I Don't Like Winter, but..

 It sure is pretty

It's nice out today. I mean, it's nice for a winter day. Not too cold, no wind, frosting of snow on the ground. Nice. 

Stay warm, stay safe. 

Sue

Oh My Golly Gee Whiz

 Oh my golly,

Several weeks ago I gave up drinking diet cola. I loved it. I drank 3-4 cans a day. That's pretty much all I drank. I don't like coffee or tea, water is boring. But my loved ones kept nagging me about it not being good for me. So with the new year I finished up my stash (yes, stash, of diet coke). And I've been drinking water, at least 6 cups/day. 

Sunday dinner: my son said, "Hey, I think you have a can of soda in the refrigerator." I took it home with me. I was good on Monday and didn't drink it. Ah, it's Tuesday. It sounds good.  I got out my favorite cup. 

Filled it with ice and poured myself a diet coke. Whoa, it tastes terrible, so sickly sweet. How in the world did I drink cans of this stuff everyday?? So back to water it is for me.

I've not noticed any aspartame withdrawal symptoms, but I was prepared for the caffeine withdrawal. I bought some Excedrin Migraine and take a half of a caplet in the morning. I figure I can start to cut down on this also. 

This is what I'm up to today.

Looks so sweet, it only took seconds to turn around and look for something to get in to. He's a handful for sure. 

My plan for today is while he naps I'll zigzag the edges of my newly finished 1868 rug and sew the binding strips together. Maybe I'll even get them sewn on. We shall see.

Have a lovely winter day. It's fairly mild for a January day in Ohio.  Sue 

Ta da

 And here she is

She's a beauty. 

As I was steaming on the backside I noticed a couple of spots I need to fill in a little. And I want to fix the "R" in my initials. 

I'll do that, give it a good steam and binding and she's ready to shine. 

Have a great and blessed Sunday. Sue

1868 is coming right along

 My version of the 1868 Ring of Roses hooked rug

We had three snow days this week, plus no school on Monday. I had the grands Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. I should have had them Thursday also, but Mac has been sick. He's had a fever for almost a week. His dad stayed home from work on Thursday to take care of him, and give Grandma a break.

So I hooked. We had a bit of a snow storm. So I hooked some more. I've only left the house to take out the garbage. 

I got quite a bit done. I am just using wool I have. I don't want to buy any  more right now. Plus I figure in the old days they would've hooked with what they had. And I'm sure I've got a much bigger selection to choose from than they did. 

The lighter blue in the middle is a bit brighter than I wanted, but again I'm using what I have. The blue-grey around the 1868 is a bit darker than I wanted. But I'm sure you guessed it, I'm using up what I have on hand. 

That's it for today. Sunday dinner is my house this week. We're having chicken pot pie and fried apples. Yum. Sounds good. 

Have a blessed Sunday, Sue 

Update 1868

 And I picked . ... #3

I really thought I would go with those greyish blue worms. And I tried them. They did nothing for the rug. There was not enough contrast. I thought the two blues would be too bright. But #3 looks great. And then I just kept hooking and hooking until my wrist said    " no more". 

I hooked the blue, and on to the roses. I've also got 3 out of the 4 roses in the border done also. Have you ever had a rug that is just so fun to hook? I've truly enjoyed this one. 

Next I'll do the vining leaves and roses on the inside of the border. But no hooking yesterday, today, or tomorrow. The grands did not have school yesterday or today. It's still really cold outside. They don't want the kids out in the cold while waiting for the bus to arrive. We can't see the stop from the house, so we must be there, waiting. Luckily if they do miss the bus I live off of a dead end street so the bus has to turn around and pass us again. 

Have a great Thursday. Sue

1868 Hooked Rug

 

Lauren asked me if I always hook from the outside of the rug first.

Here's my answer. No. However on this rug it was about color planning. I often don't start a new project ( rug hooking or quilting ) until I have a definite plan for what colors are to used and just where they will be placed. In the past I have hooked without such a plan, only to get to the part where I need to pick a background color, and nothing looked quite right. One rug in particular required a lot of reverse hooking. So I try not to do that anymore. 

For my current rug I knew exactly what colors I wanted in the outer border. so I started there. But I'm still not sure of my color choice for the inside lighter blue. 

Choice 1. A bluish grey already cut strips 

Choice 2, A brighter blue tweedy look

Or choice 3, slightly duller blue herringbone. 

 I have three wools that I'm considering. Two are medium blues and the third is a bluish grey color. So I started on the outside this time. Right now it curls under a bit. I'm hoping that filling it in and then steaming it will take care of this issue. 

I didn't get much hooking done in the last couple days. I babysit Kip all day on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and the other two before and after school. They stayed with me one day last week due to a snow day. I think they'll probably cancel some days next week due to the cold. I don't remember ever getting canceled d/t "too cold". But it is very cold. The wind chill is still at -18 this afternoon. It was -29 when I got up. I have the wood burner going so it's a toasty 72' inside, which makes me want to not venture outside. But it's Sunday. And we have a family dinner every Sunday, tonight it's at my son's house. So I will bundle up and brave the cold. 

Keep safe. Keep warm. Sue

My new rug

My newest rug is an antique adaptation of the 1868 Ring of Roses. I drew it out to be 29" x 40". It's one of the larger rugs I've hooked. I've had this one on my to do list for years. I've been buying dark blue wool for several years. And boy did I buy too much, way too much. Then a couple of months ago I bought the reds, way too many reds. I could probably make this rug 6 times and still have wool leftover. 

I've got the outer ring mostly hooked. I've been working on it for about a month now. 

This is the center. I've held off hooking the roses because I want them to look "just right". I plan on throwing in some of those pinks I used for the cottage and apple tree rug. 

I do like how the corners and sides have turned out. Each one is slightly different. I really like that they are similar, but not the same.

I

Lucy Cat. She's warming herself by the wood burner. I mostly heat with wood in the winter months. 

It's been awhile since I last posted. I took a two week vacation to the South. I got to see some old friends in Georgia, then I headed to Florida for another 9 days. It was good to get away, but even better to get home. It was too close to Christmas and I wanted to be home, plus I missed the kids. All of them, the grands and the furry ones. 

Then it was the holidays. I woke up sick on Christmas Day. It started out as a cold and turned into a raging sinus infection. I had to wait several days to get in to see the DR and I started antibiotics last Friday. I'm better, but still lots of nasal drainage and coughing. I'm tired. So tired. 

And starting last week I began babysitting my youngest grandson 2 days a week. He's a little spitfire. And a cutie.

Check out the refection of the kitchen window in the living room window. Sue