I see grass~~

Yep, I'm looking outside from where I sit at the computer and I actually see my neighbors grass. I'm soooo excited. We were spared by this last storm in the East. Hardly anything at all. Schools were closed though for high winds and white out conditions. It didn't last long though. I thought the school was closed because of a power outage but that wasn't the case. I was able to go out and run errands before it was even noon so that was nice. Didn't feel all tied down.

Thursday was the hook in at Grant Street. I wasn't quite sure what I was going to take to work on since I finished my last rug. Will show it to you when everyone else is done with theirs in the group. I had to tend to my mil that morning and was longer than I had expected to be. So I came home and saw a piece of linen that was a decent size and drew a couple circles on there. Then ran upstairs and literally grabbed a few handfuls of my worms that were in a basket. It's about a 9" circle I think. I'm thinking ahead for Colonial Days in September where a group of us have a booth and sell our items.
I got to the shop a little later than I normally get there. Pat and Doris were there with Linda. I was so hungry, I couldn't wait to sit and eat my lunch. So I didn't get any shots of Doris with her rug she was whipping. It was very nice.

Pat was working on her sunflower rug. She took a class to learn shading with a wide cut. I know she has a better shot of her rug on her blog. Across from her was Sarah's mom Merriam. I'm sure I spelled her name wrong. sorry about that. She is a brand new hooker. Just learning that day. Here is her piece!
While I was eating my lunch Merriam's friend came in, and she was learning to hook too. Same pattern. Sorry I didn't get a shot of hers too. She did a wonderful job as well.

Barb came in that morning and didn't sit with us. She was busy in the other room sewing away for Linda. There were orders on some pants that needed to be done. I think Barb will be able to join us next week!

Sarah came in also to help with the sewing. Guess she was on a break. Not sure what the obsession is with cell phones lol.
Beth came with her sister Jill and when those two enter a room, you know for sure there will be plenty of laughs. Oh my, too, too, too funny. Love them both! Here is Beth working on her bird rug. She will be done before long. Love how it's turning out.

Here's a better shot.

Jill was working on her sheep rug. And I can't believe how I am slacking in taking pictures of their work. I didn't get one! It's on her frame though. Oh, and there is that phone thing again...

And again..... (texting this time) lol

Just teasing you Jill :). She did pick out her next rug that she wants to do though. Her sheep rug is just about done. And she bought a lovely piece of dyed wool that Doris dyed.

We all had a great time. I behaved myself that night and came home at a reasonable time. I still had some laundry that needed to be dried and thought I'd get to bed early enough. Nope, ended up staying up to watch the womens ice skating on the Olympics. I'll be happy when they are all done. But boy have I enjoyed them. Will look forward to better sleeping patterns real soon.

This weekend I had planned to do things for me. But of course other "stuff" got in the way. George got paid (happens once a month). So bills needed to be paid. Then I took care of some things that have been eating at me to do. Just little piddly things that take time. Also I haven't done any filing for so long, and had planned on doing that. Well, that still sits in a box waiting to be done. Of course I can't forget that I have a teenage daughter who likes to occupy every minute of the day with something, so I took her to a friends house today (not close by either). Can't wait for her to save enough money to get her own car! As soon as I'm done here, I will do some cleaning before I have to go pick her up. Not a real exciting weekend. And just so I don't think I was imagining things, I looked out the window again. I REALLY DO see grass across the street LOL. I feel so much better :).

On a final note. Where I work, Linda's main business is sewing WW1 clothing. That is what Barb was doing. But you know what? I don't think that Linda only sews the stuff, I think maybe she actually lived through it!! Take a look at this picture! She's on the right.

LOL, her husband Rick told me to get a quick shot of it on Thursday and I told him I'd post it here :). Looking Goood Linda for your age~~~~

I hope everyone enjoys the rest of your weekend. Maybe you are seeing some grass too :)..

Sweet sunshine

It sure has been sunny the last couple of days. Today was exceptionally nice. Sun shining, warmer temps, yep Spring is coming! And here is something that my friend Joan sent me that I forgot to share with you. She sent me an email for all the talk I was doing about seeing a dead skunk on the road.

