BIG WEEKEND ~ ~ ~

 Friday, friend Vivian and I went to the Country Living show at Ohio Village in Columbus!  This great fat tin chicken was one of our purchases ~ Vivian bought a black one!  I took down several things off this wall ~ fussy looking things ~ and replaced them with this lone mustard chicken!  I like it!!

This gives you an overall look at the little guest bath under the stairs - in my mind, I think you're interested!!  What you will be interested in is that there were THOUSANDS of people at this show ~ the grounds were covered with folks who paid $16 each to get in!  If they went for the Early Bird Sale, they paid $25 to get in!  It astounded us both in light of the fact that a crummy economy surrounds us!  We even heard of people who flew in from far away places to attend!

 Ginger Cazan created these two redware pieces ~ I love her work and don't see her much anymore ~ we did a couple of shows together but not now!   Our  kids will probably sell all this stuff in a garage sale for 50 cents when we're gone ~ but I love redware so I'm enjoying it now!

Some other acquisitions were these beautiful skeins of handspun yarn ~ aren't they gorgeous?  Even if you're not into fibers, the colors are so pretty! 

This show was well worth the trip down to Columbus!  Hundreds of artists ~ traditional and contemporary ~ some very funky and eclectic!  We were there from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and only sat for a bite of lunch!  I was so tired when we left and drove home to go out for dinner with my old friends!  We met them in Ashland at 6:30 at Surella's ~ if you live near Ashland, you should give it a try ~ very good food ~ and beverages!  We had a lot of fun ~ stayed till we almost got kicked out!  Then Sonny and I stopped at the Happy Grape because Teddy & Miki asked us to join them ~ I hate to tell anybody no ~ they may not ask again!  We got home at midnight!!

Saturday, was a Fraizer family wedding ~ at a farm ~ very simple but it did the trick!  We got home at 10 that night ~ the old people are slowing down!!  Sunday we went to Camden's fifth grade football game and then had a wiener roast here for all of our kids and grandkids!!  Great fun ~ great food ~ lots of laughs!!  Luke & Jake, the two 7th graders, stayed all night with us and I got them off to school this morning with homemade smoothies and eggs and toast!!  Don't tell my grown kids ~ they will remember that I didn't quite do that for them ~ probably some cheerios and a pop tart!!!!  Grandmas are smarter ~ and have more time!!

I have tried numerous times today to send photos from my 'smart' phone to my email but no dice!  I wanted to show you my old friends and pix from the wedding.  Oh, well ~ you'll have to imagine them!   Silly me ~ I fogot that I can just download them from the phone to a picture file ~ here's the bride with her dad ~ the tractor and haywagon brought us all back to the wedding site!  Kind of fun!! Especially watching this old girl get up on the wagon!

Today, I've been washing sheep fleece ~ now that's a stinky job!!  Have a good week everybody ~ and you know I appreciate you stopping by!!!

WEEKEND FUN ~ ~ ~

Last Saturday, Heidi and I went to Bowling Green to the Black Swamp Spinners Guild fiber show ~ we had a great time touching and feeling all the rovings, yarns and fleece!  These are sheets of felted hand-dyed roving ~ remember I bought some last year and made those Funky Flower pins out of it?  I'm not sure what I'm going to create but I'll find an interesting use for them, I'm sure. I might even cut them into smaller pieces and sell them at the show at the Fairgrounds in April!  They've very unusual for sure!

The multi-colored piece is a hand-dyed Romney wool bat ~ gorgeous purples, blues, oranges and yellows all in one piece!  A spinner would spin this into yarn ~ which would be very colorful.  I will probably just piece it out and use it here and there. The really blue roving has a silver thread in it and will be good to hook into water or sky as well as the blue/white ball of roving!  I see this stuff and just can't resist it!  The gal who was selling the blue/white ball was knitting a purse right from the ball of roving ~ fabulous!  She said she skips the whole step of spinning it into yarn and the purse looked like it had been knitted and felted.  So you skip the step of felting as well!  I can see a night sky with the dark yarn hooked in as accents and field or trees with the green yarn!  I see a lot of things when I'm around all those fibers!  One person we saw was Kris Miller selling her wares ~ her newest Santa rug is even prettier in person that it is on her blog! 

Week before last, I went to the wholesale folk art

market in Columbus with friend, Vivian. I bought a whole flock of the hens and roosters to sell at the show in April.  I think they would make very cute table favors for a luncheon or a cute little tie-on to accent a package!!  

These apothecary jars with hand-sculpted birds and a rabbit really spoke to me! They will be for sale also ~ I love to add a little this and that to my booth ~ I like to have something for the person who doesn't buy wool or patterns!!  Let me know if any of them speak to you! Rabbit is sold! 

Last week, this old girl had a birthday!!  I was absolutely shocked at how many cards and phone calls I got that day!!  They really made my day!  Sonny boy had a case of the old fashioned flu and was down and out for several days ~ so no partying for mama and papa!!  It took him till this week to feel better so we had a really quiet weekend ~ really quiet!  I don't like it when he's sick ~ it doesn't happen very often and it's a little unnerving.  He's on the mend now so we'll cut a rug this weekend!!  I got a nice pot of tulips to plant outside, fingerless gloves, and some really snazzy sandals ~ just in case summer does arrive here in Ohio!  Thank you gift givers!

The very best news is that I have the dreaded taxes done and delivered to the accountant!!  My name is Alice and I am a procrastinator!!  Yikes ~ I've got to change that story!  What a project to do things in retrospect ~ Sonny boy asked if I have no memory from year to year on just how grueling a task this is!  The answer is no ~ my memory is shot!  But I may have learned a couple things in regard to posting in a timely manner for his business and mine!!  So, I spent yesterday as a total vegetable after dropping those off and a visit with a new doctor.  That in itself is nerve-wracking for me ~ but I guess I'm okay ~ good for another 10,000 miles!!!!!!!! 

I just put up a notice on my sidebar that I'm having a Proddy Sheep class here on April 9.  The girls that were here in the fall wanted to set up something for Spring so this will be fun.  I can take a few more students ~ check out my class page and let me know if you'd like to join in the fun! 

Have a sunshiny day!

Alice