Update

I'm making good progress on the modern quilt I'm making for DD#2. The top is sewn into two halves - which I had to lay out on the living room floor since it's bigger than my design wall.

And the foundation  papers are ready to be removed - a good thing to do while watching TV in the evening.

I drew my own pattern for the 8" blocks and printed them on inexpensive paper I got from the dollar store.

My rug hooking friend Lauren informed me last week that I had won a secret giveaway on her blog and this beautiful pendant arrived in my mailbox yesterday. The center is filled with a small piece of beautiful vintage wool paisley in my favorite color RED! I look forward to wearing this for a long time Lauren - thank so much!

Holiday Weekend

We don't often leave town on a holiday weekend, but made an exception this time because of the horrible inversion & pollution we've been experiencing here the last week or two. Hubby & I drove with DD#2 and her family five hours south to sunshine, blue skies and warm temperatures - it was perfect! We explored & hiked & swam & ate out and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Here are a couple of things I saw that during our travels that caught my attention. We stopped at Cove Fort which has been restored to resemble pioneer times and I loved seeing this hooked rug in one of the rooms. Rug hooking was a colonial craft and not a pioneer craft, but it was still fun to see this on the floor of a bedroom there.

Here's a close up of part of the floral diamond.

And we saw a barn star on the side of a house that was nice - not seen very often in this part of the country - I'd like to make one for my home someday.

I've been very busy working on a new quilt for DD#2 - she chose the pattern & the colors - I chose the fabrics. Each block is paper pieced in two sections. Each star is formed by sewing four blocks together, so the entire quilt needed to be laid out before I started any of the sewing.

Lots of trimming involved...

Last week when I met with my rug group there was some great show & tell. Nancy had started a new table runner - it will be symmetrical and placed on a small telephone table in her home.

She just had a bit of yarn whipping left to do on this cute piece that she began & finished since our meeting a month ago.

Myra is hooking a pumpkin rug for a friend with vibrant orange colors.

Yvonne is working on a rug that is in a Pat Cross book (if I remember correctly)

It's good to be home!

Blackbirds and Berries

I first shared this new rug a few posts back. It's totally finished now and I think it turned out to be one of my all time favorites! I adapted a quilt design from Kim Diehl's book titled Homestyle Quilts. The size is 22" x 25".

Below is a picture of the quilt in the book.

You can see that I totally changed the border and I got the inspiration for that part from a coloring book I received for Christmas. You can see the arrow in this photo pointing out the part that I adapted.

I had a bit of trouble finding wool yarn the right color to whip the edges, but finally tracked down some Paternyan at a local shop - couldn't be better! It cost quite a bit more than I usually spend, but it was totally worth it to me.

Yesterday I stopped at an antique sale and was surprised to find a hooked rug for sale - they don't show up often in this part of the country! It looked like the maker used silky fabrics instead of wool to make this with. I forgot to ask the price - thought that would have been interesting to know....

The back was finished nicely too.

Now I need to figure out what my next rug hooking project will be. Till then, I'll begin making a new lap quilt for DD#2. She needs one to snuggle under while watching TV in the basement where it gets a bit chilly. This one is very modern and it'll be interesting to work on something so far outside my normal color and style. I know she'll love it when it's done so it'll be worth it!

Show & Tell

Yesterday I met with the 1st Tuesday Rug Group and there was some really good show & tell. Several of the gals had recently learned to do needlepunch, so they brought their projects. Jeanette jumped right in with a big design that was so cute in the frame she had. I always love seeing this motif of stacked animals - so whimsical! She was working on a penny rug while we were there but my camera battery died before I could take a picture of it - sorry 'bout that!

Sharon has a real affection for small pebbles, and used one to mount a miniature punched heart onto. I sat next to her for three hours, and totally forgot to get a picture of the project she was working on - she was punching a vintage aqua canning jar with flowers in it - very soft muted colors and so pretty!

And Coralee was punching a floral pattern she found for free on the internet.

Victoria has finished hooking a Halloween rug - you can find the pattern on Tonia's website HERE.

She also showed us an adorable hat that she had knitted with sheep on it.

And she was doing the embroidery for a Crabapple Hill quilt pattern - her stitches are perfection!

Sandy recently got a new dining room table and is making six hooked pads for the chairs. The background wool she is using is so yummy - and we all loved the beaded edge she used.

I'll end with some fun news. Before Christmas I attended a Home Tour and shared pictures with you of a quilter's home that I absolutely loved. I was sad because she wasn't at home that day and I didn't get to meet her. Well, some of you left comments suggesting that I write her a note, so that's just what I did and I included my email address and phone number in case she was interested in contacting me. Imagine my delight when I got an email from her awhile later. We met for lunch a couple weeks ago and struck up a new friendship - we're planning a day of shopping in the near future and I'm really looking forward to it!

I'm busy whipping the edge of my hooked rug and will share a photo in a day or two when it's totally finished.