CREATIVE BLOG CHALLENGE ~ ~ ~

Kris Miller sent her materials for our third challenge project!! Love it!  Roving from a Corriedale sheep, dyed Wensleydale sheep curls, curly yarn, sparkly craft thread and a TWIG!!!  I, actually, have a good idea where I will go with this project!  I have to because we leave for Florida in two weeks ~ mine must be done and photographed and a draft for the blog done before we leave, so that I can post it on February 20th along with the others!!  Wish me luck!! Even Sonny boy was giving me his thoughts on what I should hook ~ this coming from a guy who acts like he doesn't know what I'm doing!!  Hmmmm!

The little rabbit rug is finished and steamed ~ just the binding is left and then I'll post.  Thanks for all the nice comments about it from my last post! And for all the nice compliments about the heart pillow!  I make a career about second guessing myself and thinking that I'm in over my head, but I'm feeling like I'm holding my own ~ Maria, Kris and Ali are all so talented that I'm just happy to be hangin'  with the big girls!!

Last night, I had the most fun Skype conversation with my old friend, Gwen and her daughter!  Wendy and I were instant messaging on Facebook and she said her mom was there with her ~ I asked if she had Skype and within 5 or 10 minutes, she had it installed on her computer and we spent an hour or more talking, face to face!!!   It was great!  Gwen and I have been friends since we were 13 years old ~ well over 50 years!!  We've been friends longer than many of you reading this have been alive!!!  Wendy gave me a virtual tour of her condo and we chatted like we sitting together in her living room!  Can't wait till we do it again! And speaking of friendships ~ we really need to nurture them and keep them going ~ sometimes it takes work ~ we have to make an effort to stay in contact because people's lives get so busy.  Gwen and I went to school together one year ~ in seventh grade ~ and we've stayed contact almost all of those years ~ there were a few where we weren't ~ she moved away and lived in many places thru the years ~ me, I'm pretty much in the same place.  So cherish your friends ~ keep them close ~ I try really hard to do that!

Oh!  The new dishwasher is installed ~ it is so QUIET ~ unbelievable!  And the dishes looked so CLEAN this morning ~ that old one was on it's last legs for a long time ~ good grief ~ why did we wait so long?! 

Okay ~ I'm off to make something happen ~ even if it's wrong!  Have a good weekend, peeps!!
Talk to you soon ~
Alice

RABBIT RUG & PUDDINGSTONE ~ ~ ~

 Happy hooking ~ that's what I'm doing ~ I'm happy as can be when I have time to hook!  This is a smallish rabbit rug that I drew on linen and as I go, I'm adding bits of handspun green yarn ~ it's wonderful lumpy stuff with lots of texture ~ it kind of livens up the background and is mixed with a green as-is wool and a hand-dyed green, as well.  The rabbit is a 9 cut  and the background, a 9.5 ~ so it's moving pretty fast!!  Should be done in a day or so!

Sonny took this picture a few days ago down in the woods ~ it's a big puddingstone rock covered with snow!  Puddingstone is left from the glacier that was in this area many eons ago ~ it's kind of like the garbage that the glacier left as it moved across the landscape.  If you double click on the photo, you can see all cracks and crevices that were formed.

This is an outcropping of puddingstone  across the way from the one above.  I was actually thrilled because Sonny took these pictures and said he thought I might like them for my blog!!  He doesn't really even read this thing so I was shocked that he wanted to provide subject matter for it!  These are two of the biggest examples on our property but there are other smaller ones here and there.  We love it ~ we don't really know of anyone else around us  who has this and we enjoy telling people about it.  A retired geologist, who was a guest here quite a few years ago, enlightened us as to what these really are! 

I'm kind of excited today because I just made plans to attend a hook-in Sarasota while we're there in February.  Searsport Rug Hooking is hosting their first annual hook-in with several vendors that I haven't seen before and it will be a chance to network with different  rug hookers.  A new friend, MJ, who took a class here this fall, invited me to join her and it coincides with our visit, so, finally, I made the decision to go.  The hardest part will be missing out on being with Sonny and our friends for the day ~ I told them to not plan anything fun until I get back!! 

We had a fun weekend ~ Sonny boy turned 67 on Saturday and we went to dinner with friends and intended to stay and listen to a band from Put-in-Bay that was playing there.  But ~ my son and his wife and other friends were at the new wine bar in our little burg and called and texted and called some more until we finally went to join them!  It was great fun!  We knew almost everybody there and a good time was had by all!  We went out with other friends on Friday night and ran into Sonny's daughter ~ she secretly told the waitress that she wanted to buy the bottle of wine that was on our table ~ which was great ~ except it wasn't our wine!!!  Our friends were surprised and so was Sonny's daughter, the next day!!  Oh, well ~ her intentions were good!!  And our friends enjoyed it immensely!!

