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I'm claiming my blog.  I hope I'm doing this right.  I hope to start blogging again, if I can figure out all of the changes that blogger has made.

Rock Creek Lenexa Hook-In

This was my first time going to a Hook-in.  It was so much fun and I had a blast meeting some of my primitive online friends.

From left to right....Me, Sher, Ginger, Saundra, Betty, Pati Jane, and Robin.   I've chatted with some of these ladies in a ebay group that I belong to, AAPG.  It was so nice to put faces with the names and meet them all.  Since this was my first hook-in, I was like a kid in a candy store.  I hope I didn't scare these ladies off, with my giddyness of taking it all in.  I don't think I sat down at all and I know I didn't even work on my project.  There was too much to see and lots of wool to fondle.

Then I was surprised to find out that Maggie Bonanomi was there.  I have all of her books and love her style.  Here she is holding her project from her latest book, 'Book of Days'.  That is her hubby in the background.

Here are some of the girls actually working on a project.  L to R, Saundra, Pati Jane, Theresa (standing), and Betty.  Betty was teaching Pati Jane how to stitch on linen.

I got to meet Theresa at the hotel the night before.  We drove up and got a hotel room the night before the hook-in.  This is so we didn't have to get up so early and worry about bad weather.  Brett wanted to go down to the pool, so I took him down and got in the jacuzzi.  I was surprised to meet 2 very fun ladies, Theresa and Reggie.  I only wish we had stayed another night there, as they were all going out to dinner and hitting the jacuzzi again.

Here we have JoJo (in the pink)!  It was so nice to meet her.  I've chatted with her on Wool Snippets for a few years.  Hi JoJo, I will get back to posting on Wool Snippets soon.  Looks like Betty, JoJo, and Robin deep on conversation.

Here you can see some of the booths in the background.  Lots of wool around and wonderful hooked rugs.

I have more pics of the rug show that I will post later.  There were some gorgeous rugs in the show and after seeing them all you get so inspired to hook, hook, hook.  I will also share pics of my goodies in the next post.  I have to get them in good lighting to take a pic.

Winter Cheer Swap

I joined my first swap!  I belong to a group of primitive crafters on ebay and this past month we did a Winter Cheer Swap to help get through all of the wonderful snow we are having.  This was my first experience with joining a swap and I had a ball.  It was so much fun to make some goodies and search for some extra goodies to go into the package.

Our theme was Simplify.  It was fun to see what everyone came up with and all of the wonderful talent in the group.  Below is the rug I hooked for my swap. One of the ladies, Rebecca,  designed some doodles for us to use for this swap.  I also made a red heart pin tuck out of wool and found some other goodies that I sent to her.

My swap sender as Betty of Primitive Bettys fame.  Here is the package I received for the swap from Betty.  Betty made this wonderful penny rug from a Maggie Bonanomi pattern.  I've had my eye on that pattern for awhile and was afraid to try it out.  I have to tell you it is wonderful!

She also took one of the doodles that Rebecca shared with us and did the wonderful pin tuck.  Her needle punch is fabulous and her finishing is wonderful.  This is something that I'm wanting to work on for myself.  I want to practice more of needle punch, but my finishing is where I lack.  So it's nice to see in person how others have finished things.  Now I'm ready to play in wools and I also shopped around for some trims to have on hand to try out.  Below is a close up pic of the pin tuck.  Isn't so prim and wonderful.   I have a wooden dough trough that I have wanted to fill up with yummy prim things, this is my start.

She also made me an adorable heart pin out of velveteen and it has one of those rusty bells.  Just makes it so prim.  I love it.  Awhile back, I saw a blog where the lady used a journal to plan her projects.  What I liked about it, was that it had graph paper in it instead of lined paper.  I started looking around for one, but only found the lined ones.  How surprised was I, when I saw that she sent me a journal and it has graph paper in it.  She also sent some yummy DMC colors that I will use in my needle punch.  Also, I can't forget she sent some chocolate M & Ms.  Thomas grabbed them first thing and kept teasing me to chase him for them.  LOL

I really enjoyed my experience of my first swap and hope to join in another one.  It has really helped to inspire me and now I have so many things running through my mind that I want to do.

We woke up this morning to another snow storm.  It's really coming down out there now and the wind is blowing so hard.  They are saying we will have 6 - 8 inches before it ends tomorrow.  I hope everyone stays in and stays warm.  I'm going to curl up on the couch and get a project out to work on.

New Header for a New Year

Hi everyone!  Wow, can you believe it's a new year?  Time just seems to get away from me.  I know I keep having to apologize for not posting.  I really do have intentions to post and then when I get to the computer, I forget or something comes up that I have to do.  One of the things that I have been wanting to do is to learn how to edit my pics.  I've seen so many blogs that have nice collages, etc and I don't have any software to edit my pics.  I have a Macbook and with iPhoto, there really wasn't anything to do this with.  So tonight I checked out Picassa to edit and was playing around a bit to figure it out.  I made a collage of some WIP blocks and while it isn't the best, I thought I'd try it out.  What photo editing software do you all use?  

