Yard Stuff ~

Just wanted to pop in ~ and not yet ready to share hook-y stuff!

We are so dry in northern Ohio.  I have a friend who lives almost 3 hours south and they have been getting lots and everything is lush and green.  My flowers are doing ok, but the grass is beginning to turn a lovely shade of brown 😢.  The only thing I water is the pots, wheelbarrow, etc, and fill the birdbaths.

The other evening about 7pm I arrived home to find this d*#% deer munching in my front garden.  I was maybe 20' away from her and didn't faze her in the least.

When she finally noticed me, decided to saunter over to one of my newly planted trees and take a couple bites before walking down the middle of the street to find someone else's garden to destroy.

These day lilies are very prolific and long blooming.

My dumpster dive find from a couple years ago.

Garden statuary.

The lightening rod (but not the ball) is from my parents' barn.

Abby cypress

Another day lily

Love the spotted flowers of the tiger lily.  

Marly ~ here are my bubblegum 'tunias in the old baby bathtub.

The grasshoppers (or are they the crickets?) are chirping so loudly.  To me, that is the sound of fall, but puleeze, it is only mid July!!!

That's it for today!  We had some extremely hot and humid weather the last month, but when I got my electric bill today from running the A/C, I almost went in to cardiac arrest.

Thanks so much for stopping by.
Pug hugs 😊
Lauren

Donna Hrkman class ~ Day 3

Our day 3 class lecture was on borders, backgrounds, lettering and binding.

Here is Donna demonstrating how she does her lettering.

At the end of day 3, we had a throw down.  It is so cool to see what everyone has been working on.

A Tish Murphy Santa pattern.

From a photograph

I believe this hooker had started her owl in a previous Donna class.

The hooker and her sister.  Started this in a class with a different teacher, she is rehooking it all to her liking with Donna's guidance.

Two are hooking their beloved furkids.

The lone male hooker in the class (does that make him a gigolo?) is hooking Santas for his grands.  

This hooker has a son living in Texas and is hooking Cowboy Santa for him.

Val, my travel mate, is hooking her paternal grandmother's nursing school portrait.  WOWZA!

This hooker is hooking her two granddaughters.  Here is the start to one of them.

And she was stumped as to how to hook the driveway of her home.  Started in a prior class with Donna.

A moody sky over Lake Michigan.

And finally . . . my Santa.  I am pleased with my results so far.  Definitely a challenge for me.

Saundra, here are the wools chosen for his beard.  The wool on the right is much grungier than it appears in the picture, but perhaps you will know what wool this is.

I am so happy I put on my big girl panties and took this class.  If you are a hooker and have the opportunity to have a class with Donna, jump on it.  This was totally outside my comfort zone but I learned so much from her.  She is a true teacher and not just a color planner.

Thanks so much for stopping by.
Pug hugs 😊
Lauren

Donna Hrkman class ~ Day 2

Today's class started with a discussion of monochromatic rugs Donna has hooked.  A monochromatic rug is hooked using only one color.  In Donna's rugs, she used eight values of the same color dye and sometimes the addition of white.

This rug was hooked from a photo of Donna and her mom.  It is hard to tell, but the rug is all in shades of purple.

Winnie the Pooh rug

Helen Keller rug focusing on the senses she still had.  Smell and touch.

The band of dots was first hooked and then a bead added to each of the loops.  In braille it reads "Knowledge is love light and vision".

Son Nick's rug that I posted yesterday.  Eight values of blue and the addition of white.  She chose blue because that is Nick's favorite color.

Donna is from Dayton, Ohio, the birthplace of aviation.

Orville and William's signatures.

Susan B. Anthony rug.  She calls this a duochromatic rug because she uses eight shades of purple and I believe she said 4 shades of yellow.

The signature at the bottom is her actual signature.

Victorian Painted Lady

Backside of the rug.  This is an achromatic rug, hooked in gray, white and black.

I hope you can enlarge this to understand how she painted this piece!

Two more little painted pieces.

Hooked solely in white wool with raised loops.

Day 2 progress on Santa.  (Ignore the black wool to the right.  It needs to be trimmed.)  I am Donna's problem student because I want to used cuts larger than she wants me to!!!

Thanks so much for stopping by.
Pug hugs 😊
Lauren

Donna Hrkman class ~ Day 1

Donna Hrkman is a true artist and now wool is her medium of choice.  She truly paints with wool.

Class started off with a sampling of her rugs and the stories behind them.  I will share a few of the rugs with you.

I never tire of sharing this rug of a World War I soldier that I have posted many times.  

Another rug that will bring you to tears.  A soldier suffering from PTSD and his bomb sniffing dog that brought him comfort.  Finished to look like a dog tag, the entire rug was hooked in a 2 cut (wool 2/32 of an inch wide).

"Remember them when they cannot remember you."

Mother Goose

Donna's self portrait.  "You don't want to see inside my head it's nuts."

The name of this rug escapes me but it is one of her steampunk designs.

She has three boys and has hooked a rug for each of them.  This is son Nick.

The back is just as amazing as the front.

It's hard to believe Donna started out as a primitive hooker using an 8 cut (8/32") and now hooks with a 2 (2/32") and 3 (3/32").

Here's the start to my Santa rug.  Lousy color, but the piece was left at class so no chance to get a more accurate depiction.  Donna is challenging me.  The eye was hooked in a 3 cut (3/32") and the largest cut I have used is a 6 (6/32").  I thought I could get away with using an 8 cut "8/32") on much of the pattern, but she has vetoed that idea 😁

Thanks so much for stopping by.
Pug hugs 😊
Lauren