Being Away And Being Missed

I think I have only been home for one whole day in the past two weeks. As I pulled into the driveway on Friday afternoon, I was greeted by this  anxious little face....

Emma has missed me terribly!  Now she stands close to my side and buries her face under my arms when I bend down to pet her.  I am taking full advantage of all this "sheep loving!"

 Here she is, modeling her newly shorn self.  I always forget how big and floppy her ears are until her fleece is gone.  Lumi also got sheared but was not interested in taking part of my photo shoot.

~~~

I've just gotten back from nearly a week in Tyler Texas, teaching at the Star of Texas Rug Camp.  Oh, my!  What a wonderful week it was!  I do highly recommend this rug camp...such a relaxed and comfortable atmosphere!

This is my class.  I couldn't have asked for a more terrific bunch of ladies!  I adore them all, and admire their hooking talents.  Everything was about as perfect as I could have ever imagined!

I'll be sharing more pictures soon.  The rugs at this camp were fabulous!

I Broke A Promise To My Husband (but it's alright!)

True Confessions.

I am addicted to primitive cabinets and cupboards. 

I collect them.  

I am obsessed with them. 

And Sunday I broke a promise that I made to my husband three years ago this month.

 Three years ago, I was in Ligonier, Pennsylvania taking a rug hooking workshop with Barb Carroll.  After class, we rushed out to our cars and drove to the downtown area to shop until the stores close at 5 pm.  I happened to go into a little store that was going out of business....and there was a gorgeous chippy cabinet with faded old turquoise paint sitting right in the middle of the shop.  The price was slashed because they didn't want to have to move it.....so I told the shop owner that if it would fit in the back of my Honda, then it was coming home with me....guess what?  It fit!

Panic set in as I was driving closer to home...how would I explain yet another cabinet purchase to my husband?  Hmmm...it was a good price, original paint, I could use it to store wool (oops! used that excuse many times over!)....

So when he saw it (and had to drag it out of my car), I made a promise to him that it would be THE VERY LAST cabinet that I ever brought home.  

Period.  

That was it.

No more.

(My grand chippy turquoise cabinet)

Now, fast forward this story to January 2010, the day we went to the fiber mill and to the antique mall on January 3rd. I saw a beautiful old Swedish-inspired cabinet there at that antique mall.  It was really too much money, but I couldn't get the vision of it out of my head.  We went back there again on February 28th and the cabinet was still there.  Oh how I wanted that cabinet!  But I made a promise!

Sunday Ken and I went back up to Frankenmuth to pick up my last run of roving.  We stopped at the same antique mall....the cabinet was gone!  My heart sank.  I guess it wasn't meant to be, I thought.  As we were leaving, I asked the man at the desk "you used to have a cabinet in the far room, did you sell it?"  

He replied "What color was it?"

"Well, it was blue."

He looked at me funny and led me to a back storage room....and lo and behold, there was my dream cabinet!  "I've been wanting to get this thing out of here for some time," he said, "I can ask the dealer to give you a good price."

15 minutes later we were loading my dream cabinet into my car!

She's gorgeous, isn't she?  Sort of Swedish inspired colors of old soft blue with yellow trim.

And soft delicate roses!  I'm not a girlie-flower type of person but these roses just melt my heart!

Ken has forgiven me of my broken promise.  What a great guy!  
I'd just better not drag home any more cabinets....