This Ruby Is A Gem!

Here is my sweet little surprise...there's a beautiful new girl here on our little farm!

 Look at those curls!  I am a real sucker for that sort of thing.

Her name is Ruby and she is a two year old "red" angora goat!  Her fleece is a gorgeous fawn color and her face is reddish brown (the face color is what determines the color of the angora goat, so that is why she is considered "red").  Ruby is somewhat small for her age...but with a little pampering and some nice grass/alfalfa hay, I think we can get her to grow into a lovely young lady. She has been quite talkative to the other goats, and has been holding intelligent conversations with Emma.  We are keeping her in her own little pen for now so the big goats don't pick on her.

Here she is, striking a pose for the camera!  

I have affectionately nick-named her "Ruby Red Squirt!"

Student Rugs from Holland, MI

I just looked at the calendar and saw that it's the end of August...where has summer gone?  Although I must say that I won't be sorry to see the heat go away...it's been so terribly hot here, like most places...but the other day, I definitely could feel the hint of fall.  I can't put my finger on it but it must be the angle of the sun, the way the crickets and frogs have been chirping lately, the color of the vegetation across the marsh, and the apples dropping off the tree behind the goat pens.  I am anxiously waiting for my favorite time of year...it can't be too far away....

Enjoy these rugs from my students at the Holland, Michigan Rug School!

 

This is Sandie's rug, a great Deanne Fitzpatrick design.  Her sky is superb!

 Vicki is hooking Kissin' Wears Out, a Spruce Ridge adaptation of a Lori Brechlin design.  Vicki was doing a terrific job on this rug...note the little bow in the girl's hair!

  Sherry is hooking Ah, Tis Spring, another terrific Lori Brechlin design, adapted by Spruce Ridge Studios.  Sherry got a  LOT of hooking done at camp!

Sue was hooking Parcheesi Geometric, a Keith Kemmer design.  This was a fun rug to play with colors.  Sue preferred rust, turquoise, and golden tans.

 This is Ally's Cat, a Cindi Gay design, and being hooked by Sally.  I love her "scribbly" colors!  She was also experimenting with colored roving/yarn and quilling in the circles.

  This is Marg's rug, and one of my designs called Juanita's Roses.  Marg also got a lot of hooking done at camp...and she is also one of the luckiest people!  She won the grand prize at camp...20 half-yard pieces of wool from Tomorrow's Heirlooms!

  This is Kathy's rug.  She was using fancy yarn to enhance the rooster's tail, and her sunflowers were wonderful too.

 Janice was hooking a Cactus Needle design.  Lots of progress done at camp, and I love her bees.

This is Brave Hunter, a pattern by Barb Carroll, and it's being hooked by Jane.  She is using my favorite hues of turquoise.

My House Sampler, a Lori Brechlin design adapted by Spruce Ridge Studios, and hooked by Donna.  A lovely turquoise bird!

Dawn was hooking Glad Tidings, a Lori Brechlin design adapted by Spruce Ridge Studios.  She used sheep's locks for the Santa beard.

