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!

PACKING FOR THE SHOW ~ ~ ~

Yes, that's what I'm doing today!! Just thought I'd give you an overview of the many crates ~ there are also five plastic containers full of wool!! I actually packed the crates ready for display ~ so that will eliminate some of the work in setting up ~ after about 28 or 29 years of doing shows, I might be getting the hang of it!!

Sonny just brought these frames in from the shop ~ two walnut and two wormy ash (similar to wormy chestnut)! I love the dark frames ~ they're just such a rich color ~ Sonny's frames and stands are nicely finished and they look like a piece of furniture ~ you don't mind having them sit out even if company is coming!

The proddy tools just arrived yesterday (yay!) and I also have Hartman hooks in three sizes ~ 9 mm, 8mm and 6 mm. I'll also have linen and monk's cloth packaged in one yard pieces ~ something for everybody, I hope! I even have two more dye pots going ~ just in case!!

We'll have some of Sonny's hand-carved spatulas and spoons for sale as well! They're made of applewood and another wood that I swear I can't remember right now! I think he has seven finished pieces ~ that, along with his frames and stands, keeps him busy ~ and of course, his day job which is home building and remodeling!! We don't like him to have too much free time!!!!!

Yesterday, I was walking out to Sonny's shop and this WORM was walking across the driveway! I ran and got the camera and picked him up on a stick so I could get him in a better light ~ and snapped his little picture! If you double click on the picture, you can see all his beautiful colors ~ orange speckled antennae, yellow things and blue things and when I turned him over, he has blue feet!!!!! We think it's a big fat tomato worm and if that's so, he has been overeating for sure!!!! Just wanted to share this colorful guy with you!

So that's it for today ~ I'm going to start carrying up crates and boxes out of the hooking room into the garage so the old guy doesn't have quite so much to do when he gets home!! I need the exercise and he doesn't!! We'll pack the truck and maybe I'll get a little project or two done yet this evening. As always, there were things I was going to make and didn't get done ~ but most of all I need to get a good night's sleep! We'll leave around 6:30 a.m., drive an hour and be set up by 9:30 or so!!! I always act like it's my first time ~ I can get pretty frazzled by the time the customers start to arrive! As I said yesterday, there's nothing like an outdoor show when the weather cooperates ~ now they are saying rain in the early morning ~ I hope they're wrong! I love doing shows and it's a happy day for me when customers come and love what we're doing! So, if you're in our area, stop by and say hi, shop till you drop and enjoy a beautiful day among the herb gardens at the Quailcrest Herb Fair!

WEEKEND FESTIVITIES ~ ~ ~

Last week, Sonny was getting in lots of shop time and these are two of the stands and frames that he finished. The one that is entirely walnut is absolutely beautiful, as is the one that is maple. There are two other maple stands that have lots of character in the grain of the wood ~ really works of art! They will make wonderful Christmas gifts for some lucky hooker ~ if we can help you play Santa, just send an email!!
Yesterday, we went to Storybook Alpaca Farm outside of Mansfield ~ Sonny has been doing work for them and they invited us to their holiday open house! Aren't these the cutest?? Mother and baby posed for their picture ~ so sweet ~ they have 11 of them! Reba, the owner, sent home some roving with Sonny the other day and I picked up another bag of it to hook with ~ it might not be for a while, but I'll post my project for sure!

Last night, I got some hooking time in on the American Fish ~ it would come along pretty fast, if I would hook a little everyday. I still have to label the nieces' rugs and get those in the mail and there are more projects waiting in the wings! I'm hooking on both sides of the rug, making sure that if the background wool runs out, that there will be some balance to what I use to fill in ~ it's a little challenge for the old girl!

As usual, the weekend was busy ~ Friday night was our Homebuilders Christmas party and Sonny's son, Brian, was installed as President for the next year. Sonny was president 20 years ago, 1988 ~ and so it goes. My daughter-in-law took a picture of them together ~ pretty darn funny ~ they both had on grey wool jackets and black turtlenecks ~ clones!! If I can get a copy, I'll post it ~ Sonny and his Mini-Me!!!
Saturday afternoon, we attended a memorial service for a 58 year old cousin ~ that was sad. And Saturday night, we were supposed to go to Cleveland to our lake friends' annual holiday party, but we had so much blowing snow all afternoon, that we decided to stay home!! We said that not too many years ago, we wouldn't have been hindered by a little snow but when I read in the Sunday paper that there were 20 accidents in our area the night before, I was very glad we stayed in our hut!!

That's it for today ~ I'm going to my friend, Carol's, annual Christmas Tea this afternoon and fixing my daughter-in-law some birthday dinner tonite! I better get a wiggle on!!! Have a good day!!
Alice

THE SHOW'S OVER ~ ~ ~

The show, "From Our Hands" has come and gone ~ and I survived!!! It was a really good show ~ lots of shoppers and absolutely wonderful folk artists! These are a few shots of my booth ~ I barely got these taken before the doors opened and wish I had the time to take pix of the some of the other booths. We stayed in Columbus Friday night ~ had some wonderful food and a nice pomegranate martini! ~ and had a 6 a.m wake-up call on Saturday. Everyone had to set up Saturday morning so it was quite hectic for one and all to be ready by 10 a.m.

