Creative Females Party at Penny's, the rug hookers gather....

 Our annual Christmas party and ornament exchange was held last Monday night. Nobody decorates like Penny when it comes to the Holidays and every year she adds new little things to delight us.  So many wonderful little vignettes to discover everywhere you turn. It makes you happy just to be surrounded by all the glitter and snowy little villages. We missed our Pepa but had fun exchanging news and hugs and being together once again.
 Katie brought her latest hooking to share called "The bluebird of happiness". A gift for her son's new mother in law. The rest of us happily sipped our eggnog and mulled cider and enjoyed the best pot luck dinner ever. Homemade cookies and lemon bars for dessert and we then got to our ornament exchange. Lots of wonderful handmade gifts were opened from felted peas in a pod to a Cambria snowman to a beaded gourd to special banners. Anne made us all her special little bag of take home cookies. Every year she comes up a new recipe for us. This year we received decorated jam filled butter cookies...so yummy!
We made plans for our next meeting in January and off we went into the cool December night air after our favorite get together of the year at the amazing art filled home of Penny and Wayne.

 Maren and Katie in Penny's colorful kitchen.

 The table with Anne's cookies ....wrapped up to take home and enjoy.

 Katie made this fun Cambria snowman coated with sand for her secret rug hooking pal.

 Syd made a gourd covered in handmade beads. I have one of her painted gourds that I love...a gift from Christmases past.

A few weeks ago I stopped by the Tecolote Bookstore where Penny works and just happened to get to meet the lovely author of "Maisie Dobbs", Jacqueline Winspear. Now one of my favorite authors! She signed my book for me and now I plan to read the whole series. Her songwriter husband was with her and we enjoyed his great sense of humor. The Tecolote Bookstore is the oldest bookstore in Santa Barbara and a great place to visit. Located in Montecito in the upper village, Tecolote means "owl" in Chumash and the cozy store has quite a collection of owls that their customers have given them over the years. Go visit Penny and buy some "real" books!
And.....Yes, I think my bangs do need a trim....!
Off to pick up my son again from college tomorrow for Christmas break, so may be gone for a bit.
Hope you are enjoying the Holiday season!

A few new things....

 Just finished up these new heart ornaments. Got a quick photo before sending them off...

Had to make a few more mushrooms from some fabric samples that I picked up at Art From Scrap. I always bring home the fabric with "dots" for future mushroom making. 

 

 It 's a rainy day here and Henry is sleeping on a hooked rug I made that says "Sweet Dreams" so I couldn't resist taking his picture. It is actually laying on top of the sofa and a quilt. The boys had to move things around to get the Christmas tree in last night. Guess who gets to decorate it now?

A visit to "Porch" and the Farmers Market...

Sunday was a busy day around here. I am sort of posting backwards because I love this photo of the fun little gnomes that were for sale in a wonderful store called "Porch" in Carpinteria.
For many years, five of us met every month for collage exchanges and dinner at each other's homes. Times changed and several of us still met as rug hookers but we missed seeing our original five, so we got together for a fun lunch at Giannfranco's Trattoria in Carpinteria. It was a warm and sunny day so we sat outside on the patio and got caught up on everyone's news. Carol's daughter is a partner in" Porch" so we all went for a visit after our lunch. Lots of fun things including the driftwood trees that Kristi makes. Each tree had different themed ornaments and decorations. I bought a little Christmas cactus and bird card that I loved.



I got up early for the local farmers market and was just setting up as Kate and Anna arrived with a basket of warm scones for everyone. Several kitties traveled home with them and joined their growing families. We had a great turnout and I had fun trading, bartering, and selling my creations. I came home with a new necklace, pomegranates, lemons, Asian pears, and goat cheese. It was fun to meet new neighbors and get re-acquainted with others from across the creek. I made an apple walnut cake and brown butter cookies to share and there was fresh pressed apple juice and decorated Christmas cookies as well. We had beautiful warm weather and I even got in a beach walk after the festivities.


Persimmons decorated the tree and were ready for picking.
My little table...best sellers were the cats and heart ornaments.
Tonight we have our annual Rug Hookers Christmas Party and ornament exchange at Penny's.
It's a potluck for dinner so everyone brings a dish to share. I made a baked artichoke parmesan
dip as an appetizer and someone gets a black kitty ornament!

Cats, dogs, owls and elephants....

Been busy this week stitching and stuffing and hooking. These are all new things I've made for upcoming sales and gifts.


More elephants....these are fun and simple to make and they look good in a group.

Had to make some more dogs...black labs are popular....and a few more colors too!


Had to make a few more owls...if time I may needle felt some spots on the front.

The table didn't stay cleared off for long. It is now covered up again with assorted snips and pieces of felt, wool, threads and other odds and ends.
The little sheep is from Colin's creatures on etsy, the sweet tea towel by Charlotte Lyons, the cat dish from Kim Murton, and the Christmas card from Tara Ross.

A visit to "Castle in the Air"...

A visit to Berkeley, Ca. is not complete without enjoying the magical world of Castle in the Air.
Shari and Clint welcomed me into this enchanted place and let me take as many photos as I wanted. Every where you turn there is something to delight the eye and spark the creative spirit.


Looking up...

Just one of several Christmas trees...they get the award for most red and white mushrooms on a tree!
There is a new gallery and workshop space upstairs....







View from the gallery...that's the sweet and gracious Shari at the counter and Clint in the background.
Masks on display for upcoming workshops....


A fun little place where you can have your picture taken with the marionettes...
Hope you enjoyed your visit to the "Castle"!

I got my little gnome finished up last night. I re-did his face a little bit and had to re-hook one of his shoes....since I draw all of my patterns free hand things aren't always the same on both sides and when I had it all done and looked at it for a bit his right shoe bothered me and I had to add a half inch to fix it.
I've been in busy mode again this week making things for the local farmers market and another one of my favorite stores up in Napa Valley, "Muse" requested some things before Christmas so non-stop crafting around here!
The Painted Cave Farmers Market will be Sunday, Dec. 12, 9am to 12 noon at 4844 Ogram Rd.
I will be selling my fiber art creations and other local crafters will be there too. Wonderful live music, local produce and goat cheese from Laurel Springs Ranch. We also have a world renown Peruvian shaman visiting the community who will be doing a earth healing ceremony this weekend. For more info on that visit: www.sacredearthfound.org or call 719-966-2005,

Gnome time!

One of the shops where I sell my things wanted some gnomes before Christmas so I had to get busy this weekend and do some hookin'. This little guy looks a bit stern so I may have to do some fine tuning before I sew him up.

Here he is from the first night's work...

And this is actually another gnome that I drew up to hook. He is holding a baby rabbit.
Hope to start work on him tonight. I have a chance to sell some things this upcoming weekend at our community Farmer's market so I still am busily making more things to sell.

It was cold and rainy last night. We had hail, wind and rain and a nice fire made the house a bit more cozy. The cats huddled up together to stay warm by the fire....


As soon as I get a little more "blog" time I will post some photos of my recent adventures in Berkeley and Summerland.

Who let the dogs out?

Sorry, couldn't resist! When I got back from my trip to Berkeley I had to get right to work on this order for doggie ornaments for" Just folk" in Summerland. I got them delivered yesterday and they are already on their beautiful Christmas tree. I made 14 for them and may make a few more for friends. I couldn't resist the spotted wool skirt fabric.
Just a quick post, meeting my friend Kate to go check out the Gem Faire and the Tribal Marketplace!