Getting some work done..

Been busy the last few days with some hooking. No pictures yet to share. Hopefully in the next couple days. I'm trying to get ready for a show in September, and time is limited. I feel I just have to keep pushing and get as much done as I can. It will be what it will be....

If you could see the wool room right now, you would laugh. It is amazing how some pieces of wool here and there can make it look out of place again. BUT, I promised myself that when I am done hooking these few mats, I will be putting everything away where it belongs before I move on to the next item on my list.!

It's been so peaceful hooking up there, that sometimes I don't even turn on the radio. I just like to hook and "think". Amazing what comes to your mind when you tune out everything else around you. I'm enjoying it.

Along with the hooking, I've gone through some things that I know I will not use. We ALL have stuff like that, don't we? So I listed them on my Etsy, you can view them on the side bar. Perhaps there is something that you might be able to use. I plan on seeing what else I can add as time goes on. I really just want to make things for Etsy, but thought someone might be able to use them. Email me if you are interested or have any questions.

Just going to share one thing to laugh at me about. Heck, I've been laughing all week at myself. I emailed my friend Beth with a link to something I thought she might enjoy. And in the beginning of my email, I said "I hope you are enjoying your Saturday". LOL, this happened on Tuesday! Having my husband home for 2 weeks is completely throwing me off!! I have no idea what day it is. I was even going to put my mil's garbage to the curb today when I went over there. I usually do that on Saturday. Hmm, am I wishing it to be here so quickly LOL??? Oh well, husband home, perimenopause, hormones, you name it, I'll use it as an excuse. I just will not blame it on myself! lol

Hope you all are having a wonderful creative week!!

Retreat Weekend

Had a wonderful weekend working in my "cleaned up" room. Our online group AAPG had their retreat this weekend and the theme was pumpkins. I was thinking about what I could do while I was still in the process of cleaning up. Actually wondering if I would finish in time or not to be able to relax and enjoy myself. As I was going through some patterns, I ran across a Buttermilk Basin pattern with a crow and a white pumpkin. Perfect I thought! So I set it aside. Had it all drawn out and wools pulled and ready to go. I was able to start hooking on Saturday and even finished the hooking by early evening. Pressed it and now it just needs to be whipped!

Thought about what I could do next, and I remember being inspired by Lori's black pumpkins that she posted a picture of. Looking at my wools, I came across a piece of orange wool that I had received as a gift, and it was a looser weave. Hmm, the wheels started turning. I remembered on my trip with Joanne that we saw some pillows that were hooked right into the wool. Sooo, I put the two together and this is what I came up with! I hooked it right into the wool. I just LOVE it!! Was able to finish it up on Sunday after church.
It was a great weekend, and I spent the whole time up in my room. Just wish I had a nice cushy chair up there lol. Maybe not, I probably would never come down LOL. Wouldn't fit anyway.

This morning Nicole and I went over to the Fair and picked up what we entered and our checks too! That was really nice. I had the Chambersburg group today and still have not finished the Birthday gift I've been working on. It will still be a late gift..., but I was able to cut out more and it is now all pinned and ready to be stitched. It's a penny rug. I'll put time into that this week I hope. At the group today, Ruth brought her winning pieces from the Fair to show everyone. She did an Awesome Job!!! Way to go Ruth on your ribbons!! Of course, wouldn't you know it, I forgot my camera. Hubby is home for 2 weeks. Shutdown for his place. Work is slow all over, isn't it? So I wasn't thinking straight before I left the house. But I had a wonderful time just being there and seeing everyone. Haven't been there in a while.

Then later today, I got out a piece of foundation and started to draw up some small designs for mats that I do for Colonial Day in September. I have some cleaning that's been neglected, that I have to do tomorrow. Doing one room all last week sure has put a damper on everything else around here. God only gave me two arms LOL!! But after that is done, I will be pulling some wool for these mats, and hope to start hooking on them too.

That's it for now! I sure hope today was the start of a good week for you all! Get creative, and get busy.........

All cleaned up and even a place to sit!

Oh boy, what a week it's been cleaning and organizing, but it's done. Well, just about. I need to personalize it now with a curtain for the window, and I need a lampshade yet. My husband will be putting the closet door back on this weekend, and I want to paint the wood on the trim of a bulletin board before I bring it in there and hang it up. A couple pictures need to go up also. So there is a little more to do. BUT, the organizing is D.O.N.E.!!!