That's it for today ~ I'm working on tax things and other fun stuff ~ have to head to the office supply store shortly!  The second new dishwasher arrived a while ago and Sonny was here to check it out ~ so by tonite, my dishpan hands can take a break ~ maybe! Thanks for stopping by ~ hope all is well in your world!

CREATIVE BLOG CHALLENGE ~ ~ ~

 Okay, readers ~ here it is!!!!  Tuesday, I put the hook to the linen and three days later, it is finished! 

I started with some lines for center and a rough drawing of a heart and began with the sari ribbon.  I agree with Kris ~ I love hooking with sari ribbon and want to do more, for sure!  Ali gave us a really long length and I thought it would go further than it did ~ but I improvised and used this beautiful hand-dyed roving to fill in the middle! I like the idea of 'making do', like the old time ruggers did!

Next, I stitched on  the felted heart and hooked around it with the piece of dyed hosiery ~ not enough of that so I folded it in the middle and hooked both sides of the heart top till it ran out. After the rug was hooked, I snipped each loop of the hosiery to poof it up a little and  I used another roving yarn to fill in around the bottom but reverse hooked that along the way.  I drew some other hearts and gathered various dyed red wools and away I went! This project kind of designed itself ~ I had no idea that it would be this big ~ and didn't start out with the idea that it would be a pillow.  It's interesting what each of us sees when we open our package of goodies ~ and how we come upon our end result!

This is another shot with a white background ~ it shows a little better but not as dramatic ~ so I'll let you see both!  I hooked the cotton lace, again, measuring it from the middle and hooking to the ends and then filling in with red wool.  The word LOVE is so bold here that it even surprised me!  I used the hand-spun white yarn to help offset the white lace ~ then second-guessing myself, pulled it out and hooked the letters in red sparkly wool!  That didn't work so I pulled that out and used a nice purple (in my teaser photo, there was purple wool that I hooked in to set the letters until I decided what to do) but that didn't excite me, either.  My original thought seemed to be best, so I hooked that  white lumpy yarn back in ~ and I like it.  I wired the beads on ~ there were five, so I went with the number there were and added them randomly.  And the finished product is a 12" x 17"  pillow ~ with a proddy edge like Karen Kahle showed us at the Tipp City class.  The pillow is stuffed with wool snippets, lavender  and ~ wool lint!  After new wool is washed and dried, there is a multitude of colorful lint  and it makes wonderful stuffing ~ nothing going to waste!!

There you have it ~ challenge # two ~ can't wait to see what Maria created!  Check all  of our blogs to see what we came up with!  Kris Miller is the next material supplier ~ and I'll do the last one.  We're leaving for Florida in mid February, so I'll have to dive right into the next project as soon as my little package arrives!  I've hooked so fast and furiously on this, it tells me I could really finish my other rug in no time, if I would apply myself!  Anybody who knows me, knows that I love a deadline ~ that's what gets my blood flowing and maybe even stimulates my creative brain.  I also see that starting with a blank piece of foundation fabric might be a good thing for me to try again!  It's always good to learn something new about ourselves, isn' it?

Have a good day ~ we're getting a nice soft snow here, that's really piling up!  A good night for hooking! 

BLOG CHALLENGE AND OTHER STUFF ~ ~ ~

 So sad to say ~ but I just started my project YESTERDAY!!!!!  They're due to be published on Thursday!! I think it's an illness ~ procrastination ~ it's a curse, for sure!!  But here's a bit of it ~ there's actually much more done than this!  I got carried away, which is dumb when the deadline is looming so close!  I got out a piece of linen ~ drew some lines on it for center ~ and then drew some other stuff on it and away I went!  I woke up two nights in a row thinking about this and figured out I better get moving ~ and then it ends up being out of hand!!  Thursday's the day ~ stop by and see what we've done!  I read on Kris's blog that she was starting hers, too ~ maybe Maria and the other Alice are already done! 

Here's the progress on my 1668 rug. It's coming along slowly ~ but coming along. The good news is the collection of orange paisleys showed up all by themselves ~ I didn't even have to look!  I had put them in one of the cubicles that holds my wool stash ~ they were right there waiting for me!  Woo hoo!

 The Keeping Room is a primitive shop in Galion that I went to in December with friend, Vivian and new friend, MJ.  I've done shows with Cherie but this is the first time I had been to her cute little shop!

