Busy last few days, but more progress to share..

The days sure are flying by. I have been hooking whenever I can though. Some nights I'm just too tired. I know you all know how that feels. I had my dye group last Friday. That is always enjoyable. We get together once a month and have a plan to dye some wool, pick a new project to hook, or both. Right now we are concentrating on dyeing our own swatches out of the Spots and Scraps book by Dotti Ebi. We are really enjoying it. We each bring our own wool and dyes and do the color that we have picked for that month. Looking forward to it next month!

The weekend was busy with dress shopping for my daughter Nicole. Homecoming is this coming Saturday. Not going with a date, just some friends. It's also my mil's 90th Birthday, and Nicole also has a cross country meet, and a football game. I did ask her how we were to fit that all in. She came to me the other day and said she's not running that day, Whew! We'll be able to manage it all I'm sure.

Yesterday I had a hooking group to go to, and stayed a lot longer than I thought I would. You just get to gabbing, and before you know it, the clock jumps ahead a few hours. It sure was fun though. I did get a few loops pulled. I couldn't hook last night. Bills needed to be paid and I had to make a grocery list for today. That was an all day affair today. Not only did my own shopping, but did my mil's too. I'm tired, but need to suck it up and head on over to my daughters meet to watch her run. She had an injury early on this season, and this is only the second race she's been able to compete in. I know she's going to give it her all since it's the last one that she will run this season. I'm rooting for her!!

So here is a little more of the rug. It's coming along. Oh, that was another thing I had to do this weekend. Actually did it on Sunday after church. I ripped the background that I had hooked. It wasn't what I had wanted, and every time I looked at it, it just looked flat and dead. It was more of a blackish brown. So I went ahead and pulled some different wools and dyed them a dark brown color. More warming to me. At least I'm happy with it now and can just keep on hooking!

A little bit more done..

I've been working on my rug a little more each day. Wish I could get the coloring right with the camera, but I guess there is only so much you can do. I'm pleased so far with it. I'm hoping tomorrow to work on some of the background to see what it looks like.
Ok, I have to admit I like Birthdays. Not just others, but mine too. To me, every day is a Blessing, but when that birthday rolls around, it's just an Ahhhh feeling for me. I honestly cannot wait till I turn the big 50 which is only 3 years 12 days away. Hmm, I wonder if the banner will go on that long LOL. God willing I make it there, I told my husband I'm throwing myself one heck of a party. The banner is there to amuse myself. I'm thinking maybe this year of celebrating a whole week! Why not? It's on a Monday. Seems a waste to just celebrate it one day and then the rest of the week forget about it. Perhaps I can plan something to do "just for myself" each day that week. I'm going to work on that.....
So here is my rug so far. Enjoy the rest of your week!

Fall is Here....

What beautiful weather we've been having, huh?? Oh my, I had the BEST day yesterday at a hook-in at my good friend Joan's. She has one every year near her birthday. What a way to celebrate. All your good friends, food, games, prizes. Only SHE does all the work. Not right I tell ya! I showed up at 9:00 and there were already a few people there. Joan had warm coffee cake that she made and hot coffee. It was a while before I got to hooking with all the hello's and how have you been since last year to some of the people that I don't see that often. So much fun to catch up. We even had a little rug show of what we did in the past year.

Here is Joan's rug she is trying to get finished for her sister's wedding in October. I say she will have it done by the end of the week! It is called Stella Hay Rex by Lib Calloway. It is 43"x73" done in an 8 cut on Linen. Isn't it gorgeous?

Below is a picture of Joan being silly behind Margaret .

Everyone else is behaving themselves and are busy getting to work. But seriously, this is the way it was all day. A lot of laughter and carrying on.
Ok, more carrying on..... Here is Becky wearing my prize I won for being the Happy Hooker, along with some gorgeous hand dyed wools by Joan. I had the most points in a paper we filled out asking all kinds of questions. If I didn't have Colonial Day to make all those rugs for, I don't think I would have won. I think those points put me over the top...








Ok, and here we are back to being serious and working again....

Now I will show just some of the rugs that were either finished or were being worked on. I didn't post a few of them because I didn't have their permission, and you never know if they are going to enter them somewhere and if there are restrictions or not. A couple of the girls were working on an apple challenge. They looked really good, but can't show ya lol.

Here is Joanne's rug



















Here is Katie's Fish and cat

Ok, taking a break to get something to eat. Here are Tonya and Louise checking out the goodies.

Ok, back to some more pictures.....

Here is Kim working on a wonderful piece













Here is Margarets rug









And here is Deloris' rug.

