Cats In My Wool

Autumn, the year's last, loveliest smile.

2011-10-18T13:30:00.003-04:00

Oh the trees around our little cove have been in a very show-off kind of mood this fall.

Everywhere you turn, you are surrounded by color.

We took advantage of the wonderful sunny, warm days we've been having and took a ride up M-22. Stopped at the Sleeping Bear Dunes and took a long walk along Lake Michigan.

Such a sweet girl!

This picture is really for my sister and neice, who raise chickens.....

Now these chickens are living in style!

Hooked Mats For Sale

2011-10-06T08:04:00.001-04:00

When we went to Prince Edward Island, I expected to love the beautiful shoreline and the amazing farmland.

What I did not expect, and what ended up being the best part of the trip was the people we met there. I still can't get over their friendliness. There whole time we were there, we never met anyone who didn't have time to talk for a while...from the guy who pumped our gas (yes, you read that right), to the man out walking his two Great Danes who was off to buy some fresh fish for his tea, to the wait staff who not only served our food, but would sit down at our table and help us plan out the things we wanted to see that day.

On one of our journeys around the island we saw this:

Of course, we had to stop. And I had the great pleasure of meeting Margaret Campbell.

Margaret is 85 years old and has sold over 500 of her mats. She works at this frame that was made by her husband.

She works in yarn on her "good" rugs. She draws all her own designs and mostly hooks "by eye". This is her current rug. She is beginning with the border and then is going to put in some type of landscape....she really hadn't decided yet.

She has this rug hanging in her living room:

It is her homestead. She was born and raised in the house on the right, married and raised her four children in the middle house and the her son now lives in the house on the left. Her whole life is represented in this rug.

In addition to the rugs that she sells, Margaret also makes rag rugs. The materials for the rag rugs come straight from her rag bag and are cut with the scissors you see laying on her frame. (She is, in fact, a little dismissive of those fancy cutters we all seem to use now.) These are two mats she had on the floor by her back door. Before that, they were used in guest cottages that she used to run. They are 30-40 years old.

Remember how we are always told that you have to use 100% wool--everything else will fade, wear out, fall apart? Yeah.

I was honored to spend almost two hours talking with Margaret. Oh, we talked about everything....rug hooking, family, life on the island, aging. She would say, "Oh I just love to tell a good story on myself." and then she would be off. It was just the best time and the highlight of my whole trip.

It's October??

2011-10-02T10:36:00.000-04:00

So you would think that someone who just retired would have loads of time on her hands...certainly enough time to update this poor, neglected blog once in a while.

But, after boxing up a 30 year career...selling the house....getting rid of so much stuff that I almost qualified for an episode of Hoarders... packing up the rest of it....and then moving....and then unpacking everything....

Well, let's just say that I ended up like this for the rest of the summer...

I read books, took naps, read more books, looked out at the lake, went for long walks. And, did I mention I read books? Lots and lots of books.

Of course, my loyal companion supported me in this...

And Jasper and Moses, being experts in nap-taking and all, helped also.

Then in August, we bought this:

And no, that is not Lucy sitting ON the table. We would never allow that.

And we went here......

Prince Edward Island

and ate lots of this:

Then we stopped here:

Hopewell Rocks, Bay of Fundy

And then we went here:

And yes, I do realize that I added a wool store to two beautiful natural wonders of the world. Your point is.....?

Oh, and we also stopped here:

But that's a story for another post.

2011-08-01T21:15:00.002-04:00

Lordy, Lordy, Lordy....is it hot! We have all been following Lucy's lead by just sitting in front of a fan, trying not to move too much. We don't often feel the need for AC here in northern Michgian, but I have to tell you I have tempted more that once this year to run out, get a window unit, turn it on high, sit myself in front of it and not move until fall!
So while things have slowed down around here, they haven't stopped completely.
I've finally gotten some time to organize my new studio. When I started the room looked like this....

Not organized, but at least everything is in one corner and in a semi-neat pile. After several days of work, the room now looks like this......

Don't even ask me what that cat carrier is doing in there.
You know how you begin an organizational project and about half-way through it looks about a hundred times worse than when you started. That's where I am right now.
If you will excuse me, I'm going to get a nice cold glass of ice tea and then will join Lucy in front of the fan.

Sailing....Sailing

2011-07-23T07:06:00.003-04:00

Hey Lucy, Wanna go for a boat ride?

Are you kidding me? Let's go!

Oh.....maybe I should have thought about this a little more. This is kind of scary.

Wait a minute! Are those fishies down there?

Yep, the life at sea is the life for me!

Rug Love

2011-07-21T10:07:00.001-04:00

One last post on the Manistee Rug School.

As I said, I took a class from Susan Feller. The purpose of this class was to design our own folk art rug. At first I was a little nervous, because drawing and I are strongly linked by an eraser and I am more that a little intimitated by it.

Susan, however, made it very easy by providing templates of different fraktur designs.

Here is the table of all the designs. So the scary drawing part wasn't even in the picture and we could all get right down to the fun desing part. Some of us made smaller mats; others large rugs with many different designs. A couple of students came in with their own designs and worked on those during the week.

Here I am in the background hard at work....

Susan's rugs are beautiful and photos just do not do them justice. Here are three just to give you an idea of the work she does...

This is part of a long runner. The colors in the actual rug are much deeper and richer.

Another runner. I love the clamshell border on this one.

Another favorite of mine. I love the cheerful flowers and bird.

Catch Up Day

2011-07-16T18:59:00.007-04:00

Or as we called it, back in my Kindergarten Teaching Days--Catsup and Mustard Day. Oh yes, we so hearted ourselves with our cleverness.
Anyway, SO MUCH has been happening around here, I don't even know where to begin. So I think I will just do the nerdy thing and bullet everything. And add a picture of some rugs from the Manistee Rug School, just to keep your interest.
*First, I retired--oh yes I did.

And you're right if you detect a little giddiness there. Because I am--giddy, that is. And a little.....apprehensive is the word I think I'm looking for. What will my life look like now? What will I do? Will we have enough money? Oh the questions! With no real answers, of course. Like most things in life, things will just have to evolve.

Love, love, love this chicken.

*Next, after firmly telling family and friends that I did not want any retirement foolery--did not want a dinner--did not want a party--did not want, nor need closure--the people who love me just ignored my crabby self and gave me a wonderful surprise dinner. And it was a surprise! I had no idea anything was going on. And if that wasn't enough, those crazy fools got so tired hearing me whine about how much I wanted--no needed--an IPad, that they bought me one.
Yes, you read that right.
Gave. Me. An. IPad.
I'm not sure if it is an indication of how happy they were to get rid of me, but my take on this whole craziness is that I have wonderful, amazing family and friends who can ignore my crabbiness and general Eeyore attitude toward life.

*And then, to make life even more interesting, I turned sixty. Hmmmmmm........I've never been one to do the whole birthday/growing older thing. Life, so far, has truly been an adventure; and while I can't say I've enjoyed every aspect of it, it all has been a learning experience and has brought to the place where I am now.
But sixty......really? Anne Morrow Lindbergh calls sixty "the youth of old age." Let's just say it's giving me an opportunity to think about things.

This was my favorite rug in the rug show and this photo DOES NOT do it justice. The colors and the design....the whole rug just glowed. Let's blame this on my crappy camera and my even crappier photo skills.

*Oh yeah....the house is gone and we bought a very small (720 square feet) condo. We still have the lake house and I think we may end up spending most of our time up here. I'm used to spending summers here, but that's not really being part of the community. So I'm on the look out for rug hooking groups, knitting and/or quilting groups, churches--things that will help me become part of this wonderful area.

I don't want to give up my ties downstate. After all, my life has been there the past sixty years and my friends and family are there. But making this my main home is another new adventure.

This is my friend Susan's rug. It is a self-portrait and the first she has ever done. She tries something new every year at rug school and always does an amazing job.

So I think that's about it. Oh, my husband found me a very cool bike at a garage sale and fixed it up for me. Learning to ride it will be another post!

Busy!

2011-07-04T08:59:00.001-04:00

So much to talk about.....last days of work......packing.....moving.......
In the middle of all this, I did take a week to go to the Manistee Rug School. I probably should have used the week to continue packing, but-hey-sometimes you just need to feed your soul.
I took a class from Susan Feller. She works with you on designing a folk rug based on fraktur designs. She has templates you can use to help you in this process.
If you go to Susan's website you can see pictures of some of her rugs. I can only tell you that you MUST see them in person to get the true feeling of depth and color in her rugs. They are beautiful!

This is Susan holding the rug she made that will be part of the Celebration exhibit at Sauder Village this year.
This is one of my personal favorites:

which inspired me to do something a little different in the rug that I designed. I'll tell you more about that next time. Now off to unpack more boxes!

The Desire to Create

2011-06-11T08:11:00.001-04:00

During our spring break this year a teacher friend and I headed off to Washington DC. We spent our time doing the usual teacher stuff--wandering around museums, visiting the Ford Theatre and the Library of Congress. And, of course, eating and trying new wines. If you know any teachers, you know that the last one is probably the most important.

The museums were fun, probably because we weren't there with a bunch of antsy school kids who all needed to use the bathroom at the same time and no one was spilling their box of juice all over a very important national display.

