Playing catch-up ~

It's so easy falling behind, especially having been gone for 3 days.  I have unpacked, watered and done some deadheading.  Still lots on my list to do.  And of course rather than stay home tomorrow and accomplish more, I am off on a play date with a favorite partner in crime . . . sigh.

Class with Jenny Smallridge of the Wooly Horse was great fun.  Jenny is a true teacher (she actually retired in January from teaching 6th graders) who teaches.  She is not there to just color plan your rug.  She had "lessons" for us each day, offering tips and tricks and showing us examples of what she was talking about.  I had her last year for a scrappy technique class, this year for how to hook a great rug, and I would not hesitate to take her again in the future.

Jenny helping Sue redraw some of her rug to more pleasing/meaningful motifs.

Examples of different colors in her backgrounds to make them more interesting.

A close up from the above rug.

And yet another example.

Lots of fun colors in the corner of the rug she is currently working on.

Her treatment of using what I call reversible black in her background.  I believe calls this wool Blackjack 2.

Jenny has started a 7' x 7' story rug.  The buildings are all part of her past and all the motifs have meaning to her.

How she is working on the design.

I cannot even begin to imagine hooking something that large.  She is a high hooker and that rug will weigh a ton.  She has the perfect spot for it and it will be amazing.

A fun Santa she has hooked and cut out.

Her scrappy American flag.

Isn't he the sweetest?

Her fun labels.

I will leave you with three antique chicken rugs she owns and in the next post will share the class rugs.

Thanks so much for stopping by.
Pug hugs 😊
Lauren 

As usual ~

I am leaving for a three day rug class tomorrow and I have barely begun to pack, but that's pretty normal for me.  I guess I will never learn, but it will all get done, and if I forget anything will just have to purchase it!

First this morning I needed to mow the lawn.  Thankfully only a 35 minute task (my yard is small!!!).  It really did not need it, but I figured by the time Friday rolled around it would be looking pretty shabby.

Also, it's that time of year.  Lousy timing . . . but I made time for it today.

Believe it or not I have a finish to share.  Of course not fully finished but the hooking is done.  Pattern by Cathy Stephan of Red Barn Rugs.  I added the 1776 and 2026.  I am happy with the finish!!!  (I just can't get a picture that is not washed out.)

And I finally pulled a (very) loops on my June class rug, Indian Peace Flag by the Woolley Fox.  This rug is a biggie and my goal is to finish it in 2026.

That's it.  Really must go work on my packing.

Hopefully will take pictures at class!!!

Thanks so much for stopping by.
Pug hugs 😊
Lauren

Lakeview Cemetery ~

Lakeview Cemetery is a privately owned, non-profit garden cemetery located in Cleveland, Cleveland Heights, and East Cleveland, Ohio.  It was founded in 1869 and favored by wealthy families and today is known for numerous lavish funerary monuments and mausoleums.

It encompasses 285 acres with 102,000+ already interred there.  Seventy acres remain and interment space is available for the next 100 years.

The James A. Garfield Memorial was erected in 1890 as the tomb of the assassinated president.  President Garfield was born in Ohio in 1831, the last president born in a log cabin.

Carved in Italy from one piece of Carrara marble, this sculpture of Garfield is eight feet tall.

The caskets of Garfield and his wife and the urns of his daughter and son-in-law rest in the lower area.

Other famous individuals buried at Lakeview Cemetery include John D. Rockefeller, JH Wade, Elliot Ness, former Cleveland mayor Carl B. Stokes and Adella Prentiss Hughes, the founder of the Cleveland Orchestra.

A 65 foot obelisk marks the grave of Rockefeller.

It was hard not going crazy posting pictures of the funerary monuments.

Though modest by comparison, I loved this one.

Amazing mausoleums . . .

The cemetery is home to Wade Memorial Chapel, featuring an interior designed by Louis Tiffany.  

In 1900, this Tiffany stained glass was sent to Paris for the Paris Exposition and returned unscathed!

What a magnificent place to wander.  You can read more about Lakeview Cemetery here.

Brenda, thank you for your comment.  You are correct.  Archibald Willard is from Wellington.  Even though I am only a half hour from there, I have never been to the Spirit of '76 Museum.  I need to put that on my "places to go" list.

