Loving this weather ~~ Time to catch up

This post will be a long one. I just haven't been in the mood to update the blog. Busy doing other things, or doing nothing at all. Spring/Summer is my favorite kind of weather.  So I may or may not be on here to post much. I haven't even read many of your blogs lately.  The most I do on the computer anymore is read my emails,  play my words with friends game if there are any, and then not much else. It's very freeing not to be tied down to this box for as long as I used to spend on here.  Ok, enough said, now to catch up on some pictures!

I never did post what my daughter made me for Mother's Day.  That fruit was soooo good!  So happy she was creative and watched her money :).

2 weeks ago at Grant Street Woolworks, Doris came with a couple of her students. It was nice seeing you again Doris!  Here is a rug she is currently working on.  Love this pattern. Has always been on my to do list.  Maybe some day :).

It was also Rick's Birthday that weekend.  The girls decided to celebrate and Margo made Rick one of his favorite cakes.

Rick "LOVES" Joan's homemade chocolate chip cookies.  Who doesn't?  I had to get a picture of it, because she gave him 3 bags!!

That was the week that Joanne was there too.  Here is a shot of her rug which will be a wedding gift for her Niece.

Marilyn finished her rug!! Great job :)

This was Eleanor's rug I believe. Hope I got the name right.  Lovely!

Nancee working on her cookie cutter rug :)

Bert finished her piece!

Debbie finished hooking hers.  It's from a tole painting pattern. Debbie is really a new hooker. I think this was her 4th piece!

Linda worked with her and even suggested a few things to add to give it some more depth. Great ideas with the little apples and pears in the tree. Looked great.. Didn't get the after picture though.

Linda has been busy with orders, and she finished one and rolled it out to show us.  A General's I believe. Linda sews WW1 clothing.

This past week Linda's friend Cherry came out  with 2 of her students and we got a look at what they were working on.  This one is Cherry's.

It was a real serious week. Lots of hooking was getting done. 

Marilyn started and is close to finishing another little piece. I'm thinking she really likes this hooking :) !

Amy working on her pink pig

Debbie finishing up her stained glass piece.  Nancee told her she couldn't start another one until she "finished" the one's she has hooked.  Good going Nancee :).

Cherry also finishing her piece off.

Margo and Nancy working on transferring a piece.  (See, these girls really came to work!)

Joan had finished off all her mug rugs, and started another geometric.

Diana is working on her fraktur. I think she had ripped out what she did here and went in another direction.  This is going to be a good learning piece for Diana. 

Lynda, one of Cherry's students finished her rug while she was there.  It looked Great!! So nice to have met you all, and I hope you come back for a visit again soon!

Here is Betsy's piece.  Loved the green background, and the whole pattern. So fun!  I missed getting Tonia's rug. She took it out to the car before I got a picture. Next time!!

Look how Nancee's rug is coming along!  I just love it :)

And Nancy finished her piece :).  Great job Nancy!  This was a free pattern out of a magazine.  Margo was transferring this one.  Looking forward to seeing  what colors she chooses..

And here is Nancy working on her latest. Hummingbirds.  Keep going!

I too have gotten quite a bit done.  I brought out my fraktur pattern that I designed in the class with Susan Feller. I'm really enjoying it.  I was hoping to get to hook this Memorial day weekend, but never got to it.  I just enjoyed my family instead, and took long walks in the neighborhood.  Yes, even in this humid weather. I just take a bottle of water along with me as well as my mp3 player. It's "me" time. I do a lot of praying for family and friends during this time. It's my alone time with God, and just time to be still and listen to what He has to say.  Made it back to the house the other night right before a storm hit.  I didn't see the sky behind me until I turned one corner. Oh my was the sky black.  Even my daughter and her boyfriend headed out in the car to come after me.  But I just picked up my step into a jog and was just about home when they were turning the corner.  I didn't even take the offer of the ride. I figured if it started to rain, it would feel good lol.  But I made it home just in time.  The winds picked up and the sky opened up!

Time to start my day.  Hope you enjoyed the last couple weeks worth of pictures.  Will get some this week too I'm sure.  Just hope it doesn't take as long till next post!

Have a terrific week everyone!

PHM Update and contest ~~

Hello everyone. I hope you have had a wonderful week.  A couple days of warm weather and I'm itching for it to stay!

My  latest update with PrimitiveHandmadesMercantile is ready for you to view, along with all the other Artists in the group.  Please stop by when you can and browse around.  There is also a contest going on again this month.  You will have to look at each page and gather all the red letters and then form the phrase. Some pages will have an Oops, no letter here.  Just keep going on to the next page until you find them all :). 
Enjoy, and Good Luck!

Here is just one of my pieces offered.... Hop on over for more information!

Had a good time at the hook in today. Actually got my Fraktur rug out to work on that. It's been a while.  Hoping to get some pictures on here over the weekend to catch you up!  It was a full crowd..  
Till next time ~~ ~

Getting back into the swing of things~~~

It's unbelievable at how the week has just flown by.  I'm still enjoying the relaxing mode, and really don't want to get out of it.  I'm very Blessed to have a husband that supports his family the way he does.  I took my time at getting things back in order this week here at the house.  Yesterday however was the hook in, and I finished up some chores before heading over.  

What a nice surprise to see some people that I only get to see every so often.  They made the trip out to hook and do some shopping. 

Diane and her piece which is just lovely!

Becky, Ellie, Diane, Joanne, and Martha in the background who stopped in for some punch needle supplies.

Joan working on quite a few mug rugs....

Margo bound and determined to finish her fraktur piece. We think she is close to being finished, but she doesn't lol.

Two new women, sorry I didn't get their names, who stopped in for some wool for their applique.

