Monday Musings-April 18th

The hooking is now complete on Mary's Garden Rug!  She had a sneak peek of it the other day and from what I can tell she is delighted. The bold colors and happy dance of flowers across the rug are right up her alley!  

I will be binding it this week by using a twill tape that I hand sew around the edges.  But first things first! One of my students from my rug hooking class is completing her second project and wants to do another kit.  Soooooo.... I have decided it's about time I design a rug hooking kit for the student who wants something a little more challenging than a small trivet.  It needs to be simple yet a little more challenging and interesting.  So hopefully by Wed. I will have something done!  Whew! 

I wanted  to let you know how the refrigerator drama panned out. Well, repairman Daniel and his assistant ( a repairman in training) came last friday and installed the part. Mr. LG is humming along in happiness. I'm happy, he's happy, the checkbook sort of happy.  The final bill was $178.00.  And we have the added satisfaction of knowing Mr. LG served in the training of a new repairman. It's a comforting thought that there will be another good refrigerator repairmen in the world and that Mr. LG could contribute by letting him work on his relay and overload parts. 

I'm off to the studio and hopefully will have something to report in a couple of days.  Oh, just as an afterthought... since weather is sometimes of interest when it's being naughty or nice..... our forecasters are predicting possible 6 inches of s-n-o-w ( we don't say it out loud here anymore)...on Wed. 

Isn't that lovely.

Monday Musings

Spring is so slow to arrive here this year!  It's been rather painful reading other's blogs who have tender shoots of Spring flowers bursting through the soil already. My resident crow in the flower box on the front deck however, is sporting his Spring wool scarf. Heaven's to Betsy wool in case you're wondering.

I had to show you the progress in the front yard.  That's green grass by golly. If the cold weather doesn't let up we'll be mowing grass around the snow banks. The ice fisherman in the neighborhood keep us informed about the ice on the lakes. People are still driving on the ice to fish.  My neighbor Al said yesterday that there is at least two feet of ice on the lakes yet.  Since we are in a country where lakes of all sorts and sizes surround us for miles, we know the weather as a rule doesn't warm up until the ice goes out........ hmmmmm.  

(I have a bad habit of throwing my snippets on the floor while hooking)

Progressing better than the weather, I had a good afternoon and late night of hooking yesterday. I am digging deeper into my stash for the antique black background wool now. Thought I had dyed enough of a black with a red base wool but didn't end up liking the wool itself.  It shredded a little with the number 6 cut I'm using.  I switched to a more solid weight wool that has an antique green over dye and it's working better.  My mind is already transitioning to what my next project will be and I have at least another few days of hooking left on this and then the binding.  I am slowing down a little to give my hands a break.

Thank-you everyone for asking about my rug hooking students. Some have finished their projects and some are hooking more coasters and starting small kits. Two have ordered a nice frame like mine you see in the above photo.  They are really excited to get them.  We are working on trying to meet regularly here in my studio  a couple of evenings a month to hook together.  It's taking time for me to organize the next phase in all of this  but I can see that almost all of them are hooked on hooking!  

Warm thoughts!

Cathy G 

On a Wing and a Prayer

I'm well into this table mat commissioned by my friend Mary.  Hooking in a #6 which seemed small after  my last project with the hand torn strips!  But after hooking awhile it doesn't seem much different than an 8.   I guess I'm tricking my own mind!  Something which comes in very handy on occasion. 
This little mat is designed per Mary's request to fit a small rectangular shaped table with rounded corners in her living room.  The mat is to cover the entire top of the table.  Hopefully my measurements and careful hooking inside the lines of the perimeter will have it fitting her table almost perfectly.  It is a nagging thing I keep trying not to think about. ( fitting the table perfectly).  The table was tipped upside down and traced onto my paper when I started the design. I actually cut the design out and walked over to Mary's and laid the pattern on the table.  A couple of minor adjustments and we have what I hope is going to be the perfect fit.   Using the word perfect lightly! 
How do you like the colors?  Mary has been over here visiting my wool stash and was drooling over the hot pink texture in my cabinet.  I didn't think at first we'd go with the brightest thing in my stash..... but as time went on and we talked colors and I could sense  she was thinking colorful and what she calls "Bohemian colors"was going to be what made her happiest.  Then Mary sprung a little divine intervention on the subject which clinched the hot pink texture right out of the cabinet and into her rug!  She shyly revealed that God wanted me to know that if I used  one of my special wools ( read: one that I have been hoarding for God knows what) in her rug, that every time she walked past the rug knowing what special wool I used she could say a prayer.  And God would send special blessings my way.


Well, I'm not one to interfere in divine interventions.  Truth be told I was saving that special piece of pink for a special rug.  Is this that rug?  So far the colors seem to be picking themselves...... or are they? What better way to be hooking with such lovely thoughts in mind.  Flowers, friends, color and happiness.  Oh and maybe a little prayer that it actually fits the table when it's done!
Cathy G