TODAY ~ ~ ~

Is the first day of school!! So many grandchildren going back to school ~ this is Miss Luci going to first grade ~ and mom (Miki) and dad (my son, Teddy). They have always invited me to go along on the first day since 10 year old Luke started nursery school! Luke is in 5th grade this year and that little tradition stopped last year when he moved to our middle school!! I love it that they have always included me!!
This is granddaughter, Jordyn, and Luci ~ they are right across the hall from each other ~ cousins ~ who will have a great time going thru school together! Jordyn is my step-son, Chris's, little girl! I actually went by the bus stop where Luke and the boys from across the street were waiting but ~ grandma's battery had to be changed ~ and just then the bus came!! So I missed out on that cute picture!!

Here's Miss Luci and her BoBo ~ that's my grandma name!! That's what my kids called my mom ~ and somehow that's what all the little kids call me ~ and their friends ~ and their friends' parents!!! I am thrilled to have my picture taken with Luci on her first day of school ~ and they can call me whatever grandma name makes them happy!!!

We had a fun weekend ~ lots of fun, actually! Sonny and his son, Brian, had a job up at the lake and Brian stayed over Friday evening!! He is quite entertaining and joined all of us at the Moose Club for a late supper ~ he made us all laugh ~ a lot!!

Saturday morning, Sonny and I left early (before Brian even got up) and went to the local farm market and to Lakeside to an antique show!! We didn't buy much at all ~ two antique glass net floats ~ so we saved a lots of money!! One funny thing I saw was two women arguing over a vintage bracelet!! One woman offered the dealer less than the sticker price ~ the lady next to her offered more than the sticker price!!! The first one didn't like that one bit but she had the bracelet in her hand!! The dealer said she wasn't selling it to either one of them!!!! When I walked away they were still shouting at one another ~ I think the bracelet was worth more than the dealer knew!!!! Wonder how it turned out? We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around Lakeside ~ it is so peaceful there ~ so picturesque ~ little cottages ~ big houses ~ quaint little gardens ~ kind of a little place from a time long ago.

And from the sublime to the ridiculous!!! In the late afternoon, we and another couple went to Put-in-bay for the evening!! We got to the ferry and found that the last boat comes back at 8 p.m. (new schedule) and we would only be able to be there 3 hours!! So the only smart thing to do was to use the tickets that Sonny and I already had and exchange them for 4 one way tickets (rather than let them go to waste!) and then bring the Jet Express back home later in the evening!! Grand idea ~ only that left John's car in one place and us returning to another!! But, in our wisdom, that's what we did!!! Our condo is in walking distance (sort of) from the Jet, so at 11 at night, we hoofed it back home ~ in the dark ~ with a little extra fuel under our belts!!! It was funny ~ gave us something to laugh about ~ and the next day, Sonny took John to pick up his car!!! We had fun at PIB ~ saw some people we know ~ as always! ~ had some good food at a new restaurant over there ~ had some great chocolate martinis at a place on the water ~ and got our exercise walking around the town!! Oh ~ and listened to Pete and Wayne sing at the Roundhouse ~ they're from Key West ~ pretty wild ~ not for the faint of heart!!! Then it turned very cold and windy and the people I was with didn't bring jackets ~ so they all had to go shopping ~ I'm sure the shops did a 'brisk' business that night!!!!

Sunday, at noon, we had all our friends over for bloody marys!! Sonny made this concoction from a recipe he found ~ it had a gazillion ingredients ~ had to be cooked ~ cooled ~ and then run thru the emulsifier!!!! Wayyyyy to many steps for me ~ but he loves doing such stuff!! It was really spicy ~ one of the gals brought a can of tomato juice ~ the saving grace ~ and Karen and I had mimosas!!! Everyone brought a little tidbit or two and we spent the afternoon eating and being merry!! So much fun! I have to say, one more time ~ I'm so grateful for friends and being able to laugh at the silliest things!!!

I do have more rug pix but last week got away from me ~ as most days and weeks do!! I'll do better this week!!! Hope you all had a good weekend and are looking forward to the one coming up!! Our last summer weekend ~ one last hurrah!! Where did summer go?

