Wednesday, August 22, 2012

PILLOW FINISH ETC.~ ~ ~

Cute, isn't it? This is the first pumpkin mat from  the Sauder Finishing class to be sent to me!!  This is Patty's from Virginia ~ she went right home and made herself a little lavender-stuffed pillow with a sparkly proddy edge!!  Job well done!!  Patty was a corker, as they said in olden days!  Lots of fun!!


Just wanted you to see a picture of the oakleaf hydrangea ~ it is turning brown with a tinge of rosy orange to it ~ still pretty even as the bloom is fading!


Sunday, we did some beach walking and found these little 'gifts' in the sand ~ I love it when we run across sand art!!








Cute doggie!


And a turtle!!  Someone was having fun that morning before we arrived!!
And last but not least, a beautiful sunrise over the lake this weekend! So peaceful and restful ~ so grateful to be able to go there and have a little respite from our hectic lives!!                                                                                  

Monday, August 20, 2012

SAUDER RUG SHOW 2 ~ ~ ~




Beautiful rug with the tree sculpted in the Waldboro style


Hooked mat in the middle with each tongue hand embroidered with wonderful stitching!


Cute little embellished Christmas hats!


The GreenMan mounted on a real log!



Closeup of GreenMan's face!



Great character rug!


Maria Barton's pattern!


Gorgeous Red Hat lady!



And I absolutely love this rug ~ beautifully hooked with beautiful colors.

The two days I spent at Sauder were full with looking at rugs, shopping ( I got a fabulous Skif sweater from Nola), teaching and visiting with friends! Went to dinner twice with Jackie and Deb ~ Martha joined us one night and Diana, Ann, Heidi K. And have another night! I so appreciated them asking me and driving me like Miss Daisy!!





Deb gifted me with this 31 bag that was monogrammed with Got Wool and full of goodies. Very sweet and thoughtful!!! I love 31 bags ~ how did Debbie know?!?

Today was another day of rest ~ tomorrow it's back to work for me!!! Hope you enjoyed the rugs ~ more to follow!!

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Saturday, August 18, 2012

SAUDER RUG SHOW ~ ~ ~




Barbara Carroll is the featured teacher and there was a huge display of her rugs. This grouping are some of Barb's antique rugs and the inspiration for the patterns like them.


Love the chicken in the middle with the sparkles!! Miss Barbara is stepping out of her comfort zone ~ and of course, I love it!!!





I love the big rug in the middle "Boyertown Pups" ~ i need to put that on my list!


Hanging in the middle is maple sugar mold that inspired the hearts pattern to the left.

It had to be a lot of work to get all those rugs to the show but I'm sure everyone appreciated the effort so they could be shared with so many! I'm fortunate to be able to go to Barb's a couple of times a year and see them first hand ~ but it was still a treat to see them here displayed all together!




My couple of days at Sauder were spent walking, talking and eating and today this old girl is relaxing at the condo. This was such a beautiful sunrise this morning ~ you can enjoy it, too!
Have a good weekend!
Alice





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Friday, August 17, 2012

THEY'RE FINISHED ~ ~ ~




Yes, they are!! These gals spent a long day learning eight different finishing techniques to use on their hooked rugs. Class was from 9 - 3 with time out for lunch ~ much needed time I think!! I was afraid this info wouldn't fill the entire day but holy crow ~ we were lucky to get it all in!! They learned basic rug tape application, using a width of wool to bind the same as rug tape, corded wool, braiding (a brief overview) and attaching it, a proddy edge, crochet edge (which I learned Monday night!), whipping with wool strips and yarn, flat fold wool or show finish, and I swear I can't remember the last one!

At some points, I think it was more work than fun ~ I heard a sigh or two! Binding a rug is the least fun part of rug making but a necessary part if you're going to use it!

There were gals from Wyoming and Virginia and states in between ~ even a few from Ohio! Sauder Rug Week is definitely something you want to put on your to-do list. The facility is fabulous, great vendors and teachers and the rug show is wonderful! I haven't even seen it all yet ~ that's on this morning's agenda.

