HOOK-IN FUN ~ ~ ~

Yes, it was fun, for sure!  We (Mr. Sonny and I) were vendors at the Western Reserve Rug Hooking Guild's hook-in on Saturday. It was at Lake Farm Park in Kirtland ~ a great facility and it looks like a good family place to visit.  There were 100+ hookers there and seven vendors ~ if you couldn't find wool there that you liked then you probably won't find it anywhere!  As-is, off the bolt and hand-dyed ~ all beautiful!  Lots of patterns and beautiful finished wool applique and frames.  The guild really did a great job of planning ~ tables were decorated with pretty salmon color geranium's, the lunch was great, and wonderful Chinese auction gifts.

I must say it was grand day all the way around! Here is the rest of the room ~ I honestly don't think a lot of hooking gets done ~ so many people to visit with and rugs to look at and shopping to do!  There was also a rug show and I can't believe I forgot to snap some photos for you!  There was a great Deanne Fitzpatrick pattern of a woman in a flowery dress ~ and hooked in Deanne's higgelty piggelty style!  And many other great looking rugs in the rug show and on people's frames in the midst of being hooked!  Thanks ladies for inviting me to be part of your day!

This is part of my booth ~ it's spread out everywhere ~ every booth space in every show is different and I never know what to do with all the wool and baskets and crates, etc.  The gals were very complimentary ~ I saw lots of old faces (well, not old ~ just ones I knew) and met lots of new gals as well.  One lady lives probably 5 miles from us and we had to travel two hours away to meet!

The hooking room is almost back in order and I started hooking on a new thing last night ~ that's crazy, I know!  Last year, at a local hook in, we were able to purchase a pattern and wool for a challenge at this year's event.  Well, that's in a month and I hadn't even thought about starting it ~ so, while I was organizing and straightening last night, it came to me that maybe I could put that on the frame and hook a while ~ I hooked till 1:30 a.m. !!!!!  But now, I've got it started and it's gonna be kind of cute!  I'll show you in a month! 

Next week, a group of Red Hat ladies are coming for a lunch and home tour ~ today, a truck load of mulch arrived ~ it seems like I have my work cut out for me getting the outside whipped into shape and planning a fun day for them!  Hopefully, no rain tomorrow so I can begin spreading that beautiful dark mulch around!  Talk to you soon ~
Alice

MORE DYED WOOL ~ ~ ~

Today, I dyed a little more of my multi colors ~ these have a little more color than the photo shows but they're kind of beachy looking ~ soft greens and blues ~ the one at the left looks a little more like sky and clouds!  Go figure!!!

This is my oh-so-scientific method of dying!  Looks good doesn't it?  I picked up this broiler pan at the thrift store for $2.00 (I'm learning from my online friend, Kim of Threadheads Unite blog) and it works great for the kind of dying I've been working on.  You need something flat to spread out the wool and then start throwing colors around and voila ~ ~

I ended up with this!!!  The difference in shades are due to the base wool color that I began with.  The lighter brighter one was dyed over white wool ~ the darker duskier color was dyed over oatmeal wool.  Each has their appeal ~ I call them Hydrangea and Hydrangea Antique. The duskier one is perfect for a very primitive look and the lighter is just plain gorgeous and can be used in a variety of rugs!

So that's it for today ~ the truck is packed and we're off to the hook-in tomorrow!  I'm excited and can't wait!  There will be lots of gals there that I know and it's always fun to see what everybody is hooking ~ I'll take pictures and will fill you in on the fun in a day or two!!!  Ta ta for now!     Alice

P.S. Two posts in one day is amazing!!

DYING AND NEW PATTERNS ~ ~ ~

This is some of my new dying in multi colors ~ I have no idea what you call it ~ maybe spot dying! Time consuming but so interesting to see what the results are.  I'll call this one Autumn ~ I did four quarter yards ~ each individually ~ no doubt, there is an easier way!!!!!

These are combinations of bluegreens ~ some more blue than others ~ kind of an experiment in combinations and differences in  the base color of wool used.  So stay tuned ~ there will be more ~ several weeks ago I dyed one beautiful piece of  sea green ~ wonder if I can recreate that one!!

I have a few MShaw patterns that I will be selling. This one is called Rabbit over Carrot and I have this one in monk's cloth and linen.  A while ago, I sent her pictures of the Catfish rug and Rabbit rug that I hooked that were her designs, and she asked if I would like to sell some of her patterns.  I received some yesterday and will take them to the hook-in tomorrow at Lake Farmpark in Kirtland and after that I will put them up on the website.  Margaret Shaw is a folk art painter, primarily, but also creates rug patterns from her designs. I've always loved her work and am glad to be able to offer some of her patterns to my fellow rug hookers.

This is Henhouse ~ another pattern that I have.  If you see anything you like, email me or call and I'll save it for you! These hooked images are from Margaret Shaw.

That's it for today!  I've had Luke and Luci for a couple of days, grandson Logan yesterday who got sick at school, took Luci to her ice cream social at school last evening and then went to Camden's 3rd grade concert, which was very cute!  Today, I'm going to work on some more dying, packing for the show and then I hand off Luke and Luci to their aunt so grandma can help pack the truck and be ready to leave at 6 a.m. for the hook-in!!!!  This is the first time I've been a vendor at a hook-in and I'm looking forward to it a lot!!  Very fun!  I'll take pictures!  Have a good weekend everybody!!!!

