Well, Hello Spring!

 Happy Spring! 

The trees are finally beginning to get tiny, green leaves on them. We are supposed to be in the low 90s this week. I could I suppose start some seeds. We worked on the garden beds and got the back yard flowerbeds cleaned. We really had planned to go visit the nursery that is in walking distance but it rained. Nice rain but too much to ignore. In the Central Valley, we don't get rain like Northern California. So I can mostly ignore it if I want to play outside, but this last storm was like real rain so I just hooked my current rug. Its called Mighty Whale, by Woodland Junction. 

It looks really dark in this picture, Its not that dark. I have wanted to do this rug since I first started hooking rugs. I think I started hooking rugs in 2011 or so. I waited to hook rugs until I was done with homeschooling and could concentrate on learning all about it. I remember the first magazine I saw and it had Polly Minick and her rugs and that was all I wanted to do. I still had small kids and I was afraid my wool cutter would be used to cut construction paper and what ever else they thought they could cut. So I postponed it. I still have that magazine too. I had a copier and the kids were in AWANA and there was a counterfeiting scandal that happened with AWANA dollars, I am not accusing anyone of course, but I knew what would happen with a wool cutter. 

We were living in town then and at 2:00 we had quiet time. Mainly because I was so tired I was a zombie. So for one hour they were in their rooms. Since I spent most of my 30s either pregnant or nursing I would have the youngest baby with me. The next to youngest at the time was two and he was sharing a room with his much older brothers. It was in the upstairs bedroom. I remember the day when the sweet man next door, knocked on our front door. " He said, Kim I hate to bother you, but I thought I really should let you know that about 2:00 in the afternoon, the boys lower the baby down on a rope and he goes in the garage and gets soda out of the fridge and they pull him back up on the rope. It looks pretty dangerous and I thought you should know."  I was just floored. You know having kids really makes you jaded. 

We got the baby out of the room with the older boys and the older boys  really thought up things to do. 

When 911 happened. I was outside and our oldest son came running outside and said, "The twin towers have been attacked!" I looked at Ron and said, "How does he know? We don't have a T.V.?" We didn't have a T.V. but someone had given him a broken one and he fixed it and he had it in his closet. Unknown to me. I think that was the beginning of his life of being able to fix anything. (He has a You Tube channel and I watch him now fix anything broken but I think that TV was the first.)

I am glad my kids have kids. That is when you know there is justice in the world. Of course, I don't think my grand kids are like their parents, they never do anything wrong. 

Its spring and I start thinking of taking trips to the desert. I love seeing the cactus this time of year. I love watching them bloom. Plus can you tell? I miss my grand kids and their parents. 

I hope you have a lovely week. Can you believe April is just around the corner too. 

Thank you for stopping by,

~Kim~

 This was my thought this morning. I have sat and stared out the window and thought about it. 

"Life is the sum of all of your choices."...(Albert Camus.)
 

 

 

Auctions and Loot

 Spring is around the corner. I still can never decide which time of year I like best. I guess, I always like just where I am as the best. We went to an auction on Saturday. The only experience I have with auctions, has been livestock auctions, which I always loved. So much so that when I was in kindergarten, my Dad would take me out of school so I could go with him. But as an adult, never. I see how a person could get really addicted to them. I had such fun. This was an estate sale. The reason we went was in the listing they were offering these rock spheres.

If you go to a rock shop, they cost so much money. Ron loves them and we have some small ones and a middle size one that we bought years ago. There were so many listed, we decided that we would go and see if we could bid on them. He bought this one, and he bought another that looks like it but this one has more crystal in it. 

We went to a rock hound once and Ron was asking him how to make spheres. We laughed when the man said, " Don't ever start making spheres, because that is all you ever want to do." They are really unique. This last one he bought was incredible because as you look down into its surface, it glows like there is abalone shell in it.

 My phone really can't pick it up. It is really so pretty and so different from the other two. We got there early and I was so glad we did, it really was more like going to a museum and finding things. There were things that were so old, I think they did belong in a museum. I had no plans to buy anything and as I walked around this is what I saw.

Underneath a table in the back, here sat these beautiful crocks. I about lost my mind, while trying to look like I wasn't interested and not trying to call attention to what I had found underneath this table. I told Ron that I wanted the first two if they didn't go very high. Never in a million years did I think I would get all of them. I guess crocks are an acquired taste. No pun intended. They even had the lids. The last one to the right on the end had two more inside. They put the last couple in one lot so that was how I got them. The big one is a 6 quart, the second is a 4 quart and the third one is a two and the last I think is a one gallon with the smaller ones inside. 

