Drawing Patterns for Rugs

 

I hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving. Ours was very nice. The weather was perfect. I wanted to draw out some patterns this whole week and I kept thinking I would get some drawn out and finally today, I thought to myself before I do anything I will draw out patterns. Ron left to go Christmas shopping and to buy chicken feed for me. The house was quiet and still. I got out my backing, my red dot tracer, a brand new sharpie, and the patterns I wanted to draw. I took the lid off my pen when:

Sasha was standing at the front door barking at me. I mean barking very rudely. I told her to go lay down, she wouldn't have it she just kept barking every time I picked up the pen. I sighed and said, " Okay, you win come on we will go outside." I had some chickweed growing in my front flowerbed that I have been meaning to pull and take to the chickens. I pulled lots and lots as Sasha lay happily on the lawn with a smug look on her face.

I walked out to the chicken pen and fed the chickens so I thought while I am out here I will just water them. I walked out into the pasture to turn on the water. I decided that it was such a nice day why not take Sasha (now called spoiled brat in my mind) for a walk. Which we did.

 

I thought the chickens are watered, dog walked, every thing should be good to go. I came back in the house picked up my sharpie when a cat started clawing at the door to be let in. I couldn't concentrate with that sound of claws on the glass, so I put down the pen walked over let the cat in.

I have another old cat that can't jump up on the dryer to eat anymore so you have to pick her up and put her up there. You have to do that so that Sasha doesn't eat the cat food. She came in just as I picked up the pen, and started meowing very loudly to eat. I put down the pen. I picked up the cat and took her to the dryer. Which reminded me to put the load of laundry into the dryer and put in the washing machine a load of tablecloths.

I walked into the dining room and picked up my pen. I said to myself, " I don't care if the house blows up I am drawing out this pattern." At that moment I hear a crash from my bedroom. I walked fast to my bedroom and my other cat who has lots of issues had got up on the shelf where the computer stuff is so we have internet and had knocked it all down. I picked it up but every thing was all unhooked so I left it until Ron got home.

I walked back to the dining room picked up my pen, and Ron came in the back door. He wanted me to talk to him while he unloaded feed. I walked back to my shed and helped him unload feed. We came back in the house and he had some more things to go buy so he left again. 

I walked back in the dining room and drew out two rugs. Very fast. I put my things away and cleaned the kitchen, folded a load of laundry, cleaned up the living room, made the bed and hemmed my backing.

So after all of that here is my new patterns.

 

This pattern is from Primitive Spirit. I have wanted to do one of these wonky houses for a long time. It looks fun to me and I thought I would try it.

I also decided to do a design I drew out. I think when the kids were small I must have watched too much Wallace and Gromit. I think all of my things I draw look like the penguin in The Wrong Trousers.

 

So anyway, that is my day so far. All of you buried in rain and snow I hope you are staying warm. I won't hardly hint much about our weather except that it is sunny, and warm and I have the doors open.
Supposed to be a huge storm coming this way, but you know, I have become such a cynic where weather is concerned.

Have a lovely Saturday,
~Kim~

" It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that."
---Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. J.K. Rowling, 1997

Wishing You The Best

 

I am finally sitting down for the first time today. The pies are in the fridge, the turkey is in brine. Cranberry's are in there too. As my daughter, Emilie and I cooked and laughed and remembered. We are so thankful for this year. Last year was hard, but having last year be hard, makes this year so good. So we decided this is a good time to be thankful for everything.

I am thankful for your comments and your wise words. I am thankful for how I have all of these friends who never fail to make me laugh, or cry, or when I need it to tell me to move on. I am thankful for your blogs and I am thankful how you have shared your life with me. I wish you the best day tomorrow. One with lots of family, food, and faith and fun.

 

One thing I am thankful for is last night we had guests for dinner. Our four grandsons. They all gave me thumbs up for dinner. I was honored. But the youngest who is two, very carefully and very seriously said,
" Grandma Kim, thank you so much for having us come to your house for dinner." The other echoed, but I was reminded, by his carefully worded phasing, how I need to be more thankful every single day.

So thank you so much for coming to my house, every day.

