A beautiful Saturday!

The weather today was gorgeous! I tell you, those of us in the northeast really lucked out this past week, and today Aaron and I took advantage of the warm weather (well, warmer than usual), and sunny skies. My original plans included laundry and a bit of hooking, and Aaron was going to work on his boat....but the open road beckoned, so off we went! We ended up driving up through part of the Hudson Valley, and almost into the Catskills, stopping along the way at a few antique stores and indoor flea markets, finding a couple of treasures to bring home. Of course, my treasure was a great vintage hooked rug, and Aaron found an old picture of a man that could be Bill Murray's double from his Caddy Shack days. Bill Senior (his new nickname) is now hanging in the mancave by the bar, and my rug is in my studio, ready for a bit of cleaning. We drove through an old one lane covered bridge, and saw more small towns and villages in one day than we'd seen for the past year. I still want a place in the country one of these days, but I swear all we kept saying was, "I wonder where they buy their groceries?! And what about a Dunkin' Donuts craving?!" lol


This is the rug I bought today. The colors look much brighter in the picture than the actual rug, but what really caught my eye was the border. The wool used looks like maybe herringbone or checks, and reminds me of a kind of paisley pattern. I'm going to tack down the binding, and reinforce some of the backing around the edges, but other than that, I really like it!

Just to show my recent addiction to vintage rugs, this is one I bought at a flea market in New Milford (the Elephant's Trunk), and it's just gorgeous! Again, the binding needs to be tacked down, but other than that, I'm not going to touch anything else on it. It does need a gentle cleaning, but from what I've read, some time right side down in the snow, then club soda on the leftover spots, and it's ready to hang. No, I don't put my rugs on the floor mainly because of our two dogs, two cats, two kids, and all their friends!

This is a rug I bought at a local antique store that needs quite a bit of restoring, but I just love the colors and the pattern. Here's a few more pictures of the damage, and if anybody has any advice on the restoration, let me know!

There's also a hole in the pattern that I'm going to need to patch with backing, then rehook the area after I dye some wool to match the surrounding pieces. I may have taken on more than is possible to fix, but I just couldn't leave the rug where it was....on the floor!!

One of the women that took my hooking class a couple of years ago gifted me with a rug she had found in an attic, and while it's not all the way finished, I just love the pattern. It's not a hooked rug, but one that maybe used some kind of rug punch needle and yarn. I am really itching to get it finished and bound, but it's not something I've ever done before. Again, if anybody is familiar with the stitches of this rug, please let me know! The colors are every bit as bright in person as they are showing up on the picture!!


This is a close up of one of the blocks, and following is the back. As you can see, the pattern is drawn on the back of the rug instead of the front, which I what I'm used to working with.
Well, I'm pretty well exhausted and ready to hit the sack. Hope everyone had a great Saturday, and is looking forward to a restful Sunday...I know I am!

Snowstorm-December 2009!

I almost gave up on the snow yesterday. Heard it was going to start at noon...oh no, not until 4:00, and wait....around 10:00pm. Needless to say I was starting to think it was a joke, but around 10:00 last night it started and didn't stop until early this morning and boy did old man winter deliver!

Our deck and the chairs I forgot to put away!

Our front door before the shoveling commenced!

I do love snow.....and rumor has it we might have more snow Christmas Eve into Christmas Day....now that would be a hoot!!!! I'm off to shower than start baking. It's definitely a baking kinda day!!

WOOOHOOOOO!!!!

Wintry storm churns toward Northeast

By Craig Johnson, Special to CNN

December 18, 2009 1:00 p.m. EST


I am so excited! I've been crossing my fingers for a good snow storm forever!! Of course, the weathermen are covering their rears by saying it could just give Connecticut a glancing blow or it could really hammer us with over a foot of snow from early Saturday evening to early Sunday evening. Either way, Sunday is my day to bake and I'm definitely going to stock up tonight.

Seriously....this is one of the reasons I love living in New England.....the snow and the history.

Snowy blessings to us all!!

