Monterey Pine

Monterey Pine by Gerri Shaw

Gerri Shaw sends us a postcard of the Monterey Pine.

The Pacific Coast around Monterey has many of these trees hanging on to cliffs looking over the ocean. This scene was created from my memories of driving along the coast road going south towards Carmel.

Wikipedia tells us that

Pinus radiata is a species of pine native to Central Coast of California, in three very limited areas located in Santa Cruz, Monterey Peninsula (Monterey), and San Luis Obispo Counties.

It is fitting that in just four short weeks we will be gathering on the Monterey Peninsula at Asilomar Conference Center celebrating fiber art. I hope to see and, thanks to Gerri, identify many Monterey Pines.

More Postcards From California

The bell tower at San Juan Bautista mission.

The San Juan Bautista bell tower is the subject of this postcard that was designed and hooked by Laura Pierce. We drive by San Juan Bautista when we go to the ocean at Santa Cruz and Monterey. The town of San Juan Bautista makes for a nice little stop to have a snack, visit the antique stores, or mission.

The second contribution from Laura is Little River Inn View. Little River Inn is located on Hwy. 1 a few miles south of Mendocino and is the location of Laura’s Little River Inn Rug Camp held each November. Each room at Little River Inn boasts a view of the Pacific Ocean and it is a charming, peaceful place to visit.

The view from Little River Inn

Laura finished her postcards by whipping the edges and then attaching a fiber back. She “wrote” on her postcards as if they were being sent. Each postcard tells its own story. Click on the photo to enlarge it so that you can read the text. Laura used special fabric sheets that are made to be used with printers. The difficult part of using these fabric sheets is to remember that the image must be printed backwards.

The back of Laura Pierce's postcards.

Lighthouse Santa Cruz

Lighthouse Santa Cruz

A brief internet search revealed thirty-three lighthouses in California (please correct me if I’m wrong). There are two in Santa Cruz. Cai King hooked a California Postcard depicting the first Santa Cruz lighthouse which began construction in 1869. This lighthouse has a past that you may want to read about at http://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=87. When Cai asked her mother what image evoked California for her she responded, “the lighthouse in Santa Cruz.” So Cai hooked this postcard and dedicated it to her mother as her “steadfast beacon of love.”

Cai hand-embroidered the letters for Santa Cruz using embroidery thread and attached the label using matte cotton #4 and the bullion knot stitch to represent ice plants growing on the cliff.

Cai also added the ocean spray using proddy and some of her sister’s hand-woven fabric and novelty yarn.

Close up of ocean spray

I’m always amazed by Cai’s creativity when hooking her postcards. Each postcard she does has special meaning for her and each piece of wool/fiber/yarn is used for a specific reason.