BEING MORE CREATIVE ~ ~ ~

This wool applique tree pillow is one of the things that was in the Secret Santa package that I sent off the other day ~ Rita already received and opened it ~ with my blessing ~ I wanted her to be able to use her presents for the holidays! Since rug hooking became my art of choice, I haven't made the things that I sold at shows for years ~ it was kind of nice to see what I could whip up! This is wool felt adorned with rusty bells ~ you know, to put a little jingle in Rita's Christmas ~ and she was very complimentary!



This old cat pillow is one I've had a long time ~ he came all faded and worn from an auction I'm sure ~ they were printed and you cut out, sew and stuff them ~ well, he'd been cut out, sewn and stuffed long ago!!

I'm sure when this worn old fellow started out, he looked just like the guy in the next frame ~ no doubt that's what drew me to buy that pattern in the first place ~ there's something very appealing about both of them, don't you think??


And for lots of years, this guy was down in the depths of my workroom, still in his flat little package ~ waiting for this seamstress to give him life!! When I was putting order to that basement storage area, I found him in the bottom of a box ~ he got moved over into the hooking studio/sewing room and waited a while longer and finally, one day this weekend ~ the guy got cut out, sewn and stuffed into life!! He's a handsome cat, isn't he? I put him in a chair down there and sometimes out of the corner of my eye, I thought it was Mr. Kitty sitting and staring at me!!!! As I've mentioned before, I need a keeper!!

One of the things that I also got done this weekend, was to label those two niece's rugs and get them ready to mail. The rabbit rug for Isabella couldn't be shipped without something in there for big sister Ariana ~ so I made this bear this morning!! In my past craft life, I made mohair bears so there is a nice stock of those materials in my 'warehouse'! I had to dig thru old patterns to find this one that I used to make antique quilt bears ~ it was perfect to make a quickie gift! German string mohair, glass eyes and a little embroidered nose and in about an hour, it was finished!!

And on the back ~ a label ~ a label that came from my mother's sewing things and I still had that little package squirreled away in my sewing drawers, waiting to find the perfect project to attach it to!! This one was it ~ my mom was Grandma to Ariana's daddy and he has fond memories of her ~ so I thought this little label would mean a lot to him, too. Yes, her name was Alice!
Last but not least, this is a rug I'm working on for a friend ~ a commission, no less!! Melody asked me to do a Leicester sheep for her last year ~ they travel to Ireland a lot and like me, she loves the fields with sheep everywhere you look ~ I hooked the hilly fields the same way I did the field border in my England Memory rug with the colors of canola and heather and rolling green moors. I showed it to her yesterday and it seems she really like it! So stay tuned ~ it will be done shortly!!
I hope you all are having a productive week ~ and are also able to enjoy the festivities of the season! I'm up to my ears in office work ~ hooking, sewing and creating take a toll on the real responsibilities of life ~ guess I'll go be responsible now!! Ta Ta !
Alice