Rug Hooking at the Beach

Well...I guess we were at the beach...we never saw the ocean except from afar. It was TOO COLD! This weekend my hookin' buddy (HB) and I stayed with her mom in in a little town on the Crystal Coast so we could spend Saturday with the Piedmont Rug Hooking Guild at their retreat at Trinity Center. We had a blast. We arrived Friday evening in time to go with Mom and Aunt Sarah to the Bogue House for the best fried trout, collard greens and fried okra you can ever imagine. Mom and Aunt Sarah are too much fun to be around. We went back to the house and had a little show and tell. I think they liked our rugs but planned on sticking to quilting.

Saturday morning Mom fixed us breakfast and sent us on our way to the rug hooker's retreat. The Trinity Center is on the barrier island and sits back in the woods a bit, backing up on the sound. It is a beautiful place and very relaxing. Our fellow rug hookers were already hard at work.

One difference between a rug hooking retreat and a quilting retreat is you don't have as much junk to tote for rug hooking. A frame bag and a wool basket and you're done. It wakes several trips to the car to unload for a quilting retreat.

Here are a few of the rugs. This first on will have quilt blocks hooked in the borders.

The sun rays on this rooster are from one piece of wool that was dip dyed. I'm trying real hard not to get sucked into dying my own wool. It's hard to resist.

I thought this was incredible. It looks like the real painting, doesn't it?

This woman is reproducing an antique rug she saw.

This is a huge rug the lady sitting across from be was working on. If she wasn't such a sweet lady, I would have been very intimidated.

This is the woman that taught me and HB (and many of the other women in the group) how to rug hook. That's her little scrap rug on the floor. She dyes all her own wool and all her rugs are her original designs. Yep, she scares us.

Here is my favorite rug of the weekend.

Here's HB working on Good Dog. We joke that we get so zoned out when rug hooking that we're at risk of drooling. She's not, I assure you. I'd punch her if I caught her drooling in public. She'd do the same for me. That's what friends are for, right?

Here's the whole group at the end of the day. They had already cracked open the wine and cheese and we were about to go back to Mom's house.

Mom had homemade fried chicken and potato salad waiting on us when we got there. It was goooooood. We were spoiled rotten. It was difficult to leave this morning after being taken care of all weekend...but it had to be done. It was a nasty, cold, rainy drive home but with a stop for coffee in Beulaville (really) and lunch at the State Farmer's Market, we made it home in no time. I'm sure HB was settled in for a nap before I got back on the highway. I'm heading for my nap now. Shelby's waiting on me.

In the Fray

I am not a political person. I usually sit by the sidelines, watching quietly, then vote...pretty much keeping my opinion to myself. I am more interested in other things like quilting and rug hooking and disinfection by-products in our water distribution systems. Politics is just not one of those things that I am passionate about. I have a friend, however, who is extremely passionate about politics...more specifically, she is passionate about supporting one particular presidential candidate. So, when she asked for volunteers to help out with Hillary's visit today, I thought "why not?" I've never gone to a political rally of any sort. (When Reagan came to NC State back in the day, I had concrete lab and playing in concrete mud was MUCH more entertaining.)

I took a couple hours off of work this afternoon and went over to the community college gym. I painted signs and handed out stuff. I was searched by secret service twice and if you were paying close attention to the 11:00 news, I was on TV. I was lucky enough to get a seat on the bleachers about 30 feet from the stage and I met some interesting people. After about 2 hours, Hillary made it to the gym and the crowd went wild. I have to admit, it was exciting to actually be there, not just see it on TV. It was exciting to see how diverse that room of 700 people was and how well they got along even after waiting all day in the hot sun and waiting longer in a stuffy gym, not knowing how late she would be (an hour and a half late by the way). Her speech was inspiring no matter what you believe or who you support. I do not believe for one minute that she (or anyone) can make all those things she said come true. But, it's nice to sit back for a minute and think what a wonderful world it would be if they did.

Will I vote for Hillary? That's for me to know. But I am paying more attention than I was a few hours ago.

I did realized one thing during her speech. She asked for a raise of hands of those in the room who were still paying off student loans. I was amazed at how many people raised their hands. I'm not talking 20 year olds. I'm talking 40 and 50-somethings. I'm going to write my parents a thank you note. Eight years at NC State and I didn't pay a dime. And because they did provide me with a college education, I have a good job; I have health insurance; I have hope of retirement; I have my own house; I can support myself. If I gained anything from the experience today it was to see that I am a blessed person in more ways than I knew.

