Happy Belated Thanksgiving and an early Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

I've been very lax in blogging and as I've read your blogs I just don't know how you fit it all in.  I can't even say I've been so busy because so have all of you!  Anyhoo, I've done some things - sadly no rug hooking yet.  But I wanted to share with you some of the things I've done.  First we painted the hallway and living room of our house about two weeks before Thanksgiving.  I took some before and after pics.  My living room had previously been mostly light houses - well actually all light houses and I decided after viewing a lot your pictures that I liked the primitive/country look so I did not put back all my light houses. 

 Before - light blue

 Another before shot - light blue wall

 Now - a Colonial revival tan (sorry about the clutter around the sewing machine!)

A Christmas ornament I made for my staff - from a pattern idea in Create and Decorate.  In Create and Decorate the designed used buttons to make a hate and lace as the scarf.  I wanted a more rustic look so I did the homespun, no hate, and peppercorns for the eyes and mouth.  Everyone seemed to really like it when I gave it out yesterday.

I took a class at a local quilt shop in Vermilion, OH and made this lovely Santa wreath.  I loved it!  It was sooo easy to make.  I'll be making more for gifts next year!

I still want to take pictures of some of my purchases from earlier this fall, but my craft room is such a mess I'd be too embarassed to take pictures!  LOL!

Next weekend my daughter and her children are coming over so we can bake up a storm.  I need 8 dozen cookies for a cookie exchange at work, she needs cookies for them (there are 7 of them) as well as gifts.  I'll try to take pictures along the way!  I hope I maintain my sanity when it's all said and done!  LOL!  It should be fun.

I hope you're all staying warm and are not too overwhelmed with all that needs accomplished yet for the holidays.

Thanks for stopping by.  Leave a comment/let me know how you're doing!

Char

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

I hope you all have a wonderful day, don't eat to much chocolate, and don't get frightened out of your wits!

Things are finally settling down for me so pictures will be coming soon.  Pics of things I've purchased and the finished baby quilt.  Since I've finished the quilt I've started working on my Christmas crafts.  Not as far along as I'd like to be at this stage of the game, but at least I'm moving along with them!  I'll have to show you those after Christmas!  :) 

I've cut the wool from my one saltbox house mat that I'll be hanging over the doorway leading from the living room into the kitchen.  I want to paint my living room and hallway a beige color (it's currently very light blue).  Then I'll have hubby hang a shelf I bought in Amish country to hang small quilts or rug hooking projects on.

So, what about all of you?  What are you working on?  If you make gifts for family and friends - how many do you need to make?  (I need to make at least 24 - maybe 2 or 3 more!!!).

Thanks for stopping by! 

Introducing Juleigha Renee!

She was born October 11 at 5:05 p.m. by c-section (she was breech).  She weighst 7 lbs 5 oz and is 19/12 inches long.

 Just chilling waiting for the nurses to get done with all their things.

 Grandma (my daughter, Ginger) is in love already.  Juleigha doesn't like all the lights.

Dominic, her uncle, at 16 months old.  He's keeping me busy!

I'll write more later!

Better today!

Thanks to everyone for their sympathy when I whined the other day here on my blog!  My daughter told me this morning that the gas is to be turned on tomorrow and if everything goes well they'll be moving out tomorrow or Friday.

I promise I'll be posting pictures soon.  I've bought a few odds and ends over the past couple of months and just need to charge the camera, take pictures and then post. 

As the weather is getting cooler I'm starting to really get the urge to craft/hook/quilt - whatever comes to mind.  I do need to finish my granddaughter's baby's quilt and I need to get it done fairly soon!  She's due October 18!!!  Then I need to work on my Christmas crafts because that is approaching very quickly!  But I really want to work on a saltbox house hooked rug to hang above the doorway from the living room into the kitchen!  I read all your blogs and see you all doing so much.  How on earth do you find the time to fit it all in?  I must be doing something wrong because more days are spent not crafting than on crafting... :(

Happy crafting to all!

Thank you so much for stopping by.  Any tips on how you get so much crafting done will be truly appreciated!

