap on Feb. 12! Come join us if you can. All ages welcome.

Jenny kitties

 

I made these two little kitties inspired by the book "Jenny and the Cat Club" by Esther Averill. It's been quite busy around here lately so I haven't had much time for blogging or reading. As soon as son no.1 gets back to college things may slow down a bit.

New things...

 A new hooked squirrel has joined the little owl in the garden. He is munching on an acorn. Feels good to get back to my evening rug hooking.

 I was commissioned by my friend Judi to make a wedding and housewarming present for two friends of ours.
I was able to deliver it to them on our trip up to Napa Valley. We had a great dinner at their new home. I made the parts to resemble their two dogs, cat, their house and guest house and an owl for John and hearts for Susan.

 These are the parts with yarn ready to assemble on the mobile.

 The parts after painting and stitching.....
I think they liked it!

One of the books I am reading right now....very interesting!

Home again....

 We got home late Saturday night from a wonderful trip to Calistoga and Napa Valley. I got right to work the next day on this funny little owl.
While I was up in No. California I visited "Muse" a sweet yarn shop in St. Helena where I've sold some of my things for a few years. I managed to take some photos to show you what a great place it is....

 A wonderful scarf that Michele made...makes me want to start knitting again.

 Loved these felt blossom  pins...

 These are vintage pin cushion ladies for sale...

 Anthony Parisi  makes the great ceramic buttons in the shop. He was making a delivery while I was there bringing in a few new pieces too.

I certainly don't need any more ornaments but, how could I resist the little gnome and mushroom person, especially at half price! I found these at Mr. Moon's in Calistoga, another of my favorite stores.