Obsession!

No, not the scent created by the famous designer. It's the compulsive need to keep working on this sunflower piece. I just can't keep my hands off it!!! I just can't wait to work on the next area to see how it will work out. I am really loving working on this!

It is really out-of-the-box for me. I usually don't like yellows and oranges, but that's what came with the workshop kit. And amazingly, it's kinda cool! This is what I got done yesterday.


I did get to Chambersburg to the meeting of the Cumberland Valley hookers. It was a small but cozy group. Lots of hooking getting done and plenty of talking. Marjorie is working on a miniature rug.

Wouldn't it look great in a doll house? Or as a small table mat?

My pictures aren't the best. I was too busy working and waited till the last minute. Thelma is working on the border of a large oval floral rug. Sandy's checkerboard is in the foreground.

Everyone is seriously hooking. We hardly took time to have lunch!

Ruth has just started on a huge poinsetta rug. Karen's rug (on the floor) is a geometric with native American motifs on soft muted colors. It's absolutely lovely!

It was a nice relaxed opportunity to get some hooking done while sharing ideas with friends.

Speaking of friends, I recently received two lovely gift packages from my Secret Friend. We exchanged secret friend names at Grant Street Woolworks at our Christmas hook-in. And mine must know me Very Well, because I have received gifts that are just perfect!

Handwoven Magazine!!! Whoo-hoo! And coffee to drink while I'm reading! And sweet pea seeds to keep me dreaming of spring. My grandmother used to grow sweet peas on her fence, so I am especially fond of them.

And then she sent me a lovely soft cable knit scarf because winter really isn't over yet! LOL!

And some interesting weaving and quilting articles. Now my dear Secret Friend! Do you notice that the Hershey's Bliss Raspberry Chocolates are missing from the picture??? Now I wonder where they have gotten to! I must have put them somewhere to keep them safe! hehehe!!!

Thank you so much, my dear Secret Friend! You have been so very generous! And I appreciate all of it!!!

Once again, I've worked all day on the sunflower pillow top. Today was not quite as successful as yesterday. Those big leaves are driving me crazy! I've done them over half a dozen times and am still not sure i like the effect. I've always had a terrible time shading leaves. Is that why I usually don't do florals???

Anyone have any suggestions for hooking a better leaf? I like the little ones, but those big ones need improvement! I don't want to ruin the whole thing with lousy leaves!!!

Any suggestions will be appreciated!

Happy Hooking!

Finally....Something Worth Writing About

It's been a while since I updated. No sense writing about sitting at the kitchen table staring out the window at the vast whiteness, wearing a flannel nightie, listening to books on CD and hooking for hours at a time. Just too demoralizing!

Haven't even wanted to go out of the house lately.

But today I was up at the crack of dawn and ready to go to the Jane Halliwell Green workshop in Shepherdstown, West Va. Linda Keller of Grant Street Woolworks did the driving and Doris and I went along as copilots. And a fun day it was!

The purpose of the class was to use wide strips to do shading. We had some time before the class to socialize and meet and talk to Jane.

She made this huge grape rug using very wide strips. This technique gives you the realistic effect of fine hooking but in much less time.

She brought some lovely hand dyed wools for us to covet.

Several tables full of temptation!

We were each given a kit which we had selected beforehand. I chose a sunflower design with a color pallette of yellows blending into reds. I decided to use a 6 cut to get a more detailed shading effect. Many other people used pices that thay had torn into approx. 3/4 inch strips.

Everyone seems to be hard at work.

Doris is working on a sunflower with a color scheme very much like mine.
On the table is a magnolia pillow cover created by Jane.

I've only just begun! And now that I am at home, I may change a few things. Will have to play with it a little to see if I can improve some of the contrast.

I am so grateful to Doris for inviting Linda and I to attend this class! Thank you!!!

I had a wonderful time and can't wait to continue expanding on the techniques I learned.

Since I've been doing not one useful thing besides hooking, I've gotten a lot done on my album quilt rug. This is what it looked like at the beginning of the week. It is almost finished now!