Hi - It's me!  Sorry I haven't been on in a while and sorry no pictures with this post....again!  My daughter and her family are staying with us until their house gets finished (there's seven of them in our tiny two bedroom house).  It's like wall to wall people.  Our office is holding the baby's play pen (for him to sleep in; my craft room has all their blankets, sleeping bags, pillows, purses, diaper bags (you get the picture ) in there with just enough room to get to the shelf that holds my extra toilet paper, kleenex and paper towels.  During the day they put the air mattress that the girls are sleeping on in to our bedroom so when we get home from work we can barely move around in our bedroom.  So upstairs my daughter sleeps on the couch, the baby in the office, and the two girls on the living room floor.  Downstairs her husband sleeps on the couch and the boys sleep on the floor down there.  In that room there are multiple suitcases (looks like they're planing to stay with us forever!) and various items of I don't know what all over the counter down there.  Then in the wash room there are piles of dirty clothes all over the place.  The other side of the laundry room (where I usually walk on the treadmill or do the stationary bike) is full of toys scattered all over.  I'm just a tad stressed.  Last Wednesday we were out at their house to hopefully clean but the water department said a part was missing and they couldn't turn the water on.  So while my daughter and her friend were in the trailer trying to figure out which boxes to bring in when the baby saw a power tool and that little devil is quicker than a NASCAR driver and he went right for it.  I tried to grab him and in doing so pulled a muscle in my back.  A trip to the doctor and anti-inflammatory meds, muscle relaxers, and pain pills later I'm in la la land.  I feel a little better today but am still sore.  The doc said I'd probably be sore for a good two weeks!  Yikes!  With luck, they'll be out by this weekend and I'll have my sanity back!!!!

Thanks for stopping in and listening to me whine!

Finally! I thought I'd lost my mind!

For a couple of weeks now I've been trying to be a good blogger and leave comments on all the blogs I follow...  Well, it kept getting a message that it didn't recognize my account, etc.  So this morning I fooled around with it and after multiple tries of trying to leave comments I finally went to the "help" section of blogspot... duh!  Should have done that a couple of weeks ago!!!  Any hoo - I found out what I needed to do, did what the instructions said and voila!  I had time to leave comments on two that I follow!  Whew!

Thanks for stopping by!  Leave a comment if you have a second or two!  I would enjoy hearing from you!

Have a great day!

I've finally gotten busy! YAY!

 Getting my pattern drawn onto my primitive linen.  Whew!  Trying to make sure everything was straight wasn't easy.  Had to get my hubby's help!

 Started working on my futher great-granddaughter's quilt.  It's a split rail fence.  Mom didn't want a lot of pink and happens to love purple so I did the purple paisley, pink, and lime green.  The back if pink "minkee" fabric that is very softy.  I cut my fabric into 2 1/2" strips and sewed them together.  Then I cut the strips 6 inches. (a little further below is a picture of that).

 Then I laid it out to the design that I wanted and proceeded to sew it together.

 Oops!  Some how I didn't sew it together right so I had to rip it all out and start over!  Ugh!

 Here it is laid out on the batting and backing, ready to pin.

 Here is the cut square I mentioned previously.  I cut this from the three strips sewn together.

 Here is the quilt all pinned and ready to hand quilt!  Yay!  I will quilt each strip.  Oh, baby is due October 18!!!! Guess I'm gonna be super busy!!!

Another view of my rug project!  It is called "Hooked Saltbox Row" and will be 10" x 26" when finished.  It is by Humble Handwork by American Fold Artist S. West.

A cross stitch project that I finished a month ago but this past weekend finally pressed it and framed it.  Then realized I hadn't initialed or dated it!  Sigh...

Work has finally settled down somewhat.  Still a mystery each day as to what I'll be assigned to do/supervise/plan next!

Hubby is preparing to retire which is a little stressful right now with the debt crisis we appear to be in.

Son-in-law keeps coming into town from Kentucky for job interviews and to look for a house so that is throwing my schedule way off.  Sigh...   Hopefully one of the interviews will pan out!

Looking forward to Sauder Village next Friday (19th).  Stacy, a friend, Sharon, and I will make a day of it.  We'll leave early, stop somewhere for breakfast, then hit the road.  After Sauder and lunch we'll head out to the Cozy Cabin quilt shop and from there we'll go to The Door Mouse quilt shop (they have tons upon tons upon tons of fabric!  it's overload there's so much fabric!!!), then we'll head home.  We'll probably have to stop for dinner just to have the energy to make it home!   LOL!  It's going to be a fun day!

Thanks for stopping by!  Hope you're all being creative and enjoying what's left of summer!

Best made plans...

