The Art of the Holiday

For the 4th year, Burt and I are participating in The Art of the Holiday, at the Fallbrook Art Center gallery.

Fallbrook is a charming village about 60 miles north of San Diego, and a delightful place to explore at any time of year. Main Street gets all dressed up for the holidays, reminiscent of Currier and Ives, with planned festivities, tailor made for kids of all ages.

Who wouldn't love to take a horse drawn carriage or wagon ride down Main Street, and of course see Santa! This is a quality art show, not to be missed if you are in the area from now until Christmas. There is also a great cafe behind the gallery that serves yummy food, coffee and delicious desserts!

Great Show!

The Talmadge Art Show was a huge success! Lots of friends and past customers came out and I was so busy I totally forgot, and didn't have time, would you believe, to take any pictures. The room was packed with people almost the whole day. So no pictures of the show.....sorry, but here are a couple of my Mini Nuno Felt Pillows that made their debut yesterday. They are small, all under 10" square. Each one has a unique detail on the back to make that interesting too. I had a great time making these little treasures.

Marsh Grass at Sunset, front and back

X's and O's, Front and back

Talmadge Art Show this Sunday

The Talmadge Art Show is almost here! I really enjoy the show. So much excitement and so many wonderful artists. Space design is always a challenge. This was my space last year. I used to put everything on a table with risers and racks, and I would stand or sit behind the table. But with so many more scarves I had to rethink my set-up. It's so much more inviting like this, and I am able to really interact with my customers. If you are in San Diego this Sunday November 22, please stop by the Talmadge Art Show, at the San Diego Women's Club and say hello. The event runs from 10:00 to 4:00.

Talmadge Art Show

Next weekend I will be showing and selling my work at the fall Talmadge Art Show . It's a wonderful show, I think it's the best in San Diego. I have been doing this show for the past five years, in the spring and in the fall. This show will be the biggest yet with 56 artists from many mediums. In addition to my scarves, and pillows, I will be showing these gauzy shawls. They are large and dramatic, making them suitable for draping over baby grand pianos or the foot of your bed, when not being worn. The fabric I used for the first two below is hand dyed from Australia. They are soft and light weight. Perfect for Southern California.

Purse Hangers

My friend Maria has cautioned me against putting my purse on the floor, either at home or when I go out. She says it's bad luck. Besides, the floor , especially in a restaurant is rife with germs, and you don't want to carry a bunch of those away with you. So my daughter and I went in search of nifty purse hangers, and found them with dichroic glass cabochons. Very slick, but I'm a felter and I got to thinking I should really have one with a felt cabochon. Voila! My latest felt accessory, a purse hanger with a needle felted center, and a little felt pouch to keep it in.

Along The Way

The road out of Taos that leads to the Millicent Rogers Museum

makes one understand how a big city girl choose this

rustic corner of the country to find peace and tranquility.

The museum is small, but packed with wonderful

Southwest art and artifacts. Millicent Rogers impressive turquoise

jewelry collection alone, as well as her own elegant jewelry designs

was well worth the drive.

The last leg of our road trip took us through the

soft and sensual desert dunes along Interstate 8,

where Arizona meets the border of California.

We really enjoyed our road trip.

The question now is where to drive next?

We're thinking , up the West Coast to Eugene, Oregon for

the Black Sheep Gathering next June.

If we can wait that long!

Sedona

The art and galleries in Sedona don't begin to compare with the caliber of art we feasted our eyes on in Santa Fe, but the scenery, oh the scenery is another story. The beauty of nature is alive and vibrant in Sedona. That rich orangey red is everywhere from the breathtaking natural monuments, to the earth along the edge of the road. We had a wonderful view of it all from our room. Passing through the door gave way to a dazzling vista of the red rock that Sedona is famous for.

Santa Fe Salvage

In Santa Fe we found the most incredible salvage outlet with doors, gates, columns, you name it. Imported bits of buildings from all over the world. Places like India, Morocco, and Asia were all represented with richly patinated pieces of iron, wood, pottery, marble, and more. We strolled through isle after isle of gates, windows and architectural adornments each with a story to tell. Santa Fe buildings and homes are so organic in nature, and all of these lovely details provide a perfect compliment to Southwest structures.

Santa Fe

I would have to say that one of my favorite towns that we visited on our road trip was Santa Fe. From paintings to sculpture, we found wonderful art in Santa Fe.

The weather obliged us with a beautiful fall day for our stroll along Canyon Road, home to one great gallery after the next. The soft lines and colors of the adobe architecture are pleasing to the eye and are the essence of the Southwest.

I also paid a visit to one of my favorite knit shops,Miriam's Well , where I bought yarn for a side to side knitted vest. Miriam's knit patterns consist of simple stitches using luscious yarn.

That's my kind of knitting!

The style I am knitting is as shown below, but the yarn I chose is a soft alpaca in my favorite earth tones with a touch of heathered purple. The pattern is free with the yarn purchase.

