The Blessing of Our Pool ~ Comfort and Dragonflies

There is nothing more relaxing to a body than hanging on a pool noodle in the deep end. And today was my first dragonfly landing of a new swimming pool season. Life is good!

http://www.dragonflydream.com/Delight.htmlIn North American Indian lore, the dragonfly is the essence of the winds of change, representing the messages of wisdom and enlightenment; and communication from the elemental world. The dragonfly possesses the ability to see through illusion. They bring prosperity and harmony. The dragonfly totem teaches skillful action while maintaining a free and joyful sense of being. The dragonfly brings the light and color of transformation into your life.  

Today we had an exceptional visitor ~ A large reddish orange dragonfly! Along with the usual blue darters! Awesome!

Grateful for a chance to get together with family

We had the chance to hit the pool yesterday with our daughter and her family. A barbecue and some ice cold watermelon are all good ways to kick off summer! But the best part of it all, was a visit from their sister in law. She has been like another daughter since they were wed. She and her husband are getting ready to move far away, so it will be awhile before we have such a chance again. Here she is with our granddaughter enjoying trying out several varieties of bubble pipes. There were many beautiful bubbles and lots of laughter! Hope anyone who wanders over here to read this post will have a wonderful weekend with family as well. Happy Memorial Day!

Please remember to say a prayer of thanksgiving  and protection for the current members of all the armed forces and their families. Memorial Day is about soldiers who have made the ultimate sacrifice. We have so many blessings in our country, but many will mourn a fallen soldier from the current war or one long ago.

Grateful for a wonderful "week" at Rug Camp

Home safe, and exhausted from all the fun and a schedule way different from usual! A quick shout out to Maria, Pati Jane, Ginger, Sally, Martha, Cora, Marsh, Teena, Maggie B, all my Stash Sisters, and other rug hookers at Texas Star Rug Camp at Tyler. Wonderful fun loving ladies every one!

Hope everybody made it home safely, or is in the process of arriving there, with no more trouble than me! I'm gonna wait to unpack until its cooler! 96 this afternoon!

This was a wonderful experience, but definitely humbling! So many wonderful rugs in progress ~ Will put up some pictures this weekend of the rug show on Wednesday. No where near all the rugs, and was packing the car after checking out during the throw down show today!

I actually think I may be hooked out for today, will enjoy an evening of tv and catching up with my dh. Gotta tell all the funny things that happened! Catch y'all later...

Grateful for my teacher, April (again)

At different times in our life we are blessed by the contact of a special teacher. This is one of those times for me. I've yearned and whined for years about wanting to dye wool. Yet, the time never seemed right. I had the most available time over summer breaks from being a 5th grade teacher, but with the heat outdoors, and air conditioning bills it was easy to just continue doing kool aid. It was fun and satisfying, but like many things the taste made me hunger for more.

Never during those days of wishing could I have guessed in my wildest imagining that I'd do graduated strips when the actual dyeing began. Yet April has the steps so organized, and has been so supportive about my results, that it now seems the most natural of things to have learned.

Another thing I've admired, but not tried were the lovely wool flowers many hookers wear on their aprons. The apron's purpose is to keep down the amount of wool dust/lint off your clothes. We are making special "sunflower" pins to give to participants at the first annual Kirby Circle Hook In, which will be on June 26. The deadline for sending in a reservation is now June 15. It is sure to be lots of fun, and of course there will be wonderful vendors.


Here is a picture of the first 4 flowers I made last weekend. I'll make more to sell at Green Market, as this would be a wonderful item for my booth there. I changed it up to use some upcycled felted sweater material in the one with an arrow and smiley face. Guess who taught me how to make the sunflowers? April, of course!

Grateful to be included in an Etsy Treasury!

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4bef122e4d168eef1923d8e9/halloween365

It is always an honor to be included in a Treasury at Etsy!  My version of the October Rug inspired by Lori Brechlin's original notecard and drawn into a rug pattern by Kris Miller of Spruce Ridge Studios was lots of fun to hook. The rug is supposed to show the magical drawing down of power from the moon.  Keep your fingers crossed that the treasury will introduce my little red headed witch to someone who will provide her with a new home. :)

Grateful for another successful dyeing formula ~ Yellow Rose

Today after coming home from my doctor's appt, I took another adventure in dyeing. This is a look at the graduated strips still in their numbered jars. I'm thinking it is a nice prim yellow through really nice gold. What do you think? Not all of the dye has taken up yet, so it will look a tiny bit different. The big pickle jar gets half a jar of hot/warm tap water, whatever is left of the cup of  formula, after I measure out the amounts for the jars, and some wool and yarn. This time a quarter yard of off white wool, and 4 - 10 yard hanks of white wool. All of these colors are because April Deconick has so generously shared her expertise. :)

My next adventure in dyeing my own personal palette will be a red. Look for that in June. I'm headed off to Texas Star Rug Camp in just a couple of weeks to take a class with Maria Barton, Star Rugs, and a couple of AAPG pals ~ Ginger and Patijane ~ who will be driving down from Oklahoma.

Bluebonnets, Yellow Rose, hmmm not sure Redneck Red is quite the right name for it...maybe another floral. If you have a suggestion for a good name that would fit in my TX palette. Suggest it in a comment, and you might win a fat quarter of those 8 tones. Sort of a pig in a poke, since I haven't even dyed that first batch...but then again, its always fun to be the winner!