So - I finally got in the mood to do some crafting/hooking/quilting/stitching - whatever this past weekend.  I pulled out my linen and a pattern to do a "rug" to hang over the door that leads from the living room into the kitchen.  Got it cut, folded over the edges and did a zig zag stitch to keep the linen from unraveling.  Then per the directions I drew a rectangle that was so lopsided!  So I had my husband help me get it drawn on straight.  So, I pinned my pattern that I had traced onto red dot tracing fabric and attempted to trace the pattern onto the linen....  I ran out of ink in my marker!!!  :( 

So then I decided I'd go to the fabric store and buy fabric to make a quilt for my granddaughter's baby.  So I looked for the pattern I was going to make it into - split rail fence - couldn't find it in my room.  So I went online to see if I could find directions and fabric requirements online.  Didn't have a lot of luck there.  So I decided that I'd wait until today - a friend had sent me a pattern via email here at work.  I've printed that out, have the fabric requirements and will go get the fabric and the marker after work. 

Next I decided I'd work on my Christmas crafts which is a stitchery piece that is supposed to be a pillow.  Not sure if I'll make it into a pillow or just frame it.  Anyhoo, every time I'd go to thread the needle I'd drop it, have to get out of my chair to look for it so I quickly became frustrated!  And then on top of all of that our air conditioner isn't working properly so I was getting hot.  So I gave up!  LOL!

I know, I know - I should be posting pictures but since I'm at work doing this I just don't have the pictures to post.  Those will come later! 

Hope you all had a great weekend!

I have been very lax!

And I apologize but please bear with me!  I've not been blogging much over the past couple of months.  Things in my life are very busy right now (yeah look who'se life isn't busy right now!)  I'm working on getting back in the groove.  I even finished the cardinal mat just need to take a pic of it and post the finish product.  I was going to trace a pattern onto linen the other night and realized I didn't have any way to trace it - no red dot, no netting - nothing.  So I ordered some red dot.  Meanwhile, I've gotten my Christmas craft ready to start working on and until I get the red dot tracing paper I'll work on that.  Once I get the red dot tracing paper I'll get that pattern traced and the wool cut (at least I have the wool for it!) and in between working on the rug I'll work on my Christmas craft - I need to make about 25/30 of them!

Julia - you are the busiest woman I know.  I don't know how you do it all!  I had a dream the other night that I'd met you in person and you were just as lovely and friendly as you are here!  :)  Maybe that was wishful thinking on my part - to meet you in person!

Hope you all are having a good day!  Thanks for stopping in!

Char needs to get her groove back!

With all these changes here at work, graduations, yard work, house cleaning, etc I just haven't felt like doing a single thing  :(  When I'm at work I think that when I get home I'll do some rug hooking or crocheting or start another cross stitch project and end up doing absolutely nothing.    Does anyone have tips on how to get back in the swing of things or how to re-motivate yourself?!? 

I'm having some problems with my blog too so I need to try to get that figured out.  Once I sign in, when I want to sign out I have to click sign in and then sign out on that page.  It's weird.

Hope you're all having a nice summer so far!

Thanks for stopping in and (hopefully) leaving a comment or two!

Take care!

Where has the time gone!

I've been so busy between stuff at work and graduations that I didn't realize how long it's been since I've posted anything!!!

To start off with - we went to Melbourne, Florida for my granddaughter (my son's daughter) Brooke's graduation from high school.  She graduated from Palm Bay High School and Pirates Academy with three honors. 

My granddaughter, Brooke, and me at the beach.  Good googly moogly - I never realized I had three chins!!!!

 My son, John with Brooke - still at the beach.  Isn't the water beautiful!

 The happy graduate!  It was held outside and was extremely humid and sweltering hot.  Thank goodness for 100+ SPF Sunscreen!  Brooke looks all calm, cool and collected!

 Class of 450 students!

 My honey, John.  My son John. And Brooke's other grandma.

 My son and I got up at 5:30 to go to the beach and watch the sunrise.

We had some good coffee from the hotel and sat on the beach for over an hour watching the sunrise.  It was so peaceful and relaxing.  As the sun started coming up a school of dolphins came through.  It was awesome to watch but I couldn't get a good picture of it.

Then it was back to work for four days until Memorial Day weekend.  We worked out in the yard some but had a lot more to go.

 My Anna Magnolia tree that will be planted on the front side of the picket fence.

My pink calla lillies that will be planted on the house side of the picket fence.