 

 

 

 

You can't see this on this one but down on the side there is a thumb print and a small "P" on the bottom. 

They had all the lids and that Schular-Knox 2 gallon has so much patina. I came home and washed them all and I just couldn't believe I got to bring them home. I think what always makes me sad, is I won't know the history. This auction was only the first part of the estate. The second in next Saturday. 

There were these lovely tables and chairs. I would have loved to bid on it but I knew it was going to go sky high so I didn't. 

 

The leaves for the table were underneath that table and the leaves were as thick as my hand. I really wanted those chairs, but I had set a limit for myself, and it was way, way above my limit. I didn't get the picture of the captain's chairs but they were very nice too. So it was a very nice day for us, and quite a learning curve. They had a very nice collection of Navajo rugs and blankets and woven coverlets, but I didn't know enough about them to even know if what they sold for was a good price. 

 I am going to rearrange and play today. I never thought in a million years I would be able to get crocks like that. When we drove to North Carolina last year, that was one of the things on my list to look for and buy. I didn't ever expect to find any like this here in California. I was looking at an estate sale the other day, and they had a two gallon crock but it looked like they had used it to catch motor oil. It made me so sad to see that. But now, I can stop looking. They really have got so expensive. Well, for me. 

 I just wanted to share this today. I hope you all have the best day. I think I will have a really nice day now that I am awake. 

Blessings to you,

~Kim~

“I think that love is more like a light that you carry. At first childish happiness keeps it lighted and after that romance. Then motherhood lights it and then duty ... and maybe after that sorrow. You wouldn't think that sorrow could be a light, would you, dearie? But it can. And then after that, service lights it. Yes ... I think that is what love is to a woman ... a lantern in her hand.”

— Bess Streeter Aldrich

 

 

Spring and Bunnies

 

Don't you love Friday's! This has been such a crazy week. One of those weeks, I did slide in sideways. 

I did manage to get the Dancing Rabbits finished and bound. Thank you Saundra, for the idea and for holding the hook along. It was so nice getting to see all of the different kinds of rugs. All of them are just so cute. 

 I just couldn't get it like I thought about it in my head. But here it is and I enjoyed hooking it very much.

I thought that I might show you the rest of my bunny rugs. When I started looking, I couldn't believe all I had. If you asked me, I might have said, " Oh, I don't have any bunny rugs." 

 I really had fun making this rug. The pattern is from Star Rug Company. I really enjoyed making this, in fact I think it was one of the fastest rugs I ever hooked. Like a day. I just couldn't stop.

 

 

This bunny rug was one of the first I ever hooked. I didn't even know it was a punch needle and I  still have the punch needle someplace. I think I will see if I can find it today and do it today. 

This pattern is from Baskets of Wool. I don't know what happened to her but I sure loved her rugs and her patterns.

I was trying to take pictures and someone thinks every rug I make is for him. Max really wanted to keep this one he had his claws dug in so when he jumped off to get the other rug, I rescued this one. Silly kitty. He knows who is boss around here. 

Last week Saundra posted her picture of Windy Day. I loved her pattern so much that I tracked it down and I loved every minute of hooking this. I just makes me chuckle. I always look forward to March when I put it out. I think I put it out at the end of February.  It still makes me smile. 

We planted this Oklahoma Redbud last year. It is so pretty seeing them all blooming all over town when I go run errands. Most of the year, you don't even notice it but this time of year they are just beautiful.

This week is our oldest three grandsons birthdays. They are three days apart. I just can't believe that they are going to be fifteen. Time goes so fast. Kind of a blur. 

I am going to get back to my regular hooking. I am excited to see what I can get finished now. I have a basket full of rugs I have never hooked. That means I get to play with dye soon. I love working with dye. 

I hope you have a lovely weekend.

~Kim~

Of course, I forgot this one. 

“Sunday, January 27, 1884. -- There was another story in the paper a week or so since. A gentleman had a favorite cat whom he taught to sit at the dinner table where it behaved very well. He was in the habit of putting any scraps he left onto the cat's plate. One day puss did not take his place punctually, but presently appeared with two mice, one of which it placed on its master's plate, the other on its own.”
-- Beatrix Potter