With a Little from My Friend

Well I thought I show you some pics from my day today since Mom has no new rugs to show.

Nap time this morning -

Nap time late morning -

Bath time this afternoon -

Isn't it just the best to have a friend to help with those hard to get places?

Just a little kiss to say thank you for your help!

Nap time this evening -

Now it's time for bed - Good nite and be sure to take a moment and tell someone Thank you for being your friend!  Whisker Kisses - Jonesy

Christmas Day

Well the day started out very quietly since it's only my husband and I and the kitties.  After breakfast and some playtime, Jonesy settled in my lap for a winter's nap.  He's too funny, I usually sit cross legged while I'm on the computer (reading blogs!) and he flops down - I'm telling you - my legs go numb after a bit - but he's so darn cute !

We spent the day over at my parents - so here are some random shots of the day -

Here's my Dad stopping to talk while we were waiting for my brother's family to arrive -

Here's my Uncle Bud being silly - well he's always silly - but we love him anyway -

Here is Uncle Bud and my niece Jessica - Oh my - I just can't believe how old we are all getting - Bud just turned 74 this past Halloween and Jess will be 27 in a few weeks - Hey I don't know what happened - I'd swear she was just born a few years ago!

Okay  - let me explain this pic - this is my SIL Cheryl wearing a purse on her head - Why? you ask is she wearing a purse on her head (My Mom made it and gifted her and I each one - it's made from wool and felted)  anyway - she was making fun of me - for those of you who read Kathy's (Rugs of Mine, In time) blog probably already knows how she teases me about putting things on my head - well so does my family - I guess I never realized I did it - Oh I got some potholders my Mom made too and put them on my head too  but no one got a pic of that! LOL  So here is my SIL making fun of me!   We were laughing pretty hard! 

Here's my other beautiful niece Desiree - she's 23 - again - where did the time go?

Here would be my husband my Dad - both looking like deer in headlights! I yelled over - Hey! and then snapped the pic - LOL

After dinner my brother sacked out in the chair! 

My Mom taking a break for about a minute (she never sits still) before everyone arrived -

So that was the Christmas celebration - lots of food and everyone left stuffed!

Came home and Jonesy was there at the door to tell us he was not stuffed but starving - so  we immediately fed the boys!  

Hope everyone had a good day!

...and to all a goodnite

Wishing Everyone a Very Merry Christmas

Well here it is - Christmas Eve 2009!  I want to wish everyone a wonderful Christmas and the hope that all your fondest wishes and dreams come true.  Enjoy the reason for the season and if you are traveling - safe travels!

Today was just an ordinary today.  The "boys" were napping...

as I was in the kitchen baking for tomorrow and doing laundry in between and my husband was doing the vacuuming (yeah - I hate ironing and vacuuming the most for household chores!)  Anyway i made a huge tray of Apple Crunch and 4 Cranberry Chai Loaves.  Everything is cleaned up and put away and ready for  tomorrow.   Oh and the "boys" are napping again!  LOL!

I wanted to share with you a couple of wonderful surprises I received in the mail yesterday from some dear friends.  I have to say I'm truly overwhelmed at the generosity of my friends - I often show pics of the surprises in the mail - and most of these woman I have  never ever met in person - yet from our love of the same things and crafting I believe we've found our kindred spirits and it's truly a family of friends.  Not really explaining this right - just wanted to thank you all for your friendship and those of you I have never met in person,  I do hope to meet one day and am so happy to call you friends.

Isn't this the cutest ornament - it is made of wool and has a felted snowman face. My friend Cathy (Hooked on Primitives) is amazing at all she puts her hands to - She is always making something new and a master of the 3-d rug hooked items! Cathy - thank you so much - I just love Mr.Snow!

Also in the mail yesterday I received this awesome quilt.  Brenis (That Thing You do) made and surprised me with this quilt.  It's totally cool - I just love the colors and design - so my style - simple and prim.  She hand quilted this and also wool appliqued the flower and vine and leaves.  Bren is another talented lady and whatever she sets her hand to is wonderful.  She has a fun infectious spirit that you can't help but smile after "talking" with her! Thank you again Bren - I will treasure this (the colors came out bad in my pic way brighter than it really is - it's a darker tan with mustards, reds, greens,etc.!)

Tomorrow it will be spent with my parents, my uncle, and brother and family at my parents house.   Hopefully someone will get something fun to play with as there is no little ones in the family anymore. I always enjoyed playing with the kids and their toys!

