Squirrel and owls...

I've been working of these woodland creatures for the past week...mostly at night when things quiet down....

Hope to sew them up today and stuff them and then start on something new~ or finish up the little heart pins that I started a few weeks ago.

ATC group meets tomorrow at the Good Cup Cafe and then Thurs. the Art Clinic has it's ARt Day.

On Monday I worked at the Fibre ARts Design Studio on 3 needle felted purses...samples for an upcoming class later this month. Today I needed an "at home" day...working on organizing all my wool by colors and type...I have wool for rug hooking and felted sweater wool for other projects...and they have begun to take over the living room.

Happy Easter to Everyone!

We had our little Easter egg hunt with Justin....had to show you some of our best hiding places...

Little nest...

a little nest I made with felted eggs.....

Baskets....

Here are some of the baskets I've made....we have a great basket making teacher here in Santa Barbara, Cathy Molholm, who brings in native plants for us to experiment with.

Getting ready for Easter...

I finally went up into our attic and brought the Easter box down. I made lots of baskets a few years back and decided to put them to good use. My boys still want an Easter basket this year so there is work to be done. And Justin, 13, says he still wants to go on our Easter egg hunt...so I will be hiding eggs in our yard on Sunday with the help of Dennis. I have to count the eggs to be sure that they are all found because we get pretty creative with our hiding places....up in trees, hiding in boulders and tucked in honeysuckle and jasmine vines. Some of the Easter goodies in the top basket I found at Maxine's near Seattle on last years trip to Artfest. The other eggs I have been collecting since the boys were young.I'm sure that I have more rabbits around the house somewhere, just have to round them up!

Still recuperating from our trip....am finishing up an owl that I started hooking before I left...will post when I finish his face and feet.

Home again!!!

Leaving Miami...

Katie and Jason..

Ever been hugged by a tree?

Looking up at the stained glass ceiling on the ship..

Our ship off of Costa Maya..

Dinner in the Pacific dining room...

Jamaican photo stop...

Pyramid at Chochoban, Mexico...

Justin at Chochoban...

Jason and macaw...

"Mary St."..on Grand Cayman...had Justin take this...

Coral and beach glass...Grand Cayman

Arrived back home from our cruise and Miami last night. Good to be home again! I"ve posted some of our trip highlights and then will get back into my fiber art mode once again. We had a fun cruise and got to go to 3 different ports and tried to get in as much as possible. We visited the Mayan pyramids of Chochoban, went on an undersea adventure in the Grand Cayman Islands, and took a tour of Jamaica with a sweet lady tour guide who showed us the Fern Gully, Dunn's River Falls, and the homes of Mick Jagger and Whoppie Goldberg. On the cruise ship Justin and I spent the evenings in the Adriatic Lounge listening to Karaoke, some good, some not so good! The hightlight for the boys was the 24 hr. Pizzeria! I had fun trying out all the desserts after dinner.

We all got sunburned and spent time in the on deck salt water pool playing catch and listening to loud music. One night we played miniature golf on deck with a couple of boys we met in the pool. Justin's favorite time was swimming in the warm Jamaican waters...84 degrees..much warmer than our Santa Barbara ocean! I think my favorite was collecting coral, beach glass and shell fragments on Grand Cayman and seeing the shipwrecks on our underwater sea adventure. We also visited a yummy English bakery there and got to play with two giant macaws. And I got to see the wonderful movie "Miss Potter" on the plane ride back from Miami for the second time....see it if you get a chance...if you love Beatrix Potter's art and books as much as I do!

The Sisters....

I'll leave you with my two new dolls that I just finished. Gave them simple embroidered faces.

And if you get a chance, go check out the new web site for the Fibre Arts Design Studio, where I teach and design .....some of my creations are pictured....and lots of new classes and products that we are involved in using reclaimed and recycled fibers...

www.fibrearts.net

Adios, once again,
Mary

Off on an adventure...

My two teenage boys and I are heading off on an adventure soon....I can hardly stand it that I will be missing Artfest, one of my favorite things in the Universe, but this seems important, too.

We are going on a Cruise to the Western Caribbean for 7 days...leaving for Miami on Saturday night. We get to cruise to some fun places that I have never been to and do some interesting exploring ....the ancient ruins of Tulum are calling to me...and my son was just studying them in school so I think it will be fun for him to see this amazing place in person. We also have a stop in the Grand Cayman Islands and Jamaica as well. Dennis needs to keep the store running and so it's just me and the boys this time. We traveled to Japan two years ago and had a great time, so here we go again. They did think I was rather strange when I took photos of my favorite meals and when I got directions in Spanish to our hotel in Hiroshima. They know by now that their mom is a little different...Luckily we will have a week off after our trip to recuperate.

I'm trying to pack, clean the house, get art projects together to take on the trip, find a travel journal, bake cookies, arrange a way back from LAX, find a book to read, figure out what to do while waiting in Miami for plane home ( we have a whole day to explore)...finish up a few art projects....what else???? Might try and get to the Everglades National Park on that last day and go for a bike ride. So, anyway, I most likely won't be posting for a week or so...back in April...bye for now...

