Wednesday, August 24, 2011

The blink of an eye.

A lot has happened since my last post. Some was good and some was not so good. The good part was a great trip to Sauder Village in Ohio for rug hooking week. My friend Jackie and I left on Tuesday the 16th for four days of intense fiber overload. We took a great class from Theresa Neiderbing in needle felting. There were only three of us in the class so we had undivided attention from the teacher. There was great shopping and I added quite a bit of wool to my stash. My favorite booth was Rebecca Erb. I also found a great pattern with a sheep and sunflowers. The list of things to hook has become longer after my trip. The rug show was wonderful with the private collection of Patty Yoders being my favorite. She loved sheep as I do and her designs were absolutely wonderful. I took another class with Amy Oxford where I learned more about rug punching. I enjoy hooking but rug punching is fun and offers more instant gratification. Amy's class was very informative and I learned several things I did not know.
Jackie and I also spent many hours with several of our Ohio hooking friends. We enjoyed several good meals and lots of laughs. I would be remiss if I didn't add that Jackie ate eight pieces of pie in four days, she did share some with me though.
Now for the not so good part... Friday evening we learned of the bad storms and flash flooding on Washington Blvd. in Pittsburgh. The road where it happened is not too far from where I live, and I travel it quite often. We discussed the tragedy where a woman and two of her children died not knowing that Saturday morning I would find out that the woman was my co-worker and her two daughters. I could not believe it. Kim and I had just talked on the phone on Monday discussing our plans for the upcoming school year. We had planned to talk when I got home from my trip so we could get together to set up the nurses office before school started. In the blink of an eye... The last few days have been heart wrenching, but in my grief , and those of my friends, her co-workers,we have to know that Kim,Brenna,and Mikaela are in the arms of the Lord. Her family will never be the same and we pray for them to have the strength to move forward. At the funeral today the minister said there should be no what ifs. I have to take solace in his words. Tomorrow I have to go to school and even though I will feel sad and upset I can close my eyes and see Kim's smiling face knowing that she is looking down on us saying if you need anything I am there for you in spirit.
Peace out,
deb

Friday, August 12, 2011

A day in the country!

Yesterday my husband and I enjoyed a much needed day together in Holmes County Ohio. Next to the beach Holmes county is probably my most favorite place to visit. Having Amish country a short 2 hours away is great,but sometimes its a long and winding road. We took a less direct route hoping to miss rush hour traffic through downtown Pittsburgh but ended up in stopped traffic on the Ohio turnpike. They were setting a bridge beam thus the stopped traffic. Three hours later we finally ended up at our destination. We had a great day driving the back roads and stopping at favorite spots. My favorite sight of the day were the Amish children at three different farms hanging over the fence waving to passer byes. Life can be so simple and joyful!
My husband was ready to drive me to the hospital after I came out of Millers Dry Goods without a bag. He thought I was truly ill. I explained to him that I was looking for panda fabric and they did not have any. The truth is I am planning on adding to my wool stash when I go to rug hooking camp next week, so I decided to be good.
After finishing the day doing our shopping at Walnut Creek Cheese a wonderful grocery store with only some things you can find in Ohio we headed to der Dutchman for a great dinner. Where else can you get lima beans and creamed corn as a side dish with chicken raised right up the road. For me that was grandmas house too long ago. Three hours later after sitting in rush hour traffic through Pittsburgh, the day was a pleasant memory. When is the next trip?
Peace out,
Deb

Monday, August 8, 2011

Girl's Night Out!

In eighteen days I go back to work after being off for a knee replacement. In a way I am looking forward to it as I need to get back into a routine. Too much time on my hands has created a lack of motivation. You might say what, are you crazy. Its true though and I will be the first to admit that I need routine in my life. I get more done and am more creative when I live by a schedule.
One thing I did schedule for tonight was an evening out with my friend Jackie. We went to a Girl's Night Out at a local restaurant. My husband had told me about it so on a whim, we went. It was so much fun, martinis,manicures,massages, and lots of food including chocolate. We laughed made some new friends, saw some old ones, and just had fun. Scheduled spontaneous fun,who knew?
Tomorrow I am going to schedule some rug hooking and time in my sewing room. I finally got the wool to finish a bunny rug I have been hooking since February. Maybe I will cut some strips to take it with me to Sauder next week, I could finish it,or not. I also have a grandchild on the way and I am doing the nursery sewing under the guidance of my daughter. Its a panda theme so fabric coordinating is on its way because I already have every piece of panda fabric plus coordinates printed in the last ten years. She has been planning this long before the baby was ever thought about,so grandma has been buying fabric for quite awhile.
My husband works for Verizon, and we have been patiently waiting to see if the union was going to go on strike Saturday midnight. Of course the answer was not the one we hoped for. I try to find humor in everything so it was funny when he went to Walmart today to buy a chair for picketing respite. After I cut the tags off for him he wanted to know if I wanted to embroider his name on the back. Sure why not,he will probably want accessories if he has to picket again.
Still working on the pictures for the blog, have to meet with my tech support.
Peace out,
Deb

