Robot Rug

So here is my robot rug.  Its okay, but doesn't sing to me.  I am not sure what isn't quite right.  Of course, the colors in the photograph are not quite right.  I really like the border, but the robot -- not so much.  Any thoughts?

Cold Feet

I turned the air conditioning off and opened the windows before I went to bed last night.  Heaven.  I fell asleep to the sound of the wind rustling the leaves and crickets chirping for the first time in a month.  This morning I woke to a gentle rain and much cooler temperatures.  When I got up, I shuffled around barefoot, making coffee and picking up the kitchen and my feet got cold!  The heat wave has finally broken.

I am cleaning the studio today, and rearranging the furniture to make it more efficient.  I'm close to finishing the robot rug, and hope to post a photo of that soon.  

Hope you are all enjoying the cooler weather.

Too Much Cooking and No Hooking

We had four house guests over the weekend -- so lovely and fun to have them here, but Pete and I were exhausted by Sunday evening.  We cooked and cooked and cooked: lobsters, clams, salmon, pasta, corn, cole slaw, salads, birthday cake, cookies, waffle, eggs, bacon . . . .   The one good thing about all the cooking: we have leftovers for a few days now and I don't have to think about meals.

Yesterday I got back to work on my retro robot rug and made good progress on that.  Also worked on a proddy runner composed of selvedges of dyed wool, so I was productive after ignoring work for several days.  I plan to sit and hook this morning as well.

My sister Barb of thimblefolk is working on Halloween.  She has some charming stuff for sale here, if you are interested.

Some Hooking and Some Cooking

The Peconic Ruggers had their annual July hook in on Saturday and I actually hooked a little!  I usually just chat . . .   The room was fairly cool and several fans were going and kept us comfortable.  I neglected to take photos -- well, I was too busy hooking!  Judy did take some photos and will post them on the Ruggers' blog shortly.  Here's what I worked on.

This is another rug for the high-end, made-in-America website I was asked to do a couple of pieces for.  The first was a bunny in shades of pinks and greens, geared toward girls.  This happy retro robot is what I came up with for boys.  The border is much lighter than it appears in the photo.  I love the pop of yellow and red.  The snaky line of the border with the red and yellow circles remind me of planets.  I'm having fun with it, and taking my time with it so I can enjoy summer activities.

Pete and I spent the week fixing the terrible squeaks in the stairs to the second floor.  Actually, Pete did the fixing, I just emptied the closet and filled it up again when he was finished.  For 23 years those squeaks have bugged me.  The stairs squeaked so loudly it would wake me up.  Now Pete startles me because I can't hear him coming down the stairs anymore, lol.

We had friends over for dinner last night, so I actually cooked all day long, starting with a blueberry pie in the morning and ending with these two recipes, both worth making again: Mint Chicken Burgers and  South Indian Lentil Cakes.  When I made the mixture for the lentil cakes, I had second thoughts -- they looked and tasted a little too health food to be serving guests, but when you crisp them up in a little bit of olive oil, they are transformed.  Between the two recipes, I hand-chopped fresh mint and cilantro for what seemed like hours.  Worth the work, though.

Dog Days of Summer

Cairo does not want to move off the couch.  It is just too hot.  We take a short walk early in the morning, then high tail it back inside.

We had a fun-filled 4th of July, despite the heat.  Pete and I took the canoe out to Hallock's Bay and paddled out to his favorite clamming spot.  It was hard work, but well worth it!  We had a feast for dinner -- a pot luck with our cross-the-street neighbors,  We provided clams on the half-shell and an antipasto platter and they brought grilled summer squash, mussels and oysters which we grilled with a little lime, oregano and olive oil.  I made some lemon-lime basil shortbread for dessert with a perfectly ripe Tuscan melon.  I ate too much.

I forgot it was our friend Seth's birthday on the third, so on Friday I whipped up his favorite pie: lemon meringue.  Oy.  Not my favorite -- meringue is too sweet for me and there's too many steps involved.  But he liked it, and that's what matters.

Tonight we are cooking up the last of the sugar snap peas from the garden as well as the first of the zucchini.  It won't be long before our tomatoes come in.  

I am working on another children's rug for a fellow who has an online children's shop.  The website just went live with the bunny rug I hooked for him, so we'll see what comes of it.  This one is a robot, geared for boys.  It's mighty cute, if I say so so myself.  I've also been needle felting some pumpkins for the fall shows.  As hot as it is right now, Barb and I have to think about pumpkins and Santas so we'll be prepared for the fall selling season.

Happy 4th!

Celebrate the Fourth of July . . .

. . . with these whimsical creatures from my sister Barb.  Click HERE for more photos.

What I've Been Up To

Making pies . . . . this one raspberry rhubarb -- all the fruit from Pete's garden . . .

Hanging rugs . . .

Making a proddy runner . . .

Making a fabric guard to protect my clothing from the gripper strips and starting yet another hit or miss rug . . .