My Latest Class of Beginning Rug Hookers!

"Simply Sweet Sunflower"

designed by Cathy Greschner for

Beginning Rug Hooking Class November 7th 2013

Yesterday we had seven lovely ladies here in the studio for another beginning rug hooking class!  What an awesome group of ladies!  We laughed, chatted, drank some spiced caramel apple cider, ate pumpkin muffins and yes we hooked!  They are all off to a wonderful start on their little sunflower mats I designed especially for this class!  
Everyone is thrilled to be learning how to hook rugs! These gals are talented quilters and wool appliqué artists already and want to learn yet another craft! 
Next week they come back to learn the art of binding their sweet little mats!  
I am a stickler for making sure they learn to bind their rugs... the part of rug hooking we all love so much.... right Lauren?  LOL!! 
It's not a rug until it's bound!

Speaking of finishing... Jill and I just completed a couple of wool appliqué  models for the studio shop.... here is Jill's...

Didn't she do a beautiful job?  Of course everything Jill does is finished and stitched to perfection!

I just LOVE this bag!  Oh my goodness the studio is REALLY starting to feel like the Holidays!!

I have  a finish to show too.... this 18 inch wool applique mat with Holly and Berries!  It was SOOOOO much fun to stitch!!  The more I do this wool appliqué  the more I'm lovin' it!!

Well off to work a little more in the studio today and get things ready for tomorrow! 

We are open on Saturdays from 10:00 to 4:00 so if you live in this neck of the woods PLEASE stop on by... the coffee and cider will be brewing!  Warm up between snowflakes and come fondle our newly dyed wool and browse all the new patterns!  

Cathy G

Trouble Adjusting!

Someone's having trouble adjusting to daylight savings time!  Yep... my diabetic pooch Smokey!  Here he is following me and peeking in the bathroom door!  He is on the old time clock that says it's time to eat right now MOM!!  I am trying to get him to hold off for at least another half-hour so everything works out with his insulin schedule.  He gets shots every twelve hours. When daylight savings time comes around each Fall and Spring we have to adjust things a little.

Anyone else having trouble adjusting?   I wish they would just leave the time alone and let us live our lives on one schedule.  

What did they do in days before electric and battery powered clocks?  Oh yea.... just thought of it now... better go in the dresser drawer and switch all my wrist watches to the correct time! 

And don't forget the clocks in the vehicles!  

What a pain!!

Happy Daylight Savings Time!!

Grrrrrrrr.....

Cathy G

Happy Halloween!

Smokey and Max will be going to the groomers today....  not their favorite thing to do but they still want to wish everyone a safe and Happy Halloween!

Cathy G

Christmas A Little Early!

The light dusting of snow we had here a few days ago kind of got me thinking more along the lines of Christmas greenery and twinkling lights mode than Fall Harvest and pumpkins!  Yikes! Flurries and cold winds with below freezing temps brought out the ear muffs and scarves!  We've finished cleaning out the gardens and putting away hoses, water fountains and the last of the garden ornaments.  

 Indoors here at the Red House Wool Studio things are beginning to look a little like Christmas!

I'm not one to rush the seasons but in the retail business we are always pushing it earlier each year it seems.  The weather here certainly is!

I've been working on my little wool appliqué quilt which is going better than I anticipated!  I found some fabric that coordinates with the squares with the penny circles appliquéd onto them and I actually think it looks pretty nice!  What do ya think?  Did I make a good choice?

I've sewn all the squares together and put some batting and a homespun back on and now I'm in the process of hand quilting it all together!  Jill and some of my rug hooking students have had to give me some advice on the quilting part as I have never really done much of this piecing and quilting work before.   I am really loving it though!  Have to remind myself to get back to my rug hooking a little bit too.... I haven't neglected it completely....  you may have caught a  glimpse in the photo above of something I've hooked recently for the Christmas Season ahead!  More to come later on that!

I've had some inquiries about purchasing the pattern for the "Squared Up" wool appliqué mat in my last post.  If you left a comment on my last post and I didn't answer it's because there is no way to contact you if you don't have your email address listed on your blogger identification page.  Please think about adding this information so it's easy to contact you! 

I've decided to offer a few of  the patterns here on the sidebar for a limited time.  The cost of the pattern is $7.50 USA only please... plus .50 shipping.

Just use the Paypal button below the pattern on the sidebar!

Oh and don't worry... I haven't started playing the Christmas music yet!  For it isn't even Halloween until next Thursday!  

Blessings!

Cathy G

Squared Up and Squared Away!

Greetings on this sunshiny chilly October day!   I wanted to share my finished wool applique candle  mat... the pattern is by Primitive Gatherings called "Squared Up"  as well as some things I've been trying to get squared away!

There have been so many things calling for my attention here in the studio lately.   It's been a little less stressful since I decided last month to opt out of the Primitive Handmades Mercantile Group!  Oh I fretted over that decision as they are such a wonderful group of ladies!  Their October Update is in full swing with fabulous hand made goodies! If you haven't been... hop over and see!  

With a few less deadlines I am able to concentrate more on my upcoming rug hooking classes here in the studio.  AND try my hand at some new things I've been wanting to learn!

I've had desires to cut up some wonderful fabrics in little chunks and sew them together!  I believe they call it quilting!  LOL!   There were a few things holding me back like not having ANY equipment like cutting mats, rotary cutters, quilting rulers etc.   Ahhh ... and the quilting fabric.... do you think that might come in handy when a girl decides to make a quilt?!!  So desires led to action and over the last couple of months with coupons from Joanne's and trips to a couple of fine quilt shops I now have at least the basics to get started!

Now let me say that my quilting attempts probably will not yield any full size beauties for the bed at the present time!  I have in mind some smaller projects.  In fact I have one started....

It involves some wool of course....  surprised?  LOL!   Living with a shop full of wool stirs up all kinds of inspired ideas for things I want to create!  But lo and behold...    I've already run straight ahead into a wall with this project!!.  Oh why do I do these things!  Yep... didn't calculate how much of that cotton background print I would need and I have 13 more squares to make and I'm out of that particular fabric!  So this first project will be a make-do.. as in make-do with what I have on hand.  Still not squared away when it comes to quilting fabric!!  But I do have an idea...so 

Stay tuned... 

Will she have what it takes to become the quilter she dreams of?

Cathy G