I have worked each day and into the night going through every hand full of items I brought into the new room. A decision needed to be made to keep it, give it away, or trash it. When the painting was done, and it was time to bring the cubes in, I just stood there and stared at them for quite some time thinking "how in the heck am I going to do this" lol? So I started at one end and took the wool out of a few cubes and started to disassemble the cubes. They certainly are boogers to take apart and get back together. Had some growling moments where I think my husband was even concerned. He came in to check on me lol. I'm going to do the posting different here of the pictures. I'm going to show you the "after" first!
This is just across the hall from the old room which was approximately an 8x10 room. The new room is approximately 10x11. It was a pale purple before I painted it a grey green. I really like the color. And (Hey Joan) it's NOT beige LOL. I even hung my clock that my mil painted me a number of years back. Fits nice with this room. I have decided to make a valance for the window out of a piece of black wool. I will applique something onto it and hang it from tabs. I went out shopping today for fabric, and nothing struck my fancy. Cheaper and more personable if I make it myself. I am also down to one of those racks on the table for my paints. Which I may or may not have my husband hang on the wall there next to the window. Have decided this week, that my tole painting days are in the past and I kept just what I thought I would use. The rest I am going to sell.

Here my cubes are all reassembled in a different pattern. Was one cube short. I want to add one more to the far corner next to the oval box on the top right. Will look more uniform with the other side. I'm hoping to find one at a yard sale or something, rather than buying a whole other box. Now I have room on the walls to hang some rugs, pictures, etc. That is exciting to me. Will feel more like a room! I went through each piece of wool that I had. And did THAT take TIME!

Here is the closet. Nicole only used one of her dressers and luckily it fit into here perfectly. Holds my foundations, and other stuff. I even went through each tiny drawer on that red organizer on top of the dresser. George will hang the closet door this weekend. She was using beads on there, and it's been out in the garage all this time. George is happy that will be one more thing out of there lol.
These 2 cabinets are very old. My husbands older brother used them in his bedroom when he was younger and he was 17 years older than my husband. It's been so many different colors. I even used them for Nicole when she was younger for her clothes. It was orange at that time, and I stripped it and painted them white. Now I have them, and they are knicked here and there. But I like the knicks lol. I have some books, my dye recipes, muslin, and other items in there all neat and tidy! The frame on top, I picked up a long time ago. It swivels on the stand. I want to put a penny rug design in there. The file cart has all my dye books, patterns, which would be x stitch, penny rugs, sewing stuff, all in order. I'm just so tickled LOL. Oh, and I just realized what else I need in this room. A new switch plate. I see Nicole's horse one is still on there lol.

Ok, now this is the embarassing part lol. Here is the room that I used to be in. THIS is WHY I had to do something. Who could do anything in there? Let alone find anything! Any time I walked into the house with something, upstairs it went, I looked for a place to put it, NEVER found one, and it ended up on the floor, or on the table, on top of something else that never got put away. Just a vicious cycle I tell ya! Out of control, for sure! When we were doing Nicole's new room over, we had to put the headboard where? Yep, in my room. I had to move it so I could get some more shots. I'm surprised I never broke my neck. Now just imagine emptying this all OUT!! I still can't believe I got it done.


Oh wait, it just keeps getting worse. No wonder there was no motivation. Nothing to inspire me that's for sure. Would you be inspired lol? This is what I had to look at and wonder "where do I start".


Here is that room cleared out. I've got some piles to give here and there. And the pictures and bulletin board will come in the new room. The closet in this room is still piled up. But that has my wooden items, picture frames etc. Just needs a good going through and organizing in that, but at least I can close the closet door now. Couldn't do that before LOL!
I even opted out of going to my dye group today so I could finish. Joan emailed to say that she had a cleaning emergency so had to cancel the group anyway. It got me to thinking if she got flooded out or not with all this heavy rain we've been having. She lives between 2 creeks. Joan, I hope all is well over there. And please let me know if I can help you out in any way.

Tonight we went over to our local Fair to check things out. It's been going on all week. But most nights, it's poured so hard here, that we couldn't go. Tonight we got to see how Nicole and I did with our entries. Here and I were happy to see that she won a 1st Place and a 3rd Place. And I came away with (5) 1st Places (2) 2nd Places and (1) 3rd Place. Just so much fun to walk around and see what everyone else has made. Nice to see that there were a few other hooked pieces as well.

This weekend is retreat weekend with our online group. Theme this month is pumpkins. I have a pattern all drawn out for it and wools picked out. I did that today. (in my nice clean room) LOL, can you tell I'm excited? Nicole came in there while I was drawing it out and asked me to hem a pair of shorts for her. I told her to watch this! I walked over and got the thread, turned and got the seam ripper, pulled up my chair and I was done with her shorts in a few minutes. She was laughing at me by the way I was doing it all. I really think she was just more impressed that she could lay down on the floor and wait while I did it lol. Then I told her to watch this! I put all the stuff away where it belonged. She howled.

