Sheep's fleece vs. mohair

I was washing up some fleece the other day and I thought you might like to see the difference between sheep's fleece and mohair. It is so much more apparent when you look at it in person! But I think you can see it here in these photos....

Emma's fleece (Wensleydale sheep) is to the left...and Zion's (Angora goat) is to the right. Zion's fleece has a bit more curl to it...but look at the shiny luster of his fleece! I think it sparkles like a diamond! Even though Emma's fleece is beautifully white, it has more of a matte sheen to it. The mohair fleece is much more slippery than a sheep's fleece and just a little bit trickier to hook with. But if you take your time, the results are wonderful.

You might have noticed that Zion's fleece has little bits of hay and vegetation in it. Yup, that's a goat for you! It may be because the curls are tighter and trap a lot of hay. Or it may be because those goats seem to get into all kinds of stuff! Despite my best attempts to keep them "clean", I have seen them roll in the dust and dirt just days before we have to shear them!

Sweet Home Alabama - Part 3

Happy Friday-Holiday Weekend to you all!
Here's the last group of pictures from my recent workshop in Alabama with The Wool Sisters! There were a couple of gals who had to leave early before pictures were taken and their rugs were equally as wonderful.

Here's Kate (L) and Bobbie (R). They were both hooking Herb Angel, a Notforgotten Farm adaptation by Spruce Ridge Studios. They did a fabulous job on the angels' faces, don't you think?

Ruth copied an old family photograph to design her rug. Just hints of facial features were used, and yet it gave each person their distinct personality. This rug is absolutely spectacular! I can't wait to see it completed. Isn't the old T.V. set cool?

Jeanne learned how to rug hook while she was at the rug camp. She started on a watermelon design and was doing a really great job on her first rug....*applause*applause*!!!

Kandy was working on a REALLY BIG bunny rug. Great job! I love the bunny!

Sandy was working on her own design of a witch's hat, a cat, and a pumpkin. I love the way the hat is turning out. Isn't the cat's face charming? Love that smile!

Sharon was hooking Juggling Pumpkins (this is a Keith Kemmer pattern available through Spruce Ridge Studios). Her cat and pumpkin look great....another wonderful rug!
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A very fun camp and a great group of gals! I hope you are inspired to get out your hook and get working on a rug!!!

Me and Jack

I've just gotten back from visiting my family down in Nashville, Tennessee and Cadiz, Kentucky. I had so much fun and we kept so busy that I hardly took any photos at all! We did lots of sight-seeing, eating out, and shopping!
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The handsome man on the left is my son, Kevin. I'm on the right and the guy in the middle is THE famous Jack Daniels! We all took a tour of the Jack Daniels distillery in Lynchburg. I'm not a whiskey drinker but the tour was fabulous and I have a new appreciation for the making of whiskey. And even though it's known as a "Tennessee sipping whiskey", our tour guide "Miss Bettie" told us that she substitutes equal parts of Jack Daniels whiskey for vanilla in all her recipes and you can't tell the difference.

Here are a few photos of the Carter House in Franklin, TN. My son is interested in Civil War stuff so we walked around the grounds of Carter House where the Battle of Franklin took place.

Above is the farm office of the Carter House. There are over 200 bullet holes in the side of the building. Some of them went straight through the building and you can see the exit holes on the other side.

Above is the back wall of the smoke house at the Carter House. Again, so much bullet damage from the battle!

We found this particularly fascinating...if you look up toward the top of the wall, you can see where a cannon ball tore into the house! The hole was patched over it with some wire and you can also see bullet holes on the wall. The Carter family took refuge in the basement of the house while the battle raged outside.
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It was hotter than blue blazes while I was down South....so glad to be back in cool, cloudy Michigan!!!
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I'll post "Part 3 of Sweet Home Alabama" tomorrow!

Sweet Home Alabama-Part Two

As promised, here are a few more pictures of rugs in progress at the 2009 Wool Sisters Camp. Our theme was "It's Fall, Y'all." So you'll notice that there were a lot of Halloween themes as well as fall.

