Turkey and Tallowberries Update

Wow, I really am getting close to finishing.  So maybe it is possible to have it hooked and bound before Cape May.

Just a little on the right side to hook then to steam, do pre-binding stitching and trimming then bind.  

Meanwhile, today I had my EKG which was required by my eye surgeon as my other EKG was over a year ago.  So many various doctor appointments coming up which is really interfering with my rug camp anticipation and preparedness.  

So later today after the EKG (which the doctor said was fine) told myself not to think of the huge plate of doctors before me..... just one week at a time.

Now, almost dinner time, Ben has been walked and have poured myself a glass of Pinot Noir to chill and work more on binding NED.  Remember Ned?  Will soon show you a finished picture of him soon.

Meanwhile, do you believe tomorrow is September 1st?????  I can't. What is worse is that I must now travel toward the beach area on the Thursday before Labor Day when folks are taking an extra day to have a long weekend at the beach.  That is where my eye doctor is.  

A day or so ago noticed more floaters and flashes in the other (right) eye.  Concerning me was that it was in the form of a hair or thread which had dot floaters attached.  Wasn't sure if I should call the eye surgeon or not since there is a pre-op visit coming up in September before the October surgery. But decided to call and they can tell me no problem.  Or at least that is what I was hoping.

So I must show up tomorrow for them to check it out to see how serious and what changes must be made for my lenses for the surgery. OMG, this getting older is REALLY getting OLD and not for the faint of heart.  Think I'm becoming more faint of heart.

Happy hooking, happy quilting, stitching or whatever lowers your BP.

Saundra

Ben's Results

One of Ben's doctors called me today with results.  Seems the results of the biopsy report and other tests turned out okay. 

Just in case you are wondering...... just behind Ben is a wooden TV tray which I've pushed under the side table.  Otherwise that goofy boy gets his butt under it and when getting up tilts everything off the damn table.  I love my boy but he is surely a bull in a china shop.  

SO, what causes the spleen to enlarge??  It is a sort of alert system.

Blood runs thru the spleen which makes it react to certain environmental changes; his eating something, drinking water outside, eating squirrel and rabbit excrement, etc.  But could also have been related to a recurrence of a "mast cell tumor" which was removed.  

But my handsome boy has good test results and this is him coming running when I mentioned the word...."cookie".

Hope your evening is as good as mine will be tonight knowing my Ben is okay.  Sure was lucky to adopt such a loving dog at the age of 3 years 7 months almost 5 years ago.  Love ya Ben.

Saundra

I Got Hugged Today

Today I picked up my mail and knew it was time for certain monthly bills to arrive but in the stack there was a card easily identify-able by the color, size and shape of the envelope.  Yup, I'd gotten another hug from a very dear friend of mine.

Honestly don't know what I've ever done to be considered a friend by this wonderful, generous and talented lady.  This isn't the first card I've received from her.

Above is another card, again with a sweet message inside to warm my heart.  There were others and I won't embarrass her by mentioning a name but she is the one with the loving soul and heart.  

What I know for sure is that instead of emails to her, in the future I'll take time to choose a special card instead.  Well.... maybe not instead, maybe in addition to.   Perhaps we all need to take more time to write instead of text, email or do Facebook ~ for God only knows who else reads those and most are friends of friends and don't even know the people.  I'm going to start making it more personal like my friend did and send a card.

The cards will be prominent on my desk so that I'll see them daily and remind me of the friendship.  Heck, who can forget that friendship? This friendship and that woman is ingrained in my soul and spirit forever.

Love you friend and think of you often.  Hope you stay well and as stress free as possible.  BEAR HUGS........

Saundra

Turkey Anyone?

Definitely felt good to pull loops on my Turkey and Tallowberries rug again.  It is getting close to being done but not so certain it will be bound in time for Cape May rug show.  

After all, Cape May is in just 3 weeks, I have 3 various appointments to make during that time and don't know about Ben's test results yet. Besides there is a major overhaul to clean up after the tornado which went thru my wool room.

The other day Colleen wrote asking what I used for the background. Since she is a No-Reply Blogger was unable to write her personally.  So here is a photo of numerous wool which has been hooked in this brug.  The colors show up much more vivid due to the flash. 

As you can see there are some off the bolt textures purchased from both Heavens to Betsy and The Wool Studio as well as some which I've overdyed myself. 

