It's Bunny Time!

I love bunnies.  Easter week is a great time for lovin' the bunnies.

The first bunny in my collection was made by my son when he was in kindergarten (or possibly first grade?).  It was a gift to me.  I love it.

When I first started rug hooking, I was very drawn to patterns with rabbits.  I have branched out some - but I know there are many more rabbit rugs in my future - in fact there is one on my frame right now!  (I'll get that on here when it is finished...)

Here is my very first hooked rug - or should I say the rug that got me hooked!  This is an Anita White pattern.

Shortly after the little bunny mat was completed I ordered this Warren Kimble pattern.  When Anita showed it to me I thought it was huge!  I know better now - but it still looked huge at the time.  I love the square pennies and the hit or miss rows in the border.  And of course, I love the bunny...

The rug below is from Dogwood Hooked Art.  I improvised a bit...  I gave the rabbit a carrot to hold (actually he pulled it up from the garden and is about to eat it).  At the time I was working on this rug, my friend Anne was doing a series of rugs for her kitchen with sayings on them so I decided I wanted a saying on this rug.  I replaced the flowery space in the bottom of the original design with my saying... Carpe Carota.  Yes, the Latin word for carrot (or the closest thing they had to a carrot at that time) is carota.  SEIZE THE CARROT. 

This little mat is a William Morris inspired design.  It is very sweet...

My Mom (an antiques dealer) is a great source of bunnies for my collection.  I'm pretty sure all three of these came from her.  The large white one is wonderful - very old, made of wool.

Happy Bunny Week everyone!

A very good friend... and a couple of bears...

This weekend we were lucky to have our long-time friend Craig here for an overnight stay.  He lives in Massachusetts now so we don't get to see him very often.  He counts teddy bear making among his MANY MANY talents.  Mike and I met him many years ago when I first started collecting teddy bears.  His bear "Merlot" was the very first artist-made teddy I bought.

We had fun last night looking at all my bears - most of them are his handiwork!  He could see the progression of his work over the years, and he talked about how he has changed his patterns and stuffings and eyes and noses and ears and paw pads and length of arms and legs - quite an evolutionary process!  He loves antique bears (and all things antique!) so of course that is the look he tries to achieve in his bears. 

The two bears he is holding in the photo are the two "best" examples of his bears - according to him.  I love them all, but he is the expert on all things teddy bear!  He is right, these two are really special...

We have been invited to stay at his home outside of Boston for a week this summer while he and his family are on vacation in California.  I can't wait to see the house.  He worked on it for 2 years and it is full of antiques and goodies!  He has already given us suggestions for day-trips and restaurants.  All we have to do is feed the dog and walk her once in the morning and once at night!  A pretty good trade don't you think?

Have a great day!

Cute little baby hat

Well, it seems that almost all of my same-age friends are becoming grandmothers.  And I (always on the lookout for some excuse to push away from my desk), have made a sweet little hat for a friend's first grandbaby.

I always thought that crocheting something round would be "advanced", but trust me - this was easy.  In fact, I made this hat while watching the Jayhawks lose that basketball game last Saturday.  (Not a pleasant association I must say.)

The hat seems kind of tiny...  but so are newborn babies... so I think it will fit.  It's a bit stretchy too.

I used a cotton sport weight yarn by Saucy.  The brim is rolled up in the photo, but it can also be worn down to make it a little sun hat.  The hooked mat underneath is a pattern designed by Anita White.  I used scraps of many different colors to make the pennies.

Now, back to work until the next distraction comes along.

Have a great day!

First Day of Spring???

Well apparently there won't be any gardening today...

I've got to admit this is pretty cool.  This is one of my "Contorta" trees (Corylus avellana), aka  Harry Lauder's walking stick.  The snow has created a beautiful sculpture.

This patio furniture has served as my snow measurement device all winter - looks like about 5-6 inches fell overnight.

This is one of my earliest and most favorite hooked pieces (made into a pillow).  It is a design by Anita White.  It stays in the family room all winter.  Time to put it away for awhile - and maybe the snow will go with it!

Have a great day!

First Baby Blanket is finished!

Here is the baby blanket I just finished for my sis-in-law's new grandson in Mexico.  I was inspired by the wonderful photos and instructions on the attic24 blog I have mentioned before.

 The blanket is made with Lion Brand Cotton-Ease yarn.  I think it will be perfect for cool summer nights up in the mountains in Mexico!

This photo is a little dark.  I used the lime green as the last round for each square, then used it again to join the squares together. 

 After joining all the squares, I put four rounds (four different colors) around the entire outside, then finished off with the lime green.

 Sylvester really likes it - he is a bit lime green himself!

Well Sylvester is not really supposed to be standing up in his chair - but here he is giving the blanket his seal of approval!  Say Adios Sylvester - the blanket is going to Mexico!

The next blanket is going to be very similar, but with a wool yarn (because the baby lives in Norway).  Right now there are colorful little squares piled up all over the place - nothing sewn together yet.  Maybe it will be finished in about a week???

Have a great day!

A little color on a gray day...

