1909 and counting

Happy 100th Birthday Great Aunty Lilly!

I love you, miss you and wish you great happiness always. This once red-headed small ball of fire only complains of the old people around her at the home she's in, still has a great sense of humour, wit and charm. I'm so glad Donovan Boy got to meet her a couple of years ago and I live in hope that we may see her again on another visit to the UK. Enjoy your letter from the Queen!!!

Urbanites unite

The lovely "felting fabulous" women that I've met recently have given me great joy. Meeting many of you for the first time at the recent woolly workshops that cover various felting techniques I felt that I wanted to show off some of your work here too!

I will post more in the coming weeks, as others finish up work and other workshops are completed. Thank you again to those who allow me to boss you around for a short while and hopefully help you feel that happy glow when you leave with a lovely creation of your own hand!

bunny in the hole

tree sculpture with twist

Easter bunny in the works

happy owl and trainer

pink-eye owl and pet

Tall Tale Tree by Sandra

For upcoming workshops info please see the Dragonfly Artisan weblog for listings and updates...

Pouring

When it's rains, it pours and this just came in yesterday!

"Concentric Circles 1 of 12", has been accepted into the "SAA Squared" fiber arts exhibition, to be held at the Avenue 50 Studio in Los Angeles from March 14, 2009 to April 5, 2009.


Please do join me there on the first evening if you are in town and say hello, I'll be the wobbly mess in the corner wondering if I really should be there.....

I had given up hope of being included in this art show as I wasn't sure my attempts were suitable etc. but I'm thrilled, nervous and excited at the chance to display this little piece which is part of a much larger project that I hope to show off later this year ( at least to blogger world!)

Thanks for all the support, this artist path has been a long time coming for me and I have very far to go, but this encouragement and inclusion in these shows make for great inspiration!

ta ta for now - I'm off to teach an Urban farm animal class this morning at Seeds of Joy in Wilderness Park with Redondo Beach Parks and Recs. I'll post some student pics later so you can see how great these women are!

1st Art Show!

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middle bit

WOW! For some of you this may be really silly and no big deal, but for me it marks a moment in my life finally pursuing a life of art, learning and guiding. 2009 is also the start of a Waldorf teacher training program and my 4th year teaching workshops in more outreaching areas.
Sharing each skill gained and spreading my passion of working in natural fiber ( and penmanship) brings me joy and the inspiration to keep trying to be better!

"10 women" on Abbott Kinney art show on March 7th in the evening...see ya there with Pink River Rock and Spectrum!!! giggle!

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Winter Workshop

Are you wanting to try something new or add to your already growing list of crafty skills? Why not do so with one of the workshops below taught by Phaedra! The student work is remarkable from the beginner to the more versed in this wooly world and you will learn many techniques that are very useful for all other projects! Space is limited so please be sure to register ahead of time. Coming up soon...

Winter workshops held at

Seeds of Joy Wilderness Park, 1102 Camino Real, Redondo Beach, Ca 90277
To register for classes, please the City of Redondo Beach at (310) 318 0610, ext 3380

Urban Farm Animals

All the how-to's in the animal realm!
You choose from frogs to foxes, pigs, owls, mice, sheep, cows chickens and their eggs!
Saturday February 21st - 10am-12pm - $20*

Sculpted Wool Dolls
How do you create a unique art doll for the season or display? The finished 8" doll will have pose-able arms and an armature base. Form, techniques for dressing the doll and making lovely hair styles will all be covered. Bring your imagination!
Saturday March 14th
9am-1pm $45*

Winter/Spring Workshops held at:
8650 Gulana Ave, Cross Creek Clubhouse, Playa del Rey, Ca 90293
To register for these classes call Phaedra at 310 463 6304 or email phaedra(at)thephoenixgift.com

Urban Farm animals #2

February 28th
12-2pm $20*

Waldorf Doll-making
starting end of March. dates TBC
11am-3pm - $45* two sessions.


Woolly 'Faberge' Easter Eggs
Saturday April 4th
10-12pm $15*

* material fees are separate and range from $7 to $30

Wooly Matters & Mucho Batto more

The giant punch - "this is better than a light sabre!" said Donovan Boy.