Nancy is working on one of her own designs which included pumpkins, a spider, a ghost, gravestone (of Elvis), a flying monkey, and a really cool witch on a broom. She used gray sheep's fleece for the witch's hair which made the witch look....witchy!!

Sue was hooking Pumpkin Thyme, a Notforgotten Farm adaptation. I love his striped pants! We thought he looked very dapper.

Libby is hooking Oh My!, another Notforgotten Farm adaptation. The photo is a little dark but the cat is wearing a marvelous purple hat.

Kathy designed her own rug which is a tribute to her cat Punkin. Her hooked pumpkin was turning out wonderful and I can't wait to see how her cat turns out.

Ginger is hooking Give Ye Thanks, a Notforgotten Farm adaptation. Her cabin is turning out great, don't you think?

Charlotte is hooking "The Witch Is In" which I believe is a rug that she designed herself. She was using some great embellishments with craft cord such as sparkly shoe laces. If you look closely in the upper left hand corner, you can see her spooky spider...it looks like it has glowing eyes!!! The witch's hat is terrific too.
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We're not done yet!
I still have more photos which I hope to post again very soon!

Happy Father's Day to my dad

Here is my dad who is 82 years young and rides a motorcycle!
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My dad is my inspiration and my kindred spirit. He lives his life creatively and I am like him in so many ways. He taught me how to fish and paddle a canoe. Many summer days were spent camping and exploring. When I was 14, he and my mom pulled all of us kids out of school for 6 weeks so we could go see a total eclipse of the sun in the Mexican wilderness. It was a better education than regular school as we learned about astronomy, visited Mexican (Aztec and Mayan) ruins and pyramids, and learned about and experienced the Mexican culture. I was one lucky kid! No, my parents were not "hippies", they were the most straight-laced folks I ever knew.
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Thanks, Dad, for giving me your creative "genes", your eye to see things a little differently, and the wings to fly as an individual.
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I love you!

Sweet Home Alabama

I was in Odenville, Alabama last week-end with Wendy Miller from The Red Saltbox. We were team-teaching a workshop for the Wool Sisters group from Tennessee (although some of their members come from other states too). OK, the gals warned me that they were a little crazy...well, yes, they were, but they didn't scare me...I just laughed right along with them!!! What amazed me the most is the fact that everyone was so productive during the three days we met. I believe there were no less than 5 rugs completely hooked during our retreat and those who finished began hooking on a second project!!! Yowza!! That's a record for any workshop that I've ever taught at...
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Need I say that the food was exceptional??? All home-cooked Southern style! Yum. I think I ate dessert twice a day. Oh, well, except for the day that we had Banana Pudding. I had several helpings of that. Ask Ginger and she'll tell you it's true.... I can be bribed to do just about anything for a bowl of Banana Pudding. So she made sure that I got my fill.
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Here's some pictures of the participants and their rugs. I thought that today I'd post some of the rugs that got finished at the retreat and show some more pictures tomorrow. Be prepared to be dazzled!

The picture above is Melanie holding her completed rug. As you can tell, this was no small project. Love the border.

Here is Penny with her finished rug. It's a Red Saltbox pattern. I love the colors she used...nice and old looking.

Here's Merry holding her sheep "mug mats". This is a pattern also from The Red Saltbox. Cute!

Here are Carrie (L), Megan (C), and Linda (R). Carrie and Megan's rugs are completed. Megan is holding a portrait of her dog and I believe this is her first hooked rug! Linda is working on a dimensional project (a downward view of a sidewalk) and is experimenting by adding sculpting, needle felting and couching to her rug. Pretty impressive trio of gals, wouldn't you say?

I think these big panties are a real hoot! They were hanging on the wall during our workshop but on the last night, Ginger (L) and her sister Bobbie (R) decided to model them. The saying on the front: "Support Your Local Hookers."
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The next photo may be disturbing to some people.....