Again - MERRY CHRISTMAS !

A Lazy Snowy Day

 It's snowing buckets outside right now and has been all day.  The snowplow has just gone through and it doesn't even look like it 10 minutes later.   I've been in my rug hooking room most of the day not doing much but watching TV and at different times have had a different kitty in my lap.  My husband is holed up in his bunker watching the Flyers game.  I took the camera around at different times today and as you can see from the pics - no one is doing much!

This was taken right after 'breakfast' - Looks like someone needs a nap...

This was right after breakfast - someone is settling in for his long winter's nap...

Another one down for a long winter's nap...

Later this afternoon...

And this picture truly amazed me - You have to remember Miles grumbles and growls and hisses and spits anytime Riley or Jonesy comes near him...

And this one about 1/2 hour later - because I just didn't believe what I saw earlier - I truly almost dropped the camera...

Maybe Miles is lightening up - or maybe they are doing it out of necessity - do I keep it too cold in the house and they are snuggling for body heat?  I don't know but I do hope it lasts - I love when all my guys are buddies.  

Okay - what do all these items have in common?  A bag of snippets, my hartman hook, my miller hook, my wool bag that holds my hooks, and my snippet dish????

Sure they are all rug hooking items but that's not it! What they have in common is that they all helped solve a part of a mystery.

A few weeks ago I went into my little wool bag (where I keep my rug hooking scissors, my two hartman hooks, the little white miller hook, a sharpie, my whipping needles, and whatever else lands in there.   I opened it and no hartman hooks - neither one were in there - these are my favorite hooks to hook with - I really don't care for this little white hook but keep it using it now and then - you never know - eventually I may like it - Anyway - I start looking all over the place - in my worm pile, in my bags I take to hook-in's, I then started looking everywhere in the hooking room - under the bed, down the side of the daybed, under the tv cabinet (remember I have those guys with little paws), everywhere - I spent two hours looking and was totally frustrated.  So I ended up finishing an item with the little hook.

Then for the next week I got busy with other things and didn't think about it. 

Well last weekend I went into my closet to pull out my bag of snippets to use to stuff the pin cushions.  I'm stuffing away and put my hand in the bag and hit something hard! OH WOW IT'S MY HARTMAN HOOK!  Oh my goodness, I could not stop laughing at myself - yes i was so happy to find my hook, but i'm just such a bonehead sometimes.  What I must have done was layed the hook down in my snippet dish  and then dumped it in the big bag without even realizing the hook was in the dish! 

Now to find my spare hook.... and no it's not in the bag of snippets - I checked!  Maybe one of the guys with the 4 paws knows, but they aren't telling!

Hoping everyone is safe and warm and enjoying their day.  I'm off to find something to hook...

Who'd A Thought A New Hair Dryer would Make Me Happy!

Sorry - no pics this post - My husband borrowed my camera and I haven't seen it for a few days. I told him I wanted it back next to my laptop where it belongs! Hmmm still hasn't shown up - little does he know he's getting a new camera (nicer than mine!) for Christmas - I bought him one for my Mom to give to him for Christmas. He keeps asking "What did you tell your Mom to get me? Tell her I want an Amazon.com gift card to buy a camera". I keep telling him it's none of his business and if he doesn't behave he'll be getting a rock!

How many of you like your hairdryer? Dumb question I know. I've been through several hairdryers in my life and none work as nice as the ones at the hairdresser. Let me re-phrase that - work as fast. I hate drying my hair - it's always been fine but thick and a lot of it (not length) and even when it was shorter, it takes forever to dry. It's really rare I ever fully dry it unless I've been to the hairdresser. I really hate to fuss with it and take the time to dry it - I feel there are so many other exciting things in life to be doing! hehehe I know I know - never had a good hair day and probably never will . And yes I do drive with the windows open (weather permitting of course) - hair be damned. I refuse to become part of the "helmut head brigade" - going through four cans of Aquanet a week and not allowing a touch of air on the head! Okay - I'm exaggerating - however a friend of mine years ago did go thru 2 cans of Aquanet a week and spent 3 hours doing her hair - yep everyday - Boy did everyone used to tease her. One time the guys threw her in a pool after she got out of the bathroom - and yes - back in the bathroom for another 3 hour session! Anyway, do they still make Aquanet?