Alice

MORE SAUDER RUG SHOW ~ ~ ~

Don't you just love all these rugs? They are Maria Barton's designs, hooked by her! Check out Maria's blog and there you'll find a link to her website! Maria's designs all have a very unique look and her color story is very much her own as well. You can almost always spot her designs, although Maria seems surprised at that!

These, too, are Miss Maria's ~ distintively hers! I met Maria several years ago at a class and then we both were invited to go to Barbara Carroll's by our mutual friend, Donna!! We had a great time ~ and Maria brought these great peanut butter cup cookies that she made ~ she became my new best friend!! And we're all going to be together again in November ~ get ready girls!!!







These two rugs are an Edyth Oneill design ~ "Oliver Cromwell" I believe ~ both great in color ~ this is a very intricate pattern ~ they looked good together!
I loved these three rugs with a Florida theme ~ the three flamingos rug had a sculptured edge at the top of the middle guy's head ~ a nice touch. The starfish rug really appealed to me ~ it would fit right in our weekend retreat!! And the very colorful fish rug would, too!










There was a large display of rugs done by a rug hooker from long ago ~ I intended to get the name and some details but the week got away from me. This rug was soooo long and done beautifully ~ a narrow cut with such perfect background shading from the center out to the darker border ~ the lady was an artist for sure. Some of the rugs were done in two pieces and were hooked to be displayed in a corner ~ very interesting!

Linda Malarny's home and rugs are going to be in the newest Celebrations magazine ~ many of her rugs were on display and they are so nice! Linda was in my class that week and I enjoyed her a lot ~ I'm looking forward to reading all about her work!!



This "Giant Baby" rug was taken from a circus poster, if I remember what I read!! Don't you just love it?!












I took this picture because I really like the colorations of these rugs ~ all nice and dark and very antiquey looking ~ I don't think that's a word ~ antiquey ~ but you know what I mean!!




The same goes for these two rugs ~ the twig-type arrangement in this bowl with the tongue border just looks so old ~ love them both!











And last, but not least, is this cat's paw rug hooked by Pat Mensing!! I hope Pat reads my blog because I think she's a great gal!! When we met last year at a hook-in, she told us about this rug that she got started for her granddaughter and her friend ~ they wanted to hook and she thought this was a great project for them! If I read her description correctly, I think Pat hooked almost all of this rug herself!! She spent an afternoon hooking with us up at our lake condo last summer ~ very fun!! I missed seeing her this year because I was in class all day ~ that was a drawback because on the opening day of the rug show, you see so many people you know ~ that's always fun!

There are still more rug photos for later this week so stay tuned! We had a fun weekend at the lake ~ had friends stay Friday night ~ Saturday, we went to an open house at the NorEaster club (membership drive) and saw so many people we know from home!! We had a great time there ~ would love to join! Saturday night we sat on the rocks with our friends ~ had a visit from a little mouse ~ not afraid of anything ~ actually, the little beast crawled into Carol's cocktail while it sat on the ground and had a little sip!! If it hadn't been for her husband's keen ears (he heard the ice jingling), Mousie probably would have drank the entire thing!! Yikes ~ we'll be taking traps next week!!! We have a bunny living under the boardwalk and someone thought they saw a MUSCRAT one evening!!! There's almost as much animal life up there as here in our woods!!!!

Sunday we had lots of company ~ a couple from Taiwan who were in the states for a couple of weeks brought their new son to meet us ~ some friends from home stopped in while on a Sunday drive and our friend, Rich, brought his kids over to see Sonny's boat bar!! It was like open house!!

We have to say CONGRATULATIONS to our friends, Diane and Greg, who became first-time grandparents on Saturday!! Madelyn Rose will be a well-loved little girl!!

That's it for today ~ wool dying and project making are on my agenda for the next three weeks!! Have a good day, all!!!

