CATCHING UP -

Several years ago I made it a point to give my daughter and my grand children rugs for Christmas. I did this for a number of Christmas's since they expressed a great interest in the rugs. None of them wanted to learn how to hook, they just wanted the finished project. Since I have a small house I can only display a few rugs at a time. I do rotate the rugs so that I get to see them all and to give the rooms a different look from time to time. Both Richard and Joan brought several of their rugs back to me a few weeks ago and asked that I put the tabs on them for hanging. This gave me the opportunity to take some pictures.

I call this rug "Gone Courting."

The design was adapted from an antique cigarette advertising

card. My husband enlarged the design and I converted

it into a three by five rug. I a sorry there is no overall

picture of the rug but I have altrophobia and cannot

even stand to go up one step of a step ladder!

This is a closeup of the "Tom" that is courting.

He looks like a nice fellow to me - don't know why

the girls don't seem to like him.

This rug is titled "The Mischevous Cat" and was

designed by Quail Hill Rugs.

He certainly has been busy messing things up.

He spilled the coffee and unrolled the yarn.

Such a busy boy!

On Wednesday, last week, I had my flue's cleaned so that I can now use my woodstoves. I have had the same company come for the last few years and their service is excellent. The young men that come are very polite, and so efficient! They are very careful of my house and I honestly believe that the living room and den are cleaner when they leave than when they arrived.

This is the vacuum cleaner that they use to clean
the chimney

The woodstove is out of the fire place and

the cleaning is started. When the stove was removed

the stink bugs were in the chimney, and there were a lot that invaded

the living room! The technician told me

that they had had that problem with

every chimney they had cleaned that day.

Masked and gloved, starting to clean the flue.
This vacumn that they use is a very powerful machine
and really does the job in a hurry.

This is a safety precaution that I take every year. If you have a wood stove I suggest that you not only have your chimney's cleaned but that you also have your dryer outside vent cleaned. More than one house has burned down because of a fire in the vent. I think it is something that most of us tend to overlook because we clean the inside vent with every load and we forget about the outside vent.

On Friday I went to a delightful social hook-in. This group of ladies and one gentleman are not affiliated with any organization. They try to get together once a month and just hook, chat and have a meal together. Good friends having a good time. The hostess always makes the main dish and everyone brings something to add to the table. The host and hostess this month were Jack and Sandy. Sandy made a delicious ham and potato soup, and in addition, there was homemade apple sauce, two types of pumpkin bread, scones, dips, spinich salad, cookies, and I am sure I have skipped some things. What a bountiful table! Sorry I forgot to take my camera because some lovely rugs were being worked on and several knitting projects were in progress.

Last week was busy. I am looking forward to a slower pace this week with time to work on my current rug. I am also in the process of color planning the rug that I will work on in the Cynthia Norwood workshop in early November. More on this later.

Hope all of you have a happy spooky halloween!

Doris

A CHILDHOOD MEMORY -



My last entry here caused me to have several childhood memories in relationship to the English language.


When I attended grammer school from the second grade onto the sixth grade it was a routine of all teachers to have a list of twenty words on the blackboard every Monday morning. We were given time to copy the words and this was our spelling lesson for the week. On Friday we had a spelling test. The procedure in my home was that on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday I was responsible for washing the dinner dishes while mother dried. My spelling words were pinned up above the sink and I spelled them out to my mother. I always loved this special time with her.



When I was a child it was the custom in our home that the dinner meal was not served until our father was home from work. Mother and father took their respective places at the head and foot of the table with children seated on each side. This was a time when my parents discussed their day, settled any household problems, discussed the news of the day and of course, each child was given time to report on his or her day and to ask questions and generally participate in the conversation.

I was about 10 years old when the following incident occured. Home on a
Friday, with an A on my spelling test I was so proud of myself. I could hardly wait for dinner. The teacher had given me two new words to try out on my parents! I was so excited! Another ritual of our dining table was to ask mother "may I be excused" when we had finished eating our meal. After I asked, mother always replied with, "have you had enough to eat?" My response this evening was "yes mother, I have had a superfluous amount any more would be a superfluity." My father sat with gaping mouth and my mother could not believe that I know those words. Vocabulary was very important in our home!!!

Sidebar:
Julia, I agree with you, a post is something you attach fence wire or boards to. Since I do not live on a farm I think of a post as the newel at the foot of a stair case. So many words with dual meanings often confuse us. From now on I will not "post" my blog but I will "enter" material on my blog. Incidentaly, I do not find the word "blog" in my dictionary. What is the meaning of "blog?" Is it a descriptive word meaning everyone's area in cyberspace? Food for thought.
Doris

WHY -

Each day that I live and have contact with people I ask myself WHY? Why has the English language become what it is today.