Haven't been this excited since I first discovered felting as an art form a few years ago. In the midst of putting some felting kits together for a lovely lady who attended a class recently, a knock at the door and a few giant boxes later, a very smiley-can't wait to get started-Mama Phoenix was showing off wool from the talented Ms. Prairie Farm Abi ( my partner in Terra Firma crime), and some dangerous new implements to her boys - who of course showed great interest in them only as possible weapons of destruction and not the glorious sculpting tools and endeavours that are to come!

"Can I snuggle with it mama?" Little Gandalf

On another wooly note: this poor Summer doll (being made for our silent auction last week) had all her original upper clothes ripped off and lo and behold became a preggers late spring doll...sorry!
I like her better this way

conception Heavenly art doll for Spring/Summer

Now I'm off to rush around the food shopping for a Valentines shrimp feast, delivering goodies and nipping to the post office for an Etsy run, all whilst dreaming about tomorrow when I can really get started on Terra. I'm actually quite nervous on how it'll turn out and what on earth I'm going to do with her afterward is a whole other matter entirely!

Precipitation looms

Did I mention here or only on Facebook that I'm working on a wooly R2D2 for a cub scout Star Wars basket this weekend too.. will post pics if it turn out alright!

Watts Cooking?

OK, I'll come clean ( here at least) - the gnome-schoolers did a bunk and ran off to grab some art history in the rain. Yes, in a dodgy part of town and oh so hidden away is quite a treasure to behold by Simon ( Sabato) Rodia.

The kids listened in fascination to the well versed tour guide, asked a ton of questions and were inspired by more art inside the gallery before creating something of their own. Great day out in the storm thanks to Paper and HomeschoolLA! The rain stopped just long enough for us to be outside in the sunshine, snap some shots before it all came pelting down again! Ha!! Happily the hippie boys remembered lots of interesting facts, to spout at the Hairy One upon his hobbling home.

Down Under de Groot

I think this is part 3 of my artist features - A friend who knows my likes and loves, sent this Aussie artists' blog link to me and I was truly blown away by her beautiful felt work - from bags to rugs to hats, she has all the techniques down pat! Thank you to Pam de Groot for allowing me to share your threads and spreads here and make me look good! Her work shows no fear to play with colour and shape in ways you may not have seen before, her love of swirls and spirals and of Andy Goldsworthy endeavours make her akin to my arty heart and so it is my pleasure to feature her varied work here for your enjoyment!

Seaweed splendour Goldsworthy style

spectacular creation of wonderous head gear

a felted wall hanging with her sons' class - stunning!

did I mention I love hats.....??? The Armadillo.

Gorgeous swirly bag that any hipster should have

Making the beds..

The gopher hunt is on, chasing with non-violent communication is all well and good, but honestly I could bop em sometimes! My two year old parsley bushes were scoffed, leaving just a gaping hole where the greenery once was. I chopped back the other herbs that had thankfully been spared for now and tucked them in safely to a nearby bed - this one is protected by a giant subterreanean wire fence that precludes all pesky visitors.

So with a great sigh and a huge shovel I set to work to create the same force field of wire in the hex bed, which now has some lovely older and new roots of strawberries that may be lovingly tended to feed the squirrels!

the mish mosh of wire - I left the bloody fingers pics behind..

Well, it's been while since I've had anything to show for my poor garden. The weather here in California has been somewhat topsy-turvy recently, 90 one day, 6o's the next few, then back to 80's. I think we've been in the pool more than the garden!! However, today it rained, not just a peasly drizzle all day but lovely big drops in between regular showers - YEE HA!!! ( told you I like talking about the weather!)

So what do we have so far: beds of wildflowers and bulbs that are peeking out already; onions; potatoes; radishes; carrots, lettuce, peas, fennel, rosemary, cilantro, basil, oregano lavender and it looks like the lovely chamomile will be back for an encore this year too - yay more tea!! Oh, yep of course the peppermint is locked and plopped outside the main herby bed, to travel it's own course, which I'm sure it will!! I shouldn't leave out the bolting broccali, hrumph. At least I'll get some seeds for my efforts *sigh*

lettuce leaves are showing signs of life..

red and yellow onions are reaching for the sky

da herbs are doing quite nicely after jumping beds...

last years saved peas are popping

And for the 100th time..

