My First Rug

This is a close up of a section of my first rug. The two biggest mistakes I made and continue to make now and then. Is I hooked to low. You are suppose to hook as high as the stip is wide.

and to close together. My first rug weighs a ton. Lately I have seen a few over hooked rugs.

You are suppose to see holidays (blank spots on the back) if it ripples and doesn't lay flat it is over hooked. Not only does your rug not lay flat it could break the backing. Then you are sunk.

This rug backing is burlap I was lucky it didn't break and I was able to get it to lay flat. I did unhook some to help it lay flat.

 I was taught by a very sweet Mcgowan trained older woman.

When my friend and I took our first lesson she asked us what would we like to lean we both said with a big smile "Primitive" She sighed a big sigh handed us a mcgowan pattern catalog for us to shop from

and told us the biggest cut was a six. Sounded ok to me what did I know? We preceded to learn from one of the sweetest ladies I have ever met. Sadly she passed away but oh boy would she hate what I learned this past weekend.

I went to a hook-in in Westford Ma. I sat with a few friends it was nice to see Courtney.

We met a lot of very nice ladies and saw some very beautiful rugs.

A new friend showed me how to do hand cut, about a 10. Oh boy is it wide and oh boy is it fun.

This is what I accomplished on Sat. The hardest part is cutting the strips. I need to get in the rhythm of the size and getting it straight. This will end up with Miss Baby.

And speaking of Miss Baby we spent the whole day with her today. So much fun she had us laughing all day. It is so much fun to be Gammie

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Fun is over back to work tomorrow.

The town where I grew up has a zip code of E-I-E-I-O...Martin Mull

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Ring, Ring,....

Just a very fast project. I have seen these while surfing around and wanted to make one.

I just sewed buttons  around the little doily to be used as this.

When ever I take Ice water or lemonade hate getting bugs getting in it. I think it will work great. Speaking of bugs I gardened tonight and they are out. I was hoping for a little more time.

I hit the thrift on the way to work this morning and lookeee what I found!

2 sterling silver rings for 5.00 each. I will give my daughter her pick of one.

I am going to spend the next couple of nights getting ready for the hook-in this weekend.

I am working on a chicken rug but when I transferred it from burlap to linen I messed up the border.

I will try to figure it out but first I have to sit on the porch this weather is amazing 80's still a couple of days to go before we get back to reality.

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There is no pleasure in having nothing to do; the fun is in having lots to do and not doing it.

                                                 Mary Little

Whew What A Weekend.....

This was David this morning if you look on the lower left that is Sadie snoozing also.

What a fun and busy weekend we had..

I have a cork board in the kitchen, it catches all the things I would like to do among other things.

I had this from last year. Well that was my mystery trip it was white home market weekend.

They open once a month and have different vendors come in. It ranged from vintage to repurposed to new items it was busy and people were buying like crazy. I saw a lot of good ideas and some really cool things but I settled on this

I am not a big jewelery buyer. But this just spoke to me some how.It is sterling silver it has hallmarks. Fits me perfectly but I have no idea what the stone is. Sometimes it looks black, this is with a flash. and the price was very right less than 30.00 So my guess is it is a synthetic stone.

Next stop this little shopping village that had a pretty big antique store.

Where I found some pieces to go with my pottery I am collecting. The best part they were having a sale. I got all of these for 32.00 such a good deal. I looked on ebay and with out the salt and pepper it was  137.00

The most fun thing I found was a old hand made hook. It had rust on it and was 1.00.

The girl checking me out asked me twice if I wanted it. UMM yeah they just don't understand hooker gold.

We went to the big city of Manchester to see all the St Paddy excitement and oooh boy was there a lot.

There is a bar there called Murphy's they opened up at 5:30 am and had a line down the street. by 6:15am they had already gone through their first barrel of guiness. We were in town by 3pm and there was still a line down the street. The whole city was a sea of green with the craziest hats I have ever seen very fun. We went to our local watering hole after we got home, I had cabbage and cornbeef and to top it off some baileys very good.

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Today it was 80 that is not a typo. 80's in central NH in March is unheard of, bring it on!

I spend the day cleaning the porch. Right now I have my feet up blogging on the porch and it is pure heaven.