Kathy Wright and Dawn Hauter coordinate this week for all of us to enjoy and I truly can't imagine the hours and effort that go into making it all run so seamlessly. As a first-time teacher, everything was ready down to the name tags being laid out and ready for the gals to pick up! It was a great experience and I hope my students left feeling the same way!

In the mornings, there is a buffet breakfast and I'll go down there shortly and hopefully, see some people I've missed. Also picking up an order of wool for marbling and eventually, I'll make my way to the condo to meet up with a cute older gentleman that I know!!!!

Each day, I'll post rug show pix ~ I've taken lots!! Have a good weekend and I have to say thank you to all the girls who came to class ~ you made my day!! And one person who really made my day easier was friend Martha ~ she was there to take the class but served as cashier and helped me pack and brought CANDY!! Thank you, Martha!!!

Alice




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Thursday, August 16, 2012

QUICK PROJECT ~ ~ ~





Yes, it was! In the description that was published regarding today's class, I boldly said they would learn to finish a pillow with a proddy edge. The only thing I didn't get done at home was A PILLOW!!!! I brought along my frame, cutter, linen and a handfull of red and black wool. After a nice supper at Ickeys bar and Grille with friends ~ voila! a pillow was born!! So as advertised, they will learn to proddy a pillow edge!! I will send you the name of 'the home' where I'm sure they'll be taking me!!!

So, today's the day ~ I'll let you know how it goes!!!
Alice


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Wednesday, August 15, 2012

"I SEE YOU". ~ ~ ~




Just Carter's absolutely beautiful rug hooked from Lenny Feenan's pattern! Such wonderful detail!


Beautiful little hummingbird ! Part of the 'I See You' display.




Individual rugs hung to look like the original "I See you" ~ the first photo on this post.

We've all seen photos of the above rugs and to see them in person is quite a treat! There are so many gorgeous rugs at this show ~ I'll sat again how fortunate I am to live so close!!

More tomorrow ~ I'm one weary hooker!!


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SAUDER RUG WEEK ~ ~ ~




Look at the lines to get in!!




Look at my friends! Heidi, Peg and Denise (non hookers!) ~ maybe we'll convert them!!

I'll keep you posted!!




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Sunday, August 12, 2012

SAMPLERS FINISHED ~ ~ ~




Yay!!!! The sampler hooking for my class is finally finished! I hope this doesn't make the class students nervous! Don't be ~ this is how I function best! I think people like me would make a good psychological study ~ what's the payoff for working under the gun, so to speak?!! Maybe it's what keeps us revved up and lets us know we're alive!!

At any rate, we had a fun weekend! Went to Kelley's Island Friday and had all the fun we could in between work and hooking! Saturday morning, we came home on a rockin' and rollin'' ferry due to some windy weather! Then we went to Sandusky to a wine and food tasting with our friends and a stop at Crush wine bar for a bite and a beverage on the way home! We topped off the evening with homemade peach cobbler made by friend Carol!! So with getting up at 6 a m this morning to hook, ~ this has been what you'd call a full weekend ~ just the kind of thing that keeps us young!!!

Hope you had half as much fun as we did! Enjoy every day!!

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Friday, August 10, 2012




Yes, the writer of this blog is on the verge of going round the bend!!

We came to Kelley's Island for the day so Sonny could do a bit of work and meet a couple of customers. I intended to hook since I'm a little under the gun. Well, I forgot my frame!!! So I put this heavy stool on Janet's fireplace to hold down one end of the foundation fabric and found a needle on the counter ~ which I used to pin the other end to my jeans so the fabric would be taut enough to hook into. It just goes to prove where there's a will there's a way!!

And now, I must forge ahead!!! We did have a nice lunch overlooking the lake and did get in some beach glass hunting!! That saved my day!!!




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Wednesday, August 8, 2012

BEING PRODUCTIVE ~ ~ ~




Here are the little mats I've been hooking for my class next week! The students will bind them ~ after we spend the morning learning different finishing techniques. Now I'm hooking little rectangles for them to practice on ~ what was I thinking? I was thinking I want them to come away with some new knowledge and feeling like they really got something for their investment !! I sure hope both of these things happen!!