No, this time we were by ourselves and could wander about having only to keep track of each other. This is no small thing for a teacher.

One of my favorite museums was the American Art Museum. And my favorite part of that was their folk art collection.

I know that if you have been to any of the Smithsonian museums that there are signs all over the place saying "No Picture Taking Allowed." But before I SAW the signs, I asked the guard if I could take pictures and he said to go ahead. It is also very important for teachers to follow the rules.

I love folk art. I especially love folk art done by people with no art training. People who have a burning desire to make their lives more beautiful.....who are driven to create using the things they have at hand. I love the quote from this artist:

And the carved animals that he created:

This one especially touched my heart. The artist was a woman who was confined to a state hospital. Her desire to create beauty led her to embroider this state-issued hospital gown

As you can see, she covered every square inch of the gown. I can only wish that it brought her joy and hope in what had to be horrible circumstances.

Today's Nap is Brought to You By.....

2011-06-03T19:09:00.000-04:00

No one takes a better nap than Moses.....

No.One.

Oh.....wait........

As you can see we take our naps very seriously around here!

Something Fishy

2011-05-29T07:31:00.000-04:00

On June 20, I am off to the Manistee Rug Camp. I've gone for the last several years and, since it always begins the Monday after the last day of school, it is always a wonderful and creative way to begin the summer.
This year I am taking a class from Susan Feller, who is known for her Fraktur designs. The purpose of the class is to design a folk art rug based on Fraktur images. Up until now I've only hooked the designs of others, but am interested in designing my own rugs.
I've had one in mind that I would like to make for my husband. He is a avid fisherman and collects fish decoys.
Don't worry if you've never heard of fish decoys because unless you live somewhere like Michigan or Minnesota where ice fishing is a popular winter sport, you would probably have never heard of fish decoys.
Actually, I've lived in Michigan all my life and never heard of fish decoys until I met myhusband. But I have to say since that time that I've become quite an expert on them.
For the uninitiated, fish decoys are used to attract fish while ice fishing. They are hung from a length of fishing line, dropped in the water where curious fish come up and to investigate and then--BLAMO--they are speared with an ice fishing spear.
Sadly I am not making this up.
Anyhoo, as I said, we have quite a collection of fish decoys which, all kidding aside, are a really neat form of American Folk art. I've been wanting to make a rug for him with his decoys as a model.
This is what I've come up with:

The border will be a planned hit or miss--kind of wavy like the water. I wanted it bright and I wanted it fun. So, I'm not sure, in fact I'm pretty positive, that fish are not among the fraktur designs that Susan will be showing us--but hey, gotta start somewhere!

Blossoms

2011-05-22T07:54:00.000-04:00

Well, the world did not end last night. At least I'm still here and am assuming others are also. Perhaps I should take Lucy out for her walk and check to make sure.

Anyway, the mad packing continues. Another few weeks of this madness and then we will be back to normal. Or I guess I should say, our new normal as I will be retired. It is a little strange as I have been looking forward to this for a long time, but as of yet I just can't get a feel of what this new stage of life is going to look like. Guess we will have to make it up as we go along. We're pretty good at that.

In the midst of all this moving chaos, I've had to pack away my rug hooking and in its place I picked up a different kind of hook--crochet! I haven't crocheted in at least 30 years and here it is coming back in vogue again. We won't even discuss what that says about my age.

I made these two pretty scarves. Don't they look like pretty roses all rolled up like this?

Here they are unrolled. I think the stitch is "Queen Anne's Lace."

Fiesta Time!

2011-05-16T17:39:00.000-04:00

Like many of you, I think nothing of a five hour round trip to look at wool. Last Saturday I did just that. Rog and I drove to Greenville to the Fiber Fiesta.

Oh--so much to see and touch. And although we are moving in just a few weeks and I really should be busy packing and NOT buying stuff for new projects, I just couldn't resist. I had to have these two batts:

They are so beautiful, it will almost be a shame to spin them. Perhaps I should just frame them and hang them on the wall. And everytime I walk by, I could just reach out and touch them.

I also meet the nicest young people--two brothers and their sister--who have their own etsy shop. I got the softest alpace/angora roving from them:

This is so soft I can hardly stand it. I can't wait to spin it--perhaps for a cozy winter scarf?

Busy Hands

2011-05-01T09:50:00.000-04:00

Since the house has been up for sale, I've had to put my rug hooking and quilting away. I just can't seem to do either without taking over the whole house! And taking something out and then putting it all away each evening just wasn't doing it for me. I know there are those of you out there who actually live that way--putting away your messes as you finish them--and I admire the heck out of all of you. I however, don't seem to be able to work unless I am surrounded by everything I own out where I can see it.

Anyway, not having anything to create was not an option either. I had to figure out some new things to try. Little things. Things I could do that did not take a bizillion supplies/pieces and that could easily transported and put away.

A few summers ago, I took (read dragged) my husband to a fiber festival. I know it sounds as if I am regressing here, but stay with me--it all comes together in the end. As we walked through all the booths with their roving and spinning wheels, I mentioned to him that some day I would love to learn to spin. Perhaps in retirement

Several weeks later he called me at work. He was at a garage sale and the lady was selling a spinning wheel for $15.00. Did I want it?

Really--$15.00? Did he know how much spinning wheels cost? There is no way he could find a working wheel for that price.

But he insisted and I figured that no matter what we would only be out $15.00 and could probably resell it on Craigslist if it didn't work out. Let's just say I didn't have high hopes. This is what he brought home:Yep--an Ashland Traditional spinning wheel. Now you have to understand. We are not the kind of people who make wonderful finds at a really great price. We are full-price people. I have friends who shop completely at Cosco and rummage sales and look like they stepped out of a fashion magazine--me....not so much.

So for us, the was like the moment on Antiques Roadshow where the lady brings in some dirt-encrusted item from her cellar and is told it is worth thousands of dollars. Even better, we didn't take advantage of someone who didn't know the worth of something like this. According to my husband, she had been spinning for thirty years and was retiring, hoping she could pass on the craft to someone else.

I took two classes at my local yarn shop and made yar that my teacher rather optimistically said had "lots of energy" and would "make good art yarn." Since that time, with practice I've been able to get things a little more under control and can make yarn that can actually be knit!

As you can see Moses enjoys spinning also:

2011-04-23T13:34:00.000-04:00

Easter Blessings!

Bird's Eye View

2011-04-18T18:53:00.000-04:00

Have you all been watching the live-feed web cam on the eagles in Iowa? If not, you really are missing out on the fun. A pair of eagles nesting 80 feet up in a cottonwood tree hatched three fuzzy eaglets, and you can watch it all in real time.

Because I am such a geeky nerd, I'm hooked on these little babies and check in on them several times a day. I even have my students watching them and we record what is happening each day during our morning meeting.

If you haven't had a chance to see them, them out before they leave the nest!

God Never Slams a Door in Your Face

2010-10-26T07:13:00.000-04:00

.....without opening a box of Girl Scout cookies. (Elizibeth Gilbert)

It's hard to believe that I haven't posted since September . Things have just been crazy around here--and not the fun crazy where all sorts of new, happy things are jumping out at you--but the bad crazy where you are so distracted by your own whininess and grumbling that you end up face down on the sofa for most of the winter.

Enough of that.....while we still do not have spring yet in Michigan; the days are getting longer, the sun is shining more and the robins have returned. It's time to start looking forward.

I finally made the real, final and actual decision to retire in June. The angst surrounding that decision--well, let's not go into it here. Let's just say that it was a hard decision to make, but in the end we decided to give up some financial security for a better quality of life.

To celebrate that decision my Rog had what one of friends said was "a moment of pure brilliance" and surprise me with this:

It doesn't look like much now, but it is my very own studio. We had an unheated side porch on our house up north that we basically used for storage. It had a slab floor, was unheated and smelled of mildew. It also has the most beautiful view of the lake.

While I was working this fall, Rog had the old, nasty panelling torn down, drywall put in, had the floor raised and put in heat. And then painted it the most beautiful spa blue/green.

I had no idea this was going on--what with working and spending most of my free time with the whining and grumbling (see above). You can imagine my surprise when I finally was able to go up for a weekend, opened the door expecting to be hit by a blast of artic air and saw this beautiful, beautiful room. And to make it even better......

A doorwall with a deck overlooking the lake (look closly--it's there under the snow). Let me tell you, dreaming about sitting out there with my rug hooking or knitting is what kept me same this winter. So let me just say it here for the record: BEST. PRESENT. EVER!

So I have been taking measurments, looking online at the work spaces of others and making numerous trips to IKEA thinking about how to design my workspace. What do you think? What things have worked for you?

Well, At Least One of Us is Trained.....

2010-09-20T18:05:00.001-04:00

A couple of weeks ago, I stopped at our local pet supply store and found this:the Kong Wobbler. For those of you old enough to remember, this dog toy operates under the Weebler principle.

Weebles wobble, but they don't fall down!

The Wobbler is like the weeble, in that it is weighted on the bottom so that when you push it, it kind of rolls around and then stands upright again. You can open up the Wobbler, fill it with dog food or treats and then your dog has a wonderful interactive toy which will give her hours of fun while stimulating her mind.