Many years ago when I was in school our use of the language was closely monitored not only by our teachers but by parents. Ain't was a no-no as were other contractions.

In the 1930's when Roosevelt became president the nation was introduced to such things as CCC, WPA, and other short cuts for government programs. In the 40's and 50's we were introduced to the AFL, CIO, WWl, WWll, Uboat, and the like. As the population grew, and immigration became an issue, most food labels were written in both English and Spanish, as were directions for putting childrens toys together.

In the first near east war we were intoduced to "nukes" - but we also, in this day and age, "nuke" our food. In the dictionary "Prim" means a person with proper manners, or staid of dress, however, many of you collect "prims." When I read your blogs it makes me wonder how many people you have collected and installed in your home. The kitchen must get awfully crowded in the morning!

Now we find ourselves in the computer age. We have introduced ourselves to LOL. OMG, U, R, >3, -), -( and more symbols than I can create here. Seems to me that we are back to the Indian and Egyptian hyrogliphs system. WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE?

Each morning when I surf the blogs it gives me the greatest pleasure to read the blog "From the House of Edward." What a treat to read the beautiful language usage of Pamela Terry. If you have not read this blog, you are missing a wonderful experience.

The English language has a beautiful rythmn to it. What a shame to spoil it with symbols and so many shortcuts. I think it would serve us all well if we took the time to speak our language and to appreciate what we have.

Today's use of the language proves that "what goes around comes around."
Doris

WEEKEND STUFF -

Eloise was outside on the deck late Friday night and when I went out to get her , Lady Moon was so beautiful. I wish I had pushed the enlarge button a few more times for a better picture.What a wonderful start to the weekend!

This beautiful moon, no halo, just beautiful clear and golden.
Like many other blogers I am in love with the trees
this time of year.
The street of our community, a one mile cul de sac is
lined with red and gold - Maryland's beauty at it's best.

Saturday morning when I let Eloise out I saw this sight of the barn from the deck - what made it look so different - what had happened to the roof?

Close-up of roof with the first hard frost of the season!

I was really surprised and knew that the time had

come to get my deck plants in the house.

Richard arrived and I announced to him that
it's time for the storm door on the kitchen entrance!

A few not nice words later the insulation around the

storm pane was in and the door secured.

While the storm door was being installed I was baking

pumpkin pies. My family is not into crust so I make the crustless

type. This receipe appeared on the Bisquick box several

years ago and has proved to be a winner.

They look really yummy to me. I use the receipe as written BUT

I put a bit of Jack Daniels in mine. Just gives it that

little zing what helps Thanksgiving and Christmas

to taste better.

While the pies were baking I put a Corned Beef Brisket

in the crock pot with lots of pickling spice and

garlic. The large slices on the top of the beef

are from the largest garlic clove I have ever seen.

About an hour before I thought the beef was done

I added cabbage to the pot. Oh, my goodness, the whole

house smelled of garlic and pie spices.

What could be better.

By Saturday evening I was pretty tired. What could be better

than a Saturday night supper of comfort food?

A glass of wine, a bowl of homemade beef/barley soup,

open faced grilled cheese on homemade sourdough

bread and a good book.

Here's hoping that everyone had as nice a weekend as I did!

Doris

LIFE BEFORE RUGS -

I did have a life before I learned to hook rugs. It is hard to believe as I look back that I did some of the things that I did. I so loved all of these skills I wonder how I let them get so rusty since I have not knitted (my first love!) in the past five years. When I graduated from high school I asked my father to set me up in a knitting business that I knew was for sale at the time. His answer to this was a big fat NO. He felt that I was to young and that the times were to precarious. There was a war on and the economy was up and down. (so what's new?)

I am baking bread today and while I was waiting for it to rise I decided to open my Pennsylvania Dowery Chest - I haven't looked in there for several years - and lo and behold I found several interesting projects, unfinished, of course.

I recall saying a few blog's ago that I would try to diversify so that I wouldn't bore you. So here are a few examples of skills from long ago.

Sweater with Fair Isle yoke.

I knit this some years ago and have worn it many times.
Entire sweater done in Fair Isle designs. This sweater
also has been worn for many years and I just
love it. It is knit of Southdown sheep yarn. These sheep are raised in Ashton Maryland on the Southdown South Farm. The wool is then sent
to New England to be cleaned and spun.
When it is returned, it is hand dyed by Norleen Schultz a wonderful
sheep farmer and wool gatherer!

This crewel pillow was done some years ago. The picture

does not show it but the squrriels tail is sculpted.

I had forgotten that even in those days I was sculpting.

Guess it has always been one of my specialties!

A pair of needle point pillows. The one on the right is a

Maggie Lane design and the one on the left is

a compiliation of various needle point stitches.

