Lisa's Rug

Hi Everyone,
I wanted to show you the amazing rug my sister is almost finished hooking. It is room sized, meaning 5 x 7 FEET!! She has five yards of wool alone in the burgandy border. It is an amazing log cabin pattern. She has been hooking it for months and is almost done, but having some shoulder pain. She hooks..........differently, using more of her arm and shoulder so I'm sure that's what's causing the pain.

She is over from Vermont visiting us for a few days, you know what that means......Oscar party tomorrow night. We are all big movie fans and I think this will be the first time we ever get to watch the Oscars together. Fun!!

Today we are headed down to an amazing quilt shop in Syracuse called Mission Rose. None of us really quilt, but they have all kinds of neat fabrics, buttons, yarns, gadgets, books. We have all chosen some neat tunic style shirt patterns for Mom to sew and Mission Rose has a ROOM full of gorgeous, colorful Batik fabrics so we are just dying to get there. After that it's out to lunch and then over to Hobby Lobby, possibly Joannes superstore, LL Bean, who knows. Oh, and we love to hit the Salvation army for old wool and great used clothes. We went to one yesterday and I got a gorgeous Ralph Lauren wool shirt with a zipper and leather patches on the elbows for......$4.99. My sister got two brand new with the tags, vests, handmade from Ireland for 4.99 each. Unreal.

Oh, and Mom sold her Sheep Rug, it's off to a great new home in Ohio!!
So, we're off for the day! Until next time.........

So much to do, so little time! We have had a busy weekend. I am in the process of turning my hooked rug patterns into penny rug quilt patterns. I make them the same size and will provide templates of all the shapes needed and instructions. It's a huge job because I have to have each one made up as a sample so I can then write the instructions. We got about 6 cut this weekend (actually 2 of each, one to keep and one to sell) and have the pile ready to stitch. I also started my huge, 10" x 55" hearts about hooked rug runner that is just coming out so pretty that I really want to finish. I also have about 6 new patterns that have to be hooked and a stand alone sheep to hook and stuff. Where to even begin!!
I wanted to add the two most recent rugs mom finished. The American Sheep rug by Lori Brechlin is just breathtaking. It is so beautiful it almost makes me want to cry. It is proudly hanging in the wool studio now, but is for sale on ebay.
The hit of miss stars is a nice example of what can be done with all your left over hooking strips. It's super primitive!!!
Add to all this that I am having withdrawls from painting and when walking through Michaels today I discovered some neat techniques for textured painting. I have had some ideas for "raised" paintings for quite some time and I think I have found what I need, so I really want to play with them but just don't have the time right now.
It's so hard because with hubby deployed I want the year to go by fast, but I'd also like about 10 more hours in the day to get some things done. Oh well, I'm off to hook, until next time.........

Weight Watchers Cake

So, I've been living the weight watchers lifestyle since my hubby deployed and am happy to say that I hit 45 lbs today. Woo hoo! I was a bit down because I hit a wall in January and didn't lose any for a couple of weeks, but I then learned that a plateau is when you don't lose for many weeks at a time. So, I started working out more, or trying to and was just more vigilant about what I am eating. I think I might have gotten a bit liberal with my points. I have learned though that I earn 6 activity points a day by exercising and can eat about 4-6 points over my daily limit and still not use all my weekly points, AND still lose. This week it is literally falling off, wish I knew what I was doing different.

Anyway, I got off track, which I often do. I made a cake I had heard about. Take any cake mix and mix it with any flavor of diet soda, a full can. The one I used averaged out to 4 points for a piece, if I divided the cake into 12 pieces, which is a good sized slice of cake. I used a chocolate cake mix with a diet dr. pepper. It is great! and it really opens up a whole new world for desserts because you could mix a strawberry cake mix with diet sprite, a vanilla cake mix with diet orange, the sky is the limit. And for toppings you could use fat free cool whip and fruit, low fat pudding mixed with cool whip, those great mousse mixes. Another great idea for the orange cake is after it's done backing and cooling, poke holes in it and pour sugar free jello over it, refrigerate it and top with cool whip. It's delicious! Another one I heard about is mixing an angel food cake mix with a large can of pineapple, juice and all for a nice fruit cake dessert. I'll let you know when I try that one.