Happy Thanksgiving!
~Kim~

 

“When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the light, for your life, for your strength. Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason to give thanks, the fault lies in yourself.” ~ Tecumseh

Furniture and Things

 

Today we did something we haven't done in a long time. We didn't work on a Saturday morning. Megan was selling her soap and products at a craft show today, so we decided that the first thing we were going to do was to go buy soap and things from Megan.
There were so many vendors and I should have taken a picture but I forgot and there were so many people. You could barely walk. Which is really good for Megan.

I found some things too. Ron has so much fun at these things. He really is fun to go shopping with. I am more of keep your head down, don't talk to anyone and lets get out of here. He on the other hand goes up and asks people how they made this or that and how they did it. It really is fun to watch him. He is much more friendly and outgoing.

I found this and it had to come home with us.

It is really hard to get a good picture of it.  I wanted to put it by the front door but I don't have a plug in there but we will see next week after I have played with it a bit.

I found this guy who makes these really, really cute chickens.

I love cute chickens.

Then driving home, we went by a yard sale. I had Ron flip a u-turn and we went back. There were two chairs sitting there and you know, one of the things, and I admit to this freely. Next to being nice, Ron knew how to do auto upholstery. He would do odd jobs to make money when he was in high school and college. When we were engaged, he bought furniture and recovered it. We stopped and I walked over to the chairs in the yard. The one chair that called my name was 10 dollars!!! Foot stool and all.

Isn't is lovely? It is so comfortable too it will be my new stitching chair. Then at some point I would like to see it in red and white buffalo check. I think it would look nice that way. For now though it is perfect. I have been looking for a wing chair for here for years.

The second chair is older but looks newly recovered. I knew immediately it was the chair I had been looking for to put in my bedroom. That one was thirty, but I told her I needed to run home to get more cash and she said she would sell it for 25. We went home unloaded all of the treasures and went back and got the other chair.

They threw in the doily. I just kept it there. I think it looks like a good reading chair. So I feel like I hit the jack pot.

I have giggled all day. I just had to share with you because I have looked so long for these kinds of chairs.

I guess it is my age but I get so tired of poorly made furniture. We use our furniture and we use our house. So we need things that will hold up. I think these will.

I just had to share, now it is time for yard work. Leaves are falling all around.

~Kim~

 

 "The secret of staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age."
---Lucille Ball---

Foggy Day

 

I know this week as the nation has been under this mini ice age it seems. I just can't imagine that much snow.
Fog for me is winter. I love the gloom and the feeling of being in the house and it makes me want to cook and just play house. This week, I decided I would try my hand at a Christmas rug. I just don't feel it so it will go back in the box until next year.

He looks like he is related to he Blues Brothers. I have taken out his face so many times that I just can't do it anymore. He just comes out looking like John Belushi every single time. wearing sunglasses.

 

I had to use the flash as it is so dark this morning. I really like doing other kinds of rugs. This one I have sat and brooded over and stared at it.

 

The other night I was reading the weather on our local weather site. Down at the bottom of the page it said,
" No burn day except for those with registered burn devices. " I looked at Ron who was sitting next to me and said, " What the heck is that? You have to register your fireplace now?" So he went to the website
San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control. I linked it if you want to see the page and at the top is the place to register your wood burning devise.

Ron being the good law abiding citizen he set about registering our wood stove. He just laughed at my attempts to remind him of jack-booted-officials showing up at our door, confiscating our  wood stove on a very cold night. Now though, because he complied we don't have that fear of people flying around in airplanes using heat sensitive devises when we burn a fire on a non burn day. We never did that because Ron always checks to make sure in the past it was a burn day.  Now we can use our "Wood burning device" more than in the past. He thinks that my distrust is comical. He is a good, calming influence on my life. Who knows what kind of bunker I would build in the back yard if not for him. :)

 

Ron is off after today for a whole week. I am so excited. We have so many plans, now if we get them done, who knows but it is nice to think of all of the things we could do. We won't have to rush and I am looking forward to no rushing.