Then it was back to work for four days before our trip to Kentucky for my granddaughter (my daughter Ginger's daughter), Karley's graduation.

Again it was hot, hot, hot.  The graduation was held inside the gym with no air conditioning.  I gave up having a "good hair day" for either granddaughter's graduation!

 Karley with her mom, Ginger, dad - Tony, and baby brother Dominic who turned one year old on June 1. In other pictures he's trying to grab her tassle!  Note how skinny Ginger is - 6 kids later!!!!!

 Karley with her sisters, Toni and Felicia, and brothers, Andrew, Ryan, and Dominic.  Felicia in the sun dress is the 16 year old that is pregnant.  She had to leave the gym because it was so hot and she kept feeling like she was going to pass out.  She's not having an easy time of it and we're all very worried about her.  She's so pale and has just recently started keeping food down (she's 5 months along - due October 18).

 Me and my hubby with Karley.  At this point she asked that we hurry up with the pictures as her face was hurting and her feet were hurting and she was burning up!  It was terribly hot in there and we were standing in front of the open doors!!!

 Dominic.  He has such a good disposition.  His eyes are such a pretty shade of blue - it's a shame they didn't show up that way in the pictures.

 He was too sure about what to do with his cake.  And on top of it all - with the cooking going on their house was on the warm side and the frosting was melting and sliding off the cake!

Dominic trying to show his muscles!  Trying to move a metal tub.  He kept turning his head every time I'd snap the picture but the look of concentration on his face was priceless!

So now we're home.  I've done yard work - more pictures to come some other day.  Finished a cross stitch.  "Painted" some silk scarves - all pictures to some some other day.

Back to work on Monday...   :(

Thanks for stopping by!

Whew!....I think...

Well, it appears that I have not gotten laid off and I do believe there is no one who can bump me out of my position since I'm a supervisor and no other supervisors were let go or will be bumped.  Now, I just need to find out how all of this changes my job responsibilities!  Thanks for everyone's positive thoughts! 

I had a bit of a health scare recently - went for my routine mammogram and was called back for more views.  So I went this past Monday - not particularly worried - no family history, didn't feel any lumps or unusual tenderness, etc.  After they did the views they showed them to the radiologist who decided I needed an ultrasound.  Gulp!  So I had the ultrasound and it basically shows that I have fluid filled cysts in my right breast.  They told me it would be up to my family doctor to decide if I should have a repeat in six months or if it was okay to wait a year.  However, my family doctor just retired so a new doctor will be reviewing my results and go from there.  What a relief that it wasn't anything more than fluid filled cysts!

Getting ready to head to Florida for my granddaughter's high school graduation!  Never been to Florida and am really looking forward to going!  I'm so proud of my granddaughter - she is getting recognized by the Superintendent for her school work.  I'll be able to explain more when I get back.

Haven't been doing much hooking or stitching or quilting lately - my thumb is very sore (has been for about 3 weeks).  When I get back if it hasn't improved then it's a trip to the doctor for me.  It started hurting when I was trying to whipstitch my cardinal mat.  I was just pulling and tugging and tugging and I think I irritated my joints.   

When I come back I'll have pictures of a shrub that I bought, the calla lillies my son and his family gave me for Mother's Day and hopefully some nice pictures of Florida!  :)

Thanks for dropping in!

Take care!
Char

LOL! It's been one of those days already!

Welcome Gayle!  Thanks for following me.  While I thought I was clicking the link to follow your blog I actually am following my own blog!  LOL!  Oh, thank goodness it's Friday!

The last time I posted I was concerned about rumors of lay-offs.... well... they're no longer rumors! :(  Approximately 14 people will be laid off.  Not sure yet if I'm one of them.  No idea when it's going to happen.  My guess is within the next two weeks.  As you can imagine, staff here are very stressed out.  There have been a lot of staff in my office crying since the initial announcement went out a week ago.
Times are tough, economy is bad - it is what it is.  I'll just go with the flow and try not to get too stressed out.


Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Belated Easter!

Thanks for stopping by! 

Courtney - thank you for being a follower.  I checked out your blog and added it to my list.  Just kind of curious - how did you come up with the name for your blog?  Thanks for your comments on the pictures and my quilt.  That quilt was my first big quilt ever!  A very long time ago I made a sampler that I hung in my kitchen but the log cabing quilt was a queen size quilt.  I have since learned that before I pin the top to the back - lay it on my bed to make sure it will fit!!!

