Goldilocks and the Three cats

I finally finished up this hooked doll that is going to either Michigan or Florida. I got her hair done last night and now in the daylight I am wondering if it is too bright yellow....and the three little kitties are a special order for Christmas.
The whole family went out Sunday night to get our Christmas tree. We have a local lot with a corn maze, farm animals and lots of beautiful trees to choose from. This is the first year that my older son didn't want to play "chase" with his brother...oh well...he is 18 and in college! Justin and I got the lights on last night and now for the ornaments. I am hoping that the kitties won't try climbing the tree...they are enjoying drinking from the tree stand and like sitting under the tree, hiding from one another.

A visit to "Just Folk"....

I visited "Just Folk" on Wednesday to deliver my ornaments and while I was there got some new photos of some of the wonderful folk art in the store. There are new quilts, including a Gee's Bend quilt, dolls that I hadn't seen before, wood carvings and other fun stuff. I heard that they got the tree up now so I may have to go take a look tomorrow to see how all the ornaments look. They are closed on Mon. and Tues. but if you are in the area go check out all the new stuff!
















This last quilt is a Gee's Bend quilt.

A few more things....

I made a few more things to take to "Just folk"....a large mushroom made from vintage quilt pieces and two painted and stuffed owls. The mushroom stands about 10 " tall.
And then as I was doing inventory I realized that I'd only made 6 birds....so i quickly sewed up 6 more. They received 3 different coats of paint before I was satisfied, but I think they turned out OK.
And I made a tiny olive branch for the dove tree topper. I sewed it in place with black thread and now she looks complete.

Painted birds, cats and pigs....

I had so much fun painting these birds yesterday! They are stuffed vintage linen, painted with acrylic paint...I think I may put these on our tree!
I just had to make some cats for Just folk! I had fun painting these too. The only "not fun" part was turning those little arms inside out!..And sewing the painted linen to the body...hard to get the needle through all the layers of fabric once its been painted....maybe next time I'll sew them on first...and paint later....always learning something!
And here are the piggies with their spots...kept them pretty simple.
One more mushroom! Tomorrow I deliver a months worth of work, probably over 100 pieces...still 2 larger birds to do today and maybe a fabric house that I'm working on....then on to other things!

Piggies and doggies.....

These are my "piggies in process". I used vintage linen for the bodies and then painted them with acrylics. Still need to do detail work. I am using the logo pig for inspiration and these will be a surprise for the owner of Just Folk. And since they are "dog people" I made 8 doggie ornaments out of felted wool. I first drew a pattern to roughly follow, stitched, leaving an opening at the stomach area, turned inside out, stuffed them, added eyes and ears and a collar. Now I only need to add a hanger.

The wool has landed!

All this beautiful hand dyed wool roving arrived from Australia today! I love the gorgeous colors. It makes me want to get my spinning wheel out and do some spinning by the fire side. Or do some felting......All of this wooly goodness came from Elizabeth Armstrong a wonderful fiber artist and teacher.... you can reach her at www.frostfair.com for more info. If I ever get to Australia again I will definitely take some classes from her in her very cool studio which was featured in a recent magazine.
Here's Mr. Tiger taking a Thanksgiving nap on his favorite quilt.
This is some rug hooked Indian Corn that I made years ago. Our rug hooking group sponsored a teacher from the East coast to come and teach us how to make 3 dimensional objects...we had a choice of corn, squash or a pumpkin. I went for the corn. We put real corn husks on the top so that you can hang them up if you want.

Happy Thanksgiving!

So many things to be grateful for.....

Thanksgiving

For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food,
For love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Justin and I went and picked apples in the rain for tomorrows apple cobbler. We made a pumpkin pie today, built a fire to keep warm, played several rounds of Tiddly winks and other fun stuff. May you have a wonderful Thanksgiving full of love and hope, friends and family and good food. And thank you for your visits to my little corner of the world.

A dove and little houses....

Here's the dove of peace tree topper that I made last night nesting in our toyon berry bush.
And here is why I haven't been rug hooking lately...these little house ornaments...I think I can stop now! It looks like a little European village...
And I finally got the table cleared for Thanksgiving. No small task for me....I use this table for sewing, ATC's, jewelry making, collage and one project just led to another. I managed to get things cleared off and had fun putting some fun things together along the middle of the table.

Quite a gathering....everyone is welcome!
Tom kitty asleep on my sewing chair.

Felting at the Art Clinic and a reunion...

Sunday was spent in Solvang at the Art Clinic where Barbara Carr treated us to a fun felt inlay class. I am thinking this might be a great class to offer at Artfiberfest. It is a bit easier on the body than the Nuno felting class and I like the way you can get fine detail with the pre-felt, like doing a collage. Above is my first attempt, then I did the flying bird, below and the pink confetti, just for fun.


Jill is laying out her felt as she starts designing her piece.
A beautiful scarf that Barbara made.
i think this is Jill's piece....
More felt pieces....close up.
Syd's fun piece.
This is stage one..before felting.....laying out the design...
another close up of one of Barbara's pieces.
Saturday found me at a lovely memorial for one of my South Pasadena school friends'
father. There was a large gathering of friends and family who spoke and shared stories and memories among the giant oak trees of the Carpinteria Cemetary. I asked Diana's daughter to take a photo of 4 high school friends and added a photo from 20 years ago at my wedding (no.2) on the hottest day of the year here in Santa Barbara.
Marsha, Diana, Mary, Debbie
Diana, Debbie, Mary, Marsha