Thanks so much for stopping by.
Pug hugs 😊
Lauren

Spirit of '76 ~

 

I'm sure many of you are familiar with this painting by Archibald McNeal Willard (1836 - 1918).  It is an 8' x 10' oil painting made in Ohio for our country's 100th year anniversary.  When first completed it was known as "Yankee Doodle" and only later became know as the "The Spirit of '76".  Critics at the time considered it to be cartoonish.  

The painting's popularity led Willard to paint an estimated 10 more versions.  The models were Hugh Moser, a Civil War veteran and friend of Willard's playing the fife, Henry K. Devereux, son of Gen. John H. Devereux served as the model for the drummer on the left and Willard's father, Rev. Samuel Willard, as the older drummer.

Now for a bit of trivia . . . 

The words to Yankee Doodle Dandy were written as a slap in the face to Americans.  "Yankee Doodle" is a famous example of an insult the backfired.  The term Yankee is difficult to nail down but some historians say it is derived from Dutch words that were pronounced "John Cheese" in the 1850's.  A "doodle" is a country hick, and a "dandy" is a conceited jerk.  Riding on a pony is an insult as a proper military commander rides a horse.  Stuck a feather in his cap and called it macaroni is insulting because a macaroni was a pejorative term used to describe a fashionable man with feminine traits of 18th century Britain.  British troops played the song while marching out of Boston to Lexington and Concord in 1775.  The Colonists adopted the lyrics and tune for motivation.

Big Boy No. 4014 is on its return trip west after spending the 4th of July in Philadelphia.  There was no whistle stop this time around, but it did not stop people from lining the railroad tracks to witness its passing.  What a sight and sound to behold!!!  I am so thankful to have witnessed this marvelous machine, not once but twice.

Thanks so much for stopping by.
Pug hugs 😊
Lauren

America Banner update ~

I have made a bit of progress on my America Banner by Red Barn Rugs.  Cathy has some of the best patterns.  I have had many classes with her (I am a Cathy groupie!).  I see she will be vending during rug week at Sauder Village.  It will be good to see her.

Hopefully this will be finished before I head to my next hooking class with Jenny Smallridge of the Wooly Horse on July 21.  It shouldn't be a problem finishing it unless I get distracted, set it aside and move on to something else . . . sigh.  

Sure wish I could figure out how to take rug pictures without them being so washed out!!!

That's all I have.
Thanks so much for stopping by.
Pug hugs 😊
Lauren

Happy birthday America!!!

 

Most of my patriotic decor stays out year round.  Just flags are added here and there for the holiday.

In 2009, I had one lonely snowbird.  (Snowbirds are small rooftop devices attached to sloped roofs.  They prevent hazardous snow avalanches and ices slides by holding snow in place so it melts naturally or sheds in small, manageable amounts.)   Sorry for the blurred picture, but it was cropped way down.

The collection grew to three.

And then continued to grow over the years.  I had hit a dry spell and hadn't found any in a couple years, but on a recent play date bought four more.  Most are cast iron, but a couple I think are cast aluminum.

On a slaw cutter.  DSO brought the Home Sweet Home eagle and horseshoe from California for me.

On the kitchen baker's cupboard.

On the dining room jelly cupboard.

The mantle ~

Miscellaneous patriotic ~

Vintage Statue of Liberty on the dining room pie safe.  I also purchased the cross stitch sampler on my play date.  

Dated 1970 (the year I graduated high school!!!) I guess we are both considered vintage.

Punch needle eagle I did many years ago.

Hooked by Polly Minick.  Won in a benefit auction more than a decade ago.

Forty eight star flags and red, white and blue tops on the bottom shelf.

Bucket bench items left out all year (except for Christmas).

Closer up of some of some of the fun stuff on the top shelf.  Some vintage.  Some new.

Even the patriotic Santas are out year round.

The little landing heading upstairs.

In an old copper boiler from my folks' farm.

I will end with the front porch.  Vintage (?) blowmold Uncle Sam.  

~ HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA ~

We are truly blessed to live in the greatest nation on earth and I am thankful each and every day to be so lucky.  

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Pug hugs 😊

Lauren