I'm not exactly sure what is going on here....but Bobbie's face says it all!
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More photos tomorrow!!!

Thank you!

Emma would like to say "thank you" to all of you who came to the tent sale yesterday!

When the first shoppers showed up, Emma made sure they all felt welcome by greeting them with some sheep chatter.
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It was a beautiful sunny day and we had fun! And those who came found some great treasures to take home.
Thank you to all!!!
(P.S. to Suzanne: the display mannequin is still here if you still "need" it ... )

Tent Sale Sneak Peek!

Here's just a couple of the treasures that will be available at my tent sale this Saturday:

This old rug shows a lot of wear and needs some TLC! However, it's still a great primitive floral design and I think the scroll border is fabulous! I have a couple other tattered old rugs that are waiting for new homes. Maybe they can be "re-purposed" into other things...maybe trimmed and used as a top cover for an old bench?

Look at this cute little display mannequin! It is in excellent condition. The body is covered with black knit and the height is adjustable. This is a wonderful piece to display jewelry or knitwear!

There is so much more! I have been finding lots of treasures every day: books, rug hooking patterns, bolt wool, overdyed fat quarters, pieces of linen and monks cloth, a few punch needle supplies, sewing fabric, yarn, buttons, roving, a treadle sewing machine (it's in good condition and it works too!), and a variety of other vintage collectibles.
The sale starts at 10 am sharp...don't come early or I'll make you wait in your car... *wink*wink*
My studio will be open all day for regular sales too!

Bye Bye Birdie...

Look! There was just one little bird remaining in the nest...but as always, there is a story behind the picture.....

The other evening after I was finished feeding the goats/sheep, I thought I ought to take a peek at the nest to see how the babies were growing and I could see the four little birds crowded in the nest. I gently reached down to pull away some of the reeds to get a better look and suddenly two of the babies fluttered their wings and flew out of the nest and into some of the nearby cattails! I was quite surprised at first and then felt a little guilty that I had disturbed them. I wondered if they'd ever come back to the nest and if Momma Bird was keeping track of where they went.
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This morning when I went out with my camera, there was just one lonely little baby occupying the nest. As I began to look around, I spied another baby bird perched on a cat tail so I moved around to get a better picture. To my amazement, the baby flew off over the pond...but only got about half way across and ran out of "wing-power." Poor baby landed in the water! Then I witnessed an amazing thing...the baby began to flap its wings up and down and it "swam" (sort of like doing a breast stroke) across the surface of the pond until it reached the other side and the safety of more cat tails and reeds!!! Momma Bird dutifully swooped down to check out her young one. Hurray!
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Tonight when I checked the nest, I was expecting to see just one baby bird again. But to my surprise, there were three babies crammed into that small little nest. So I guess they DO come back to the nest at some point. Momma Bird was waiting nearby with a big fat bug. Reminds me of a teenage boy...he is big enough to be off on his own but he always returns home so Mom can feed him!!! Ha!

Growing Baby Birds!

Here's a couple of photos of the baby birds this morning. I finally captured a picture of one of them with its little mouth open. As soon as I walked away, Momma Bird swooped down to feed them a couple of tasty bugs.

They are really crowded in the nest now. Scroll down to compare past photos and you can really see how much they've grown in the past 5 days. (Click on the photos to see them really close up).

"Hey, lady! Whadda ya lookin' at???

Baby Bird update

Here is a Baby Bird update: they are getting more feathers and I saw that some of them have their eyes open now. You can definitely see four beaks, which makes me happy to know that all the eggs hatched. They are just so sweet!

I tried to get a picture with their little mouths open but as soon as I got too close, they hunkered down in the nest and got real quiet. I'm sure they can hear Mama and Daddy squawking away at me and that is their cue to be still during "stranger danger." This morning Daddy Bird was hovering so close that I was in great peril of being pecked on the head!

Hooked Rugs

I thought I'd share pictures of some really lovely rugs hooked by Rebecca Erb. Both patterns are available at Spruce Ridge Studios.