Cut Ben's backyard today and made one more hookers pocket.  Would like to make a couple more pockets to sell at Cape May but me thinks my wool room needs some attention first.

Happy Sunday.

Saundra

And Then There Were Three

The detour was fun.....for a while.  But have missed rug hooking so it is time for me to take a break.  I'm at the age now where if it isn't fun then stop doing it and do what makes you happy.

Today I purchased a few more magnets so will make a couple more to take to Cape May plus one which someone ordered.  Definitely won't work on them today since I just finished hand stitching the green one after lunch and need my hooking fix.  

Tomorrow is my grandson's birthday party so grandma will be there to celebrate his being a teen.  With no hooking going on tomorrow will definitely need another hooking fix when I get home.  Again, no pocket work being done tomorrow at all.

For sure want to finish up the next few pockets and be done with them so I can clean up the chaos in my wool room.  There's wool on the floor, the wool which was neatly stacked fell into an empty spot behind the stack.  Now it is a jumbled up mess.  Besides, rug camp is getting closer and need to get far more orderly than I am.

Colleen, you are a NO-REPLY blogger so am unable to respond to your question personally.  There is a way you can fix that so GOOGLE how to fix that problem.

Have a great evening.

Saundra

Another Pocket Completed

Was almost done with the third one but needed to make a blog post before it got too late.  Will save that one for tomorrows post.

As you can see there is a magnet at the top which holds scissors.  The pocket at the bottom can hold a few hooks or snippets if you wish. Notice the stitching at the very bottom of the pocket?   That is canvas which was stitched to reinforce the bottom and ensure the tips of the hooks wouldn't go thru the wool.  

For the remainder of the night my plans are to hook on Turkey and Talloweberries.  But tomorrow will finish #3 and will make one more to take to Cape May.

Have a great evening everyone.

Saundra

DETOUR...Men at Work

Let's make that WOMAN at WORK.  

Had a busy day running my boy to vet; more on that later in the post.

And am in the middle of making more handy hooker pockets to put in the camp store at Cape May when I go September second week.  One is done with pennies.  The magnet at the top holds the scissors and the pocket at the bottom could hold your various hooks or snippets.    In case you are wondering, that beautiful horse hooked piece is something I purchased from talented Tonya Roby of MadHenPrims.

Am going to make 3 more and here is wool being considered for others with different designs and will have different colors.

Now for my boy Ben.  I feel privileged to have both vets on duty when taking Ben this morning to Western Sussex Animal Hospital.  At his annual visit last week and again this week the speen was enlarged. Plus the sonogram did show something suspicious.  They are being cautious because Ben had a 'low grade mast cell tumor' removed in March this year and those often show up again.  

Ben is now 8 years 3 months, a large boy and want to keep him as long as possible.  Here he is totally wasted by today's doctor's visit.   Hey Ben, I feel your pain I'm not fond of doctor appointments and tests either.

Then the bald belly where they wanted clean shots for the sonogram. Am so glad I wasn't there while they inserted the needle to retract fluid.  They said he was a good boy.  I say he's my almost perfect boy. Were it not for the vehicles with wheels thing...... he would be perfect. But I love him nevertheless.

Have a good evening and I'm hoping to pull a couple loops on Turkey and Tallowberies in a few minutes.

Saundra

Turkey and Tallowberries Progress

Am excited to show you my update today after looking at it on the floor in person before taking this photo.

There were a couple decisions made as the initial color planning was forming in my mind.  One was it seemed to need a balance to the light tallowberries and thought a one line border to outline the rug might do the job. So I chose a black and white honeycomb wool which was purchased from The Wool Studio.

The other first try and happy color choice was that bright orange for the eye. I'm sure many of you questioned my decision when first writitng about it but when looking a the rug on the floor just now my attention went straight to the eye.  And hey, aren't we supposed to look our subjects in the eye?  Plus, the white of the tallowberries doesn't overpower the rug because 'the eye has it' under control.

There is still more to hook, which is fine and I'll take my time.  Also still have the rest of Ned to bind but have a couple eye doctor appointments coming up so will do that while sitting in the waiting room.

My big Ben had his annual physical and senior blood panel last week. Today I was called and the kidney test was slightly elevated and the vet wants to do a sonogram to investigate about something she felt on his spleen.  Since Ben had a low grade mast tumor removed in April I need to be diligent on his health follow-ups.  Love my boy and want him to stay in my life as long as possible so he goes for the sonogram this Wednesday.

