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GOOD MORNING ~ ~ ~

This is our antique sleigh holding our first-ever artificial tree! First ever in my life! Time got away from us and I brought up my kitchen tree which is already decorated. Sonny, actually, was a little happy ~ he cuts the tree, brings it home, and decorates it! He felt like he lucked out this year! And you know what, it works!



I love the way the sunlight is streaming in the window. No sun here today ~ this was last week!

We went to a fun party at our kids' friends house this weekend! Good food and lots of laughs ~ we so appreciate being included. They have a white elephant exchange and this grandma was the lucky recipient of the gag gift ~ a red sequined thong!!!! Of all people! They got a lot of mileage out of that one!! Thanks Brigette and John for inviting us!!

I took pizza pull-apart muffins. You can find the recipe on my Pinterest page under 'Bread Box' - it is always a hit!

Have a happy Monday!




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A LITTLE CHRISTMAS DECORATING ~ ~ ~

Last night ~ a Friday night~ Sonny built a fire and we just sat and enjoyed a quiet evening. We don't do that often enough.

I had a beginner class yesterday and friend Heather was here for a little refresher course. We had a great time ~ the new gals were quick to learn and I think they're going to love it. For their lunch, I made broccoli quiche, layered salad and muffins (from my favorite muffin shop). A good day!


This is our porch at night. Daughter-in-law, Coni, made us the JOY sign last Christmas and I adorned it with a garland. I love lights ~ so welcoming.

I hope your days are filled with fun and not crazy like mine! They would be less so if I didn't try to cram so much into a day! Enjoy the season!


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HAPPY THANKSGIVING ~ ~ ~

Hope you all have a great holiday with all the trimmings! We are celebrating at the lake with son, Ted and family! Miki is fixing the turkey as we speak! I did breakfast casseroles, pumpkin pies, and my other side dishes yesterday ~ now I'm just going to wait for the turkey to be done!

Let the fun begin!

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TIPP CITY CLASS ~ ~

This was the 5th year for this class and I'm happy to say I've been there all five years, along with my friend Jackie! It's a class I love and we also love Tipp City in Southwesten Ohio.


Friends Sue, Charisse and Pam!





Our teachers and leaders ~ Ali Strebel and Karen Kahle!






Some of our class!

I'll post projects in my next post ~ Blogpost and I have issues and it doesn't want to post a lot at one time!

It was a great three days ~ we hooked and stitched to create 'out of the box' projects ~ met a lot of new people ~ and had some great lunches and dinners! Ali and I cross paths often here in Ohio and it's our once a year chance to spend time with Karen!


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OUR NEXT CRUISE STOP ~ ~ ~

Halifax, Nova Scotia was our second cruise stop. It's a big city ~ very beautiful city!






We were picked up by bus and our first visit was to the Hooked Rug Museum of North America in Queensland, Nova Scotia. It was founded by Hugh and Suzanne Condron ~ definitely their labor if love







There are lots of vintage rugs and also contemporary rugs. It was suggested that I only take photos of the older ones.







This rug depicts the peddlar, E. S. Frost and his wagon.





These are templates and an old time printing machine that stamped out patterns. The templates are hand-carved ~ works of art on their own.






Two original stamped patterns ~ I would be happy to frame and hang them as they are. Several years ago, I was offered a stamped Frost pattern for $150!!!!! I passed on the opportunity.







The museum is temperature controlled and this is one of the rooms.







Very nice rug ~ they all are in very good condition and displayed perfectly.



















These three rugs are made from strands of twine hooked into feedback backing. They were very interesting and there were quite a few on display.

There were so many rugs that it was hard to take it all in. Would love to spend more time there. They were very gracious and had refreshments for us and there's a wonderful shopping area of rugs and mats to buy.

If you ever get the opportunity, you should go ~ a rug hookers dream!

If you double click the photos, they show much better! They're taken with my iPhone.

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LAST PORTLAND STOP ~ ~ ~

CAMP WOOL in Kennebunk, Maine! This was our third stop of the day. Bea will be thrilled to see this photo!








This shop was full to the brim with wool and supplies for every stitching craft you can imagine!








And this was our leader ~ Lauri
Trautman, of the Maine Tin Peddlars! Lauri and Gail Dufresne orchestrated this great day and it was such fun! Great to meet Lauri after being blog friends and Facebook friends for a lot of years!







This is our group of cruising rug hookers! I 'borrowed' this photo from Lauri's FB page ~ thank you, Lauri! It is the only group photo And we did have fun together!

I'm trying to keep posting about our cruise ~ takes me a long time, it seems! Hope you're warm and toasty ~ it's chilly and windy here on the Northcoast. Our lake weekends will be winding down so we're going to make the most of it!

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CUSHINGS ~ ~ ~

After our visit to Sarah Giuliani's, our next stop was Cushings ~ a long time supplier of patterns and dyes. It's a beautiful building chock full of wool and patterns and a very nice sales staff! I had a great photo of their sign but it doesn't want to post ~ sometimes Blogger and I dont get along!









This rug was on display, among many others. The beautifully soft color palette really caught my eye. It was hooked in a very narrow cut which contributes to the gorgeous shading.




This was a piece on display that had been framed ~ a very typical coastline scene.




These four fine gentlemen were very patient as they waited for us to finish our shopping! Look how happy they are! At least Sonny had some guys to hang out with!





Hope you're having a good weekend ~ we're up at our lake haven getting ready to go to Kelleys Island with our lake friends! This was our beautiful sunrise this morning! How lucky are we to start our day like this!