Side Trips & Wildlife

Early this morning I met one of my co-workers to go to a meeting in a town just north of here called Eden. I've never thought about it but I guess it can be said I live just south of paradise (Eden) - a nice thought actually. But I digress...

So my co-worker and I go to this meeting. This particular co-worker and I work very well together. We are peas and carrots - opposites that go together. He's blond and thin...I'm not. He talks...alot...I don't. And, of course, he's a he and I'm a she. We've traveled for work together a lot and when we're not on the road, we're sitting 10 feet from each other talking through the wall at each other...plotting work and telling stories and laughing quite a bit. Even though we look nothing alike, we have been confused as brother and sister. Somewhere along the line, we started refering to each other as Poodle - a reference to the TV show Will & Grace - a pet name that the characters Karen and Jack had for each other. Okay - so the point to me telling you all that is so I can refer to my co-worker as Poodle instead of coworker. Back to the story...

So, Poodle and I are off to Eden this morning for a meeting. We make it through the meeting without looking like a couple of idiots and actually make some progress on the project. We stop to have an early lunch and as I'm walking back out to my car while he's paying the lunch bill I wonder how close am I to Stoneville. Fraser's is in Stoneville... a rug hooker's dream. By the time Poodle gets in the car, I'm programming Fraser's address into my little GPS unit. Only 20 minutes away! Poodle says "Let's go!" (See why we're peas and carrots?)

Twenty minutes later we're deep in rural NC pulling up to Fraser's shop, which is an experience in itself. No less than 6 dogs greet us. They range from a large hound dog to a petite chihuahua. There are horses and goats across the little road. Poodle stays in the car while I go in and shop. This is not his first side trip with me. He has caught many a nap in my car while I explored a quilt shop that happened to be in our path. Again, peas and carrots.

A little while later I emerge with my new wool and as I walk towards the car, he calls out "Look!" About 6 feet from me is this gorgeous peacock just walking around in front of the car. They really are breathtaking. So, while I was inside, Poodle was well entertained by the wildlife in the driveway.

What started out as an ordinary day "at the office" turns into an adventure in rural NC.

You just never know what the day will bring.

A Glimpse of the Glamorous Life

Here's what I learned about today... pipe bursting. It's a great thing. Fast, cost effective way to replace old failing infrastructure in the right scenario.

We're hoping to get to use this technology on a project we are hoping to win. It will be very cool...trust me. Yes, this is the kind of glamorous things I get to learn about in my day job.

Do I wish I was home quilting right now instead of at work?

yes.

What a silly question.

My Talking Weeping Cherry Tree

To tell you the truth, I like winter the best. I'm comfortable in winter. I love the cold, crisp air and the hope for snow. I'm not talking Great White North kind of winter where the climate makes a legitimate attempt to kill you. I'm talking our nice North Carolina winters. Cold enough to bundle up, put a couple extra quilts on the bed and burrow in. I love hot choclate, hot tea and cold mornings.

I hate hot weather. So, when the weather starts warming up and the birds start chirping and the buds start budding, I'm usually not quite ready to let go of winter. I know that just around the corner is summer - hot, humid, sticky, buggy, bad hair summertime. So when spring starts to show up, I start getting a little "blah". (I know this is a little weird. I know most people get "blah" in the winter time. Okay...so I'm a little off...but most of you already know that...just wait...it gets a little weirder...)

Back to the "blah"...so the weather gets warmer, the days start to get longer, the birds are chirping and the buds are budding... I'm walking around..."blah, blah, blah"...then every year OVERNIGHT this tree in my front yard...

does THIS...

Every year...overnight. And that morning when I open my door and see that tree bursting with blooms, I can almost hear it say "BOO!". I think "Okay, okay, I see ya there, you big show-off. Spring is here. Summer is coming. Thanks for the warning. I'll get used to it...again."

And as I walk by and the wind blows those little pink petals all over my yard, I can hear my tree giggling.

(told ya it would get weirder...didn't know I talked to trees, did ya...

...well, I guess a few of you did...)

