Last weekend was UC Berkeley Botanical Gardens' Green Gala Fashion Show. The event was so beautiful.. the models walked through their Redwood grove, the weather was wonderful, and the food and wine was amazing. Thank you Deepa! 

Funny signs I saw when I was visiting home. I love how the painter was using real flowers as reference to paint the ones on the far right!

I made this really awesome felted headdress for my friend Doug to wear when he preforms with his band Wiggwaum. It's kind of similar to this Sun-Ra headdress, it's hard to see though with these photos :)

Dreaming of a wool mill...

breakfast
lunch
dinner

We spent my birthday weekend in Port Costa at the Burlington Hotel and check out these creepy photos I took around the hotel, I definitely think it is haunted. It's so cute though and so much fun! Plus rooms cost only $39 a night...
it has the cutest wallpaper!

settling in
beer cellar
bedroom

Went to visit Matt's studio, which was once Tsurukichi, to plan a bag collaboration with him. I am crazy about the long-stemmed hangers he designed and the reconstructed Tim Hamilton uniforms for the Bardessono.

Have you been to the new MOMA cafe? Blue Bottle coffee + Heath mugs. PLUS Matt did their uniforms :)

Mint

Wild carrots

Purple basil

Scallions 

Nasturtium from my walk

Spinach salad with purple basil, fresh mint, avocado, and nasturtium with lemon juice and olive oil dressing/cracked salt and pepper
Halibut cooked with lemon juice, garlic and chile flakes

Roasted carrots and scallions 

Plus chilled mint tea

Last night I had the best evening walk! It's been so warm and all the flowers and trees smelt so good!

Went back to Los Angeles a few weeks ago and got to finally meet IKO IKO owner and Rowena Sartin designer Kristin Dickson! She just recently opened up IKO IKO as a show space for her clothes and other artists' work. The gallery is so nicely curated and I love all the furniture she built with her dad. She is as sweet as her southern accent, so if y'all are in L.A., go check it out!

And if you are in L.A., I will be having a show there Saturday, July 18th that I am really excited about!

Look Carrie, a flower!
and homemade spicy turkey meatballs with broccoli and parmesan!

Spinach, beet, avocado, and feta salad with squeezed lemon and olive oil dressing.. so easy and good!

Alas! Back in touch... I have been M.I.A lately since I have gotten a new computer and don't have internet, BUT wanted to announce that with the end of our SHEEP AND WEEDS show, Sasha and I are having a WOOL AND WEEDS WORKSHOP July 5th at Sasha's house where we will demonstrate how to felt and dye with seasonal weeds growing in her neighborhood. Please, please email me if you're interested in coming! ashleyhelvey at yahoo dot com

It's been a while! Finally, here are some photos from our show at August. It was truly an amazing evening and we were so blessed to have so many amazing people come together to make the night so magical. Read more about it here.

I will post links to everyone who participated soon. Thank you everyone who came and everyone who helped :)

Here is my piece before it was dyed and then some photos of the dyeing process. Sasha used fennel, dandelion, mustard flowers, mint, and some sour grass to dye...

SHEEP AND WEEDS! Please please please come to my show on TUESDAY, May 12th 8-10 if you're in the Bay Area! I worked with the brilliant plant-dyer Sasha Duerr to create an installation of local sheep wool that is dyed with the weeds the sheep eat! Jerome Waag of Open Restaurant and Chez Panisse are cooking an amazing meal of weeds and sheep and there will be a great after party from 8-10! I'd love to see you there!

Maggie, Sonja and I made vision boards for fun. Mine keeps growing....

Have you seen this yet? I am excited for the live performance. Come :)

MJ and I went to Agate Beach on Sunday in search for rock treasures and found so many good ones! We could have spent hours there, but the tide was coming in so we had to leave :( It was really foggy and wet and the mountain smelt like fresh mint!

The Loomstate event at August was so much fun! Sasha was even dyeing some of their organic cotton and wool pieces outside in her new beautiful tub with sourgrass :)

Thank you Audrey and Zooey for the awesome opputunity to be in the BEEN THERE DONE THAT benefit fashion show! We had so much fun!

my favorites: bakesale betty's and tarine!

If you're around come check out this projects' debut + a LOOMSTATE / ROGAN pop-up shop at AUGUST in Oakland tonight from 6-10pm! Boozy snowcones and delicious authentic Mexican food!

NAPA:
lots of flowers

sonya had a pretty moth land on her

air plants at the bardessono

naturally felted insoles

rainbow

art show at Iron Horse!

funfunfun

Plant-Dye workshop at UC Berlkeley Botanical Gardens... thank you Deepa!

I have been up in Napa working on this project. Had fun visiting Yolo Wool Mill to get fibers for the installation- all local California wool!

The "boneyard" at Slide Ranch!

Most of the time living in Mill Valley is nice...
but I sure miss the city

Kelly's seat covers turned out beautiful, the seats themselves make them even more... Her apartment is so cute and I have some drawings I have to share of hers later...

The Sheep to Shawl event at Slide Ranch was very educational. Seeing the sheep getting sheared was a real treat and the felting workshop was so much fun! In exchange for the workshop I got to keep this sheep's fleece!

a dome to spend the night in

Maya made some fingerless gloves

The main reason for my visit to New York: the Fashioning Felt exhibit at the Cooper Hewitt. It was great to see the spectrum of felt makers and I was really excited to discover Claudy Jongstra was a strong supporter of the show and had a piece there. I was honored to have met Susan Brown, ass. curator and will hopefully be planning a workshop there soon. East coast people: k.i.t.

Went on a little mini trip to New York this week!

kiosk

lyell
dvf

polish food in greenpoint

simon rich reading at powerhouse books in dumbo

Carrie! Our peppers are growing like weeds! Can't wait to taste the first one :)
And a little appetizer M and I made. Tasty, but the olive oil was terrible...