Modge Podge

Tomorrow morning i have jury duty. Joy of joys. LOL And the day before Halloween to boot... so if they select me.... gulp... what kind of freaks will be on trial the next day? :)I SHOULD be doing this right now.......


Instead i have a munchkin who keeps coming up with new and improved "costumes" ! lol

This one was a riot... she says she's a "McDonalds Dog" see that blue thing next to her mouth? That's her microphone for the drive through. bahahahahaha!!! (and they turned a shirt inside out and wrote McDonalds in PERMANENT ink on the shirt. sigh.)

And... instead i am doing THIS.

I figure if i am going to be sitting in juror selection all day, i might as well get some hand piecing done! Praying they let me take my little kid scissors in with me!

And THIS. (too bad MY numbers aren't that high in my ledger!! lol)

Thank you for all your comments on the shop!!

It's been an insane week to say the least :)

Have a blessed day!!!!

Picture Day!!!

Well HI !!

Thanks for stopping by!! :)

After running like a banshee for the last week, we can finally say that we are open! Unfortunately, we are no where near being "done" !! LOL!! It's definitely a work in progress, and muchhhh to be added!! Many bare spots and "holes", and the wool is yet to be OVERFLOWING! But soon!! Soon!!!

I thought you might like a little peek into the little room that we are now calling our own! Our vision for this space far surpasses what we have meagerly accomplished thus far... but it will get there in time... right??!! Sorry the pics are soo dark - they were taken at about 11oclock at night, after a longggg hard day... and we were turning off lights as we went! LOL

Here are some quick pics of some of the rest of the house.... i couldn't get snapshots of it all.. and it was so dark, i didn't even try! LOL

These punkins are for outside on the front porch... $10 each.... thinkin i want to snag all the whites and grays!!

This is the front desk!! I wish i had a better picture of it!! There are 50 drawers in all... all filled with something different... ABC blocks, old spools with threads, picture viewer cards, knitting needles, cookie cutters, you name it!! And they are longer in length in a stair step manner from top to bottom. VERY KEWL in person!! I heart this case!!!!

Check out this darling section!!!! It just makes me smile when i walk in! All that red and white... heart be still!! LOL!!

There are also darling vintage repro aprons and linens, another kitchen, vintage clothes from the 40's and 50's including diva lingerie!!, lots of depression glass and other furniture, and a shabby chic area with frufru quilts and white wire items.. it's all just darling! And everything will get changed out every two weeks! Fun fun!!!

K... now i need to get back to work - lots of wool to dye and a rug to whip!!

What do you think of the overall look? Think it'll pass for now?

Blessings, Bren :)

A Few More Pics From Camp

Good morning!

I'm dragging a bit this morning... so thought i would nurse my coffee a little longer and putz on the computer a bit before getting my hiney in gear and back to work! I wanted to finish up the pics of the campers... and at some point in the future, I hope to focus in and share a few of the things I learned from Jule. :)

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But first, THANK YOU ALL for your wonderful comments, emails and phone calls regarding opening the shop!!! You have nooo idea how much your comments mean to me! Running on overload (brain as much as body) lately, and i was starting to slump.. probably just out of pure exhaustion. lol But your comments and encouragement have lifted me back up and given me the motivation and energy to keep pluggin away!! Thank you thank you!!! :)

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Here is the in progress rug from Lori M. She's working on the big Sally Kallin design that you saw in an earlier post that Jenny had hooked. What a FUN design!!

