Spring Fever

Yesterday was a beautiful warm day here in Kansas...it is chilly this morning and expecting rain/snow mix with sun returning in the afternoon but  not warm until next week---in the 70's on Monday!  My husband is getting itchy to put our trailer back on our spot at Lake Pomme de Terre.  Sounds pretty good to me to but I don't think we are past getting below freezing.

I have spent the past two days in the dye pots---lots of yards of wool.   Today I hope to start pulling some things together for the Camp in Yellow Rose to see if I still need to get into the dye pots again.

I will be heading to Texas in two weeks---looking forward to some of that Texas hospitality!  I am excited to stop in Duncanville to see my old next door neighbor Lily---what a great friend and I  miss her.  It is strange to stay with her and see the house that we built in the 70's---I was 27 years old and working for Joske's.  I was living in Mesquite and would drive I-20 to Arlington.  I kept seeing this hilly wooded area from the interstate and one day after work I took the exit and fell in love with the area---I found a lot with a builder's name and went home and pronounced that I had found where I wanted to live---so we did in 1977 (I think)--- We moved from Texas to Alaska in 1991.  That is another story!



I wanted to post this information about this upcoming hook-in---I will be vending at this event---it sounds like a great event---put in on your calendar!

When you come to this Hook-in and mention that you saw this on my blog I will have a special little gift for you---looking forward to seeing you there!

Pre-registration - $15.00 includes a box lunch $ 6.00 without box lunch
Day of event - $ 7.00 at the door

*seating for lunch is limited, register early* (Lunch provided by The Art of Entertaining)
(Lunch not available for purchase day of event)

THE WOOLY LOFT and FRIENDS invite you to attend the 1st Annual
HOOK-IN and RUG SHOW
Saturday, April 28, 2012 10am - 4:30pm
Location: Kirkwood Community Center 111 S. Geyer Road Kirkwood, MO. 63122

Come join us for a FUN-filled day of HOOKING, SHOPPING, DOOR PRIZES & A RUG SHOW ** The Wooly Loft ** Nolahooks ** Kathy Meentemeyer ** Anita White ** Handbehg Felts **
** The Red Saltbox ** Wooly Woolen ** Hollyhock Hill Design ** Hill Country Rug Works **
** Woolgathering Baskets ** Saltbox Primitive Woolens ** Vicki Hardcastle ** Hall's Hooks ** ** Kay Kjeldgaard Crafts ** Prairie Road Designs ** Edwina Prinster ** M&N Creations **
**The Naomi Miller St. Louis Guild of Rug Hookrafters will be demonstrating throughout the day** ** engraving by The Woolhooker's Helper **
Contact: Donna McHargue - donna@thewoolyloft.com (314) 422-7771 Nina Dempsey - n.dempsey@sbcglobal.net (314) 965-5752 Maria Masurat - mreemaz@gmail.com (314) 560-9244
or visit - thewoolyloft.com for more information
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This form, with payment, must be postmarked by March 31, 2012
Name _________________________________________________________________
Address _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________
Phone _____________________Email ______________________________________ _____I would love a box lunch - $15 _____I do NOT care for a box lunch - $6 Please check one ____ Chicken salad sandwich
____ Turkey sandwich *Seating for lunch is limited, register early*
____ Veggie sandwich. **No outside sales**
Make check payable to: Hook-In St. Louis, LLC 101 W. Argonne Dr. Kirkwood, MO. 63122 






While I am on a roll, let me also mention that I will be in Alabama in May and received my class list yesterday so I will be contacting the students soon.


I also received the class list for Caraway in North Carolina in June and will be getting those e-mails out as well.


I am looking forward to both of these workshops---I was asked an interesting question yesterday---what part of rug hooking do I like the best---is it "hooking" or "dyeing"---or for me is in "teaching"---I think the thing I love most is the diversity that rug hooking allows me---never time to get bored---it allows me the freedom to put my effort in where I am at that point in time.  There are days that are frustrating and there are days that are relaxing---but I get to wake up and do something that I love to do---well, most of the time---I don't like the loading and unloading and I really don't like the paperwork part of it!