Of course, it takes some training for your dog to learn to use the Wobbler. Dogs are not just Wobbler-proficient overnight. It takes time and training.

Which I have been doing with Lucy.

I fill the Wobbler with her favorite treats. She noses around the hole and whines a little. I give the Wobbler a little push and a treat falls out. She looks a bit more interested. I show her how to push it. She sniffs the hole and whines a bit more. I give the thing a push, another treat falls out. I show her how to push on it using MY OWN HEAD. She whines a little more until another treat falls to the ground.

At one point, I show her the KONG website and the video for the Wobbler, which shows a beagle--a beagle for God's sake--pushing the darn thing all over the floor, gobbling down treats and having himself a high old time. Lucy whines a little more, until I push on the crazy thing until a treats falls out.

This has gone on for a week and a half. Now when I walk by, Lucy whines, I whisper a not so nice word under my breath and kick the supid Wobbler with my foot. A treat falls out, Lucy walks over, picks it up and carries it over to enjoy in the privacy of her soft little bed.

Yeah.......

Just call me the Dog Whisperer.

Having Fun

2010-09-16T06:46:00.000-04:00

With everything that has been going on around here, I have been exploring different ways to handle stress and bring some calmness and peace into my life--not as easy thing for me as I am a worrier by nature and can drive myself crazy with all "what-ifs" and 'should-haves".

Anyway, while looking online for books, I wandered away from the self-help section and stumbled across this book by Carla Sonheim:Hmmmmm......52 creative exercises to making drawing fun. Well, this looked just like what the doctor ordered!

Not that I can draw; I can't. But I'd like to be able to. Even more, I'd like to be able to draw and not be so critical of myself. And that is just what this book is all about--helping adults relearn how to experiment and develop a playful attitude to creating.

Even better, when I went to her website, I found out she was starting an online class. 30 days of lessons, each one taking about 10-15 minutes. And, all this for only $25.00. I was hooked. A little time to play each day sounded divine. Our first lesson was last night and I can tell it is going to be fun, fun, fun.

For years I worked with preschool and kindergarten children in special education and one thing I loved most was their ability to be so involved in the process of working with art materials rather than focusing on the final product. An attitude I think most of us lose as we grow up.

I'm ready to start that journey to find that part of me again.....I'll let you know how it goes.

Ch-ch-changes!

2010-09-06T08:47:00.000-04:00

Things have been a little quiet this summer in my little corner of the blog universe. We have been in the process of thinking over Important Thoughts and Making Decisions that will ultimately Change Our Life.......whew!
Let's just say it all took up a lot of time...... talking, researching, mixed with some anxiety and a few tears, but ultimately I think we have come up with a plan that will lead us toward the life we want to be living.

Our first big change was to put this up in the front yard:

When my husband retired TEN YEARS ago, the plan was that I would work a few more years and then join him. Well, we all know what has happened and the economy has made most of us change the plans we had made for the future.
We finally came to the decision that to continue to work at a job that was making me stressed and depressed to support a house that now worth less than what we purchased it was no longer making sense and it was time to move on......and so we are.
The house is up for sale and I can officially say that tomorrow will be my last first day of school as I will retire at the end of this school year. Who knows if this is the right choice, but no matter what happens, we will face it together and that is the important thing.
So to move on to lighter matters, the rug I started at the Manistee Rug Camp is almost done. I had hoped to have it finished before I went back to school, but didn't quite make it. I want to make a few small changes in the body of the rug and I'm not too sure about the gold I picked for the border. I may dye up something a little darker.....

And our little Lucy turned one this week. She really is turning out to be a great little dog--she's just so smart and fun to train. She begins agility training next Saturday, which I am hoping we both will enjoy. I am sure she is up to the challenge, but I think it includes running on the part of the handler.......and let's just say I don't do too much of that anymore, so it should be interesting. Perhaps I should be teaching her to do CPR just in case--or at least how to dial 911!

2010-08-06T22:43:00.000-04:00

Just a quick check in. We are back up north relaxing and enjoying life. I brought up bunches of wool to dye, and I'm just having the best time! I decided I was going to give myself a gift and concern myself with the process and not be so worried about the final product. In other words, I have been playing and trying all sorts of new things.
I've been taking pictures, but forgot to bring the thingy that will transfer my pictures to my computer! Oh well, next post.

I've also been working on my Expect Good Things rug. I generally like to hook my background as I go and not leave it all until the end. This time I got so caught up in hooking the motifs that before I knew it everything was done except for the background. So I am grinding that out right now with the help of HGTV and a couple of good movies.

Tomorrow brings breakfast with a friend from work and then off to the Blueberry Festival. Great chicken dinners and a quilt show--oh yeah--and blueberries!

And just so this post is not totally pictureless--check out my niece's new etsy shop Flying Hammer Forge.

A Talented Bunch

2010-07-26T09:48:00.000-04:00

I thought I'd share the talent of others in my family.

My niece, Anna and her husband, Ben live in New Mexico. Ben has been making his living making beautiful driftwood furniture which has been shown in regional and national magazines. He recently opened an Etsy shop and his first listing is this beautiful chair.

My niece, who is talented as well as beautiful, is a blacksmith and has made several gates in collaboration with her husband.She is now working on a series of smaller pieces. I love this one:

She will be in a show at the Range Gallery on August 14th in Bernalillo, NM. If you're in town--check it out!

Dog Days of Summer

2010-07-18T08:51:00.001-04:00

Okay.......I realize that this is NOT a dog, but the dog around here is only 10 months old and doesn't seem to be bothered by the heat. Moses, however, has been lying exactly like this on the half-wall between my kitchen and family room for the past week. Obviously, he is in full vacation mode.

And speaking of vacations, I am.....on vacation, I mean. Two days after school was out, I headed out for the Manistee Rug School. I took a class on using a "painterly approach to rug hooking." A requirement of the class was that we bring a rug that we had not previously worked on. I took a pattern I've been wanting to work on: Expect Good Things designed by Brenda Beerhorst.

I just love this pattern.

I am having trouble with the worm (now there are words I never thought I'd say). I want it to stand out more from the background because it is, you know, the good thing, but can't find the right shade of light brown. It seems that everything I have is either too dark and then in fades into the background or is too gold and then looks like part of the beak. I know....I suffer so for my art!

And, because I am so cutting edge, I even put in one of those little rolly thingies that are all the rage right now. Right now, it is just auditioning. I don't know if I like it or not.

Here is one of the birds with her rosy little cheek--something else that is auditioning. I'm not sure if that will stay either.
I'll leave you with a picture of another victim of all this muggy, muggy heat.......

Danger Girl

2010-06-19T20:00:00.000-04:00

As if the great bee attack of 2010 wasn't enough, here I am facing, once again, danger in MY OWN HOME.

A few days ago, while innocently sitting at my feet disemboweling one of her hundreds of stuffed animals, someone.......

moved that black nose over an inch and ever so innocently chewed on the power cord to my lap top--which resulted in sparks flying out of the cord every time it is moved. And because I seem to be addicted to technology, I am now sitting here with my computer on my lap trying very hard to type while keeping the cord perfectly still.

Note to my husband: Nothing I wrote above is true. I safely at the library typing this and, just as I promised, I am not using my lap top until the new cord arrives from Amazon. Oh yeah, that little scorch mark on the carpet.......have no idea how it got there.

Actually, I do have exciting news as I am packing for rug camp! I am going to the camp in Manistee. I went two years ago and loved it. We had fun...I learned a lot....and they had chocolate chips cookies every afternoon. What more can you ask for? I was supposed to go last year, but camp started five days after I had Achilles tendon surgery. And while I was sure I would be able to go, it turns out that driving four hours with your foot propped above your heart while popping Vicodin does not a happy rug camper make. So I had to stay home, which made me kinda sad, but they were able to give my spot to someone who otherwise couldn't afford to go to the camp--so it all worked out the way it should----as most things do in life.

My teacher wants us to bring a rug that we have not yet started.......sigh.......another rug to add to the unfinished pile. The theme of the class is a "painterly" approach to rug hooking. Doesn't that sound like fun?

This is the rug I'm doing......

Well, I was going to show you the rug, but for some reason blogger will not let me download a picture right now. Maybe the sparks are scaring them away. (not really, honey. Totally safe at the library.....)

So I'm off to finish washing clothes and packing because you just know I waited until the absolute last minute to do any of that stuff.

Oh.....just so you know....no dogs were hurt in the making of this post.

Where Emily, Lucy and I Narrowly Escape Disaster

2010-05-24T18:44:00.001-04:00

I was lucky enough to have my seven year old granddaughter, Emily, spend the night last weekend. Emily is Lucy's greatest fan--which is not easy to do because when I take Lucy for her walk each day, people in cars actually honk, roll down their windows and holler out hi to her. But Emily and Lucy have a special bond and I'm not sure who gets the most pleasure out of their time together.

Anyway, I thought that it would be a nice weekend to visit a farm, so we all piled into the car and headed off to Maybury State Park. Maybury was once a TB sanatorium. After it closed, it became a hang out for teenagers to go to at night to drink and roam the empty buildings. Finally, after decades of decay, the state stepped in turned it into a state park with walking paths, cross country skiing and a working farm.