Dear Doubter(s)
Spring is on it's way.
1 - saw a groundhog the day after Groundhogs Day, happily crunching on grass.
2 - the beech trees are shedding their leaves (the new ones push the old dead ones off right about NOW)
3 - I saw a dead skunk on the road to the feed mill yesterday.
So SPRING IS COMING - trust me!!
lol J

I'm thinking we ought to Believe Joan LOL!! Thanks Joan for that message :).

Didn't feel much like posting this past week. Just busy and by the time I thought about it, I was too tired. Figured I might as well catch up now before another week goes by.
Thursday was the hook-in and it was a quiet day.

Joanne didn't surprise me this time! I talked with her via email and she said she was planning on coming out. Soo, I told her we would go out for lunch, which was really good. Why is it that a salad tastes so much better when someone else makes it? Afterwards we headed on over to the shop. Joanne got right to work on whipping her little mats she brought with her. I didn't get a final shot of them, but she finished them all!
Barb was there and she was working on hand piecing another quilt.



Cathy came later. Her sister Genny was there also, but didn't get a shot of her. Cathy finished this piece and is thinking of what she will do next. She is just starting with hooking and is enjoying every minute of it.

Here are two hooks that were Cathy and Genny's mom's. Aren't they cool? One has a thimble on it and the other seems to be made from a butter knife or some other utensil. Very interesting. They will treasure them I'm sure. They didn't even know there Mom had them.



Later in the day Nancy came. She finished her rug and it is just beautiful. She used blue and white ticking for the binding. So different and it really added that special touch to the piece!



Sarah came and was doing some sewing for Linda. Here Linda is guiding her and then she was on her way. She finished the vest from start to finish in just a couple hours. It was really nice.


It was a quiet day as far as the number of people that came, but that didn't stop us from having all the laughs like we always do. I even got a lot done on my rug that day. And today I finished it completely. And yes, that means I have labeled it too!
Can't show a picture yet as it is the challenge rug with AAPG. I'm pleased with it, and as soon as I can, I'll share it with you all.

Joanne left early, well earlier than she usually stays. She was getting her hair cut the next morning. But Joanne just couldn't leave without giving us a piece of herself. Yep, something on her head LOL.



I did go in to work on Friday just to do a little bit of dyeing for Linda. While I was there, I noticed that a gift was left for me. We are doing a Secret Pal there and we will reveal ourselves at Christmas time. I had gotten one other gift so far, but never got a chance to show you. I ate it :). It was a box of chocolate truffles. Mmm, were they ever good! I have given up chocolate for Lent. Something I have never done before. I wanted to make sure it was something I truly love. I told my husband about it and said I wanted to go a little further with this. I said if I have any cravings (like I'm not going to lol), then I plan on replacing the urge by praying for someone. So far I'm doing great. And there are prayers being lifted :).
Ok, so back to the gift. It was in a really cute bag, and she went to a lot of trouble to cut out the wool and glue it on the bag.

This is what was inside. A collapsible basket (isn't that cool?), a primitive sign, a candle, some shower gel, and a little sheep bag. A BIG thanks to my Secret Pal!!



The other fun part of my weekend was watching my daughter take care of a baby for the weekend. She has a child development class and they are expected to take a baby home for the weekend. I had to sign papers for it, read through all the rules and regulations, etc. She even watched a movie seeing others and what they went through.
She brought it home Friday. She actually had a hair appt in town and had to walk there with this baby in tow. It came with a diaper bag and a baby carrier to carry it in. I was there to pick her up after her hair cut. When I walked in, I was greeted as Grandma! I hadn't seen it yet and was so curious. I went back into the room and there he was. I started laughing. Couldn't wait to hold him. They said the babies would weigh between 6 and 7 lbs. Just like a newborn. He wasn't activated yet. That was to happen sometime near 5:00. So I got to see how the head moved and everything. We had a couple errands to run afterwards and we just made it back into the garage by 5:00 and that's when he started to cry. I was laughing so hard, Nicole jumped out and got him out of the backseat. She had to wear this bracelet that she had to put on his back and it would activate the baby. Then she had to figure out what it needed. She got the bottle out and put it to it's lips. It started to make a suckling sound. I was so hysterical I thought I was going to pee my pants LOL. Here is a shot of her feeding it. And yes, you are seeing right. It is a black little baby. He was soo cute. She even named him. Vincent Riley! He fed on that bottle for a good 20 mintues. It was just too funny to see her panic the way she did. I had to help her out the first time and then she was on her own.



