Beautiful Friday!

The petunias are happy today too!

A lovely cool day after a couple of days of steamy
weather! I worked on Santa bodies all day... when the temps are cool I have a lot more energy!

We're working along on the bathroom remodeling too...so I hope it won't be too long before it's done!

Hot, Humid Wednesday!

At least the poppies like the weather!

Boy, is it hot and sticky today! Just the kind of weather I really hate!!! LOL But I guess the weather just doesn't revolve around me!

I do hope everyone out there in bloggerland is having a great day. I am working on Santas and trying to think snow!!!!! Humming Jingle Bells too! LOL

Granny's Old Blue Vase

Granny's Old Blue Vase (c) Sunnie Andress 2005

When I posted the closeup of part of this rug earlier, I was showing my hooking style...this is the complete rug. It is also one of my earlier rugs! I was thinking about my Mom, Aunties and Grandmothers and they all seemed to have an odd, homely blue vase in their collections. We all used them because each vase seemed to be such a nice size for flowers! I did the ripple afghan border because all of those same ladies had one somewhere in the house! On a bed, over a chair arm or over a sofa back! It just seemed fitting somehow!!! LOL

Monday Morning

Joe's 1928 Jordan automobile

Can't believe it's Monday again!

Husband has been gone for over a week visiting antique car
friends in Illinois and I've been working like crazy to get lots of things done before he comes home! I'm trying to downsize and get things that we don't use boxed up for our children and grandchildren. If we should have to move to a house with simple - one floor - living, the boxes can simply be either sent to them or they can travel here to get them! LOL When Joe is away, I can leave the mess out and not worry that he'll fall over something going to the kitchen for his coffee!! Fortunately, we are in pretty good health now, but we're not getting any younger!!!!

I've been so busy I haven't even picked up my hook...it'll be nice to get back to my quiet life again!!!! But this makes me feel better knowing that I've gotten rid of stuff that none of us need or want and have some of the children's things sorted. I have a pickup load of bags and boxes for the Goodwill too! My studio still needs some work, but it is looking pretty good! Whew! I need a rest!

Hooking Style

As this picture shows, I don't hook with all my loops standing up like little soldiers with just their shoulders touching! I tend to have my loops going in several directions and I hook my rows quite close together. As long as my rug will steam properly and lie flat on the floor, I prefer this look for my own rugs.

Breezy Wednesday

Glorious October (c) Sunnie Andress 2005

We had a pleasant Wednesday here today! It rained some last night but we had cloudy skies today with no rain! A nice breeze for drying clothes outside too!

The rug above is called -Glorious October - and is one that I
had a wonderful time hooking!

The colours of Autumn, the pumpkins and
crows and the wild colours of Halloween costumes in the wavy border made it fun to do. It was my first attempt at dying wool...I did the mottled greenish
wool above the crows heads.

Summer Tuesday

Another beautiful day in the Kingdom!

The Iris are blooming now too, in with the Lupines. They are creeping up the hill in back of our house towards the woods.

I'm doing about 20 things at once today...I think it is called - time deepening - but I think it should most likely be called - chaos -!!!

Over the weekend I was painting, cleaning, sorting, working on Santas, casserole-dying wool and, for the first time, wool yarns too. This was my first time trying the casserole dying and it turned out wonderfully. I can't post a picture yet as Husband is using the digital camera, but will try to post one when I get it back!

Have a wonderful Tuesday - wherever in the world you are!

Shaded Porch - Tranquil

This is our front porch in summer with the potted plants, the wonderful decorative birdhouse and the twig sign that says -Tranquil-. It really is a peaceful place!

Summer Days!

Kitty's Fantasy Garden c-sunnie2005

Yesterday and today are just the kind of beautiful summer days I love.

Wonderful green trees, brilliant flowers and sunshine with a
breeze blowing in through the windows make us thankful to be here in the country!

This is one of my early rugs, done in 2005 when I first started designing and hooking using - wide-cut- wools. Our cat, Cassie, loves to sit in the flowers and she always looks hopeful that something will run by! Or is she dreaming of fish? I thought I'd hook a whimsical kitty in the garden, dreaming of a fish dinner!!

