Vending Fun

Here are a couple of pictures my friend, Jackie took of my booth at last weekend's Amoskeag Quilters Guild show in Manchester, NH. I never know exactly how I'll set things up until it all starts to come together. I pack a lot into a small space! Click on the pictures for a closer look if you like.

That's my model for Maggie Bonanomi's Wool Bird Applique Pillow from the Buttonwood Farm book. It was a very quick project. The pillow is large, and I didn't have enough fiberfill stuffing, so it's stuffed with wool scraps and is quite heavy! That's my Rev'd David Thurston penny rug model draped over the edge of the table.

You gotta have some chocolate around! Even better - these were mini Reese's peanut butter cups!

My next vending engagements are:

Sat., Apr. 14th - Spring Fever Hook-in, Knights of Columbus Hall, Brunswick, ME; sponsored by Hooked Treasures, Brunswick, ME
Sat. & Sun., Apr. 28th & 29th - Camp Wool Hook-in, The Coastal House, Wells, ME; sponsored by Camp Wool, Kennebunk, ME

Maybe I'll see some of you at these upcoming events!

Special Purchase of the Day

Special purchase: This is the Morgan "No-Slip" Multi-Purpose Lap Stand, a set of two quality Morgan hoops, 7" and 10", that can be attached together for use as a lap stand, or independently if you choose. Perfect for cross-stitch, punchneedle, even quilting and rug hooking work. These sell for anywhere between $36.99 to as much as $47.99 on one web site, but I've priced this one at $20.00 - only one available.

A few inches of snow this morning, but it's quickly melting. This time of year snow doesn't overstay it's welcome. I'm anxious to do my spring yard clean-up and plant some cold weather things like spinach, lettuce and radishes. Bunny food! Just in time for Easter!

Having a coffee break - enjoy your afternoon,

Framed

This is a neat tin star with a small 1-1/2" square flanged opening into which you can mount a tiny cross-stitched or needlepunched design. There's a tin loop hanger on the back. It's one of three special purchase tin frames at special prices and they can be found under the Et Cetera section of Sundries.

We're back to chilly in Maine! The wind has been howling for two days and the fleece tops are back in use! There's even snow in the forecast over the next day or two. Happily though, at this time of year any snow won't hang around long. There are green things sprouting up all over the place, and I've seen forsythias in bloom in the neighborhood. There's no turning back now - c'mon spring!

Good Reads

New magazine issues just begging to be shared with a hot cup of coffee or tea in a snuggly chair: FOLK's March/April issue and the new April Wool Street Journal. There are still plenty of the FOLK January/February issue as well, and Primitive Quilts and Projects will have a new issue coming out towards the end of April. Enough inspiration for everyone!

Enjoy,

On the Road

I'll be on the road vending at the Amoskeag Quilters Guild's biennial quilt show this weekend, March 23 & 24, 10am-4pm at the Memorial High School Gymnasium, 1 Crusader Way, Manchester, NH. Lots of wool, books and patterns for quilts, wool applique, needlepunch and cross-stitch. The lovely quilt shown is being raffled with proceeds to benefit Emily's Place, a shelter for victims of domestic violence in central NH.

Multi-day admission is $6. Food and beverages will be available. There's plenty of parking and the location is handicapped-accessible. If you're in the area, drop by to see some amazing quilts and say Hello!

Hello, Spring!

Spring means warm sunshine, birds chirping, baby chicks and cute ducklings like this one! That's my granddaughter, Sophie, peeking out from under a cute duck-hooded towel after her mom gave her a bath. She's gotten so much bigger since being born six weeks early a few days after Christmas. I'll be seeing her again in another two weeks and can't wait!

It's been nothing short of glorious here in Maine! Bright blue skies, warm and wonderful. My snowdrops are poking up out of the ground and I see new growth on the sedums. I'll start doing my daily "plant checks" to watch everything's progress. The lawn is like a big sponge, can't really walk on it without "gooshing" in mud - "mud season" they call it up here. I need to think about some cold weather crops and decide on what I can get in the ground early. Can't wait to play in the garden!

Welcome, Spring! How we love this time of year!

Finished - or Close

Can't believe how fast I hooked this up - it's a Karen Kahle/Primitive Spirit design called "Bunny Love", one of three designs in a paper pattern pack called Hearts & Bunnies ($15 on my web site). I've loved this for years and finally decided to hook it up as a sample for upcoming rug hooking shows. I'm going to needlefelt the flower centers with dark brown roving and finish it as a heart-shaped pillow with a gray-black wool backing. I'm so happy with how it came out!

And this is a little child's chair pad I hooked over the summer for my granddaughter, Sophie, when she's old enough to use the little green painted chair that it will sit upon. I'd never whipped edges before and found a great wool yarn with variegated shades of pink, orange and tan to use. I thought it kept with the hit-and-miss multi-colored theme I had going in the border area. I must say that Kris Miller's (Spruce Ridge Studios) book, The Grand Finale - Finish What You Start had such great, step-by-step photos on whipping with yarn that I wasn't at all intimidated and it went like "that". I've sold out her book twice already but will be getting more before two April hook-ins I'm vending.

Back to the chair pad - this was sort of a "rehab" project in late summer. While recovering from knee surgery in August I would take my hooking out on the back deck with a tall iced coffee. While propping my bad leg on another chair and an ice pack on the knee I'd sit and listen to the birds in the woods while hooking part of the afternoon away. It's funny that I had all these bright colors in my worm basket, as I'm really not a bright color kind of gal! I think I'd cut them while making my very first hooked project, a hit-and-miss geometric mat. That's probably my favorite style, hit-and-miss, I mean. I love scrap quilts too - nothing too planned out - that's me!

Is there corned beef and green beer in your future? We're all Irish tomorrow - a Happy St. Patrick's Day to ye all!

Duh - Pinning

Have you succumbed to Pinterest yet? I finally gave in and checked it out, and before long I was hooked. I don't have much pinned yet, but it's fun to collect the things you love and fun to see how many people love the same things. Click on my Follow Me on Pinterest button on the left and see if some of the things I love speak to you too.

Happy Pinning!

Warm Winter Wool

Finally had a chance to add these new wool packets to my web site - from Blackberry Patchworks, these Wooly Charms packs are cutely packaged sets of five 5" squares of the same hand-dyed formula over five different textured base wools. Shown is the Purty Pink pack. There are thirteen others, including a Fab 5 pack that contains five random colors, whatever was in the dye pot that day. These packs, perfect for penny rugs and other wool applique, sell for $8.50 each. I love the two buttons used to hold the squares together! An extra added bonus for other crafting.

It's so nice to work with wool when the weather is cold and snowy, like it was today. We've picked up close to 10" of the white stuff, more than has fallen since October. Winter has finally arrived, in the month when we're usually snow-weary and looking forward to getting those seed catalogs in the mail and planning our spring gardens. The great thing about March is, no matter how much snow we get, it won't hang around very long. We may be back in the mid 40s in a few days. I'll say that I'll take a big dumping of snow over the terrible tornadoes they've been having in the midwest. If that's where you live, please be safe!