Surprised!

Hubby surprised the heck out of me on Sunday by presenting me with this awesome new bicycle for Valentine's Day!  I can't wait till the weather warms up a bit (it's snowing today) so I can ride it on the paved trail that runs near our home. The seat is big and comfortable, and the handlebars are quite close to the seat so I don't have to stress out my arms and shoulders like you do on a regular bike. This is a hybrid - designed for women by women.

Fun flowers

Yesterday on our local TV station these gals did a Studio 5 segment on how to make some really fun flowers - I'd use wool, of course, instead of the felt they recommended - both will work great! I actually made one of the other flowers they demonstrated a couple weeks ago using the lining fabric from a wool skirt that I dismantled for my rug hooking. While the pillows that they have displayed are definitely not primitive, they could easily be made to look that way through fabric choices. Hope you'll try some too after watching the video!

Bookish

DD#1 has always been a bookworm. I could never read her enough stories when she was a small child. As a pre-schooler, storytime at the library was the highlight of her week. She taught herself to read before she started kindergarten. She's 28 now and the passion still hasn't let up. Last year she started keeping a book list to keep track of her literary accomplishments and the grand total was 112 books - can you imagine? This year she as already read 8 - just in the month of January! I made this vase using a book I bought at the thrift store - thought it was appropriate for her - all things considered. Hope she likes it!

Vintage Rug

We had two new ladies at our rug hooking meeting today - they had both seen the TV segment I did a few weeks ago and were interested enough to come and see what exactly we were doing. One of the gals brought a half-finished rug that she had found when she went through her mom's things. She knows nothing about it - did her mom make it? Did her grandma make it? No idea! But it's just beautiful - and she thinks she would like to learn how to hook and try to finish it herself. It will be quite a job because there was no wool found with the rug - she'lll have to dye it all to match what has already been used. Arline in our group is the perfect resource for her because she's done exactly the same thing in the past. It's a beautiful scroll done in a #3 & #4 cut.

The other gal brought a large bag of wool clothing she'd bought at the thrift stores - she wanted to ask us if she was buying the right kind of stuff. She was very enthusiastic about everything and I know she's going to be a great rug hooker. They both found out what kind of cutters, and hooks and frames they would need to get started. I think they might be hooked!

We meet each month at Myra's house and she was getting the border hooked on this cute pumpkin rug that is her own design.

Thanks April!

Awhile ago I joined the 10-minute rug hooker group that April set up on her website. The idea is to commit to hooking 10 minutes a day to slowly but surely work away on your project. April put everyone's name into a drawing and I was the lucky winner! I received this wonderful tote in the mail today and it's so cool! One thing I couldn't tell from April's pictures, was the great texture of the chenille yarn she used on the border of the tote so I'm sharing a close-up of that part. I can't wait to use it - thanks April!

My Pet Peeve

I love, love, LOVE reading blogs, but I often stop by blogs that play music and it really bugs me. I usually have my own music playing - either on the computer - or on my stereo - and when the blog music starts it just makes a horrible cacophony of noise that makes me scramble for the mute button. I have a hard time understanding why people put the music on there - it's not like most of the readers will be there long enough to even listen to one whole song. And everyone has such different tastes - why subject readers to something they might not care for? Whew! Anyway, just wanted to vent a little - I'd like to start a campaign to bring this practice to a screeching halt! LOL Hope I haven't offended anyone, but wanted to voice my opinion.

My Newest Rug

I just finished stitching down the edges of this little rug. It's a quilting design from a Lori Smith book that I have. All her applique patterns translate really well to rug hooking. I changed the colors up just a bit to make it my own and I really like it. My second finished rug of the new year! I ran out of red wool on the border when I was only half way around, so started mixing in some other pieces that were close. I like the variation that it gives.