DROP SPINDLE CLASS ~ ~ ~

Saturday, a week ago, my hooking friend, MJ and I took a class on spinning yarn with the drop spindle!  It was great fun ~ always love learning something new ~ and Janet Engle was a great teacher!  There were only three of us ~ a gal named Chris was there as well and we all got very personal attention!

This lovely, lumpy skein of yarn was the rewards of my labor!  We start out with about a yarn of wool roving (on the table in the photo above) ~ split that into threes ~ attach it to a piece of yarn that has been looped around the dowel underneath the disc ~ run it thru the hook on the top and spin away!!  There's a little more to it ~ for me, lumpy bumpy yarn with a lot of texture will work fine ~ Chris had a very even tension as she spun and hers came out pretty darn perfect!!  I spun a little blue roving into the white just to see what the finished product would look like!  My intention is just to do a little handspun yarn to hook into a project ~ I'm not going to spin enough to knit a sweater or anything even close ~ just a little to say that I added my own handspun to a rug!! 

The class was at the Overland Inn, which is located in McCutcheonville, Ohio ~ south of Fremont and Tiffin.  Janet taught the class and since she is also a docent, gave us a wonderful tour of the old inn.  This log cabin is at the back and is the original part of the building.

Everything has been restored and this is the reception area/bar of the old inn.  It has quite an interesting history and Janet was well versed in the stories of the past!

There was lots to look at ~ this signature quilt done in the old redwork was very interesting to me. Very small and refined stitches made up the design and you could tell it had been washed many times thru the years. 

In an upstairs bedroom, there are beautiful old handhooked rugs.  Janet didn't realize that's what they were, so we enlightened her with what we knew about them!  I love this runner ~ obviously, done with scraps of colors ~ very worn but almost a faded painting look to it.

All the rugs and furnishings in this room had been donated by a local family well known in the area.

I love the striated background and center and the unusual border treatment.  Something to ponder for those of you who are rug hookers!

This rug was in perfect condition ~ it definitely hadn't been used.  It was hooked in honor of the man's military service, whose family donated all of this.  Janet said she would try to see that the rugs were moved out of the traffic pattern of the room, as this one was.  The color is still very good in this rug.

There is another building on the property that had been a store and had lots of antique tools, etc. in there ~ not yet really organized but still fun to look at.  In the corner, MJ spotted this rug, which is quite good looking ~ Janet was going to make sure it got out of the corner and put somewhere where it could be enjoyed!! 

My thanks to MJ for finding this class for us ~ we had such an interesting day ~ and it's possible that I may teach some rug classes there in the spring ~ we shall see what comes of it!

We went to the antique show at Lakeside on Saturday morning ~ usually, there are lots of primitives but not this year.  I did find this cute little old drying rack, though ~ and it will be perfect for displaying my marbleized wool so customers can see all the great variation of color!!  It was a big $8 ~ I got off really cheap at that show ~ Sonny was glad!  There was a beautiful Bride's Box that really took my eye but at $350, I decided to admire it from afar.  I'm guessing that was probably not a bad price for it ~ it was beautiful and the color and condition were very good.  At this stage of life, we don't need to be adding to our stuff, for sure!!

What we do need to do is have fun ~ and we sure had that this weekend!  Friday night, we went for dinner with some of our lake friends and their out of town friends ~ sat on the water at Dock's Beach House and had a cocktail ~ it was great!  Saturday, we had friends, Kathy & Kenny come up and 12 of us went to Put-in-Bay for the day!  We started out at Heineman's Winery and went from there!  Of course, we got split up ~ that's a lot of folks to keep together ~ and just laughed and had fun all day!  We took the ferry out of Catawba Island and on the way back, we surely saw some sights!  One little gal travelling in her teeny black bikini, with her two well-oiled travelling companions ~ and the one was trying to get "teeny's"  dress on her to cover her up ~ we had some laughs over that, for sure!!  Lots of other funny things ~ but what happens on the island, stays on the island!!  Not really, but I can always find something to laugh at!

So ~ back to reality!  Going to put the dye pots on ~ I dyed some very vibrant colors last week ~ pictures in the next post!! 

A belated Happy Birthday to my friend, Diane ~ with all the hilarity, I forgot to get her a card ~ but we wished her happy birthday many times over the weekend!!! 

Did I tell you the story of how last week, on Wednesday, Sonny mentioned how we had been together 29 years tomorrow?  My eyes got big as saucers and I said " I CAN'T believe I forgot our anniversary and I must be losing it, etc."!!  The next morning, there's a beautiful card waiting for me and I apologized again and thought, I've got to run to the store and get him a card before he gets home!  I called him during the day and said again "Happy Anniversary" and blah blah.  Then I was Facebooking my niece for her birthday and thought " I can't believe I never got it that her birthday and our anniversary is the same day"  And then I thought ~ that's because it's NOT!!!!!!  Our anniversary is in September ~ NOT August ~ and he was so sure (and proud of himself the he remembered)  that he had me convinced, too!!!!   I swear ~ we laughed so hard ~ Mr. Romantic said "put the card back in the envelope and save it till next month"!!!!!!  We are quite a pair ~ seems like we might not have one good brain between us!!!!!!

Have a good week, people!!  We're going to!!  In fact, I saw a great quote the other day ~ think about it ~

Have a Good Day ~ Unless You've Made Other Plans!!!!!! 

Alice

MORE RUG SHOW ~ ~ ~

 There were lots of great rugs there ~ I took pictures of the ones that jumped out at me! 

This is Donna Hrkman's ~ she won an award for it ~ it looks like a picture!

 Sunday in the Park ~ lots of detail.

Love these two displayed together  ~  the flower pattern is by Primitive Grace ~ I only know that because friend Donna hooked it last year!

 Two whimsical rugs and a small pictorial ~

 Christmas rugs ~ I know the Santa is Kris Miller's pattern.

 A little bit of everything here ~ I think the middle one is Maria Barton's "Hooligans" ~ I think.  And the Halloween cat is Kris Millers. 

 The larger rug in the middle is April Deconick's ~ she did a  loop-by-loop blog post about the hooking process ~

LOVE the geometric rug ~ it really speaks to me! 

And last are animal rugs ~ purple might be my new favorite color!  I just realized that two of these rugs are the same pattern ~ maybe Rebecca Erb's?  They're cute, for sure!

So another Sauder Rug week is over ~ everyone I know that went really loved it!  Kathy Wright and her little band of helpers do a great job ~ it must be an overwhelming project to display and label all these rugs and secure vendors and schedule the classes!  Kudos to them all!



Yesterday, I took Luke, Luci, Jake and Cam out to lunch ~ school starts next week so this was our last hurrah!!!  Luci giggled and laughed and made the rest of us laugh all day!  I think she ate lots of sugar before we picked her up!  What a character!!  At one point, I laughed so hard I told them I was gonna wreck the car if she didn't settle down!! 

Last night, Teddy and Miki and the neighbors came over ~ we shared the wine that we bought at the wine auction.  Mary Ann and I had been bidding against each other ~ I should have let her buy it and gone to their house to drink it!  What was I thinking?!  We had a good time ~ had some appetizers and sat on the deck ~ I think it's nice when young people want to spend time with old people like us! Of course, these old people are to Put-in-Bay tomorrow with our lake friends ~ hope we don't do anything crazy!! 

Another week gone by ~ Fall is right around our corner ~ enjoy the last weeks of summer!
Alice

PATTY YODER RUGS ~ ~ ~

There was a large display of Patty Yoder's rugs ~ rugs that I'm drawn to because many of them are of sheep ~ I love sheep rugs!  Her hooking style and the detail of her rugs is just perfect to me.

This collection is one of my favorites!

 And this rug is probably very favorite of them all!

 Imagine how much thought went into hooking the sheep over stars ~ imagine!

 I love her self portrait.  Patty Yoder left a wonderful legacy of rug hooking when she passed away in 2005 ~ how generous of her family to loan these rugs to the rug show!

Love the brilliant purples in the top rug! Still wishing I had remembered the camera ~ but you still get a sense of the beauty and the art that Patty Yoder created!

One of the first Sauder Rug Shows that I attended, there was a display of Patty Yoder's rugs ~ many of the ones we see here.  There was a poster of one of her sheep for sale and I have always regretted leaving without buying one ~ afterwards, I thought "oh, well ~ I will see it again".  Of course, I have not ~ it would have been a wonderful thing to own!

There will be another post of the Sauder rugs ~ and I didn't take pictures of all of them, by far. There were lots of rugs there ~ and as someone pointed out, not a lot of primitives ~ but beautiful things to enjoy! 

I'm fairly successful at a less hectic week than usual ~ yesterday, I met a friend in Marion at a yarn shop ~ I bought a wooden drop spindle to continue my new endeavor ~ and a great jacket at a little shop that she had found!  Came home and spent time with grandkids ~ Sonny's daughter took Jakob & Luke  to the junior high for a tour of  the school ~ they're getting nervous about next week ~ while they did that, I took two younger ones to visit Aunt Betty and then we all met afterwards for ice cream!!  They think that's part of our routine ~ great for my hips!  Next week, they'll have a new routine ~ and so will grandma!!! 

Have a good day wherever you are!

THE MAGDALENA RUGS ~ ~ ~

Please keep in mind that mama forgot her camera ~ these were taken with my phone ~ but I wanted you to get a sense of what we were able to see at the Sauder Rug Show!!  On Wednesday evening, we attended a lecture by Evelyn Lawrence (who has unearthed a lot of the Magdalena Briner rugs) and Kathy Wright, Director of the Rug Show and Evelyn's sidekick in the search for these rugs.  The top rug is the original and underneath is Evelyn's hooked version.  Both are beautiful! The color of the original is still very good ~ seems like it might have been packed away for many years.

 This is the original Magdalena's Dog ~ I, too, have hooked this pattern ~ seeing the original is a treat for sure!  The fabrics are mostly cottons ~ and have their own patina from long years of use.  The ones on display are from private collections and we're so glad they loaned them so that so many of us could enjoy the primitive folk art of Magdalena!

This photo shows the original rugs on the left and the contemporary hooked versions ~ all Evelyn's, I believe.

 Evelyn has a wonderful way of just talking to you ~ not a speech ~ not scripted ~ just chatting away about what she knows.  It was very interesting listening to her and looking at the many Magdalena rugs she has hooked!  Behind her is 'Domestic Zoo' ~ a very interesting runner rug ~ the pattern is sold by Saundra Porter of the Woodland Junction blog ~ take a look at her recent post!

 Kathy Wright also chatted with us about the personal life of Magdalena Briner Eby ~ she has tracked down lots of information herself.  You begin to feel like you know the artist even though she was born in the 1800's.

And this is the book that Kathy and Evelyn have co-authored ~ I've read it from cover to cover and find it very informative ~ with lots of good pictures.  You can contact Kathy at wrighttraditions@aol.com if you would like a copy!  Many of us have hooked Magdalena rugs with Barbara Carroll ~ I have the Rooster Pair in the works right now ~ well, sort of ~ I haven't hooked all summer ~ but I'm getting ready to!

I'll share more rug show photos this week.  We did have a great time at Sauder Village ~ Heidi and I took a tour of the Pioneer Village that is only two years old ~ complete with costumed interpreters in the houses that talked about life during that time and gave us a sense of how hard their life was.  I shopped in the spinning shop and picked up some black fleece ~ nice for a sheep and a ball of roving.  Now that I learned to spin (I use that term loosely), I'll put those to good use ~ I'll write about that soon, too!  A very productive class!

Okay, I'm off!!  My goal this week is to be productive and to have a quiet, unhurried pace ~ we shall see!!  You have a good week, too!

BLOG CHALLENGE DISPLAY ~ ~ ~

This was our 2011 Blog Challenge display at the Sauder Rug Show!  Friends Heidi, Donna & Arlene joined me at our lake place Tuesday thru Thursday and we made a field trip to Sauder on the opening day!  We had a great time ~ we got there at 10 a.m. and left after Evelyn Lawrence's lecture that ended sometime around 8 p.m.  It was a full day, believe me!! 

Here's all the Blog Challengers ~ Maria Barton, Ali Strebel, Kris Miller and me!!  I was hoping we could get a group photo and it all came together by the hair of our chinny chin chin!!  Maria got there just as Kris was heading off to a class ~ I thrust my cell phone into some lady's hands and we crouched down on the floor and all smiled pretty real fast ~ and then the youngsters had to help this old girl get up!!  It turned out pretty good for a cell phone photo ~ I left my camera at the condo ~ of all times to do that! 

So, all my pictures will be from my phone ~ they aren't the best but there are quite a few ~ I'll be putting them up over several posts ~ so be waiting for your virtual trip thru the rug show!!  We had a great time for sure!!  Very inspiring!!

More to follow ~ I'm off to pay bills ~ I've been gone all week and went to Columbus to the wholesale market this morning ~ so I have to do a little work around here before I lose this good paying job that I have working for my husband!!  Happy weekend to you!

Alice

TIME FLIES ~ ~ ~

 When you're having fun ~ and boy are we!!!!!!  Last Saturday, we went to a garage sale in our friends' neighborhood up at the lake.  There is always something fun to buy and for the most part, it's pretty good stuff ~ and we all need more of that!!!  I was so happy to find this little lamp filled with beach glass ~ it takes us a year to find that much!!  Our lake friends, Carol and Bill, showed us all the beach glass they found in the Cleveland area last week ~ nice big pieces and a lot of it, from just one beach walk!  We look and look to find little bitty pieces ~ in our area, there isn't a lot ~ Sonny and I would be in beach-glass heaven if we stumbled across that much in one walk!  It has to do with the current and in some areas, there were dumps out in the lake and in some places, even little towns that were located out where the lake is now! But, we have fun looking and listening to the waves as we walk ~ it's very soothing and kind of a meditation of it's own!   

I'm loving this rusty metal deer that I found in the first garage that day! He'll make a great holiday centerpiece and I can fill his little body with candies or something fun!!  This particular neighborhood has it's own claim to fame ~ what I like to call "thong man"!!!!!  This guy lives there and walks around in his thong swimming attire on a daily basis ~ he has an entire wardrobe of them ~ that's what we hear!!!  We drive people over there just to see this weirdo!!  And on the Friday before the sale officially opened, there he was in all his glory!!!  May I say, that I have observed ~  that he is tan from tip to toe!!!!!!  I would have taken a picture for the blog but I don't think it would pass the guidelines for good taste!!  On Saturday, thank goodness, he had shorts on ~ I'm just guessing that somebody ~ maybe his wife ~ insisted on it!!!  

This is last weeks' gathering of glass and shells and lucky stones ~ it took three trips to find this!  We did have a fun weekend with our friends ~ going out to eat and just laughing and enjoying ourselves!!  We missed our girlfriend, Diane ~ this weekend we should all be together again since we're going to a wine tasting  in Sandusky ~ that's the one where Sonny and neighbor John ended up dressing just alike!!  We'll see what the boys wear this year!

Another thing we collect is driftwood ~ friend Margo, sent Sonny a picture from a gift catalog of one that she really liked so he made it for her!  It turned out really well so as he collects just the right pieces, he'll be making more!

We also went to Art in the Park where there were some very talented artists!  I got my Seattle son a birthday gift ~ and bought a painted tin star that is made by handicapped kids that create things in their own art studio!  We really enjoyed the day and since it was hot, I was ever so glad that I wasn't a vendor.  I have two shows in September but the weather should cool down by then. 

 MJ came to pick up her stretcher frame that Sonny made for her proddy sheep ~ she was in my class this Spring!  MJ has really taken to hooking like a duck to water ~ I'm very proud of her!  She is taking classes at Sauder this next week and then she and I are taking a drop spindle class to learn to hand spin our own yarns for hooking!!  I've always wanted to do that ~ I saw a beautiful skein of yarn this spring in spectacular colors that was done on a drop spindle and had a price tag of $90!!!!  Yikes!!  I think we can do that!!! 

Today, I took four grandchildren to the local county fair!!  I hadn't been to the fair in probably 25 years but Luke and Luci talked me into it!!  We picked up Jakob and Camden (who wouldn't have his picture taken) and off we went!!  They talked me into going into this fun house which seemed harmless because it's just small and kind of hokey!  The boys ran ahead of Luci and me, of course, and then came running back laughing their heads off ~ to tell me that I was really gonna love the last part!!  They were beside themselves, believe me!  Do you see the big round cylinder behind the kids?  Well,  that thing was spinning round and round and I had to WALK through it to get out of the damned thing!!!!  Yeah, they were laughing alright ~ and even more to see this not-too-sure-footed grandma try to walk through a rolling tunnel without falling on my keister!!!  It was a sight ~ I am sure!!! Now I know why the operator gave me back $2 before we started ~ I wondered why he had a smirk on his old wrinkled face!!!!

But, we had big fun ~ ate lots of fair food ~ watched circus performers which were pretty entertaining ~ saw a live tiger show ~ watched the kids pitch ping pong balls  into little dishes so they could win 5 goldfish to take home to their not-too-happy parents ~ they should be glad I didn't buy them each one of the whistles that they sold at the circus show!!!  Summer will be over soon and the kids will be back in school ~ oh whatever am I going to do then?!