National Quilting Day

I actually spent most of yesterday (National Quilting Day) at home quilting. I decided I'd try to knock out a project requested by my mother. The daughter of a good friend of hers is graduating from high school in June and, of course, she has to get a quilt. A few weeks ago when my mother and I were in Asheville together, we stopped by the LQS to pick out the fabrics. Here's what we ended up with...

I thought I'd do a Turning 20 because it's fast but I'm really tired of Turning 20's. I found a patter by Fig Tree Quilts called Shabby Chic that also uses 20 fat quarters. It's just as easy but a smaller quilt...which is perfect for a small girl going off to a dorm room. The best part is I was able to cut it out and piece it all in one day.

Not the best picture but you get the idea. There's one fabric in there you've just got to see though.

Is that not the cutest fabric?!

Well, I'm off to quilt some more. I'm on a roll...

Making Progress...

Here's my rug after working on it all this weekend. It is slow going but at least I am making progress. For all the non-rug hookers, this can become very addictive and it's pretty expensive. The wool...well...it's a lot more expensive than quilting fabric. Every now and then you find a deal though. The black I'm using for the background used to be a jacket. I bought it at the rug hooking guild's yard sale for $3. I don't even want to think about how much the rest of the wool in this rug cost.

Plans for the Weekend

Today was my day off and I've promised myself I will get one thing done to this house every time I am home on my day off. Today I tackled the book shelf in the living room. I got all my photo albums out, went through all the pictures and put them in photo boxes. The albums that were falling apart I threw away. The rest went to the yard sale corner. I filled up a box of full of books and nic naks for the yard sale too. So the organization melee that went on in my quilting room is slowly progressing to the rest of the house. I got my one thing done so now I am free to roam the weekend.



This is another one of those wonderful weekends at home. I do not have to leave the house if I don't want to...but I will probably go to the grocery store so we don't have to eat cereal all weekend. My plan is to see how much of my rug I can get done. It has been very slow going because I only work on it every other week or so but now I want to get it done so I can do something else. (I promised myself I would do one rug at a time, which is opposite of how I quilt. I cannot tell you how many quilts I have actually in progress.) So... here's where I am tonight on my rug. I'll post again Sunday night to show how much I actually was able to get done. Wish me luck!

Big Sigh of Relief...

Last night we presented a new program "Organizing Your Quilting Space" at one of the local guilds. I was a little nervous because, well, people were going to see what chaos existed in my quilt room. It wasn't as embarrassing as I thought it would be. A lot of folks came up to me afterwards and said their sewing space was as bad as mine had been and they were inspired to go do something about it.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the program immensely (i.e. there were no mean hecklers...just the usual ones). People laughed at my jokes, which is always reassuring. It's nice to know that you're funny when you mean to be and not just funny to yourself.

I was exhausted though by the time I got home. I sat down in my fluffy chair, Shelby curled up on my chest (her favorite perch) and I was out like a light. All in all, I think we are ready to take the show on the road. So, if your in or near NC and need a guild program, now you know where to find one! We won't charge...much.

Mission Accomplished

I set out to quilt all weekend and I did...sort of. Other than a trip to the office supply store to prepare for the big guild presentation tomorrow night, I stayed home and did hand work. Just picture me in my big fluffy chair with Shelby curled up by my feet on the ottoman. (Did I tell you she was the perfect quilter's dog?)

So, the first item on the agenda was to finish the crazy patch panels for the big pumpkin. Done...even the little red beady eyes for the spiders.

So, now I'm all ready to sew the parts together into the great pumpkin. (It's very exciting, I know.) Here are the other 3 embroidered sides.



Second item on the agenda was to finish my applique for class this Wednesday night. My good friend teaches this applique class once a month that has become more of a club where she comes up with applique stuff for us to do and we just do what she tells us to do. I've never done so much applique in my life. I told her I wasn't going to do this last project but here I am...sucked into it anyway (like she had to twist my arm or something). Right now we're doing a little wall quilt from an old Robin Pandolph book. We have the first two blocks now and will get the next one this week. Instead of spending money at Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival last weekend, I got my carrot block sewn down and my beeskep block prepped. So this weekend I finished my beeskep block.







As a bonus, I also got the binding finished on an old rail fence quilt while we were watching a movie last night...so one more UFO off the list.


I love weekends at home!