This 'n That Tuesday ~ ~ ~

Now that I finished a few heart mats (and given them all away), I am back to working on my Berks County Floral.  I don't have too much more to go.  Yeah!  It was started back in October, for Pete's sake!  Hopefully the next time I show it to you it will be completed and I can get a good picture of it.  These pictures are not real crisp.  They were taken without a flash.  With a flash, the colors were horrible!

I also started working on a little cross stitch piece.  Saturday I went to a cross stitch shop that I hadn't been to before.  The shop was HUGE with many, many models displayed.  There were more "primitive" type designs than in the shop I went to last week, but still not what you can find at a site like Pattern Mart.  I did buy a few small pieces of linen and picked up this freebie chart.  The designer is Lee of Falling Star Primitives.  I bought a couple of her patterns at the fall show at Malabar Farm, but of course they are not yet stitched.  She does have some really great primitive patterns.  I think I've said it before when I've done a little stitching, but I forgot how much I truly love counted cross stitch.  I find it so relaxing!

I've finally decided what I am going to work on at the hook-in this weekend at Sauder Village.  It is "Little Dog", a pattern by Maria Barton of Star Rug Company.  The design in 19" x 19.5" and has very little detail.  My kind of pattern!!!  Let's see how much I can actually hook in two days. 

Tomorrow would have been my Mom's 92nd birthday.  Miss you Mom :)

Still a beauty at age 87

Pug hugs :)
Lauren

Three W's ~

WINTER ~ WILLIE ~ WINNER

Saturday morning we received some rather unexpected snow.  It was beautiful but short lived.  By afternoon it had all melted.  

Willie's well worn guitar was front and center before the concert began.

What a beautiful backdrop!

A great concert!  Non-stop singing for just over an hour.

* * * * *

Many thanks to all who read my blog and leave comments.  Congrats to Amy of Bumble Bee Lane who is the winner of the hooked mat.  

Pug hugs :)
Lauren

Friday ~

Thank you for all your sweet comments regarding my little heart mats.  Many of you encouraged me to sell my wares.  I don't make enough to sell and much of what I make is given away.  Two of the mats already have new homes and Sunday evening, this mat will have a new home, too.  I decided to have another quick give-away.  I think you know the routine.  Leave a comment on this post or send me an email with give-away in the subject line.  Easy peasy as my grandson would say :)   (I will bind it before I send it on . . . lol!)

I am not a big country music fan, but I do like Willie Nelson.  He is having a concert at our local theater on Sunday as a fundraiser for a congressional candidate who is a friend of his.  The tickets were only $15, so how could I resist?  I will draw the winner after the show.

I hope you all have a great weekend!
Pug hugs :)
Lauren

Doin' the Math ~

I've often wondered about the going rate for commissioned hooked rugs.  I recently was on the website of a well known hooker and pattern designer, and her rate was between $125 and $175 a square foot, depending on the complexity of the design.  $125 a square foot works out to be $.87 a square inch and at $175 it works out to be $1.21 a square inch.  Out of curiosity I compared that to some hooked pieces that are on a new selling blog.  The pieces ranged from $.38 a square inch to $1.07 a square inch.  I guess it really does pay to be well known!

Here are three little heart mats I recently finished.  (Hooked but not bound.)  This first piece is 6 3/4" by 7 1/4" for a total of 50 square inches.  If I was famous I may be able to get $43.50 (since it's not complex I'm figuring $.87 a square inch) but since I'm not, maybe I could get $19.00 ($.38 a square inch).

I love the colors in this little mat.  Of course they are MUCH better in person.  It's about 6" x 9".

About 10 1/4" x 5 1/2". 

Have no fear.  I don't plan on selling them.  They will most likely be given away.

Thanks for stopping by for the math lesson.

Hugs :)
Lauren

A Wasted Day ~

I hate wasting a whole day and that is just what I did yesterday.  I slept in later than I had planned, took the girls for a nail trim and headed home.  Spent a little time catching up on some blogs when the arms of Morpheus took hold of me.  I have been battling something for almost a week.  One day I even left work early (I only went in because it was purchase order day and I had some to enter) and that is very rare.  I went home and slept that day and did it again today.  Now I am not one who can power nap and when I lay down, it is at least for a couple of hours.  So I slept for a couple hours and then took a quick trip to a cross stitch shop in a neighboring town.  I had stopped at the shop when it first opened about a year and a half ago.  I was unimpressed then and my opinion has not changed.  I'm not sure what I was looking for, if anything, but I didn't find it!  They had only one reproduction sampler in the shop and nothing remotely primitive.  They told me that primitive was not popular.  I am amazed how things have changed since I was an avid stitcher (20-30 years ago).  There are so many choices of linens and threads.  The price of charts ~ OH MY!  I remember  buying the Prairie Schooler annual Santa for fifty cents or a dollar.  Now they are $5.50!!!  OUCH!!! 

I would like to thank everyone who helped or offered to help me add an email link on my sidebar.  I got it done thanks to you!  (And it actually works!)

Not much else is going on.  Yesterday's snow storm sort of fizzled (yeah!) and we only got about half of what was predicted and today it is starting to melt away.

I enlisted a totally unbiased helper to choose the winners in my worm give-away.  She took her job very seriously :)

Congratulations to Lulu and Susan from Glen Oaks Primitives. Please send me your address so I can get your worms sent.  Thanks to all who entered!

Pug hugs :)
Lauren

A Couple Questions about Blogger ~

Is anyone else having problems leaving comments when there is word verification?  I am having to type three or four words before Blogger says I have typed it correctly.  I know I'm not the world's greatest typist, but I also know I'm not making that many errors!