And since i am on (what seems like an eternal) a quest to hook better flowers, i love seeing close up pics of what other people do. It really helps me! I am able to look at it and immediately know if it settles nice, color combos are good, or not good.. etc. But then picking it apart as to WHY it works, because apparently hookin them flowers does not come naturally to me! LOL - see the penny rug in the last post? Low contrast. That's how MY flowers normally come out!! haha! So this is how i learn! Mebbe some of you do also? This is Lori :)
And this gorgeous rug is one that Lori hooked and brought. I have NO idea who's design this is?? But it sure is STUNNING!!!! (yes Kathy, even though it's pink! LOL)
I had a couple email requests to show my pineapple rug and beaver rug that i brought. Soo close to being finished.. just need to hook in the corners of this one!
This is the Beaver Valley rug finished. Kinda catty whompus in this pic. Both these designs are available through me if they inspire you :)
And last, but definitely NOT least... this is Dixie! :) I absolutely adore this woman, and am very blessed to call her friend!
I think this is a terrific picture of Dix!!

She is the lady who has put together these awesome camps for the last 8 years. It takes tons of time, commitment and energy - and she does it all for the love of others and the love of rug hooking! She has brought together a wonderful group of women, and taught them to hook, supplied them with wool, and encouraged them all the way.

And Dixie is an amazing primitive hooker! Her rugs are wonderful!! Her home is always open and inviting... decorated with early pieces, hooked rugs and quilts, and she definitely has the gift of hospitality! (I could move in in a heartbeat! LOL) Talk about a talented lady!!!
A heartfelt THANK YOU to you Dixie, for all you do!!!

And now it's time to jump start this body back into action! ugh... seriously draggin today!! But Danny's bringing the big display units down to the shop today, and tomorrow i start bringing things down to fill them up and getting things in there! Holy cow. Wish I could squeeze a few extra days worth of time into today!! LOL!!

Hope you have beautiful day, filled with God's gorgeous fall colors, and full of His love!!

Blessings, Bren :)

I'm not slackin! Honest!!

I still have more pics to share... and more hooking tidbits for you. But my free time has become very limited.

In an absolute whirlwind since getting back from camp, my friend and I made the final (difficult) decision to open a little shop! Yes the economy is extremely precarious. Yes, I'm probably completely NUTS. (Yes, even I think so! lol) And yes, we are doing it anyway! And yes... i'm a massive bundle of emotions right now!! Scared to death, anxious, excited, full of ideas, overwhelmed, hopeful... you name it!

Now on the positive side... we are not opening our own full shop front. We are subleasing a room in an antique shop... in one of the most homey, upbeat historical towns, where there are many eclectic shops and antique shops... all just soo unique... white lights in the trees... quaint sidewalks, old homes... lots of community activities... and pretty much THE PERFECT shopping district for those that love fun unique and antique stuff! You know that rant... "location, location, location!!" ? This is IT. LOL You park and then walk from shop to shop, stop at a cafe for lunch, and then continue on your quest for the perfect piece!

We will be offering rug hooking classes... wool, patterns and all that good stuff AND finished pieces. My partner makes some of the most amazing jewelry and sculpture, and is a hooker extraordinaire! I am a fiber artist... love to sew, hook, stitch and create. We're hoping to open up more textile interest and present high quality HANDMADE goods to those who have never been exposed to them. So... with a hope and a prayer... here we go!!!! :D

We will be opening on the 20th!! So that said, if i'm not around much, you'll know it's because i'm running so fast all you'll see is a blur!!! LOL

Say a prayer for us!!

I'm almost finished stitching this pillow top. Just missing one more flower and the bird's eye. :)I hand sewed all the wools and cottons on a vintage piece of gorgeous linen, and will be backing the pillow with wool. This is a darling design out of Maggie Bonanami's new book "With These Hands". I needed to stitch and not think! And this was perfect!!

And this is what's currently on my frame :) Hoping to get this done by tomorrow night... lol.. we'll see how that works out!
I just love the dark rich neutral colors!! mmm-mm GOOD!! There's such a warmth about them that just makes me want to curl up on/in it and take a snuggly little nap! And i know some of you out there are saying.. "there's color in that rug???" LOL Isn't it funny how differently color affects us all?

Ok... this hooker's gotta get her groove on!! Soo much to do, in a pathetically small amount of time! I hope you have a wonderfully blessed week!

xo Bren :)

Camp Pics #3

Morning!