I am stripping wallpaper and redoing our little bathroom...we decided to get some new flooring so, of course, I had to redo the whole bathroom! I was tired of the blue and wanted a more country look so am trying cream and sage green. Our house is small, so redoing a room isn't the job it could be! LOL

The carpenter who helped us many years ago with our remodeling was also working on another house at the same time. He said that it was a shock to go back and forth because the kitchen of that house was larger than our entire first floor - kitchen, parlour, little parlour and dining room!

Memories!

While going through some old postcards, I came across some from 1987 when I took a Holland-America cruise - starting March 8th - to Singapore, Bankok, Hong Kong, Chilung, Taiwan

Kagoshima, Japan...across the inland sea to Kobe' and then to Honolulu on April 4th.

I can't believe it's been 20 years since that trip. I found Singapore clean and beautiful - at least in the places I visited - and I enjoyed the bullet train from Okayama to Kobe. Hong Kong life moved at a crazy pace and I enjoyed Taiwan too. We did get to go into China, first to Macau by hydrofoil and then to Zhong Shan.

It certainly was an amazing trip. The ship was huge and the food and service wonderful. But I prefer my quiet simple lifestyle here in Vermont and have no desire to go crusing again!

Beautiful Summer Days!

Hooked fraktur birds...fun to do!

Yesterday and today were just lovely
days...warm and sunny with just a slight breeze. I'll be happy when the black fly season is over as I can't enjoy the outdoors much when the flies are out and about!!

Sunday Moments

Happy bee!

The Marigolds have such happy faces and intense colour!

We had a beautiful day yesterday, warm but not frying hot! Today is overcast but pleasant. I am still hooking on the Hous Segen rug but am getting closer to completing it. I started it on Wednesday, May 30th so it is coming along pretty fast!

When I'm hooking on this rug, I find myself thinking how really blessed I am to be living here in this beautiful area and how fortunate I am to have family and friends enriching my life. Hooking is such a quiet, contemplative activity and we have time to think, to pray, to meditate...whatever tranquil pursuit we find helpful to our lives. We all need some quiet times...and the quiet renews us!

Pleasant Thursday!

The pansies look so sweet by the front walkway...I've
always loved them! As
a child, I would pick pansy bouquets and put
them in little jelly glasses.

I'm making more progress on my Hous Segen rug and thinking about my next rug design too! I still need to finish up another rug I'm working on. I vowed I wouldn't have a lot of unfinished projects lying around and so far I've been pretty good doing the time-consuming finish work.

I can't believe we had such a cold night last night. I had to bring the outside plants in...and it's June!!! We should have quite warm weather tomorrow though.

Still Cool Wednesday!

The Lupines are just coming on...I love them!

This weather is sure nice for me...but the summer people are not very enthusiastic about it! I could take a little warmer weather too, as our summers here in Vermont tend to be short. But it is nice working with wools when the days are pleasantly cool...with a little rain and a little wind.

I seem to have developed a craving for wonderful birdhouses and have purchased several to use as decorative ones. We have working birdhouses already for the beautiful birds that come to stay with us in the summer!

I continue working on the Hous Segen rug and hope to finish it in the next few days. Then I'll hope for a sunny day with no wind so I can photograph rugs outside. Toni at Rabbit Hill has gotten me thinking about a rabbit rug as her creations are so delightful and hoppy! LOL I've never done one with rabbits. I've done a crow with boots, a cat, a chicken in the garden, an antique reproduction of two roosters, a cat and dog, a leaping deer, two crows and pumpkins, a Polly Minick rug of three primitive chickens and several rugs with birds!

All my work is designed in the folk art style, whimsical
and a little wacky...and I do my own designs almost exclusively. But it is fun to do another artist's design from time to time...or a reproduction , perhaps as shown in the Kopp book - American Hooked and Sewn Rugs.

Hmmm...a wacky rabbit might be just the thing!

I'm off to the studio to hook and dream!

Cool Tuesday Too!

We had a cool and rainy weekend but that means more time to stay inside and hook! LOL

I am making progress on my Hous Segen rug and it is such fun to do. The funny little faces with their ragdoll-like expressions make me smile every time I work on them.

I met with the Primitive rug hookers down at Quilter's Quisine again on Saturday and we had a great time hooking and visiting. I took some wools down for the ladies...hand-dyed and as-is textures. I enjoy the dying and love to experiment...although my experiments are hard to duplicate as I don't always keep records!!!

I think I am finally getting enough rugs to photograph for samples so that I can get my Rug Hooking website up and running. There just don't seem to be enough hours in the day to do what I want to do...and I hook pretty fast!