Okay - I'm way off subject here - hairdryers. A few months ago mine stopped working so i pulled my really old one out from under the sink. Wasn't every happy with it and really wasn't happy with the one that conked out either. So yesterday while I was out shopping, I picked up a new one at Target and I can't tell you how happy I was this morning. This little dryer had more power on the low setting then my previous ones ever did on high! Practically blew the hair off my head - and my hair was TOTALLY dry in no time! Just loved it! This is the first hair dryer I ever had that had some "power" behind it! Okay, Okay - probably sounding like a dork here - you probably all have known there were good hairdryers out there and me at my age just finding this out! Oh well, now I won't be dreading getting out of the shower and having to dry my hair tomorrow.

So is everyone done their Christmas Shopping? Enjoying the season or stressed? I'm actually pretty relaxed - this is one of the first year that there wasn't too many demands on my time. I think I was able to actually say "no" to a few things this year which helped (family things) It's things not to do with Christmas that was actually driving me up the tree but it's starting to relax now and keeping my toes crossed everyone stays healthy and on track.

Wishing everyone a great weekend - Snow expected here tomorrow so I guess it's time to grease up the old shovel!

Cleaning, Friends, Pin Cushions

Well last week I didn't do anything creative - decided the house needed some attention - usually I can look the other way but decided to just break down and get 'er done! Well I guess I got some stuff done - ended up going thru a few junk drawers, moving some furniture in the living room, digging out old Christmas decorations I haven't seen in years (and also purging a lot of them - 5 huge bags full I freecycled! Love it - they are already picked up and gone!), laundry was done, windows washed, cat toys picked up! LOl! Now if it could only stay that way!

Riley and Jonesy were big helps following me around and helping. Miles decided to nap! I think Riley is amazed that I was actually holding a vacuum here (not one of my favorite things to do!)

Of course my "supervisors" had to take advantage of the sunbeams (which have been rare lately!)

Friday I decided enough cleaning so I decided to go visit my friend Gus - I took him a pumpkin roll I had made as he never accepts anything you would buy for him. Gus is in his late 80's and I worked with him over 20 years ago. We have kept in touch for years and he's like an adopted grandfather to me. He even went to my parents house years ago and make known his "intentions" to me - that being he thought of me as a daughter! He has a daughter who is an architect and she lives in Texas so does not get to see her that often. His wife died about 15 years ago and for a while he only had his cat Snookie who has since passed. Gus is originally from Greece and goes back for a few months each year to visit family and then goes to Russia to visit his wife's family. His real name is Constantin. He is funny - very direct on his likes and dislikes and when he calls you up - He will ask how my husband and cats are doing (and name them by name) and then ask how my parents and I are and then usually will say goodbye! On Friday when I visited - I took my camera with me and snapped a picture of him and also showed him some pics of my cats that were on my camera - he then took me outside and showed me a stray cat he's taking care of -he loves cats - Thru the years he would always show up at my office with who knows what - one time it was two 20 pound bags of cat litter, another time it was a book he put together of his wife stories, another was this Greek dish he made - and right now i can't remember the name of it, and so one. That's just the way he is! Always looking out for others but will not let anyone do anything for him!

Wishing him all the best!

After visiting - I went to an open house - they opened a Victorian House in a small town for two days and had handcrafts for sale to benefit breast cancer. It didn't really knock my socks off this year but I managed to buy a small item of course.

My friend gave me some items to sell for her on eBay - but normally before i put anything on eBay I check to see if it's worth it - Well I took on bag of the items out of the box to go over to my computer and when i came back to get the next bag - guess who had to fit his butt in the small space where i took the first bag! He's just too funny -

Saturday I got home around 10:30 p.m. and on my table was a box from my friend Debbie. Oh wow - I couldn't wait to tear into it - Debbie is also a cat lover and a very gifted "artist" in her own right. Whatever she puts her hand to - punch needle, quilting, penny rugs, rug hooking, painting, whatever - it's always great!

Inside my Christmas box was (and I didn't get pictures of it all) a small ceramic jewelry box with a Cheshire cat on top, a cute framed picture of a kitty, this great eyeglass case she made - Its so cool - made from hand dyed wools and appliqued cat on top - just perfect work - Riley is pointing it out to you here (actually the second after i snapped the pic it was on the floor!)

And another incredible gift - a penny rug with cardinals, kitties and mice - It is perfect for my round table in the living room! Never had anything right for that table until now - The table sits under my hooked rug "Mouser" (an adaptation of an antique rug) Anyway - it's wonderfully prim and the stitching is perfect. Thank you Debbie!