There are antiques and reproductions and Cherie makes a lot of things herself.  She had her sewing machine set up on the counter and was working away ~ no idle hands for her! If you're in the area, stop by and visit her sometime ~ come visit my hooking studio, too ~ make a little field trip out of it!  That's what I call it when friends and I go out for the day ~ a field trip ~ like when we were in school!

The other day Heidi and I made arrangements to go to the International  Quilt Festival that will be held in Cincinnati the end of April!  We're very excited because this is the first time it's come to Ohio ~ usually, only Houston and big cities!!  So, there you have it ~ Heidi and I are going on a 'field trip'!!

Okay ~ I'm off and running!  Tax day ~ sympathy cards to send (too many) ~ and straighten the hooking room for a customer who's coming this afternoon!!  We'll talk later!! Ta ta!!!
Alice

HOOKED ~ ~ ~

 Well, finally ~ pictures of the rug I started at the Woolley Fox in November!  I hooked a lot for a day or two this week and got the center almost filled in!  Yesterday, I didn't even go down to the hooking room ~ it's kinda scary down there, right now!!  The numbers in the center are done with "friendship"  strips that each of the gals that were on that trip gave to me!  I love doing that ~ it's a nice memento of our time together!  As a reminder, since it's been so long that I posted about this rug, the Dresden Plate designs are done in various paisleys that I am lucky enough to have!  The last one will be done in oranges ~ I put them aside ~ somewhere ~ now, the trick is to put my hands on them!!!  Like I said, it can get scary down there!



This cute little guy is "Snowy Tony", designed by Betty Dekat of the Primitive Betty's blog ~ one of her free doodles!  I used sparkly wool for the hat, heart and bird and then a conglomeration of strips out of my strip basket!  And I added some white woolly yarn into the snow!  Tony was hooked with a real loopy wool that I have ~ it makes great snowmen or sheep ~ I have some to sell if anyone is interested!  I'm also thinking of selling this little mat ~ it 11" x 9", hooked in 9's & 9.5 cut on monks cloth and will be $85 including shipping within the states!  Email me, if you would like "Snowy Tony" to come live at your house!

It's snowing again!  We had a little respite this morning but it's really coming down, now!  School is out around here and since Ohio has gone to only 3 snow days, grandson, Luke, tells me they only have one more to go and then they'll have to make it up at the endof the school year.  Doesn't that seem crazy here in Ohio to shave off a couple of snow days?  Wonder what the reasoning is?

I just took delivery of a new dishwasher!!!  Yay!!  Not really!  Of all things to have to buy right after Christmas!  When I emptied the dishwasher full of Christmas dinner dishes ~ they were barely clean!  We knew it was on it's last legs but this was the final draw!  We had to handwash everything and went out the next day to find one on sale!  Sears, as always, came through again!  So, tonite on Sonny's honey-do list is installing it!!  He pulled the old one out last night so they could haul it away today ~ thank goodness he's able to do that kind of thing ~ it saves us a lot!  So no more dishpan hands for mama!!

Thanks for the nice comments regarding Sonny's frames!  Yes, we do ship and I haven't priced shipping to Canada, but will be happy to check that out!  Since they fold flat, there's not much bulk to them so it can't be too awful!!  Not only do they turn 360 deg. on the lap plate, but the frame also tilts, so you do get the most possible mobility that you could have!

That's pretty much it for today!  Did I mention before that son, Teddy, got us Skype for Christmas!  What fun I'm having with that!!  Talking to Luke ~ who lives a block away; sister-in-law, Rachel, in Tennessee; and the Seattle family ~ it's just like having them right here with me!  I love it!!

Have a good day ~ hopefully, it's not snowing everywhere that this is being read!  It is pretty, though, looking from the inside out!
Alice

P. S. Dishwasher ~ my words for Sears are not so kind tonite!!  When Sonny boy went to install it, he discovered it was damaged ~ dropped ~ in his opinion!  Door whopper-jawed, side panel bent out, plastic bottom broken and top basket rollers fell out when he opened the door and the top water dispenser broken away from the basket!!!!!!!!!!    I called three Sears people and the bottom line is we can get another one JANUARY 26TH!!!!!!!!  They were so sorry ~ if I had inspected it on delivery, the deliverymen would have taken it back right then ~ well ~ you couldn't see all that as it was just sitting in the middle of the kitchen ~ it looked fine!  I didn't know I had to tip it upside down and open the door and inspect every inch of it, inside and out  ~ but I will on JANUARY 26TH !!!   So, we have a gaping hole in the cabinetry for two more weeks (they took the other one away) and my dishpan hands ~ they're gonna be freaking shriveled by JANUARY 26TH !!!!!!!!  And thank you for listening! 

