Why we didn't get flooded!

I tried to finish my new piece tonight, but I kept getting interrupted, so I should have a photo of the finished piece tomorrow.
In the meantime, I thought I would show you why we were spared of the disasters this week.
Yes, Dora has been offering up prayers and beseeching the kitty spirits to intercede for us;)



We took a ride down the road to the old mill which has a small pond and waterfall. Just a little water around the edges and the poor people who own the business in that old building, had water running out the front doors. We saw the sign, for canvas works and were going to go in to see about replacing our trailer canvas. We have tent trailer and the canvas is moldy. Well, we saw the doors open and water coming out, so doubt I will want their canvas;)



This is a pond nearby, that we paddle in the spring. This section is where the fish gate is and there is another section of pond on the far end. That is where we paddle among the tall reeds and check out the baby geese and swans. It is a beautiful spot to paddle and enjoy the bird life.

Floods are not Fun

I am amazed at all of the devastation I have seen on the news and in photos.
My husband takes a back road to get to the highway, that takes him to work.
Yesterday, he found a road block and had to find a way around it, which isn't easy, since most of the roads are extreme back roads and probably worse. This is the road he goes on, this is why, he could not.



This is the road that leads to our local rug hooking shop. The shop is further down and to the side of the river that caused this.
This is not a big river, but it is a long one and it is all coming down and flooding the towns it runs through. The river actually goes all the way to the end of the state and out to the ocean, so a lot of damage in it's path. I did not take these pictures, I am staying close to home. We are in a dry zone, luckily.

Finished Birds Hooked Rug

I finished my rug tonight and now I wish I had kept going on the border.
I had more room to fit it on the bench and that would have given me plain space to put objects on, without covering the birds.
But, it is smaller than I wanted, so I need to find a new place for it.
At the moment, my dog is sick, so nothing is going on the floor. I have a few outside in the rain and a few that got hand washed.
I think this one will make a nice wall hanging and being long and thinner, it will give contrast to other shapes on the wall.

Here is the wool that I used for the border. I only took the dark brown parts to use around the edge and a few of the lighter ones.
I can always use the lighter colors in another rug.



And here is the wool yarn that I used for the edge. I like how it varied and matched the border.



And here is the rug. Not the best photo, but you can get the idea of how it all looks together. It really has nice rich hues in it, so good for a light or dark area. I did a quick steam press, so it still needs a better ironing to relax the edges. The rug pattern is by Maria, of Star Rug Company.

Rug Hooking Again!

I have been wanting to hook and procrastinating about it. This week I received a rug pattern from Maria Barton, Star Rug Company.
It was a for a prize I won in our ebay group, USAPRIM.

I decided to try multi-colored textures, to give it more of a folk art fraktur look.
These are the wools that I picked for the birds and the background.




On this bird, I used a dark and light, red plaid that was from a recycled Scottish wool skirt. I used a brighter red for the wing.



I wanted to do two red birds, but with different shades, so I used a darker, black and red plaid for the body and the tail color as this one's wings, to balance it out. You can also see where I used the lighter, multi plaid with blue, for the background. If I recall correctly, that wool was a thrift find.



The blue bird is done with the darker blue for the body, the texture's design doesn't show up as well as I wanted. I used a contrasting blue/green for the wing. When hooking with mulit-colored textures, you never know what colors will pop us where, so it makes it fun to discover the designs as you hook.

Dora days

I am working on a new rug, a pineapple quilt and tonight a cross stitch design, so keeping busy. As soon as I have enough progress, I will show you. In the meanwhile, Dora is being herself as usual.


( "Now what was I thinking, just give me a minute." )



( " Oh who cares, life is too short to worry about it." )

Doll Quilt

I decided to make a doll quilt, something quick and easy.
Only I, could mess up such a simple thing, lol.
I machine sewed the pieces and used lana wool thread for the stitching.
I antiqued it, but I really wanted it to look old. Well, I accidently spilled some water from the bottle on it and noticed it when I took the picture, nice stained look;) So, I will spritz it a little here and there to get more of an aged look.
I was wondering whether I should be little black ties on it? What do you think?

Sunday Freebie: Cross Stitch Rabbit

I decided to get PCStitch, so that I could make my own patterns.
I am working on a mermaid one now, would be easier if I could cut and paste, like I do on Photoshop;)
So, today I thought I would make one of my old freebies into a cross stitch.
It was a good way to play around and get the feel of the program.
I just used colors that would show up good against one another so you can stitch with any colors you want.

Just click on the picture and then save it. Or drag and drop, which is my preferred method;)
Nothing fancy, but I hope that you enjoy it.