I walked into the kitchen yesterday and noticed a LUMP under my hoop which was lying on the table. I took a peek underneath and there SURPRISE!!! was Deiter. Looks like he was ready to do some reverse hooking.

That's what I love about cats. We share the same interests!

Until next time, happy hooking!

ENOUGH!!!!

Those of you who live in the northeast know that we have had one frustrating week!

The snow started last Thursday, continued into Saturday with an accumulation in our area of about 24 inches. This is just after sunrise on Sunday.


It was even deep on the front porch!

This is just before sunset out my back kitchen window. Beautiful!

But not so beautiful out front where the vehicles are covered till you can hardly see them and we can't get out of our parking spaces. Thank goodness we have a farmer down the road who kindly uses his tractor to plow out our driveway area.

This is just before sunrise on Tuesday morning. Isn't there an old saying about 'red in the morning, travelers take warning'???

Well, about three hours later the snow started all over again!

And here it is, Wednesday afternoon and we are still experiencing blizzard conditions! YUCK!!!

One good thing that's happened during all this mess is that we have had to stay home and I have gotten a lot of hooking done. I've worked on my SMILE challenge rug and have it completed out to the border. I got up to answer the phone and when I returned, there was Deiter, snuggled up on my work. I'm really having a good time with this project. Can't wait to show it, but must wait till everyone is finished, with a projected unveiling at the end of March. Since you really can't see the design, I thought it would be OK to show it adorned by Deiter.

He has been spending his time alternately sleeping and watching the flakes fall outside.

I don't have enough wool of the right color to do the border, so I'm kind of stuck until I get out to get some more dye.

I've worked on the album quilt rug too. I didn't take any pictures because it looks pretty much as it did the last time I posted about it.

I really haven't felt like doing much besides hooking. I'm sick of cooking, the dishes are piling up in the sink, I just can't function with the weather being such a mess. After four solid days of hooking and listening to books on CD, I feel like my brain is MUSH!!!

I hope we can get dug out before Saturday. I am supposed to be going to a rug hooking workshop given by Jane Halliwell Green on shading with wider strips. Hope there is not a cancellation!

And just for fun (we gotta get some enjoyment out of this mess!) I'm posting a recipe for snow ice cream. Mom used to make this when we were kids. I know, the fear of all the junk in the atmosphere is a concern, but don't you think after 24 inches of this stuff, the pollution should be cleaned out??? LOL!

I sit a 9 x 13 pan in a sheltered place where the snow is still able to blow in. When you have a pan full,

Put snow in a large mixing bowl.

Add 1/2 cup sugar (or less if you don't like too sweet)

1/2 tsp. vanilla

Add about 1/2 cup milk, and begin stirring.

Keep adding milk and stirring till it is the consistency of ice cream.

As I am sitting here typing the wind is blowing, the snow is flying, and I can hardly see the house across the road.

Do you remember me mentioning before Christmas that I love to see the snow falling???

Just shoot me!!!

Until next time, I hope you are safe and warm!

New Hooks, More Yarn....Get a Life!

Monday was Kami's birthday so we took her out to eat last evening. She had injured her ankle over the weekend at the WW2 re-enactment by walking over frozen icy ground in high heels. Now she is hobbling around in pain! The doctor told her to stay off the foot and rest it. She needs a project so we went to Hobby Lobby after dinner.


We went in to get a ball of crochet cotton, a hook, and a book of patterns. You all know the story!!! She ended up with quite a few different colors of cotton thread and several skeins of yarn. I hadn't planned on buying ANYTHING! What is this box of sock yarn!!!

I LOVE SOCK YARN!!! Not that I knit that many socks. I just love the colors and those cute little skeins! OK! I'm gonna knit socks with this. Really I am!!!



We drove home from Brad and Kami's in a snowstorm! That groundhog should have stayed in his hole!

Then I got my new hooks in the mail. I saw the sponge handled hook on Cathy's blog Orange Sink. She said they seemed to work well so I decided to get one (or two). The wooden handled hook is my trusty old #3 Moshimer hook that I've used exclusively for twenty years.