A primitive Christmas

Busy, busy, busy! I decided a couple of weeks ago that I wanted our upstairs to be decorated with just less. More hand-made decorations and less lights, I guess. So far, it's working out pretty well. I have dried oranges and made gingerbread ornaments for a small prim tree by the door as well as using things from nature to spice up the place. Last year, I dried oranges by slicing them thing and putting them in a 200 degree oven for about six hours. Since we use propane to cook with, it wasn't really cost efficient. This year, my mom found an article in her local paper about how to dry them quicker but still in the oven. Here's my first try with this way (with pictures of course!)

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees. My oven has a convection setting, so I did use that. Kind of makes sense that circulating hot air would dry the slices faster.

Slice the oranges as thin as you can get them.

Then line a microwave plate with a paper towel, line up the orange slices and cover them with another paper towel. Microwave for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes on high and transfer them to a cookie sheet lined with foil.


Put them in the oven for one hour, flipping them about halfway through. My slices are a little too thick, so next time, I'll try for even thinner. Then you wait with your trusty assistant until they look done.

Meet Ranger, my trusty assistant.

Here's how they look right out of the oven.

I let them cool on the sheets for about half an hour just to make it easier to handle. Once you can handle them, I add a few cloves, some gingerbread ornament stars and one whole orange studded with cloves into a small wooden bowl underneath my prim Christmas tree. Here's a few pictures to get the effect.

It's a little dark, but you get the idea. Here's a couple of pictures of my tree.


You can see some of the gingerbread men I made last weekend as well as homespun stockings that are stuffed with fiberfill, then topped with cinnamon sticks and a little dough star. I think I'm going to make a few more of the stars as well as hearts and small gingerbread men to put in mason jars along with dried orange slices for little take home gifts.

I have been doing some rug hooking as well as cross-stitching, but can't show the cross-stitch. It's a present for the daughter and fiancee of my absolute best, best friend. Her daughter is getting married in August of 2010, and I'm hoping to be there for the celebration along with a beautiful handmade present.

Work tomorrow, so I'm off for now. I'll post pictures of my current project as well as a couple of vintage hooked rugs that I'm going to attempt to restore.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

One serious.......

"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them."
John Fitzgerald Kennedy

......and one funny.....

What we're really talking about is a wonderful day set aside on the fourth Thursday of November when no one diets. I mean, why else would they call it Thanksgiving?

~Erma Bombeck, "No One Diets on Thanksgiving," 26 November 1981

Hope your Thanksgiving is wonderful!!

Naomi

Other primitive work

I thought I'd put some other fun work I did in a separate post. While trying to get rid of my creative block, I tried doing something other than hooking, and had a great time! The last time I was at our local Goodwill looking for wool, I ran across this great shelf/mail holder that was on the weekly 50% off list! So, I splurged the $2 for the shelf, and brought it home. Here's how it looked when I got it home.











Not much to look at, I know, but after a few coats of paint, some sanding to approximate wear, and stain, I think it turned out great!











After that, I was ready for another project, so I headed down to our cellar to see what else I could "antique"! I bought this great little two-drawer chest about 11 years ago at the Harvest Moon Festival here in Naugatuck, and had run out of room for it in my kitchen.










Of course, using the same paint techniques, this is how it looks now. The picture's a little blurry, but it really turned out great.










I grabbed the idea for this refinishing project from The Pickled PepperPatch.
She has some really great ideas, so head over to your Goodwill, Salvation Army, and tag sales for some great and inexpensive things that can be made over!!

Happy Summer (even with the rain!)

I hope this post finds everyone enjoying their summer, rainy days and all! After a few days of absolutely gorgeous weather, we're in for another week of rain. Since my gardens have had time to recover and dry out, I think my tomatoes are enjoying the rain!

Some hooking has been happening here, but it was a tough go for a while. Every once in a while, like all artists, I think, I had some kind of block. I wanted to hook, almost needed to hook (lol) but just couldn't seem to figure out what I wanted to hook. Then, I headed over to Betty Dekat's blog, Primitivebettys and grabbed one of her freebie patterns. It was great fun to hook, and kind of put me into a fall hooking mood. I haven't bound any of my recent rugs yet, so just imagine away the white border! If you're looking for some great free patterns, head over to Betty's blog. She is one of the fiber artists in the Ebay group PRHG, and always delivers beautiful items!



After finishing that rug, I started on another small mat that will fit on a primitive stool, and a Christmas candle mat. None are bound yet, but I will save that for another day!