Cool Rainy Thursday

Part of one Angel on my new Hous Segen folk art rug, started yesterday.

It's quite cool this morning. The light rain and the mist hang
over the trees and give the impression of a dream world. I love it when the mist
hangs over everything so that the house is surrounded and it seems like we are
in the middle of a floating cloud.

It always makes me feel good to be warm and cozy inside, and thankful that we have a home to be cozy in!

Wednesday Musings

We had a lovely Memorial Day weekend holiday with family! We enjoyed getting together and sharing memories, as well as a good meal. The weather was wonderful too! I hope you had an enjoyable time too...remembering.

Our Forget-me-Nots are really blooming their little hearts out these days as our front walk shows!

Today it is very cool and somewhat rainy so it feels good to be inside. I am starting on another rug while finishing up the background and borders on the Fraktur Valentine rug and the rug tape on the Fraktur Angel floral rug. This new rug is an original design, also inspired by the angel images found on old Frakturs and Samplers. It is quite naive and whimsical , a Hous Segen ( Pennsylvania German House Blessing) design done in dark reds, golds, blues and greens with a great oatmeal plaid background. Just the old folk art style I love with just enough quirkyness to make you smile.!

Friday Visitors

Another hot day in Vermont! It's a bit too hot for me so I try to stay inside, in front of the fan!!! And drink lots of water!

We had a nice visit with family today and will get together tomorrow for dinner.

A very pleasant day and evening.

Hot Thursday and Tag!

Small Amish quilt I'm still working on...about 12 years now!

Whew! It was pretty hot for Northern Vermont today...but I know the summer-lovin' people were happy. Our house stays pretty cool, so I was comfortable. It was nice hanging the clothes out and having them dry in about 5 minutes!!! LOL

Tammy has tagged me on the Blog Tag to tell 7 things that aren't generally known about me. I'm so new to blogging that I only know a few bloggers and they are already in the game...but I did post to Julie at her searsport rug hooking blog!

Hmm...

1. As a baby, Mother said that I only liked pureed spinach and would spit out things like applesauce and bananas! And they kept me anyway!


2. I finally finished my Bachelor's Degree when I was in my forties. I dropped out of college in 1960, took a few courses later on and finally completed college in 1988...Summa Cum Laude and a Dean's Scholar.


3. Potato Chips are my yummy thing. I love something crunchy but I could keep my weight down if I ate gravel instead!


4. Although I love primitive furniture and dull prim colours, my house doesn't reflect that...except in my Studio. It is because we did what the House needed when we remodeled. Our rooms are small and the downstairs tends to be dark, so my little parlour has cream wallpaper with pale rose roses!


5. I love lilacs but am highly allergic to them. About the only scented oil I can use is cinnamon oil.


6. Although I love making my Santas, I really have fun doing the little Halloween witches. Husband says that's because their funny faces and wacky looks reflect their maker! LOL


7. My oldest daughter and her husband will become Grandparents this summer...so that means that I move up into the Great-Gramma category! Whew! Where's my walker?
   
   
   

   Hope everyone has a terrific Memorial Day weekend.

Wednesday Sunshine

New Old Crow Farm sign is finished! I love it!

Beautiful day today! I am finishing up the edge-whipping on one rug and working on another rug background. I received three wooden houses today, two lighted and one birdhouse that is primitive and delightful. Handmade birdhouses are great primitive decorating pieces. We have several birdhouses on our property and always love having bluebirds move into one house. We put up the Hummingbird feeder today and it is in use already.

Unfortunately, although the day is warm and pleasant, the black flies are out now and they always love to bite me! So I can't really hook on the porch until their season is over!

Cool Sunday- Monday Sunshine!

The Forget-me-Nots in front of the porch are just blooming now!

Our Monday is really beautiful here! Sunshine and blue skies...but we are in for a frosty night. Must bring in the porch plants tonight and the windowbox plants too. We had a most enjoyable breakfast and visit with our Earle cousins this morning. Seeing them is always delightful and we are hoping for a family reunion with Husband's family sometime this summer.

Must get back to the Studio and get my hook going! May you all have a pleasant Monday!

Cool Friday and Saturday

I must say that I am enjoying the cooler weather but I'm sure I'm the only one! We do have rather short warm weather seasons and I know most of our residents enjoy their summers!!! I'm not a summer person so I enjoy the autumn, Winter and early Spring the most!

I have added another website to visit to my list at the left...The Birchwood Bed and Breakfast in Derby Line, Vermont is a beautiful place to stay if you are vacationing in this area. Derby Line is a charming village right at the Canadian border so visitors can enjoy day trips into Canada as well as sampling what this beautiful area of Vermont can offer.

We live in a rural area and love the peace and quiet of the country. We have beautiful birds visiting our yards and feeders and we've watched a family of red foxes living in a den at the edge of the woods behind our house.

I'm working on a rug background today. I'm using a beautiful dark as-is plaid that looks black with little flecks of colour when it is hooked. The photo above is from a different rug and shows the technique of using strips with more contrast so that the background looks - wormy-. The use of an as-is or overdyed plaid can give a more solid looking background with subtle changes of colour that adds to the charm of a primitive or folk art rug.

Cool Thursday in the Kingdom

A fun Red Hat Lady enjoying life! I loved creating these!

Another cool day reminding us that here in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, Spring can be an elusive season! I have been reading about antique penny rugs and wool applique lately also and have decided to make a penny rug for myself when I have the time. LOL!

I enjoyed doing the applique on quilted pieces and still do some on robes for my Santas from time to time.

I must finish binding and edge-whipping my Angel rug starting today. After that, I'll steam on the back and the front and it will be done! Then it's back to finishing the

Be My Love, a Fraktur Valentine-

rug that still needs about a fourth of it to be hooked.