Kim - I'm glad you liked the pictures.  I wish I had taken more and tried to jot down a little info about each one.  But it was my first hook-in so I have a lot to learn obviously! 

Julia - it took almost a week for Stacy and I to get rested from our hook-in (it's only a 2 hour drive from our homes!!!).  I knew you'd love the rooster!  I told the woman I had a friend who liked roosters and would just fall in love with it.  She said she used a #6 to hook it.  I wish I'd found out who did the pattern for you.  The yellow was like a blended yellow, kind of light red and light orange colors.

Lauren - It was a fun, but very rainy day!  The biggest problem I had is that once I got home I wanted to start going to town on my Winter Welcome but was just too tired, then I got up Monday to come to work and whined to my husband that I really wanted to stay home and hook.  Sigh...  The bugger is probably going to retire this summer so then it really will be brutal to come to work while he gets to stay home!!!

Things are kind of crazy here at work - rumors/talk about lay offs, etc.  I'm just a mere two years away from being able to retire and hope I get to keep my job that long.  I'd be afraid to look for a job at my age and we can't afford for me to not work - bills to pay, rugs to hook, quilts to quilt - you've got the picture.  I supervise five really wonderful workers and am concerned about their positions and what will they do if they lose their jobs.  So, for a while I may be in and out, but will try to stay upbeat and post pictures and fun things like that.

Thanks to everyone who stops by.  If you have a second or two drop me a line, introduce yourself, let me know if you have a blog - I'd love to follow along!

Take care and happy hooking! 

Finally!

I have the time to post some pictures - one of them is the project I'm currently working on.  The rest are pictures from the hook-in.

These are two shots of what I'm currently working on.  It's called "Winter Welcome Heart" (I know - it's spring...what can I say...!)  Designed by Jill Holmes of Northwoods Wool (http://www.northwoodswool.com/)

 A picture of my friend, Stacy's rug - Pearl, LaVerne, and Mae by Spruce Ridge studios.

 A picture of the crowd at the hook-in in Holmes County this past weekend.

Below are some of the rugs brought in for display.  The pictures don't do them justice!

This was a lovely wool applique done on wool fabric.  Absolutely beautiful!  The colors are so vibrant!!

 A rug being hooked by one of the attendees!  Aren't to colors gorgeous!

 A rug that I thought was so nice!  At first I thought "Wow! I'd love to hook this rug!" but then I thought of how big it is and decided I needed to pace myself and work up to something this big!  LOL!  I can't remember which vendor had it displayed.  :(

So the hook-in was fun, overwhelming, inspiring, and at the end of the day tiring!  On the way there it rained.  When we got there it was pouring!  We made a mad dash from the car into the building.  We found a table and as I was setting up I realized I had left my frame in the car.  So it was a mad dash to the car and back but oh well.  We met a lot of very friendly people.  Saw a lot of awesome rugs in progress.  We were amazed at the women that were hooking with #3 wool!  WOW!  Such tiny pieces of wool!!!!  But the results were beautiful!  An awesome lunch provided by Log Cabin Caterers.  Then we went shopping at Country Craft Cupboard in Berlin, Ohio.  I bought some rug binding, a pair of scissors, some primitive linen, and a few other odds and ends.  They were having people pull eggs from a basket and inside were little pieces of paper with a % off - I got 25% off my purchase so I was a very happy camper.  The drive home wasn't as rainy but we were pretty tired.  By the time I got home and ate some dinner I was practically falling asleep in my plate!  I went to bed at 8:15 p.m. and slept until 7:30 the next morning.

Thanks for dropping by.  I hope you enjoy the pictures!

Have a great evening!

Finally! It's FRIDAY!

I'm really looking forward to tomorrow's hook-in in Holmes County.  Stacy and I will be hitting the road around 7:30 a.m.!    I'll be taking a small heart shaped mat to work on - sorry I can't remember who designed it.  It's a winter scene welcome with a snowman.

Note to self:  TAKE CAMERA AND USE IT!!!  :)

Have a great weekend everyone!

A beautiful weekend!

Saturday we drove down to Amish Country (Walnut Creek and Berlin Ohio).  No particular reason for going except to get away for a day.  It was supposed to be a nice day.  It was overcast and chillier than they predicted but still better than rain and snow.  Bought a rug hooking pattern to hang over the doorway from the Living Room into the Kitchen.  Bought some yarn so I can whipstitch my cardinal mat.  And of course pastries from Der Dutchman.

