Rugs, Rugs, Rugs . . . . . .

On Tuesday I went to the Mason/Dixon Chapter

of ATHA meeting.

They had a most interesting program

which I will tell you about in my next posting.

In the meantime, here are some of the rugs

at the meeting.

 This rug was a second place winner at the Maryland

State Fair and was hooked by

Barbara Twigg.

 This is another of Barb's rugs.  This one

is in porgress.  You could pick this fruit right off

of the backing.

 This adorable lamb is being hooked by

Pat A. for her daughter.  Love the background

color.

 A closeup of this cutie's face.

Pat has some work to do on his scarf and

a good bit of background to finish.  I

believe she plans to make it into a pillow.

This rug was a blue ribbon winner at the

Maryland State fair.  It was hooked by the

Vice President of the chapter, Sharon Kollman.

The picture does not do it justice.  It

is a real beauty!

 Last but certainly not least, a Christmas Wall Hanging,

hooked by the late Ruth Dietzel.

This piece is a true work of art, with very subtle

shading and the technique of the master's

touch.

When I next post, I will tell you about the

program which was very interesting and a

clever idea.  I also have pictures of the

event.

In the meantime, it continues to be cool here and

rainy.  This is great hooking weather.  I now have a

good book on DVD which I am sure will

expedite my hooking.  I have finished the lion and am

now working on the background.  I also am

collecting all sorts of green plaids and checks

for the leaf border.

Hope everyone is having as good a week as

I am having!  Keep those hooks in motion!

Doris



THE BIG DIG . . . .

When we moved into this house eight years

ago, at the end of our driveway was the ugliest shrub

I have ever seen.  It was some variety of Yew and had been

allowed to spread and obviously never been taken care of.

In addition, it was full of bag worms.

It had to go!!!

Richard and my daughter, Kris, worked at it for many hours and finally

got it out and the bag worms taken care of.

It was decided that a round flower bed at the end of the driveway would

be a nice addition to the yard.

For several years, we added to the garden and it

was a beautiful success.  Then as things change during

the years, other priorities took place of this garden

and it became a shambles.

It had to go!

 Here is Richard just starting.  He probably is

wondering how and where to start.  It was such a mess that

I felt ashamed for the people driving down our street.

 Over grown, full of weeds.  Sedum plants out of hand.

When they were planted, they were just twiggs.

At this point they are approximately 5 feet in diameter!

 Those tall "weeds" on the far right of the picture

are Stargazer Lilies.  Everything else seems to have turned to weeds.

 What a mess!

 Now all of the plants, having been dug up, reside in my

garage.  Lauren thinks her garage is a mess.

Mine looks like a jungle.

 A FEW Iris, Stargazer Lillies, Glads, Stella Doro Lillies

Firecracker bulbs, Daffy-dills, and about a dozen

other plants.

This is how it looks now.  The next job is to rake it out and

plant grass seed.  That is Richard's job when he returned from vacation.

In the meantime it is better than the jungle at the end of the drive.

Now my job is to divide all of the bulbs and

get then ready to be replanted.  Hopefully I can get

started to morrow - I anticipate that it will take

at least a week to sort, divide and clean all of these

bulbs.  Wish me luck with this project.

Thought for the day

Beauty is not in the face;

beauty is a light in the heart.

Kahil Gebran

I attended the Blue and Gray hook-in yesterday and have some pictures to show you later.  I hope everyone has a great week

Doris





WHERE  DID   IT GO???

Summer, that is -

I still have two pairs of white pants with

the sales tags on them.  Just didn't get the time

to wear them. 

 

White shoes and purse put away

for the winter.

Heaven forbid! you should wear anything

white after Labor Day. (according to my mother).

Fortunately, it was nice on Labor day until late in the afternoon.

Richard and family had a wonderful

cookout with Beer Can Chicken the

featured menu item.

The Bent Willow Community also had its annual

Labor Day feast at the home of the

Paprocki's and a large crowd it was!

Guess I have the "I'm sorry it's over blues and

the "I love fall and winter" smiles.

I have started hooking in earnest again and am

really enjoying it.

Here's the latest update on the new project.

The Lion's face and mane are finally

finished.  I am very pleased with

the way he turned out.  When I started putting the

background (more on this) in, he became the

color of gold that I had anticipated.

It's amazing how the color changes when you

add background or any adjacent color.



Closeup of mane and face.  I used several different

cuts to get the face as I wanted it.

Most of the rug is being hooked with a #8 and 8-1/2 cut

but the face is done with a #6 cut and some

smaller accent pieces.

I love his tail.  It almost looks like a

dragon head.  I treated it the same as his mane

except I used smaller cuts here so that

I could get the detail in.

About the background.  It is the loveliest piece of

wool that I think I have ever had.  It was

dyed by Helen Connley Howe.  She is a New York

Teacher.  I first met her in 1974 at

a teacher's workshop.  I think that she

has been unwell lately and is no

longer teaching.  The wool is a Woolrich product

in what I call gray-blue (not sure what Woolrich calls it)

overdyed with Navy Blue and abrashed with bright green.

What makes the piece so rich and velvety looking

is the way it was abrashed.

Sorry, it's true beauty does not photograph

for it is really lovely.

It's another foggy day with rain this early am.

Guess we are supposed to have rain until

Saturday.  Sure makes for a dreary day!

However, it is  a good excuse to spend

the day in the hooking room.



Thought for the day -

Never go to a Doctor whose office plants have died.

Erma Bombeck

Doris