This one is Janice's. She is doing the same rug I am doing for my ufo challenge rug. I love how we used different colors. She's doing a great job! Hers is so prim.

And here is what I got done yesterday. I was able to finsh the outside and inside of the pomegranate. See how different Janice's and mine are? I love seeing them together!!! I sure do have a way to go to catch up with her....


So that was my day. Not enough words to describe what a wonderful hook-in that Joan puts on. I wish I would have taken more pictures. Again... I have to learn to be more observant and just snap, snap away. Joan's birthday isn't until next Sunday, so I just want to put a big SHOUT out to her..... Happy Birthday Joan! And thanks for a GREAT day!! (I know, I know, I'll see you Friday at dye group. But it was still fun saying it here LOL!!)
Happy Fall Everyone!!

Breaks over.... Back to work

Well, I took a few days off to get some cleaning done and just rest from the show. The cleaning went well, the resting didn't. I haven't been sleeping all that well. The mind must still be in over drive.

I had mentioned in a previous post about a challenge rug that I wanted to start. The challenge I joined is with a group of women on the internet. We are to hook 15 minutes a day and have it done by Halloween. Well, I'm really behind since I hadn't color planned or even pulled a loop until now. The whole idea is to finish some unfinished rugs we have laying around. Yesterday I was able to dye a bunch of wool for it and even pulled my first loops! You can click on the picture to get a better view of it.

The pattern is from a book I have called In Praise of Autumn by Blackbird Designs. This link will take you to only one of many sites that sells this book. The rug size is 28 1/2" x 45".
I also was able to draw up a commission piece that I got from Colonial Day. I will email the sketch to the woman later and we will go from there. It's a nice size. 22"x22". Also on my yard sale travels this morning, I was talking with a woman who is interested in hooked rugs. It's nice to share with people what you do, especially if they aren't familiar with it. So I got her email address and sent her a few pictures of what I done. Even gave her the link to my blog here. Hello Kathe!
Well, that's it for today. I will keep posting pictures of this rug as I get more hooked. It will be nice to see how much I can get done in between postings. Have a wonderful day everyone!

The Show is over

Colonial Day is over..... And boy, am I exhausted. Since I only do the one show a year, I forget from one year to the next how tiring it all can be. And there were 4 of us doing this! Hmmm, I wonder how they are feeling lol? God heard our prayers and we had NO rain. It actually started to sprinkle as we were packing up for the day. Couldn't have asked for a better day. It got hot and muggy in the afternoon, but we were staying hydrated.

With the economy the way it is, I wasn't sure what to expect, but we all had sales. I took some pictures just in the beginning of the day, and didn't take any after that. Wish I did. The above picture was us moving stuff around. Louise who is part of our group is holding the penny rug she did. She came by on occassion to see how things were going. Throughout the day she is busy in the church down the street volunteering with the food and what needs to be done. She made some awesome items for the show. Beth is in the back busily arranging the items, and Willa is on the right. Willa had quite a few rugs for sale and she also made the needle felted snowmen and pumpkins. Beth had made a few purses, and some toothbrush rugs that were really pretty. Very Fall like colors. Wish I would have gotten a shot of those in the wire basket.
Here are a few more picutures of our booth.
















And here is Tonya arranging the beautfiul pillows she made. She also had some penny rugs for sale.

I will be going through what I have left over and deciding what I will keep to put in my home, and which will go on ebay. I will let you know what is going up for sale shortly.

After the show was over, there was discussion about next years show. Here's hoping that we get an early start on preparing for it!!!

Hope you all enjoyed the pictures. Now it's time to get back to the things I've neglected for the past month or so. But I think I'll have another cup of coffee first.......

Have a wonderful week!

Another Rug

Finished the last rug for the show. This one is called Folky Sampler. Again by Chestnut Junction that was a sitchery pattern that I bought a very long time ago. The dark brown background was nice to do.

I took the day off yesterday, since I had some other things that needed to get done, and last night I had every intention of getting back to it, but I just zoned in front of the tv. Can't even tell you what I was watching lol. That's when I knew it was time for bed. I feel more refreshed this morning, so I need to get myself upstairs and get to it.

Just wanted to share the last rug. Wishing everyone a wonderful day. It is gorgeous out there today, and time to open up the windows! (might not be a good idea, the wool dust will sure fly then LOL)

Finishing up odds and ends

Another late night for me. It's been that way for a few weeks now. I'm down to the wire for Saturday, and I've really made headway. My hands and fingers are Sore with a capital "S". I just finished whipping my last rug and have it pressing now. I have the label all made out and will sew it on tomorrow. I've been saying that I am going to share with you what I've been doing, so I made sure I took pictures today so I could put them on here tonight.