Both pillow were blue ribbon winners.

When I opened the dower chest I found this piece which I

had forgotten about. It was designed to be a piano bench cover. Of

course I no longer have the piano! It is unfinished but all

materials to finish it with were in the chest.

Close up of a bit of the design and the different
stitches used.

This needle point was done by my daughter Kris. It was done

to honor her father and me. It should be mounted as

a pillow.

A close up of the various designs in the A.

I hope that you have enjoyed this little tour thru my creative past. Gosh how time does fly especially as you get older. So many interesting things to do and so little time left after taking care of the necessities of life. I really need to get my act together and finish a lot of these unfinished projects. I wonder if I still have the skills. . . . . . .

This next picture has nothing to do with skill.

Last night I had the last fried green tomatoes of the season.

It's enough to make a grown woman cry!

Enough ranting for now. The bread has been rising for two hours and now I need to take care of the next step. Today it is two loaves of white bread and two loaves of cinnamon raisian. The kitchen smells wonderful.

Doris

SATURDAY MUSINGS -

Saturday is always an interesting day at our house. One never knows what is going to transpire!

Eloise awaken me at 5am in need of a trip to the outside. That was fine because I felt slept out. She returned very quickly and of course, went immediately back to bed! I dressed and went to the kitchen to make coffee only to discover that my pot of sourdough starter, which was formenting on the kitchen counter, had over run it's container. What a mess! So first order of the day was to clean mess and make the starter comfortable again. I must say that this starter is really yeasty and powerful. It seems to rise out of its pot every time I feed it.

Around 9:30 Richard and Danyel arrived. I was surprised to see Danyel. This is the first time I have seen her since she left for college. I was surprised that she would take her home weekend to cme and mow grass.

Girls have to learn to take care of their cars. the tires needed air or else she just wanted to show how skilled she was -

After the mowing we were all out on the deck when I noticed that Eloise looked "funny."

What's wrong with your neck?

You're PURPLE!!

On both sides!!!

And on top too!

What in the world have you rolled in? Richard and Danyel looked all around the yard and we still can't figure it out unless there is a pokeberry bush that we couldn't see. However, after a "spot washing" she is now a light mauve color but does not seem to be spreading her color on the rugs or furniture. I suppose that her new dye job will just have to wear off. Like a bottle blond she will just have to grow out!

We decided that it was time to get the last of the garden plants taken out of the ground. Richard was surprised to find the following things still in good condition.

Lots and lots of Brussel Sprouts. We divided them up and I will be putting a lot of mine in the freezer. They are wonderful in soup and

stews in the winter.

Lots of peppers, mostly the really hot kind but

a few green ones that I kept and believe it

or not also 4 good tomatoes. The tomatoes were

a real surprise.

I asked Richard to set a few mouse traps under the sink and cabinets because this time of year they are looking for a warm refuge. It was just a precautionary measure on my part. When he put a trap in the cabinet under the kitchen sink he found water! WOW, another problem! He determined that the spray hose is leaking.

This is the way the sink looks now. Have to keep the spray hose

in the sink so water goes in sink instead of cabinet.

He'll be back tomorrow with parts to fix it!

All in all, it was a good day. Eloise and her new dye job gave us a great laugh, it was good to see Danyel, since we miss her very much. The weather is beautiful, altho a little nippy. The trees on the mountain are beginning to be very colorful and the view out of my kitchen window is lovely, especially in the morning, watching the sun come up over the mountains.

I hope that all of you are having delightful weather wherever you are and that your weekend is a joyous one.

Doris

THOUGHTS OF THE DAY -

Have you noticed:

That no one writes thank you notes and

actually mails them?

That the only time the phone rings is when someone

want to sell you hearing aids, a retirement home,

or wants a charitable contribution?

That after 65 it's takes longer to do

do the dishes?

That you drive more than walk?

That you eat more hamburger than steak

because it is easier to chew?

That your waist is now the same size

as your hips?

That the thermostat gets turned up

a bit higher than it did five years ago?

That your grand children and great grandchildren

speak a language that you can't understand?

That more people seem to

whisper?

AIN'T OLD AGE GRAND!!!!!

Doris

GETTYSBURG - PART 2


First I want to thank my friend Pat Wenger for her many kind words about me on her blog. Also, I want to thank her for her wonderful pictures of my rugs. Her's are so much better than mine. I would not post these pictures except that I thought I would like you to know the reasons that I showed these particular rugs. To see better pics go to www.hookhandheart.blogspot.com

Those of you that know me, know that I like to play around with color. So here goes the explanations of the rugs below.

This is a monochromatic color scheme. I dyed many shades of gold to achieve this color plan. The mums in the center of

the rug were dyed with the heads of yellow mums that

lined the streets of

Washington when Jimmy Carter was elected president.

