Monday, April 7, 2008

What i've been doing lately...

Well I haven't been blogging very much lately. I have been ultra busy getting orders done and shipped out, and getting geared up for the hook-in.

My family is so amazingly supportive during those spaztic weeks that i am gearing up for an event! They put up with the smell of wet wool and vinegar, and an amazingly messy kitchen with wool strewn all over the floor waiting to be dyed... little burners on the counters and a multitude of pots.. and a very tired mom who by 5 pm has no energy left to cook dinner! They know what hard work dying is, and when i am dying from 8am - 5pm and can barely move at the end of the day they all pitch in to figure out what's for dinner! How AWESOME are they??!!


Danny brought home pizza one night, and steaks another night and grilled them up for us. While i'm shlepping around in my grungy "dye clothes" (now wonderfully multi colored! LOL) lifting heavy pots and wringing out wet wool!

I am just about ready for the show. woohoo!!! I have dyed 85 yards of wool, washed cut and tagged 46 yards of as is wools, drawn out over 40 patterns, collated, folded and stapled 100 catalogs, cut and serged linen pieces, put together 4 kits, and priced everything. I still have to dye about 15-20 more yards, and I have another 15 patterns to draw and then i think i am done!!!!!! Waahooo!! The hook-in is this coming Saturday, and I think i can have everything done, and organized by friday! :D

In the meantime, I have not been hooking much! LOL
Snot a whole lot of time left in the day to sit and enjoy hooking the day away!

But, I am participating in 3 challenges currently. One is the big honkin 5' by 6' rug. It has been set aside for the time being until i decide on what i want to do with the borders. And I think, as of last night I might have decided!!! Yay! I was working on the hit or miss challenge, and using the idea of what i thought might work for the big rug - so it's kind of serving two purposes! I like how the little mat is turning out, and i will just tweak it a bit for a honkin border! I will post pics of the hit or miss mat next month when I am allowed.

What I CAN show you today is a picture of a little mat I did for the New Life Challenge.
We were challenged to make a mat 12 x20 depicting what the words "New Life" meant to us.
Oh wow. My immediate reaction to those words was new life in Christ!! But how to depict that in a small rug??? Without it looking horrible and hacking the true meaning? So I tried to think in a more open minded sense.... spring... kids... and a thought came to me...

my 5 year old daughter is a new life!! A walking talking rambunctious precarious new life! LOL! What could mean new life more than seeing life thru the eyes of a child??

So i asked HER what the words "New Life" meant to her?
She said JESUS!!!! (lol she didn't fall too far from the tree! Good girl!!)
And I said - what else?? She put her little mind to thinking and said babies and spring! And I asked her to draw me a picture of those things. Here it is...




And here is the mat that I hooked from her drawing! This was an absolute challenge for me by the way!! LOL!! I had to hook those little flowers and birds (YES those are birds! haha! a mama bird and a baby bird to be exact! ) in a #4 !!!!!! omgosh! I can officially say i stink at the smaller cuts! LOL! And using bright solid wools - not my comfort zone of drabby textures!

Now...... i just gotta fill you in on a few things! LOL
That is a Mama and baby bird (donchya just love how they have beaks AND faces? and three legs? lol). Those V's up in the clouds are more birds. I added the cross to the mat, even though she didn't put it in her drawing, since she originally said Jesus - I thought it appropriate to add it in (a little artistic liscence lol)

Now - do you see that little blue house looking thing? :)
I was almost done hooking this and Calli came over and was oohing and aahing over it, and just tickled pink that mommy was hooking her drawing! She pointed out a few things to make sure i didn't leave them out... and was feeling mighty proud of herself! Emily comes over and says "awww how cute! I like that little birdhouse too!" - to which Calli indignantly says.........
"Emily!! That's NOT a house!"

both Emily and I said "IT'S NOT???!!??"

(oh dear i thought it was a house too! lol)

Calli set us both straight and said, " No silly! It's an arrow telling the birds to GO UP, so they don't run into the tree!!!!"

bahahahahahaaaaaa!!!!!!!!
Tooooo funny!! :P
So.... i am going to hook a big flat black border, to look like a purchased frame, and finish it up in time to give it to her for her birthday in May - with of course a lable on the back that tells the reasoning behind the rug - arrow and all! :D

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bren-
What an adorable explanation of Calli's rug! I had picked out the mat with the Noah's ark theme as the one that you had done. I can't believe how much you manage to get done and take care of a family all at the same time. I got tired just reading about what you've been up to. I wish you well at the hook-in this weekend. If I lived nearby, I would volunteer my services to help you get ready. Sounds like fun!

Mary

Tammy Burks said...

Wow Bren,
You're working like Wonder Woman...85 yards...YIKES....and I think I've done a lot if I do 10 yards in a day!!!
Wishing you great success at the hook-in!!!
You GO GIRL!

Anonymous said...

this is such a sweet story. your 5 year knows the meaning of life! so awesome. her picture is beautiful and your rug is amazing! you make me want to learn an new craft... i'm your typical a.d.d. artist! lol!