I hope you have a lovely weekend,
~Kim~

" A mother is a person who sees that there are only four pieces of pie for five persons and promptly
remarks that she's never cared for pie."
---Unknown---

Toward Winter

 

We have I think the weather man said, three storms racing in this week. After being so rain and storm deprived it is a welcome change. I do think I have to give in and let Ron turn on the heat. I wore my coat all day because I was freezing. In fact taking a shower, I had the hot water turned so hot that I had to look through fog to see the shampoo. I was freezing all day. I went out to get the mail, and it is a nice warm day. I ended up taking off my coat. It was colder in the house than outside. I felt sheepish.

 

I made these two little turkeys from leftover backing and worms from other projects.  They are supposed to be for two little purses but I think I will just put them away for next year. I don't have the patience nor the inclination right now to fool with the sewing machine.

 

Today when I took my camera with me for a walk. I was surprised at the yellows and the reds and the oranges and how every thing is such pretty colors.

As I walked I found such treasures.

Mullein 

Rose Hips

When the kids were small, I always made sure I had Mullein so if they got colds or coughs, I could make tea and it worked like a wonderful expectorant. I would pick lemons and brew the leaves from the plant and make a tea and add honey. It always broke their coughs. Rose Hips are so high in vitamin C. We had a strawberry bed and I would add leaves to the tea I would make to add extra vitamin C. Mullein tea in the winter was one of their favorites before bed. I have it coming up all over in the back yard now.

 

The Strawberry tree is getting ready to bloom. I always forget it blooms when it starts to get cold.
The bark is so pretty.

 

I love how it just curls all up and down the trunk and on the limbs. It is a very nice tree.

 

The silly artichokes are coming back like crazy. I don't know how they grow them commercially. They like it best if the are abused and left alone. I only watered them when I remembered this summer. I really thought I killed them. I went out there and they are growing like crazy and they have multiplied again so we will have to separate them. We will have to find another area to forget them. If you are nice to them and give them regular water and fertilizer they will just up and die every single time. That is why Ron is the better gardener.  He babies, and nurtures and feeds and cares for his plants. My plants better make it on their own, because if they can't well, they weren't the plant for me.

 

Our youngest grand daughter will be one this week. So much happens in one year. I am so glad that I can look back over the pages of my memories and see things that happened that were out of my control but were never out of Gods hands. I am most thankful that God restores the years that the locust have eaten.
Last year, when my daughter was in labor with her baby she was also releasing her first book. I always laugh at the timing. This year as the baby turns one, she released her fourth book. How she does it I have no idea.
It makes me very happy though.

Well, I have my Christmas music on my playlist. Ron was teasing me that I only had Carol of the Bells in about 12 different versions. I like Carol of the Bells. So I put all kinds of Christmas music on my playlist this morning.
I am going back and putting only Carol of the Bells. I think cooking dinner is going to be more fun than sitting and hearing this music. I feel like I am trapped in a elevator. Oh yay, I am saved Carol of the Bells.

I hope you have a lovely Wednesday,
~Kim~

 

"It is not doing the thing we like to do, but liking the thing we have to do that makes life blessed."
---Johann von Goethe---

A New Rug Hooking Stand

 

My flowers are tired. The trees are shedding leaves by the bushel basket now. I am enthralled by all of the beauty and every day is better than the last. One of my favorite sayings is this: " We accept and thank God for what is given, not allowing the not-given to spoil it. ( Let Me Be A Woman, p. 42)

This weekend Ron worked making for me a free standing hooking frame. It is beautiful. I told him yesterday, it is so wonderful it would have made the best kind of Christmas present.

 

It is fully adjustable and I can raise it or lower it for what ever chair I happen to be working in at the time.
It is so light I can just carry it where ever I want to go.

 

Here is the frame and it is a bit bigger than the one I have now. What I like about this is I can see more of my design when I am working.

 

This is my next project. I put it on to see how it would look stretched out on this frame. I can't wait to start this rug.

 

He worked so long building this. I was so impressed with how it looks and how he thought of every thing in his design as he was sketching it out first and then putting it all together.


I finally finished my latest rugs. They are all bound and listed now.
Such fun little patterns.

