Cumberland Valley Rug Hookers

Yesterday was the monthly meeting of the Cumberland Valley Rug Hookers at the Falling Spring Church in Chambersburg.  What a great group we had!  The tables were full.  Lots of lovely rugs both finished and being worked on.  Plenty of chatter, fueled by chocolate cake and other goodies.

Marian, Joan and Bonnie all came up from Maryland.
This is Joan't big primitive rug that's almost finished.  She's doing it in an 8.5 cut, I think.

Marian and Bonnie were both working on acorn mats and coasters.  These are cute and hook up quickly.  They are hooked directly onto a piece of wool.

Marjorie is just beginning work on a large pictorial.

Peg was putting the finishing edge on her chairpad.

This is Ann's beautiful large rug.  It reminds me of PA German fraktur.  It's all finished except for the whipping.

Naomi was working on her mom and piglet rug.  I just love this one!

Ruth has been busy.  She is working on the patriotic rug and also finished her Christmas one, too.

I just love the red white and blue geometrical that Carin is working on.  Look how she's shading the red!

This lady must be new to our group, and I did not get her name.  Joyce was helping her get started on the chicken rug.

And here is Joyce's chicken rug, with some of the fabrics she used.  Good choices for feathers!  The braiding around the edge is so perfect that you can not see where it is joined together.  Marian and I both examined it and were unable to find the ends!  Great job, Joyce!  She was also working on a rabbit mat, but I didn't get a picture.

And being a cat lover, this is a favorite of mine.  Thelma has the kitty face in the center done on this large rug.  She has been dying the background and colors for the roses that around the edge.  She used a ProChem formula book with great results.

Closeup of the kitty face.  Didn't she do a great job?

And last of all, a few for-real kitty faces.

No one but a cat could sleep like this!  Was she taking a bath???  What were you thinking???

Oh, Isabell!!!

Thursday Hook-in

Another Thursday, another hook-in.  I decided to go even though I don't have a project ready to hook yet.  Neither did Marian so we sat and talked and enjoyed the company of fellow hookers and admired their work.

Doing a wonderful job on the fine hooking and shading is Erica.  This sweet young girl is still in high school, so this will be her last hook-in before going back to her studies.  Isn't she amazing!

Doris is working on a huge pictorial.  I won't disclose the details because she will be showing it on her blog when she is ready.  I can tell you that it is a delightful rug.

Joanne is discussing the background possibilities of Jackie's rug.  Jacking is hoping to have her first dying experience this weekend.  We all told her about the equipment we personally used and what we liked and what to avoid.  I hope the dying goes well!

Here's a closer view of Jackie's very nice primitive rug.  Good job, Jackie!

Joanne was finishing the edges on a whole pile of cute little mats.  Check out all those great balls of whipping yarn.

Joan brought a lovely little leaf mat to finish.  Aren't they great colors?!

Joan also brought GIANT chocolate chip cookies!  Big enough to hide behind!!!  Come on out, Kathy!  We know it's you back ther in the dark! 

And here is one of Kathy's primitive chickens.  I won't tell you how she's planning on finishing them.  I'll  let Kathy show you when she's done.  They are cute!

In addition to the giant cookies, Joanne brought blueberry buckle and apple, something good but I forget what she called it.  Plus I took some of the pizzelles I made the other day, and there was a variety of other snacky goodies.  We never go hungry!

I couldn't resist adding this happy picture of Doris.  We were having a great time laughing and talking.

I want to mention that Doris's sculpting class featuring this lovely bunch of strawberries is going to be held on Friday, Sept. 3 at her home.  For more info, check on her blog, Moments in Time which you can access from my blog list.  I've been looking forward to this class for sooo long!

The picture does not do justice to the beauty of these hooked berries.

Before I left, Kathy told me there was a gift in the kettle from my secret pal.  When I got home and opened it I found this lovely little container that was just perfect for my wooden matches that I use for the woodstove.  All I need is a nail to hand it on.  Isn't the card with the robins delightful?

Thank you so much, my Secret Pal!

This time I have to add pictures of the little guys.  For once they were having a quiet afternoon.

Izzy was awake and sitting on the table keeping me company.

This is Izzy a month ago.  I can't believe how much they've grown!

And here is Penny, sleeping on Zip's fly tying chair.  I disturbed her nap to take the picture.  Oh, Mom!

Here she is a month ago, after her first vet visit.

My babies don't look like babies any more! 
They are beginning to look like big kitties!  They still act like kids, though!

Life Goes On...

It's been quite a while since I've posted.  Seems like nothing exciting has happened lately, at least nothing worth writing about.  First we had the hot weather.  Sitting at home in front of the fans is not news to write home about!  And now we are having a few days of cooler weather, which is a great relief, but still we haven't done anything fun.  It must be the end of the summer rut.

