So Much to Say!

I have been traveling and teaching a great deal over the past month or so!  I have so much to say and haven't had much time to do it.

However, this blog post is dedicated to my gentle girl, Nokie, who passed away peacefully (and unexpectedly) in her sleep on the morning of Sunday June 20th.  She was 12 years old and lived way beyond her life expectancy for a Great Pyrenees. I know we gave her the best life possible and she was happy here doing her "guardian" chores.  Her best friends were the goats, sheep and the rug hookers who visited or took classes.  We all miss you Big Doggie.

Passionate About Peonies

My favorite flower of all time is the beautiful, frilly peony.  They're so light and soft and just smell sooo darn good!  I love this time of year! 

We have lots and lots of  large peony bushes in our yard...they were here when we moved in over 20 years ago and I'm sure they were growing here for a while before that.  There are several varieties of double and single peonies and different colors as well.  It's so sad that they don't last very long once they open.  The recent rain storms have beat most of the blooms to the ground but I was able to rescue a few and enjoy them in the house.

They almost remind me of whipped icing flowers on a cake and look good enough to eat...LOL!  I must be hungry!

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Long ago when my brother got married, the church would not let us throw rice, so I brought a bag of peony petals and we threw those instead!

Rugs from Star Of Texas-Tyler Part 2

Enjoy more rugs from my students at Star of Texas-Tyler rug camp!

Cindy Goolsby is hooking this Country Stitches adaptation.  She changed the animal to her dog.  Her colors are so vibrant and the green plaid background is superb!

Judy Glenn wanted to hook in old primitive colors for her Colchester Vase.  The lighting wasn't very good when I took this picture but trust me...the colors were old and primitive and gorgeous!

Rosalind Sellers is working on Majolica, a Karen Kahle design.  Great job, especially on the background and those squiggly lines!

Paula Fenter has been hooking less than one year and has hooked at least 5 rugs already!  The Tyler rug camp was her first time at camp.  She's hooking

Conquest of Queen Anne (Cindi Gay design).  Paula's hooking is beautiful and this will be a big beautiful rug!

This is Judy Collins' rug.  I love the red house and the happy flowers growing in the yard.

Sally Beaton came all the way from Sarnia, Ontario Canada to attend the Tyler Rug Camp.  Sally is a fun gal and it shows in her hooking!  This is 

Oh Glorious Day, a Lori Brechlin adaptation.

Claire Mills was hooking Checkered Jardiniere, one of my designs.  She was trying all kinds of different techniques.  I love her purple proddy flower!  It's stunning up against the butterscotch urn.

And here is Teena Mills' rug...graceful fraktur birds and a tulip.  Tina used a very special piece of wool (two sided with an incredible design woven into it) for the birds' wings.

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I am extremely proud of my whole class for their hard work and creativity!

Rugs from Star Of Texas-Tyler Part 1

Here are some of my student's rugs from Star of Texas-Tyler

 Martha Marshall was hooking My Country, a Spruce Ridge adaptation from Lori Brechlin's folk art.  She did a great job with his face!  I love the mustard house too.

Ann Sherrow was working on Indian Peace Rug.  She's on her way to creating a wonderful rug....

 This is Emma's Garden, hooked by Laurie Hannan.  Isn't her proddy flower wonderful?  Laurie got a lot of hooking done at camp!

Linda Long also got a lot of hooking done during the three days of camp!  These are her versions of Trick Or Treat and Smell My Feet, another Spruce Ridge adaptation of Lori Brechlin's folk art.  I love these two patterns because you can dress up your little characters any way you wish...Linda chose fashionable stripes!

  Lynda Pagan was hooking Lady Liberty.  This is turning out to be a beautiful rug!  This design is another adaptation from Lori Brechlin's art work.

 Annie's Flower Power  (Cindy Gay design) is being hooked by Peggy Bloom.  She is using soft golds and coral pinks.  Her flowers are absolutely beautiful and I can't wait to see the completed rug! 

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There are still more rugs to show...they will be in the next post...stay tuned!