So that's it! Just a little more tweaking and personalizing the room. I am raring to go on getting things done now. More inspired than I ever was. All I can say is "God, please don't let me ever get that bad again! "

Hope it's inspired someone out there to "clean up and organize". It's been a long haul and a lot of exhausting nights, but oooooh so worth it!!!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone! I will post what I get done this weekend. I'm going to relax for sure.....

Road Trip...

It was a road trip for me that is.. I went out to see Joanne yesterday. We met up in Morgantown, Pa at a store called Hayloft Fabrics. Took me a little less than 2 hours. Not bad at all. I just parked my car there, and we were on our way. That was going to be our last place we stopped for the day since they were opened the latest.

Oh my, Joanne took me all over the place, and I can't remember all the names of the places, but she wrote about it on her blog. We went to a rug hooking/yarn shop, thrift stores, fabric warehouse, primitive stores, antique stores. It was wonderful~!! How I so wish we had stores like that around here. Stopped for a bite for lunch, and then Joanne treated me to a delicious ice cream cone. Sure hit the spot. Such a grey day, but the rain held off which was great. We had a good time.

We got silly at a few places. I saw these wooden letters. There weren't many to choose from, but it spelled out a bad word, actually just part of a bad word. Now Joanne teased me about it, but she understood what I was spelling out, so that makes her just as bad LOL. Since she tattled on me on her blog about my letters, I have to tell you one thing that Joanne has a habit of doing. I think this girl has a fettish for head dressings lol. Seriously, No matter what she picked up, she was trying to put it on her head. I got a good giggle out of that and just wish I could have been quicker with my camera. She saw my hand going into my pocket book and that was it LOL. She told me her mom told her she used to put things on her head when she was younger. Guess she hasn't outgrown it! I did snap a picture of her at Pizza Hut, but she had her hand in front of her and it didn't come out to great. So I'll get some good pic's of her next time!!

I behaved myself with the shopping. Could have bought a ton of things. At the one church thrift store, I bought a couple skeins of floss a square wooden frame (yes Beth, I know. I don't need any more frames lol. But I like the square hard to find sizes, and it was only .40). And I also got a deal (steal) on a needle felting starter kit for $2.00, brand new! Linda says she may give a little class on it and I'll be set for it if she does. I have some roving left from Pat when she gave me some a while back. At another thrift store, I found a small rolled up piece of homespun for .50 and I stood in line behind a woman who was buying a LOT. Can't believe I stood in line for that one item. When the woman in front of me was done, the woman running the register just looked at me and said "no.... you waited in line just for that" lol? Yep, I guess I did. A bargain is a bargain.

The one fabric warehouse was HUGE. They had one section of wool, but it was mostly wool blends. The rest of the place had just bolts and bolts of fabric. Joanne has a shot on her blog of it.

At the Hayloft Fabrics I was amazed at the set up in that place. It's a grocery store and upstairs is the fabric. But it's a loft that you can look down and see everyone doing their grocery shopping. Too funny. The woman who cut the fabric was telling us they have something like 8,000 bolts of fabric. It is soooo well organized. I picked out a few prints to use for my pn pieces. I could have gone crazy in this store, OH MY. I just bought half yard pieces and some cording because it was so cheap. So see, I did behave myself. (pssst, plus it's another reason to go back out there again if I want more lol). I'm not that dumb.

It was a great day, with great shopping, and great company. Thanks Joanne, for doing the driving and showing me the sites! It was funny, at a few places, I kept saying I swear I've been here before. Then it hit me. A few years, actually more than a few years I think, I went out to meet up with Beth, and she took me all over the place too. And sure enough, some of the places that Joanne took me, were the same ones that Beth and I had been too. Soooo odd though, because it's been so long. Felt like De'ja vu. Just my crazy old mind remembering for a change LOL.

Oh, and I forgot. When I first met up with Joanne in the parking lot, she opened her trunk. I had a bag of wool I was giving to her to give to a friend and she had some things in her trunk that she was going to drop off at the thrift store since we were going there anyway. Well, I came away a winner from that too! She had some dvd's that we can watch, and a pair of lamps! I just need to get the shades. I'm so thrilled. If there is one thing there is never enough of in our house, it's light! I'm hoping to put one in my new wool room. Not sure if I will paint them or not.

And speaking of my new room. My, oh my, have I been busy. I finished painting the room on Sunday. Then I cleaned it up and was ready to start moving the stuff in. I'm going to leave it at that, and talk about it in my next post. I'll have pictures then.