Zip is continuing with his guitar lessons but is now down to only one day per week instead of three.  Maybe that's where so much of our time goes.  He is specializing in bluegrass under a new instructor.  Much of his day is spent sitting on the front porch pickin' and grinnin'.

A lot of my time has been spent sewing uniforms for Brad and Kami.  I'm averaging one tailored wool woman's jacket, skirt and hat per week.  Their business keeps growing.  I thought I was 'retired'!?!?

I have missed several weeks of hook-ins because I was having trouble deciding what pattern to do next.  The Toad rug seemed to have taken up all my creative energy.  But this past week I decided that I must move on, no matter what.  So I've decided to do my Thanksgiving pattern.  Fall is fast approaching!  I think it's possible to get it done before the end of November.

It will be done in  mostly browns, oranges, and terra cotta with some green.  I may not even have to do a lot of dying.  I ran out of printer ink so will have to get to Staples before I can enlarge and put it on backing.  Will have to get it done before Monday so I have a project to work on at the Blue and Gray hook-in.  (Thank you Marian for emailing me and letting me know that the Cumberland Valley hook-in is Monday, not the B and G.  I am so lost sometimes!)

I needed a break from sewing today so I decided to make pizzelles.  They are not something that's common in this area.  They are very popular in western Pa where Linda Keller (Grant Street Woolworks) grew up.  Her Mother, who passed away a few months ago, used to make these.  Linda kindly gave me her recipe.

The batter is made of flour, sugar, eggs, oil and flavoring.  Today I made almond flavored.

We are lucky in Shippensburg to have an old-fashioned hardware store that still sells unusual and hard-to-find items.  Pague and Fegan has been a family-owned store for I think, over a hundred years.  I found my pizzelle iron there.  As you can see, it looks a lot like a waffle iron.

You just spoon the batter in.

And in a few minutes you have thin crispy light golden cookies.

This recipe makes a BIG batch.  So after two hours and over a hundred cookies.....

It's time to rest and have a nice cup of tea.

The kitties continue to grow and provide us with entertainment.  I don't have any good new pictures of the little guys, but the big ones need some attention too.

Tipper and Deiter usually don't spend time close together.  They are usually like two kids in the back seat of the car on a long road trip.  Mom, he touched my tail!  Swat!!!  She's giving me mean looks!  Smack!  Hisssss!!!  Then they both run off to separate areas of the room.  But here they are, tolerating each other fairly well.

Tippy only looks a little bit grumpy!  And half an hour later they are still together, with Deiter's head against Tippy's thigh.  Could they be forming a pact to stick together against the foolishness of little kittens???

Just Stuff

This has been a nice week.  We are finally getting some cooler weather.  I've been trying to catch up on things that I neglected during the heat wave due to lack of energy.  I'm slowly trying to get all the clutter off my kitchen countertops, put away things that I just brought in and dropped then sat my old body down in front of the fan.

Our garden is very dry.  I refuse to water because we have a well.  It's never gone dry in forty years, but who knows!  I don't want to take that chance.  Even so, we have an abundance of tomatoes.

Last evening I made a very simple pasta dish with some of the tomatoes.

I cooked penne and some other twisty pasta that I had, drained it and set it aside. 
It was topped with:
   garlic
   basil
   fresh tomatoes
   butter
   olive oil

I sliced about four cloves of garlic very thin, put it in a small glass dish, added a nice chunk of butter and microwaved it for 40 seconds, then set it aside.  I do not like to put garlic directly in the pan because if it gets brown, it's bitter.
I chopped and seeded the two large tomatoes and put them in a large frying pan and drizzled some olive oil over them, cooking them till some of the liquid evaporated.  Then I added the basil, garlic with butter and the pasta.  I just cooked it a few minutes longer and served it with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese.

This morning I was trying to write out checks to pay bills.  I do this at the kitchen table, with all my papers spread out in a somewhat organized manner.  Needless to say, I had lots of help!

First Tipper had to have a belly rub.

The two little guys, best friends 4 ever, were eating breakfast.  Check out the crossed tails!

Pretty soon they had finished and were on the kitchen table too.  Now they want to play.  Then play turns into biting and fighting!

Izzy is preparing to take a big bite out of Penny!

Penny is taking a bite out of Izzy's ear!  Meanwhile all my papers have been strewn all over the place!!!

I finally finished in spite of the wrestling match.  Within minutes of clearing my papers away, they were tired out and once again best friends 4 ever!

 

Had to inclued a shot of Deiter!  He's checking out the situation in the bath tub.  They like to play with the bead chain that keeps the drain stopper from getting lost.  Meanwhile Izzy is after his tail.  The little heathens have torn the shower curtain.  Guess I better wait till they grow up and learn to behave before replacing it.  Whenever that will be!!!

Wish I had some hooking to show, but I'm between projects.  Don't know what I want to work on next.  I'll be going to the Blue and Gray hook-in tomorrow.  Should have some good rug pictures then.