374 ~

That's how many days for accomplishing my goal of 10k steps a day.  Last time when I was approaching a year, I fell and broke my leg 😢.  This time my excuse is that we spent about 14 hours travelling home from Branson and there was just no way to get my steps in.  Bummer. 

I was thankful DSO did all the driving so I could get "stuff" done.  I caught up on several magazines, covered ten magnets with wool (a real pain to do, but these strong magnets are used on my scissor minders and if one of the magnets is not covered, the are nearly impossible to separate!) . . .

and got all the hooking done on Scaredy Cat.  Since returning home I got him bound (he is only 9" x 12.25") and now he just needs a label.  One more thing I can cross off my list.

I really must go do some yard work.  I keep finding excuses not to do it!!!

Thanks so much for stopping by.
Pug hugs 😊
Lauren

Getting out of Dodge ~

DSO and I are heading out tomorrow for a little get-away to Branson, MO.  The weather sounds pleasant, low 70's (though every day the forecast changes), so I need to leave my winter clothes home.  Of course I have not yet started to pack.  I just hope I can remember where my warm weather clothes are!!!

We will take two days to drive there, since it is about a 12 hour trip before stops.  Thankfully DSO will do most if not all of the driving.  I will hook my way to Missouri.  I need something totally mindless, small and easy.  Plus I need a little Halloween hooked piece to gift an old classmate when I see her in June.  Scaredy Cat fits the bill.  I have hooked him several times ~ what's once more?  At only 8.5" x 11" I hope to get him done.  I am so grateful the designated driver does not mind wool dust 😁

Sweet little Ernestine . . . in the eight years since she has been adopted, she has never been boarded at a kennel.  The normal pug sitter is out of town, so there is no other choice.  Poor baby will sure miss sitting in daddy's lap and cuddling him in bed!

Just wanted to pop in with a quick post because most likely will not post until my return.  I still haven't figured out how to blog on my iPad.  Tech challenged, you know!

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Pug hugs 😊

Lauren

Camp Rug ~

HA!  Absolutely nothing to show on my camp rug.  Nary a loop has been pulled since I returned home.

Yard work is never ending.  Darn yardboy never shows up 😡

The handtorn pumpkin is bound.  It is a donation mat.

The binding on Scaredy Cat.  This was gifted to a friend for her birthday.  I whipped it using size 8 1/2 strips which I found difficult.  However, I love the look!

I hooked 2 little eagles and now they need binding.  At just over 10" in diameter, they both will be donated to the guilds I belong to.  Hopefully they are the last of my mats for donation.

No progress on Mr. Jingles.  Close, but as the say, no cigar.

Still working on Askew and am anxious to have this hooked but dreading the binding!!!  I am so close.  I knew not to set it aside and work on my camp rug because it would probably be a very long time before I got back to it.  I am just so bored with it!!!

Cedar Lakes is just beautiful in the spring.  Here are a few pictures I took in my wanderings.

My artsy fartsy shot 

Log cabin seen through the covered bridge

Thanks so much for stopping by.
Pug hugs 😊
Lauren

More Charleston & Car Hooking ~

After our carriage ride, we took a half hour boat ride out to Ft. Sumter, which is where the first shots of the Civil War were fired on April 12, 1861.

Note the unusual configuration of the American flag.  You can read more about it here.

After our return to land, we headed to Patriots Point to see the USS Yorktown, an aircraft carrier built during WW II.  

We then toured the USS Laffey, a destroyer also built during WW II.

Sadly it was time to take the two hour drive north to our hotel without seeing all we had hoped to.  Upon arriving at the hotel, we needed to pack our bags in order to leave bright and early the next morning.

I got a lot of hooking done in the SUV heading south and then back home.  Had I cut enough wool, I would have gotten the raffle rug background done.  As they say, close but no cigar.  The background is actually a very dark blue, not black.  The rug has since been delivered to the hooker who will hook the leaves.

I then started on Scaredy Cat, another small mat that will be given away.  If this looks familiar, it is because I have hooked it several times.

Both of these have been finished since my return home, but nary a loop pulled on Askew 😢

I leave for rug camp Sunday and have been trying to get yard work done.  Too bad it never stays done . . . sigh.  Thankfully I know what rug I will be hooking and have most of the wool pulled that I plan to take.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Pug hugs 😊

Lauren

Spinning my Wheels ~

Once again, it feels that way.  I have been hooking daily, but feel I have accomplished very little.

I did get Goodnight Pumpkin bound and am close to finishing Scaredy Cat, but that is only 9" x 11 1/2".

An update on The Poser 😁  Not that much has been accomplished since my post a week ago, but now the only thing left to hook is background.  I am heading for the $20 Hooker retreat on the 10th of March, so I will hold off on the background until then.  Easy, no brainer hooking.  This was started back in June in a class with Cathy Stephan, so I will be glad to get this done.

My snowdrops and winter aconite are beginning to bloom.  Winter is by no means over in northern Ohio, but these are a welcome sight.  Daffodils are also peeking from the ground.

Boy can I relate to this!  My wool room is once again out of control.  There is wool piled everywhere . . . and not sure I have room on my shelves . . . but as any hooker will tell you, there is never the exact color you need.

Thanks so much for stopping by.
Pug hugs 😊
Lauren

Hook-y Happenings ~

 

The little patriotic pieces are finished ~ even labeled ~ and two have been delivered to their new homes.

And finally!!!  The binding on Madi's Favorite is done at long last.  It has been steamed once again.  It just needs a label.  I suppose it is time to put the forsythia away for something more summerlike. 

Scaredy Cat was a fast hook.  It is ready for binding.  It is small, just 9" x 11 3/4".  It was a free pattern offered by Lindsay Bowles on Facebook.  (Sorry.  I looked for a link to the pattern and cannot find it.)  

My rug that will be in Sauder's rug show is ready to be started.  I got some ideas on color planning (from the oh so talented Connie of Connie's Wool), but even though small, I think I may struggle with this little rug a bit.  It is something out of my norm.  I will share when I've got something worth showing.

Thanks so much for stopping by.
Pug hugs 😊
Lauren

In the Hooking Queue ~

 

 

So many hooking projects are in the "queue".  It seems like I have been working forever on the binding of Madi's Favorite.  I don't know why it is taking so long, but I am very close.

I hooked three small patriotic mats and they are awaiting the binding, also.  The largest is for my brother's DSO's footstool.  I think this is the last of the seasonal mats I needed to hook for her.  The rectangular one is for my old drawer and the small round one is for a friend's mini cast iron skillet.  I think this, too, is the last of the seasonal mats for her.

Scaredy Cat (look familiar, Robin?) is being hooked for another friend.  We go way back, to when our boys were young.  We reconnected after many years.  She mentioned she liked Halloween, so I thought I would gift her a little mat when we meet for lunch next month.

Brother's DSO, Lyn, and I go way back.  I mean WAAAAAY back.  Years before she and my brother got together.  Her birthday is at the end of July and I want to to hook her a mat using my brother's old ties as tongues.  I blogged about it here.

Next up is a mat that needs to be hooked for the rug show at Sauder Village in August.  Our guild had a challenge, "Anything Chicken".  I committed for 2020.  2020 didn't happen for obvious reasons, and I really forgot about it . . . or maybe chose to forget it.  Since I said I would do it, well . . . I guess I'd better get busy on it.

Geez, when all these are done, I may finally get a chance to work on The Poser.  I have not pulled a loop since class.

I hope everyone's week is going well.  I can't believe we will soon be heading in to July.  HOLY HELL!  Where is the time going?

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Pug hugs 😊
Lauren