Kindness of Strangers, Wonderful Friends, Sweet Treasures

Friday Nite - I sit here with one of my tigers at my side -

and another on the other side (on my hooking frame so no hooking is going on!

What a week it's been. It started out quietly enough - nothing really too exciting. On Monday I made two shepherd pies and took one over to my parents. My Mom is making me a queen size bed quilt and gave me a challenge to find some more fabric she needed for a border (i think that's what she said)

It's a beigy/tan color. She has something in the same color family and I told her to use that - but her being a perfectionist would like to match it! Oh well - I told her to lighten up and "let it go" it wll be okay to mix! LOL

Most of the week was spent as normal

Tiger's playing -

(Notice again on the hooking frame - hmmm when will i ever be able to hook again)

Tiger's napping:

Will you please get that camera outta here!

Then comes the decision - In the same words of that Clash song - Should I stay or should I go? To Grant Street that is. It is a 2 hour plus drive for me and they were calling for bad weather Thursday nite into Friday. So I decided not to go. Normally I would email Kathy and tell her I'm coming out and meet her at her house but told her I wasn't coming out this week. So fast forward late Wednesday nite - I really wanted to go - haven't been there for a while. Weather still says it will be crappy late - now you have to remember we generally don't get our butts out the door until at least midnite which means I get home close to 3:00 a.m.! Anyway - I get up early Thursday morning - still wanting to go - check the weather reports - woohoo - for this area it's pushed off until early Friday morning, Chambersburg area - after midnite - so I'm thinking I will go and just make myself leave early to avoid any possible bad weather. So i get myself and my hooking stuff together and jump in the car and off I go - When I get closer, I'm driving down I-81 first thinking I will go straight to Grant Street since Kathy probably already left her house then I decided I needed to stop and get something and will stop in Shippensburg first, go to Kathys to see if she's still home and wants a ride with me to Grant St. So I did my errand - get in my car - decide she's probably already left and head for Grant Street. I'm a few blocks from there and something made me look on my seat and I realize my wristlet is missing (basically a wallet with a strap - sometimes I carry this rather than a whole purse) So I pull over thinking it was under the seat or something - tore the car apart and nope - no wallet. So I did a U'ie and tore back down to Shippensburg - park and look around - nope - no wallet, ran into the building I was in - nope - no wallet, ran into a framing gallery which I was parked in front of asking if anyone turned in a wallet. Nope - but he said the meter man was just up and down the street and if anyone found it he would have! So I left my cell phone # with him and then drove up and down the streets (in between stopping three more times to tear the car apart) looking for the meter man! Well at this point I'm thinking the wallet is gone, lost - no use crying in my bottled water nothing I can do about it - just chalk it up to my carelessness. I lost my credit card, my debit card, my license and approx. $100. So off I go to Grant Street (all the while thinking -I best do the speed limit as I have no license anymore! LOL) I got to Grant Street and explained my drama - and Pat was kind of enough to lend me some money for tolls for my drive home! Thank you for your offer Pat - it's so nice to have friends like you!

Well I made the necessary phone calls to put a hold on the credit card, cancel the debit card, called the Shippensburg Township to find out if the meter man turned in a wallet, notified the Ship police and then proceeded to relax and get on with the reason I came out in the first place - to visit with friends and work on some rugs. In the meantime Miss Kathy was in the backroom working so I really surprised her (wish I had a camera to take a pic of her face when it registered I was sitting there! LOL too cute) and Kathy, bless her heart, was so worried over my wallet - She left, on the pre-tense of getting my Christmas gift from her house, but I knew she would go back to Main St, Ship and go over my steps! Well she did and unfortunately, no luck either, but she did bring me some wonderful Christmas gifts! Oh wow Oh Wow Oh Wow - can you say generous and talented! She totally spoiled me! Check out this wonderful box she made me - she painted it, antiqued it, covered in fabric, etc. She cross stitched this wonderful design and lined the box in oldtime newspaper print - It's an absolute treasure - I love it! (My favorite colors too!)

Inside of box -

The rest of the items - She gifted me with an old ticking pillow, a ticking table runner (yes I love ticking), some reeses cups - mmm good, a "clean" cloth (hmmm has she seen my house lately!), a yard or more of my favorite wool to overdye, a make-do star with Peace on it, a jar with an old looking label "Wool" - so cute!

Thank you so much Kathy - I just love everything! You are the best!

Well as we were sitting there working away - I was doing finishing work on a few items - I keep calling my home answering machine - about the sixth time I called there was a message from a woman from Shippensburg saying she FOUND MY WALLET! WOOHOO! I called her back and made arrangement to go pick it up from her. Later Kathy and I went back to Shippensburg and picked it up - She didn't want any "reward" for finding it - apparently she had her purse stolen out of her car and knew how I felt! What a wonderful soul - makes you believe again in the Kindness of Strangers! Will be sending her a little token of my appreciation! Thank you Jeannie!

Back in my possession - everything intact!

So back to the hook-in and everyone can finally totally relax!

I finished whipping my rug I made back in November - it's made from left over worms and started with just a blank piece of linen and this is what turned out...

Also finished a little mug rug and a snowman face tree skirt - which i forgot to take a pic of!

Even with Kathy's running about and working she managed to get some work done too!

Kathy's making some woolly noodles while Linda waits patiently for lunch!

There were several women in and out throughout the day working on some wonderful rugs - See Kathy's blog for pics - my pics were blurry - yep - you will never confuse me with a pro photographer!

It was a fun day - Linda had her son pick up lunch for us which was good! Thanks Linda! The day went by way too quick and I couldn't believe it - we actually left early - I was originally planning on leaving around 7:00 to avoid any bad weather but Tanya came and said it was pushed off a bit - so I think it was around 9:30 when we left - Funny - I hit way more traffic going home this time and things were still :"lit" up - usually it's pretty dark and desserted with a few truckers on the road!

Today I decided to get a few errands done. The local food pantry is out of food so I went shopping in my cabinets and filled a few bags and took them over. Then I went to the store where I sell some of my rugs and realize I need to stock some more in there. She's looking for more crafters to help stock the shop - so if anyone knows anyone let me know. It's not a rug hooking store - that's just what i supply but she mentioned she would love someone to make wreaths, and just different handmade local artisan crafters. Then i visited with my parents for a bit - worth the trip - I left there with a 100% wool kilt that will yield lots of wool!

When I got home I had another surprise - a package from Chris of Mystical Primitives - she had my name in our Secret Sweet Admirer swap on AAPG. Oh my goodness - no words to describe the wonderful items she made me - she is on talented lady and sells on ebay - I would advise you to bid bid bid on her items - she is so talented! Here's Chris's link to her Ebay lists.

She made me an adorable sheep pin cushion and covered the pins with hearts, a St. Valentine's Needlepunched pillow - really large too!, a little cupboard stitched Valentine hanger, a pile of red delicious wool - love red!, and some "Love Pasta" heart shaped pasta! Too cool! Thank you so much Chris - I just love everything

And if that wasn't enough, my husband comes home a few hours later with a strawberry cheese croissant for me and the new Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers Anthology (a 4-cd set of live shows recorded form 1980-2007)! Oooh - this will be loaded in mycd player in my car for my next road trip! Can't wait to listen to it

So all in all even with all the drama it was a great week - I have wonderful friends and there are wonderful people out there in our world! A big reason to give everyone you meet a smile!

Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend!