Getting Ready ~

Crazy busy day as usual . . . well perhaps a bit busier than normal.  My Cathy Stephan class begins tomorrow.  It is about an hour and a half commute with light traffic but I may hit some rush hour traffic on the way.  I am too cheap to get a hotel room 😁  The good thing about commuting is that I can bring additional wool to class the following days.  I still have to pack all the hooking supplies ~ wool, cutter and blades, pattern, Ott, etc.  

Here is the wool I have gathered so far for class.  I am pretty sure I want a horse of a different color (blue . . . lol) but that's about as far ahead as I have thought so I have just grabbed some wools that I like.  Sitting on top is the wool I just dyed.  Lousy color . . . of course.

The wool I dyed the other day.  Some of it has a slight pinkish cast, but maybe it will work in my rug.  On the right are some of the wools I overdyed.

I need to do yard work today.  The grass cannot wait until Friday to be be mowed unless I want to get a goat.  Also need to water the plants.  We are getting to the point that rain would be most welcome.

Antiquing was pretty much a bust.  Not even half of the normal number of vendors at the flea market.  At the antique mall, there were maybe eight vendors set up outside, selling flea market-y items, not antiques or even vintage IMHO.  I did buy a few gifts and came home to find I was overcharged $10.  Thankfully they found my slip and will mail me a check.  It is just a fluke that I noticed the error but am happy I did.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Pug hugs 😊

Lauren

Multitasking ~

HOLY HELL!!!  This is post #1900.  That sure is a lot of blah, blah, blah.

Tomorrow I want to go play - antique flea market (but really not many antiques) and an antique mall in the same city having their spring flea market - so today my to-do list is longer than normal.

I wanted to dye some wool to use in my class rug.  Emma Lou's putty (old) is one of my favorite dye recipes.  I had some that I had mixed long ago.  When I went to add it to the dye pots (2 of them), it seemed a little weak so in the first pot I added an extra teaspoon or two and to the second pot almost doubled the amount stated.  The pots are cooling on the stove.  Hopefully I will get a color that I can use.  If not, oh, well 😁

Primitive Horse and Birds is the rug I have chosen to work on in next week's class with Cathy Stephan.  I purchased the pattern in 2017.  I guess it's about time I start it.  At 36" x 45", it is one of my largest rugs ever.  I will be hooking my usual antique dark background.

I finished the binding on the little pumpkin.

I am vending at a small hook in on June 3, so am trying to organize for that.  Since it is small, I am trying to pare down on the items I will be taking.  Of the course, all my organizing is done at the dining room table.

Next up . . . yard work!

Thanks so much for stopping by.
Pug hugs 😊
Lauren

Treetop Birds ~

Since Saundra always names her antique adaptations, I thought I needed to follow suit.  I have named mine Treetop Birds.  I started this in a class last month with Kris Miller and had hoped to have much more hooked.  My goal was to have the green scroll-like border and the antique dark background around the tree done before my class next week with Cathy Stephan (Red Barn Rugs) where I am starting an even bigger antique adaptation.  It wasn't meant to be . . . sigh.

I am not sure why I chose the green.  I am not much of a green person.  At least the five wools I am using are more of a grey-green.  

I also finished hooking and am working on the binding of this little 10 1/2" x 10 1/2" mat that will be a door prize at my guild hook in this September.

The pumpkin is hooked with just this one reversible wool.

Thanks so much for stopping by.
Pug hugs 😊
Lauren

Around the Yard on Mother's Day ~

 

Oh how I miss my Molly 💔

Around the yard this Mother's Day . . . 

I have zero luck with azaleas.  This very scrappy one came with the house and has somehow survived.

Soloman's Seal . . .  so pretty yet so invasive.

Poppies with their paper thin petals . . . this variety is also very invasive.

Happy Mother's Day to all, whether two legged or four . . . or both.

Thanks so much for stopping by.
Pug hugs 😊
Lauren

Miscellaneous Finishes ~

I finished putting the backs on my hooked hearts.  They can either be used as bowl fillers or tucked in to an old bed spring.

Funny story.  Last night I got the hearts out so I could take pictures this morning.  I could not find the large hearts.  I spent at least a half hour looking for them on my main living level, upstairs, basement . . . where is the he** could I have put them?  I got up this morning and looked some more.  No luck.  Finally later in the morning while showering, it finally dawned on me.  They were in the freezer.  WTH you ask?  I stuff my hearts with bits of wool.  Last week at guild there were some pieces of wool being given away.  Some of the pieces looked like they had been around for a while, and I always worry about moth eggs in old wool, so a solution is to put the wool in the freezer for a number of days to kill any eggs that may have been laid.  I had stuffed the hearts . . . so put the hooked hearts in the freezer.  DUH 😲

I also finished some hook pouches.  The paisley one are partly machine sewn but the ones from antique coverlets are completely hand sewn.  I am so glad to have those done!

Thanks so much for stopping by.
Pug hugs 😊
Lauren

Penny Marshall ~

 

Penny Marshall (of Laverne & Shirley fame) was a rug hooker and hooked rug collector.  Here is a great article written by Kathy Wright.  Kathy is the director at Rug Hooking Week at Sauder Village and the co-author of several books pertaining to rug hooking.  Enjoy!

Thanks so much for stopping by.
Pug hugs 😊
Lauren

Spinning My Wheels ~

Do you ever feel that way?  I am busy all the time.  I never sit and do nothing.  Sometimes I think I don't know how to relax.  When I retired (6.5 yrs ago!!!) I imagined I would have so much free time.  HA!  Hasn't happened yet.  The list of things I wanted to make in March for the October show . . . well here it is May and only one or two things have been crossed off the list.  (I do think I've complained about this in the past . . . sigh.  Some things never change.)

Anywho . . . here is what has been accomplished recently.

I finished the binding on these two little hooked mats.  Still no label 😖  The color of the pumpkin is pretty good . . . but the clamshells on the bunny rug are not accurate.

Pinkeeps are totally done.  The colors are so washed out.

I bought the large tintype recently because the facial hair reminds me of my younger son.  I don't think he was amused 😁

I am working on putting the backing on my hooked hearts and also hook pouches made from antique coverlets and paisley.

Last week DSO and I went to the Apple store for an iPhone photography class.  I wanted to learn how to get better color when photographing my rugs and such.  Sadly, no real answer.  A suggestion was to build a lightbox.  Not what I want to do.

Enough whining for today.

Thanks so much for stopping by.
Pug hugs 😊
Lauren