Happy Monday to you all.

Saundra

Handy Dandy Hooking Helpers

Here are just a few of the wonderful tools I use to make hooking so much better.  One I love are my Hartman Hooks and have a back up for a back up since my girl Shadow thought mine was a chew toy when she was a pup.  Thankfully she had tiny teeth so didn't do too much damage so sanded it down with fine sandpaper and oiled it again.

From left to right is my hook and scissor pocket, brush for cleaning wool  threads and dust off rugs, hand held OTT light, and gripper cleaner.

Above is the pocket being used on my frame.  A magnet holds my scissors and the pocket is where I place my various hooks so they don't get lost between the sofa cushions or dropped and then roll under the chair or sofa.  Guess I need to make a couple to take to Cape May as I only have one left.

The nifty brush I purchased at the Maryland Shores rug camp store one year.  Can't remember the cost but it was nominal and well worth the cost.

Another view of the brush.

Then is an unlikely great tool which is a dog brush to clean those gripper strips which seem to gather loads of threads and dust while holding our patterns down.  This one was purchased at Roses, the cost only $2.99 and got 10% for senior discount.  And boy does it do the trick.

Oh, the OTT light was purchased from Michaels and was priced at $19.99 but had a 40% off coupon.  It is really handy to see the true color of your wool as you hook.

Happy Sunday to you all.  Will spend the rest of the day hooking on Turkey and Tallowberries since yesterday was spent cutting grass and two showers.  Even tho I knew there would be a shower after cutting the grass I just MUST shower every morning.  To me, going without a shower in the morning would be like not brushing my teeth.

Maybe, just maybe I'll make some progress on that rug today and have something to crow about tomorrow.

Saundra

Now and Then

Okay, I've done some tweaking (duh, my middle name) and this is Turkey and Tallowberries now.

Am happier than what it looked like before.  I switched out the top and bottom tail feathers.  But hey, who knows if it might not be tweaked again before the rug is done.

Blogger friend Lauren (Rugs and Pugs) commented she saw the pattern at Sauder in Spruce Ridge Studio's booth and didn't realize how big it was.  Yet Lauren likes smaller pieces.  So for those of you wondering, the pattern measures 18 x 28 which doesn't seem so big to me.

Happy Friday to you all and hope you have a safe and great weekend.

Saundra

My Boy Ben

My handsome boy Ben had his annual physical today.  Yet it was just in April when he had the spot removed from his belly.  

The picture above was taken November 2011 soon after adoption and before he had his backyard.  That is why he is tethered while I trim lirope near him.  Isn't he a handsome boy?

This photo above is the following November when Ben and Phantom (a neighbor's Rottie and Ben's best pal) played in their backyard.  Ben is on the left and Phantom on the right.  Phantom is gone and even now when we walk by the house Ben will cry.

When Ben was at the vet in April he was 103.4 pounds and since he is a big dog and Rotties are prone to hip problems they wanted me to get him back to his best weight which was under 100 lbs.  Yippee, mama's diet for Ben showed that since April (just 4 months folks) he is now at 98.4 pounds.  

All I did was do less cookies.  If good behaviour deserved a cookie then I broke it in half.  He didn't know he was getting half...he knew he had a cookie.

Ben LOVES his veggies.  When I make a salad or hears me washing veggies he runs in the kitchen.  Ben loves the hard white parts of Romaine and Iceberg lettuce; loves the tips of zuchinni, the ends of celery and carrots.  Oh, also loves the ends of asparagus and fresh spinash....go figure.  DO NOT give onions to dogs.

Anyway, most of you have already stopped reading my blog by now I'm sure, but hey, don't have a new picture of my rug.

This is what my boy endured today:

~Check on surgery spot of mass removal
~senior blood profile
~Lyme Vaccination
~Lepto vaccination
~Anal sac expression
~nails clipped
~plus various and sundry probes and punches

So on the way home when Ben was stressed out, panting and under duress, he said to me...".a little this, a little that." 

But if ya want to know what he did have to say which I won't post here.... write me to inquire.  If you are a NO-Reply blogger you won't get the message.

Have a great evening everyone.  And FYI I adore my wonderful adopted Rottweiler.  Do not hesitate to adopt a dog.  I prefer big dogs as they are great protectors and faithful companions who want to be with family too.