 Brenda was hooking a flower, designed by her...this is going to be a beauty!

~~~

I'll have a special surprise announcement and pictures tomorrow....can't wait to show you!...but please check back and see what it is!!!

Sheep Costume Parade!

I'm just back from the Michigan Fiber Festival and it was a fun, fun, fun week-end!  I just had to share a few amusing pictures of the Sheep Costume Parade!

My personal favorite...Darth Vader and a Storm Trooper Sheep!

A witch and a Woodland Fairy sheep....

Not sure about this one but I'm thinking it's a Dragon Fly sheep....

I've never seen them do this parade before but it was a big hit with the festival-goers...what a fun idea!...but you can be sure that my pampered little sheep would never tolerate being dressed up -*sigh*

My friend Neil, with his award-winning Black Face Scottish Ram...he won Supreme Ram Champion at Fiber Fest...you rock, Neil and Whitey!!!

My friend Eli, wearing a hat that Neil made from Wensleydale curls!  Tres chic, Eli!!!

I'm already counting the days until next year's festival....

 

The Audience In The Balcony

Apparently I have more "watchers" than just Mr. Frog.  Here is my little fan club that is sitting in the "balcony" of one of the goat shelters:

These are baby Barn Swallows!  I believe Momma has been teaching them to fly during the day.  In the evening they are all hunkered down in their nest.

They build really interesting nests out of mud and straw, then line the inside with feathers.  The nest gets reused from generation to generation.  I think this nest has been used for the past 3 years.  I am happy to have them around because they eat lots of bugs, like mosquitoes and flies....we have a smorgasbord of those around here!

A Few Rugs From Holland, Michigan

Here are a few snaps I took at the rug show that was held at Holland, Michigan during the Tomorrow's Heirlooms Rug School.

 Oh Glorious Day, hooked by Sally Beaton during Star of Texas (Tyler) rug camp, Kris Miller-teacher.  Design is adapted from Lori Brechlin folk art by Spruce Ridge Studios.

Didn't get the name of the maker.  There is a subtle message written backwards in the background around the fish.  I do remember someone telling me that Pris Butler was the teacher for this rug.

 Hooked by Jackie K.  Isn't this a fantastic rug?

 

Harry, hooked by Patti Aichler. Teacher and designer is Sally Kallin from Pine Island Primitives.

Hooked by Donna Gardella.  I believe this is a Lib Calloway pattern.  Love the background!

I think this was hooked by Donna Gardella too (please correct me if I'm wrong)!  Pattern is Jacob's Lion, designed by Cindi Gay and distributed by Spruce Ridge Studios.

Give Ye Thanks, adapted from Lori Brechlin folk art by Spruce Ridge Studios.  (Sorry, didn't get the name of the maker)

Designed and hooked by Lyle Drier of Wisconsin.  Her rugs are always exquisite and exceptional!

~~~

I'll show my students' rugs in the next post...stay tuned...and stay cool!

Who's Watching Me?

Have you ever had that funny feeling like you were being watched by a pair of eyes?  I had that same feeling while I was feeding the goats the other night.....

Mr. Froggy, quiet and safe in his little hole, kept his eyes on me while I walked back and forth with armloads of hay.

Little did he know that he sparked my imagination and inspired me to consider dyeing up some new wool colors...greens, golds, coppers, rich browns...and maybe a new rug hooking design???

A Special Little Treasure

I have felt a little like a rug hooking "gypsy" this summer, for as much traveling and hauling of my wares that I have done!  Sadly, I have not kept up on my blogging of all the special places I've been.  So this blog post is dedicated to the workshop I recently taught for the Buckeye Rug Hooking Guild.

True Confession:  I forgot my camera and was not able to take pictures of my class or their rugs, but let me assure you that every rug was a winner!  I was team-teaching with Wendy Miller of The Red Saltbox and I always have a wonderful time when I am with Wendy!  She is an equally wonderful teacher and some of her color plans would blow you away!  Just to prove I was there, you can follow this link to Rhonda's blog and there is a picture of me and Wendy!  We were in a beautiful ballroom and I'll bet that we totally exceeded the legal limit for the amount of wool that is allowed at a workshop (wink, wink)!

Anyway, the highlight of the week-end for me was the auction that the Guild put on.  I spotted a humble little rug on the table and recognized it immediately...and I was NOT going home without it...

I won this little treasure of a rug that was made in The Gambia (Africa) at the GOVI School for the Blind.  It is a charity that is headed up by my friend Heather Ritchie, from Reeth, UK.  I follow her newsletters about the GOVI school and have really longed to own one of the student's rugs.  And I thought that ownership would be nearly impossible until I spied that little treasure at the auction.  So now it resides here with me, and I hope to have my husband frame it soon so I can display it properly in my studio.

 

 Here is the precious little tag that is attached to the rug by a piece of string.  The maker's name, Lamin Colley, and his/her fingerprint...a special autograph since the maker was blind.

You can check out Heather's charity here:  Rug Aid

The happiest part of the story?  The Buckeye Guild agreed to donate my winning bid entirely to Heather's charity.  It's a win/win situation with a happy ending!

