The good ol' days of summer......

I think August might be my favorite month.  I know, I know, I've said that before about other months, but seriously, you get the best of summer with warm days but you also get a hint of fall when the cooler nights appear.  You also see the grass all dried and flowers are starting to look tired.  Which means that pumpkins and apples are right around the corner, I have said before and still believe that Fall is my favorite season.  But, back to summer.  August is when the gardens start producing, you can stop by a farm stand and get the days fresh picked corn for dinner.  Oh, I just love it!

Here at The Old Tattered Flag we have been seeing orange and black woolens go out in nearly every package so we know Fall and our super busy time is right around the corner, so before the storm (busy season) comes Mom and I decided to go to Vermont and visit my Sister and do a bit of antiquing.  We had a GREAT time.  We went to an antique show in the town of Orford, NH.  It was wonderful as you can see......

Lisa, what are you getting?

Oh boy, you know what I thought of immediately right?  My dogs.........sorry boys......this guy came home with me!

So did this!!!  Wowsa.....Mom and my Sister walked by it and guess what?  You snooze, you lose.....mine!  Hee hee!

 

These beauties came home with Mom....

Lisa and Mom obviously ready to go!!

Yes, this had my name on it!

What a cutie!

Ok, this looks bad!  No, we didn't make our Mother haul the goodies.  She was merely guarding our basket while we continued to look, lol!

Well, someone did well!

Mom and best friend Prudy!

Me with some goodies from the day!

Lol, look at the look on Lisa's face!  Gosh I love this penny rug!

Camel's Hump, the view from my Sister's house.

 So then it was back to Lisa's house for some good old fashioned crafting.  I thought I'd walk through and snap some pictures of some of her supplies.  As you know she is a folk artist who makes hand sculpted paper mache Santa's, Halloween figures and antique folk art boards.  As with any artist it's important to have a good supply to draw from and you can see she is not lacking there....

Bicycles and Sleds waiting for Santas.....

Wagons for Santa to pull...

Future Santa modes of transportation....

Santa needs a good chair.....

Here's a little piece I bought for her years ago....

Santa's waiting to be made....

Pumpkins in the works.....

 ....and some other cool shots from her house.....

...quirky or scary?

Here's a painting I did a few years ago that I am adapting into a hooked rug...

..and here's an amazing stitched sampler that a friend made for me to give Lisa as a gift....

Here's my little Crow Purse in punch needle that I gave as a Christmas gift in '12.

 Then it was on to crafting.  We had been wanting to make ourselves some of the feedsack bags that you are seeing in all the stores so we set to it.  I had started mine at home in NY with some friends but just wasn't feeling it with finishing it.  At the flea market my sister and I came across these amazing pewter "buttons" that came off a horse's bridle.  I knew what direction I wanted to go with my bag......

 and with great architectural items it starting coming together....

My first finished bag, now I just need to find a good strap...

My second bag.....

Lisa's bag....

Mom's bag

"C" for Carol....

 It's always good to get away and go visit my Sister because I go home rejuvenated and ready to dive into work again.  So, now it was time to head home.......

We've been super busy getting some new items made up for the website, shop and upcoming hook-ins.  Here's what we've been working on.....

Mom hooked my very popular Antique Coverlet design for the second time in very primitive colors.  If you are familiar with her first version you might think this one is similar, but the red in the first one was more vibrant and the white was more...well, white.  This version looks like an actual antique rug...

I've had these buggers in my mind for some time.  Who doesn't need some braided wool pumpkins?  These were very easy, but a bit time consuming and they do take a lot of wool.  Based on response I might put kits together, so let me know what you think....

I used wooden spindles for the stems...

Mom has been thinking of this one for some time.  I call it our Hook n' Stitch pillow.  The hooking is done right through the wool.  We do have a kit available at our website, here's the link: Hook n' Stitch Pumpkin Pillow

 ....and even though there are a dozen punch needle designs I should be working on (and I am working on one at the moment), I have decided to hook Polly Minick's Irish Chain quilt rug.  I LOVE blue and white.  I've decided to hook one little block a night.  You have to do something for yourself every once in awhile right?  

Does your chair look like this?

 We also have several other things in the works as usual so keep watching.  You never know what we'll come up with!

Have a great Sunday evening everyone...

Until next time.....