Sunday Stacy came over to work on her quilt.  And of course I totally forgot to take pictures yet again!  Sigh...

This coming Saturday, April 16 - Stacy and I are going to a hook-in in Holmes County (Walnut Creek) Mennonite Church down in Amish country.  I'm sure after that we'll have to head into Berlin to the Country Craft Cupboard and probably some other stops along the way!

Have a great day!

Happy April!

Sorry I haven't be on in a while.  Was having some chest pain with nausea and shortness of breath at my cardiologist's office so he sent me for a heart cath last Thursday.  Everything came out fine - no angioplasty, no stents - arteries are good.  So I gues when I do my follow-up with him on April 28 we'll talk about what could be causing the chest pain, etc.  I'm thinking - STRESS!  Things have just been so crazy here at work and so crazy at home and I haven't been taking care of myself and paying attention to what my body was trying to tell me so it just reached up and slapped me upside the head to get my attention! 

I did start on a small cross stitch project that I'll post when I'm done.  I still have to bind my cardinal mat.

My friend Stacy and I are going to a hook-in down in Amish country here in Ohio on April 16 - looking forward to that!

Still have to have two more classes of quilting with Stacy and Mary Jane and hopefully they'll be satisfied with the results!  :)  I'll try to remember to take pictures at our next class and post them!

Thanks for stopping by!

Char

This and that



Our house after they tore off the stoop and before adding the front porch.



Midway into the job.

The porch is finished - now to paint the house.

The house painted and shutters on.

So the reason I'm showing this is because now that spring is right around the corner we need to decide on some type of landscaping.  I read in my country gardens magazine that there is a lilac bush that gets only 4-5 feet tall and blooms all summer.  So I'm thinking of adding that to the left corner, then some type of shrubs.  We have rose bushes in front of the picket fence.  Then we'd need to add some types of shrubs under the picture window.  I'm not a good gardener so I'm going to need something that requires little care.  So much work to do!  So little time!  :)  We also need to get some nice rockers or gliders to put on the porch so we can sit out and enjoy the evenings or mornings on the weekends.  We have a nice back porch as well.  I'll get pictures of that later.  We like sitting out back - less traffic, lots of birds, quieter.

Almost finished with my cardinal mat.  I was running out of my background wool so I decided to add an extra row to the border, then do little half circles in the corners with the same color wool as the border.  I think I'm going to be okay now with the background wool.  I'll post as soon as I'm done.  I need to get some wool yarn to do my edging with - I thought I had bought some but can't find it.  I have the binding tape to do that part of the mat.  Yay!

Have a great day!  And thank you for stopping by!



It's a beautiful day!

The sun is shining, it's about 55 degrees.  Sigh... wish two things - 1) that I had the day off and 2) that this would mean the end of the cold and snow, but sadly they're predicting another snow event next Thursday evening into Friday.  At this point they're not sure how little or how much snow we might get but it SNOW!  Yuck!

I had the first of a three part quilting class this past Sunday.  They got all their fabric cut out so on April 3 we'll beging the sewing.  I totally, totally forgot to take pictures while they were working away, pics of their fabric choices etc.  I even had the camera sitting on a side table! 

I am really in a dither about what to do about the fact that I'm running out of wool for the background on my cardinal mat.  :(  I tried addinng a goldish beige color but it looks too gold.  So I'm thinking I just need to put it on hold until I can go to Ault's and see if I can find some wool close to that color.  Meanwhile I can start on a new project.  Sigh...  I can see that I really need to learn how to dye my own wool so that hopefully this won't happen to me again.  I just need to get all the supplies, read the book and start one color at a time...

Winter wonderland!

The snow on the trees was so pretty this morning driving in to work.  Roads weren't great but they weren't horrible either.  I wished that I had my camera with me because it looked like a scene out of a painting.  Just beautiful!

Looking forward to this weekend.  I'm going to attempt to "teach" two of my friends how to quilt.  We'll meet three times from 1:30 - 4:30.  They will be doing the "Turning Twenty" pattern.  This Sunday I will show them how to cut their fabric per the instructions.  Then I'll have them spend the rest of their time at my house cutting so I'm there to answer questions.  I will be cutting fabric for my grandsons' quilts.  I'm making them rag quilts.  I hope to get all the fabric cut and pinned together over the spring and summer, then they'll be ready to quilt in the fall.  I'll try to remember to take pictures as I have my quilting classes.  This will be my first time teaching something so extensive.  I taught needle punch to some of the workers here.  We had a "crafting" lunch group where someone would teach a new craft.  I had just learned needle punch from my friend Stacy (who also works with me).  She encouraged me to teach it to the group.  That Stacy - she's always talking me into something crafty!  LOL! 