SAUDER RUG SHOW ~ ~ ~

Jule Marie Smith was our class teacher and these were two of her rugs in the show! I've seen pictures of these rugs in various books and was actually surprised at how muted the colors really are ~ in print they showed as very vibrant color ~ so it was interesting how soft and antique looking they are in person. Both beautiful original designs ~ I would love it if she would reproduce and sell these patterns!

This is also Jule Marie's rug and it is huge!! And it's very vibrant in color compared to this photo ~ at least to my eye! I can't remember the name of her design but I'll call her "Tree Woman". Jule's style is to hook smaller strips of wool in many shades and it all works to make beautiful design in her backgrounds ~ and the body of the Tree Woman is many shades of darks. She took our class on a tour of the rug show one morning and explained to us the symbolism in various aspects of this rug ~ but I swear, this great mind can't remember them to share with you! Jule Marie also brought along a rug she is hooking for her granddaughter ~ K is for Kaelin (hope I spelled that correctly) ~ and every motif on the rug begins with a K and it has a bright yellow background ~ I should have taken a photo!!

Diane Phillips was the featured teacher for the rug show and there was a large display of Diane's very unique rugs! Diane's face rugs are so interesting and detailed ~ she also taught a class and shared the room with Jule Marie, so we got to see her students' progress as well and also benefit from some of Diane's teaching moments!

I loved this chartreuse Step Lively rug and the rugs on the right that Diane calls 'banner rugs'. If you double click on the photo, you can see the words of inspiration that the rugs represent ~ an inspiring idea itself!

Donna, Evelyn, and Ellen from our class, were the hookers of these rugs in the show!! All very nice rugs and such sweet ladies that I thought they should stand by their creations for you all to see!
Another class member, Bev, hooked this beautiful rug to the right of her ~ she started it in a class with Emma Lous Lais (not Barbara Carroll's, as I first stated!) and her colors are just perfect! Barb did come to Sauder to visit the rug show on Wednesday with our friends, Gloria, Larry and Carol ~ almost everyone in our class was a student of hers at one time or another and were absolutely ecstatic to see her!

Here is Bev again, with her Chalk Deer rug ~ she just loved having her picture taken!! Above that one is one of Maria Barton's designs and also three rooster rugs are in the photo ~ I don't know who hooked them but they were all very nice.

The following pictures were in the animal section of the show ~ I'm sure I didn't get a picture of every rug but I tried to get a representation of as many as I could. I don't know the designers or the creators but these were all rugs that spoke to me!

I love the deep jewel tones of the rhino rug and sheep are my very favorite!! The little turtle rug has it's own unique design, too.
This Henney Penney rug is in my stash of patterns ~ it falls somewhere on the to-do list ~ wonder when I'll ever get to it! And the whale rug is really very primitive.
Cats and birds go nicely together ~ these seem to be getting along! They're very compatible in color ~ wonder if they're hooked by the same artist?

The same for these two great turkey rugs ~ they could easily belong together! I hope you enjoyed your journey through the rug show ~ there are more for another day!
Tuesday night's garden club gathering went well ~ as usual, I was pushed to make it all come together ~ but it all falls into place somehow!! My friend, Vivian, is a wonderful helper and also is there to visit with gals who can't do the stairs while we tour ~ I'm sure glad to have her here!
On Sunday evening and all day Monday, I worked in some pretty stifling heat to make the outside look presentable ~ Sonny did a great job of watering the container plants all last week ~ that was a concern for sure! The center garden or courtyard garden is absolutely wild ~ my suggestion to our guests was that it's best viewed from the drive or the sidewalk ~ the overall visual is great ~ close up, The Weeds BeGone garden club would been appalled (I love their name)! I like them to get the big picture ~ feed them well ~ show them the house and my rugs ~ and as luck would have it, they were very complimentary!! A great group of gals and I ended up knowing one of them, so that made for a very comfortable evening!
Yesterday morning, I had a couple of rug hooking gals come shopping ~ that was nice ~ I had a nail appointment in the afternoon ~ another stop at the grocery and we entertained friends in the evening!! So I've had a very full week since the rug retreat ended last Friday and today I am keeping a low profile!!! Laundry and office work are on the agenda ~ every now and then all this fun catches up to me and I have to regroup ~ this is one of those days!!

