Oh Yeah....We're Rock Stars!

We have been having so much fun in my classroom this week, due to an article in the Detroit News about our classroom business! We named our company Puppy Love and make natural dog treats. If you're in the area you can pick them up at Premier Pet Supply or you can get them from http://www.fidodogtreats.com/.

But wait.....our 15 minutes of fame is not over yet! One of our local news stations picked up the story and will be out to film the kids a week from Tuesday!

I'm telling you it is only a matter of time before The Today Show calls..........or perhaps our own reality cable series..........

Really, though I'm just so proud of my guys and my staff. Everyone works so hard to give the kids a good experience and help them develop vocational and life skills. Just had to brag a little!

Crazy Over Crazy Horse

Like I said, I am beginning to get my mojo back in regards to my Crazy Horse Quilt rug. Taking a class with Kris Miller has made all the difference. Kris has a great eye for color and guided me in some of my color choices, as well as giving me the confidence to continue. Of course, with this rug, as in all my rugs, I still seem to be hooking everything two or three times. Hook it once--don't like it--take it out and try something else. And then, sometimes I take it out again and go back to my orignal wool. This is why it takes me forever to finish a rug! Well, that and that pesky little full time job that really cuts into my day.

Anyway, I thought you might like to see a closeup of the hearts in the rug. They are all different and were really fun to hook. In this one I tried beading for the first time. I won't say it was fun, but it certainly wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.

Some pretty little stripes:
And last but not least, some subtle color changes:

Right now, I'm working on the last of the four leaves and one last flower. And then I'll be ready to move onto the background!

Already Behind.....

So here it is the first month in a new decade and already I've broken my first resolution to be more organized and timely. >Sigh<
For a brief moment I thought I would do this whole thing about everything that I had accomplished the past ten years (not much) and then do a big write up on my goals for the next decade. But then I, as my English friend Liz is wont to say, I had a bit of a lie-down and thank goodness that foolishness faded away.
I can show you my new digs for 2010. Ha! I so totally amuse myself....we went to Asheville over the holidays to see the Biltmore estate. They decorate the place for Christmas and I've always wanted to see it. Unfortunately if you'd like to see the decorations inside you will have to shell out $65.00 PER PERSON because for that price you are not allowed to take pictures. It was beautiful tho, in all it's excessive glory. Hicks that we are, neither my husband and I could imagine using all those rooms or having a fireplace so big you could walk into it. And for that matter, why in the world would you even want to walk into a fireplace?
So......still working on my Crazy Horse Quilt rug. I was getting a little stuck because there is just so much......stuff in this rug and my worry was that if I wasn't just a little bit careful it would end up looking like a big mish mosh. However, my husband gave me a class with Kris Miller of Spruce Ridge Studio and with her help and the help of the other women in my class, I've kind of gotten over the hump and am excited about it again.

Have a happy Christmas everyone, be safe, and be appreciative of what you have.

Deck Us All With Boston Charlie

Walla Walla, Wash., an' Kalamazoo! Do you remember this Christmas song from the old Pogo comic strip? There was a time in my life when I could sing all six verses of this beloved carol. That time just happened to coincide with my college career, which could go a long way in explaining my grade point average.
Anyway, we are pulling into the home stretch of Christmas festivities around here. It didn't look good for a while, as I spent most of December laid low by some sort of virus from hell. By the time I dragged myself to the doctors I had bronchitis, a sinus infection and the plague of school teachers everywhere: pink eye (The other plague is head lice, which I have managed to avoid so far). But with the help of a good strong antibiotic, an inhaler and some steroids I'm starting to get back to normal.
We did get our trees up. I say "trees" because I gave up on huge Christmas trees once my kids became adults and moved on to a few tabletop trees sprinkled throughout the house.

This one has all my favorite ornaments--the ones my kids made, gifts from friends, some angel ornaments that belonged to my mom......a little tree with a lot of memories.

This is becoming my new Christmas obsession:

Glitter houses--or Putz houses. Isn't' it great? This is a new one, but you can find old ones on E-bay. They used to be popular back in the 40's and 50's and were sold in dime stores. They have holes in the back to insert a light and most of them had cellophane in the windows to create a nice glow (and was probably the cause of many a Christmas fire!) I bought one for this year and want to keep adding on until I get my own little winter village under my little tree.

All my rug hooking has been put away until after the holidays. Too messy to leave out. Perhaps that should be my New Year's resolution--find a way to organize myself so I don't have wool and frames and backing and more wool scattered all through the house. I continue to work on our new baby Marla's little blankie. The baby shower is in January, so I better get hopping on that one.

We are taking a trip after Christmas, so I should have plenty of knitting time in the car.....more on that later........

Oh my, it has been a while, hasn't it? Hopefully the two or three of you that check in from time to time haven't left.

Things have just been.....well, up, down and all around actually. Some good things, a bit more not so good, but let's not talk about that. Let's go to my happy place and talk about some of the things that have been lifting my spirits in the form of retail therapy, shall we? Because, if nothing else, I am all about throwing money around to make the harder things in life recede to the background.
I know I stated previously that I was going to work on finishing up some of the many projects I have started around here and at the time, flushed with the success of finally finishing something, I really, really meant it. But then before I actually knew what I was doing I was off to a nearby yarn shop to buy this:

I know, I know....not exactly my usual darker color palette. But these lovely bright spring time bundles are going to be used to make something to welcome little Marla, my grandniece-to-be who will be arriving on or about February 9th.
I'll give you a little sneak preview of the finished product.A sweet little blankie! As you can see it is a perfect after work, sit down and relax project. Simple garter stitch and, the best part is that you don't even have to weave in all those pesky ends when you are finished. You braid them which makes perfect little ends for baby to play with.

My next purchase was actually made in the same yarn shop. I took the in rug I finished at the beginning of the summer...........Ha! It wasn't on the floor for 10 seconds before a cat just had to sit her furry little self right on top of it! (This is my daughter's cat, Grace. But don't let her name fool you, the boys around here tremble at the sound of her name.)

Okay, that's better. Now here's my question. Because I tend to suck everyone around me into everything I do, I had to make sure that each and every person in the yarn shop gave their opinion as to what color yarn I should use to whip the edges. And to a person, they all chose brown to go with the house and the trees.

I picked this....

A heathery, light purple to match the majority of the background and the whatever-they-are-supposed-to-be sticking out from the tree. I thought a brown would have way too much contrast and take away from the rug itself while the yarn shop ladies thought it would be a nice way to frame the rug. Any opinions?

Boo!

So. Happy Halloween.
Yeah, I know. Can't get too excited about it.
I think it is the 23 years of classroom Halloween parties and parades. About all I can say about being a teacher and the whole Halloween experience is--well--there's just not enough Xanax in the world to take the edge off of a classroom full of over-excited, sugar-filled, crazed children.
Anyway, thought I'd share the one and only Halloween decoration I managed to put out this year.
It's a wool stitchery that my sister made for me several years ago. I'm not sure what Jasperkitty is looking at.
A ghost????
Scary goblins????
Or the dust bunnies in the light fixture???
And have you noticed that Mr. Jasper seems to worm his big bad self into any picture I take?
Enjoy the little goblins, black cats, and ghosties that come trick or treating your way tonight!