I'm going to try not to "talk too much" on this post! LOL

We'll see how that works out! :D

This is Colleen :) This is Colleen's in progress rug from camp. They decided to do a log cabin border... a revolving log cabin... i can't remember the name of those?

This rug is an absolute hoot!!! This was Gail's rug - and i didn't get a pic of her either!! Sheesh... where was everyone when i was taking those pictures? I think that whole corner of the room left early on Weds! Ok.. Gail... is an absolute RIOT! She cracked me up the entire camp! She's from Minnisota... and she hearts bright colors. Some of the things she picked up, i wouldn't have touched with a ten foot pole, much less danced in happy excitement as she did!! hahaha!! But boy oh boy did i learn a HUGE lesson on this one!!!!!!!!!!

The fact that this ALL worked TOGETHER for the greater good just kind of blew me away! LOLOL!!!

(ok.. side note... i am one of those that HAS to know WHY!!! I need to know why it works! So i analyze till i figure it out! lol)

Check out all those colors... check out the values here! They are all high chroma (high color intensity) wools... but they are also all dark mediums to dark values. (exctpt the highlights in the horse) Even the golds are a dark medium value... not spaztic neon! They are all "primitive colors" - well... with the exception of that neon turquoise! (LOL - and trust me.. in person it IS neon!! hahaha!) Which is the spark of "bright" that gives the whole rug a different personality!

They are all pretty muted or "dirty" colors - not primaries. So they all work! And voila, you have an amazingly FUN primitive rug with tons of color!

Gail has an amazing eye, pulling these colors together in this way! And what's so funny is I think this ended up being my favorite out of all the rugs being worked on!! Probably just because it's soo quirky and fun - and it represented Gail's personality perfectly!! LOL!!!

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Next is Connie's rug. And shoot... i even stayed with Connie and didn't take her picture!! (ok shoot me. lol. most of the time i forget about my camera until something sparks the need to take a picture, and usually i don't even have it with me! lol)

This darling rug is produced by Jane Augenstein - Liberty Homestead Rugs... it's a reproduction of an old bed rug in the kopp book.

Connie really waffled back and forth with this background color. I LOVE it!!! LOL as did the rest of the students! So we outvoted Connie and made her keep it!

It looks soo rich and velvety in person! She is going to do hit or miss lambs tongues all the way around.. pulling alot of that blue from the center medallion outward. She also changed those two smaller cirlces, to having that blue in themiddle of the doughnuts, and that changed the entire look! This is going to be sooo fantastic when it's done!! Connie promised to send me a pic when she finishes it, and I'll share it with you guys when she does! :)

Here is a rug that Connie did a year ago, Emma Lous Antique Floral runner... it has a gorgeous chocolate brown background that really makes it sooo warm! (this is the same design that was shown yesterday of the in progress rug from Jenny)
This is Eileen. :) She is just darling!!! I love her!!
Here is Eileen's rug in progress. It is Legioneer Duo (i'm sure i hacked the spelling on that!!) from the Woolley Fox. She's using awesome old blacks and greys and browns - gonna look soo awesomely old when she's done!!!!
This is a rug that Eileen displayed this year. I think this is her own design?!


And sadly... this is where i would insert several of the other wonderful rugs at the show.... but THIS is how most of them turned out!!!!! whaaaaaaaaa!!!!! Dumb sun!!

This is Patty from Minnesota :)

This is the gal I told you about a little yesterday... She is Jackie and Jenny's mom, and she got her girls hookin - and now they all get together at camps! So fun!!

This is Patty's in progress rug. Again, i had problems with the sun, so cut this one down so you could see.

Just LOOK at that dog and cat!!!!!! Don't you just LOVE them????!!!!!

Now... this is also an antique design... you can see it in the kopp book... and i'm not sure who produced this?? I "think" Rhonda Manley - Black Sheep Designs.