When we got there, we thought we'd take Lucy for a little walk to work off some of her, shall we say, excess energy.

Of course Miss Sniffer S. McSniffypants (I swear this dog is part bloodhound) could not stay on the clearly marked designated path and head off for the high grass.

So Em was holding on to Lucy; Lucy was doing her very favorite thing, which is putting her nose into places it doesn't belong and I was being the grandma trying to organize everyone into something that would be picture worthy.

.............that's when I heard this loud droning, which I ignored being that I was totally immersed in my artistic endeavor of the perfect picture. All of a sudden Emily screamed and began to run with Lucy. I looked up and saw this:

Well not exactly this because this is something I downloaded from Google--couldn't exactly take a picture right then as we were too consumed with running, screaming and much flapping of hands with a side order of more screaming. But believe me when I say there were a whole boatload of bees. The kind of bees you see in a cartoon when they are chasing that bear and then form an arrow right before they overtake him and he jumps in a nearby pond. Those kind of bees.

I followed Em and Lucy and we watched while they swarmed around and then went back from whence they came--which I believe was a nest in the ground that someone who we will not name, but has big ears and a black nose, poked her nosy black nose into.

Anyway, we had a great day at the farm. Em decided that she wants a pet goat (all part of my secret plan to turn her into a rug hooker):

And I finally did get the perfect picture of my two girls.

A Post in Which You See Actual Pictures of Finished Rugs

2010-05-15T07:48:00.000-04:00

Oh now, don't get too excited. They're not my rugs because as we all know I have some sort of severe psychological problem that prevents me from actually finishing anything I start. (For those of you interested, you can google SOS or Shiny Object Syndrome for more details. Or here's a link for the google-impaired among us.)

The rugs that are finished were at the Saline Hook-In weekend before last. Yeah, I know I'm a little late in writing about it, but all I can say is see above.

The whole event was great fun. I talked with friends, shopped, looked at all the rugs, ate lunch and shopped some more. The actual time I spent hooking......that would be none. Yep, never pulled my hook out. I did, you know, show my current work in progress to others and we did talk about said rug. I even bought wool to use in the rug. But actual hooking.......no.

Here is the wool that I purchased. I think I showed considerable restraint........

I actually bought a couple of yards of the brown/black/blue plaid to use for a background. The dusty lavender is for the Crazy Horse rug and the others are for "just because."I also bought this, which may be offically considered my new Shiny Object: It is a Notforgotten Farm pattern from Kris Miller. And seriously, couldn't you just die from the cuteness? Fortunately, summer vacation is coming up soon and I hoping I will be able to finally finish that crazy Crazy Horse rug and move on to this. (My new mantra: "I will finish the Crazy Horse rug.... I will finish the Crazy Horse rug ...... I will, I will, I will..............)

And no, I didn't forget the finished rugs that were on display. Oh, they were stunning. Really, you all must come next time just so you can see all the talent we have around here. I loved this antique reproduction of the chicks and hens:

Prom Night

2010-05-01T12:26:00.000-04:00

Last night was our prom night and I've gotta tell you, it was a blast! I know you're thinking that what with the gray hair and the fact that I now pretty much have to wear sensible shoes (read orthopedic) all the time that my prom days are much over. But go to prom I did and enjoyed every second.

Every year we--and by we I mean my friend Karen--put on a prom for the high school and post secondary students with special needs in our district. We invite everyone--current students, past students, general ed students who work in our classrooms and have lunch with our kids. Some kids even come back from college to attend. It is, as you can imagine, a night you don't want to miss.

We rent a beautiful room at the Radisson Hotel in town. We hire a DJ. All the kids dress to the nines. The girls in their prom dresses; the young men in their suits or tuxes. There is a beautiful catered meal. And then the dancing--oh my--the dancing. Dancing like you can't even imagine. We dance until we can hardly dance anymore and then we dance some more.

And here is the magic of prom night......all of a sudden it's not the autistic kid or the mentally retarded girl.....it's not guy in the wheelchair or the the boy with CP.

It's just kids doing what kids like to do....dressing up, hanging with their friends, talking about things that are important to them, eating a meal together, laughing and having fun.

And that, my friend, is what life is all about.

Rainy Sunday Afternoon

2010-04-25T19:40:00.000-04:00

My plans were to write a post about the Saline Hook-in that I went to yesterday. However, when I looked around I saw that my housemates had different ideas. Moses and Josie found a quiet spot to wait out the rain......

Jasper was at the other end of the sofa.......

Even Lucy who, although sweet, could not exactly be called lazy and laid-back.....

And it appears that I have a new book that calling my name--so I'm grabbing a quilt and some pillows and claiming my stake to the couch.

We'll save Saline for later in the week. Have to grab these moments when we can!

Spring Break

2010-04-10T14:31:00.000-04:00

Lucy made it through her surgery just fine and thanks you all for your well-wishes. Everyone at the vet thought she was the best dog ever!! When I came to pick her up later in the day, even the vet came back out and told me that she thought Lucy had such a wonderful temperament and was really a great dog. Laura (Lucy's first mom and breeder), if you're reading this--be proud!
So I brought her home all fuzzy and drugged up. I put her on the bed and spent the rest of the day with her reading while she slept. I carried her outside a couple of times to do her business, which she promptly did and then would fall right over sound asleep! By the next morning, she was up eating and running around being her usual silly self.
Unfortunately, I haven't done as well as Lucy, spending my week off work on the couch with what started out as some kind of virus and ended up as asthmatic bronchitis. On one hand, good to have the time off to recover and not have to worry about work--on the other hand--hey, it's my vacation! I had hoped to finish up on my Crazy Horse Rug, but didn't even pull it out one time. I did try my hand at some punch needle--which I will save for another post....

Hoppy Spring!

2010-04-02T07:26:00.000-04:00

We are having some beautiful spring days--so much so that I just may break out the capris! Here is a little spring bunny rug that I have sitting on a table in my living room. Actually this was the first actually "real" rug that I did. The bunny is textured wool and I dyed the blue for the sky (lupine blue from the book Beautiful Wool). That was also my first attempt at dying wool. The border and the grass are both upcycled wool from two different pair of wool pants. I love that green and just have a little bit of it left to work into some other project.

Yes, that bit of black in the upper left corner is a little cardi nose! Lucy has to be involved in just every little thing that goes on around here.
Speaking of Lucy, she is off to the vets in an hour or so. It is time for her to be spayed. I know it needs to be done, but oh is it going to be hard to leave her there.
Right now she is sitting on the window seat (her favorite spot in the whole house) just watching the world go by. This picture was taken during our last snow storm. It's a lot greener out there now. Don't you just love that corgi stretch?

Rainy Days

2010-03-29T07:25:00.000-04:00

Ah....'tis spring!
Or well not so much in Michigan where spring is more like another three months of rain and mud and gray skies with a few days of sunshine thrown in to make us all wander out of our houses like little mole-people, squinting at the sun.

This weekend was one of those rainy times, the times that just want to make you crawl under your covers and not come out until, I don't know, you move to Barbados or something.

I, however, got to have a little sunshine in my life by spending it with these two:Now if those two faces don't brighten up your day--well, all I can say is that you have one cold, cold heart.

This is Emily, my granddaughter and, of course, you all have met Lucy.

And Emily, God bless her, is my kind of child because as she told her mother, "I don't really want to do sports. I really just want to do crafts." Could there be any more perfect character trait in any grandchild?

So we just took that old rainy day and crafted the heck out of it. First we made Easter eggs. Not the old boring dip in dye and wait four hours to turn into a pale pink Easter eggs. Oh no. We made cool tie-dye eggs.

It's just food coloring, paper towels and some plastic wrap, but so much more fun than the traditional egg dying. I found the directions over at Oakadoodle Primitives and since she has done such a great job spelling it out, you can go right over there if you are in the mood for egg dying. Here is a pic of Emily contemplating the design process: And the beginning of one of her designs:Hmmmm....I don't know about you, but I definitely see the beginnings of a quilt or rug designer here.

Afterwards, we had the great cupcake bake-off---just to make sure that every artist had adequate nurishiment.

Lucy approves and will take her cupcake in liver flavor please.

Here's hoping that all your rainy spring days can be filled with sunshine!!

2010-03-09T18:17:00.000-05:00

I just may have to change the name of this blog to Cats and Corgis In My Wool. I give you exhibit A:I put it on the floor to take a picture and before I could pick up my camera, look who comes along and makes herself at home! But with a face like that, you can get away with just about anything even when a certain miss someone has a perfectly brand new comfy, comfy bed all of her own.

So excuse me one moment while I get little Miss Lucy moving.........

I'm finally getting some of the background put in. This is most definitely the busiest rug I've done. I think the dark border will help tone it down a bit--and, if not, it certainly will be a day brightener! This rug has been a great learning experience for me and while I'm enjoying the process I'm looking forward to working on a nice, simple project when this is finished.