I will be teaching in Green Lake Wisconsin in September and have some openings in my class.  If you or anyone you hook with is looking for a great camp---check this one out!  It is a great camp.




mfwoolens.com

I feel compelled to have at least one picture on this post.

So here it is:

This picture was taken in Green Lake, Wisconsin---so beautiful!

Well it is time to go get busy!

Have a great weekend!

Monday Make-Do workshop

The State Line Rug Hooking Guild sponsored a workshop on Monday with Aileen Anderson of Hot Springs Village.  Here are some pictures from the workshop.

It was a great workshop---I did mine with paisley of course on oil cans---the bird is not quite finished but you can get the idea.  the little thread holder was missing it pincushion so I was able to replace it with paisley.

Off to the dye pots!!!

Lenexa Hook-in---a great success!

Last Saturday was the Lenexa Hook-in---with perfect weather the attendance was huge!  It was so fun to see everyone come and enjoy the day shopping, hooking, eating, and renewing friendships!  There was a great Rug Show---I did take some very fast pictures but I am not posting pictures---if you want some great eye candy you can visit a couple of great site.  Here are the links:

Amy's Dusty Trail

heartandharerugs.com

I am very pleased to announce that our raffle rug raised $1505 to be donated to the Spiva Art Center in Joplin.  The lucky winner was Karen Roberts---one of my Monday afternoon students.  Yeah Karen!  She was in Florida at the time of the drawing.  She came by today to pick up the rug.  Here she is:

At the hook-in I introduced a new Cupboard design---"Give a Hoot"---I did a rush job to get him hooked before the Hook-in.  He was a great success!

Here is a picture of my booth---other cupboard patterns are pictured on the right.

I have more to say but have no more time.  aileen Anderson of Hot Springs village taught a Make do class yesterday and is coming over for dinner and I have to get things ready.  I will post pictures tomorrow of our work.

I can't believe a week has gone by

This has been a busy week recouping from my last workshop and preparing for the Lenexa hook-in and Yellow Rose.

This morning we went to a coffee roasting tour at The Roasterie---a local Kansas City company, with a group of friends---I volunteered to be one of the "tasters" and slurped coffee out of a silverplated spoon---I was a good slurper---the other girl who volunteered was slurp challenged.  Afterwards we had a great lunch at The Westport Local.

Tomorrow I am going to see The Artist---has anyone see it?

I am looking forward to a dinner of some oysters that I brought home from Baton Rouge---yum!

Here are some more photos from the workshop.

Here is a paisley pattern that I designed that was hooked and finished by Cindy at the workshop.  I really like the beading on the paisley on the lefy---she is going to do a proddy edge finish for the pillow ---sorta like I did on this pillow...

or this mat

This pattern is called Dos Gallos y Sol and was designed by Bonifacio Tovar---one of the Rancheritas of Gonzales Mexico---patterns sold by Rug Art Supply.

This is another paisley that I designed from inspiration from an antique button---Charlene got close to finishing this one too!

Sondra hooked this Guilford runner and Edyth O'Neill design sold by Woolley Fox---be sure and click on the photo to make it larger so that you can see that she made little pillows of the antique paisley and stitched it on to the canvas---a great way to really see the design in the paisley.  LOVE IT!

Okay that is it for tonight!!!  

Happy Saturday night!

Home from Baton Rouge

I got home from Baton Rouge on Friday night after a long drive home.  I left Baton Rouge and spent Thursday night in Vicksburg Mississippi.  I stayed at the Diamond Jack casino hotel---after checking in I made a short visit to the casino---way too smoky for my liking---so I lost my $15 and bought a muffeletta and went back to my room and watched some TV before crashing.  I got on the road by 6:45 AM and started home.  I killed a couple of hours having lunch with my nephew in Little rock and hit an antique mall where I bought an old rug hook for 50 cents on a half price rack---good find!  I was pooped when I got home about 8:30 PM.  I didn't unpack until Saturday and it is still not put away.

What a great workshop!  Here is a picture taken at the end of camp---a few students had already left.

Here are a few pictures from the workshop.

