100 Followers Give~Away

Welcome Friends!

As promised, since I've surpassed 100 followers, I'm having another give~away. At this point, it's a mystery give~away. It's even a mystery to me! It will be something made by me, but I just haven't figured out yet what it will be :)

As always, the rules are simple. Leave a comment on this post or email me with "give~away" in the subject line. You don't need to be a follower but I'd love it if you were. If you post as "anonymous", be sure to include your email address so I know how to contact you if I draw your name. I will pick the winner next Tuesday at 8p.

I've got an Eema update. She is doing GREAT! I've gotten a few emails from her new mommy. She is going for walks in the park, went shopping at PetsMart and got a new coat and has a special spot on the couch. Her new pug sister Cher is joining the family this evening. She is another pug being adopted through Ohio Pug Rescue. It is strange here without her, but I couldn't be happier for her. A happy pug and a happy family is what makes fostering so rewarding. Please remember, if you are looking for a pet, ADOPT! If adoption is not right for you and you must buy, find a reputable breeder. Do not purchase a pet - any pet - from a pet store. (Well, I suppose fish would be OK.) These animals are the products of puppy mills and puppy mill dogs and puppies live in deplorable conditions!

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Pug hugs :)
Lauren

A Little Piece of my Heart ~

I was told when your first foster is adopted, you will cry and when your second foster is adopted you will cry....

I've been fostering Eema just shy of one year. She is the 6th pug I have fostered through Ohio Pug Rescue in just over two years. She came to me as a seven year old recently out of a puppy mill. She was not housebroken, shy and unloved. Her tail was always never up and wagging. She was never allowed to be a pug. I am so thankful to have fostered her and allowed her that freedom. Today she went to her forever home. It was worth waiting a year to find her the perfect home. Her new mommy Dolly is on the left and her two-legged sister Rachel on the right. Her new daddy wasn't home. Rachel doesn't live there but was there waiting for Eema and plans to visit her often.

Dolly was so sweet. She had read my blog and found this sweet miniature piece of pottery that she thought would fit in with my stuff. It's less than an inch tall and one and a quarter inches in diameter. It is from Anita's Pottery in Sesgrove, North Carolina. Sesgrove is the birthplace of North Carolina traditional pottery. That was just so thoughtful of her. Dolly, if you are reading this THANK YOU!
The house seems strangely empty. I'm upstairs and Eema is not whining for me to carry her up. Like I've said in the past, fostering is very bittersweet. I just know I did what was best for my Eema girl (written through a few tears!).

Enjoy your new life Eema!

Pug hugs :)
Lauren

Pugwash ~

No, it's not a dog wash for pugs, but a village in Nova Scotia. According to Wikipedia, the population in 2006 was a whopping 784 people. The village, home to fishing, salt mining and small scale manufacturing is at the mouth of the Pugwash River. (In a local dialect, pugwash means deep river.)

Three fellow hookers, Carole, Deanna and Arlene were in Nova Scotia taking a class from Deanna Fitzpatrick and upon passing through Pugwash on several occasions, thought of me and brought me home my very own Pugwash t-shirt. How sweet and thoughtful of them. Thank you so much, ladies!!!
At Tuesday's hook-in, Rhonda from My Glory Stars gave me this magnetic scissors holder. Another sweet gesture and what a handy little gadget. Thanks Rhonda!
For you cat lovers out there, stop by Karen's blog, Through the Barn Door. She has some great pictures of her cat named Sheridan.

Once again, congrats to Tammy for winning my recent give-away. I am up to 99 followers, so if I'm having another give-away at 100, I'd better get busy!

My next post will show you some of the finished rugs displayed at the hook-in and one of these days I'll share some more rugs from Sauder Village.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope your weekend is off to a great start!

Pug hugs :)
Lauren

The Winner Is ~ ~ ~

Eema decided she wanted to help me pick the winner...

...or maybe she just thought I was hiding a dog treat.

It's really hard to blindfold a pug and they don't co-operate too well.

She insisted on peeking.

Not having opposable thumbs also posed a problem so I had to help pick the winner.

Congrats to Tammy from a Primitive Place.