Needle felting day...

Taught a fun class today in needle felting at the Fibre Arts Design Studio....Some of our wild creations....

Still celebrating....

Well, Syd and I get to keep celebrating our birthdays....we just received the most amazing "Birthday Girl" dolls made by Susan Bates Bezek, a wonderful doll maker and teacher at Art & Soul-Portland. She put our "real" faces on the dolls and gave us girlish figures, too!

It's ATC Day at the Art Clinic!

Here are some of the ATC's that I made for our monthly exchange. Today we are going to Solvang to Syd and Carol's Art Clinic for our gathering. It is a beautiful drive...past Lake Cachuma ...green rolling hills with cattle, horses and sometimes deer.

Another doll...

This girl has quite a lot of hair! Just got her finished late the other night. She went "headless" for quite a while ....had to figure out which face to use and I settled on this rubber stamped one that seems to suit her.

Crow and Mushroom

Just got this crow's feet made last night and sewed them in and he can actually stand on his own.
Mushroom house has a gnome answering the door as you open it...all done except door needs a tiny door knob. Just as I think I can finally put some things on my ETSY spot, I decided to send a box full of stuff to Somerset Home to see if anything is appropriate for their new magazine...so now I will have to get busy and make more stuff. Thanks for your patience.

Alma doll...

Worked on the "Alma" doll at Syd's Art Clinic yesterday. She is coming along...might even be "done"....I made her some wings last night and sewed them on with a snap so that they are removeable. I put some florist wire in the arms so that they can be posed if desired. The wonderful face was made by the talented Alma Stoller from NYC. And the painted wing fabric is from her also. Syd thinks that no more hair is needed....I am not sure yet...I am tempted to give her a bit more....but I kind of like the "wild" look she has right now....

Tracie Lyn fabric!

I got a surprise packet in the mail yesterday from Tracie Lyn Huskamp....some of her beautiful hand painted fabric...I love the colors and can't wait to do something with them...I put one of her little "Home" fabric collages on top. We did some fun trading at last year's ArtFiberFest and this is one of the collages that I came home with. She is such a sweet soul!

Fun little things....

Last night I decided to make some little velvet fabric "beads" to use in our "Omiyage" class in April that I will co-teach with Wo at the Fibre ARts Design Studio in Ojai. These little beads dangle from the ends of the cords that gather the little gift bags and other fun things like pin cushions that we will make. Today I went and bought the cording and looked at whatever Japanese fabric was available locally. I have so much fabric at home that I decided to poke around and use what I have. Wo ordered a bunch of kimono fabric for us to play with and I can't wait to see what will be in our surprise bundle. Then I added a few touches to the trianlular pin cushion that I made on Monday while teaching a fabric clock class in Ojai. I also made a 4 sided pyramid pin cushion, but it still needs some help....
I put a tiny bundle of rice in the pin cushion to give it a little "weight"...and a few pieces of rice in the beads, too. The pin cushion is resting on a piece of felt that I made last year in a fun workshop with Barbara Carr and our rug hooking group.

It felt like Spring!

definitely felt like Spring yesterday! All of a sudden our little apricot tree is happily blooming like crazy! And on my beach walk I found several heart rocks.

Alma Doll...

And here is my Alma doll so far....
She will get more yarn and fabric hair...
shoes...and might even gets some wings....
Making dolls is so much fun...but quite time consuming.....I have to do things in stages...then let it rest for a bit and come back and work on it some more....


Here are two new hooked doll bodies that I made last night..I put two possible face choices on top to give an idea of how they will look... thinking of doing faces in other ways......embroidered features, needle felting, painting on fabric, and hmmm...what else?

Fun Flannel...

found this fun polka dot flannel at a great fabric and quilting store in Buellton called "Creation Station" and it was only $5.00 yd.! All of the fabric in the whole store was $5.oo yd... how cool is that! I may be designing some roomy fun nighties for a line at the Fibre Arts Design Studio for October production...thought it might be cool to mix and match polka dots on one piece...and maybe a pocket or two. They also had lots of other fun stuff...pincushions, gifts for fiber people and lots of fat quarters for quilters.
I had a great visit and lunch with two old friends from my Sunburst days. They own a saddlery and weaving workshop in Buellton, CA. Tomas makes custom saddles, boots, and anything in leather and Alicia weaves saddle blankets, ponchos, wall hangings and sells them at their shop and at craft shows around Calif. It was fun to connect again and see their wonderful work and successful shop.

Spring colors...and a new project...

Last night I decided to hook a doll body in some lighter, more Spring like colors to match this hand painted fabric that Alma sent me. Now, to make some arms and legs, pick out some yarns and fabric for hair and sew her up...I already have a painted fabric face that I plan to use...

Squirrel..almost finished...

Here is the little hooked squirrel I made this week....he still needs to be sewn up after getting stuffed. I took a photo of the opening for you to see how I sew him up. I try and leave the opening on a realatively straight edge and in an inconspicuous spot so the hand sewing won't show too much.