So look for more rug show photos in the next post and have a good weekend, one and all!

SAUDER VILLAGE RUG CLASS ~ ~ ~

Ta dah!! Here we are! Jule Marie Smith's Sauder Class of '09!! An interesting and varied group of women ~ all very talented and each with a story of their own. I didn't hear everyone's story but I did hear some and I'm sure each of us was glad to have this week all to ourselves for as many reasons as there were women! Rug hooking, eating great food and being with people who all love what we do ~ what could be better!!


I took pictures of each rug in our class before we all dispersed ~ this is Barb's Halloween rug ~ I love it!! I know you're going to love it, too, Barb!
At the top is Evelyn's rug ~ a great gal. The lion is Bev's ~ she also nearly completed Hannah's Hen ~ this is a hookin' woman!! At the bottom is Ginger's and to the left is her sister, Bobbie's rug! These two came with lots of wool ~ I mean 'lots'!!! One day during our lunch break, I had to rescue their wool from two women shoppers who were color planning a rug with Ginger and Bobbie's stash!!!

Carol's rug at the top is going to be very dramatic ~ lots of good rich color ~ she's lots of fun! Linda's house rug will be just as great as all her other rugs ~ you'll get to see them in the new Celebrations as hers is the featured home!!!! And Nancy of the big dog and crow rug is a rug hooking teacher ~ can't wait to see her finished rug!

Rebecca is working on a more traditional rug ~ she is a volunteer at Sauder Village so we had our own personal liaison ~ Rebecca took good care of us! Laurel and Linda both are working on great rugs! I hook with them in Akron at the library and they were so sweet to have a place right next to them all ready and waiting for me!! Thanks, girls! Laurel's the highest hooker I've ever seen!!!!

Donna and Ellen are great friends ~ they laugh a lot and they hook a lot! And both are creating great rugs! I love hearing those Southern accents ~ Ginger and Bobbie are Southern girls, too ~ wish I had that cute accent!

This beautiful geometric (a Bea Brock pattern) is being hooked by Aryl (she says it's like Carl without the C). I teased her that she was hooking with threads. She, like Rebecca, was hooking in a fine cut with the most beautiful jewel tones ever! A spectacular rug in the making!

And lastly (is that a word?) is my effort to step out of the primitive world into a more artistic world!! Yikes ~ what a stretch!! This is Barbara Brown's "Flower Tree" and it feels very wild and loud in color when I'm hooking on it ~ but viewing it in picture form helps get a better perspective ~ it's not quite so bright!! And I bought a 'reducer' ~ a little viewer that helps get a bird's eye view of your work as you go along ~ I love that new little gadget! I'm hooking this in a 9 cut with a 9.5 background ~ it will be interesting to see the end result ~ believe me, I'm struggling with all this color and I think I caused Jule to struggle along with me in the color planning. I brought along my stash of sparkly wools and paisleys ~ that's where we began and then filled in with her hand-dyed wools. I'll keep you posted on the progress but since I have two September shows to prepare for, it might take a while!

Jan Nofziger and Kathy Wright were the coordinators of this great week! Jan is retiring and this was her last hurrah, so to speak!! She does a wonderful job and her successor has big shoes to fill. HAPPY RETIREMENT, Jan, and I know you'll have lots of fun in your new venture!! Jan is so enthusiastic and full of life ~ enjoy your new journey!

In the days ahead, I'll be showing pictures of the famed Sauder Rug Show! There were lots of great rugs to see and I'm happy to share them with you! Tomorrow night, I'm hosting a garden club for a house tour and evening meal ~ so you know, I'm like a white tornado trying to get the weeds pulled and the menu put together!! Wish me luck!!!!!

