Hookin' at the Library ~

Welcome and thank you so much for stopping by. Tonight the usual suspects, or should I say the usual hookers, met at the library to spend the evening hooking. It was a small, but talented group! Here's a little beeskep rug that Lisa was finishing up the binding on. She has a knack for picking colors that look so old. She is going to hang it on an old shutter.
That's Sylvia on the left (didn't get a pic of her finished rug) and Lisa on the right.

Heidi and Jane were busy working.

Here's a little rug that Jane was binding. She took an Ali Strebel workshop at Sauder Village. The rug incorporated hooking, needle felting, rolled wool, the beading technique, cut loops and more. Jane is a relatively new hooker who is just doing a fantastic job!

Heidi is working on a stair rug. She is hooking a series of looooong animals.

Here's the little car that she drives. I think she said she was going to add some pewter buttons that spelled out ??? I didn't catch what :(Mitsuko was hard at work with Karin sitting to her right. Karin had run out of wool and had put the rug away. It is a commissioned rug and I hope I can get a picture of it before she sends it off. Check out the rugs she currently has listed on eBay ~ primitivespirits is her seller ID. You won't be disappointed!

Mitsuko is hooking this rug in shades of green. It is going to be a beauty!

A close-up.

Of course, I don't have a picture to share of what I am hooking. It is a little fall mat that I'm hooking for a give-away. I hope to have it done this weekend so be sure to stop back and enter.

Pug hugs :)
Lauren

More Sauder Rugs ~

I didn't realize I had so many rugs from the Sauder Rug Show that I had not shared with you. This year's theme challenge was holiday rugs.
This was my favorite rug at the show. The detail is incredible. It's one of those rare rugs that can bring tears to your eyes.
Lots of fun, holiday-themed rugs.

If you read April DeConick's blog, you will recognize these two rugs.

This Santa and reindeer rug, based on an antique rug, is on my list of rugs I want to hook.

This reminds me of a vintage postcard and may very well be taken from one.

Another fun category was the chair rugs.

How cute is this?

As always, thank you so much for stopping by :) I do have more rugs from the Sauder show to share with you soon.

Pug hugs :)
Lauren

Play Day ~ ~ ~

I thought I would take a vacation day today and have an extra-long holiday weekend. I decided it would be a good day to go play. My BFF couldn't come, so I went to play by myself. About 2/3 of the way to my first stop, I was pulling on the highway and my little SUV filled with smoke. Now, I'm not mechanically-minded at all, but I know this can't be good! I quickly pulled off the side of the highway and my first instinct was to check my oil. I have been having some problems with burning oil and I had an oil change this week. Plus, checking my oil is the only thing I know to do (besides filling the gas tank!). I got out of the vehicle with cars and trucks whizzing by at 65+ MPH. That's kind of scary. I checked and I had plenty of oil. How nice that a good samaritan also stopped to see if he could be of assistance. He double checked my oil - probably figured a blond didn't know what she was doing! So the oil is okay and the smoke is gone, so I proceed to the first exit and call my Sweetie. Now, he is a real car guy ~ spent his career as an engineer with GM.

He said, "What did the smoke smell like"?

She said, "I don't know".

He said, "Did it smell acrid or sweet"?

She said, "I don't know. I don't think either".

He said, "What color was the smoke"?

She's thinking smoke is smoke but of course does not say that.

Anyway, he suggests that I turn around and come home. I say I'm more than halfway there. He says it really would be wise to go home. So, I don't listen very well and continued down the road! Thankfully I had no more problems, but it is a mystery as to what happened. I'm sure he will pop the hood tonight and try to figure it out. I am so lucky to have such a handy guy :-)

My first stop was Seville Antiques is Seville, Ohio. What a WONDERFUL shop. I have not been to a shop with such high quality antiques in a long time. Of course, the prices reflected the quality. I actually did not buy anything, but did drool my way through the shop!

Many of the dealers had their antiques set up in room settings.


There were quite a few antique samplers.

The dry sink in the back was reasonably priced and a very nice piece of New England origin.

