The Waiting

The waiting is the hardest part

Every day you see one more card

You take it on faith, you take it to the heart

The waiting is the hardest part

Okay so I did decide to venture on out to Grant Street after all on Thursday.  I left a little bit later than I usually do since it seemed to take me forever to get moving and get myself together in the morning.  No matter, I wasn't holding anyone but myself up this time. 

Like I said usually I leave earlier but didn't get out of the house until almost 10:00 a.m. so I decided to stop at some of the thrift stores I see when I go but are usually not open yet.   Well the one I could have skipped - the prices they wanted I swear were more than you could buy something new - then they had an area they marked "vintage" and "antique" - what a joke - the prices were more than a high end antique shop! And they say this is a thrift store to "help people"! Oh well.  I also stopped at the Goodwill - nothing much there - it's harder and harder to find wool skirts to cut up - now I know it's off season but some of the larger ones have an area for out of season.  I only managed to find these two items for a whopping $0.97 each

A cool book on the new/remake/play, etc. of Hairspray - Besides the many bright colorful photos it's filled with all kinds of inserts - fake posters for TV shows that were seen in the movie, there are cling-on stickers, envelopes that you have to open and find something in side, postcards from the "area" and so much more - well worth the few pennies I paid for it.  I have seen the play on Broadway several times and also the movies - the original and the remake.  The Broadway show is a fun night out.

Also this County Ware plate/small serving dish? Pewter? Pewter like?

So I get to Grant Street (finally) after 1:00.   There were people in and out all day - and me - what do I do - forgot to take any pictures! Image that!  Either way it was a nice day with lots of laughs and conversations.

So I thought since I didn't have any of the great hookers of Grant Street rugs to share I would share with you a few of mine - okay most (probably all) will be a re-visit - I was asked a few months ago about the largest rug I have ever hooked to date since it seems I'm always doing smaller things right now to sell but I have hooked some large rugs - but I feel  a rug is a rug is a rug - right?

I picked the living room since that's where the big rug lays with the coffee table over it in front of the couch.  You will notice from these rugs (this is only the ones in my living room) that there is no rhyme or reason to my rugs in there - no theme, no nothing.  Actually I dislike my living room very much - hate the way it's set-up, hate the dark green walls (husband wanted them), hate my couch, I could go on.  Okay hate is too strong of a word. I do like some things in there but if I could re-design the room (structurally) it wouldn't bother me so much! LOL  So on with the show... (and just a reminder - the rugs are a little more prim looking in person - the pics tonite came out bright!)

This is the "large rug" - almost 4' x 7' - it is a pattern by Monika Jones called "Oregon Fern".  I was so obsessed hooking this rug I had it done and whipped and on the floor in under 6 weeks.  I hand dyed 99% of the wool for this rug and also took some of the hand dyed wool and marbleized some of it (something someone told me couldn't be done - never tell me that!)

This was a free pattern in Early American Life by Edyth O'Neill - Edyth's rug is done in grays and blues.  I decided to do greens.  This rug approx. 2 1/2' x 3 1/2'.  This hangs over my mantle - just hung up by nails.  This one was another one I had done in a few days.  I'm not big on hooking my name or initials and year into the rug but I did on this one.  Can you spot it - I'm sure you can - it certainly shows up on the camera better than in person!

This was a block of the month by the Woolen Willow.  I made it into a valance - those are just wool tabs hand sewn on the back...

This is called "Mouser" - It's an adaptation of an antique rug....  This is hung with a sleeve hand sewn on the back and a black rod and then hung between the star hooks

This I just have thrown on the floor in front of my wash stand - It's called "Loyal Lion" - design by Cheryl Brubaker...

This is another just thrown on the floor - took off my 4 pair of sandals thrown on top to take the picture.  This is a pattern by Searsport Rug Hooking called "Kathy's Garden"....

The next four are folk art type rugs designed by Frontier Homestead (Jill Petersen)  She no longer sells patterns much to my disappointment - Always loved hooking her patterns.  Wish I would have bought some others when she was still selling them.  I can't remember the names of these - I have these all hung on carpet tack strips. 

And last rug is on a long bench under my window (under the valance).  This was a challenge piece we did on our group AAPG - Maria Barton gave us two patterns and we created what we wanted.  One was the sheep with the cat on the back and another was a horse I believe with a rooster on the back.  I took the cat and put it to the side and then doubled it up - I needed something for this bench.  This is a favorite sleeping spot of Jonesy - over the a/c vent and under a sunbeam!

Thought I would share a pic of these cool sheep too - Wish I had it in my budget right now to buy just what I wanted!  They are old - Judy (The Cinnamon Stick)  has a few of them for sell at her store - I can't remember what she said they were made out of - but would look good with any one's vintage wool/sheep collection!

 

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!