ALL THE TRIMMINGS HOLIDAY SHOW

I've been working hard on my Christmas items getting

ready for the rapidly upcoming season. Yikes! It will

be here before I am ready. Here are a few of my new

items. Contact me if you are interested or:

Join us at our "All the Trimmings Holiday Show" on Dec. 5,
2009, from 10-4pm, at Chelsea Fairgrounds Service

Building, 20501 Old U. S. 12, Chelsea, MI 48118. We

will have 17 different local artists with wonderful work!

Check out our blog to see many of the artisans and their work - http://www.allthetrimmingsshow.blogspot.com/.

THANKSGIVING AT THE CHELSEA GALLERY

Check in at the Chelsea Gallery at 115 S. Main St.,
Chelsea, to see our fall and Thanksgiving carvings.
We've got fall leaves, acorns, turkeys and pheasants.
They will be there until...Thanksgiving!

BOTANICALS OF LA CANADA, CALIFORNIA

Several customers of Botanicals of La Canada, California,
have asked where they can purchase my carvings now
that Botanicals no longer has a storefront. Julie now has
an online store at www.shopbotanicals.com and will
feature several seasonal carvings monthly (along with
a lot of other wonderful things), but will also take any
special orders. We will continue to work together and
will ship to her on a regular basis. If you have any more
questions, please contact Julie or myself.

HALLOWEEN AT THE CHELSEA GALLERY

For the month of October, I will have my Halloween carvings at the
Chelsea Gallery, 115 S. Main Street, Chelsea, MI 48118. Call for hours

at 734-475-1008. Their website is http://www.chelsea-gallery.com/.

It is a beautiful gallery with local artists' work, and it has a gorgeous

coffee bar. Gary and Doris Galvin are the charming owners and great

friends of our family. Please visit them and tell them I sent you.

HALLOWEEN!!

I'm getting excited about Halloween because I am having so
much fun creating my new Halloween creatures. Afte
researching all of my old magazines (and there are a lot of

them!) for ideas from Halloween collectables, I have designed

carvings that use my carved pumpkins along with tin, wire

and antique spindles. I almost wish they won't sell, because

I love how they look in my house, and I have only a limited

number of spindles to use. Come see them at my fall show

September 19th & 20th. Lots of new carvings and good food!

HALLOWEEN AND FALL OPEN HOUSE!

"SOMETHING TO CROW ABOUT"

My annual fall and Halloween open house will be held

on Saturday, September 19, and Sunday, September 20

from 10-5 at my home at 5465 Conway Road, Chelsea,

MI 48118. I will have many new fall and Halloween items

as well as some new birds for the bird collectors, as well

as lots of crows, as usual. I'm also working on lots of new

pins and necklaces. The carvings are piling up high and I

need to stop carving and start painting soon! Hope to see

everyone there!

SEASIDE CARVINGS

A good friend from Florida showed up one day
to look at my seaside carvings and went home
with an instant collection of 27 carvings! Lobsters,
crabs, fish, dolphins, flamingos, spoonbills, scallops,
sand dollars, mermaids, lighthouses, rays and more
all went home to Florida. I haven't carved so many
sea creatures at once in a long time and thought I
would have some left over for my fall show
September 19th and 20th, but she wiped me out!
(That's a good thing.) Now I am once again carving
more seaside items to replace them. I had forgotten
how much I love to carve most of them.

QUILT SQUARE AND INITIAL PLAQUES - NEW!

Thanks to inspiration from one of my dealers,

Botanicals from La Canada, California, I have

added quilt squares and initials to my line of

removeable plaques. So far, the letters have

been painted black, but any color is available.

As for the quilt squares, I just picked some of

my simplest patterns and an assortment of

colors. Obviously, the possibilities are endless!

The initials and the quilt squares are $30. The

plaque holders are $20, in fifteen different colors.

WINDOWSILL SERIES

Just a little smaller and a little less expensive,

these cute little birds fit nicely on a windowsill.

Bluebird, crow, white bird, cardinal, goldfinch

and junco. Approximately 3 1/2" long. $25 ea.