I just love the bullet holes in the cow weathervane!

Lots of smalls.

A few hooked rugs.

If money was no object, this corner cupboard would have come home with me, but with a $4600 price tag, I thought I'd better pass. It was such a nice small size. The pewter-filled cupboard was pretty nice, too.

After Seville Antiques, I stopped at a couple more mall/shops. I bought a lidded picnic basket. I keep buying these with the intention of hooking small rugs for the top. I am getting quite the collection of baskets, but have yet to hook a rug for one, but for only $9.50, it was a bargain. I also picked up one small Christmas gift. I then made a quick stop at the A.I. Root Candle outlet store (they have the best burning wax candles) before heading home.

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable holiday weekend.

Pug hugs :)
Lauren

Progress ~ or lack of...

Just thought I would take a quick minute and show everyone that I really have been working on a few things.

I can count on one hand the number of things I've cross stitched in the last two decades. I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed it. I'd also forgotten how much I don't like filling in large areas...lol! I am currently working on a Stacy Nash design - Tombstone Angel ~ on 28 count linen. I am FINALLY nearing the end of the angel's wings. I feel like I've been stitching on them forever. Thankfully the wings are not perfectly symmetrical because I've made an error or two on the right wing, but I think no one will notice.
I had so much fun punching Pat Cross' Bird Dog that I decided to do another one. Not sure why because there are plenty of other designs I'd like to do.
And finally ~ ~ ~ my hooked rug. At last I've gotten back to pulling a few loops and have made a little {very little} progress.

It's not often I reverse hook. I usually learn to like the wool I've hooked, but that wool under the red horse's front legs has got to go. I like the color but don't like the look of the loops. I'm guessing because it's a solid color. Oh, how I wish I could pull all my loops even...sigh.

It looks like we've got two more days of our heat wave and if we're lucky maybe some rain on Friday and/or Saturday. It would be most welcome.

Thank you so much for stopping by. I do appreciate everyone who takes the time to share in my world.

Pug hugs :)
Lauren

Hookin' at the Farm ~

Eema worked an event today for Ohio Pug Rescue. I could not make it, but one of the other members took her. It's hard being so cute and it just wears her out. Here she is having to prop her head up on a stool, trying hard to keep her eyes open.

Down for the count!

Thursday evening was the first "sit and hook" at That'll Do Farm. As I was packing the hooking bag, I thought to myself that my bag seemed very light even though I had my cutter in it, but I gave it no more thought.

Upon my arrival at the farm, I was greeted by Andrea who offered me a tour of the farm. Just as we were about to head to the barn, two more hookers showed up. (What are the neighbors going to think?) We were first greeted by the chickens ~ of course I don't remember the breed but some of them lay the most wonderful blue eggs!

Meet Dewey (Dewie?). I believe she is a Great Pyrenees (Andrea, please correct me if I am wrong.) and is just the sweetest thing.

The goats. I am in love with the goats!!!

How can you not love these faces?

Look at that fleece that will eventually be spun in to skeins of yarn.

And then there are the alpaca. I guess I didn't get any pictures of the babies.

Back to my hooking bag. Remember I mentioned it seemed too light? I drive 40 minutes to the farm, take a tour, sit down to hook and the little light bulb goes off as I'm pulling out my rug. The bag is too light because I left my frame at home. One of those "oh-no" seconds. I was in luck, though, because Andrea was between hooking projects so I was able to use her frame.

In addition to being a hooker, Andrea is a fantastic knitter as you can see by this scarf. The color is all wrong in this picture, but you can see the detail.

Heidi is hooking her funky green car that she drives.

Jane is working on a fall piece.

I'm still working on my horse rug and will be for a long time to come at the rate I am hooking. At least I got to pull a few loops for the first time in a month or so. Of course I did not take a picture but will take one soon to share with you.

I hope everyone has had a great weekend. They fly by too quickly, don't they?

The weather is heating up again here in northern Ohio. I just hope one day it doesn't turn cold and stay that way.

Pug hugs :)
Lauren