Rainy Wednesday!

Both yesterday and today we've had cool, rainy days that seem more like early Spring than after Mother's Day! But at least we don't want to be outside!!!! LOL

I am hooking the last few loops in my Fraktur Angel Floral rug...I got sidetracked planting some flowers and my windowbox, etc. when the weather was great a week ago, so didn't keep working on it as I'd planned. But I'm very happy with how it is turning out. I am laughing at the angel face above, though. In the picture it looks like she/he? is sporting a five-o-clock shadow! Somehow, I don't think angels shave!

As you can see, I am not precise in my hooking...I want that touch of whimsy and the old look of aged folk art. As I study the antique frakturs especially, they have some odd touches that I find very appealing. Many lines are not straight, circles are not always round and, although some of the designs look symmetrical, they really are not. Faces have funny expressions that make you laugh and birds, animals and flowers can be really wild! That's why I enjoy working in the same style and with the same or similar images...it brings me such joy!

Mother's Day Weekend

We had a lovely relaxed Mother's Day weekend here. Great weather and a chance to go to the Mother's Day brunch at the Eastside restaurant and enjoy all the goodies. Since we live clear across the US from our children and grandchildren, we can't celebrate the holidays with them. But I was happy to hear from each of my children and it's good to know they are all well and doing fine.

I think I enjoy taking my inspiration and some of my rug designs from folk art of the past because it makes me feel connected to my own mother, aunties and grandmothers, etc. Somehow the old designs speak to me of home, family, work and the beauty of simple things. It is amazing to see the beautiful needlework done by both men and women of the past. Also the intricate samplers done by schoolgirls at a very young age! Somehow, we twine the memories around our hearts when we are sensitive to these antique art pieces...and it brings a peacefulness to us even in this hectic modern time in which we live.

May you have an especially peaceful and pleasant time this week.

Beautiful Thursday!

We've had such lovely weather the last three days we've been outside working and spiffing the place up! It's nice to have the flowers blooming again and the window box planted. I love working in the studio and seeing the flowers at the window.

Sometime I'm going to hook a rug with very light colours, lt.tans and creams, peaches and pale rose and wonderful light greens. ...something like the first promise of Spring! Since I usually hook rugs with lots of deep colours, it will be a real change!!!

Enjoy the evening!

Sunday-Monday and Hint too!

crow from A Gift of the Heart rug pattern

copyright-sunnieandress 2005

Hint...I love plaid wools for giving the effect of gravel paths or cobbly roadways! This is one of my earlier rug patterns and it was great fun to hook! You can see how the plaid makes the walk look gravelly!

I'm still having fun sorting and organizing my studio! I enjoy doing this because I get to look through all my -idea- boxes and baskets where I gather pictures with ideas for future rugs. Sometimes it is just a certain colour combination that catches my eye and sometimes it is a photo of an antique rug or a painting.

Looking through art books, antique magazines and all kinds of needlework publications can spark your own creativity. You don't have to copy...there are many copyright-free designs from Dover that can help if you want to do your own designs but can't draw! Of course, there are a lot of us who just love to design rug patterns so there are many great patterns out there for you to choose from!

Happy Hooking!

Hook On Saturday!

The first Saturday of the month, in the afternoon, the rug hookers who enjoy doing primitives or wide-cut rugs meet at Quilters Quisine Fabric Shop for hooking and conversation! We always enjoy our time together. If you have the chance, join your local hooking group and meet others who enjoy this great art and craft.

Happy Friday!

Hook On - a funny scrapbag rug-copyright, sunnie andress 2006

I've been cleaning and sorting all day today so didn't do any hooking! However, organizing wools is really fun as you get to see all the beautiful colours you've forgotten you have!!!

It was a nice day... but we are getting a lot of cold wind.

Sometimes I just want to design and hook a really wacky rug! I also like to use up some of my leftover strips and rugs like -Hook On-are just what I need to do that. Husband says that the legs look just like mine!

Hook On!

Thursday- Nice but Windy!

Old Farmhouse Floral copyright-sunnieandress2006

Lovely sunshine but the wind was cool! Lots of errands to do today...it's nice to relax this evening! I hooked this rug thinking about a country woman planning a rug with the brown and burgundy wools she'd saved. I thought how happy she would be if a friend or family member brought her a small amount of colourful wools so she could plan a simple, pretty pattern.

We livc in an old farmhouse and this rug is at the bottom of our stairway!

Wednesday-Nice Day!

A beautiful sunshiny day today!

Spring is so nice...we enjoy some outdoor work and hanging the clothes out to dry always makes me think of my Mom. When I was young - waaayyy back then - Mom would hang all the wash out on the backyard clothesline and she always sang as she worked. The neighbors would come out and listen and they always said her singing made them feel good! It is wonderful to have happy memories of family...especially when family members are no longer with you in person!

Enjoy today!

Rug Hooking Hint for Today

If you are uncertain about being a little wild and crazy when hooking a primitive or folk art rug, you might try a chair pad first! Perhaps an unusual bird! LOL

That way you can experiment with different colours on something small. You might like the freewheeling style and creating whimsy as you go! I love surprises and experimentation...for me it keeps hooking simply delightful!

Tuesday Happy Hookers Group!

What a nice day!!! It's always enjoyable to gather together for hooking.

Just being around creative people, even if they are doing a totally different project or technique, can inspire you!

I loved a light gray background that one of our hookers was doing on a traditional floral rug. It was beautiful and I have been thinking about using that colour for one of my future rugs! I always learn something when I hook with the Tuesday ladies!