Happy Holidays, One and All!

My daughter and her boyfriend are heading home for the holiday, so I have been cleaning and baking and cooking and wrapping to get ready.  Can't wait!  I hope you all have a marvelous and merry Christmas.

It's December

I'm sitting at my kitchen island, watching the afternoon light wane in the west and listening to the foghorn lumbering across the bay.  I am grateful to be here in my comfortable home, making plans for the coming holiday when my daughter will be home and I can hold her close.  While we had a wonderful Thanksgiving with friends in Massachusetts, we missed Clara, and came home to the news that two dear friends had died.  Both were remarkable woman: one was my age, the other old enough to be my mother.  But no matter how old, or how sick, or how wonderfully they lived their lives, it is hard to say goodbye. 

I am not doing a good job in the blogging department, am I?  I seem to only manage a post or two a month these days -- even though lots of stuff is happening.    Hmmm, I see a New Year's Resolution coming on . . . .

Barb and I have just finished up our busy show season.  We had a great weekend at the Fiber Festival of New England.  The whole thing proceeded smoothly -- from set up to tear down.  We have the most delightful next door neighbors there -- sisters Jenn and Cheryl of June Pryce Fiber -- and we get to see the gang from Wool and Dye Works, and Dan Tracy the woodworker and his wife Lorraine, and our other favorite set of sisters, Jen and Melissa of Going Gnome, and Sandy of Cozy Rabbit Farm. You get the idea: one big, happy fiber family.  We had good sales, too.

Pete and I went to Toronto for a long weekend, where we ate lots of good food and saw the fabulous rug show at the Textile Museum of Canada.  They have a great collection -- which you can view on line here: hooked rugs.  We also went to the Art Gallery of Ontario, which has an amazing room full of Henry Moore's original plasters for many of sculptures.  Saturday morning is market day, so we walked down to the St. Lawrence Market for breakfast.  We did some shopping, too, since the exchange rate is so good.  

Now it is time to get ready for Christmas.  I listened to carols in the car today, and started choosing what cookies I will make this year.  Despite the long nights and the sense of loss lately, life is good.

Here I am!

We've had a busy fall with several shows -- the biggest of which is the New York State Sheep and Wool Festival in Rhinebeck, New York.  I swear 50,000 people went through the barns over the course of the weekend.  It was crazy busy and profitable and full of germs.  I came home with a cold that knocked me for a loop.  I didn't even get to take pictures of the booth until Sunday morning, after we rearranged the whole thing.

Our booth at Rhinebeck, Sunday Morning

You know I love the sheep . . . 

My cold put a damper on preparations for the Fiber Festival of New England, which happened this past weekend at the Eastern States Exposition in Springfield, Massachusetts.  But we still did well and got to visit with old and new friends.  We are a little squished in the booth there, so we are trying for a larger one next year.

Our booth at NEFF

My friend Melissa VanSant's  Santa, designed by Mary Ellen Wolff

We have one show left -- the Country Parlor Holiday Sale at Hallockville Museum Farm, the three days after Thanksgiving.  Barb and I don't attend that one -- we deliver our stuff and Barbara Blossey Chuvalas waves her magic wand and turns the Naugles barn into a winter wonderland of handmade gifts.  It is a sight to see and a great place to find special presents for special people.

I hosted my first class here at home -- the ladies I had been teaching at Farmhouse Quilt Company.  It was a joy to have them here.  There's no better way to send a day than hooking, talking and laughing.  Can't wait to have them back.

My delightful students

Judy and her newest rug 

My husband's birthday is tomorrow -- Friday the 13th.  He was born on a Friday the 13th and his 95-year-old mother still says that Friday the 13th is her lucky day.  We will have a festive weekend, then it is back to the work table on Monday.

The Peconic Ruggers will meet this coming Tuesday, November 17 at the Cutchogue Presbyterian Church, 7 to 9 if you would like to join us.

First Fiber Festival of the Fall Done and Dusted

Barb and I spent the weekend at the Southern Adirondack Fiber Festival in Greenwich, NY, just outside of Saratoga Springs.  It's a sweet little festival -- sort of the counterpart and counterpoint to the NewYork Sheep and Wool Festival (coming up soon!) in Rhinebeck.  While there are fewer vendors, there are fewer attendees, too, which means you get to have real conversations without feeling hurried.  We have lots of friends there, both vendors and customers, and it is so great to see them.  People like friends  JoAnne, Dale and Bonnie, and Carol and Debbie, Pat at Mt. Rutson Studio and Jen and Melissa the Going Gnome girls.

As always, there were sheep and goats galore, sheep dog trials, and lots of good food.  Sadly, the nuns with the cashmere goats were just back from Africa and the guy with organic lamb kebabs was at his daughter's wedding, so we missed them this year.

We stayed -- unfortunately -- at the Turf and Spa motel in Saratoga Springs.  It's stuck in the 50s -- and I think the carpet in the room is as old as at least that old.  It has a great sign, but we won't be going back there.

Next up is the big one: the New York State Sheep and Wool Festival in Rhinebeck, NY.  It's only two weeks from tomorrow, so I have to get back to work!

Still Summer

Except for Monday morning, which was deliciously chilly, it is still hot and steamy here.  I never thought I would say this after last winter, but I am ready for some cold weather.  I am tomatoed and peached out.  Pete had a bumper crop of both this year.  We've canned and frozen a lot for the winter, and we have been eating tomatoes for breakfast, lunch and dinner -- no lie.  I'm looking forward to butternut squash.

I am working away on new fall and winter designs, some of which will premier next weekend -- September 26 & 27, 2015 -- at the Southern Adirondack Fiber Festival.  The festival is held at the Washington County Fairgrounds in Greenwich, NY, just east of Saratoga Springs.  As always, we hope to see you there!

I'm also battling an end-of-summer cold -- not too bad, but bad enough.  I wore myself out at my nephew's wedding last Saturday.  Too much partying for this aging hooker!  Clara caught the bride's bouquet -- and her long time boyfriend didn't seem to mind at all.  Maybe she will be next . . . 

Goofy Gourd

I put the bird rug aside for awhile, and decided to hook a fall mat.  I designed this pattern for needle punch a few years ago and decided it would work well for a rug.  I love it.  It looks like a wood cut with the thick black outlines.  I'll be listing it in my etsy shop.

I Need Your Help

Last year I designed a rather larger rug called Birds and Branches.  My vision of it was to have fanciful and colorful birds -- as opposed to realistic birds.  Barb and I decided to feature birds in our booth at shows this fall, so I the night before Pete and I left for vacation, I drew the pattern out and grabbed a variety of colorful wool from my stash and packed it in the car.  I figured the rug would be a good exercise in using what I had at hand, instead of dyeing or buying my wool.

I made a good start while on vacation.  I hooked several birds and sets of leaves and I liked them -- individually.  Not necessarily together. The more I hook, the less pleased I am.  I'm forcing myself to stick with the colors I chose, and they just don't work.  I re-hooked the biggest of leaves pictured here yesterday, so they are completely different -- darker.  Now I think they are too big as well as being too light.  My two favorite birds, the ones  think are the most successful, are the two done in pink and green.  This morning I am thinking I will rip out all the others and do all the birds pink and green . . . and the blue bird with the pink wing in the lower left hand corner.  He's just flat out ugly.  I hate ripping stuff out.  And I have a deadline.  Oy. What do you guys think?