Shipping included.

More Pictures of the wood

Ray Worden on the left and John, my husband
and fellow carver on the right, after an
afternoon of milling a basswood tree.

The whole tree in boards ready to be stored

in the barn for several months till dry.

Here are pictures of the tree once it has been milled into

boards which we will keep up in the barn until it has dried.

The time varies by thickness, but generally it is 2 months

per inch before it is dry enough to carve. I cannot wait!

A NEW TREE!!!

After a few years of carving hard and not the best basswood,

(you never know before you cut down a tree how it will be

on the inside) we bought a wonderful tree from our farmer

friend Sonny Beeman, and had it cut into planks by another

friend Ray Worden, with his portable saw mill. These pictures

show my husband, John, and Ray spending the afternoon

transforming a tree into carving material. It is beautiful

wood and we can't wait till it dries and we can start carving!

Sheep pins and carved buttons

Here is a flock of sheep pins and necklaces on their way to

Kris Miller for the Black Swamp Fleece Fair in Bowling

Green, Ohio, this last weekend, along with an assortment

of springy hand-carved buttons for your hand knitted

sweaters. I'll try to carve any idea you might have for

buttons. The possibilities are endless!

Inspirational Carvings

Here are some of my carvings that inspired my stair

treads. The frog will probably be the ninth one.

Seven More Stair Treads

I have been so busy getting ready for the Dexter show

(which was great, thank you everyone), I have

neglected my blog. A couple people asked about my

other stair treads, so I finally took a picture of them

too. They are all inspired by my carvings, with a black

and mustard border to tie them together. I have finally

come to the conclusion that I am not capable of hooking

a large rug, but love to do smaller ones. This way, when

they are all done, it will have the effect of a large rug,

but was done in smaller steps (haha). Partway through

the treads, I decided to add my bugs to the rugs too,

since I carve so many things and this would help to

incorporate more of my carvings into the rugs. My

dilemma now, other than what carving to hook,

is whether or not to keep each tread the same shape

and size, approximately 9 1/2" x 28", or to shape the

last 5 treads according to the steps which are winders,

and would be basically triangular. This decision might

hold up my hooking for a long time! I think my next rug

will be a big green frog with a fly on the end of his long

tongue. Perfect for spring, especially since we now hear

our spring peepers in our pond in the woods and on our

walks down the country roads. Kris Miller of Spruce

Ridge Studios carries patterns for the sheep, whale, frog

and Halloween scene, along with my chickens.Contact

her at http://www.spruceridgestudios.com/ for the patterns.

Hooked Rug Stair Tread

I am so excited that I finished my eighth stair tread!

It is patterned from my carved patriotic hand with

flag and has my ant with flag in the bottom corner,

as shown in the pictures. I struggled with the color

for the hand until I found the PERFECT wool at

Kris Miller's Spruce Ridge Studios. If you need the

absolute best flesh-colored wool you'll ever find and

anything else you might need for hooking, check out

her website at http://www.spruceridgestudios.com/.

She also carries seven of my hooked rug patterns.

New Item - Birds on Antique Wall Mounts

Check out my new songbirds on antique wall mounts.

Patterned after antique pieces I have loved for years,

I finally have had fun pairing my birds with old wooden

brackets. If you are interested too, please contact me.

Dexter Pioneer Arts Fair

Join me Saturday, March 21, 2009, from 10-4, at the Dexter Pioneer Arts Fair new location,

the Atrium at the Dexter United Methodist Church, 7643 Huron River Drive, Dexter, MI 48130. I'll have lots of new birds, eggs, and FEATHERS! Hope to see you there.

St. Patrick's Day Plaque

For collectors of my plaques, I have designed a new St. Patrick's Day

carving - a Celtic Cross. Email me

for more information at mdusbiber@aol.com.

Valentine's Day Snowfall

On Valentine's Day we woke unexpectedly to 3 inches of snow. Here are some pictures

of our house in the snow (my favorite time of the year for the house) and our pets, Belle

the collie, and Genesis the horse.