Kathy Wright is the show promoter and does a really nice job of gathering unique folk artists to display and sell their wares. I got to meet fellow blogger, Pam Gracia from "Soft in the Head" (www.softinthehead.blogspot.com) ~ I thought her creations were wonderful on her blog ~ they are stupendous in person! Tammy Speicer of Humble Crow was across from us and she and her sister had a great little booth of their stuffed animals and antiques! Kris Miller of Spruce Ridge Studios (a link to Kris's blog is at the left) also had a booth as well as the Buckeye Rug Hooking group who demonstrated and displayed their wonderful rugs.
As you can see, I incorporate some folk art in my booth as well ~ just odds and ends of primitive things from other artists ~ our rug hooking frames and stands ~ and a few finished hooked pieces.
Thank goodness for Sonny's help ~ I couldn't have loaded, set-up, and manned that booth all day alone. I really needed his help and although, it's not his favorite thing to do, he was a trooper. I even witnessed him selling Hartman hooks and talking about the proddy tools, while I was talking with someone else!!!!! You have no idea what a red-letter day that was!!!!!!!!!

I love to do a good show and aside from selling, one of the benefits is the contacts you make with other rug hookers. I met gals that are blog readers and gals that I email back and forth with ~ people that share the love of rug hooking and the creativity it brings to our lives! It was great day and on the way home, we met our friends Vivian and Lou, for dinner ~ they do the show, too. Lou makes great little primitive shelves and boxes and dry sinks, etc. ~ probably Vivian and I were the only ones who were 'bone tired' or would admit it ~ but it was great way to finish up our day!

So ~ as to not let any grass grow under my feet ~ I am getting ready to leave for Ligonier, Pa. to go hook at Barbara Carroll's for three days ~ I'm meeting a friend by the roadside again (I do a lot of that) at 11:30 this morning and five of us are off to hook and eat for three days!!!!!! What could be better??!! I'll post about that next week when I return! Until, then have a good week!
Alice

MORE DYEING ~ ~ ~

This is kind of an interesting piece that was in the dye pot last week! A gal that I met at a fabulous yarn shop outside Marblehead, told me that she dyes with all kinds of natural things and one of them was rhubarb leaves!! There were still a few stalks of rhubarb remaining in the garden, so I boiled up 4 large leaves, strained out the mush that was left and put a piece of white wool in it and voila !! This nice soft yellow emerged ~ next year, I'll definitely try it again ~ using more leaves and more wool!! Interesting, don't you think?

These are from last Thursday's dying and the colors are really beautiful! Yesterday, I got four batches done and also spent the day, cutting and wrapping many yards of as-is wool. I cut it in 1/2 yard pieces and then fold, roll and tie it in a bundle. There is really a lot of work involved in getting ready for a show and I get so energized just trying to get it all together!

I have done shows for over 27 years ~ in the years our kids were in college, I did between 15 and 20 shows a year! My husband is so happy that, now, I only do two!! I used to be a doll maker ~ cloth dolls, using vintage fabric, lace, buttons, etc. to fashion their clothes. They were primitive back before primitive got all the attention it gets now. I've made baskets, bears out of old quilts, shirts out of bluejeans with quilt yokes ~ if it sold, I made it!! But now, the rug hooking and the wool dyeing are the real love of my creative life ~ as I've said before, I wish I could hook all day, every day!!

The show I'm doing Saturday is at Quailcrest Herb Farm, north of Wooster ~ if any readers are in this area of Ohio, it's a wonderful folk art show held in their herb gardens. There is nothing better than an outside show when all conditions are right!! And I hope they're right this Saturday ~ it's supposed to be mid 70's ~ which will be heavenly ~ and a chance of rain ~ which won't be so heavenly!!! We're hoping for the best!! At any rate, I'll have lots of nice, soft wool and some hooked pieces, my husband's frames, Hartman hooks, prodders, and a few odd things to offer ~ my booth is in the tent by the house ~ stop by and see us and say hi!!! Off to the dye pots!

Alice

SONNY'S FRAMES ~ ~ ~

These are images of the frames and stand that Sonny builds for me ~ I sell them at shows and out of my home studio. Someone had written in to Wool Snippets requesting info about frames, so I decided to post on my blog about his!! They're made from hardwoods ~ maple, Brazilian cherry, walnut and oak ~ whatever wood he might have on hand. We have a building business so he has access to some beautiful materials! The frames tilt and swivel and fold up into themselves for easy travel. The stands are unique in that the pin pulls out and the stand height can be adjusted. Everything is pegged and hand finished with an oil rub and they look like a fine piece of furniture ~ if interested, you can email me at gfraizer@neo.rr.com for more information!

We had a fun weekend ~ went to Kelley's Island on Saturday to visit our friend ~ she fell and broke her shoulder (poor thing) so we went over to console her!! She has a great place to recuperate on the water! We made a couple of stops while on the island and finished up with a bite at the Village Pump (famous for their Brandy Alexanders) ~ we had one of those, too!! The ride back on the 9:30 ferry was just swell ~ an absolutely beautiful night!! We capped it off with a stop at the local ice cream place before we drove back to our condo ~ no wonder I look like I do!! I'm trying to do better, but that wasn't one of those times!!!!

This morning, I actually hooked for two and a half hours ~ yippee!!! I love to hook uninterrupted!! I watched the news and soap operas ~ yes, there are still a couple that I check in on once in a while!! Tomorrow, I'll show off Mr. Catfish again ~ right now I'm heading outside to do some much needed weeding!! Have a happy day!!

Alice