Saundra

Natural Dyeing

Can't believe that as hot and humid as it is outside that I'm thinking of dyeing.  Perhaps it is because I feel like I am in a hot pot of water.  And no am not getting ready to dye, that will come later into the cooler temperatures but need something to write about.

In the past I have done some natural dying using onion skins, avocado pits and black walnuts.  To see a collage of old posts on different dye methods posted on my blog click HERE.

While perusing Pinterest the other day saw a magnificent photo of dyeing with black beans.  And they were beautiful colors.  So this post is a historical record for me as well as giving info to my textile loving friends.

Isn't that an awesome color?  It came from an old post by lilfishstudios.

And the photo of the beautiful yarn dyed with black beans.

And another gorgeous color above which was posted by SpiritCloth. 

There is definitely a whole world of information to discover thru the internet.  If only there were more hours in a day and I weren't too lazy. Yet time spent on the internet takes up valuable time as well.  

Ben has been walked and he chose to do the short version and get back in the A/C.  Glad he did.  Now I'm going to veg out and hook more on the Turkey and Tallowberries so that maybe there will be more to show tomorrow.

Stay cool and dry.  Or.... IF you need rain hope you get only what you need.

Saundra

A Rug Show of Sorts

Since I won't have the luxury of seeing the Hutchinson rug display at Sauder or any of the other rugs, thought I'd post  my own rug show. 

In case you didn't know what a Hutchinson rug is, the above is an example of the type of rugs the husband and wife team (Mercedes and James Hutchinson) designed oh so many years ago.

Two floral rugs and the one above uses a very subtle and nice hit and miss border and inside.  Wish all my hit and miss attempts were so lovely.

Below is a half oval door mat with a chain border inside.

The following rug has primitive scrolls inside an oval.  That very black X in the center looks out of place and makes  me wonder if it was repaired at some point.

The little squirrel is rather out of focus, but I wasn't the photographer.

Talk about interesting hit and miss rugs...... I may even have shown this one before.

The rug below has colors I enjoy but is a little too fanciful for my home. Some of you may enjoy it tho.

A must have is a cat for Kelley.  Better yet would be a mama cat and three kittens for Kelley.

Hope all of you are staying cool.  This this is what the weather is like in Seaford now.  Luckily I don't live in Louisiana so should be thanful.  My heart goes out to all those folks.

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A

Another Serving of Turkey

That would be Turkey and Tallowberries, a design from the artwork of Lori Brechlin and offered as a pattern by Spruce Ridge Studios.  Also, this is another way for me to see if my color choices and direction is okay with me viewing it on my PC monitor.  Uh, not that it is the PERFECT teacher choice, but one I can live with.

Okey Dokey then..... here is what I've done.  So far lucky that for the stems and leaves were leftover noodles found in a piece of wool being considered for the stems and leaves.  How lucky was that????? However, they were #8 strips and my 'go to' strip size is now 8.5. But that works out to use them up. 

As you can tell I used the brown and white texture as the tallowberries. So got to thinking that with the white dots throughout the rug, perhaps a black and white honeycomb wool might bring it all together.  

So, I decided to try one row of border outline and put it in a turkey tail-feather as well.  Hmmm, I haven't even looked at an enlarged picture on my blog but am wondering about that yellow top tail feather. Perhaps that should be a more subdued brown or blue as is in the turkey.  Or maybe I should swap locations with the bottom feather color.

Am sure my loyal readers and followers will let me know their thoughts. I always appreciate everyone's input.

OMG, less than a month before Cape May rug camp and am still in slow-mo mode.

Wishing everyone well with whatever weather condition they are having to deal with.....dry, wet, flooding, fires.  My heart goes out to all of you. 

Saundra

Tallowberries

But before talking tallowberries ....want to show you what my thermostat indicated the outside temperature was before 7 a.m. yesterday. The windows were so fogged up due to humidity and heat that vision thru the windows was not possible.  Obviously it got hotter as the day progressed.  

And here it was this morning.

And Ben's backyard needs cutting and has to be done with a push mower.  Hope this heat ends soon.

Okay, so now to the topic.....Wonder what  tallowberries look like? I didn't know for sure so decided to check out the internet to make a proper choice for wool.  They are mostly white with a speck of brown. These are dried tallowberries.

Now I've a decision to make as to which wool or more than one I'll use for my tallowberries.  In a previous post I showed you a dye project learned from teacher Eric Sandberg called Birch Bark.  That wold be the second piece of wool and the second downward tallowberry hooked.