The first two are punch needle pillows that I designed and they are stuffed with snippets and sawdust. Love how they feel.

Here are some punchneedle snowmen ornaments I made up that are also stuffed the same way, and a few of the boxes I did with punchneedle and did a paint technique on the boxes. Hard to see with the glare of the camera. I did mulitples, but didn't photo all of them. This is just one of the rugs that I did. It's a pattern designed by Chestnut Junction called Harvest House. It was a paper pattern for stitchery that I had bought off ebay a long long time ago. I got permission to blow it up (now 18"x22") and make a rug out of it. I also did hooked mats, but haven't gotten around to taking pictures of them. This one is done in a #7 cut. The next couple of shots are my punchneedle pumpkin pillow, a penny rug called Pennies from Williamsburg and is 20"x20" by LakeView Primitives and some punched pieces on hornbooks that are my own design.

So this is what I have been up to (I wasn't fibbing). A lot of stitching, punching, hooking and painting! I haven't had much time to do anything else. I'm glad that I am just about ready. I spent the day tagging everything, I also sewed on labels and signed the boards and boxes. I am so looking forward to starting a rug that I SAID I was going to do 15 minutes on each day for a challenge I entered. I am soooo bad. But I promise, next week AFTER I clean my house lol, I will get that started. I will share that here as well. I hope you all enjoyed looking at my creations as much as I enjoyed making them. Please respect my designs. It takes all I have to muster up and create them from this crazy head of mine. I hope the show goes well. I'm worried about the rain they are calling for. So please say a little prayer that it doesn't start until "after" the show? I really hope the weather doesn't keep the people from coming. I know I would go with an umbrella lol. Hey, it's in God's hands and there is nothing I can do about it. But I sure did have fun making everything. If it's a rain out, there is always Ebay lol. Would love to have a store or a business someday. Oh well, it's a dream, and dreams are good! I will let you know how the show went. Have a terrific week everyone!

Where did the week go?

This week sure did fly by. Labor Day, school starting, and husband on vacation this week. Nicole had her first cross country meet yesterday, (poor girl, her Achilles is all irritated and now she'll be out of running for a few weeks), and tonight she has a football game to play in with the band. Now it's Friday. George just said to me last night, we didn't do anything lol. We had planned on seeing a movie or something. But he got busy, and I was busy and nothing happened. So today we are going out for lunch. It truly is amazing the older we get, the faster time goes by. We all have the same 24 hours to use as we please. How we use it is another story. Some days we use it wisely and feel we got a lot accomplished, then other days we complain there wasn't enough time. I ask God every morning to allow me to do things to glorify Him. Some days I feel like I dissapoint Him. But.... today is another day, and it's always good to start out positive.

Today I'm sharing with you a valance I did for my laundry room a little while back. I really hated the curtain that I had in there. I was inspired to do this from seeing one done from my good friend Joanne. She hooks some awesome rugs. Hope it inspires you to try something new with your hooking! Not the best picture. Hard to take one in such a small space.

Off to start my day. Hope you enjoy yours! Make your time count.....

A smile on my face!

I decided to take a break from all the punch needle I've been doing. Have spent the last 2 days working hard at it. As long as I have the time, I'm taking advantage of it. I figured I have 3 more days of creating, and next week needs to be spent constructing, whipping and painting the items that I need to have ready by next Saturday.

I thought I'd check out what has been going on today on the boards and such. To MY surprise, I had a comment left on my blog from Laurie (Woolyredrug), and she told me she had a surprise on her blog for me. I was one of her choices for this award! How sweet is that??? Thank you Laurie!! I've given you the link to her wonderful blog, now why not take a look at her website? It's great! So much to look at.

Along with this honor you place the award on your blog and pass the honor on to 7 other deserving folks... This is going to be a tough one to choose. I like them all. But here it goes... I will leave them a little note telling them they are chosen. I'm sure they have been chosen more than once, but with these links you'll be able to see what they are all about, if you haven't already! A great group of Ladies....

Julie at ..... http://plumruncreek.blogspot.com/

Lori at ...... http://farmhousenotforgotten.blogspot.com/

Paula at.... http://octobermoonprimitives.blogspot.com/

Betty at..... http://primitivebettys.blogspot.com/

Kelley at ..... http://kankerdoodle.blogspot.com/

Bren at...... http://heydiddlewoolies.blogspot.com/

Sarah at... http://ohsarahplainandtall.blogspot.com/

What a way to end a day of working. It put a nice smile on my face! Thanks again Laurie! I'll have some pictures to share soon of what I've been doing.