Monty's Favorite Felted Pillow

Studio Mascot

The studio is all set up and ready for the felt bracelet class to begin.

Industrious students, hard at work!

Everyone loves Monty, our ever vigilant studio mascot!

Snowy New Year

I had a wonderful white Christmas in Alaska. In fact, I'm still here. My daughter and her family have a sweet cabin in the woods of Hope, Alaska, population about 120, and it is there that we welcomed in the new year. Monty loves to visit because he can run and play with his little nephew, Duncan. Here is my brave husband taking the boys out for a bit of fresh air.


Monty and Duncan stand watch at the window and alert us to holiday visitors and that includes of course the local moose contingent. Seeing them in the window totally cracks us up. One little white poodle is cute enough, but two are a humorous site to behold!


I have been knitting away and hope to get some felting in before I leave in a week. I'll post pictures of my efforts and more of this beautiful landscape. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and wish for us all a peaceful, healthy, and joyful new year.

Seasons Greetings

Yesterday was haircut day for us at Salon Bella in Mission Hills. Kathy has been cutting our hair for years. She is the best! The crew there really know how to dress the salon up for the holidays. Monty loves to come along and get in the spirit of the season.

Salon Bella is on Lewis Street which is a charming spot any time of

year, but it is especially festive now.

Jimmy and Valerie Ferrari are the artistic force on Lewis Street. And their stores are wonderful expressions of their creativity.

Their shops include Salon Bella,

Le Bel-Age, Valerie's exciting Boutique,

and With Love, Jimmy's paperie, gift treasure trove,

and the best card shop in town.

I had a wonderful time with my new camera taking it all in.

Shopping with Monty

I like to shop for bits of lace and fabric to use in my Nuno Felt projects.  A favorite place to look is The Attic in Coronado.  I took my Monty boy with me this time and we discovered this really cute little vintage poodle.  At first Monty was a bit leery of his new friend, but as you can see they discovered that they had much in common and were more alike than different.  

Felt is NOT a food group

Try telling that to my boy Monty.  Yesterday he got into the studio while I was gone and ate a piece of magenta pre felt.  While I admire his color choice, things did not go well.   I will spare you the details, but he did seem to be getting rid of the excess fiber and I thought all was well until 1:00 am when I woke to the sounds of one very distressed pup.  So of course we wound up in the doggie emergency hospital.  They fixed him up, I paid the bill, and this morning he is a more subdued version of himself, but recovering nicely.  Do dogs, at least smart little poodles, get cause and effect?  His breeder thinks he should, but I wouldn't bet a $$$$$$ trip to the emergency hospital on it! 

Duncan

Duncan is my daughters pup.  Duncan loves his toys and this little blue one is his favorite.  I made this Nuno Felt Bolster pillow for my daughter's birthday.  I have more of them in my Etsy Shop, and hope whoever buys one loves it as much as Duncan loves this one. Isn't he the cleverest dog, to choose a toy that is color co-ordinated with the bolster pillow? 

Sweaters to Dog Beds

My friend gave me a lovely burgundy and navy sweater.  Well actually after telling him  5 or 6 times how beautifully it would felt up, he finally took it off and gave it to me.  Then my son in law came up with a gray and red striped one which he found, of all places, at the dump in Hope, Alaska.  My little Monty got a dog bed made from the dark one, and my daughter's Duncan got the striped one.  They match their personalities perfectly, Monty being a stylish guy and Duncan  a perennial puppy.