HOOK-IN FUN ~ ~ ~

This post will be short on words today! I'm getting ready to go to Sauder Village in western Ohio for their week-long rug retreat!!! Yippee!!! I'll be taking class with Jule Marie Smith and really looking forward to that ~ I think there's a lot to learn from her in regard to color and color planning!!
I'm posting all these photos from a local hook-in I went to in June hosted by Katie Allman. It's taken me long enough to get them on here but this is perfect ~ gives me something to post about and you some great rugs to look at while I'm gone!
The suitcase is almost packed ~ I'm off to get my gray hairs colored before we leave at noon ~ Heidi is coming to pick me up and we're off for 5 days of hooking and eating and seeing lots of our rug hooking friends! Heather Ritchie from England will be teaching and Heidi will be in her class!
So enjoy the pictures and I'll be taking lots of rug photos at Sauder and blogging about the week when I return! It will be great fun, I know but getting ready to go and getting things in order here at home for Tad and Sonny is pretty much done!! Thank goodness Sonny is a very resourceful guy and he'll keep the homefires burning while I'm gone! And Tad's caregiver, Barb, will watch over him during the day ~ so I can leave worry free!!

Have a good week one and all!!
Hope you're enjoying these great rugs!! I can't believe it but I just couldn't get it together to get rugs registered for the Sauder show ~ and I had to arrange for shipping them home, since we'll be leaving a day before the rug show ends. Just too much to figure that all out!! So no Alice rugs at Sauder!

Sonny asked me if there is a prize or why I like to do that ~ it's just the thrill of seeing my rugs displayed for other rug hookers to look at and hanging there with some really wonderful rug hooking ~ just my own little ego trip, I guess!!!

That's it ~ I'm off ~ ta ta for now!! Alice

10 MINUTES A DAY ~ ~ ~

It seems to be helping ~ the 10 minutes a day challenge that is!! I haven't worked on this little sheep rug in quite a long time ~ one reason being that I was doing it for the little guest bath on the first floor and when I took it in there one time to see how it was going to look, I realized it was too small for the area!! So, I kind of lost interest ~ and I was working on other things! But now, thanks to April Deconick's challenge, I've hooked the last three evenings, sometimes longer than the required 10 minutes and voila ~ this little rug is moving along! I've hooked the border (all from the scrap basket) from the bright purple up the right side ~ progress, indeed!

Here are some lake pictures ~ this is Tad's bedroom, which also serves as a guestroom. For a headboard effect, I've used old fencing and trellis parts and adorned them with metal fish! The things I use in decorating are not expensive ~ you can put together odd bits of this and that for next to nothing and create a unique decorating style!

The other side of his little room has a small chair that a friend gave me ~ another friend made this beautiful slipcover for it from yardage that I bought at a chain fabric store ~ the dust ruffles are made from this same material. The little chair pillow is a flea market find ~ it looks like it's made from a vintage bedspread. Other accent pieces come from T J MAXX and Marshall's ~ places that have lots of well-priced accessories.

This is our room painted with silver sage green from Restoration Hardware ~ it's a great soft color ~ kind of a seaside look ~ we're not by the sea but some call Lake Erie the North Ocean! When you're looking at a big body of water, it has the same calming effect as an ocean ~ except in our case, we're looking at Put-in-Bay and that's a good thing! I have read that the water gives off negative ions, which changes our bodies chemically ~ that's why we have that peaceful feeling and are drawn to the water ~ ever notice how laid back people are in beach towns and on the islands ~ evidently, that's why!!

The little sitting area walls just beg for some hooked rugs or pictures or something! The rabbit rug that I'm working on up there is for this room ~ I was going to put it on the floor but as I look at this, maybe it should be a wall rug!! The piece of folk art on the armoire/tv cabinet is some odd thing we found at an antique show in Lakeside years ago. We didn't even have this place yet, but I knew there would be a spot for it somewhere ~ a pyramid shape is supposed to give positive, peaceful energy ~ Mr. Kitty sleeps under it ~ it hasn't helped him much!

That's it for today ~ we're off to the lake and as usual, I have much to do! Have a happy weekend ~ hot summer weather is coming to Ohio ~ 90's this weekend. Yuk! The heat and humidity are hard on this old girl ~ I always think I'll melt into a puddle of butter ~ guess I'll have to stay in where it's cool ~ the condo or a pub!
Ta ta for now!
Alice