If the new hooks suit me even half as well, I'll be happy.

This morning I've been working on my next weaving project. The loom is empty and looking lonely. I spent several hours with my weaving software, trying to get my draft entered and making sure everything is correct.

This is a wonderful tool for weavers! You enter your information and it simulates what your fabric will look like when it's woven. If there are parts that you don't like, you can change them. Or if a thread is placed wrong you can see the boo-boo before you thread the loom.

Next I will print a copy of my draft (I keep a notebook of them) and get ready to crank on the threads. I have a lot of spools to wind in the meantime! I'll show the next step in a future post.

Zip is working hard this morning cleaning the stovepipes for the woodstove and taking out the ashes. And here I am fiddling around on the computer like a lazy person.

Maybe I should do something USEFUL! LOL!!!

Lazy Weekend

My week started out being a bummer. I had nosebleeds several times a day for several days. Kinda scared the crap out of me! I think it came from the dry air in the house since we're using the woodstove continually. We have now put a LARGE pan of water nearby and that seems to help.

And it has been COLD!!! Miserably cold! Cold to the point where I-won't-go-out-of-the-house cold! But I guess all of you have noticed that the weather is less than desirable!!! Between the frigid outdoors and the chance that my nose might spout a gusher, I decided not to go to Grant Street for the hook-in this week.

Also Brad and Kami were at Fort Indiantown Gap for a WW2 reenactment this week. The only place Zip and I went all week was up to their place to feed the cats. And of course, this event always happens during the coldest weather of the winter so I have to worry about their water pipes freezing while they're gone. They didn't, the water pipes. I did, worry! Thank goodness they are at home safely with their woodstove going.

I decided to get out of misery mode (but not out of my flannel nightgown!) and do some hooking this weekend. It was marathon hooking! Listening to books on CD, ordering out for pizza hooking. Not to be outdone, Zip had a nothing but play the guitar and watch TV weekend.

I think I'm past the halfway mark!

I also drew up a new rug that I will be doing for the S-M-I-L-E Challenge on Rug Hooking Daily. The challengees were given a design component (which included the word 'smile') and are to design a rug or mat, or whatever hooked project using the component. We have till the end of March to complete our project. Then all the projects will be featured on the RHD website. So I can't show you anything till then.

Tomorrow is Kami's birthday. Tuesday evening we're taking her out to dinner to celebrate.

I need to put a new warp on the loom but am still deciding which pattern I want to do next. Now I think it's time to wander off to bed.

Happy Hooking!

It Rained...and then it Rained Some More!

I still haven't heard an official report on how much rain fell from Sunday into Monday, but I'm guessing about two inches or more. It just poured!

For a while on Monday morning I was ready to go whitewater rafting in the front yard. Usually we have a nice little trickle of water in what we call 'the ditch' that runs through our property. Sometimes in the spring it's a tiny stream, in the summer it almost dries up. Yesterday we had a very nice trout stream (Zip wishes!!!).

Only a mile away between Newburg and Shippensburg, things were getting close to out of hand. The Conodoguinet Creek (pronounced con-o-go-in-it), which usually meanders down through the middle of that tree line was way beyond the banks, into the adjoining fields.

And just beneath the bottom of the bridge. The water level is uaually a good 10 feet below the bridge. Only once since I have lived here (40 years) has the water ever gone up over the bridge. That was an awesome sight!

We had to go to Fayetteville to take a finished sewing order to Brad and Kami. They are going to a WW2 event this week and needed to take it along.

Whoo-hoo! Some of these places looked a little scary! You can see how the edge of the road is washing away.

This little stream is usually only a few feet wide.

Yesterday it was right up under the bridge and had flowed up out of the banks and into the surrounding woods.

Coming into Fayetteville we passed a row of houses with flooded yards. The park and baseball fields beyond these homes was completely under water.

Brad and Kami live on the main street which is on higher ground, so didn't have a problem.

Amazingly, there weren't any roads that were completely closed. I guess it was 'travel at your own risk'!

