Its hard to believe that January is over already. Time seems to be flying by and I wonder if I am standing still. It amazes me that some days seem so short and others never end. Perhaps it has something to do with the weather. Days that I can't get out of the house seem forever

Barb came again on Friday for her lesson and I took these pictures of her sampler. I am pleased with the progress she has made on this. It is almost finished and we are talking about her next project. She likes the strawberries best so I took a closeup of them for all to see.

I have had some very positive feedback on the dyeing workshop which makes me feel very good about doing the workshops. The ladies all seem to have had a good time. The dyeing turned out beautifully. I have the kits all packed and and will mail the out of town ones on Monday. Here are some of the pictures. Here are Brenda, Thelma and Jill at the stove putting dye in the jars.



At the table chatting with each other -


Here you see Beth, Brenda and Traci - taking notes smiling about something. The next picture is of Judith, Jill and Naomi = Sorry I did'nt get a good picture of Thelma - I apoligize to you Thelma.

I have finished making the sampler for my "stitches" class on the 14th of February and my project for next week is to get all of the materials together. I am asking the class enrollees to bring their own materials but of course, I will also have some things that they can use. The sampler that we are going to do has a tree (greens) several sheep (white and black) a sun (yellow) sky (blue) grass (green) and a brick fence (reds). We also will need some miscellaneous colors for flowers. It is impossible to get this whole piece done is just 2 to 2-1/2 hours but we will do some of each stitch so we will be working all over the piece.

I have transferred the design for my sculpting workshop in March and will begin to work on that sampler tomorrow. Always so much to do and so little time.

I manage to keep busy and somewhat warm but how ready I am for spring. The yad is still frozen with ice everywhere. I feel so sorry for Eloise. She misses getting her exercise. She doesn't like to be cold and has been spending most of her days under the covers on my bed. There is a slight slope to our backyard which has proved to be a slippery slope for her - up two steps and back three. Just like a sliding board.

Time to fix dinner and get a few more things done today. I am looking forward to the super bowl - I have $1.00 bet with my neighbor - I won last year but know my good luck won't hold out since I have the underdog this year. Oh well, it's all in the game!

Drive carefully, love a lot, and hook, hook, hook.

Since my computer was "down" for so long, I have a lot of catching up to do. Think that I will just do some today and try to update blob more often than I have been doing. I tried to up date yesterday, as you will see if you look at the fact that I got two dates listed as blogs! Just kept getting interupted - so I'm trying again this morning.

Since I last posted, Barb has resumed her lessons. We are still working on the fruit sampler. For this lesson she decided that she would like to sculpt her bunch of cherries. Here she is hard at work!

I wish that I had gotten a picture of the sampler - she is doing great job of it. Maybe I can get a picture at her next lesson.

My next item has nothing to do with hooking and is posted for Kathy! I hope you like it. I love it.

My hutch is in my family room. It was built from plans that appeared in the old Popular Mechanix Magazine some 60 or so years ago. I finished it with hot linseed oil and wax and I am so pleased with the way the wood and finished have mellowed during the years. Several years later Bob built a sideboard to match. I have both pieces in the family room.

I had a visit last week from Linda who owns the Grant Street Woolery in Chambersburg, Pa. We spent the afternoon in my kitchen discussing what kinds of things could be done to help new hookers and doing some dying.

I held my dyeing workshop on Saturday as scheduled - it was well attended. I have much to do today so will report on that in the next blog. I hope that everyone is planning to stay in out of this icy mess. My storm door was frozen shut this morning. Poor Eloise had to wait until I figured out how to get it open. She sure made a quick trip out side. Stay warm, read, hook, laugh, love and be happy.

It's SNOWING! A good day to hook. This is the time of year that I get the most hooking accomplished. I need to go to the grocery but it will have to wait!

I was so glad to see Kathy's hutch on her blog. It is somewhat like the one that my husband built for me many years ago. It is from a pattern that appeared in the Popular Mechanics magazine some 60 plus years ago.