Thanks to everyone who entered. I really appreciate all of you who read and those of you who follow my blog. I am up to 97 followers ~ woo hoo. #100 will probably mean another give~away!!!

Pug hugs :)
Lauren

New Treasures, 13# Spitfire & Give~Away Reminder

~ GOOD EVENING FRIENDS ~

I though I would share some of my purchases from the show at Malabar Farm.
I purchased this sweet little vintage cubby and am not sure where or for what I will use it. Maybe I'll showcase some stone fruit.
Or perhaps some pieces from my treen collection.

This little vintage mat was bought from Bobbie ~ The Evening Stitcher, when I was leaving the show. I could not believe no one had bought it. It appears to be made from old nylons.
I came home with a few blackened beeswax ornaments...

...and a rock. Everyone needs a rock, right? This one is for a Christmas gift.

Falling Star Primitives had some wonderful cross stitch charts. It feels good to be cross stitching again and I think I will enjoy stitching this redwork sampler.

My big splurge of the day was this HUGE wooden bowl. I have a confession, I love old bowls. I must have at least 15 of them, but none this large. It is about 19" out-of-round and measures 6" deep. It is cracked, but so am I :)

Here is the 13# spitfire. Her name is Cher and she is an Ohio Pug Rescue Pug. The couple adopting Eema are also planning on adopting Cher and wanted to make sure they would get along so we had a sleepover last night. I think Cher is 3-4 years old, but this little lady is bouncing off the walls. Cher has been the perfect guest, but Eema has gotten crabby a few times when Cher was too much in to her "space". You know how those seniors can be! I just love the way Cher cocked her ear in this picture.

Thank you so much for stopping by. Just a reminder that my give~away will be ending Wednesday and you must leave a comment on the give~away post or drop me an email.

Pug hugs :)
Lauren

In the Spirit of Friends ~

In the Spirit of Friends was held at Malabar Farm in Lucas, Ohio on Saturday. Malabar Farm was built by Pulitzer Prize winning author Louis Bromfield. In 1945, the wedding of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall took place at the farm. It was a perfect day for the show ~ sunny and pleasantly warm.

Here's a few pieces stitched by Bobbie ~ The Evening Stitcher. By the end of the show there was not too much left in her booth.

That's Bobbie on the left and Sherry ~ From Sherry's Heart, on the right.

Here's a shot of Alice's wonderful wools. If you don't already know Alice, stop and visit her at A Day in the Life.

The pictures do not do these rugs justice. It is the work of Marilyn Willmore. She was one of the artist's chosen to be included in the 2010 Early American Life Magazine's Directory of Traditional American Crafts.

This is Rhonda's booth ~ My Glory Stars. Her work is simply amazing :) I'm not sure if all the items in the first picture were made by her, but I know that she did the work in the next two pictures.

A few really neat hooked rugs. The two rooster rug on the left is a vintage rug.

This woodcarver (whose name I did not get) is also in the 2010 Early American Life directory. His carvings were amazing.

I just loved this little smokehouse!

If fall antique/primitive/craft shows don't end soon, I will be eating cat food BEFORE I retire...lol. My goal is to eat Fancy Feast from a crystal goblet, but if I'm not careful, I'll be feasting on the store brand instead. I'll show you what I bought at a later date.

Thank you so much for stopping by!
Pug hugs :)
Lauren

GIVE~AWAY TIME ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ WELCOME FRIENDS ~ ~ ~

Thanks so much for stopping by. I think I'm long overdue for a give~away! Does this little mat look familiar? It's a whole lot like the lumina pumpkin mats in the previous blog, but this one was hooked with a brown background. I've never hooked a dark brown background before and I kind of like it. I haven't yet sewn the binding on but I figured if I'm giving it away, that will be my motivation to git r done :) This little mat is about 9" x 10" and was hand hooked by yours truly using 100% wool on a linen backing.

The rules are simple. Leave a comment on this post to be entered in the drawing. (Or you can drop me an email with give~away in the subject line.) I will pick the winner next Wednesday around 8pm. You don't need to be a follower but I'd really appreciate it if you were! Oh, and you mustn't find pug hair offensive. NOTHING leaves this house pug hair free!