Wonderful Wool Festival

The Taos Wool Festival was such fun. No rain or soggy grass this year, the weather was perfect. I love the size of the event and the mix of producers who proudly present unique wool offerings. My husband snapped this shot of me with the first of my booty. Driving rather than flying gave me the luxury of buying as much as I wanted without concern for suitcase space. I'm inspired by all the lovely fibers I brought home, and have been busy in my studio putting them to use for the upcoming holiday sales. Below are a few of my finds.

A good start, don't you think?

Among the many treasures I found

are these soft and silky hand painted Wensleydale rovings.

Lots of ideas for how to use these beauties.

Ruth Walker offered up these richly dyed rovings of

merino blended with cashmere, or silk.

I got back to the hotel and decided

I didn't have enough of them,

so, went back for more, and a couple of her pre-felts as well!

Check back with me soon, for more photos of our scenic road trip.

Off to Taos!

Last year I went to the Taos Wool Festival, in Taos New Mexico, with my friend Zaynab from Anchorage. She had been there before but it was my first time and I loved it! This year I am taking my husband Burt, and we are going on a road trip. I'm so excited! Taos is wool heaven during the festival. The actual event is held on the grass at Kit Carson Park in the center of this charming Southwestern town. Here is a video from a past wool festival. There are workshops and the vendors are mostly small producers offering unique roving, yarn, and finished work as well. I must confess that the New Mexico food is as enticing to me as the wool offerings. It is delicious. Can't wait to have a big bowl of pezole!

On the way back home to San Diego we will wend our way through Gallup, New Mexico, Sedona, Prescott, and Jerome Arizona. Gallup is the best place to buy Native American art and handcrafts. The artists bring their work there to sell in the pawn shops. Being in Gallup is like going back in time to the 1950's. Jerome is an old mining town that clings to the edge of rocky hills. The big Jerome attraction for me is a store called Knit One Bead Two, where I have found great bead and fiber treasures on past visits. I will have lots to blog about when I return in mid October.

Marcia's Scarf

My friend Marcia is one talented girl. In addition to being a fabulous beader, published in fact, she is a knitter extraordinaire. I love to knit, but sweat and fret when it comes to sewing the thing together. So Marcia and I struck a deal. She agreed, bless her, to assemble the sweater I made for my daughter in exchange for a nuno felt scarf. You might notice by the date of the sweater post, the exchange was long overdue, so today Marcia came over to choose her scarf. As she perused my rack of scarves, she was, by her own admission, love struck by one of my "Chunky Monkeys" . Our 83 degree weather was no issue for Marcia who left with the scarf artistically arranged around her neck, pausing just long enough for me to snap this photo. And wouldn't you know the Gail Crossman Moore earrings she had on matched perfectly!

Felted Soap

I felted bars of soap for my husband and myself, using our favorite pachouli soap. They work so well in the shower because they are not slippery like regular bars of soap. I decided to make some to sell. I found it a good way to play with color combinations. Don't they look delicious drying in the sun?

Scented with Jasmine, Lavender, lemon and other delightful aromas, each soap has a jewel like quality and so needed a special presentation. After wrapping each one like a gift with yarn or ribbon I put it in it's own gift/trinket box. On the lid of the box I attached a piece of nuno felt to match the colors of the gift inside. The soap and box are two gifts in one. Well, three really. The wool wrapped soap is a wash cloth and soap in one, and the nuno topped gift/trinket box can be re-used and recycled.

Felted soaps drying in the sun

Felt Without Borders

There's not much of a nuno felt community where I live. Not like painting or pottery where you can check out local galleries that show and sell those pieces. But good fiber art galleries are hard to find locally, which is why I so appreciate Etsy and the opportunity it offers me, as a nuno felt artist, to see what others are doing with the medium, as well as building friendships and sharing ideas with like minded felters. For me, this all goes under the heading, "Can't get enough felt!"

So a couple of months ago on a visit to other "Etsyans", that is Felt making Etsyans, I came across Joni Cornell, and her Etsy shop. I love the way Joni blends the colors on her scarves, the simple details and spikey fringe. In particular I fell in love with an avocado green, brown and black number. I had already sent Joni an email telling her how much I liked her work and in the course of our back and forth art chat , we hit on the idea of an exchange, the scarf I had fallen in love with in her Etsy Shop for one from my Etsy shop .

Kirstin models the scarf that Joni chose.

I love holding Joni's piece in my hand and knowing it came all the way to me from Melbourne, Austrailia, where I have a friend in felt.

I have used Joni's scarf as a runner so I can spread it out and enjoy all the beautiful colors

From one end to the other.

The Beauty's In The Details

I finally got all of my new nuno felt pillows listed on My Etsy Site . The new pieces are nuno felt on the front and recycled knitting on the reverse. I've used details such as unique yarns to join the two sides and cutting fringe into the backings. I want my pillows to be as much soft sculpture as cozy accents for a sofa, chair or bed. The pictures below offer you a glimpse of these details that make each one, not just a pillow, but a one of a kind art piece. You can see them in their entirety by clicking on the link below, and under the individual detail images.

Arlene's Etsy Shop

Don't they look yummy all stacked together?

Spring Flowers Nuno Felt Pillow detail

Butterfly Nuno Felt Pillow (detail)

Northern Lights Collage Nuno Felt Pillow (detail)

Peppermint Creame Nuno Felt Pillow (detail)