Pages

Saturday, April 30, 2011

Green with Envy

I have been doing a little dying trying to come up with some green recipes. This is my first attempt. Not sure if the "grass" needs a little sunshine or has had too much rain! :) I hope to do some more experimenting some time over the weekend? Check them out and see what you think!
Don't know about you but wasn't it WONDERFUL to see the sun shine today?!

Thursday, April 28, 2011

New Magazine





We literally received this magazine just an hour ago. In fact, I haven't had much time to study it. It is a brand new magazine dedicated to primitive projects!! :) It is called Primitive Quilts and Projects. It contains 17 projects for the primitive quilter, rug hooker and stitcher. Some of the designers include Buggy Barn, Cheri Payne, Jan Patek, Lisa Bongean, Lori Brechlin, Maggie Bonanomi and Lynda Hall. This is a few of the designers and we think it's a great magazine.



As of now we are 1 of 2 stores in the state of Iowa that carry the magazine. Stop by the shop and pick yours up today. It retails for $9.99 and this is the very first issue. It will come out 4 times a year.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Color Wheel

I have been spending the few spare minutes that I have doing some dying. I needed to dye samples of the basic colors so I know what I am doing (or trying to do) when creating my own dye recipes. The first picture represents all of the Majic Carpet dyes that I have except for black.



The picture below is the same colors only toned down with black so they are a little more grungy then the original color. If you haven't tried this, I would suggest that you do so you have some idea of the colors that you have. I have greens in the pot right now and am playing with the color yellow and what I am going to tone them down with. I will try and post that tomorrow. Enjoy your day!

Friday, April 22, 2011

Loaded with wools



As you can see our shelves are full with wool. We have received 2 shipments within the last week. We have some good spring colors as well as some pieces that look like they have been around forever. So, if you are out and about come check out our wool.

This weekend I hope to hit the dye pot and get rolling on hand dyed colors. Think I am in the mood for brights................perhaps that has something to do with the weather?!

Renovations



For those of you that were wondering how the progress of my living room was coming..............well, life hands you many challenges and this room is one of them. The sheet rock is primed and ready to paint but I have to wait for the floor to go down first!
The problem with the floor is the hump in the middle!! A beam had risen 3/4 of an inch............therefore the bump!! This photo is how my floor looks now..............ever heard of the black hole? Dave has been hand planing this with his grandfathers plane. It should sound wonderful using a family tool to work on your project but..............this stunk!! Lots of LABOR! What did we ever do before electricity?
When you are having a bad day just look at the black hole................it has to make someone out there feel better!!

Friday, April 15, 2011

More Newton Projects

Mary from Des Moines was working on her own creation called Symphony in Red. The design was created on red burlap and she was using a variety of textiles for wools.
JoAnne's project is ongoing..................it is her own design and will be a gift for her husband when she completes it. It is a cornfield and if you look closely you can see a tractor in the middle of the rug heading toward the sun. This is hooked in a 3 or 4 cut...................are you nuts?! It is beautiful and we have watched it progress over the years, I mean months. ;)
Wanda too has designed her own paisley and it was stunning. Her colors were exquisite! Wanda too enjoys those tiny cuts of wool! She keeps saying she wants to do large but I think her true calling is fine cut!



Newton Class projects continued

Eden designed this paisley pillow herself. A big debate over what color to use on the inside of her paisley..................we all voted and choose a dotted wool. It was perfect and convinced her to use it in the other paisleys as well.
Karen is from New Foundland and this rug is a little out of her color box. She loves the bright bold colors so this was duller than she had planned on. Karen is a fast hooker and her rug was turning out beautifully.

Elsie decided not to do a paisley but this diamond in the middle with flowers all the way around the outside of it. She choose a rich red color for the diamonds and it was to die for!! Elsie turns out so many rugs and it has been a pleasure to watch her grow in her hooking skills. She is like a sponge................soaking up all the information she can!


Thursday, April 14, 2011

Class Projects

Jane from Kansas was working on a paisley runner. Her colors came from a pillow that resides on her couch. The rug will go under a table in that room. Jane's hooking was perfect and she is fortunate to live near Anita White................so help is around the corner when she needs it. I can't wait to see this finished.

Barb decided on a smaller project and had a great time until Anita suggested that she put a braided edge around her pumpkins as a border. We heard LOTS of ................well...............mumbling as she was doing the border. Her pumpkins were almost complete by the 4th day. It was beautiful.