And as you can see, nothing was stopping her from her snack LOL.



The first night he only woke up once. Last night however was a different story. It was almost every hour or so she said. Can you say cranky this morning? lol. Ooooh, yes she was!! Not sure how he'll be tonight. He will automatically turn off tomorrow morning at 7:00 am. I'm wondering how she'll take her shower? Guess I'll have to babysit him in the morning. I've had to do that a couple times, but not for long periods of time. And yes, I too have had to feed him and change him. She even took it to work with her yesterday. She had to work from 1-10 pm. It was a long day and then for him to be up that many times last night? It was a goooood lesson!

So that was my weekend. Wish I would have taken a walk today, but I was busy finishing up that rug and finishing up the laundry. I can't wait to get outside and do something.

Wishing you all a wonderful week ahead! Hope the sun shines down on you all and makes you smile :).

Happy Belated Valentine's Day

What a week it was digging out of snow after snow. I've had about enough of it, how about you?

And here we are getting more snow as I type. Ugh, ugh, and ugh~~ I hope you all had a Wonderful Valentine's Day spending it with someone you love, and doing something special. Even if that was something as simple as sitting in front of the tv with takeout.

I haven't been feeling all that well, not quite sure what it is. More of a cough than anything else. A tight cough. A little bit of a runny nose a few days ago, but that didn't last long. Not sleeping very well either. The coughing always seems to act up in the evening. So tonight I'm armed with some Delsym. I swear by it for a dry cough. I picked it up on my way home from work today.

But there was a brighter side to all of of this. Over the weekend, I took the day on Saturday to just hook and hook. I can't show it unfortunately. Another challenge on AAPG. It's coming along nicely, and when it's all said and done and everyone is finished, I will post it. Sunday, I left the hooking alone since it was Valentine's Day. I had church in the morning, then time to help my mil. Afterwards George and I went to do something we haven't done in a few years. We went target shooting. What a fun time we had. I wasn't sure how I would do when I first picked up the gun since it's been a while, eye sight is different, etc. Didn't do so hot the first round, but then I got in my groove. We spent about an hour or so and went through quite a bit of ammo. Lot's of fun, and we plan on doing it again in the near future. We had thought the place closed down, but just found out that it had just changed hands. After we were finished there, we went to grab a bite to eat for an early dinner. And then we went to see a movie. We saw From Paris with Love. We totally enjoyed it. Suspense and foul language, but boy did we laugh. It was quite the busy day! I can't remember the last time we spent so many hours together at one time LOL. I had told George leading up to Valentine's Day that I did NOT want a box of candy this year. If he insisted on getting me something, then just let it be a candy bar. Well, he did buy me a candy bar, 2 to be exact lol. And yes one is gone already. Working on the second one tomorrow :). Today at work I was gifted with a box of chocolate covered strawberries from Rick and Dean. That was certainly very sweet of them! Thank you again :).

Another sweet surprise came in the mail on Saturday. I had won something from a blog giveaway over on Lauren's blog. I have to make fun of myself here though. I need to stop speedreading/per a friend of mine :). I thought the giveaway was for the pattern. I know she had just given away a hooked piece and didn't even think she would give away another finished piece. I even emailed her saying how I couldn't wait to do the punching. Well, wasn't I fooled lol??? It WAS for the finished punchneedle piece. It's just beautiful and it has found a home here. Thank you so very much Lauren. It's punched and finished so wonderfully, nice job!. I'm glad it's mine and I will treasure it !! I love how she did not use a traditional red for the heart. I apologize for not letting you know it arrived sooner. With not feeling so good, and hooking all day Saturday, I just stayed in my comfy chair and didn't move. Well, now I'm just wondering how much snow we are going to get. Are the schools going to be delayed tomorrow? Cancelled? Geez, daughter has had off long enough! There goes her Spring break. I'm sure they will not have one now. May this please, PLEASE be the last snow of the season?? One can only hope!

On a sad note, Valentino passed today. Oh, how he hung on. I'm just so happy he isn't suffering any more. Nicole will bury him once this snow is all gone. For now he's in a nice cold place....