In the great scheme of all things sacred, special or just plain silly, the 100th post on a weblog really doesn't rate up there. Well, here it is. Ta da! Not so special, certainly not sacred and one can only hope to achieve a little silly here and there!

~chasing sky in New Mexico~

All-in-all a complete waste of time really. Hello out there reader, how are you today? Are you cold, warm or wet where you live? Talking about the weather is a national pastime for us Brits, no matter where they live. The almanac fascination draws us in, whether it be to ponder the culminating cloud formation and what fabulous Latin name they may be accurately called or, relying on a less scientific methods of folk lore and dreaming up reasons to watch, wait and predict the coming few days. I've always been able to 'smell' rain in the air, (not very often around here) or lose myself in the very real sport of heaven watching!! Pulling over the car to watch clouds travelling fast in wind and spotting shapes or running to catch the last few mins of a stunning sunset before stars peek out, tornado hunting and playing with shadow characters are for me very lovely and real diversions from being a grown up.

Weather slang is truly worth some wasted time, as it not only relates to the meteorological names but also to old folk description's. One of my favourite's being the "There's no weather today" statement. Ya know, that day that's kind of a grey/white sky, not too cold or hot, no wind, humidity or rain. :-)

Winter sunset, Playa del Rey, Ca

Ok, so you get the picture of my ramblings...Candlemas and Groundhog Day are one and the same - February 2nd - and all to do with the weather.
Taken partially from the Old Almanac - The Celtic Candle mas celebrates days getting longer and Spring is not far off. Traditionally, the celebration anticipated the planting of crops, and forecasting of either an early spring or a lingering winter. Sunshine on Candlemas was said to indicate the return of winter. Similarly, "When the wind’s in the east on Candlemas Day / There it will stick till the second of May." A bear brought the forecast to the people of France and England, while those in Germany looked to a badger for a sign. In the 1800s, German immigrants to Pennsylvania brought their Candlemas legends with them. Finding no badgers but lots of groundhogs, or woodchucks, there, they adapted the New World species to fit the lore. Today that lore has grown into a full-blown festival, with Punxsutawney Phil presiding.

rolling across Tahoe

So, "What's in the garden", you ask? After much composting, digging, weeding and moving some things around, just before our annual spot of drizzle, the boys and I recently sowed, radishes; carrots; peas; onions; potatoes; broccoli; various herbs and flowers for companion planting and are in the midst of creating a new strawberry bed that I envision to be gloriously festooned with mountains of my favourites this Spring and Summer..ha ha ha ha ha!!!! We'll see if the heat destroys my attempts at a winter spread here in So Cal!

For a wonderful and easy way to plan your crops please visit The Old Farmers Almanac and customise the planting table for your area..

~my little garden plot of raised ceder beds ( last spring)~

The Animals

Another great band name.....with all the excitement of Washington antics recently, my body decided to lay low with pestilence of the viral persuasion, the worst part being having no energy to really make something for days. Yesterday I managed to whip up ( thanks to coffee) these two little animals as example pieces for a couple of felting classes I'm guiding next month. Look out for more as the coffee flows and energy comes back, I can't seem to keep these critters around long enough to show, they do have a habit of skittering away but I'll try and keep them around for a month until the classes are done.

I'll be posting some Valentine treats - fat and sugar free - to grab off my Etsy shop with gratis shipping next week too, so look out for that!

For those who even care about such things, we had a jolt of a earthquake last evening here near the beach, not many of those come out this way, but that shook things up a bit over here in laid-back ville La La Land! It felt like we were picked up and dropped, but it seems there were many yesterday all around the ring of fire at around the same level of intensity M3.5 ish - it seems the world was taking a big sigh of relief that we have new leadership! tee hee!

Finally!!

We've been sharing some beautiful moments with the wee boys who have been following ( on their own) the historical rise of the O man. I don't have a T-shirt -yet- but I'm sure Venice beach will pack 'em in 3 for $10. I don't have the pearls to wear for Michelle tomorrow sorry P! Just had to post something joyful today!! YIPPEE!!!!