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We have come so far since last spring I would say to hell and back. My blessing are many.

 Thank you for your payers and kindness along the way it gave us both strength through the trip.

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There was no need to do any housework at all.

After the first four years the dirt doesn't get any worse.

                                                                      Quentin Crisp(1908-2000)

                               

That is very good information to know :0)

Hell Has Frozen Over.......

Hell has frozen over I am hooking again! I finished my chair pad, I put a nice wool back on it so now I need to make another one for the other bar stool. But first I am going to get started on a rug for Miss Baby.

I found this great book and look who the illustrator is! Tasha Tudor

I love her art work.

We had a trip to Boston today to the Dr he is still so happy with David's progress they took more tests so we should know more in 3 weeks.

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I made the manicotti from my cookbook. It was so good it is a keeper for sure. Sorry no pictures we ate it before we thought to take pictures:)

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David says he has a mystery day trip for me on Sunday and that I will love it hmmmm

I wonder what he has in mind?

It has been spring warm, the flowers are starting to come up through the ground oh happy day.

I hope spring has come to your corner of the world.

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If you are all wrapped up in yourself, you are overdressed....Kate Halverson

A Thrifty Weekend.

A good weekend was had by all. Miss Baby stayed over night so much fun. Purple is her new word.

I had several bags going to the thrift.( I have been cleaning out closets.) I found this sweet dress for 1.00 tags still on it. The bunny and the movie came from another thrift for .50 great finds.

I also snagged this bunny and the DVD. for .75.

Sat when we woke up David said I am going to have to plow the driveway, what! NO.

Well he was right we had about 4 inches. Today 65 now that is New England for you.

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They have been cutting trees back from the power lines on our road. This poor maple the sap is just pouring out of it.

 We couldn't figure out why they left this poor rotten tree. It is full of woodpecker holes.

I have been cooking a bit this weekend I made double baked, baked potatoes oh they were sooooooo good. Today I made croutons from stale home made bread. And now I am working on a recipe from my expensive cookbook. I will let you know how it goes.

I am still cleaning out closets and drawers. Some how it makes me feel so good.

Have a great week!

Earth's crammed with heaven....Elizabeth Barrett Browning

You Know Your Old When....

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

You walk into an all day training and the trainer is your close friend's youngest daughter oh yea!

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Not much on the thrifting or dump picking front. Today on my way home from said training I stopped at the thrift and found these books. I thought it was about time I read Santa's autobiography.

I finished Water for Elephants it really is a must read.

As most of you know I work in a used book store. I was weeding out cookbooks and checking the

Internet to see if

the ones being weeded were some great book I didn't know about.

Bingo! This book is listed for 225.00 at the lowest on Amazon and a couple of other sites.

This book has been in our store at least 2 years. So I plan to make one recipe a weekend to see what the excitement is about. Do any of you know any thing about this cookbook?

Last night I took one of my closest friends out for her Big Birthday!

We headed for wine down Wed.

All wine by the bottle is half price! oh yeah bring on the Kendall Jackson and the Italian food.

It was such a good night we laughed and talked for hours and finished off that bottle.

On Friday it will be 8 years since her wonderful husband died unexpectedly.

We miss you Mr B but thank God we had you in our life.

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I am going to see Miss Baby on Sat, I can't wait to see her it has been a couple of weeks.

She giggles into the phone to her gammie oh be still my heart.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Too much of a good thing is wonderful....Mae West

The Winner is....

 I know you are anxious to know the winner of the magazine.

Yaya email me with your snail mail info! I am so happy for her she is a long time follower and we are both hooked  on magazines.                                                                                                   

I recently found the missing box of Easter decorations. this is a fun vintage hungry bunny. The bunny heads bob up and down when the top is twirling.

Easter will be very special for us this year. Last year the night before Easter and my husband asked me to take him to the hospital which started the horror of all that he and we as a family have been through. I am so happy to say he is doing so well, we will enjoy Easter this year!

Wed I came home with an awful head cold. I have locked myself in the spare bedroom and prayed that Husband stayed healthy. So far so good and I am on the mend. I spent the day bleaching everything and working my way through the mountain of laundry.

A handful of patience is worth more than a bushel of brains.....Dutch Proverb