I just wanted to share. It has finally clicked with me that I needed to learn to cook again. What makes me mad is the manufacturers of these mixes. They contribute to us being overweight. If it works to mix the cake with a can of diet soda, why do they suggest using oil and eggs? I could rant on this, but I will spare you all. It still is and will always be a daily battle for me and food, I don't think I've even had issues with food, other than I just enjoy it, but with weight watchers I still enjoy it, just different things and it's kind of fun to try out new recipes again. We kind of get in a rut with our cooking. Oh, and my teenage son really hasn't minded at all and has complimented me on my weight loss, which is huge! So, until next time..........

It's amazing how much better the weather can make you feel. It's still cold right now, but we are suppose to hit 40 tomorrow. The other day it was warm and we did lose quite a bit of snow, enough so that I can see the top of the fence in the yard. LOL! And, add to that that it hasn't snowed for about 3 days so I haven't had to plow! Ah, the small things!
I can feel spring around the corner, so I added a picture of the porch in the summer. This is where we gather to rug hook with a glass of lemonade! Memories!!!
Also included a picture of one of my latest designs just finished by my mother. It's my "Egg Plant" rug pattern. So cute and whimsical. So, a quick blog today, I'm off to draw up three more new patterns. Thanks for the comments ladies, they are uplifting, more than you know. Until next time......

No comment...........

I say no comment because I really am speechless! It's snowing AGAIN! Actually it really hasn't stopped for over a week. I was kind of joking when I wrote before that when my husband is gone it's going to be a rough winter, but it's not a joke anymore. The proof is in the photos! To add to it I've had a very sore tooth for the last week and a half. Went to the dentist and he ground down two teeth, said they were hitting each other and causing vibrations and soreness. So, after 4 days of more pain I called and said, "I don't think that was it". So, come to find out I had a bad abcess. Had to go in this morning for a root canal. All that wouldn't be too bad, believe it or not, but since it's snowed everyday I've had to go out and plow and the temperature has been excruciating to my teeth. I actually kept my son home today to plow, then school closed early so all was well. So, I finally got my teeth fixed, come home to plow and the cable on the winch broke. So, now I have a snowy driveway, another 6-12 inches of snow coming tonight and my day of painting for tomorrow has now turned in to fixing the plow. Really, I'm not trying to be gloom and doom. You have to have a sense of humor I guess, but really this friggin snow is really getting ridiculous! The picture of snow you see is our memory garden with a nice primitive fence that stands about 30 inches tall and is right in the middle of the yard. Yup!

On to better things. I wanted to show you the "Dream Big" Rug mom finished. It came out so cute. I do hope to get to painting it tomorrow as well as the other patterns. I am also including a picture of a chest I did for a silent auction on Fort Drum. It will be filled with kids games and should fetch a good price. Also, see a rug my mother is working on now. Gorgeous design by Lori Brechlin of Notforgottenfarms, sadly, not my design, but I do appreciate the gorgeous art of others too! Also, Mom did just finish hooking my Lady Liberty pattern and it is currently for sale on ebay.

So, I'm going to try to hold on to my sanity, until next time.......

New Designs for rug hooking

Well, as I may have told you, I usually design rugs from my paintings, but lately it seems to be the other way around. Guess it doesn't really matter does it? Here are four new hooking designs that I hope to get painted by next weekend. Mom has already hooked the bunny one, I'll get a picture of it on soon as well as some paintings I DO have done.
Mom and I had to go down to Syracuse yesterday so decided to visit Armory Square. It's the first time since I've lived here that we went there. It was charming. I can see that in the summer it must be a busy little place. There were a few shops and a lot of restaurants. Um, no WW point counting today!! We splurged. After that we went over to Super Joannes and LL Bean, then hit Wegmans and then headed home. It's amazing how just a little shopping trip can brighten your winter blahs......

Oh, I see!

So this is what Winter is all about. Well, what does he know, he's still a puppy! Maybe he was looking for the bone he buried the other day!