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Rainy Days and Wednesdays

The mailman brought me some new wool today and I could not wait to look at some projects that I could use it for. However I had decided to work on the state report that I am responsible for the school district. This report involves all of the statistics for the medical component of the district. It takes time and since I don't like working with numbers however, that's what calculators are for. Once I got started it wasn't so bad. Somehow rainy days make me feel more productive.
I am looking forward to this coming Sunday. My friend Jackie and I have our monthly hooking lesson and I have not been there since before my knee replacement surgery. I forget what the topic is but it does not matter it will just be fun to be with my hooking friends again. Not only that but I need to get some wool for a another project I need to finish. Its all about the wool. I digress, back to work and then dinner prep, its beef and broccoli night..
Peace out,
Deb

Sunday, July 31, 2011

The long and winding road...

Yesterday my husband and I went to West Virginia to visit our daughter who moved there last week from VA. We were very familiar with Morgantown, being that we both went to college there, but my how things have changed. Of course that was ages ago, 36 years to be exact. You would think that we would know the way from Pittsburgh to Morgantown,however we decided to take the scenic route. One hundred miles later when I finally saw a sign for Waynesburg I decided we better cut our losses and jump on the interstate. Erin called to see where we were and was surprised to hear we were wondering around the back roads. I am known for my keen sense of direction as long as I have the car compass in my view but yesterdays adventure was questionable.After we finally arrived we had a great visit with Erin and her boyfriend, a delicious dinner at a local Italian place and a quick tour of campus. Thankfully we found our way home on a more direct route and the next time we visit I might not have to see too much scenery,I just want to get there.
Today I am kicking back finishing the proddy border on my sheep rug. I also have a few sewing projects planned so I need to scout out my fabric stash. Hopefully I can move forward with posting pictures because that always makes checking out a blog more interesting, don't you think? There are enough computer pros in my family so I guess I will enlist there help.
Until next time, life's too short do what makes you happy!
deb

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Stayin cool creatively.

I like summer a lot but I can't deal with the heat like we had this past week. One of the best things that my hubby bought me last summer was a really neat spray mister from Ace hardware. No batteries just a cool pumping motion and you have a fine pressurized mist. I knew there was a reason I don't wear makeup in the summer never know when you need a little cool mist. It really came in handy in Virginia last week.
I have been trying to cram so many projects into what summer I have left before I go back to school. This week I have denoted more time to hooking, I want to finish my proddy sheep. I finally decided to proddy the border after ripping and hooking and ripping and hooking different ideas. All of my new wool I ordered from Ebay came over the weekend and its just waiting to go into a new project. In the mean time I have managed to finish an owl hat ,a pair of booties and an afghan for my future grand baby's hope chest. I have a feeling by the time I am done I will need a storage locker.
Better finish up my knitting before I go to bed. In the meantime I wish you all happy hooking or whatever makes you happy on the run. Peace out!

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Heat Wave

This heat is just unbelievable . I would have never survived if I had to live in the "olden days" without air conditioning. I keep trying to head to the kitchen to cook dinner but my nice cool craft room keeps calling me. I love to sew and knit and quilt and embroider, and my latest passion is rug hooking. I hook on the run whenever I need to just get away from it all for a few minutes. My grandmother braided rugs and even though this is not quite the same, I still enjoy using the repurposed wool I find in my rugs, just as she used recycled fabrics and clothes to braid. I still have 2 of her precious rugs and enjoy knowing they are a part of my crafting heritage.
I just purchased some beautiful new wool on Ebay from Woolnwares.com. Diane does a great job of overdying, and she only uses the best wool available in the marketplace. Getting her package in the mail is like Christmas morning. I even save the linen string each package bundle is gift wrapped with. Now to find a project so I can start using my new stash.
Before I immerse myself too much in this blog experience I will have to learn how to upload some pictures so I can share my progress with projects etc. I have almost finished the Lexington Sheep a proddy class I took with Alice Frazier, so enjoyable...
 Well I better get the stuffed peppers made for dinner. I make mine with red peppers, so delish.
Remember to do what makes you happy, life is way to short.