We have a busy weekend and a busy week next week ~ I'm trying to get my ducks in a row to be gone next week for a couple of days at Sauder!  Some gals are staying with me at the condo and we're getting revved up to head to the rug show!!  Have a good weekend and we'll talk soon!
Alice

I'M WAY BEHIND ~ ~ ~

 Behind in my blog posting ~ it's really hard to keep up with right now!  Lest you think this is a member of my family ~ I have to tell you I went to the ZOO last Friday with son Teddy and Luke & Luci!  There were lots of animals to take pictures of but I just love monkeys and gorillas ~ this guy was just happy to be leanin' against his cage and watching all the people watching him! 

These beautiful birds are Lorakeets ~ we were in a cage with hundreds of these beautifully colored feathered friends!  We could buy the little cups of 'nectar' for a whopping $2 each and go in and feed these guys!!  They must not have eaten in days!  They flocked all over us and the many other folks that were in this oversized birdcage ~ I couldn't wait to get out of there ~ especially, after one of them ripped my nectar cup out of my hands with his little beak!!!!!!!!!!!!

This was the only thing that made our day bearable ~ The Cool Zone!! This was one big monster fan that also sprayed a fine mist over us ~ Luke and I loved it and the other Misting Stations that were here and there around the zoo property!  By the time we got to the polar bear exhibit, I was having a serious case of the vapors (as a southern friend of mine used to call it) and didn't take any pictures!  Those big white bears put on quite a show ~ diving and swimming for all to see in the underwater exhibit ~ also in another space were HUGE grizzly bears swimming in a river!  I would NEVER want to run into one of those guys in the woods!  By the way ~ it was 94 degrees last Friday in Columbus ~ that's why this fan made such a big impression on me!!

The two girls on the left are DIL's Miki and Cheryl and friend Beth ~ they walked the 3-Day Walk for the cure last Friday, Saturday and Sunday in Cleveland ~ 60 miles!!!!!!  It was in the 90's those days up there, too ~ I give them so much credit for doing it and I think they learned a lot about themselves on their journey!  It was a tough one ~ but they said they laughed till their sides hurt and I think shed a few tears as well!  That's why Grandma went to the zoo with the kids ~ Miki had to be in Cleveland and for a variety of reasons, someone thought that was a great idea!!  It was!  We did have fun and I LOVE the zoo!!

Saturday was the wedding of Sonny's nephew, Mark and his Valerie!  Just a couple of pictures of this country wedding ~ it was on the bride's family farm ~ and they did a lovely job!  This was the tent where the bride and her attendants were until the ceremony ~ hidden with lovely vintage quilts on a clothesline ~ to me, it was charming!

The arbor was adorned in tulle and wisteria and huge baskets of white impatiens at the seating area. The yard and all the outbuildings were beautifully landscaped ~ the family had worked so hard to see that everything was just perfect!  Again, it was a beastly hot day and a welcome gift was their programs were made into fans for each guest ~ that was a wonderful thing!!!

 In the center of a huge tent ~ set for 350 guests ~ was this fruit sculpture with real palm fronds at the top!  The tables were covered in linen cloths with herbal plants set in vintage strawberry baskets and each setting had a jar of jam made by the bride and groom and the groom's mom. 

Mark is the son of Sonny's brother that passed away two weeks before.  It seemed sad that Paul wouldn't be there but I think the timing of this wedding was God's plan for healing ~ it was such a fun, uplifting day with lots of family and friends ~ everything happens just as it is supposed to ~

Not to let any grass grow under our feet, on Sunday we went to the lake ~ Sonny's daughter and her boys came up till Monday!  We hunted beach glass ~ the boys loved that and went home with a nice bag of their own!  They go to their dad's lake place and now, I know they will be out on that beach every day with heads to the sand looking for more treasures!!  They swam and we ate and walked the beach ~ Jakob and Cam told their mom they want to come live there!!!!!!!!!! 

This pretty butterfly was getting his own 'nectar' out of the lantana plants yesterday on the deck ~ a peaceful moment that I decided to capture!  As you can see, not too many peaceful moments here ~ our life is just crazy busy and full ~ I wouldn't have it any other way!!!!! 

A very happy note that I keep forgetting to tell you about is that at the Sauder rug show, coming up in a week and a half  ~ our Blog Challenge pieces are going to be there!! Kris Miller, Maria Barton, Ali Strebel and I are sending all of our projects and Kathy Wright and her band of helpers will be setting them up in a special display ~ I can't wait to see how they look all together!!  Some hooker friends and I will be going to our condo on Tuesday that week and on Wednesday we'll head over to the rug show for the day and back to the condo for another overnight!  Who knows ~ we may even get some hooking done!!! 

Thanks for stopping by and hope you all have a great weekend ~ I'm planning on it!!