This is Checkered Jardiniere. Everything is simply terrific about this rug. I love the nice soft brown background.

This is Black Cat Society, a pattern adapted from the folk art of Lori Brechlin/Notforgotten Farm. I love how Rebecca hooked subtle stars into the background above the middle cat.
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The braided edges are amazing and add extra interest to the whole rug. Rebecca did not do the braiding herself but had someone braid it for her. Beautiful!

Baby Birds

I checked Mama Bird's nest this morning and found a mass of beaks and limbs and soft little feathers! They must be newly hatched because their eyes are not open yet...I couldn't spend too much time peeping at the newborns because Mama and Daddy Bird were hovering around my head, just about ready to dive-bomb me!

I'll definitely share more pictures as the babies grow!
~~ Have a great week-end!~~

Second Annual Spruce Ridge Open House and Tent Sale

Mark your calendar! The Second Annual Spruce Ridge Studios Open House and Tent Sale is coming soon. It takes place Saturday, June 6, 2009 and starts at 10 am sharp (please, no early birds/early sales! We will still be setting up in the morning). There will be clearance-priced wool and rug hooking patterns, along with lots of other fun items at reduced prices. There could be some other terrific bargains, depending on what I find in my craft closet!
All sale items will be located under the tent. For your regular shopping needs, my studio will be open all day. Sale ends at 4 pm.
Visa and Mastercard will be accepted for all sales. All tent sale items are final sales.
Last year was loads of fun and full of surprises...I hope to see you this year!

Happy Mother's Day

God could not be everywhere and therefore he made mothers ~ Jewish Proverb

A beautiful first rug

This is a "first rug" hooked by Glenda Latchaw, affectionately known as "G" to her friends. Glenda began her rug hooking journey here at one of my studio classes, starting the last week of February. I knew from the first loops she pulled up that she'd do a great job. It is not a beginner-sized rug either! I was thinking that it was going to take her a long time to get this done....wrong! She stopped over last Wednesday to show me her finished masterpiece and to pick up some more linen. She's already got a new project brewing in her mind...a rug for her granddaughter.

Glenda has many reasons to celebrate her first rug hooking accomplishment...it is beautiful! She is full of enthusiasm and I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot more of her lovely rugs in the near future.
Congratulations to "G"!!!! I am so proud of you!!!

Bonus!

Well, what do you know! I looked at the nest this morning and now there are FOUR eggs!
I'll give poor mommy bird a break and I won't bother her for a few days. Then we'll see if there are any new baby birds to take a peep at! (ha...pardon the "cheep" pun!)

A Sweet Little Discovery

Here's a lovely little discovery while walking by the pond today....a red-winged blackbird's nest! It was cleverly disguised and I'll bet I've walked by it dozens of times and never knew it was there. Look at those sweet little blue eggs.It's incredibly amazing how perfectly it is woven and formed.

The outside layer of the nest is created from dead cat tail reeds and woven like a basket around the live, green reeds. It's suspended over the shallow shoreline and built so sturdily that I'll bet even the strongest wind couldn't topple it.

Momma bird was keeping a very close eye on me!

The (Unimpressed) Audience

This spring, I've started my own little exercise program. I take a brisk one-half hour walk every single day, unless the rain is pouring down. It makes me feel good and I sleep better too. When I started considering my options, I decided not to walk in the subdivision across the street. It would have been easier to walk on the pavement, but I didn't want to deal with cars driving by, kids playing in the street, and possibly a dog or two chasing after me. So I decided to walk in my own backyard, between the house and the barn, and around the animal pens. I walk at a brisk pace, swinging my arms, singing out loud to my i-pod music, and generally looking like a real corn-ball (yup, just another good reason not to walk in the subdivision). The only audience I have is this....And this.....

And this guy, who looks a little startled...maybe it was my singing?

And occasionally, this guy is my audience too......

No one looks terribly impressed....