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!

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

NEW STUDENTS ~






Thirteen year old grandsons, Luke and Jakob, stayed all night and today they are learning to hook! Help me!!!

Two posts in one day is unusual to say the least ~ but had to share the boys at work!




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FUN DAY ~ ~ ~

We went beach glass hunting in a new place on Saturday morning at 7 a.m. ~  woo hoo!  Thanks to lake friend, Margo, for the info!!!  Lots o' glass!

Oh ~ the stick separates his from mine ~ one of us is a little competetive as to who got more!  Just saying ~ I found 37 lucky stones that day!!!!!





Beautiful blue glass!













Filled a new extra large martini glass (from Hobby Lobby) with some of the big chunky ones!!!












We found this teepee someone started and Sonny added a couple new logs to it!  Hope it's there next time we go!!!!

We hunted for four hours ~ so peaceful listening to the waves ~ it was a great day!  Then we went to dinner at Brandy's with lake friend, Margo and her husband ~ then to their house for black Russians to top off the evening!  Days like that make up for the ones that aren't quite so much fun!

Hope your day is fun today!
Alice

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

IT'S BEEN A LONG LONG TIME ~ ~ ~


Two weeks since I've posted!  I have been having fun, for sure ~ and I've been BUSY!!!  This is one of the pumpkins I've been hooking! 







Here are a couple more!  Small projects for my Sauder class! Only 16 in total ~ 12 more to do!

I took four grands to lunch and errands ~ that was fun!!  This was after they all had their glasses on upside down!  I'm sure the surrounding patrons wondered where I picked up this little band of wild and crazy kids!!

I went to Indiana to visit my friend, Gwen ~ and while there, I learned to knit!  This is almost done ~ there's just a few inches left to do ~  I ran out of yarn and the gal sent it to me right away ~ but I lost momentum.  I'll get it back though ~ I can finish it in short order ~ then block it ~ and wear it around my shoulders on a nice cool evening!

 We've collected lots of beach glass ~ this was from a couple of weeks ago.  Friday, we went to a place further away from us and collected a lot!  Then we met friends at Crush Wine Bar in Sandusky and had a little bite and a beverage!!


On one of our beach walks, we found this ~ a fun little memento that someone left from their fun day at Lake Erie!
 This little bracelet is made entirely of stones we found on the shores of Kelley's Island ~ the day we missed two ferry boats because we just weren't quite ready to quit!  I think it's very sweet and dainty ~ unlike the maker!!

And we've seen beautiful sunsets ~ we had to pull off the road to get this ~ if we had waited till we arrived at the condo ~ which was not far ~ it would have been too late!

Lots of other things have gone on, too.  But these are the fun ones ~ the things that get us through all the hard work and challenges that life brings!  We're having as much fun as we can ~ I hope you are, too!

Seize the Day!!

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

DEANNE FITZPATRICK PATTERNS ! ! !

These are just a sampling  of the new Deanne Fitzpatrick patterns that just arrived!!  Wish I had them for the hook-in last week but they're here now and they're fabulous!!!





This one is Bathing Beauties ~ and they are!!













 Chairpads are all the rage right now! 















Goin' Shopping is the name of this little mat! Good gift for a girlfriend!












Love this sweet little Sheep Farm rug, too!




Check my website Folk Art Primitives and click on the patterns link to Deanne's patterns and you'll see the new ones along with sizes and prices!  Email me to order ~ gfraizer@neo.rr.com .