Lesson Learned ~

 

My little needle felting class was fun, but I am now even more convinced needle felting is not for me.  We were felting a little "love nest".  I got one heart done . . . with the help of the teacher.  I was having difficulty getting the heart's "butt crack" to be defined enough.  The heart is about 1.5" tall and the nest about 3.25" in diameter.  The nest still needs more felting and another heart begun.  This took almost 3 hours!!!  I can't imagine how long it takes to make one of those very realistic animals some people felt.  I sense this will be a UFO for a while.

Progress is being made on Rudie.  He is great fun and so easy to hook, but even his most basic face has not yet been hooked.

So far . . . 

Roosters are still mia.  Thanks for all the suggestions on where they might be, but so far I have come up empty handed.  I was hoping I had taken the rug to the hooking shop and forgot it there.  Nope.  Not there either . . . sigh.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Pug hugs 😊

Lauren

I'm Losing It ~

Well . . .  actually I lost it.  I wanted to take my 1890 Rooster Rug to guild yesterday for show and tell.  I can't find it.  I mean I have looked everywhere at least twice.  My last hope was that I took it to the junk journal class a couple weeks ago and forgot it there.  Nope.  WTH???

I have made some progress on Rudie.  Now remember, he is pretty small 😁

Tomorrow a friend and I signed up for a needle felting class at a quilt shop.  Now mind you, I took a little felting class last year and didn't care much for the process, but what the heck.  This time I may decide it's another rabbit hole I can fall down in ~ NOT!

Saturday is a junk journaling class.  We have been having so much fun we will now be meeting twice a month.  I still haven't a clue what I am doing but spending too much time accomplishing little.  Here are a few more pages I have done.  Completed?  Not sure because I keep adding things.

My dining room table.  This junk journaling is messy, or maybe it is just me.

Note to self . . . before putting hands in a strong coffee dye solution . . . PUT ON GLOVES!!!

Thanks so much for stopping by.
Pug hugs 😊|
Lauren

Rudie ~

 

At long last I started hooking something other than hearts.  I am out of the heart business for the year 😝

Rudie, a pattern by Cammie Bruce of Baskets of Wool, has been sitting out for weeks waiting to be started.  I just need something mindless and I hope this will do the trick.  It is only 14" x 17" so shouldn't take me forever . . . but stranger things have happened.  I have several large-for-me rugs started at various rug classes over the last 6-7 years (maybe more???) that I really should decide to work on.  One was for a Christmas gift from about 5 years ago . . . lol.  OOPS!

I have a small walk in closet in the hooking room.  It has looked like an episode from the hoarders.  I failed to take a "before" but this is what the hooking room looked like after taking stuff out of the closet.  It was worse than it appears in the picture!  I hope to get it semi-organized.  I bought a couple more shelves.  I didn't measure exactly . . . just figured I had plenty of room.  WHEW!  If the shelves were 1/2" longer, they would not have fit.  I am finding things that haven't seen the light of day in years.  Maybe if I can get it half way organized I will be able to find something when I am looking for it.  Some stuff is leaving the house!!!  But of course not enough.  I am doing a little each day.  I am not one to tackle such a project all in one day.

USPS raised their rates again today.  OUCH!  

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Pug hugs 😊

Lauren

Frittering the Day Away ~

I have no idea where my days go.  I am busy all the time but feel I am accomplishing nothing.  I haven't started a real rug project but have been working on little hooked hearts.  I had hooked and stuffed quite a few hearts for a show where I was to vend last October ~ then it was cancelled.  I listed some for sale on Facebook and sold a few.  Then I got a couple orders so had to work on them.  Not something I really want to do, but the $$ will definitely come in handy for May's rug camp in WV.  Here are a few of them.

These were extra large bedsprings.

Here are a few I just finished hooking.  One was for an order but I didn't want to waste linen so hooked a couple extra.

I have also been wasting spending time grubbying some battery candles.  Easy but I make a mess doing it.  I made one yesterday with some cheap white Dollar Tree glue.  That didn't work because the glue easily chipped off so I removed it all and started over.  I used Elmer's without problem.  They were each done at a different time with a slightly different grubby mixture so that's why they don't all look alike.

Damn deer!  As I have said I live in the city but with woods nearby.  This one was only a few feet from the house munching away.  There were 3 in the yard.  The other day in the open field 2 houses down from me there were 9 of them, not the least bit fazed when my granddog and I were nearby.

I've also done a little more rust dyeing to use in junk journals . . . now I just need to figure out what do do with them 😁

A piece of paper that was not quite dry and tore when removing from pan.

I love the rusty keys on the left.

Coffee filters.

Leftover rug hooking linen.

And my favorite.  The lace was already coffee dyed.  I don't know why sometimes the color is just rusty . . . but sometimes it is a grey blueish color.

Our bitter cold temperatures have eased up, but now the weather guessers are predicting 4" - 8" of snow tonight.  The way they are acting one would think it never snows in northern Ohio . . . sigh.

Thanks so much for stopping by.
Pug hugs 😊
Lauren

Junk Journal ~

My junk journal has been a little slow going, but I did get the journal sewn together with one signature.  I equate a signature to being a chapter in a book.  You can have as few or as many as you wish and can have as many pages as desired in a signature.

My cover is a piece of an old cutter quilt that was given to us by Linda who is teaching.  The quilt was beyond repair so we were able to use that for our cover if desired.  I added bits of coffee dyed lace, buttons, etc, which helps to hide the holes.