On The Road Again!

I'm hitting the road again to vend at a wonderful fiber show in picturesque Charlevoix, Michigan!  It's this week-end so make your plans now!

Saturday July 24th  10 am to 5 pm

Sunday July 25th 10 am to 4 pm

Fiber Arts Festival at Castle Farms

5052 M 66 North

Charlevoix, MI  49720

We set up a great booth last year and I am SO looking forward to being there again this year!  It was fun, fun, fun!!!  I have been feverishly preparing lots of goodies for the show.  And I'm so excited because I just got in the most WONDERFUL textured woolens (I'm washing them up right now), and I'll be bringing them along.  I'm not kidding, my heart skipped a couple of beats when I opened up the boxes!!!  I'm already color-planning in my head, thinking about using these gorgeous textures for my next project! 

This is the courtyard at Castle Farms.  The whole complex looks like Olde English stone buildings and yes, there is even part of it that looks like a castle.  A truly fascinating place to visit.  You can go to their website and get more information and see a few more pictures too.

http://www.castlefarms.com/

Be sure to scroll down toward the bottom of the page for the link that gives more information about the fiber show.

All the vendor booths are inside (air conditioned!) and the courtyard pictured above is used for the fashion show, demonstrations, and more.

If you come to the show and mention that you read about it on my blog, I'll give you 10% off of any one regular-priced item in my booth.

See you there!!!

Jackson! Jackson?

Meet Jackson....he is the newest member of the Miller/Spruce Ridge clan!  He is a 6 year old Yellow Lab that we adopted today from a rescue group.  Crazy, isn't it, that I have gotten a new dog so soon?!?!  It just sort of happened at the last minute....my son and I stopped by one of their "pet fairs"  yesterday and talked to Jackson's foster mother.  We hit it off right away and realized that Jackson had the personality we were looking for.  Ken and I went back today and brought Jackson home.  He has been a little clingy but the poor guy has been through a lot!  He spent the afternoon playing catch and then cooled off in my studio.  His tail was wagging the entire day.  I think I have a new rug hooking buddy.

~~~

The name "Jackson" brings back a funny little story....

 ~~~

Several years ago, I was going to teach a rug hooking workshop in Mississippi.  I arrived at Detroit Metro Airport for my flight and the ticket counters were mobbed with travelers.  I patiently waited in a long line and finally reached the kiosk at Northwest Airlines to check my bags.  All the agents were really  busy so I did as much as I could on their check-in computer, and then had to wait patiently again for the computer to spit out my paperwork so an agent could weigh and tag my suitcase.  A woman behind the counter called out:

"Jackson!"

No one stepped forward.

"JACKSON!!"

I looked around...where was this Mr. or Mrs. Jackson person who wasn't responding?

"JACKSON!!!!" 

I realized that the agent was looking right at me with a stern look on her face...

I pointed to myself...."I'm Miller"

"YES....WELL, ARE YOU GOING TO JACKSON ??!!!"

oH dEAR!  Yes, I was ..... going to Jackson Mississippi....eeeps!

I sheepishly handed over my suitcase while wishing that I could melt into the floor.....I think I mumbled something about not traveling much on them big ole' air-o-planes.....

Manistee Rug School

Here is a group picture of my class in Manistee:

 A really terrific bunch of gals...we all had so much fun!

I definitely won the prize for bringing the most wool!

~~~~

During my stay in Manistee, I was also very lucky to be able to visit the studio of Evelyn Sorenson.  She is a 95 year old fiber artist who creates the most beautiful tapestries that you have ever seen.  She works them in her own special technique; the backgrounds are loosely woven mohair yarns and the embellishments are embroidered on the woven yarns with more mohair.  Most of the tapestries are quite large.  I'm sure you will agree that they are absolutely incredible (Buckle your seat belt, I took lots of pictures):

It's hard to pick a favorite but I think the last one might be the one I like the best.  Which is your favorite?

~~~

A heartfelt thanks to all of you who wrote such warm and touching words of sympathy about Nokie.  I still expect to see her when I look out the window.  She will always be in my heart.