The rest of the weekend was spent making some more of those Ball Jar Pin Cushions which I learned to make from another blog with the tutorial last year and made up a bunch. I had put some in the Folk Art Sale and they called me up and said they sold out and did I have any more as people were interested. So I decided to make some more. Jonesy helped me most of the day today finishing them up and tomorrow will take a few of these over to the sale.

Wishing everyone a stress-free Pre-Holiday Season! Hope you are enjoying your week!

Now where did we put toys?

Apple Crunch

Apple Crunch - Just out of the oven!

8 to 10 apples - pared and sliced
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup flour
1 cup granulated sugar (i only use 1/2 or less)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
1 stick butter or margarine
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Place apples in an 8 x 10 greased pan.
Toss apples with brown sugar and cinnamon mix
Mix flour, sugar and baking powder - add egg -mix well
Spread on top of apples
Melt butter and add lemon juice
Spoon on top of crumbs.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes.
Good hot and cold and great over ice cream!

A Prescription for All of Us!

New Store Opening, Folk Art Sales, and More

For the last few years I have had some of my rug hooking items in a store called The Copper Partridge, located on Main Street in Sellersville. The Copper Partridge is full of mostly hand-made items from different artists - Pottery, Redware, Fiber Items, Jewelry, Some Furniture, Some Antiques, and so many more unique items. Well on Friday, Diane (owner) opened another Copper Partridge in Skippack Village in Skippack, PA. It was amazing how much work she did in only a few short weeks to get it opened in time for the Holiday season. I was in an almost empty store on Sunday to drop off some items and last nite, it was full of great items and so nicely decorated. I wish Diane and her crew and all the artists and craftspeople much luck in both stores.

Here is Diane - who is smiling - hard to believe the woman is even standing with all the work she's been doing!

A part of an area where some of my larger rugs are displayed -

Well after visiting The Copper Partridge on Friday nite, I went to visit my sister-in-law who was doing a show at a craft fair - She makes some really nice jewelry - forgot all about taking pictures there!

After visiting and looking around the craft fair I was off to the Heritage Center in Harleysville. They have an annual PA/German Folk Art Sale for the entire month of December. This is the second year I have participated. Friday nite the participants are invited for an opening reception and also the public is invited to shop for a donation before the show actually opens on Saturday. My uncle was there, he did their decorations and was helping out with the punch bowl and whatever was needed. So I spent a little bit of time there looking at every one's great items - lots of redware, fraktur pictures, fraktur painted boxes, woodgrained boxes, painted carved birds, quilts, and I could go on and on - I had some rugs in the show and was pleased to see some had already been sold by the time I got there!

Well now it's Saturday and it was dreary day - then it started to rain/snow and then just snow. Just not ready for that! Tomorrow is supposed to be sunshine so I'm sure all the snow will be done.

The mail lady brought a big surprise - our group AAPG had a Secret Santa Swap - well my package arrived today - Chris Moore (Mystical Primitives) had my name and boy did she spoil me - She is an incredibly talented lady - She made me this wool kitty pin cushion and covered the pins with wool on the hand, also a large box she covered in fabric and put a pin cushion on top - in the front of the pic is three stitch handids - oh her work is incredible, there was also 2 ornaments - they look old -not sure what the technique on them is called. Also was some chocolate, a notepad and a kitty calendar - and if that wasn't enough...

She sent me this old quilt - she thinks it's probably from the 40's - really cool - I love it, and if that isn't enough....

This old tin container with a date of December 7, 1880 - from Norton Bros,Chicago, will have to do some research to see what it was originally used for - Veggies? Ice Cream? Coffee?? I don't know but I love tin items and this is wonderful!
So thank you Chris!

During the day I was trying to bind some of my items - but as you can see from this little guy in my lap that was requiring belly rubs and/or playing with the wool yarn and cording - it wasn't even going! He's just too cute to shoo away!

When he wasn't over helping me bind my items - you can usually find him waiting on the bed wtih that dollar store toy - he is too funny - he will be downstairs and be sitting on the step and if you walk by he starts "talking" and you follow him upstairs, Jonesy "talking" the whole way - and he jumps on the bed and sits by his toy! Too funny!

Wishing everyone a wonderful Sunday!

Hey Guys, follow me - I got a cool toy to show you! Be prepared to play!