A great trip to Ohio!!

Another whirlwind weekend!!  Phew, we've been busy as usual.  Do you find that as you get older you don't really live in the moment, you kind of divide the year into the four seasons and approach it that way?  Right now it is all about the porch and flowers.....have to weed, mow, buy flowers, fill the pots and window boxes.  Seems like we just got done wrapping presents and before you know it we'll be thinking of cider and falling leaves.  I know, I know, say it isn't so, but I hate to tell you, from a pattern designer, I am done with summer and on to Fall designing.  Ok, I won't talk about that anymore.  

Life here at The Old Tattered Flag is busy as usual.  We are in a constant state of motion.  Two weeks ago we hosted our local hookers on an off Thursday.  We needed them to come on an off Thursday as we would be tearing the shop apart to prepare for the Western Reserve hook in on our normal hooking day.   

As usual, a good time was had with our local ladies.  Annette brought her Antique Rooster over.  All that's needed is the binding.  It is just gorgeous.  Great job Annette!!

...and in between everything Mom and I continue to work on getting things completed.  I recently finished punching my new Antique Crow design.  It is currently on the website in our Everyday punch Needle section, here's the link:

Antique Crow Punch Needle Pattern/Kit

And a good friend and very talented local lady, Denise, recently punched my "Dare to be Different" design for me. She does amazing work. Here's the link:
Dare to be Different Punch Needle Pattern/Kit

Here's some really primitive bags I'm working on for the Gathering in June...

And Mom finished our "Keegan's Bear" rug.....sssshhhh it's for my Brother and his wife.  They are expecting in August.

And during our last open hooking day we celebrated Mom's (74th) birthday.  

The other day I received this beautiful book in the mail.  Last summer a woman came to the door and told us that her historical society was writing a book on the Stone homes in our county and asked if she could photograph ours.  How fun!  It is a gorgeous book and full of inspiration for what I'd like our home to look like with a bit more TLC.

Our house is on the bottom left and top right...

 So, then it was on to Ohio and the Western Reserve Hooking Guild.  As usual I had to snap the traditional "here's Mom napping on the way to the Hook-in" photo.  

My husband has helped build us a beautiful and very eye catching display centerpiece.  It's a great way for us to display the seasonal rugs we want to showcase.  As usual we brought way too much, but I'd rather have too much than too little I always say!

I had to snap a picture of "behind that big wall" this is before we really messed it up...

and here's "Heaven's to Betsy's" beautiful booth and rugs.  Betsy, Eric and Erica are the nicest folks.  They have always been there for us as we have built our business over the past few years, ready to answer a question or give a bit of advice.  For that we are soooo grateful and they are quite honestly the nicest people!! Then there's the artistry.....

Next is Breezy Ridge Rugs....

...and Crows on the Ledge...

...and Folk Art Primitives....

Sadly, I did not get a lot of pictures of what ladies were working on or the rug show as we were steadily busy all day and I didn't get to break away, but I did snap a few shots from my booth....

The hook-in was held in Chagrin Falls, Ohio at the Federated Church Family life center.  The grounds and facility were just beautiful as well as the whole town.  

They gave away many prizes.....

We met so many nice ladies and quite a few online customers.  It's always so nice to put a face to the name coming in over the computer and see what projects they are all working on.  We enjoyed every minute of the day.  A special thanks to Celia and Susanne, members of the guild who made us feel very welcome.

So, then it was on our way back to NY.  I tried to get the "after the show nap shot" of Mom, but she caught me this time....

So, now it's time to unload and put the shop back together....

I wasn't able to do much shopping since I couldn't get away from the booth, but I did manage to skip down to Lauren from Rugs and Pugs.  Her and Melissa had amazing jewelry.

I love this wooley bracelet from Melissa....

 and Lauren's jewelry.  Lauren and I have been facebook/blog friends for years so it was so nice to finally meet.  Such a nice lady!!

Here's some cute little velvet and paisley strawberries she had as well.  I had to come home with three.  

 We decided to drive the whole way back and pulled in at 11 last night.  It's really not too bad of a drive but we were tired.  I woke up groggy this morning so decided..........to cook....I'm weird, I know.  

I made beer bread....

....butterscotch cookies

.....pasta sauce and soup

and Black Bean Salsa. ( I love the picture of the salsa, again, sounds weird, but I'm in the market for a new camera so was using my son's new camera to take these food pictures)  

So, now it's on to a new week.  I had some linen and monks cloth waiting for me when I got home so I can replenish my pattern inventory....

 and Mom has some new Woolens to wash and ready for the shelves.  Be sure to check our website this week as we will be adding lots of new goodies in addition to the new Woolens.

 Thanks again to the wonderful Western Reserve hookers, we had a great time.  The next event for us is our "Gathering of Friends" here at our shop on June 27.  We will need to have all tickets purchased by June 7 so if you haven't gotten yours yet be sure to visit the website: www.theoldtatteredflag.com

It will be a great day with lots of talented rug hookers gathering in our backyard, shopping with great artisans, great food and a great rug show.  Hope you can join us!

Until next time......