The front ~

Do you recognize the round "picture frame"?  Remember the crochet pulls on a string from the old fashioned window shades?  That is what I used.  The heart was fussy cut from a strip of lace and the thin piece of lace was purchased at Dollar Tree and coffee stained.

The back ~ another piece of fussy cut lace.

Here are a few pages I completed ~ on my own 😁  I think my journal will be much more simplistic than many I have seen.  Mostly stained, primitive looking items and not at all artsy fartsy.

This page is actually an envelope and where the red tab is on the right you can put little treasures in the "pocket".

Love the paisley.

The inside front cover is a piece of card stock I rust dyed.  Today at class Linda showed us how she rust dyes items . . . fabric, lace, paper, rick rack, etc.  I can't wait to see the results.  I need to find more rusty stuff to use.

My granddog Kali.  Son J and girlfriend took a weekend trip to Kentucky.  Of course they picked the coldest weekend so far this winter to have me dogsit, but seriously I can't complain about our winter so far.  It does me good to go for a walk - even a short one - in the cold.

Thanks so much for stopping by.
Pug hugs 😊
Lauren

Building a Better Mousetrap?

Or in this case, tp.  I don't know why I find this so hilarious.

No longer is it a straight tear, but wavy.  Will other manufactures follow along, or does Charmin have a copyright?

Thanks for reading this crazy post.
Pug hugs 😁
Lauren

Crying Uncle ~

Nancy Agness is going in to a permanent time out.  I started her once again and I am happy with the blue chosen (DMC 926).  The problem is after getting this little bit done (thankfully not more) . . . 

. . . I looked at the picture of the antique.   Whoever reproduced the sampler took way too much "poetic license" in charting it and removed all the quirky charm of 10 year old Nancy Agness' sampler.  The chart is much to perfect. 

I though I could chart it back to the original, but the quality of my photo does not allow for that.  

Here is row #2 of the sampler.  I have circled the most glaring changes in that row, but liberties were taken throughout the entire sampler.

If I decide I must stitch something, I will find something I will be happy stitching.  I would never be happy with this one.

It took a week ~ argh ~ but Christmas has been totally put away and the house redecorated.  I am happy to have that done so hopefully will get something on my frame sooner rather than later.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Pug hugs 😊

Lauren

Two Finishes and a Start ~

1890 Roosters is finally bound though it still needs a final steaming and a label.  That little rug took way too long, but I am happy with the way it turned out.  It was so hard to hook in that scrappy style . . . but I love it.  Once again, thanks to Saundra for the pattern.  You can find that one ~ and many more ~ here.

I decided to do a little freebie cross stitch Marly (Samplers & Santas) had shown.  The link to the chart by the Primitive Hare can be found here on her blog.  It was such an easy stitch until I had to stitch with the white floss.  I did way too much frogging because I just couldn't count the threads properly.  Didn't have that problem with the darker colors.  There is still one error I did not correct but I am quite certain no one will find it, but I KNOW IT IS THERE.  Ugh.  Stitched on a scrap of 30 or 32 count linen, the finished size is 3 7/8 x 3 1/4.  Unlike Marly who fully finishes her cross stitch, mine will end up in a shoebox with other cross stitch that is not totally finished. 

Last night I decided to start Nancy Agness McGlaughlin, a reproduction sampler I found in a 1988 Traditional American Crafts book.   The chart did not list DMC floss number, just "blue" and "tan".  After stitching for almost 2 hours I decided I did not like the blue I chose so frogged all of that.  (Can you relate, Marly?)  Maybe tonight I can try blue #2.  I am a slow stitcher (still use the stab method) so this will be an ongoing project for quite some time.

And to Saundra . . . No.  I have not started a new hooking project 😢

Christmas is almost down and hauled to the attic.  I need help with the big tree.  Every time I think I have found everything, another tree surfaces.  Thursday my Fitbit went crazy and said I did 159 floors.  Now I know that is not true, but I am sure I did at least 50.  Thankfully it is a walk up attic!!!  

Let the re-decorating begin.  Then maybe, just maybe, I will have time to get something on my frame.

For my grammar nazi friends, I leave you with this.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Pug hugs 😊

Lauren

They Know Me Well ~

I am truly blessed to have friends and a s-i-l who know me so well.  Look at these wonderful Christmas gifts I received that are so "me".

Another kugel (the red one).

Christmas book dated 1915.

More snowmen. 

A fun blue Santa (my first), Santa candy container and a large vintage cardboard house.

Another Santa wearing a velvet coat and a vintage framed postcard.

This amazing turned walnut bowl with a live edge.  I don't know what I did to deserve this!!!  (Lousy picture.  Gorgeous bowl.)

My bad luck with tree lights goes on.  Thankfully it was yesterday, but I had another tree go partially dark.  Not one of the trees was pre-lit as I've had issues with those in the past.  Aggravating nonetheless.

Lucky me, but I am in the process of un-decorating.  Not fun at all, but thankfully it comes down much more quickly, but it will still take me days.  Then when it is all put away, need to re-decorate almost the entire house.  Yup, as I've said before, I am my own worst enemy!

I am almost done binding the 1890 Rooster rug but still don't have my next hooking project lined up.  I went through my pattern stash that is already on linen and did pull a little Cammie Bruce deer that should be a no brainer (but every time I think that I have issues 😖) or I could dig out one of my works in progress.  I do have several, a couple from years ago.  Decisions, decisions.

Hope your new year is off to a great start.

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Off to put more Christmas stuff in boxes.
Pug hugs 😊
Lauren