I've learned to use my needle punch during this process! Maria and I bought them almost two years ago and I just didn't take to it too well. I really like using yarn ~ I tried it with wool strips but it was such a chore. One way that it came in handy was to fill in the voids left from using a wide cut wool ~ from the front it looked great but a little sparse on the back. Since I Ike to combine various fibers, filling in with yarn worked great!!




Last weekend, we did a lot of beach glass hunting and even though we didn't get a lot at one time, it added up! I found a teeny piece of red, a couple of pieces of yellow and Sonny found an orange/yellow piece. So that was fun!

For the first time, I was a little unnerved by some kids on the beach when we arrived at 7 a m. They had been drinking I would guess and volunteered that they had been up all night!! They were scroungy looking and the fact that there were five of them made me very uncomfortable ~ we cut our hunting short and left them to continue whatever it was they were doing!




We had a much happier experience later in the day somewhere else ~ This setup for a beach wedding!!




On the little table, set up like an alter, we left them a present for their day ~ Sonny left a heartstone and I left a lucky stone ~ some of that day's bounty from the beach! We hope it meant something to them!

Another late night~ I'm done ~ ta ta!!!!!




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Monday, August 6, 2012

THIS AND THAT and WATERMARKING ~ ~ ~

A week or so ago, I posted a picture of my two new rug students, grandsons Luke and Jakob.  Well, Jake's little mat is done ~ Gracie, his cat!  I think he did a fine job and if the cat doesn't look like a cat, it's due to the designer (me)!  But Jake is very proud of his work and so am I!!


 Luke has worked on his little dog mat for a couple of different sessions and I think it is darling!  This time he wanted grass under doggie's feet and a sun!  I thought it was great that he was putting his own creativity into the pattern!!  I wish I would have drawn a pattern instead of right on the linen ~ it's pretty cute!! 

Weekend before last, Sonny's daughter and boys came up for a little r-and-r before Jake's football practice began.  I have to show this picture of Tad in the pool with Korinna, Jake and Camden!  That will be his one time this year, I'm sure!  Tad is pretty much a stay in his room kind of guy and we're always glad when he'll venture out of his comfort zone!! He has a nice sunburn to show for it ~ the shirt didn't last long and the one application of sunscreen didn't do it!!  His 'peach skin' (as he calls it) was a nice shade of pale red!! 

Of course, African Safari was on the agenda!  Jake and Cam hadn't been there and it's my favorite place to go!!  This nice buffalo ended up snorting on my hand and we can only hope it was muddy slobber ~ cause it sent the boys into fits of laughter as to what it could have been!!!  Anyway, a fun weekend was had by all!

Summer is going by way to fast for me!!  Next week is Sauder Rug Week and my finishing class ~ it's getting down to crunch time and you can imagine, I'm in a bit of a crunch!!  Off to the hooking room ~ talk to you soon! 

Hope you're having a good summer!!
Alice

P.S. If you notice, I have my business name watermarked on the boys' rug pictures.  Not that anyone would really want to steal my very primitive drawings but I've been wanting to address this for a while.  Recently, I was looking at the photos on one of the rug hooking forums that I belong to and coincidentally, came across one of the bee chair pads from Lori Brechlin's cute pattern.  I thought I would take a closer look to see how the rug hooker had done hers as it looked similar to mine.  When I did a close up on it, I thought 'wow, her hooking is really like mine' ~ then I thought 'wow, this is mine'!!!!!!!  It was a photo from my blog that I had posted before I  actually finished  the rug and I typically leave empty spots around the background if I'm afraid of running out of wool (which I did). Then I  fill in so that it looks more random rather than a chunk of a different wool all in one place.  At any rate, it was obvious that was my rug on her page with her rugs that she hooked.  I  messaged her and told her this was my photo of my rug and gave her the option of acknowledging that this was hooked by me or removing it from her site.  She opted to remove it and said 'I'm sorry'.  It was quite a coincidence that I even saw it, as I don't check the new rug photos very often.  So, grandson Luke, found  a free site (iPiccy.com) and showed me how to watermark.  I'm going to try to use it more often ~ something for all of us to think about!  I notice that more of the rug designers are using watermarks and  when you see so many rugs on Pinterest that don't give credit to the rugmaker, it might prove beneficial there as well!  Let me know what you think!