P.S. if you double click on the rug photos, they'll enlarge for a closer look!


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SARAH GIULIANI ~ ~ ~

One of our Portland, Maine excursion stops was Sarah Giuliani's home studio! Sarah is second from the left along with some of our fellow travelers.


Mary and Rogene are shopping in Sarah's filled-to-the-brim shop!


This is such a great rug! Hand-torn strips make this quite impressive! And Sarah is such a great personality ~ fun and vivacious ~ would love to spend more time with her! She had a great laugh and just the 'hint of an accent'!!!!


Another great rug on display in the kitchen, where Sarah had pastries and cider for us ~ and her cute husband was playing host!!

Sarah will be teaching at various places in Ohio next summer ~ I need to get signed up!!

Thanks for stopping by ~ I have lots more cruise stops to share!


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CRUISING AND HOOKING ~ ~ ~

This was our home last week while cruising to Nova Scotia!





This is my long-time blog and Facebook friend ~ Kim Jones!!! Finally, we meet!!! Kim took part if the day off to meet us at Deanne Fitzpatrick's shop in Amherst and to have lunch with us! She is a sweet girl, for sure and I loved our time together!! I'd love it if you would come visit Ohio!




Kim and Sonny bonding over the wool!



This is my hooking project ~ all finished into a pillow! It is definitely not primitive but I LOVE the creative license that a project like this allows! Lots of alternative fibers and techniques ~ quilling, trapunto, clipped loops and I added some shirring to the sunflower petals!





Gail Dufresne was our teacher and she hung out with Sonny and I a lot! Very fun and creative gal!







And this is my favorite traveling companion ~ we celebrated our 33rd anniversary the day we sailed from Boston!! We did have a spectacular week together!

Lots to share ~ stay tuned!


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PLANS CHANGE ~ ~ ~

Today, is the Fort Lauren's Hook-in where I was going to vend for the first time. We can make all the plans we want but life intervenes ~

Tuesday evening, my husband's brother passed away. Gary had been dealing with brain cancer for a year and a half ~ he fought the battle and now his race is won. We're very sad ~ he was well-loved and respected ~ today family and friends will put him to rest. My husband, Sonny, is the oldest of eight brothers ~ now he's the oldest of five. Life is fleeting ~ live every day to it's fullest!

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FINISHED ~ ~ ~

Last night, I stayed up late to finish this hand-stitched bag, designed by Maggie Bonanomi. This was Maggie's class project at the Amish hook-in in Berlin, Ohio this Spring.






This was a kit that Maggie put together so no color planning ~ just stitch! The little heart button did come from my button box. It could be a little clutch purse or a bag for my hooking tools ~ either way, I love it! Thanks to Maggie for such a cute project!



Last Saturday, on our way to Chateau Tabeau Winery, we made a quick stop at this little distillery.





This copper still was set up in a century barn out in the countryside. A young man and his grandpa are the distillers ~ Sonny and John each bought some ~ just to be nice, of course!

We had a fun afternoon, sitting outside, at the winery with Diane and Greg and Karen and John! Our summer lake fun is waining ~ but will stretch it out thru the Fall!

Have a safe Holiday weekend everybody!

Alice






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LARGE LIZARD RUG ~ ~ ~

This large rug was on display at Sauder and made quite a splash!
Gail Dufresne is the designer and she hooked it ~ one of my favorites at the show!

I'm happy to say that Gail is going to teach on another rug hooking cruise that we're going on, the end of September!  Pat Murdoch is the organizer and it sounds like it's going to be lots of fun!  Rug hooking excursions at several of the ports ~ Sonny and I are looking forward to cruising to Nova Scotia  on the Norwegian Dawn! 

Hopefully, I'll be doing some blogging along the way!  I'm blogging via Blogpress on my phone and it doesn't always cooperate with me, the operator!! 

Hope all is well in your world!

Alice

Good grief ~ as I look at my last two posts THAT ARE ALMOST THE SAME,  I think I scare myself!  I really wanted to share all that ~ a lot!


 

HOOKING AND SEWING ~ ~ ~

My friend Heather hooked this cute cat rug ~ pattern by Jane Augenstein. This is Heather's second rug and she's on a roll! Sent her home with a pattern I drew for her and the wool to get it started!






Thus is my newest project! I love sheep rugs! Pattern by Kathy Graybill. I haven't hooked all summer ~ Sauder inspired me!




Yesterday, I made pillowcases for Luci and Luke! I have a bunch more to do for the other grands. They were easy and didn't take long ~ I had the pattern and the flannel for Luke's for probably ten years! I'm a slow starter!

Thanks for stopping by ~ since I haven't blogged regularly for so long, I'm happy to still have readers!


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NEW MAT AND A PROJECT ~ ~ ~

My friend, Heather, hooked this Jane Augenstein pattern. It's her second rug and I'm very proud of my student! She took home a new pattern that I drew for her ~ can't wait to see how it progresses!










This afternoon I made Miss Luci a pillowcase ~ she picked the material several weeks ago but it takes Grandma a while to get motivated! Also made one for Luke! Now I'll need to make pillowcases for the rest of the grands!

We had a nice afternoon ~ school starts next week so our fun days will be over. When they have days off from school, we'll make a plan.

Summer's coming to it's end ~ it went so fast!

Hope you're enjoying your summer!

Alice

SAUDER RUG SHOW 2 ~ ~ ~

These are a few of the vintage rugs that were on display. Absolutely beautiful !























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