There's a New Girl in Town

2010-03-06T08:14:00.000-05:00

.....and her name is Lucy! She is a Cardigan Welsh Corgi and just turned six month old. Just look at those ears! I got to tell you there has been some serious ear nuzzling going on around our house lately. I am just having so much fun with her--even the five AM potty calls on Saturday mornings aren't to bad. She's just so funny to watch.

We brought her home about three weeks ago. I--being a serious reader and watcher of the Dog Whisperer--told my husband that I would take her for a walk around the neighborhood while he set up her crate in the living room. My thought was she would be tired and happy when she first entered her new home and she would go straight into her crate so she and the cats could get to know each other a little before we gave Lucy a walk through of her forever home.

Well, you know what they say about best laid plans. We did go for a walk, my husband did set up her crate and we did come up to the house tired and happy. That's when things began to fall apart!

We walked into the living room, went right to her crate and this is what we found....

Oh yes....Gracie had already claimed the crate as her own. Now instead of putting Lucy calmly in her crate, she is now jumping around wildly on her leash. Gracie starts hissing and spitting and will not leave the crate and the other cats are howling from the back of the couch upset from all the commotion and this new creature we have brought into their domain.

Needless to say, we got it all sorted out and Lucy and the cats have come to a semi-truce. Lucy can't understand why these little funny looking puppies don't want to play with her. And the cats, being cats, have just decided to ignore the whole matter and pretend nothing has changed. We still have some hissing and every once in a while, a yelp when Lucy gets a little to forward and the cats come down with the paw o' doom on her nose. But right now the cats are asleep in their spots in the living room and Lucy is asleep in the bay window, so we are making progress.

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

2010-01-31T09:29:00.000-05:00

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

2010-01-31T09:11:00.000-05:00

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.....

2010-01-30T08:57:00.000-05:00

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.

2009-12-24T13:11:00.000-05:00

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

Deck Us All With Boston Charlie

2009-12-22T19:08:00.000-05:00

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........

2009-11-12T17:27:00.000-05:00

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!

2009-10-31T17:41:00.000-04:00

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!

Done and Hung!

2009-10-25T15:21:00.000-04:00

While not quite the accomplishment of six stair risers that Gayle posted on her blog The Middle Sister (which if you haven't seen, you must go over there right now, because they are fabulous), my one little stair riser is finally finished and hung. No, not on a stair, because the only stairs we have go down into the basement, but in the little hallway that leads to the bedrooms.

Although I didn't make it for that spot, it seems to fit just perfectly. Now off to finish the 137,399,764 other projects laying around in their unfinished splendor!

Edited to add: This is a Cindi Gay pattern. She has a seris of stair risers--all beautiful! You can read her blog here.

Dying Without A Net

2009-10-21T16:10:00.000-04:00

Because I was such a Miss Cranky McCrankypants week before last, I decided to make some changes and make sure I did something joyful each night this past week. Of course, joyful could mean anything from a mystic spiritual experience to a night of wild abandon. For me, however, it meant getting out the dye pots!

I love to dye. Before I started to rug hook, I really wanted to get into dying fabric for quilts, but everything I read looked as if you need enough room to handle yards and yards of fabric. And since I live in a tiny 50's ranch and having a studio built is not an option, I put the whole idea to rest.

Then when I started rug hooking, I was so happy to learn that I could learn to dye. In my kitchen. With minimal materials.

And so with a firm belief that something worth doing is worth doing badly (for how else do we learn unless we allow ourselves to make mistakes?), I set forth. I bought seven colors of ProChem dye, the book Beautiful Wool by Laurice Heath and a porcelain dye pot. (I just went to link to a site where you could buy this book, but Amazon says that it is out of print)

I picked this book because I read it had a section that showed how you could make any color with just the seven colors of dye. Since I really didn't want to spend a major amount of money on dye, which it seemed you could do with Cushing dyes, I decided this was they way to go.

So I have been fooling around with it. Dying a little here and there. Trying this and that. And pretty much completely enjoying myself with a few major disasters thrown in here and there just to liven things up a bit.

This week, I thought I would try dying different values, 1/8 yard each, using canning jars. Since I don't have any wool swatches from the book I thought maybe I would start making my own.

What fun! I did one color each night. By using the smaller amounts of wool and the canning jars, the mess wasn't too bad. And since Rog was up north, I didn't feel the need to completely clean up and put everything away each night. This is what I end up with:

I'm sure you will see some of this wool showing up in my Crazy Horse Quilt rug--especially the reds and browns (actually the golds on the left are really more of a brown). And that little bit of black fluff in the background on the left? Mr. Jasperkitty trying to get into the act. He truly feels that each piece of wool isn't ready for use unless it has a good coating of cat hair!

I Heart You

2009-10-15T06:37:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, out of the blue, one of my students came up to me, gave me a big hug and said, "Good job, Mrs. Lloyd."
So I figured I had either just passed my yearly performance review or he was really happy it was time for lunch!
Hope your day has a least one hug.....

Just One Thing After Another

2009-10-11T19:15:00.000-04:00

Oh Lordy, what a week.

It started off with two power outages at work.....continued with our special ed. director telling us she wanted to make a few changes to our program. You know, just some minor ones. Changes that mean all three teachers moving classrooms and changing up students after the school year has been in session for SIX WEEKS.
Sorry, didn't mean to shout. It's just that most of the time I feel like I am caught working in Superman's Bizarre-o world. You know, the one where everything is just the opposite of what it should be.
Oh well.....cleansing breath.....I know just what I need......take a drive up north to the cottage, spend some time with my husband and see all the beautiful fall foliage. So off I went to see this:

And instead I saw this:

And even this!

Yikes......snow in the beginning of October! I can only imagine what this winter will be like.

However, on our Saturday afternoon drive to see the fall foliage, we stopped in Bear Lake at the Two Sisters Quilt Shop. I love, love, love this shop! I bought some fabric for a bag. No pictures right now, but hope to finish the bag by next week and will post them then.

And while we were there.....guess what?

We found out that there was a quilt show in town! Of course, Rog was just giddy with joy at this news, but being the good guy that he is, he drove me right over and even went in and looked at the quilts with me.

That night we turned on the heat, popped a movie in the DVD player and I started whipping the edges on this:

It's a Cindi Gay pattern that I made at rug hooking camp in Manistee two summers ago. It is supposed to be used on a stair riser. However, since we live in a ranch I think this will end up going over a doorway. Here's a closeup of the center rose:

Amazing how a little fiber, color and time with a really good guy can make the rain, snow and that craziness I call work just fade into the background!

Fiber Festival--Second Time Around

2009-10-05T20:54:00.000-04:00

Last Sunday, my sister and I went to a fiber festival in Romeo at Mount Bruce Station. This one was held on a working farm and if you would like to read more about it, their web site is here. It was a beautiful fall day and while it wasn't a big festival, it was fun just to spend the time enjoying the cool fall day and sunshine. This is the farm house that was built, I believe in the 1920s:

One of the vendors had this really neat gourd tree which I would love to have in my backyard!

Anyway, after walking around and visiting all the vendors, we took a class in wet wool felting. Let me tell you people, this is not for the faint of heart. You really work up a sweat doing this! In fact, had it been any warmer I think we could have called the class "Naked Wet Wool Felting." It starts of looking like no big deal. In fact it seems kind of easy. You lay out our nice soft, fluffy roving...

You sandwich the roving between two pieces of plastic, first spraying it with a mixture of water and dish detergent. You have to really wet the roving all the way through. Then the fun part begins.

First you rub the roving with the palms of your hands. You start on one side and just when you break out in a sweat, you turn the roving and do the other side. You have to turn the roving so you work at it from all four sides. And then just when your arms are starting to give out--you turn the roving over and begin again on the other side!

(By the way, our lovely and charming hand model for this post is my sister, Karen.)

At this point just when you are beginning to think you shouldn't have let your gym membership lapse, you find out that you now must roll the roving in a towel, squeeze out as much water as you can and begin rolling it back and forth between your hands. I guess, "rolling" would be a nice way of saying slap it around because that is exactly what you do!

Once you've "rolled" it this way and that--unrolled it, rolled it from the other side and started all over again--you end up with a piece of beautiful felted wool:

While it is hard to tell from this picture, this is a beautiful piece of wool made of angora and merino wool with some blue silk threads running through it.

Now what to make with such a lovely piece of fabric. I would make you wait, but as you may know I have this slight finishing problem, so I thought I would share the instructor's finished project-- wool mittens!
Aren't they beautiful? The instructor also gave us some angora yarn so we can make the lace cuffs. And this wool is just so soft; they will be just the thing on a cold Michigan day. I may just have to put my rug hook aside for a week or so and pick up my knitting and embroidery needles so I can finish these before the snow begins to fly. And seeing that I had my heat turned on before the first of October, I don't think that day will be too far away!

Busy, Busy, Busy.......

2009-09-27T19:52:00.000-04:00

Gosh, it has been so long since I posted--the time is just flying by! What with the wedding, school starting and physical therapy three times a week, it seems like I get up in the morning and before I know it the day is over and I'm back in bed again.

All good stuff, however. The wedding, as I said in my last post, was just perfect. And if any of you would like to drop by, I'll be glad to sit down with you and a cup of tea and show you 32,438 wedding photos and discuss them in excruciating detail.