The first day of spring is just a few days away... but it sure doesn't look like it outside!  And inside, at our house anyway, it's almost just as bad.  We had a flood here last Sunday night (think dishwasher malfunction...). 

So here's a few splashes of color that helped to brighten my day...

We spotted these growing next to a little beach house in a village along the Oregon coast last summer.

How cute is this???  Along the Columbia Gorge outside of Portland.

 Rose Garden, Portland, OR

Rose Garden, Portland, OR

Rose Garden, Portland, OR

Color-Full!!!  A scrappy rug by my scrappy friend Anne.

Anne again...  color, color, color!!!!  She is the queen of bright colors!

This is the first of four motifs on a rug pattern I'm working on by Susan Quicksall.  I'm trying out this bright color thing!  Actually there are two of these patterns and I will make them into pillows to go with a quilt I made years ago.

Here it is a little further along.  The black and white stripe background is...hmmm... challenging.  When I get both pillows finished, I'll post them along with the quilt.

This is a tulip I bought in a little set at the grocery store - three bulbs down in the bottom of a glass cylinder.  They grew and bloomed and were gorgeous.  I have never seen a tulip open all the way like this!

About the same time they bloomed we had a beautiful snowstorm.  I couldn't resist.

Have a great day!

WoolHawks

Several nights ago was the monthly get-together of the WoolHawks here in Lawrence. We have a new member for our little rug hooking group and she brought a recently completed rug for us to enjoy. It is wonderful! It is an Emma Lou pattern and is beautifully hooked - great color and texture with a true primitive feel.

I will post pictures of our rugs here from time to time.  We're all very busy with work and kids and weddings and grandkids and so forth, so a completed rug is not an everyday occurrence!  All the more reason to celebrate when it does happen!

To have a new member in the WoolHawks at this time is very special.  We recently lost our dear friend Marilyn who was instrumental in starting and growing our group.  She was always looking for ways to get more rug hookers in our group and to introduce new people to rug hooking.  I know she's very happy to see a new face around the table.

Have a great day. 

It won't be long now...

I was trying to "organize" the photos on my computer today...  well, it took forever because all I wanted to do was look at my garden pictures!  This activity made me VERY READY for spring and summer!!!  So as we are counting down the last few weeks of winter, here's a little something to help you get in the mood for warm weather and growing things!

 

This is a gorgeous Talavera pottery pot that my husband got me for our anniversary several years ago.  Yummy colors!

Dogwood... spectacular!  

Patio pot.  Loved those coral geraniums!

Mixed coleus.  Everybody competing to be the prettiest in the pot!

Ahhh...  Red Ribbons daylily... one of my favorites.

My all time favorite daylily...  Classy Cast.  I have a zillion pictures of her!

This is Mynelle's Starfish.  It's hard to tell here, but this lily is huge - the earliest ones to bloom are dinner plate size! 

Mass begonias in a pretty pot. 

Early spring... a wonderful pink iris...  up close and personal.  Mother Nature is quite an artist.

This is Ladyfingers.  Very tall and elegant.  That is Pink Embers in the background.

Hmmm...  can't remember who this is...will have to research this!

Little Pink Puffs all lined up in a row.  I love these.

Scarlet Orbit.  These usually produce many blooms at a time so it makes a very showy display in the garden.

I wish I had a photo of the sky yesterday afternoon - there were thousands of geese, wave after wave of them, flying in formation - headed north!!!  And then today I got my first garden catalog in the mail!   So can spring be far behind??  I don't think so!

Have a great day. 

Baby Blanket Fun

Not long ago I discovered a wonderful blog written by a young woman in England.  I think I found it when searching for a ripple pattern for crochet.  I loved the color and creativity in her work, the photos, and her writing - pretty much everything about her blog!  I find myself checking it out every morning to see if there is anything new - it is a such a cheerful way to start to the day!  The "British" influence is fun to hear - great words and expressions.  If you want to check it out:  www.attic24.typepad.com

If you do check out her blog, you'll see her love of clear, bright colors.  They're everywhere!

So, what does all that have to do with Baby Blanket Fun???  It just so happens that my sister-in-law has a brand new grandbaby in Mexico (a little boy), and another one the way in Norway (a little girl).  I'm making little granny square blankets for both babies - both inspired by attic24.  I have not found a cotton or cotton blend yarn with the wide variety of colors I see at attic24.  I think she uses mostly wool yarn. 

Here is the blanket going to Mexico (still in progress).  It is made with Lion Brand Cotton-Ease yarn.  The smaller squares will each have one more round of the light green (like the larger squares), then all 20 squares will be joined using the light green color to whip them together.  After joining the squares, I will probably put several rows of border around the blanket's outer edge using some of the other colors.

The Norway blanket will be made with wool yarn (since it is cold in Norway!).  I'll post that one when it is a little further along. 

These are lots of fun to do!  And of course there are endless variations on the granny square.  The one I'm using is super simple.

That cute basket holding the yarn was purchased last Saturday at the Lenexa Hook-in.   The basket booth always has great baskets at affordable prices.  Lots of my rug hooking friends have the large basket with canvas handles to store and carry their rug hooking projects.

Have a great day!