FRAMED ~ ~ ~

This is what Sonny has been up to on his Christmas break and this last week!  Building new frames to sell!  These are the small ones with a 9" x 11" working area (perfect for those small projects that won't fit on your larger framer),  they sell for $95 and remember, they fold flat,  like the stack at the right, for travel!  These are made out of walnut, oak and sycamore!  There is a big one made of walnut and one of cherry ~ the rest are maple or sycamore and are $135.00.  When you're ready, give us a call and set up a time to try one!

I've been hooking yesterday and today!  And watching Lifetime ~ that's a great day when I can just do what I want!!  I finished the little snowman mat and have hooked almost the whole center of the 1668 Geometric that I started in November.  And, I actually got out my little gathering of things for the next challenge and have pulled some wools to get started on that!!!  The deadline is the 20th ~ holy crow ~ is that 11 days from now?  Anybody who knows me, knows that I don't have a very good concept of time!  I better get cracking!

It's a beautiful snowy, sunshiny day here in Ohio ~ a great day for hooking ~ and it would be a good day for cooking something yummy!  I'll have to think about that!  Have fun!

NEW YEAR / NEW STUFF ~ ~ ~

 This is one thing that's new!!  Sketcher's Shape-Ups!!!!  You all know what that means ~ new year ~ yet another attempt to 'shape up'!!  I LOVE these shoes ~ they made me feel a little off balance at first ~ not that I'm not a little off most of the time!  But, now that I'm used to them, my feet feel great!  Nice cushy, bouncy sole ~ love them!  And they also came with lime green laces!!  It's my new favorite color!

The next new things are these great chairs for my hooking studio!!  They were on sale at Target right before Christmas so I got four of them ~ don't you love the colors?!  I know the ladies will love them because they're adjustable so they'll be just the right height for everybody!  I used a variety of antique chairs along with a couple of other task chairs ~ these are a great improvement and match the colors of the wallpaper border down there!

In the kitchen, I left this table decoration up for a while,  minus the sweet little angel couple (Luke got those for me a couple of Christmases ago). It's a nice wintry decoration and the house always looks so naked when you put away all the holiday stuff.  There's more snow falling today ~ can't get away from it!  Blogger and I are having a little issue today and I can't get this picture in line with the text ~ sorry!

This is the only Christmas picture I'll show ~ the tree was beautiful ~ we love a long-needle tree!  It seems the season goes so fast ~ Sonny took the tree down before we left for New Years at the lake so it was up only a couple of weeks.   We spent 4 days up there ~ lots of fun!  Our friends, Janet and Tom, came up and went to dinner with us and our lake friends and then on to the Walleye Drop!  It was about 40 degrees that night ~ the warmest it's ever been ~ it was great to be out with a thousand or so of our nearest and dearest, jammed together at the end of Madison Street watching the great fiberglass walleye drop from a crane!!  We do know how to have fun!!

I just had to show this picture ~ I debated ~ but I couldn't resist!  Sonny's son, in the middle behind Tad, gave all the guys Beer Belts for Christmas!!  It was a scream ~ at least to us!  More fun than a tool belt, for sure!!  Even Tad got in on the fun! I love it when he joins in!  The fellow, in the glasses, on the right, is family friend, Stan ~ he has spent so many Christmases with us that Tad thinks he's a relative!!

So ~ holidays are over ~ decorations put away (almost) ~ now, it's time to get tax things in order and begin 2011.  We're looking forward to a year of health and happiness ~ I'm looking forward to shedding some pounds (aren't we all?) ~ and looking forward to a February trip to Florida to be with our friends, Diane and Greg!!  What could be better!

Have a good first week of the year!
Alice

P.S.  If you have a chance, read the blogs "Skip to my Ewe" and Deane Fitzpatrick's posts for today ~ both have really good things to say that hit home with me!

HAPPY NEW YEAR ~ ~ ~

Hope you're all having a wonderful day ~ resting ~ relaxing ~ planning for a great 2011!!!!  Our year is starting out so much better than last  with jobs lined up waiting to be started ~ we're very grateful and looking ahead to a year of happiness, health and prosperity ~ that is my wish for each of you!!   

Today is  1-1-11    ~    that just seems like it rings of great vibes for the coming year!!!!  Take good care of yourself and each other!

Alice