Also, I want to add an icon to my sidebar that says "email me".  I know how to add the icon, but can't figure out how to link it to my email.  One time a kind blogger explained it to me, but I haven't a clue where to find that email.  Sometimes I am blogger stupid (!) so I need very explicit instructions :)

Still no prospective home for Annie . . . sigh.  How can you not love that face?

I have several bins full of woolly worms from my early hooking days.  They were all purchased on eBay before I had a cutter and before I knew the difference between good and bad wool.  These worms run the gamut of really good, okay and so-so at best.  They are an 8 cut, but we know that all 8 cuts are not created equal.  With that being said, I am giving these away.  I will draw 2 names on Sunday, sometime after 6pm, and send a box of worms to those two people.  {I see there are no green worms ~ I'll add some of those and more.}  It's simple to enter . . . just leave a comment on this post only or send me an email with give-away in the subject line. 

Once again it's winter in Ohio.  A couple of inches of snow today and more in tomorrow's forecast.  I did spend a few minutes hooking by the fire this evening.  I'm still working on my hearts.

Thanks for stopping by!

Pug hugs :)
Lauren

Crazy, Crazy Weather ~

What a weather roller coaster it has been.  These were taken yesterday about 10:30 am.  By 4:30 the majority of it had melted and by this morning, not a flake remained.  Today's temps were near 60.  They've begun to fall and we are supposed to be in the low 20's with high winds tonight.  WELCOME to Ohio!

Yesterday Jake and I headed to Disney on Ice in Cleveland.  It has been at least {big gulp} 45 years (I'm how old???) since I've taken the train downtown.  It was actually much easier driving half way, hopping on the train and avoiding the hassles of finding a place to park ~ cheaper, too :)

This year all the stories were princess stories.  Many young girls arrived in their princess outfits.  Too cute!

What a racket!  $12.00 cotton candy (with a Styrofoam crown) or a snow cone (in a plastic character cup) or a bargain priced box of popcorn for only $5.00.  $20.00 t-shirts and flashlights.  You get the picture.  I got off really easy.  I had Jake bring his Christmas money and gave him the choice of buying something there or saving it to buy a Nintendo game.  He opted to save his money for a game and didn't bug me to buy another flash light to go with the one from last year that he never plays with . . . lol!

We did have a good time and I'm so happy he's still at the age where spending time with grandma is great fun.

Wishing for spring!
Pug hugs :)
Lauren

The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men ~

Okay. Wasn’t Christmas just a week or so ago? And now it’s January 15. Holy smokes. Where has the time gone? The good news, though. Spring is only 9 weeks away. Yeah!

* * *



Woo hoo! A three day weekend! I was going to accomplish miracles.  All my Christmas goodes were finally going to make their way to the walk-up attic.  I was going to hook to my heart’s content and take a friend to lunch for her (belated) birthday. There was also a cross stitch shop I discovered about an hour away I wanted to check out. Oh, the plans I had, but the weather had other plans for me. I work for the city department in charge of snow plowing and when the guys work over, sometimes I must, too. Friday I worked four hours over and then worked eight hours on Saturday. Well, that still left Sunday and Monday, I thought. {{Big sigh.}} I got a call this morning to come to work.  I’m not complaining . . . well, maybe a bit. The extra $$ will really help, but I so enjoy my time away from work.  The extra $$ will pay for my mini hooking retreat at Sauder Village at the beginning of February. It is two days of hooking!!! Is anyone else going? I’m going with Melissa and we’re meeting Bobbie there. Heidi will also be there with friend Jane, but I betcha Mr. Taylor has to stay home.  I've never been to anything more than a one day hook-in so this sounds like great fun.

I've made some progress on my Berk's County Floral but have set it aside to hook a few small heart mats for Valentines Day.  I wish I could capture the true colors of this rug.

I've gotten two little mats started.

I love this piece hand dyed wool I bought at the ATHA Biennial.  It is much more subtle in person.

Here's Jake reading Annie and me a bedtime story.  Tomorrow we are off to see Disney on Ice.

I have been reading everyone's blogs, but just haven't had the time to leave many comments.  I hope to get caught up soon.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Pug hugs :)
Lauren

If Dogs Could Talk . . .

Try to understand this:

You see, my FUR keeps me warm.

Your sweaters only serve to insult me.

 

If the choice is between prison and playing dress up with you,

I choose prison.

 

Though I have provided all the evidence in the world,

perhaps I should take this time to state a certain fact explicitly:

I am a DOG.

I am NOT a CHILD.

 

If you wanted a bunny,

why didn't you just buy one?

 

Please remind me why I'm supposed to love you.

 

I give you everything I have to give and you still wish I were a Dalmatian.

 

I wish your husband had taken me with him when he left.

 

If I had hands I'd strangle you.

 

I suppose it could have been worse.

You could've put me in a hair net so I'd look exactly like you do in the mornings.

Oh... wait... you did.

 

What is wrong with you.

Seriously.

Did you not get enough love as a child?

 Is your world so completely devoid of meaning

that you think dressing me as a flower is a form of care taking?

I hope the house gets burgled tonight.

And when it does, you know what?

I'm not even going to bark,

because FLOWERS can't bark!

 

Oy vey.

If only Moses would have left in that 11th Commandment:

"Thou shall not desecrate one's pet."

 

I wonder how many of these I have to slip into her water

 to end the torment.

 

Very cute.

You come up with that yourself?

Look, I'm barely a dog.

I have enough identity issues without you dressing me up

 as a cheetah.

And in case you haven't noticed, I'm not Tarzan.

 

You are doing your best to ruin what self-esteem I have left.

 

And I thought the bunny suit was bad . . .

What am I now?

A Dogglebee?

A Dogfly?

Please stop.

Please.

I beg you.

* * *

Pug hugs :)
Lauren