Signs of spring!!!

 

A glimpse in the front garden today.  

Snowdrops are out in full force.

Same with the winter aconite.

Even the daffs are budding.  I pick them when they are only a few inches tall.  It is amazing how much they will grow in water and bloom soon.

Only 20 days until spring, but here we are 😁

Thanks so much for stopping by.
Pug hugs 😊
Lauren

My days . . .

 

. . . seem to disappear in to thin air 😄  I am busy all the time.  If I'm sitting I am doing something, never sitting and doing nothing.  Then why does it seem like I am accomplishing so little?  I am a list maker.  I have a daily list of things that need done today.  Then there are sticky notes on the daily list for things that need to be dealt with soon (ie, renewing my license tags), and sometimes another list of what needs to be done by a certain time today.  Am I spending too much time making lists😁?  The last couple weeks I've pretty much been home, and I still feel like the underachiever.  What's it going to be like for the next few weeks when there is something on the schedule almost every day?  Add watching the granddogs for eight days!!!  Do any of you feel the same way?  I just feel like such a slacker . . . sigh.

I am vending at an antique/primitive show with Sue in April.  I don't think I will have many antique offerings, so have been trying to make a few things.  I have been hooking a few small pieces and stringing the wool snippet garlands.  Why is everything taking so much time?  ARGH!!!  Can you tell I am frustrated with myself?  No hooking on my camp rug 😞 I have two classes this summer where new rugs will be started and would like to finish the one that was started in January, in addition to working on some WIPs.

I did manage . . . finally . . . to get my worms sorted.  That is a major task off my to-do list!

Congrats to the American hockey teams.  This meme just cracked me up!

Thank you for all the sweet comments on Ernestine's new ride.  They made DSO's day.

To those in the path of the blizzard, stay warm and safe!!!

Enough whining for today.

Thanks so much for stopping by.
Pug hugs 😊
Lauren

Ernestine's new ride ~

 

With Ernestine's arthritis and hip problems, she was having a hard time going up and down the stairs.  She took a nasty tumble down the stairs about six weeks ago, so DSO had been carrying her up and down.  Had he had a misstep, it could have been disastrous for one or both of them.  The engineer geek in him (he spent his career working in engineering) took over 😁.  He spent weeks designing and tweaking his project, and it is finally complete!

Of course I can't figure out how to upload the video, but trust me when I say it is too stinkin' cute!!!  Ernestine is so good riding in it like a little princess . . . and now both of them won't have the fall risk.  That man is just too clever 💖  (And he even painted the base to resemble a cyber truck 😏)  

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Pug hugs 😊

Lauren

Happy Presidents' Day ~

 

One more heart rug I forgot to show on my last post.  An antique adaptation hooked 8 years ago.  Wow, as I always say, time sure is flying.  This is in the upstairs bathroom in front of the vanity.  It was color planned in a class, but I am not wild about how it came out.  To the left you can see my lovely pink tile 😛  I am  hoping to have the room remodeled this year, but haven't yet figured out what I want to do.

The eagle mat is finished except for the label.  It was bound by folding the linen forward and whipping with wool.  I find it very tedious and hard on the fingers to get the wool worms through the linen.  Plus to get good coverage, I ended up with a very curly edge.  (The color in this picture is more accurate than the next one.)

Thankfully a good steaming worked miracles!!!

Thanks so much for stopping by.
Pug hugs 😊
Lauren

Happy Valentine's Day ~

 

Hooked heart pieces and miscellaneous hearts around the house.

One of the first pieces I hooked 20+ years ago.

A sweet Valentine postcard from a new online friend 💘

 

Hooked pillow on my grandma's rocker.  (The cat's paw chairpad was a hook-along with Saundra early in 2020.  Remember that horrible lockdown period?)

I didn't realize how many hearts I had around the house until I started taking pictures.  I know I am missing at least one thing, a paper heart from my "evil twin".  Where the heck did I put it?

Thanks so much for stopping by. 
Valentine hugs and kisses to all 💕
Lauren

ADHD

 

My hooking concentration level is almost non-existent.  I go from one thing to the next.

I did fully finish this heart pillow made with handtorn strips.

These little hearts are ready for a backing and to be stuffed with wool snippets.

One little heart has been glued to the slide lid top cigar box.

And yet another heart, just a bit larger, is ready to be glued to an old cutting board.

I have pulled a few loops on my camp rug.  I finished hooking the branches and leaves.  

I had a hooking group get together today and since I haven't decided what I want to do with the background on the deer rug, quickly drew a large heart.  It is about 9" at the widest and about 24" long.  The other day at the local wool shop I got some old barnboard so I plan to mount it to one of those.  I used 6-7 different red wools and they aren't as dark in person.  Some days I totally enjoy mindless hooking 😁

That's it, dear friends.

Thanks so much for stopping by.
Pug hugs 😊
Lauren

Finally ~

 

This little chairpad should not have taken two weeks to hook, but it did.  Oh, well.  At least my majestic eagle is now finished, the hooking part that is.  I have never finished a round piece with worms, but that is how Katie Hartner showed us to finish it.  Hopefully I can get all the excess linen eased in so my little mat will lie flat.

That's it for today.  The sun is shining (shock!) but it is still only 17*.  I dyed some wool today.  I'm pretty sure two of the three colors are not what I was hoping for.  Darn.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Pug hugs 😊

Lauren

Sloooow hooking ~

 

In the stitching world, slow stitching is a good thing.  In the hooking world, I have never heard anything positive said about it!  

My Magdalena eagle chair pad, only 13" diameter, has taken me almost 2 weeks and I am not yet done.  Close, but no cigar as they say.  It was started in a Facebook class with Katie Hartner of the Woolley Fox/A Nimble Thimble.  It should have been hooked long ago.  Yes, I have hooked a few other little things in that time, but this should have been long D.O.N.E!!!

Am I happy with it?  Yes.  (So why have I been dragging my feet?)  I learned much in the class and hope I will put lessons learned to good use in future projects.

Thanks so much for stopping by.
Pug hugs 😊
Lauren

Darn Phil ~

 

Punxsutawney Phil Saw his shadow this morning.  Legend states that we will have six more weeks of winter.  We have not seen above freezing temps in eight days here in northern Ohio, and the forecast is currently showing we will not for at least the next eight.  Normally we do not have that long a freezing spell.  I am just thankful that I do not live in Robin's Nod.  I don't think I could survive a winter there.

As stated in my last post, I have never taken an online class before, but Katie Hartner (A Nimble Thimble) who owns the Woolley Fox offered a class on mastering values.  Even after hooking for over two decades, I still do not understand much about color, value, warm and cool, etc.  I hadn't a clue how to use the color wheel.  This class gave me a much better understanding.  As part of the class fee, we got to choose a 13" round chair pad in the "Magdalena style".  I choose the eagle, and here is my progress so far.  I should be done already, but oh well.  Hopefully soon!

I also finished one of the hand torn hearts I had hooked and got it sewn in to a pillow.  (More red in person.)  It will be on its way to its new home this afternoon.

Only 46 days until spring 🌷

Thanks so much for stopping by.
Pug hugs 😊
Lauren