This rug is a Pearl K. McGown design called

"The Duke of Marlboro"

This is a two color rug. Using only two dyes and dyeing many

shades of each to achieve this color plan

Closeup of main motif.
This is also a P. K. Mcgown design.
"Southern Belle"


Sorry this is a poor photo. This rug is done only in
secondary colors. Orange, Purple and Green.
The cornor leaves that appear gold in the photo
are really a yellow green.
This is a true secondary color - color plan .
Also a McGown Design.

This is an original design. I call this study in black and white.
Done in two shades of white to give the
background a checkerboard appearance
with a soft black. I dyed the black since I did
not want a harsh black as "off the bolt" material
would give.

I chose to show this design as it is an example of
a primitive designed hooked in the fine tradition
with lots of shading.
It is a "semi" secondary color plan in that
it uses orange, green and purple but
is on a deep blue background. A hunter green background
could have also been used to make it a true
secondary color plan.

Close up of the focal point of the rug so that
you can see the shading in a primitive design.

All of the above rugs are hooked with a number 3 cut
and done in wool hand dyed by me.



I chose to show this pictorial because of the soft coloring.

Most of the materials in this rug are tweeds,

plaids and checks with the exception of

the reds which I dyed.

All of the materials in this rug are hand cut. That is

the way I was taught to do primitives.

Another primitive design. The materials in this rug
are also hand cut. Many years ago we did not have
any cutter blade larger than a No. 5.
All of the reds and pinks in this rug were cut from
one piece of plaid material with very large
squares of plaid.


The deep green leaves in this rug are
from an old blanket. The light green leaves are one
plaid and one tweed.

This primitive design was done with a
number 5 cut wheel. The color plan is suitable for a
man's den or office. It is a very masculain looking rug.
The deep orange color in the flower designs
is done with paisley. The background is very boring!
It is Dorr's "off the bolt" camel color. Never again will
I do a "off the bolt" background. A lesson well learned!

This is an original design.

I love these kitties - one reaching for a butterfly and

another reaching down for a mouse. (sorry I cut the picture off)

This is also hand cut and used many tweeds and checks.

"The Library Cat"
A whimiscal piece design by Fluff and Peachy Bean.
I chose to show this piece because it is a fun piece.
It makes me smile and I hope you smile too.

I hope you have enjoyed my little rug show. I believe that rug hooking has many facets and that when we limit ourself to only one style of hooking we are cheating ourselves. I hope that the variety of hooking types shown here has interested you and will spark you to not only try different things but to expand on our art form. I have only touched the tip of the iceberg for there are many additional facet's not shown here. Jump out of the box and create something new! Happy hooking.

Doris

GETTYSBURG - PART ONE

Monday was the regular monthly meeting of the Blue and Gray hookers in Gettysburg. In last months post about this group, I told you that each month one member would bring rugs and put on a rug show. This month it was my turn to bring the rugs. However, I am going to let my rugs wait for another post. In this post I have pictures of the rugs being hooked by other members of the group. There was a smaller turn out than usual because of the holiday and also the Buckeystown Rug Camp started on Monday. Several of our members were attending camp and several were out of town for the holiday. However, from this picture you can see that we did have a turn out and everyone seems to be enjoying themselves.

This double wedding ring rug has just been completed by Brenda. The colors are lovely in this piece. Sorry I had to take the picture on this crazy angle.

I think this is Peg's rug but I'm not sure. It is really a cute rug and so nicely done. Notice the blue ribbon on the left hand side of the rug!

This is Peggy's rug. It is a small piece that she designed. These are her shoes! And she says that she is still wearing some of them. A really great idea and the hooking technique is super.

A closeup of my favorite shoe in the piece.

This is a very sweet cross stitch done by Ann.

The stitches are so tiny and it is embellished

with tiny seed beads.

This piece is being hooked by Jan

Tiny little diamond shapes each containing

A small design

Such patience!

This is Becky's very large rug in progress.

A primitive being done with a large cut and lots

of interesting wools.

A closeup of some of the animals in the rug.

She wanted the rabbit to resemble a goat

thus the horns on the rabbit!

Last but certainly not least is Barb's angel.

She has hooked this on a wool backing

and it is a lovely piece. Wish I had taken

a better picture of it - it is truly a

charming piece.

All in all a very successful meeting of the Blue and Gray. This is a very talented group of ladies. I never fail to learn something every time I attend this group and I am proud to say that I have been hooking with them for the last 10 years.

I have to stop now and get ready to teach a class. In my next post I will show some of the rugs that I took for the group to look at. Hope you enjoy this tour of rugs and that all of you keep your hooks moving in the coming week.

Enjoy this beautiful weather and love one another.

Doris