Pug hugs :)
Lauren

Little Fall Mats ~

Lori over at Homespun Prims did a blog post on fall rugs she has hooked. I so enjoyed it, I thought I would share some of my creations with you.

These first three hooked rugs were given to family and friends.

This was a freebie design from Linda over at The Wool Cupboard. I sent it to her upon completion.

This is a design by Lori from Notforgotten Farm. I actually punched two of these. I kept one for myself and gave the other away.

Once again, I punched two of these (do you detect a pattern here?), kept one and gave one away. This design was taken from the cover of Country Living Magazine a couple of years ago. It was a cake decoration.

Look familiar? This is the version I hooked for myself.

Two more little mats that I kept. I hooked these in 2005, the year I taught myself to hook.

I have hooked a little mat that I will be giving away soon, hopefully in my next post. I just need to sew the binding on and it will be done!

Thank you so much for stopping by and please come again soon.

Pug hugs :)
Lauren

Bittersweet Saturday ~

Bright and early Saturday, Eema and I headed for SkunkFest in North Ridgeville, Ohio. (I failed to get any pictures of the many skunks that were there. Not to offend any skunk lovers, but skunks just aren't too appealing to me.) I dropped Eema off at the Ohio Pug Rescue booth and headed south...

... to the herb fair at Quailcrest Herb Farm in Wooster, Ohio, where 70+ artists and craftsmen were set up amongst the gardens.

This plant looked like an iris but it had...

...the most unusual seed pods. They looked like blackberries.

This guy's work was fantastic. If you enlarge the picture, you can get a better idea of what he has done. He takes photographs of everyday objects, architectural elements, etc. and sees letters in them. You put together a word and he frames them for you. Very cool!

The gourd wagon.

This one room brick building was so quaint.

Take a peak inside. It was filled with wonderful antiques.

(OOPS! My pictures are a bit out of order. I will show you some of my purchases later.)

I made a quick stop at an antique shop on the way back to SkunkFest, but I'm not sure I saw any antiques in the shop! However, I did make a couple small purchases that will be Christmas gifts.

Upon arriving back at SkunkFest, I found this little guy sleeping in his foster mommy's arms. His name is Kashi, he's about 12 weeks old and weighs just over a pound. What a cute little thing. It's not often they are already in rescue at such a tender young age. He is even too little to get microchipped or neutered!

After waking, he wandered over to the pug pen to check out the "big dogs".

Look how tiny he is. That's Eema on the left in her Ohio State Buckeyes shirt. (Oh! That pug puppy makes my butt look fat!)

The big guys ~ and gals.

Eema. She's the bittersweet part. Today she found her forever home. Her new mommy is going on vacation next week, so if all goes as planned, she will leave me by the end of the month. I know you are all scratching your heads wondering how I can give her up. Let's just say it will be very hard, I will cry and she will take a piece of my heart with her, but it's the reason I foster. I know in my heart I am doing what is best for Eema!

Here's a couple of my purchases. I bought the little carved pig as a gift and another basket that SOME DAY I will hook a rug for. It is a smaller size than any of the others that I have. Someone painted a picture on the top, but I think I can sand it off.

Some luscious wool that I bought from Alice. Her booth was eye candy to any wool aficionado. I took a picture of her booth, but somehow must have deleted it. Sorry Alice :(

I think my OCD came out when I started buying gourds. They were such a great deal (lol) that I had to buy a huge bowl full.

Some of them need cleaning and I may try to find some leather dye (I think my son has some) and try dyeing some of them. Some of the gourds are as little as 2 1/4 tall.

To end the evening, my DSO and I headed over to the Jenne Art Gallery at the Sandstone Museum in Amherst, Ohio, for wine and hors d'oeuvres. The gallery has been open since 2005, but with many new artists, they decided to have a grand re-opening. Sandstone Museum is a growing complex of 19th century local structures that have been saved from destruction and moved to the complex. An octagonal barn that was once located down the road from where I grew up is now there. You can learn more by visiting http://www.amhersthistoricalsociety.org/. If you are ever in northern Ohio, it is a stop worth making.

Thank you so much for taking the time to visit my blog!

Pug hugs :)
Lauren