That's where I'm headed now. Up to finish some more. I did head out to the Fair this morning. Today was the craft day and kiddie day (where they ride all the rides for one price). Glad I don't have to do that anymore. Just wanted to check out the crafts. Disappointed in a way. There are fewer and fewer each year. Came home with nothing. I was going to go over to the building where the home products were, but hey didn't open until 10:00. So I came home. I did run into a friend who told me I had a Blue ribbon on one of my rugs. When she saw that I was surprised, she said "you haven't been over there yet, have you"? I said no. She said she wasn't going to tell me what else I got lol. So I may go tonight or wait till tomorrow to go look at everything. I want to see how many other hooked rugs were put in, and too look at all the handy work. Love just seeing what others come up with. I did see when I registered my things on Monday that there were a few hooked pieces from people I know. Can't wait to get a better look!

Have a wonderful Wednesday, and I hope you all do something with your hands today to keep busy......

Christmas in July and so much more..

What a wonderful surprise I had the other day that came in the mail. We are doing a Christmas in July swap on our online group. Just so happened that Joanne got my name again for the swap. I asked if I could keep her for the duration of the group LOL. In the swap, we are supposed to give red wool (or) snowman colored wool, a holiday card, red floss, bells, a cookie recipe and a surprise. Well, my goodness, Joanne sure does know how to put together a package. There was a sweet cloth bag that had candycanes on it and it was tied with twine and bells. Also a cute Christmas card with a moose on it. Inside the bag there was red wool and it was wrapped around some special goodies. A snowman notepad, a little iron hanger with a placque on it, some floss. Another piece of wool had a very sweet fraktur picture about friendship wrapped in it. And then a red plaid piece of wool had my "recipe" wrapped inside. LOL, a WHOLE BOOK of recipe's! My daughter Nicole has gone nuts since "we" got it. Notice I said "we", because I know she'll be using it often. Luckily for "me", there aren't any chocolate chips in the house. She has been bugging me every day since I got it lol. Here is a shot of the wonderful package Joanne sent me. Thanks again Joanne!


Yesterday, I went to Linda's shop to work on a birthday gift for a friend. It's over due. Didn't get very far, but it's a start. There is just so much going on when you go to Linda's. Don't want to miss a thing. Everyone seemed to be carrying on with their camera's yesterday. Lot's of flashing going on. God only knows what others got of me lol. I got one of Doris' rug. I just love the floor of the rug. It's a checkerboard affect of different creams. Linda was VERY busy working while we were carrying on. Her and Barb sewed and sewed all day long. Linda looked up a few times with all the flashing.
Jill had brought along her little neighbor friend. Lacy is 10 years old and seems to be interested in learning different crafts. Jill drew up a piece of just hearts on it. Lacy will make a scarf for her dresser in her bedroom. We all thought that they were related. They sure did resemble each other. Jill said they hear that a lot. Linda was giving Lacy instructions on how to hook.
And here is how well Lacy is doing! Keep going Lacy.... I want to see it when it's finished!
Linda was showing Patty the crackstop. She saw the flash, and I think that sent us on a picture taking frenzy. Seemed we all started clicking away. I even tried taking a video which I did figure out, but it's so silly, I won't show it lol. Need to work on that. Anyway after Linda showed Patty the crack stop, you can see how she was playing the camera with Doris LOL.
You think she had enough ? lol. We sure did have fun though.

This was a lucky shot. Usually I forget to take a picture of what I'm working on. But as I was taking a video, I accidentally pointed my camera down and it took a picture. This is what I was working on lol. I got the entire outside border all blanket stitched. So I did do something! Sherry came last in the evening, and she brought along some items she was finished with. They turned out great!

Had a really fun time and will miss not going for the next couple weeks. She will be on vacation. And speaking of missing, I have to say that I missed Pat! Hope she's there the next time we meet. Would love to see how the Santa she is working on is coming along. I bet she is done. How about it Pat?? Been waiting for you to update your blog!! Miss reading it. Also missed Beth, Jill's sister. Beth, no matter if you finished your rug or not. Next time, you better be there!! Leave your gardens be for just a few hours. Honest, they will be fine without you lol.