And afterward.....

Look at that beautiful blue sky with fluffy white clouds drifting by!

The temperature was warm and you could almost imagine that Spring was here!

Now that my stressful sewing project is over, I'm looking forward to getting some hooking accomplished. But first I have a few chores that I've been neglecting.

Like a big sink full of dishes and bills that need paid. Oh well!!!

Out and About

The weather has been a little bit warmer, not that awful below freezing windy stuff. So on Wednesday Zip and I decided to venture out.

I had just gotten in the mail a 50% off flyer from the Pennsylvania Fabric Outlet in Lemoyne. I must admit that I look forward to these sales! Gets me out of the immediate local area and there's usually a good restaurant involved!

The Outlet is in an old factory building. The owner has some cool antique sewing equipment decorating the window area. During the daytime the light comes streaming in through the windows along one wall. My pictures look a little dark because we were there at night. There really is good lighting, but the space is so huge that my flash didn't reach that far. This is just a general view of some fabric with the zipper wall in the background.

This wall of trim, ribbon, lace, etc. runs almost the whole length of the building.

This is largest wall of buttons. There's another shorter one, too!

They are getting a nice collection of calico for quilting.

There are lots of bridal and formal wear fabrics, a huge home dec area, and just lots of interesting stuff all at reasonable prices. There is a 99 cent table and a $1.99 a yard table. With the 50% off flyer, you can get some very inexpensive fabric! The only trouble is that being an outlet, when it's gone, it's really GONE!

My big purchase was 45 yards of interfacing. I think that should last nearly a lifetime! LOL!!! But I really like this particular kind and like I said, the chance may never come again.

Yes, there was a meal involved! We went to Carrabba's in Mechanicsburg. This is one of my favorite Italian restaurants. Zip had the most delicious pasta with spinach, mushrooms, and tomato sauce with cream, topped with crabmeat. I had seafood cannelloni, also yummy. They have delightful little desserts in shot glasses. Just the few bites, but the right amount to finish off a lovely meal.

On Thursday I went to the hook-in at Grant Street Woolworks.

As usual we had a fun time. Here's the afternoon group working and talking, of course.

Linda, Joanne, Marian and Donna

Joanne drove the whole way from eastern PA. Then lost her wallet when she made a stop in Shippensburg. Her adventures are posted in her blog Snippets and Scraps of My Mind. All ended well!!! And we were so glad she joined us for the hook-in!

Joanne always finishes rugs while she's here. And after I left she finished a little tree skirt.

I wonder if I drove 2 1/2 hours to a hook-in if I'd get something finished!!! LOL!

Marian is working on her heart rug. It's a big one! Her friend Donna came with her. She's a knitter. I'm sorry I didn't get a good picture of her work.

Joanne and Linda are discussing the colors on Linda's rug. Once again Linda provided us with a lovely selection of food to ward off starvation. Hooking and talking take a lot of energy.
Thank you, Linda!!!

Kathy and Tonya

Tonya and Kathy are in another hooking group together. Tonya came up from York, another long distance traveler. She was doing some beautiful primitive rugs.
I just love this one! She also had a star rug in progress, but the picture flew off into cyberspace while I was typing.

Just before I packed up to leave, Nancy arrived. Wish I had gotten a better picture. It's a nice large rug.

I've been hooking, but my rug doesn't look that much different than the last time I posted it. I was getting really tired of working on it. I joined the new rug hooking site My Front Porch and became inspired by one of the women, Cotton Eyed Jo mentioning that she didn't use a hoop or frame a lot of the time. Well, lately sitting at the frame has made my neck and shoulders stiff (along with being cold all the time!). I decided to lay the rug on the kitchen table and work on it. It took a little practice, but I like doing it that way. Amazingly, I don't seem to have the tendancy to pack as much. And anchored down by Deiter laying on the other end, it's working well! Now maybe I'll get moving on it.

That was a long one! If you made it to the end, ask yourself-

Don't I have anything more interesting to do???
Like Hooking???
LOL!!!