I hope during the rest of your week you will find the sun shining! And may your hands be busy, busy, busy.....

No more, no more~~

No more pictures of the snow to show. I barely looked outside today. Doing that kept me at peace.

Husband woke up early this morning and got the snowblower out and cleared the driveway. At that point we had 8" he said. He left for work and I heard from him early afternoon. He had sent some people home already and wanted to finish some things up and then he was leaving to come home. Then he heard the news that 81 was closed from the Md border into Pa. He was talking about getting a room, and I thought it was the safest and smartest thing to do. Cheaper than towing, digging him out, or an accident. It's been a real peaceful day. I did some hooking. Can't show it because it's a challenge piece. But I slowly got into the groove again. Felt really good. And so far, I'm liking it!

Well, a good friend once told me if you see a dead skunk on the road, it will be an early Spring. I saw one about a month or so ago. I'm really starting to doubt her lol. But yet, everyone believes the dang groundhog. Go figure! Another thing I saw today in my bedroom was a ladybug walking up the wall. Hmmm, that looked sooo pretty. Reminds me of Spring. Have had quite a few of them lately. It has to be a sign, right? All of you shake your head yes :).

Tomorrow would be the weekly hook-in at Grantstreet. I know I won't be there. And I'm sure no one else will be either. I'm bummed. It's the one day out of the week I really look forward too. Sooo, I'll stay in, pull the blinds down, not look outside, and do some more hooking. George will be home in the afternoon. Said he will try and get out of work early so he can come home and snow blow the driveway. If it's not real windy, I may, just may go out on the deck and at least start shoveling that, so he doesn't have so much to do.

One sad thing to type is my daughters hamster Valentino is on his last days. He has not been well, and it pains me to see him that way. He was my buddy. I enjoyed holding him each day and interacting with him. Amazing how something so small can bring a smile to your face. This is why I don't like having animals. I can't deal with it. I will cry like a baby I'm sure. I just hope he doesn't suffer too much longer.

So if you are stuck inside because of this cold, wet, and white stuff, I hope you are all warm, and find something fun to do!
Hurry Up Spring ~~~~

Lots of Pic's, Lots of Snow~~

Ok, so a groundhog tells ya there is going to be 6 more weeks of winter and then WHAM! We are socked with 2 feet of snow or more. Would someone just do me a favor and shoot the darn critter next year?? Honestly, there was NO sun out that day when the man pulled the animal from the hole. So how could there be a shadow? There are people all around with spot lights camera flashes, etc. Of COURSE there will be a shadow. Leave him alone already lol. Ok, i'm off my soapbox with that.

Yes, we had a lot of snow. Too much for me to the point it put me in a blue mood. And I don't like being in a blue mood. So now I'd like the sun to come out and melt it all away really fast. I'm not one to play in it, just me. Sun is shining today, so I hope it melts all that is left on the roads.

Went out on Friday night with my two girlfriends Donna and Rachel. We had a LOT of catching up to do. Since it was snowing hard, we decided to walk to Pizza Hut. They had hoods on and the snow was blowing right in their faces. I don't own a coat with a hood, so I had an umbrella :). The place had a few couples eating and then I couldn't believe how many more showed up. All had suv's. We ended up being the last ones to leave. The waitress didn't know how to tell us that they were shutting the place down at 8:30 for the employees safety lol. We had a lot of good laughs. (a couple pitchers of beer helped with that). Soo we walked home and stayed at my house and caught up some more. By the time the girls left around 11:00 or so, there was already a good amount of snow on the ground. They just live across and down the street. Funny watching them skip through it on their way out lol. I got up around 3 or so to take some advil (yes, it was the beer, it's been a long time) and I looked outside in amazement. I could barely see my car and there was another vehicle half in our driveway. I had no clue who's it was. When George got up, he said the guy just about had it dug out.

Everyone was out snowblowing away when I got up. George was in the basement waiting for the snow to stop. If he is going to do something, he wants to do it just once. Why keep going back out? It was a little before 1:00 when he started. He went out and came right back in. Said this is going to be a 2 person job lol. We are so thankful he bought his new toy a few days ago. Cause we would still be out there. This is out my front door. The drift when we opened the garage door. My car is somewhere in front of the truck lol.