Today, I took Nicole to Lowes to get some paint for her nightstand that we picked up a long time ago at a yard sale. She painted it lime green to match her chair in her room. Everything is pulling together nicely. It's bright, but with the darker walls, it gives a nice accent. I will hang it tomorrow for her. Sooo thankful there was no "splatter" on my car lol. I told her how it will splatter if she holds the brush a certain way. She was very careful and did a great job! I spent time spackling holes in her room. Surprisingly there weren't that many. I kept looking and looking. I had sooo many to do in her brother's room. Took time gathering up some more paint chips. Every time I thought I had the right color, I kept changing my mind. Ugh! Very frustrating. Tomorrow I'll look at them better in the light. It is sooo hard for me to break away from beige. (No comment Joan lol). I want a color in there, but nothing too, too dark. Curious to see what I end up with.

Will be a busy weekend. Would love to get the painting done in that room and then gather up what I've made for our local Fair which needs to be dropped off on Monday.

Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend!

A Union was made....

Had a wonderful day yesterday at Merissa and Mike's wedding. Congratulations to you two, and may God Bless you both with a wonderful marriage of many, many happy years. What a beautiful couple!! Merissa had asked Nicole to be one of her bridesmaids. She looked very pretty. Here are just a couple shots from the day. I didn't get many. Some came out way too dark.
Was looking through the shots that Nicole took with her camera and found one that she played around with. I think it's beautiful. God help me when she gets married. I'm not going to make it LOL.

And this one is for the memory book. Not VERY often my husband and I get to dance......
George goes back to work tomorrow. Towards the end of last week, he was getting more energy. That was great to see! I just hope he takes it easy this week and doesn't over do it.

We have guys coming tomorrow to lay carpet in Nicole's new bedroom. Hoping to have her all moved in by the end of the week. Then I can start cleaning out her old room really well to get it prepared to paint for my new wool room!! I'm skipping going to hooking tomorrow. Just need some time for me. And I'm hoping this week I can get some.

Wishing everyone a funfilled, creative week!!

Celebrating!!!

The rug is finished, and that includes a label!! Time to put it away until I can hang it, but it is D.O.N.E. Woo Hooooooooooooooooo!!!!

Now I can breathe easier and start on my list of to-do's for the show in September. I'm way behind on that.

This week will be busy for us. George gets an xray taken tomorrow and sees the doctor on Friday. I also have to do stuff for my mil tomorrow. Trying to fit in somewhere this week to get my hair done. Long over due. Thursday I take the car for an oil change, and I also need to find time to get out there and find something to wear for a wedding on Saturday. Ooooh, how I hate clothes shopping. I was supposed to have 2 weeks to shop for this, but last week I was at the hospital every day. Don't worry Merissa, I'll find something! I promise I won't show up naked lol. Toga ok?

Wishing everyone a great week ahead.....

Glad to be home and Happy 4th!

What a week it has been. Too exhausted the last couple of days to update on George's condition. I want to thank everyone again for their prayers and concerns. It means a great deal to both of us. We thought everything was going well until Wednesday when all of a sudden he developed a fever of 102. Then he became short of breath again like he was before he even had the chest tube. Within a short amount of time, they had him down in CCU monitoring him closely. He really had me scared, and I'm sure it scared him just as much. Without going into the whole drawn out story, I just want to advise anyone who is getting treated for any kind of condition, to take control of your own health, and I don't mean diagnose yourself. But stand up for yourselves and don't let any doctor treat you with anything less than the respect and compassion that you deserve. We had one doctor "treat" George without even stepping foot in to "see" him. I took charge of that situation and spoke for George, and we soon got some results from him.
The next day George was feeling a bit better and the doctor was going to take the tube out. But when George coughed, the machine bubbled which meant he still had a leak. The doctor said to wait another day. So they waited a while and sent him back up to the same floor he was on. He had a pretty good day yesterday. A fever off and on, but was controlled. He had some visitors and by the time they left in the evening he was pretty tuckered out. This morning we waited to see if the doctor would pull the tube out. George coughed a couple times and there were no bubbles. So they took it out and then did an xray. We were disappointed to hear that there still was a slight pneumothorax. We were ready to go home. Had to wait until 6 tonight to take another xray. The doctor said if there was no change then he could leave. Thank God, there was no change. We got home around 8:30. Feels so good to have him here again. He will be off for the next week to recoup. Doctor said no strenuous exercise at all. We need to make an appointment for him for next Friday, but have to have another chest xray Monday or Tuesday.
When we came home, we saw that our grass had been cut! Will find out who did it and give them a big hug and thank you!! Tomorrow will be a very relaxing day, and then on Sunday we may have a cook out. Nicole will be home then and maybe Craig and Lake will join us.
Happy 4th to ALL of you! Give your loved ones a big hug and be thankful you are sharing it with them! Safe travels to all of you if you plan on going away...
Thank you all again, and I soon hope to be back into the swing of doing some creating. Ooooh, how I will enjoy that!!