Happy Thanksgiving 🦃

 Happy Turkey Day y'all.

Drawing by 15 year old granddaughter 

And this by her 5 year old brother. So cute.

This is the only turkey rug I've hooked. I think I have another drawn up. I see both Saundra and Lauren hooked it also. It is one of my favorites. 

Enjoy the day. Sue 

Ever Heard of Junk Journaling??

Me neither. I'd never heard of it. But the rug hooking shop closest to me was offering a free junk journaling class. So I met up with Lauren ( of Rugs and Pugs) and went to the class. It's creative, and I had fun. I'm just not sure it's something I'm all that interested in. I can't cover up with it like a quilt, I can't put it on the floor to keep my feet from getting cold. Do you place them in a basket on the coffee table?? 

The class was taught by Linda Koch (Primdollie). She makes lovely little bears, among other things. The class was held at Wool Yankers, in Wellington, Ohio.

Linda provided kits, she had more fabrics, papers, and doo dads to pick from. Plus Lauren and I both brought more "stuff". 

On to the journals.

Some of the photos were from Connie's Facebook post. 

This is where mine is at. I will finish at least this one. I'm not sure if I'll make more it not. Part of me says, NO, Not another craft. We shall see.

Have a wonderful Sunday,

Sue

Working on a Wednesday

 Here's what I'm working on this week. I'm still plugging along on my pink cottage and apple tree rug. I saw this on Saundra of Woodland Junction's blog and had her draw it up for me. 

I still have a little bit more to go. I finally decided to go ahead and make that animal into a turkey. However, mine will be shades of browns with a red gobbler. And a little bit of fill in the border.

I mostly sew/quilt when Mac is here, because he likes to be in my sewing room. So it makes sewing easier than hooking. I mostly make quilts for donation. I have lots ( I mean lots) of quilts so I change them out seasonally. My family each has at least 2-3 quilts per person. So I make quilts for donation to Snuggled in Hope. They work with sick kids. 

I have two quilt tops completed, one still needs a backing and then I'll take them to the quilter,  Diana. She quilts donation quilts for free. Our sewing group gives her money to buy batting.

These were inspired by the green quilt. I'm still trying to use up green scraps. I used 8" blocks of this lovely dragonfly fabric. The sashing in this one were someone else's scraps. I enjoy taking someone else's leftovers and coming up with a suitable design. This map patterned fabric will be the backing. 

For the second one I was trying to use up green scraps leftover from the large Emerald City quilt. No yardage was cut to make this top. Even the aqua was scraps of leftover binding.

I'm currently working on a 64 patch block using various colors of background. A friend gave me tons of solids. I picked out 30 different solids and am pairing them up with scrap pieces using mostly multi colored prints. It's not turning out like I had in my head, but I'm 17 blocks into it, so I'll finish it. 

And this dear friends is a very cluttered sewing room. It's where I keep most of my cotton for quilting, all of my wool for hooking, most of my "just other" craft stuff. It's a mess, but a fun mess. My fabric stash has exploded. I also have fabric in the kid's bedroom, on shelves and under the bed. My room has craft books and magazines and a small cupboard of stuff. 

Have a blessed day, may the wind always be at your back.   Sue

Autumn Leaves

 The leaves fall in abundance here. My own trees dropped their leaves a couple of weeks ago. So my son mowed and rolled the yard. Looking good.

The neighbor's trees are still shedding their leaves. The elderly neighbor who lives across the drive is 90+ and has gone for the winter. So heck, looks like they aren't raking this year.

And the wind blows the leaves right into my yard.

Above was yesterday, this is today.

But alas, 24 hours too late, her son raked and mowed. Too late for my yard. 

Autumn is a pretty time of year. The biggest drawback to autumn is it means winter is a coming. I really dislike being cold. I mean, a lot.

This was Dad's helper with the leaves. He uses my leaf blower and then it was time to play.

Awww, the energy of a 5 year old.

Sue

Emerald City

 Have you ever worked on a project for so long that you are just sick of seeing it? That was me with this quilt. 

I loved the pattern. I love Bonnie Hunter quilts. I thought I'll just do this up in stages. I'll make the triangles - all 1000+ blessed half square triangles. I'll make the sashing. I did break it down into parts. It took me over three years. Mostly because it got put in time out several times 

And then where does a person store such a large block?? When I was almost done I again thought about what do I do with an 84" square quilt?? It's not really big enough for a bed and too big to be a lap quilt. So I added quarter square triangles to the edges. It is now a 90" square. 

As I was so sick of green I just could not bring myself to put on a green backing. I chose a geometric green, purple, green and white fabric. While I still like the print and the colors I would not choose this again. The front is traditional, the back is modern. But what's done is done. I even made a pillow to go along with it.

Even once it was quilted I left it sit for months before putting on the binding. Did I mention how sick I am if seeing green? But even after using up all those green scraps and pieces I was left with more green scraps and pieces. What's a girl to do but make more quilts. 

I think I'll probably gift this to my granddaughter as she says she really likes it. 

PS this is for Lauren. Finally, a post.

Have an swell day, Sue

Cottage and Apple Tree Rug

• This is the rug I'm currently working on. It's an antique reproduction that I asked Saundra of Woodland Junction to draw up for me. I'm working off a picture, but want to make some changes. 

I've enjoyed working on this rug for the most part. I didn't plan out the changes very thoughtfully or thoroughly and that has slowed me down. The blue in the background was a skirt and it's been hooking up really nicely. Sometime I find the repurposed wool to be thin or just not the right color. This is perfect. 

I've kept both birds as drawn, but changed the colors adding a bit of pink into each of them.

Apples on the apple tree.

Bird two and a willow tree.

This spot was originally a turkey. I asked my artsy granddaughter to make it a dog instead. But it won't be this sheepdog looking thing. I've also considered putting a chicken here.

And it's Daisy approved. 

As I get towards the end of one project I start planning the next. Next for me is a large one, the 1868 roses rug. I've been buying wools for years to look this one. I bought lots of darker blues. I forgot about the reds. I plan on going to Wool Yankees in Wellington Ohio on Saturday. I hope to meet up with friend Lauren, of Rugs and Pugs. Sounds like a fun day.

Enjoy this great weather.

Sue

I Finished It

 Ta da. It's done. I worked on this silly rug for years. Seriously, years. And it's finally bound.

My camera does not capture the true colors. Rich rusts in various shades, aqua blues, creamy whites, and a grayish brown background. I loved the wool I was working with. The feel was so soft and the colors so pretty. I was stuck on the pattern. After I simplified numerous flowers I was on a roll.

It just took a couple more months to bind it. I bind using strips of wool 2 1/2" wide and use a technique similar to binding a quilt. You end up seeing about  a 1/2" of the binding so usually I use the same wool I used for the background. 

And it's done just in time for fall decorating. Yes, I have started fall decorating. I started with the fall quilts, then fall rugs, and shower curtain. 

We've had 5" of rain in the last couple days. That's a lot of rain. I've had problems with the basement in the past. I had a backflow valve installed. Still got water in, so I had a sump pump installed. So far, so good. I have a creek behind the house and when it overflows I used to get water in the basement. Even with all the rain it does not look like the creek overflowed yesterday. 

The Start of a New School Year

It's back to school for Lexi. She's a sophomore this year. And for Mac it's his first day of school, ever. He was so excited, Lexi not so much. Have a great year kiddos.

 Getting off the bus after his first day of school. He'd been sick earlier in the week and had a long day.