Sorry this rug is sideways---Gail hooked this rug when she was in my class several years ago---so nice to see it finished,  It is Lib Callaway's "Comstock".  Note the braided edge.  Great job!

I had three people in my class hooking Paisley Hex, A house of Price pattern designed by jane Flynn---they all wanted to hook it similar to mine---they all did a great job!  Suzy's is upper right and she is going to add more borders to hers, an Karen is top left---she was fast, and Barbara's loops were perfect!

Here  is the finished version of mine.

On Tuesday night I did a lecture about paisleys---here is Capri modeling one of my shawls.

I am watching the grammy's tonight---so I'd better sign off and pay attention---as well as clean up the dinner dishes!

Saturday morning, one week to go

Well here it is, a quiet Saturday morning.  One week from today and I will be on the road heading to teach in Baton Rouge.  I am looking forward to kicking off 2012 in Baton Rouge.  I think things are ready---just a lot of packing to do.  I also want to get some cupboard frames painted but am waiting for a sunny day which is coming  next week.

I got good news this week that my daughter in California got a job with Bloomingdale's in San Francisco as a retail stylist in their visual merchandising area.  Yeah!!!  She is so creative and I am so happy for her.  Her art and theater background should serve her well in this field.  My degree was in Clothing Retailing and I worked retail management when I graduated from college.  Most of my years spent in Dallas in Store Management at Joske's.  When Chelsea was a little girl she got to be in several fashion shows at the store.  I guess you could say it is in her blood.  Congratulations Chelsea!!!  Go for it!

I was introduced this week to "words with friends" on my i phone with Chelsea.  Just what I need, something else to occupy my time---but it has been fun.  We both love scrabble.  I have learned some new words this week.

Well it is now Sunday night---where has the weekend gone?  Last night I started celebrating my birthday early---Hubby and i fixed a nice dinner and opened a special bottle of wine we had bought many years ago in Napa---YUM!

This morning I continued the celebration by going to brunch with friends---YUM again!

Tomorrow which is my real birthday, I plan to celebrate some more by getting a massage which was purchased a while back on groupon and going out for dinner again to use another  groupon coupon---it is good to be the birthday girl!

Today I had a design revelation for a future project---can't let the cat out of the bag yet---I've got to get it into action first but I am very excited about it.


Okay that is about it---but I'll go into my files and see if I can find a good picture---it's not a good post without some kind of picture,

Here's a fun rug almost finished hooked by Sally---her son drew the sketch and I enlarged it into a pattern---it was a Christmas present for her son---fun!

Happy hooking!

Vacation is over---time to get back to work!

We had a great vacation---enjoyed the warm or should I say hot weather in the Cayman's.  The water was beautiful as were the beaches---and oh my---what great food!  My favorite thing I ate was Naked Wahoo and mushroom bites at the Sunshine Grill---so incredibly delicious.  I mostly had fish--- snapper, grouper, tuna...oh my!

I did run in a 2 mile race on Saturday morning benefitting the local Catholic school----small race of about 90 people.  I came in 11th and was the second female to finish so I was very pleased---18:56.  thankfully it was at 7 AM so it wasn't too hot, but I was still sweating---very humid!

My hubby went scuba diving every morning---so we were up early.  I went snorkeling several times and that was fun.  We also went on a nighttime catamaran sailing---was a perfect night with millions of stars!

When I got home I quickly got myself back in the swing of things by spending two full days in the dye pots---and started packing for my first workshop of the year in Baton Rouge LA.  The Lenexa hook-in is at the end of February so it will be here before long.  In March I will be teaching at Yellow Rose in Texas and looking forward to my return trip there.  April brings a new hook-in in the St. Louis area where I will be vending and in May I will be teaching in Birmingham AL.  June brings me to my last of my three years teaching at Caraway in North Carolina.

Tomorrow and Wednesday my home classes start back---yeah!  It will be good to see everyone!  Thursday I am teaching a class at my shop in Greenwood---a busy week!

this colorful guy roamed the grounds in front of the hotel---great visual for hooking a rooster!

Hubby getting ready to go in for his dive at the Kittiwake shipwreck site

Here is our group on the catamaran---a fun group we were!

Okay time to go get busy---have a great day!