I'm not partial to the one in the kopp book... but i AM very partial to how Patty is hooking this!! It's going to be awesome!!! She's going to have a soft tan/taffy background, and dark hit or miss border. I can't wait to see this one finished!!!

And I believe this is one of Patty's finished rugs.

And last but not least today... this is Gillian's rug. I just met Gillian for the first time, and fell in love with her! She is british, (love her accent!!!) with a spunky personality and an easy smile! Again... no pic. grr. She's doing a blue sky and a dark red border. It'll be a fun Christmas rug!!

That's it for today! Hope you're enjoying the in progress stuff, and i'm not boring you to tears!! LOL

Have a blessed day, and enjoy the fall air! :)

ps... ok... so i didn't do so well "not talking much" !! Sorry bout that!! LOL

Camp pics #2

Hi! Back with some more pictures for you!

And Yay! My husband remembered to buy lightbulbs!! :)

I hope i have all these rugs combined with their right owners! I wish I would have gotten a pic of these first couple gals! They're darling!

This gorgeous (BIG) rug was hooked by Jenny S. It's absolutely gorgeous in person! Do take the time to enlarge these pics and you can see much more!! You gotta see how she did the background on this. This is a Sally Kallin pattern. Her company name is Pine Island Primitives.This is her web site - thanks Ter'e!! :)

This is a close up of her background.
And this is the rug that Jenny was working on at camp. This is a Judy Cripps design from Rustic Rugs. Unfortunately Jenny was only able to be at camp about half the time, and had just started on her rug. But this girl can HOOK!! :)

Jule's reccomendation for the border on this pattern was to go with either the shape of the reindeer ears, or bodies. Making either Christmas lights, or bulbs around the border. Fun! Jenny is going to do a red background, as she wanted to be really Christmasy :)

This is a honkin long runner that Jenny is currently working on. It's going to be gorgeous!!

This rug (i think) was hooked by Jenny's sister Jackie. Now what is sooo cool... is their mom Patty also hooks!! And they get together at rug camps sharing their love for one another and their passion for hooking. How COOL is that?! I LOVE how she did the paisley border!!

I believe this was also hooked by Jackie. I love this rug! I was thinking about doing this for camp also.. but i'm glad i made the choice i did. I'll get to this one eventually! :) She did a wonderful job on this, as a commemorative to 9-11.
And this is Jackie's start on her camp rug. It's a large one.. and that sun was coming thru something fierce.. so I cropped it down to the part she had hooked so you could see it. She also had hooked the cutest lil goat on the other side.
The rug over the trunk is an old one... and the fun sheep pillow, i don't know who hooked this?

Next is Rebecca's. She left rather early also, so i didn't get a snapshot of her :*(

Blow this pic up so you can see the colors in this rug! Rebecca came to camp with three punkins drawn on her backing. She hooked one white, one browns and one orange, with a gorgeous eggplant background. Then they decided on a wavy quirky inner border and added fall leaves with a cut out, all over and every which way. It's going to be fantastic!! She's going to do the background in light browns on the outer border, and the leaves will be oranges. Fun fun!!

And i believe rebecca hooked this rug also :) I "think" this is an Edyth O'Neill pattern. A larger version than the one above from Jackie.
Next is Kathy.

She is so fun! This girl takes no prisoners jumping into big rugs!! LOL!

And this one is complex and busy!! It's an antique design, that she wanted to recreate. And each medallion is different from the next. Holy cow - and i thought florals intimidated me!! haha!!

She's going to take each one seperately and do them all different. The "negative space" is the area between the circles. They create little diamonds, and Jule said to keep those repetitive... so Kathy is going to hook all the diamonds in the same colors with lights, darks, brights and dulls - same colors, and this should help keep the continuity through out the rug. How fun will this rug be when it's done?!!? Wow.. all i can say is kudos to her for even attempting it! And i bet it will look fabulous when she's done!