School is off to a good start. I have a nice group of young men and in spite of a few ups and downs, everyone is beginning to settle in and adjusting to the routine. I have two new paraprofessionals and they are very nice and we all seem to be getting along.

Physical therapy is going well. The therapist told me on Friday I could stop using my cane, which delighted me to no end until I tried to walk a long distance without it. Right now, I won't be entering any marathons, but I am beginning to see the light at the end of that tunnel.

Of course, I'm still plugging along on my rug. Here is my slightly wonky bluebird of happiness:

His poor little flat head looks like mama bird let him sleep on his back to much. And what is going on with that beak?

I also finished a couple of the flowers. A blue trio:

And some red......
And when you put it all together....

I also did some dying yesterday in search of the perfect chocolate brown. I'm not there yet, but I think I'm getting closer. And my sister and I went to a fiber festival in Romeo, but that is a subject of another post!

Love, Sweet Love

2009-09-14T18:46:00.000-04:00

On Saturday we experienced a wonderful celebration of love as my son married his sweetheart and best friend.

They wanted a intimate, country wedding and, I have to say, the end result was beautiful and personal. It was truly a family affair. My sister and brother-in-law graciously offered their house as the site for the wedding. My niece performed the ceremony and my niece-in-law, who is a professional photographer, took the pictures. One of my good friends made the invitations and my former sister-in-law made the cake. The happy couple was surrounded by people who love them and wanted them to have the perfect day.

While we don't have the "official" pictures yet, several people were kind enough to share pictures they took throughout the day.

They were married under this rustic arbor made by my brother-in-law.

Nate gets his first glimpse of his bride.....

Lesley walks down the aisle with her father....
Vows are exchanged.....
As are the rings......
And Emily runs up to give her mom and new stepdad a hug.
The ceremony was followed by a picnic dinner, wedding cake, a country western band, dancing and the blessings of family and good friends!

Oh, Mercy Me......

2009-09-09T21:14:00.000-04:00

......two days of school down and I am tired, tired, tired! Last night I went to bed at 7:30! But the year is starting off well, and I have a nice group of kids. I think it will be a good year.
I finally took some pictures of my Crazy Quilt rug. Progress is slow, but steady.

I'm working on the flowers on the right and then I think I will tackle the bigger leaves. I need to dye some wool, but discovered I left my dyes at the lake! Oh well, too tired to worry about all that now---I'm off to do a little school work and then to bed. I may manage to stay up past 9:00 tonight!

Puttering About....

2009-09-06T10:45:00.000-04:00

.....and that's exactly what I have been doing. A little of this and a little of that. While I am out of the cast, I still have to rely on a cane or crutches and need to rest frequently, so things get done in bits and pieces.
I've been in my classroom setting things up. It's not as ready as I would like, but it's the best I can do this year. One things of learned in this recovery process is the concept of "good enough".
I've also been working on my Crazy Quilt rug and making slow, but steady progress. I'm getting some of the larger motifs done and as soon as they are finished, I'll move on to the background. I tried to take some pictures, but the light is fading and my camera doesn't seem to take good pictures when it is dark outside--or maybe it is the photographer, who knows?
And for those of you who have been sitting up nights worried about my safety.......when Moses and Jasperkitty are not busy helping arrange my wool stash, they are on the job alert for any signs of our very own axis of evil.......

a chipmunk that is apparently building condos under my front porch and selling them to his little chipmunky friends. Oh, the growling, the hissing, the throwing themselves against the screen-- all in the hope of just one minute with that evildoer. So sleep well America.......you are safe tonight.

Home Again

2009-09-01T20:30:00.000-04:00

For good this time, I'm afraid. No more lazy summer days at the lake for me.

When I go to up north for the summer, I take all the wool I will need for the rug on which I am currently working. Because this rug is so eclectic and I wasn't sure exactly what wool I was going to need, I ended up taking a good portion of my wool cabinet with me. Believe me, Rog was thrilled when he realized that the largest and heaviest of my suitcases was full of wool!

Coming home means I have to reverse this process and put everything back in the cabinet. Of course, I had helpers. Jasperkitty thought that my wool might have lost that fine sheen of cat hair while it was away over the summer, so he had jump into the suitcase and remedy that right away.....

Then when everything was back in its place, he was so worn out from all that work that he needed a nap. And there is no better place for a nap than in the wool cupboard!

Moses thought that all this fuss over wool was just craziness, and instead decided to catch his nap in the warmth of the afternoon sun.

The finished project........
Whew......I'm tired.....I think I'll go take a nap!

Life is Good

2009-08-24T16:17:00.001-04:00

Don't you love these T-shirts? This is my favorite. My sister gave it too me ages ago and I wear it all the time--way more often than a woman my age should. But I love the kitty and I love the message.

Yes, life is good around here.

After four days of rain, cold and general gloom, we finally have a what my husband calls a "bluebird day".....
This came in the mail yesterday.... My Bliss cutter is back and I can get back to rug hooking without having to cut my wool by hand! I finished this........

......and I love it! It is roomy and has two pockets on the outside and several on the inside. I hoping this will help keep everything from falling into a big jumble in the bottom of my purse. And it is so cute I can hardly stand upright from the cuteness!

I am, after ten weeks in various casts, in two shoes......

Granted, not very attractive shoes, but shoes nonetheless. It doesn't look like I will be wearing heels to my son's wedding on the September 12th, but I won't be wearing a cast either.

And best of all, Rog's daughter and two of his grandchildren are coming to visit for a few days.

Yes, life is good!

What do You do on a Rainy Day?

2009-08-23T21:15:00.003-04:00

Build a fire in the fireplace.......read a good book........grab the cat and an afghan and settle down on the couch for a good nap?

If you are us, and seriously you should thank goodness that you are not, you drive an hour in the pouring rain and then tromp around outside for an hour and a half.

We made plans to visit a perennial farm in Interlochen on Saturday. We checked the weather--cool, but no rain in the forecast. All right--let's go!

Five minutes into the trip it began to pour. We discussed turning back, but then decided the rain couldn't last long.

Of course, it was still raining when we pulled into the driveway to the garden! Fortunately we had umbrellas in the back seat of the car, which we pulled out, opened and held over our heads as we walked around and explored this beautiful farm.

They had water features.......They had flowering perennials.......
and so many different varieties of hostas........

The amazing thing was that although these all look like planted gardens, everything here is in pots, so you walk through and pick out what you want, put it in the pathway and they will come along and put it in your car for youI bought two different types of sedum for the front walkway and bee balm for my butterfly garden.
Afterwards, we went to the cutest coffee shop where they had the BEST cinnamon rolls with thick cream cheese icing. Which we ate while sitting in two very comfy chairs in front of the fireplace. Oh, I guess we did get our rainy day fire in the fireplace after all!

Moving on to Plan B

2009-08-19T17:01:00.000-04:00

So I have been waiting and waiting for my Bliss cutter to return from the repair shop. I had received a call on August 5th saying that she (and don't you love how I have turned an inanimate object into a "she"?) was fixed and would be on her way home the next day.
And then the waiting began. I waited......and waited......and waited.........
Until I couldn't wait any longer and had to call and find out exactly what happened. Had she coded and gone into ICU.......did she need surgery........extensive physical rehabilitation.......do I watch way too much Grey's Anatomy?
No, none of the above. She had been moved off the shipping table onto a shelf and then had other boxes stored in front of her. If I hadn't called......well, we won't even go there.
So no harm, no foul. She's on her way home and should be here in a day or two at the most. But until then I have been dying to hook! I could barely stand to look my Crazy Horse Quilt rug.
Something had to be done! Drastic measures had to be taken! Pioneer women didn't have cutters. No, they made do with their wits and whatever was at hand.....and so did I. I got my scissors out and cut my own wool strips. It took a couple of tries before I was able to get them fairly straight and thin enough (I'm doing this rug in a #6 cut). But I didn't do too bad and have this to show for my effort:
I finished my paisley leaf! I'm still not sure about the dark vein, but am going to let it stand for a while. I wanted to move on and do the horse next, but seem to have left all my black wool at home, so I think I will so some of the smaller stars and flowers.
Speaking of moving on, I managed to get all the pieces cut out for my new bag.

I've heard we have a 70% chance of rain tomorrow. If so, I will be getting the sewing machine out and see if I can't get this done.
And, if that weren't enough, I also managed to cut out 100 of these:

I am making a signature quilt for my son and future daughter-in-law. We will have the hearts at the reception for guests to write the good wishes and blessings for the happy couple. Then, after the wedding, I will applique them to a quilt. My sister made one for her son's wedding and it was a lovely keepsake of their wedding day.

Well, as you can imagine, Rog is thrilled, thrilled I tell you, with the debris from three projects spread all over the house! Thank goodness he has the patience of Job...

Fiber Festival

2009-08-16T12:06:00.000-04:00

Yesterday Rog and I traveled down to Allegan to the Michigan Fiber Festival. We had a great time. Even Rog, who originally said he would probably find something to do in town, stayed and enjoyed it! Something for everyone, as the old adage goes.
While the main focus of the event was geared toward knitters and weavers, they did have two rug hooking vendors. Linda Harwood from Hooked on Ewe was there. I had never seen her work, and I have to tell you it is just fabulous!
Kris Miller from Spruce Ridge Studio was there also. I know I have mentioned before how much I love Kris' work. Not only is she talented, she is just the nicest person and so helpful and encouraging. This is a rug that my husband wants me to do for him:
Of course, I couldn't leave without buying some wool. I think I restrained myself nicely....

