Memorial Day Weekend

 On the hot Memorial Day weekend, I've gotten a ton accomplished. I finished hooking the runner ~ just needs to be blocked and bound. I was going to add another border, but after experimenting, I just didn't like it. So, the scallop border will be the edge.

 Went to the Memorial Day parade in our town. My son was playing the trumpet in the high school marching band. Glad they got to wear t-shirts and shorts and not heavy uniforms. It was only 92 today, which was cooler than yesterday.

 My youngest was also in the parade, marching with his Boy Scout troop.

 I also took an entire day to clean out my stuff in our storage room. It's a lower level bedroom that's unfinished. The room holds all our stuff, and acts as our basement. I store all my craft/art supplies there. I weeded through and sorted. I think I can actually find stuff now.  :)

I've been watching a pair of finches build a nest in our back flower basket. Yesterday there was 1 egg, and today there are 3 eggs. It should be fun to watch!

Hope you had a great Memorial Day weekend!

~*~ Laura ~*~

A Day Off

 I took the day off work today. Didn't accomplish as much as I wanted, but that's ok. I only have until next week until school is out. I did a couple things. I went to a few thrift stores, and found these candle holders for $1 each. They were stained oak. I had some left over black spray paint, so now they are black. I just need to find some mini pip berry candle rings for them.

 I finished binding this mat. On this one I used cotton twill tape, and used black wool yarn for the edges. It just needs another quick steam to flatten the edges.

 I've also gotten a bit further on my runner.

This is the pattern I received as a giveaway last week. I've been looking at the photo, and thinking about colors. I just received my wool samples from The Wool Studio. I'll have to see what looks interesting to hook as is, and what I can dye.

My big find today was a table. My husband has started working from home 2 days a week. He needs a larger table/desk. I found this kitchen table that will do the trick instead of a desk. It needs refinishing, but it offers plenty of space (it has a self storing leaf). I already sanded the top so I can stain it. Not bad for $14.99.   :)

It's back to school tomorrow. The countdown is 6 more days!

~*~ Laura ~*~

DuCKLiNGS

 I'm duck sitting tonight. Our class had 18 ducklings hatch this week. I couldn't resist taking a couple of them out in the grass for a few photos.

James was thrilled that I brought them home!

I got my pattern from The Star Rug Company this week! After I finish a couple projects in progress, I'll start on it. Thank you SOOO much, Maria for this fabulous pattern!

I'm off to make sure the ducklings have enough water. Seems all they do is drink (then pee and poop). They go back to the farmer tomorrow.   :(

~*~ Laura ~*~

I won!

Yesterday, I entered a giveaway on Maria Barton's blog http://starrugcompany-maria.blogspot.com/. The giveaway was to promote her new website of wonderful rug hooking patterns! I can't believe, but I won my favorite pattern ~ Winter Walk. http://www.starrugcompany.com/Winter_WinterWalk.html . This rug is 19x31, so it will be bigger. I'm going to have to put some careful thought into color planning, and dying the wool, as I want this one to be a piece to hang on the family room wall. Hop on over to Maria's new website and check out her other wonderful patterns!

Thanks SO much, Maria!

~*~ Laura ~*~

Updating

A month later, and I'm finally updating my blog~ if I can figure out how to update it. I signed in, and the whole interface has changed.

I've been slowly working on my spring runner. I've just run out of time. I spend a while job searching and updating my resume. I've sent off several resumes, but no calls/interviews. There was one job in my town that I drove over and hand delivered my resume. Even with a follow up call, I haven't heard. Guess it's the job market around here. Way too many applicants. I'm only applying for openings that sound good and are really close to home. That means not many more resumes being sent out. At least I like my job as a kindergarten aide, and it's close to home.

I had intentions (a month ago) of ordering a dye book, but just haven't gotten around to it. I know it wouldn't just be a dye book, but some measuring spoons. Oh, then the wool to dye. And time to plan and do another project. Hopefully this summer once school lets out.

Have a great week!

~*~ Laura ~*~

HaPPy EaSTeR!

Happy Easter to all! Although my kids are too old for an egg hunt, they aren't too old for a basket with candy (and a bit of $$). My husband wanted dark chocolate, so the Easter bunny left some Giradelli dark chocolate for him. (and a bit for me, too!) We went to church, and had dinner with the family.

My new rug is in the kitchen, and being used. I'll admit, my kitchen floor is really ugly, so I'll do anything to cover it up. I do kinda know what I would like to replace it with, but it's still too expensive. I've seen some vinyl plank flooring (like Allure at Home Depot). Vinyl would be great in the kitchen,as I wouldn't have to worry about spills. But that project would include a new sub floor, and I'm not ready to tackle that.

I worked a bit more on the spring runner. Don't know why I try to take photos at night, when the light isn't good. I like how the charcoal reversible stripe wool hooks. It gives a really nice shading.

I also started, and almost finished) a small mat. I'm debating selling it on Ebay once it's finished. I haven't sold anything in quite a while. I'm confident in my hooked pieces now, so selling some smaller pieces might be fun.

The excitement around here this week was having a raccoon in the garage. After 2 nights of hearing loud noises, and then finding paw prints on the cars in the morning, we finally got it out. I think it roamed into the garage after dark, when the door was left open til later in the evening. The coon couldn't find it's way out, so it sure tried. My hubby panicked and wanted to call an animal removal company. I wanted to try myself, so I left the garage door open, turned on the garage lights, and waited. It worked! We do have a trap set up inside the garage, just in case. But, it's been nice and quiet for the past couple evenings. Yipee!

It's back to school this week, but counting the days until the end of the school year.

~*~ Laura ~*~

Rug Progress

Here's the Welcome Spring tulip runner I've been working on. I just started the background.


I LOVE the background! It's the Rebecca Erb reversible charcoal stripe wool. I cut it against the stripe, and am randomly pulling which side to hook with. It give a very subtle shading.


The other project this week has been our screened deck. A couple years ago, we had a tear in one of the screens, and never properly fixed it. (hey, I was able to get some fantastic photos of our foxes from the tear in the screen!) Squirrels decided that the deck would be a nice place to build a nest and hang out. I really don't like squirrels staring at me when I open the deck doors, so the animal was relocated. I had to tear out the old screen holders (they don't make those holders anymore, and the old ones were brittle), staple new screening, and work in putting some new 1/4 round as trim. I only did one window with trim so far. I want to make sure that no other critter is going to chew through the new screen.

Matt just got home from the band trip to Disney World tonight. He had a great time!

I've sent off a few job applications, but am being really picky about what I send out. I don't need to waste my time with interviews for jobs that I really don't want, or that's too far away. Tomorrow James is volunteering at the library for Scouts. I'll bring along my hooking to keep busy while he works for a hour.

~*~ Laura ~*~