This is Kathy :)

And this is the rug she hooked in last years camp with Cynthia Norwood. She was sooo close to being finished!! And she has now decided to pull out those 2 hot pink flowers. It's awesome in person!! And i don't know how large it is... but i'm guessing about 4 feet by 4 feet?

And here's a close up of her background. Love it!!!!!! This is my favorite way to do an antique black background!!

Okeedokee, that's it for tonight! Time for me to get to bed.

I didn't hook today. BUT know what i did do?

I CLEANED OFF MY DESK!!!!!!!!!! LOL I can't even begin to tell you how ACCOMPLISHED i feel!!! hahaha! Seriously! I don't think i've cleaned it off for... mmm... about 3 months?! wow. can't believe i just admitted that! LOL!

Have a great day! :D

Camp pics #1

So, I'm sitting here in the pitch dark...only the light from my computer screen... good ole' light bulbs blew here in the office... haha ..and apparently i need to go buy light bulbs tomorrow! Thought there were some in the closet, but nope! So please forgive any faux pas! Can't see the darn keys - specially for the numbers or symbols!

OK, so i thought i would show bits at a time. I wish i had gotten pics of everyone at the camp, but by the time i actually thought to take pics of all the participants, half of them had already left :(

So here we have Sandy's rug in progress. This is a Barb Carroll pattern, i'm not quite sure of the name? It's a weather vane of a guy hunting, and his dog. I "think" the weather vane is tied to a big corn stalk or something? lol At least that's how sandy and jule interpretted it! So... she is doing the guy, dog and deer in a dark kahki green, with dark navy lines. She is going to have a dark dark red (ox blood) background. You can kind of see it around the man.

Well mr. man wasn't showing up so good!! So Jule suggested she outline him with the gold from the stars. Outline him directly next to the kahki, and then still have the red background. I thought.. ewww.. really? I knew it would make him pop and stand out, but it sure didn't sound like it would look good! LOL Well... i gotta tell ya... it really DID look good!! And he not only showed up.. but it kind of looked like the sun was setting behind him.. and he was just haloed in light! I sure wish i would have gotten a snapshot of it after she did that!! Now, her border.... this is something very cool that Jule taught, and repeated several times... for unique borders, look for shapes or things, or negative space in the rug. Some things are obvious... but she really focuses on things that are NOT obvious! Do you see the little "crook", or wavy line of negative space above the mans hat, and down over his face? THAT is what she pulled from to make the border!! HELLO!!! Now how many of you would have thought of that???? I know i sure wouldn't have! LOL! So she had sandy draw a very funky, some high, some low wavy line. On one side (outside) would be hit or miss of all the colors and wools used in the rug. On the inside of the black line, it will be all mixed antique blacks and kahki's. All her stars (there are 4) will be the mixed golds. Gonna be pretty stunning when it's done!!!
This is Sandy... hookin and talkin!! And any of you that know her, know this is how we see her most of the time! LOL
OOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HOW I LOVE THIS RUG!!!!!!!!!!!!! And ooh how i wish my camera liked me!! I could not manage to capture the absolute richness, and true colors in this rug! :( Sandy hooked this also. She's almost finished, and it is just magnificent!! This too is a Wooley Fox pattern, i believe it's called Grande Fleur (?) It has an eggplant background and a bunch of different sage and kahki-ish greens. It's just stunning in person! You can click on these photos and enlarge them, sometimes that helps in seeing the details better!

And last but not least this is another rug hooked by Sandy. :)

I am going to try to show you the rugs each were working on at camp and some of the ones they brought to show. Kind of fun!! Although I didn't get the names for all the rugs there... so hopefully i dohn't make a mash of this! LOL

This is the barn on Vicky's property. Isn't it picturesque?!
Yes... it really looked like this!! Can you tell i am on a motivated high? haha! All that color and creativity around me - I'd have to be DEAD not to be infused by it! LOL

I don't know who hooked both of these, but they were at camp, so i know one of the gals hook them!!
That's it for today!! More on the way tomorrow! :D

Have a blessed week!

xo

Bren :)

Quick post

Real quick... here is a pic of my rug. The gold is soft and muted and the values are about right.. but the gold looks more like old mustard gold in person, rather than tan. lol

I have been on the run all morning and day... some really exciting stuff... can't wait to share it with you if it comes to fruition!!!! But for now, I have to bite my tongue.. and see how things are going to play out! I'm hoping to post some of the in progress rugs from camp tomorrow!

hugs,

Bren :)

Picked up some fun goodies!