Guinea in the Meadow

Rooster in the Sunflowers

 I am so happy to have finished these rugs. Today though, my hand is having a rest. I hope you have a lovely restful day.

~Kim~

" Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, Always giving thanks to God the Father for everything.
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."
---Ephesians 5: 19-20

Just Hooking Rugs

 

I just had to tell you how much this November is so brilliant and perfect and breath taking.  I can't get over the colors. Last year, I couldn't see orange, yellow, or red. So when I would look at the trees what I saw was this brown nicotine color because of the cataract being so yellow. I stood yesterday staring at the trees and seeing these colors. A flicker flew into the tree and I could see his red and white and black. I couldn't see him last year either. I drove down a road yesterday and all of the trees are red and orange and last year I thought that something was wrong with the trees. It is just an amazing November.

I have been hooking rugs. I am loving this. I love working with my hands and I feel so blessed to be able to do this now.

Here is a chicken rug I finished this week, well except for the binding. That will take another day.

 

 I do like hooking chickens! I dyed the wool and I am still learning about dyeing and all of that. I make notes about what I mix and stuff but I still never manage to get the same colors twice. Using the dye pot is very serious business. Just changing the amount of the water, can change so much. It is still fun though.

Here is my guinea rug and I love this one. I really do think I will do more guineas. They really make me happy. I would love to have a flock of them. Such funny birds.

 

I just have that outside edge then I can get it steamed and bound and finished. I have designs going around in my head and I drew out patterns and I know I have way more rugs that I want to hook than my hand would hold out for. It is sure fun though.

It is a lovely cloudy day today. Another perfect hooking day. I hope you have a great day.
Thank you so much for stopping by. Thank you so much for being such good friends to me, by stopping by and visiting and leaving your sweet comments. You have no idea how much I treasure them.

Have a lovely day, stay warm,

~Kim~

"The voyage of discovery lies not in finding new landscapes, but
in having new eyes."
---Marcel Proust---

Writing at Twilight

 

Most of the time when I sit down to write a post, it is in the morning. Today it is twilight. Writing at twilight is different. I have already worked all day. Maybe another reason I don't write at twilight because normally I am in the kitchen fixing dinner. Today that amazing invention called a Crock Pot is cooking dinner for me. Hence this post about writing in the dark. Really, that is the truth. I should get up and shut the blinds and turn on the light but telling you I am writing by twilight sounds like this post is going somewhere.

 

Do you see the rooster? He is very pretty, and I know I told you he was going to be someones dinner but I kind of like him now. He is very pretty and he is a giant softie and all of his pretty girls love him. Even the older ladies think he is handsome. My Silkie roosters only like Silkie hens and they are a bit mean to the big girls. Did you know that there is so much drama always going on in the hen house?

 

Do you want to hear a little secret? Twilight makes me want to have true confessions. Now that I have my Esty store I hook lots. I mean lots and lots. It started out as a something because one of the boys would ask me something I couldn't answer.

I have been listening to Coast to Coast in the afternoon. I know who killed JFK, all about Alien technology, Bigfoots are everywhere. Hitler just died a few years ago. Did you know that people get abducted out of national parks? I knew I had a problem when I could name all of the hosts by name and I also know the name of the guests. I go look up books on Amazon so my recommended reading lists are quite varied. Soon I will go back to books on tape, I am missing Charles Dickens. I just thought you should know.

 

 I admit to feeling just a bit left out of that polar vortex. Just normal November weather for us. I am glad though, last year we had a polar vortex when our citrus was starting to ripen and we lost most of the crop. I am okay if it holds off for a bit. I am afraid of rickets if I don't get some oranges in my system.though.

 

. Now you know why writing by twilight is not a normal thing around here. I hope that all of you that are going to have those very cold days and nights for awhile will not be too cold. I am still in the dark about how do you stay warm? It was 70 degrees today and I thought I needed a coat. Thin blood and all of that.

Have a lovely Wednesday.
~Kim~

Live in the present,
Do all the things that need to be done.
Do all the good you can each day,
The future will unfold.
---Peace Pilgrim---