Don't you think that blue and mauve would make the cutest little bluebird with a rosy little breast? And the orange.....well, I see some fall leaves or a pumpkin in its future.
After shopping, we watched the border collies herd sheep. It was such a hot day that this guy jumped right into his drinking water to cool off!
And, after seeing this guy with his funky hair do, we had a serious discussion about starting an alpaca farm!

We're Back!

2009-08-13T18:31:00.000-04:00

At the cottage, that is. I don't think I have shown you my view when I am hooking or sewing:

I know....am I so lucky or what? My husband had this house when we married. Which should be a big lesson to any single people reading this blog. Find someone with a house on a lake. Looks will faded and you will probably run out of things to talk about at some point, but a house on a lake will be there FOREVER! The only sad part about this whole scenario is that I still have a job downstate--well that is not exactly sad because I do have a job and believe me, living in the Detroit area I know I am lucky to have a job. However, it does mean that I have to leave our little happy place in two weeks while my husband, who is retired, gets to stay up here. (One day I will explain our marriage, but I think it can be summed up in the words of a good friend of mine--"You two have the strangest relationship, but you seem happy." And we are.)

In rug hooking news, my cutter is still not back from being fixed. I know it is fixed, because I talked to the man who fixed it. And I have to say, all the way up here I was like a dog with its head hanging out the car window because I was so excited thinking about how my cutter was going to be waiting on the doorstep when we arrived. In fact, I mentioned it so much that my husband finally turned the radio up a little too loud so he wouldn't have to listen to it anymore. Sigh.............

This is not to mean that I do not have things to do. I'm not sure I mentioned this is the last five minutes, but my son is getting married in September and I am making a signature quilt for them. So one project is to cut out 75-100 hearts that people at the reception can write their prayers, thoughts and good wishes for the happy couple. I will then take the hearts and applique them to a quilt. So I have that. But, of course, while I was at the quilt store today picking out fabric for the hearts, I happened to see this fabric

Is this not the cutest fabric ever??? And I have to tell you, I do love me some cute. So I bought enough to make a bag for when I go back to work. Because having a bag this cute could possible make me feel just a teeny bit better about leaving the lake.

A Spot of Tea

2009-08-10T10:14:00.000-04:00

We had a wonderful time at our wedding shower yesterday! We had it at a beautiful little tea room near us. They had all sorts of beautiful English hats for us to try on. Don't we all look beautiful?

This is my "almost" daughter-in-law, Lesley, with her mom and grandmother.

And my daughter Kate. Trust me, she hasn't worn anything this girly-girly since she started picking out her own clothes at about age three!
Of course, my sister and I had to get into the act! And there was food. Oh my gosh was there food........ tea sandwiches on the bottom level, scones with lemon curd and Devonshire cream on the middle level and tasty little deserts on the top. Mmmmmm!Lesley opened her presents........

I am so happy and proud that Lesley is joining our family. I tell everyone I got the two-for-one special because Lesley has a charming and delightful daughter (who is helping her open the presents). So I not only get to be a mother-in-law, I also get to be a grandmother! Needless to say I am on cloud nine about that.

With the hard times that so many people in this country are going through, it is important to hold our blessings close to us and to be thankful for them. These are just a few of mine.

Someone's in the Kitchen......

2009-08-07T21:40:00.000-04:00

I know, I know........this blog is supposed to be about rug hooking and quilting and so far it has pretty much been about everything except that. What can I say.......Life, she can be a stern mistress and I must follow where she leads..

So......baking. Let me just say that I am not much of a cook. When my kids were home, I did cook. Nothing inspired, but food got on the table at regular intervals. However, since the kids left home, I've pretty much given up on cooking. I did my 25 years of dinners and I felt I deserved a break. I will make dinner during the summer when I'm off work, my husband cooks to fill in the blanks, and we go out to eat way too often. What can I tell you? We get by.

I do like to bake, but rarely do so because sugar is like crystal meth for me. Seriously, is there is sugar in the house, I cannot stop thinking about it. And then I eat it. And let me tell you at age 58 with no ovaries (was that too much information?) I cannot eat sugar without gaining weight. And since diet and exercise seem to be the best thing you can do to avoid a recurrence of breast cancer (I am a eight year survivor), I am trying hard to avoid it. Unfortunately, it is mostly a case of the spirit being willing while the flesh is weak, but I'm trying.

Now.....where was I....oh yes, baking. My ex-husband's wife and I are having a wedding shower for our daughter-in-law to be. Since I am still on crutches and really didn't want to have it at our house, we decided to have the shower at the cutest little tea room near us. I had been thinking of favors to give to our guests, and since I tend to leave everything until the absolute last minute, I spent a day this week googling everything I could think of to come up with some sort of idea. In the end, I used an idea I had bookmarked a while ago......cake in a jar! It seemed easy. It seemed quick. It seemed cheap. How could I lose?

So I set up to do some baking. And pretty soon, this:
became this:

I made chocolate zucchini and Michigan blueberry (with the blueberries picked by our own little hands.) You are supposed to be able to use any cake recipe that uses baking powder. You can even use cake mixes. The one piece of advice I have is to not fill up six jars with cake mix and put them in the oven without first doing a practice run to determin exactly how much cake mix you should put in the jars. I filled my jars within an inch of the top on my first attempt and they all overflowed. I then did a couple of practice jars and ended up filling the jars just a little more than 1/2 full. This may vary with the recipe and the size of jar used. So there you go.....cute little favors for our shower tomorrow.
I went to Borders this afternoon and bought three books, so I am off to do some reading.
See ya!

A Perfect Day in Michigan

2009-08-06T13:36:00.001-04:00

People who live in Michigan talk about the weather. A lot. Of course, we have good reason to. Our winters are long and cold and snowy and icy and grey. Did I mention long? I'm convinced that many of us suffer from seasonal mood disorder and vitamin D deficiency. We get crabby. And moody. We yell at the dog.

Our summers are not that much better. They are short, generally hot and humid. Not a little humid. The kind of humid that makes you feel as if you are wrapped in a wet blanket. A hot wet blanket. Your hair gets frizzy or, as in my case, stringy straight. We get crabby and moody and we continue to yell at the dog.

However, despite all that, Michigan has a great deal going for it. We have two peninsulas, one of which is shaped like a mitten. We have the Great Lakes--and in my mind these five great bodies of water rival either coast. We have waterfalls, rivers and white pine forests. And every so often the universe aligns to give us a perfect day--not too hot--not too humid. The sun shines. A gentle breeze blows. And you tell the dog to get in the car because you are going for a road trip.

That's exactly what we did the other day. It was a perfect day after a long period of rainy, cool weather. So we went traveling to Manistee.

After dropping Rog off at the casino (because there is nothing he likes better than the free senior breakfast buffet!), I took off to visit a new quilt store in Bear Lake called Two Sisters. What a great shop! The ladies that work in the store were so friendly and nice. And the fabric; I could have taken one of everything! I did see this quilt done up in the Legacy fabric from Moda:

I am making a quilt for my son's wedding in September. I thought they might like this fabric, but no go. Not modern enough for their taste. Oh well.
Afterwards we walked through downtown Manistee and had lunch. We picked the restaurant solely on the fact that it had a deck overlooking the river. The food was so-so; the view was beautiful.
I have had days where I have brushed my hair, put on make-up and looked thinner (Okay, I am lying about the thinner part.). Obviously this was not one of them. However, I do have to tell you why I am the luckiest women in the world. I am not making this up. As we sat there, my husband grabbed the camera and said he wanted a picture because I looked so nice with the wind in my hair and the river in the background. This is why I am not pushing for him to get his cataracts operated on!

Next we went to the shore and just sat, talked and watched the water for a while.

It was a day for the memory books!

10 Minutes a Day

2009-08-04T16:43:00.000-04:00

April at Red Jack Rugs put out a challenge for rug hookers to spend at least 10 minutes a day on some aspect of rug hooking. Since the demise of my Bliss cutter, I wasn't able to get very much hooking done. I did begin to add in the other colors to my leaf. I'm not sure about the vein, as the wool, which is a very dark teal, comes off as a greenish-black next to the other wools. But I am going to live with it for a while and see how I feel after I get more of the rug done.

I did, however, decide to bite the bullet and whip the edges of an unfinished rug since hooking wasn't an option right at this moment. So off I went shopping at our local yarn store (shopping for supplies counts as a rug hooking option, right? Because, to tell the truth, I am an average rug hooker, but I seriously rock at shopping!) where I bought this:

Yarn to finish the edges. (By the way, the pretty little finch next to my purchase was carved by my husband.)

I love this challenge because it gives me that little push to do small, manageable bits every day.