This year at camp, Dixie did something fun and new! She had a bedroom dedicated as "the shop", and it was FULL of prim goodies! She had been cleaning out all summer, and decided some things had to find new homes. Antique bobbins, little quilts, hooked dolls, prim sheep, brooches, make do's, all kinds of cool stuff! I had the hardest time restraining myself!! But money's been pretty tight the last two months or so with all the birthdays and sports, so i had to! BUT... couldn't NOT buy some of these goodies... right?!?

So confessing right now and sharing with all of you what I bought, besides more wool of course!

This is a darling little make do pear, made out of and old quilt. Actually quite large and stands about 8" tall and different on all three sides. :) Saw this and HAD to have it! LOL awesome makedo pincushion that was made with wool... appliqued pennies and hooked star on top... and check out that little dangling sheep!!
And last but not least........ i LOVE this mug!

I have a thing for big coffee mugs with good big handles. I kind of collect them whenever i see them. And this one could NOT be passed up!! Never seen one like it! Do you see what she has in her hand?
Here's the other side!! LOLOL
I heart this mug!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok.. that's it for now. haha. And yes, i did buy wool too! :)
More to come tomorrow!
hugs,
Bren :)

Back from Camp!

Hi !! :)

I'm back from camp! Wow, what a great 4 days! I had such a fantastic time!! It's always so wonderful to be around old friends, laughing, hooking and learning! And meeting new friends!

I don't think there's anything better!!

I have SOO much to share with you all! But there's no way to cram it all into one post - or even two or three! So i will probably be sharing differenting things throughout the next week or so. Lots of wonderful rugs, things i learned, and my poor photography attempts on all the INCREDIBLE aspens!

I've told you before, my cheesy little digital camera HATES yellows. LOL It's true! It distorts and changes yellows to greens or oranges - but never true yellows or golds - it's so weird. So... just know that these trees were absolutely magnificent in person, and according to my camera, they were only mediocre!!

This is where I was... Steamboat Springs, Co. All the golds and oranges on those mountains are aspens. Wish you could see the TRUE colors of that mountain!!I stayed with a friend, who just recently bought the most darling little farm - farm house, bunk house and barn included! It was such a warm cozy place to be! I loved it!

And look who I got to talk to while drinking my morning coffee!! :D

This is probably one of the closest in color of the aspens... i swear.. in person... it looks like they are on fire, they just GLOW!!! Isn't that insanely gorgeous?!?!?
This was my teacher, Jule Marie Smith. She's absolutely DARLING!!! I really enjoyed her and learned a bunch!!
And this is my rug in progress. Sorry... photography 101, rule #1 is something like never shoot a pic with direct backlighting if you don't want your subject to turn out black.

Am i right? LOL Well i lightened this pic the best i could! haha! Jule was doing show and tell with all the rugs.. standing in front of a bunch of windows - couldn't be helped!

And you probably can't tell.. but that's a gold background. Each flower is completely different. I was having little panic attacks at how busy it would make everything. lol But she eased my "fear" (if ya really wanna call it that? what's another word?) quite adeptly! And we just "built" the rug one step at a time. Yep.. some are pretty bold!! specially for me!!

Ok... that's it for now. I might post more later today, or tomorrow. :)

Hope ya'll have a wonderfully blessed fall day! It is sooo gorgeous here today, and i intend to go out and enjoy it!! :)

xo Bren