Warming Up

The weather is delightful today!  The cherry trees and lilacs are ready to burst -- and it is about time!

I will be at Open Hooking tomorrow, at Farmhouse Quilt Company, 10 Am to 3 PM.  I threatened to bring marguerites for Cinquo de Mayo, but that's a little too early to start drinking . . .   we'll be too busy hooking, anyway.

I am working slowly on my new Bee Happy pattern, which I have available as both a rug pattern and a needle punch pattern.  Of course, my two Judys have made more progress than me.  Here is Judy Warasila's finished piece.

And here are a couple more of Judy's newly finished pieces.  yes, this is a case of the student outperforming the teacher!

Here is my needle punch version of Bee Happy.  I'll be teaching a class on it on Tuesday, May 19, and again on Saturday, May 30 at Farmhouse Quilt Company.

Open Hooking Today!

I will be teaching at the Farmhouse Quilt Company today from 10 to 3.  If you need some color planning assistance, or just some good company, come and spend the day with us!  More information on my Classes page.

On My Way . . .

It's that time of year again -- show time!  I am about to head up to Connecticut for the 106th Annual Connecticut Sheep and Wool Festival.  It is a sweet little festival -- only one day -- but really charming. Come and visit us in the green barn.  Information is listed on the Shows & Event page -- click the button in the navigation bar above.

Out of the Loop

I have been out of the loop -- the blogging loop, the hooking loop, the everything loop.  Spring has finally arrived -- the osprey are back on their nest, the tulips and daffodils are about ready to pop, the sun is shining more, but I have spent the last two and a half weeks locked indoors.  On the same day my husband left for a two week trip to the family sugar bush in Wisconsin, I came down with the worst head cold ever.  It started with a headache and a scratchy throat and just got progressively worse.  Thankfully, I have good friends who kept me supplied with soup and soufflé -- thank you Paula & Ann, thank you Osinski family!

I kept myself busy -- when I wasn't sleeping -- dyeing wool, thinking the moisture the pots produced would help clear my sinuses.  I was dyeing to match colors in some quilting fabrics, so that Janet at Farmhouse Quilt Company and I can tag team teach a matching quilt and hooked rug.  I think I finally succeeded.  Now I need to hook the rug.

I also spent some time on Pinterest and ebay.  My sister Barb sent me a link to an auction of a Grenfell mat, supposedly from the walls of the Dog Team Tavern in Middlebury, Vermont, which burned to the ground several years ago.  (I have a small but prized collection of Grenfell mats.  If you don't know about them, check out Paula Laverty's book Silk Stocking Mats.)  I didn't bid on that rug, but it led me to another -- a woodland scene with a moose, hooked with stockings but not labelled "Grenfell". I'm sure it is Canadian, not sure it is a Grenfell.  Didn't care -- my finger hit the Buy it Now button without me even telling it to!

Now I'm prepping for the first show of the year: 

106th ANNUAL CONNECTICUT SHEEP, WOOL & FIBER FESTIVAL

Saturday, April 25, 2015

Rain or Shine

9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Tolland Agricultural Center

Route 30, Vernon/Rockville, CT

It Certainly Sounds Like Spring

The birds were singing like crazy when Cairo and I took our walk on the beach this morning.  Someone in town saw an osprey on a nest, and the squirrels in our back yard are, well, twitterpated.  It's really noisy outside these days.  How do they know it is spring?  You could fool me, as I sit here gazing out the window at yet another snow storm.   I'm not sure it will ever be warm enough to swim in the bay again.  But I can't complain -- the eastern coast of Canada has been hit hard this week.  I read that Nova Scotia got 37 inches of snow between Sunday and Wednesday.  So it could be so much worse here.  And Pete did get our peas planted on St. Patrick's Day, even though there was still snow on the ground.  The yard looks so awful right now.

I am off to Farmhouse Quilt Company tomorrow to do another Saturday Sampler Class, although everyone is welcome for open hooking too.  I'll be showing the students how I finish my rugs with piping and hand sewing -- I gave up whipping years ago.  I hated doing it and I know from  experience that is much easier to repair the edge of a rug with piping than with whipping.  Come join us if you are on the North Fork.

I would be remiss if I didn't announce my husband Peter's first solo show of his sculptures at ILLE Arts, 216a Main Street, Amagansett, New York.  The opening is tomorrow, March 21, from 5 to 7 pm. Here is a link to the website:  ILLE Arts.   Wish him good luck!

In Like a Lion

This has been the fiercest winter I can remember, and the first week of March was no different.  It snowed all day last Thursday -- snowed and snowed and snowed.  Pete usually plants our peas on St. Patrick's Day and I am not so sure the many feet of snow will be gone by then.  I am hoping it will melt, and that the crocus and daffodils will appear no worse for the wear.

I have been designing new rugs, and hooking away on the Saturday Sampler I designed for my students at the Farmhouse Quilt Company. Judy Warasilla, who has been hooking with me since my first class at the quilt shop, has already finished her rug! I love her color choices. Here it is, along with photographs of our last class. I'll be having Open Hooking at the quilt shop tomorrow from10 to 3 if you would like to join us.

Can't Wait for Tomorrow!

Why can't I wait for tomorrow?  It is not only the last day of February -- which means spring is getting closer -- but it is also the Peconic Ruggers' February Pot Luck Luncheon and Hook In!  Please join is!

Peconic Ruggers Potluck Lunch and Hook In this Saturday, February 28, 2015, from 10 AM to 3 PM at the Riverhead Library, 330 Court Street, Riverhead, New York.