Marie choose a single paisley. She too did LOTS of hooking and stayed late with us at night. Much happens AFTER class is over and we hook till late evening. :)
This is my project on day 4. It was fun to work on but at times challenging trying to place color around the rug. Oh, after class was officially over I worked on Natalie's graduation rug............can't show pictures of that..............caught her on the blog looking for sneak peeks!!

Newton continued..............................

Pictured above is the rug that Mom worked on.........Rise and Shine. Mom used to sing the song Rise and Shine to us each morning at 5 a.m. to get us up and out of bed. She thought that it was very fun..........................not so much. In the rug there are 4 beds.............one for each kid. Mine happens to have a paisley bed cover............no I was NOT a princess by any means!!!
This is Elsie's project. I can't remember the name of the rug but it was turning out fantastic. The way Elsie hooks it should be done by Monday morning!!
Diana's rug was called Joanne's Quilt. A row of black background was being put in the last day of the workshop.
This was Marie's rug...............a paisley that she designed. Color scheme was red and green with some gold.

Newton Class continued

This is day 1. To the left is Mom and Elsie. As you can see Mom did A LOT of that........... while I was actually WORKING on my project!! Below is the picture that my nephew drew when he was 4 years old. Yes, it's a lion without a body or a tail......just 2 legs! I smile every time I look at this design. I wanted to do something a little different in the background so I chose to draw squares. My color scheme is gold and purple. The mane around the face of the lion is proddy.

There are many wonderful projects that were designed during our 4 day class so stop back again.

Newton Class

We just returned from our annual rug hooking class in Newton, Iowa. This year our teacher was Anita White from Overland Park, Kansas. These tables were piled high with wonderful colors of wool. Anita also had LOTS of beautiful paisleys in an antique suitcase. Did I mention that there was ANOTHER table full of nothing but yardages? A great time was had by all! Elsie does such a wonderful job putting on this event.

The suitcase on the right is filled with paisley pincushions that Anita had for sale. Of course, we bought one. ;)

Uncle Harvey completed!

This pattern, Uncle Harvey, was designed by Sharon Townsend. She gave us the rights to this pattern for our shop. Her rug was recently in Rug Hooking Magazine. I fell in love with the rabbit but wanted to do something different from hers. I came up with the idea of straight rows of hooking to represent a wall paper. It was easy hooking but the idea of the stripes came AFTER the rabbit was hooked. It was a tad more challenging but I think I made it work. The pattern retails at the shop for $40.00

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Lincoln here we come........


As the crow flies we are headed to Lincoln, Nebraska for Cammie Bruce's Hook-in. We will be vending at a church on Friday from 9 to 3. We always see some great old friends and look forward to making new friends!

You have all seen Robins but have you seen a LARGE black crow in your yard? The other day this guy appeared in Dad's garden....................................must be Spring?! :)

Sunday, April 3, 2011

New pattern by Heart and Hand

Oh, to dance with flowers! Brand new applique pattern by Heart to Hand. We are so excited to get started on this one. The pattern retails for $8.50. I also hope to have some kits ready to go shortly. Doesn't it just make you want to dig in the dirt..............or maybe smell the flowers?! :)

Off to Market we went............................

Off to market we went to pick up a few things! Above: Reproduction dome screen, $18.00, octagon trivet, $26.00. The trivets will work with anything. We have large and small ones.
Primitive Peg Shelf, $64.00. These work anywhere!! We also picked up some primitive battery operated tapers. They come in 2 sizes; 11" @ $15.50 and 6" @ $15.00 and yes that includes the holder as well! These are awesome when lit.
Primitive Bowl Bin, I LOVE this shelf! This is the small and retails for $54.00 and the large on retails for $72.00. I could have one of these in every room in my house. So, here is the deal........we only have a FEW shelves..............guess we were a little conservative? Next time our motto is: "Balls to the walls" :) These really are fun so stop by and check them out.

Florida

A quick trip to University of Central Florida (UCF) to watch our daughter, Jenny complete in the first Spring tournament playing for UWF University of West Florida. This picture isn't the greatest as I was having trouble getting the right setting in the gym. Jenny is #16 in the foreground. Her team won 2, lost 2, and split 2. Not a bad day considering they lost several key players.
We arrived in Orlando on Friday mid-afternoon and decided to take a quick trip to the beach.............we were in Florida after all! Well, it was 29 degrees when we left Minneapolis and 85 degrees when we arrived. I had an awful time trying to figure out what to pack for clothes. In my stupidity I packed NO short sleeve shirts. Jenny said I fit in as I looked "white"............whatever that means?!?! It was a short trip and we always enjoy watching Jenny's team play when we can. Believe it or not I was cold in this photo!!