Also, I see so many graphics on sidebars and wonder where you all get them.  I would love to make my blog enjoyable and also use it as a journal/notebook of my projects.  Maybe have a WIP list on the side, some pics of my completed projects.  So any tips you all can give me will be appreciated.  

We went home to TN for Christmas this year.  It was a nice visit, even if the drive is so long.  It takes around 15 hours to get there.  The boys had a good Christmas and loved being with their Grandparents.  Doug surprised me with an Accuquilt Go Cutter!  Now I get to play around with it.  We've only been back home since Sunday, so I've had to deal with laundry, but I did play around with the circle die cutter  and tried it out on wool.  It cuts the wool pretty good.  I just wish they would have circles in between 1" and 2", as I would prefer those sizes for penny rugs.  I will have to work on taking pics and posting in a few day.  I'm paying for the trip and over doing things with a fibromyalgia flare up right now.  Maybe I'll work on my list of things to do in 2011.  

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year! 

Dreaming of Houston Festival

Oh, how I wish I could be in Houston for the Quilt Festival.  I was lucky enough to attend about 5 or 6 years ago and it was wonderful!  So I've been surfing blogs to see any glimpse pics of Market and now Festival.  Now I'm anxious for shops to start receiving the new things.  I've called a couple of my LQS's today to see if they have the new book by Blackbird Designs.   They have a new book out called Garden Club.  The Country Sampler has some pics of a few of the projects in the book and I want it now!!  Yes, I'm always impatient when it comes to the Blackbird Gals.  Also, Congratulations to Barb and Alma, for winning the Best Booth Award this year.  They do some amazing things!

I have had my follow up appt from my appendectomy and got the green light to do normal things again.  However, Brett was out of school one day sick.  Then I came down with a bad stomach bug.  I was feeling a bit better, but tonight, it feels like I'm trying to take a back set of it.  Either way, while I've had to take it easy, I've been working on Doug's Cardigan Sweater.  Today, I completed the back of the sweater and am really pleased with myself to get this far.  Now tomorrow, I'll CO for the front.

I can't believe it is November!  Time is going by so fast now, it's scary.  Here is what Thomas and I walked to school the other morning to.

You should have heard all of the noise as we walked out the door.  All of these birds were in a couple of trees, as we were half way to school, they all took off.  It made me think of the movie 'The Birds'.  Pretty cool to see though.

Tummy Ache and Hospital

Hi Gang,

It's been an interesting weekend.  I had a tummy ache on Friday and Saturday, so I laid around in bed.  At midnight Saturday night, I couldn't get comfortable at all.  From about 12:30 am Sunday morning til about 5:30 am, I was in constant pain and woke Doug up.  We ended up going to the emergency room and I wound up in surgery for an appendectomy.  I just got home today, as they kept me overnight, due to already having an infection from it.  It hadn't burst yet, but they said within another 24 hours, it would have.  So I'll be resting up this week.  I'm not aloud to lift anything or bend, squat, etc.  I have to take it easy and do a little walking each day.  I just took a pain pill, so think I'll drift off to la la land for a bit.

Happy Quilting

More Stash

After we left Germany, we took a detour to TN to visit family for a couple of weeks.  Of course, I had to hit the shops there.  I had to go to Double Cross (cross stitching shop), but found out that they have sold the shop.  Not to worry though, the new owner has put the cross stitching in her Antique Shop, 3 Sisters.  So I can go look at cross stitch and check out some wonderful antiques at the same time.  The owner was working on a needle punch project by Brenda Gervais of With Thy Needle & Thread.  So I had to buy it, as well as another one that I have had my eye on.  She was working on the Boo-tiful Bouquet and it was gorgeous!  The Feather Your Nest pattern has caught my eye for awhile, so I thought I'd get it.  Now I haven't done much in the way of punch needle, but when you check out Brenda's designs it will make you want to learn.

Another one of my favorites is Stacy Nash.  I love her primitive and simple style.  She has lots of cross stitch patterns to make necessaries, and pin cushions.  I found a few more of hers that I didn't have.

My Mom and I took a day to shop together.  I took her to the cross stitch shop, as I knew she would love to check out the antiques.  Then we hit a couple of yarn shops.  I was showing her the newest Namaste Bag and she surprised me with buying it for me.  Gotta love those Mom's.  This is the Monroe.  I also bought a skein of yummy Malabrigo Sock Yarn.

I also bought some quilt books and charm packs in TN.  Then we left for Kansas and I added more quilt books and charm packs, and other things.  Here in Wichita, I have a nice cross stitch shop.  It's been a long time since I've lived in an area with a cross stitch shop around.  So this is exciting for me.  Heart's Desire is a wonderful shop and the ladies are really nice there.  Their walls are covered in stitched models and that makes you want to buy more.  I added more to my stitching stash there.

There are 4 quilt shops in Wichita, as well, as one in Derby.  Derby is just 15 minutes down the road.  So I have loads of quilt shops now.  After being in Germany for 4 years and not having any quilt shops around, this is wonderful!!!!  Not so much good for the ole' budget, but Doug knew that I would go a little crazy when we moved back to the States.

As you can see, I have lots to do now.  Not that I didn't have a thing to work with before.  But it's so much fun shopping in person again.