And Diane who finished hooking her flying Rabbit rug and was starting to whip it!!

Marilyn finishing up her cat rug with the whipping.  Can't wait to see her start another piece! Sending get well wishes to her daughter Amy who couldn't make it. She wasn't feeling well.

A view of Nancee's rug that she designed.  Looking soooo forward to seeing the blocks of color she puts behind these cookie cutter animals!

Karen who is brand spanking new to rug hooking. She stopped in a few weeks ago to buy a kit.  She stopped by yesterday to sit and hook with us. Doing a Great job!

I did manage to get some hooking done.  Not sure why I always forget to take a picture of my own work. Will try to get an update on that soon.  I forgot to take my 8.5 blade for the background, but I was able to get the main elements done on two mats.  Will hopefully get the backgrounds done this weekend.  I pretty much did what I wanted to do around the house today.  Started with the weeding outside and then came in and started with the windows.  I just did the front windows and then cleaned up the front porch, got the cushions out (will look into buying some new ones this year) and swept everything up.  Nice and neat looking now.  Can't wait to get some flowers out there. 

Got a phone call the other day from my son inviting us over for a picnic on Mother's day on Sunday.  Looking forward to enjoying my day with the family.  

Wishing All you Mothers out there a Beautiful day.  Give your Moms a hug for me.... I certainly miss mine!

Have a great weekend :) 

Cruising ~~~ What a Wonderful Vacation ~~~

Well, we are back from our Cruise!  Words cannot express how relaxing of a vacation it was for us both.  From having a VIP pass while boarding, we avoided a lot of lines and were on the boat in no time at all.   And a friend of George's from work gave him some money to have our first drink when boarding.  (not sure how the kids do this... taking pictures of themselves. My arms aren't long enough lol)  We just had to have one of those drinks with the umbrella in it :)!

Each evening when returning to our room, Henry (the one who kept our room in tip top shape) left us with one of these.  A different animal each night. Always cute to find out which animal it would be. This was just one of them. We also had a paper with all that was going on for the next day, along with some chocolates :).

Tuesday evening George and I had reservations at Davids Dining Room which was on the top floor.  We had a window seat, and it was so peaceful watching the ocean.  Our Filet Mignon was unbelievable, and in all honesty, the rest of the cruise food really couldn't compare.  It was good, just nothing like this. We brought along a bottle of champagne with us and George had them chill it hours before our reservation.  I wanted to get a shot of the chef's cooking, but didn't want to bother them.  So I just turned in my seat and snapped a quick one.  We giggled with their reaction.

Before they saw the flash......

And immediately after they saw they flash........  They wanted another one taken LOL

Our Champagne for our 25th Anniversary dinner.... Just a tad early :)

On Wednesday, we arrived at Grand Turk. 

As we were walking off the boat and towards the island.

Joanne, a shot of the turquoise water you were telling me about :)

Where we had lunch.   We basically laid on the beach and went in the water at Grand Turk. We didn't have any excursions planned.  Talk about relaxing! 

Back on the Ship, and just a few shots. This the Lido deck outside from where all the food is.  We never went in the pool.  Mostly filled all the time with families with young children. 

Looking up from the main lounge on deck 2.  We were on deck 6.

Second stop was Half Moon Cay. The water is too shallow to dock, so they transport you by a ferry which only took a few minutes.  That's our Ship in the distance.

We took time in the morning to lay on the beach and go in the water.  It was funny to see the photographer coming out into the water with this guy.  I love how they position you so our ship is in the background!

We had an excursion planned for this day. It was riding jet ski's.  Unfortunately, there was a problem.  One of the jet ski's broke down and there were only 5, but there were 6 of us.  Someone had to drop out.  I looked at everyone else, and it seemed no one was willing, so I did.  We were refunded my portion, and the gentleman who runs the excursion desk on board gave us even more of a discount towards our next excursion at the next island.  Sooo, while George was away, I did some more walking around, and took some pictures.  It all worked out fine, because George said the water was rough and I may not have enjoyed it.

Here is Captain Morgan's boat (bar inside).  I waited for George to come back, and we ate some lunch and then headed here for a pina colada!

Our final stop was  Freeport.  No beach laying here.  We had an excursion of taking a tour while riding a Harley Davidson around the island. 

Our tour guide was wonderful.  I wish I could remember his name.  He stopped at several spots to give us a little history of the island.  This bridge is the highest point of the island. You can tell it's not that high. I don't believe it was over 20 ft.  In the distance is where OJ Simpson lived at one point.

It was an absolutely  Beautiful day for a ride.  And it was very comfortable!

We only had one more day out in the ocean on Saturday and were back in Baltimore on Sunday morning. We took the day Saturday to relax, and saw a comdedian in the evening before retiring. Our bags were already packed :(.    It was so dreary on arrival.  Our son picked us up and brought us home.  Suitcases were quickly emptied, and a laundry pile was formed "just for me"! lol.  Talk about back to reality.  Monday I spent the day doing errands, we needed food in the house.  Nicole did a good job at taking care of the home for us. I think she was a little disappointed that she didn't have much time to spend here alone. She was busy finishing up some classes and training for the new job she has started.  She is now a paid EMT, and will continue in the Fall with some on line classes to become a Paramedic. At least that is the plan for now.

I would highly recommend a cruise to anyone who has even thought of doing it.  There is always something to do, something to see, or just to relax.. which was most of our week!  Besides George talking all the way home about getting a Harley lol, we were definitely talking about doing another cruise sometime.  Have to start saving now!  Hope you enjoyed the few pictures I shared. Hard to share them all ! 

I'm looking forward to the hook in tomorrow and getting some hooking done. I have an update coming up real fast, and need to get prepared for it!   

Enjoy your week ~~~