Class in the late afternoon

Stumpwork and portraits , landscapes and colour were topics of study yesterday.

Today we dye and get rolling on our dream rugs.

My Girls

On the Mat tonight I asked:

Tell us something you are thankful or grateful for today.

"At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us." -Albert Schweitzer

That happened to me today, I was rekindled and I'm very thankful for that.

I wish there was an illustration of us hooking this week in class! Where have all the artists of this ilk gone?

Here is what we are eating:

Lemon Cheese Bars

1 box of lemon or yellow cake mix

1 egg

1/3 cup of oil

Mix together until crumbly. Reserve one cup. Press remainder into a 8x8 pan. Bake for 10 minutes in a 350˚ F oven.

Meanwhile mix until smooth:

8 oz of cream cheese

1/3 cup of sugar

1egg

1tsp. lemon juice and 1 tsp of lemon zest

Spread cheese over the layer you cooked, sprinkle the remaining one cup of crumbles on top ( I usually add about 1/4 cup of flour to this reserved cup to insure good crumble)

Bake for another 15 minutes, remove when crumbles are golden.

Enjoy!

Another mouth to feed

A gift of a bouquet came with a dependant!

That's 6 mouths crying out for something everyday, I wish cat food grew wild like milk weed.

This new child rode in on some Joe Pye Weed. LOL!

Here I go again with the butterfly farm...

Class starts on Monday, delightful students here for dinner tonight!

I can't wait!

I'm off to the grocery to get some victuals.

Hook this weekend, kinda like your life depended on it, the time to do what we desire with life slips past us each day. Grab hold of what you want.

A Whale of a time!

Look what drifted on my shore, can you see the whale?

A whale ship was my Yale College and my Harvard.

Herman Melville

The ability to see things that are barely there is both a blessing and a curse.

W.K.

My environment- full of colour and wonder

Here Mary rest among the poppies, so sweet while sleeping.

My favourite wild flower is out: Joe Pye Weed, I love it.

Here is a sweet collection of weeds along the swamp. Look at all the greens from black to lime and everything in between.

Last but not least I was rewarded last night by a long visit with a frolicking beaver!

I had been going about 8 but an earlier arrival afforded me a lot more action.

This morning while walking my daily 5 miles I saw a doe walk right across the road in front of me, amazing. We had a mind meld a couple of times before she ran away.

What does Ted Andrews say about this?

When a deer enters your life it is time to be gentle with yourself and others, a new innocence or freshness is about to be awakened. Are you being too uncaring toward yourself? ( √ ) There is going to be an enticing, gentle lure of new adventures!

I can't wait!

Here is one of my new adventures...

hauling the air conditioner out of the back of the shed, up the hill, into the house, down the stairs to the studio and into the window. I did it myself. It took half an hour but I did it.

News and Views

Here is a job lot of beautiful eye candy from an auction hose, it's long been sold but I love the interplay of reds and neutrals! Could it be a rug colour plan?

My online class in the Wanda Way Studio, Design is back in the swing of things after a brief personal interruption and I'm glad to be working with lessons about designing. This is a fascinating subject and we are all surprised in class how quickly we are becoming better at something because we are practising. If we sat and thought about how we would try to do something or even get out the stuff we need to do it, it is not enough. We need to act, and act and act again. This is how we let something become heart knowledge, real understanding instead of head knowledge. Our bodies remember the skills we develop with an open mind.

To see some of what we are enjoying learning about go here John Lovett has lots of lessons we hookers might find beneficial. Next lesson I'm getting into the real meat of the heart of hooking for me! Colour. I can't wait. I can talk about colour and it's use all day long.

Robert Genn just sent a great letter on colour use and the work it takes to lay yourself an excellent foundation. And it does take practise again!

I'm starting to see a theme!

Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance. (Samuel Johnson)

I recently got a tripod to take photos and movies for the Mat and my online lessons.

It is a great contraption and I love not worrying about a steady hand and the digital camera.

I'm well pleased, it even has a level and it was a great price from ebay, no shipping 29.95.

There is a handle that allows you to raise camera up slowly and steadily too. It is GOOD.

I was making my baking list for class next week and realized tho ugh I planned to bake, the humidity is too much to have the oven on. I hope tomorrow brings better baking weather.

I'm fixing honey oat biscotti, brownies, Mrs. Farmers Ginger Squares, lemon squares and my amazing chocolate chip cookies.

Thank goodness with all that bounty I have no appetite for sweets. I'm holding out for the most important sweet things to come into my life, the ones I've craved all my days and now don't want to do without another second.

Welcome Mat Free Pattern

This month's free pattern on The Welcome Mat

A friend at Beaver Bridge on Gleason Brook

Dads, Buttercups and Inspiration

From Post secret today...
From the back yard

From the net:

A Road Trip

I went on a road trip today to Debbie's Studio

It was great!!!

Albert and rugs

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction." Albert Einstein

Speaking of moving in other directions, I was amused yesterday

to see a rug of mine tossed on another, hard to tell where one started and the other ended... oh boy. Have you ever thrown a few of your rugs together to see if they were "different"?

Mine look like a kindle of kittens! Albert, it's hard to move in another direction!

Publish Post

Big Beauty/To The Rescue!

Something for sale:

This amazing 1 yard big beauty can be yours if you wish.

Only $64 + shipping

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ahhh, I'm so glad ... my counter top is in!

What a good thing.

I'm getting ready for my Class here in a few weeks.

It feels good to get things straightened up for company.

I'd love to have you come. There are two spaces available.

Sorry for the stove Tony, YAH, get making , let's not let time pass without doing what we need to.

I believe life is a series of near misses. A lot of what we ascribe to luck is not luck at all. It's seizing the day and accepting responsibility for your future. It's seeing what other people don't see and pursuing that vision.
Howard Schultz

Much of the success of life depends upon keeping one's mind open to opportunity and seizing it when it comes.
Alice Foote MacDougall

What I did yesterday

I had a big lot of yarn sitting around for 3 years and I'm so glad to finally do something with it, make it pretty and available for creating!

Here are the results:

I'll be back to larger needles I think.

I 've been doing a lot of soul searching lately and love this quote:

At the center of your being you have the answer; you know who you are and you know what you want.
Lao Tzu

What do you want?

Point and the Silk Scarf

The Showy Lady Slipper

From an undisclosed location somewhere on the Bruce today.

Wondering Where the Beavers are.. Let's look at this.

I did catch a brief glimpse of a head several yards away!

More importantly what I want you to notice is the colours/ values of the water in the next two pictures

Interesting eh?

And this picture is just because it's my favourite colours. But on the other hand look how all those greens are combined but still stand out from each other, if you really concentrate you will see everything from white to black. Squinting will help. How many greens do you see?

Being in focus... you can see the main part of the photo is out of focus, and the clarity is away from the center of interest. This happens a lot when we hook, we spend a lot of time deciding and executing some details, only to miss the big picture and how things work together as a whole.

Achivement- I've got it

My New Best Friend

"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits."
Albert Einstein!
You ARE the man.

Memories

Here is last year's summer class except Jackie Roop (off with her husband!) posing with Wiarton Willie.

This year starting June 28 we'll be learning about landscapes, faces and style development.

I can't wait! I've just had cancellation ... are you interested?

Go here to read more

What a gift!

Fishing Boats on The Beach at Marles,Vincent Van Gogh

“The fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storm terrible, but they have never found these dangers sufficient reason for remaining ashore”
Vincent van Gogh