Winter Solstice - Happy Holidays!

The weather is beautiful and I'm almost done preparing for Christmas.  I don't like the stress of trying to work and get everything done, but I love the ritual of holiday preparation once vacation starts. Here are some of the things I've been working on:

Xmas card

 Handspun shawl for my sister's birthday on Christmas Eve.

Vintage plastic Santa that the neighbor gave me.

 Felted pillows for the girls.

Sweaters for twin boys due in February.  Sorry about the ugly green blocking mat.

Santa's Workshop

My daughter says I never go anywhere.  That's because I'd rather stay home and make stuff.  I can't help it. I got it from my mom.  

Finger painted person by one of the kindergarteners I teach

 2 shawls and 2 baby sweaters waiting to be blocked

 Cute dog just about ready to knock over a stack of gifts.  

 Pile of felt I made to make gifts for the sisters.  Shhhhhhh!

 Guy gifts in hand-folded boxes.

 Xmas card hot off the printer

My desk in a state of disarray because of doing 20 things at once.

This is why I can't go anywhere.  If I do, watch out because the outfit will be odd and messy. Token lipstick will be applied to try to appear normal.

End of the holiday weekend

It's Sunday evening.  Time to go back to work tomorrow.  Here are a few images from the weekend.  We ate leftovers at the beach on Friday.  It was an "astronomically" low tide (according to the US weather service).  I haven't seen a sandy bottom at this beach since I was a kid!

 These starfish

 were on this "Spanish Wall".

Here's the sandy bottom that's hardly ever visible.

Pages from my current journal:

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Mermaid menu from Solvang and writing per Lynda Barry

Angels are overdone, don't you think?

This is what I've been up to lately.......

I always forget to blog.  I want to do it more, but I just don't think about it.  I cruise other peoples' blogs every day and I get a little indignant if they don't blog or make Youtube videos on a regular basis.  I'm all about the double standard: high standards for other people's behavior, questionable standards for my own.  So I'm going to try harder.  Here's some stuff I've been doing:

 I found a lovely love note from Nora on my desk today.  

 Roving I dyed on Sunday to spin and knit into tiny cardigans for some twin boys.

 Hand spun and dyed hat for a friend named Will.

 My adorable spinning wheel with some batts that I carded up.

Spinning some yarn for a long cowl for Liz.

My Talented Family

I just wanted to share a few things that my daughter and my sister made.  My daughter, Nora, barely started knitting and already she can read a complex pattern.  She spent two hours sticking blocking wires into that scarf.  She's so smart.  My sister, Rebecca, is a bookbinding whiz, and even teaches book arts at Otis (not to brag or anything).  Her books and her color sense blow my mind.  

I also knitted some socks, and I've been working on a set of baby cardigans for some twin boys that are still, you know, safely tucked inside their mother.  I was inspired by Yarn Harlot's baby knitting rampage. I'll post them when they're done.  

Summer is officially over and I will begin teaching for real on Monday.  Art teachers need to have lots of meetings and force themselves on baffled schools who have no idea how they're going schedule all the itinerant educators.  An embarrassment of riches, if you ask me.

Guernsey Wrap

 handbound books

Kew Socks

The End Is Near

Yep, summer is coming to a grinding halt and I'm feeling a little bitter.  Oh well, I've got to work.  How else am I going to pay for all my supplies?  I got my new spinning wheel.  I'm still getting used to her and I have a bit of buyer's remorse.  It's all about the obsession, the acquisition, and then the let down.  

Here are some more alphabet pages.  

 J is for Jenny Superfine

N is for Nude in Solvang

G, H, I

G is for glasses and girls, H is for hen with dwarf wing, and I is for igloo.  I'm getting a little sick of this alphabet business.  Can I finish before school starts?

More Alphabet Pages

Here's D for duck, E for eggs and eyeless elephant, and F for flowers.

Alphabet Pages

I started illustrating the alphabet in July.  Here's A for Acorn, B for Brushes, Barbara, and Breast, and C for Clouds.

Dyeing Roving

Last week I did some dyeing and remembered to take photographs of the process.

7-26-11 Journal Spread

A little creepy, I know, but sometimes that's just what's in there and it's got to come out!

July Alphabet

I decided that I would do an illuminated alphabet for the month of July.  I started out doing just one letter per day, but then I got sick of it and I finished it this morning.  I used Derwent Inktense colored pencils, pitt superfine pen, Sharpee poster paint markers, gold Uniball pen, a little bit of gouach, some homemade rubber stamps, and a little bit of decorative rice paper.  Spread measures 10.5 x 15".

Long time no blog

It's been a long time since I blogged because my camera broke. The little door that holds the battery fell off and I lost it. I went to the camera store to order a new one and when I called them about 3 weeks later they acted like they'd never heard of me. So now I ordered one on ebay. I'm hopeful that that's all that's wrong with it. All the photos I post today will be from my phone.  All of the images are from the last month.  This summer has been wonderful.  When I get to stay home all day and flit from one project to the next I feel so lucky to be alive and have all these interests.  It wasn't always this way, so I'm very grateful.  Nora will be back from Europe on the 31st, so my solitude will end, but it's been good while it lasted.  Yay for summer!

                                                     Liz helping Ann model a stunning head dress
                                                     found beneath a palm tree

                                     Herding demo at Black Sheep Gathering in Eugene, Oregon

              Paper drying on sliding doors from paper making workshop at Cal State Fullerton

                                   Spread of little faces from my journal inspired by JFFB's blog

                                                      My adorable children together in Italy

                                                        White sheep at Black Sheep