A GREAT MOTHER'S DAY ~ ~ ~

Sunday was a great day ~ the sun was shining and all of our kids called or came by ~ what more could a mother ask for!!  Son Teddy and grandson Luke stopped by with this great planter and a long-handled shovel ~ that is a great thing ~ Teddy said I wouldn't have to bend over so far!! He and his family were going to a movie and then invited us to join them for a late lunch afterwards ~ we went to a local restaurant that was serving the mothers for FREE!!!  That was fun and Tad even went along so that was a great present for me! Any of my friends who know Tad, know that he is kind of home body ~ we were all glad to have him share in our day!

On our way home from lunch, Sonny's daughter called and asked us to meet her and her friend at another local restaurant (and I wonder why I look like I do!) and she gave me this really big fuschia that will be great here on our shady property!  Another bonus was that my niece, Cheri, was there along with her two daughters from Cleveland! We sat together and had fun with them!

Brian and Cheryl gave me this cute martini glass with the recipe printed on the bottom for a "Little Black Dress" martini!!  How cute!  And Cheryl texted me first thing that morning with a mother's day greeting and to tell me how special I was to her.  That was very sweet.  Sonny's other son, Chris and family, stopped by with a card but Mama was out having fun and I missed them!

My son, Chris, called on Mother's Day from his son's football conditioning and then yesterday these beautiful flowers arrived along with candy!  I love fresh flowers ~ I love getting them and sending for people to enjoy now! So it was a great day for this mother ~ I appreciate all our kids ~ some blended families don't always work as well as ours ~ it's a wonderful thing!

Saturday, we are vendors at the Western Reserve guild's hook-in ~ I'm looking forward to that!  I am going to put some wool in the dye pots to add to my stock and re-pack everything from my last show!  I think I'm going to have a couple of grandchildren for a couple of days and since we have 6 grandkids playing Little League, we have a ball schedule you wouldn't believe!  We'll get to as many as we can ~ last night, Luke's team played Cam's team and Cam's team won ~ grandpa and me sat on one side for half and then moved to the other side for half ~ cheering for both teams all the while!!!!!  It's a rainy, really gloomy day here in Ohio ~ since I have so much to do inside, no chance of being tempted to work in the gardens!!  Have a good day everybody and thanks for stopping by!

FINALLY ~ ~ ~

I'm back!!!  The last post was about the Gathered Treasures show ~ the next day, 6 of my rug hooking friends and I left for Barbara Carroll's for a 3 day class and marathon eating binge!!  The food is awfully good in Ligonier, Pa. !!!  This is friend Carol's Hadley Welcome rug ~ that woman can hook ~ fast!!  Beautiful colors, aren't they?

Dear sweet Peggy tackled a really big rug this time ~ Mr. Paisley! It really is going to be a spectacular rug ~ beautiful colors and Peggy is doing a great job on it!

Cyndy's rug is also sizable ~ often the rug pattern is larger than what you think when you pick it out from a line drawing!  This is Pumpkin Hollow and Cyndy always picks such nice soft antiquey colors ~ I love the house residing on top of the pumpkin ~ it will look great in her house!

Here's my friend, Heidi, practically hiding behind her rug!  This is a huge project ~ an Emma Lou Lais pattern, Antique Floral!  Heidi has decided this is a two-class rug ~ there is so much color planning to do and she and Barb got most of it done.  Her colors are very dusky and antique tones ~ it's going to be a great old-looking rug!

Gloria got a lot done on her rug ~ it's a pattern that Barb taught and you can place your own choice of motifs around the rug wherever you like!  A lot going on in that little rug ~ a great opportunity to use lots of different wools!

And here's Miss Julie ~ she nearly finished this rug in three days ~ she's a hooking machine!  Her version of Kinderhook Basket is really soft and old looking ~ just like the original that hangs in Barb's hall.  Kind of makes me interested in doing this one sometime!

Lastly ~ here's my little project!  Tom is the pattern name but I'm calling it  "Wild-a$$ed Cat Rug"!!  It's pretty darn colorful and lots of glitter ~ maybe a reflection of it's maker?! I love sparkly wool and took along some of my stash to incorporate into Tom and it ended up that it's more sparkle than not!  He looks a little Halloweeny and it will be interesting to find a place for him to hang here in the old homestead!  Actually, he doesn't look that loud in this photo but trust me ~ he's got a lot goin' on!!

I just had to include this picture of Barb's new kitty cat (whose name totally escapes me right now) and her new friend, Carol!  These two caused us to laugh a lot that week ~ Carol is allergic to cats and is not very fond of them either ~ this cat LOVED her, to say the least!  Every time we turned around, the sweet Maine Coon kitten was on Carol or her rug ~ isn't that the way it always is!  She was a very good sport about it ~ and we all loved that cute kitty!

So that was our week in Ligonier ~ lots of hooking, shopping and eating! I added to my yarn stash at a couple of the knitting shops ~ I'm trying to incorporate interesting fibers into my rugs and found some really pretty ones ~ I'll take a picture and show you sometime.  All of my things from that week and from the show are literally piled in the middle of the hooking room ~ between housework, office work and trying to make some headway in the gardens, it's still all sitting right there, waiting for me to organize it!  And now I'm off to have my mammies grammed ~ have a great day wherever you are!!!!!!!