The top tallowberry is an 'as is' piece of wool but can't remember where it was purchased.  The bottom tallowberry is hooked using the textured piece of wool at the bottom and not sure from whom that was purchased either, sorry.  Have had both pieces of wool for a while.

In a way was hoping the overdye Birch Bark would work but am now thinking the top textured wool is the winner.  It is softer, not so bright and has that brown speck.  If you tap on the photo you can see them better.

Yeah I know....didn't finish hooking the turkey tail either even after showing my thoughts as to what to use.  Since there is so much background (boring) figured there should be something interesting left to hook later and keep my audience (if there is still any this summer) coming back to visit.

Stay cool if you can.  Ben's backyard definitely needs to be cut today and will do that after breakfast.  

My boy Ben is no dummy.  Actually he may be smarter than me (DUH). Yesterday around 4:30 p.m. took him out for his normal afternoon walk and he stood on the porch like a statue ~ thought to himself 'nope, too damn hot'  ~ and then turned around and wanted back in the A/C.  

Happy scorching Sunday to you all.

Saundra

Talkin' Turkey

Didn't get a whole lot hooked today since I had an eye doctor visit to see about the potential for cataract surgery. But since hooking is planned for this evening wanted to see a couple different photos on my computer monitor with wool possibilities.

Above is all that has been hooked so far and of course with the influence of sweet Barb had to put a little purple on the turkey.  Not sure if it is too bold a purple texture or not.

There are other wool choices needed soon too ~ like the leg wool colors and the other tail feather colors.   Was thinking that since I had the red/orange head there should be some red in the tail to balance it.  It hasn't been hooked in but rather placed in the spot.

Plus there is a choice to be made for the turkey leg colors.  Above is this orange herringbone which isn't the same as the eye but sorta balances the brightness.

Above is another leg choice but me thinks that is too neon bright. Another option would be for me to use that yellow as in the top tail feather.

There is one more tail feather drawn for which I've not chosen a color to ponder. Meanwhile, I'll let the turkey play in the yard for a while and hook a couple tallowberries to keep me entertained.

As always, I thoroughly enjoy everyone's opinion and ideas.  And for you just now visiting my blog, this is a design from the artwork of Lori Brechlin and offered in pattern form by Kris Miller of Spruce Ridge Studios.

Fun Wool Info from Teachers

Yesterday I posted a picture of the new project I'm working on as well as the wool below.

The first fun information is about that very light piece at the center top. One year in a class with Eric Sandberg he demonstrated how to dye what he called "Birch Bark".  That is what I'm planning to use as the tallowberries.  IF you would like to read the tutorial I did on my blog back in 2012, click HERE. 

The next fun thing I learned and also answered a question which always haunted me was about those ripped edges of wool with the eyelash.  In the past I would trim them off thinking of them as not being desirable or true to traditional rug hooking.  Until......My last class with Barb when I was hooking Simple Gifts.

 

Honestly don't remember which piece of wool in that rug above had a bit of an eyelash.  But Barb volunteered the information that she will often leave that fringe eyelash on to give the appearance of an old rug which is worn.  OMG!!!!!!  That is something which had haunted me forever.  That was a release, a freedom and acceptance of my inner thoughts.  Thank you Barb.

I thought that a 'purest' hell, do you think I'm a purest rug hooker HAR HAR HAR.  But to get the validation that it was okay to leave it on from a hooking icon like Barb Carroll!!!!  You kidding me!  I was over the moon happy.  

So you are wondering what that has to do with this rug, right?  That would be this piece of wool and others which are hooked in the turkey.

The eyelash on this wool is far longer than what was in the piece of wool on Simple Gifts.  Most of the wool on the blue chest of the turkey and all of the wool on the wing were both from Dorr (who has no more of this wool) and Barb Carroll who may have more.  It is a boucle which doesn't rip well but has a nice look.  So you decide and contact Barb if you want some.  

So thought it might be fun to have that eyelash around the tender underparts of my turkey legs and the edge of the wing.  Am sure it will show up more once the dark background is hooked in.

So for all you guys and gals who wondered if you needed to be anal and trim off those threads of weave ~ worry no more.  Unless, of course you're a purest.  In which case you aren't reading my blog anyway. Have fun with hooking.  

Have a great evening.... I'm sweltering here.  High heat and high humidity.  Hope you are comfy where you are.  Thankfully I've A/C this July.

Saundra