RIP

2009-08-02T17:38:00.001-04:00

Rest in peace my little Bliss cutter.
I was cutting some wool today and she just died. Oh, there had been warnings. Some slipping, not cutting completely through the wool. I guess I should have seen the signs and sent her away for some first aid because now there is nothing.....she flatlined and now matter what type of CPR I try, I just can't get her back.
I guess I'll have to send her off tomorrow to see if she can be saved. Let's all keep our fingers crossed as I really don't have the money for a new cutter right now.
My rug hooking will be hiatus until I get word on the cutter. I cut my wool as I need it. I"ve found that if I cut too much wool at one time, the little wool fibers floating around set off an alergic reaction--sneezing, eyes swelling and tearing. So I have learned to cut just enough for the hooking I am going to do that day which means that at this moment I have no cut wool to work with. >sob<
Ah well, certainly worse things can happen. On the bright side, I've been wanting to design my own rug--I will use my 10 minutes a day to do some drawing. And I have a half-finished quilt that could use my attention. I certainly won't be without things to do.

Hanging With My Peeps

2009-07-30T12:21:00.000-04:00

I was hooking the other day when I heard this very faint "peep-peep." Looking out the window I saw this:

A little baby robin hanging on for dear life to the back of our glider! The picture isn't the greatest as I had to take it through the window, but he still had little pieces of down sticking up through his little baby feathers. And look at that those little baby tail feathers.......Don't you just want to grab him and kiss his little feathery cheeks? (How many times can I use the word little in one paragraph?!)

So he sat there chirping and pretty soon the mama flew down with a berry in her beak. I thought she was going to feed him, but she was using the berry to entice him to fly. She sat on the arm of the glider with the berry in her beak and she kept flapping her wings as if she was trying to show the little guy, "Look, it's easy. Just do this." Junior, however, was having none of it. He was hanging onto that glider like it was the last life raft on the Titanic.

After a while I moved away from the window, thinking that I might be a distraction to the whole process--what with my nose pressed to the window, taking four thousand pictures and yelling to my husband that he had to come see this right now. When I checked back later, the little guy had made it to the planter under our front window.

An hour later, they were both gone. In my head, he made it back to the nest and away from all the nasty little baby bird preditors we have around here. Right now, in my head, he is a teenage robin, asking to borrow the family car and staying out past his curfew.

In other baby animal news (we're better than the Disney Channel!) a few days later my brother-in-law stepped out onto the deck and came face to face with a little baby rabbit! The baby was so surprised that he jumped right into the lake and began swimming like he was being chased by a pack of wolves. I didn't even know that rabbits could swim. My brother-in-law saved the day by wading into the lake, grabbing the baby and bringing up to shore. We let him loose in some bushes next to the house where he would have some cover and could dry off. I didn't get a picture as it happened so fast and the little one was scared out of his wits.

So after all this, do you think you can stand to see the hooking I have been doing? Not too much, actually. I had to go home for a doctor's appointment and didn't feel like gathering up all my hooking stuff for the week I would be gone. But I did manage to begin this paisley-like leaf before I left.

As I don't seem to have the best camera in the world, the leaf is outlined in a dark olive green, the veins are in a very dark almost teal color and the little dots are a greenish gold. It will be filled in with a dark olive green on one side and a little olive green on the other. Did I mention how much I love this rug???

Ribbet!

2009-07-26T12:43:00.000-04:00

So, as I mentioned before the knitted shawl project is not going so well for me. I frogged it once again last night. Grrrrrrrr! I just cannot get the hang of this. I know how to knit; my mother taught me when I was about in 3rd grade. I don't like to knit sweaters because a) yarn is crazy expensive and 2) you never know if it will look good on you or if it will even fit. Too many variables in there for me to spend that kind of money. Oh yeah--one other thing is that I hate, hate, hate to sew seams in a knitted sweater. However, I do find knitting relaxing and like to make things like socks, scarves, hats or anything that meets my criteria of no seams and no fitting. So you would think a shawl would be right up my alley.

However, I will not give up just yet. Maybe a different pattern......................

Since I don't have a picture of my progress on the shawl from hell, I thought you might like to see a pic of my sister and I knitting:

Giving My Cast the Boot

2009-07-23T20:18:00.000-04:00

I went to the doctors yesterday and had my cast removed and am now in a boot. I also get to begin to put weight on it using my crutches which seems like heaven after six weeks of non-weight bearing. To celebrate my whole family left to go up north, seeing as they are all really tired of waiting on me and figured I could now survive on my own for a while. Actually, I would have gone with them, but I have a meeting at work next Tuesday which makes my teeth hurt just to think about. So I won't. Instead I'll show you this:

What is it you ask? I have started to knit a shawl for my son's wedding in September. What about the rug hooking you ask?

Oh you have sadly underestimated my ADD and my ability to begin new projects without any pesky thoughts about finishing what I started or pursuing something until the end. For me, it all about the excitement about starting something new.

As for the shawl. Let's just say I am not feeling the love. First of all it is lace, which means reading a chart. Which also means actually thinking about what you are doing while you are doing it. You can imagine how I feel about that. I have so far gone through three different patterns, each one easier than the last. This is the easiest one yet and I have started it over three-count 'em-three times. What you see above is the last attempt.

Well, not the last attempt. I actually have one other pattern left to try which is even easier. In fact, to get any easier I would probably have to just unravel the whole skein of yarn and drape it artfully over my shoulders. And speaking of the yarn--did I mention that it is lace weight. Which is like knitting with very thin thread. I am not even kidding. It is the worst.

Sigh........but I have to finish this. You know how expensive yarn is (well, maybe you don't know, but you could probably feed a third world country for a year for the cost of a hand-knit sweater) and the very nice lady at the yarn shop ordered another skein for me back when I actually thought I could knit lace and finish this baby.

So, I'll keep trying. It is very pretty handpainted yarn in beautiful fall colors. I'll let you know how it goes.

Here Comes the Sun!

2009-07-19T13:56:00.000-04:00

Well, as you can see from our very classy Raccoon Eating Corn thermometer, we are finally have some nice weather and are able to get outside for a little while. Rog is taking down the shutters, painting them and then putting them back up. I am sitting in the sun writing this post. (Being in a cast does have some advantages!)

Honestly, don't you love our little back door thermometer? It's is, of course, complimented by the equally classy Buzzy Bee that is hanging nearby:

I bet you didn't know this was a decorating blog! The only thing that I can say in our defense is that they were here when we moved in. The fact that we moved in eight years ago and haven't yet taken them down, say loads for our character.

Anyway, back to rug hooking. I promised you a picture yesterday of my little speckled hen:

Isn't she just so cute? I put the wool next to her so you could see the texture of the wool I used. Susan Quicksall, in her tips for hooking this rug, suggests that first do all the items in the foreground and to hook a row of a neutral color around them. I chose a very light gray for that. Because the rug is so busy, this really helps to keep them from being lost.

Now what shall I hook next? ...............a leaf? ............a horse? ...........or perhaps a flower?

Rain, rain..............

2009-07-18T13:59:00.000-04:00

Go away!!!

This has been the coolest, rainiest summer I can remember in a long time--even for Michigan.

Yesterday we planned to go the Dulcimer Festival in Evart--rain.

Today we wanted to go to the Art Fair dowtown--more rain.

It's not that I will melt or anything, but I had surgery on my Achilles Tendon at the beginning of the summer, and I'm still in a cast and am either using crutches or my little Roll-About scooter. Neither option works well on a rainy day--especially in the middle of a muddy fairground or city park.

The upside to all this is that I have plenty (and I mean plenty) of time to rug hook. I started my Crazy Horse Quilt rug. I began with the hen, mostly because I couldn't wait to use the wool I choose. It is a texture that, when hooked, looks just like a little speckled hen.
Which I would show you, but for some reason the internet is not cooperating and letting me download pictures. Stay tuned for pictures!

Hello--Anyone Out There?!?

2009-07-14T13:32:00.000-04:00

Well, here I go. My first blog post.

First a little about myself. I am a special education teacher by day who loves to work on fiber-related projects in my spare time. During the school year, the spare time is in short supply, however in the summer I indulge myself by working on all the projects I dream about during the fall and winter. I love rug hooking, quilting and an occasional knitting project. I have been sewing since I was a little girl and took up rug hooking a few years ago. Right now, I am smitten with rug hooking although I do like to keep a quilt "in progress."

I just finished a rug: "Give Ye Thanks." This is a pattern from Spruce Ridge Studio. If you have never seen Kris Miller's patterns, you must go over there right now. She is an extremely talented woman who has a wonderful eye for design and color. She is a fabulous teacher also. I took rug hooking classes from two other teachers and it just didn't "click" until I went to Kris' class.

Kris helped me choose some of the wool for this rug. Although the picture does not do it justice, the background wool is a beautiful light blue and lavender plaid that give just a beautiful sense of movement and depth the rug.

As you can see the rug is not what I call "finished/finished". The hooking is done. It has been steamed. The edges have not been turned under and whipped.

Sigh......this is one of my biggest personality flaws. I can never quite finish a project. I get almost there.......and then it's................"Oh look! Something shiny!" And off I go in another direction.

This time things are no different. Here is my latest project:

This design in called "Crazy Horse Quilt" and is by Susan Quicksal of Holly Hill Designs. I LOVE this rug. It is crazy busy and should be really fun to hook. I can't wait to start.