Hope you all have a great day!

Thanks for stopping in!

Rug hooking, rain, SNOW!?!?

Met with Stacy and Lauren last night to rug hook.  I'm worried that I'm going to run out of background wool so I asked Stacy and Lauren for their suggestions.  They both suggested leaving spaces to incorporate a fabric either lighter or a little darker than my background just in case I did run out.   So that is what I've started to do (leave spaces).  I must me hooking tighter than I should because when I bought the wool I asked the person I bought it from how much I'd need for the background.  She held the wool up to my pattern and gave me what she felt I'd need.  Stacy had some wool that looked like it would blend well with my current background wool so if I need it I will buy it from her. 

It has been raining it seems forever!  Now they're predicting 2-3 inches of snow tonight and 6-10 inches tomorrow!  Aaaacccckkkk!!!!! 

Not as much tension this week as what I had last week.  But like I was telling Stacy and Lauren last night - I'm so stressed that I'm feeling it in the muscles of my back!  I'm hoping this passes soon!  And I'm feeling so tired and drained - hoping it's the weather!

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Whew! What a week this has been!

The week started out fun - met with Stacy and Lauren Monday night and we all busily hooked on our rugs and enjoyed conversation about rug hooking, craft shows, hook-ins etc.  Then on Tuesday all he*l broke loose!  I'm exhausted after the week I've had.  A lot of tension here at work. 

Then yesterday my daughter called me here at work bright and early crying and saying I have bad news and more bad news.  Her husband was sent home from work Tuesday for insubordination.  His supervisor is accusing him of yelling and cussing at him when he gave him some work orders.  Son-in-law's version is that he told the supervisor those were day shift work orders.  So his employer was to call him yesterday to tell him if he had a job or not.  When he didn't hear from him by mid-afternoon he called.  They told him they didn't know if he still had a job because his story is different from the supervisor's so they'd need to talk with the supervisor again and they'd let him know.   Did I mention they have six children!?!?  Then the other bad news is that their 16 year old daughter is pregnant.  Sigh...  The guy is a loser, has been in treatment for drugs hits on her girlfriends, has sent them nude pictures of himself, etc.  And on top of all of that my daughter's health insurance will not cover their daughter's pregnancy because the company that he works for opted to not have that as coverage.   It's just a nightmare.

So I've been rug hooking in a daze!  But I did look at my cardinal mat this morning and it doesn't look like I made any mistakes!  LOL! 

At Monday night's get together and sitting and watching how great Stacy and Lauren hook I realized that I need to practice getting my loops lower and more even.  But not to beat up on myself, this is only the second thing I've hooked!

Oh well, tomorrow is another day.  Thank you all for letting me vent!

TA DA!

I have finally finished the two quilts and put them in the mail for my granddaughters!  I'm going to try to post the pictures now.

This is the front if Toni Marie's quilt.  She loves yellow!  The pattern is called "Turning Twenty" by Tricia Cribbs.  The finished size is approximately 70 x 86.  It was hand quilted with "x's" and "o's".

The back of Toni's quilt is yellow also with tiny flowers.  Toni will be 14 on her birthday this week.

This is the front of Felicia's quilt.  It is also a "Turning Twenty".  Hers was hand quilted with "x's".  She turns 16 today!  (2/21).  She loves purples.

This is the back of Felicia's quilt.

So far I have completed 5 quilts for 5 of my 10 grandchildren.  As well as a queen size log cabin for my bed, a quilt for my son, and a quilt top for another granddaughter.

This is my next quilting project.  It's a pattern by Eleanor Burns and will replace the wallhanging of cardinals that I currently have in my kitchen.

Now I get to concentrate on rug hooking!  Yay!  I've been a member of the 10 Minute Rug Hooking group and have yet to spend two minutes hooking but that all changed today!  And tonight I'll be working on the rug again at our rug hooking/crafting group!  And (and I'm so excited about this!) I "met" two people on RHD who live close by and they will be attending tonight so our group is growing!  And soon I'll be posting pics of my rugs!  Yay!