George just getting started

I just went out to take a picture of George shoveling off our deck. My goodness, it was deep! So now the streets are pretty much cleared. I'm in the house doing a little bit of hooking and watching some tv. No need to go out. I'm stocked up on food.

This past Thursday was the hook-in at Grantstreet. Oh my, we had something like 20 people coming and going that day. What a blast!

Here is Betty's rug she finished. Her and Sherry and Betsy stopped by first thing in the morning to pick up some more wool for their next projects. Sorry I didn't get a shot of them.

Teresa also came back and was determined to finish hooking her background. Here she is pulling the last couple loops! Just needs to finish the border.
Marian just wanted to get out of the house. I think the thought of being in from the snow that was coming was enough to get people out and about for some fresh air! She was looking through some magazines.
Joan came and brought quite a few rugs she was finished hooking. She just needed to bind them. And here are some of the others that she brought with her.

This one took her 2 weeks and 2 days to finish! It's 60" long. The woman amazes me~~


She's a true pretzel lover too :) How cool is this?

She just keeps going and going. ....

Linda really needs a headset or something. This phone is always stuck to her ear lol. Doesn't stop her from hooking, but her neck must really hurt after awhile! Well, Joanne did it again! She surprised us by coming out. And it was her Birthday! She even brought the cupcakes lol. We told her that we were talking about getting her a cake for when she came out. But it would help if we knew! It's ok, I forgive her :). She got quite a bit done on her project. I couldn't show it though. But here's a shot of her working on it. Her and Willa were busily hooking away. BOTH of them are extremely fast hookers.

Joanne brought me a sweet gift for transferring a pattern for her. Something I don't mind doing at all, and there was no need for her to give me anything! It is really nice. She has one and I told her how nice it was. Her mom makes them. And inside was some tea, some weavers cloth and a bag of dark m&m's! Notice they still aren't opened. Super Bowl tonight, so I'm sure I'll be ripping into them lol. Thank you so much Joanne, I just love it all. Your Mom is a wonderful quilter/sewer!
Here is one of the quilts that Barb finished up and brought along to show us. I think she said it just needs to be quilted. This was all hand pieced. Very lovely.
Here is another quilt, and it looks like it's Linda's. Poor Barb is on the other side and you can't see her. So no, Linda did NOT do this quilt..... (although she certainly could if she wanted too. She is a good quilter too!)
Here's Barb!! And here is the back of it. It's just beautiful!

Beth was busily working on her crow rug. I took a picture of her sister Jill, but it didn't come out :(. Hers and a couple others ended up too blurry. Sorry Jill! Louise was busy working on some stitching of a penny rug.

Becky was hooking her pattern of Goat Hill.

Brenda was working on a rug that is a gift for a child's room and she was looking at some patterns from Norma Batastini which Linda is giving a class on in April and Brenda is attending.

Aaron helped out by holding up a rug that Brenda did also. It's very nice. The tail is all sculpted.
And speaking of Aaron, I have a new bestest friend. Will pronounces it the same way I do, and also my friend Rachel! So there! (making the raspberries sound lol)

Tonya was working on whipping her rug. Love how she uses her scraps. And even though it was an extremely busy day, I was able to whip this pineapple piece I did a long time ago. Not sure yet if I will keep it or put it on Etsy. Will make up my mind soon.

Last week I also received a gift in the mail. Our group on line was doing a Sweet Friend swap for Valentine's day. Rhonda had my name, and this is what I received! I loved everything. Thank you Rhonda for the wool, candy, socks, candle, pin, penny rug covered calendar and antique pin cushion.

I had Chris' name and this is what I gave her. I had to go on to our group so I could copy her picture. I forgot to take one lol.
Well, I think I remembered everything. Again, I didn't get some pictures of some of the people that came, and some came out blurry. It was a wonderful time though. Right on through to the late night hours. I don't think I left there until after midnight.

I'm going to sit and hook some more and get some laundry done. My son came over today to work on this computer a bit. It's been freezing up. I like to do the blog from this one rather than my lap top if I can. He said he will be redoing a bunch of stuff on it when he gets the time. So far, what he did already is working just fine.

Here's hoping you all have a wonderful week! Enjoy the Super Bowl if you plan on watching it, and if not, I hope your hands are working hard.........