Rugs of Mine in Time.....

I was thinking this morning when planning my update how I've been talking about the show that I was going to be doing this weekend. Too many "I's".  Never enough mentions of "we" as a group.  Looking back at my recent  posts, I never mentioned anything about the other girls in our group "The Black Sheep Rug Hookers". We have been together as a group for a number of years. I will make it a point of getting a group shot at Colonial Days this year of all of us!!  Be ready to put on your smiles girls :). 

I also have been talking about getting this done and that done and never showed any updates. Haven't been good with the camera being handy lately.  So I took a group shot of the items I took to the show. Even tossed in some of my recent pieces. Never know, if the price is right to someone, they will buy it. So I took them. I can always hook more!



Worried about the weather of Hurricane Irene, we managed to get there and start setting up with no rain to bother us in the morning.  Linda picked me up before 5:30 a.m.  We all gathered and pictched in and got the booths up rather quickly. Everyone just worked together. 







Beth, playing with my camera ~   stinker....






Louise and Willa were the only two that dressed up for the day. It sure was humid at different times of the day. You could tell it was going to do something...



Louise working on a stocking she is making.

I really should be gathering up my things for tomorrow. But I'll stop for just a bit and update the blog from yesterdays hook in!
It was a busy week, but we were able to relax yesterday and hook and punch.  I have to first give a shout out to my "cousin" Karen Harris who came all the way from Virginia 3 1/2 hours away to visit the shop. See what blogs can do??  I had gotten an email from a Karen on Tuesday saying her and her husband might be in the area and wanted to know if the shop would be open. I kept thinking to myself "who is this Karen"?  She wrote as if she knew me.  I know the memory is not good, but it was driving me nuts.  I did not know Karen, but she sure knew me, Linda and the shop from my blog :).  She did some shopping and we had her fill out a card that we keep on file with contact information for any future classes that they might be interested in.  That is when I found her last name was Harris.  It's going to be an easy name to remember and I teased her about being my cousin Karen.  We had a good laugh :) !   She sent me another email the next day telling me how she enjoyed the shop and plans on coming back. Well Cousin, it will be wonderful to see you again! Glad you made it back home safely. It was her husbands Birthday that day as well, so they were off to do something that he wanted to visit ...  I hope his Birthday was a good one!

Barb came yesterday morning but didn't stay long. She was working on a mini quilt.



Margo brought her pillow all stuffed to show us. Turned out great!

Sherri was whipping her Halloween cat. Too cute of a border, don't you think?

Nancee was away on vacation and said she took wool to work on her rug, but ended up not. I'm glad she enjoyed herself and let the hooking go.  Now she can get herself back into it.

Jill was almost finished with her owl that she hooked into the wool. She will be making it into a pillow. Cute!

And Genny, by the time she left had  filled in all the background on the left side of the piece.

Last week at the hook in, it just happened to be Sherri's Birthday. Linda had bought a cake to celebrate, and it was soooo good.


Unfortnately, Sherri didn't get there until later (above picture makes it look like she had been there all along :) ).  So Linda cut the cake earlier lol. 

Jill was working on hooking an owl. She was hooking right into the wool. Sorry I didn't get a shot of it.

Genny stopped by to do some punch needle.

And Joan was having fun with her fan (in right hand).  She felt like she was on a roller coaster lol.

I was busy over the weekend trying to finish up some things and get ready to help out at the South Mountain Fair in Arendtsville. Not sure how many years I've been helping out there. Tried to figure that out, but came up empty minded.  It's always a fun time.  Joan (it's all her fault) asked me one year if I'd like to help. They needed volunteers.  So I said sure. Not knowing it would be every year since :). But I love it.  Joan and I help with the registration for 2 days and then on the 3rd day, the judges come and Joan and I, along with some other women help the judges but holding things up, telling them the category they are judging, etc.  I wouldn't want to be a judge!  Too many nice things.  After the judging is all over, the items need to be displayed so that people can come in the building when the Fair opens later in the day. 
Here Mike, Joan and Joan doing some displaying.


Tried to get a wide angle of the room. Everything looked so nice.

And Let's hear the Trumpets Roar for the Best of Show........................  It's Joan Strausbaugh and her lovely rug. I have shown it a number of times on my blog while she was working on it.  It certainly deserved it . Congratulations Joan!!!

Here are some of the other Best of Shows that won.

And they even have Best of Show in the Junior Department. This young girl was 13.

I did win some ribbons. 4 1st Place and 2 Second Place.  Love listening to the judges talk it out when they are looking over a piece. You never know what they will say or if the item will even get a ribbon. Very interesting to be part of it all.

When I came home yesterday afternoon from being at the Judging all day, I had this lovely package waiting for me. Couldn't figure out who or what it could be.  Here a dear friend Bren sent me this. She is a Beautiful quilter, and gifted me with this wonderful piece! Bren, I just love it and can't wait to display it. Nice prim colors. Soooo me :)  There was also a hand held fan, and you can't quite read what's written on the plastic.  She wrote "Open in case of emergency :)"   She knew my fan was using up all it's lives lol.  What a sweet surprise, Thank you again Bren! 


And here is what I made for Rebecca in our AAPG group for the 3rd Anniversary.  Rebecca likes neutrals.  (me too, imgaine that?).  So it was easy for me to hook these up for her. And she also likes birds, so I made her a little pin keep. The wing has a snap on it and you can store your pins under it.

I had a wonderful time on Monday visiting the Blue and Grey Hookers in Gettysburg, Pa.  It's been quite a while since I have been able to attend the monthly hook in.  So nice to see  everyone again! I didn't stay too long, but was able to get some shots of the day to share with you.

I'll do my best with the names.  This is Joan's piece which happens to be the pattern that we picked for the dye group.  She's such a show off with how fast she gets hers done :). And in all fairness, we were told last month that we would START hooking our project this month!  Ahem.... Someone didn't listen, but I guess I can't complain since it is her dye group and her house LOL.  Joan, you are doing a beautiful job! I keep telling her she got the best colors! I can't even imagine what mine will look like... 


What a nice turn out it was..


Louise, Ellie and Becky

Marion was doing a nice job with her squirrel.

Ruth working on some flowers

Jan and her large Bunny

Another Marion's fine cut

Peggy determined to finish this piece THIS Christmas ...

And here is Peggy. She is turning 90 this week!  What an inspiration... Lovely woman, and  so happy to see her again.

This is Peggy's piece. A fine hooker who does amazing work.

Nancy and I playing around with our camer's lol

Violet's fine cut.

Lina's

Phyllis's I believe..

Ellie

This is Joanne Henderson's.

and here are some chair pads that Joan has completed for her Church bazaar this year.


I'm hoping to get back there again soon.  And next time, I'll actually be able to stay a little longer and work.  I did take some punch needle with me, and did just a tiny bit. I just wanted to mingle and get some pictures.

Hard to believe it's Wednesday already.  I came home this evening to a package at my front door.  I had mentioned in a previous post about an Anniversary swap that we were doing on AAPG.  I had to go through a  lot of things wrapped in tissue before I found a card to find out who had my name. The return address didn't ring a bell.  Mimi had my name :) ! We were to make 3 bowl fillers or ornies and one of them had to be  a sunflower. Mimi spoiled me with all her hand work! The sunflower lays in the bowl so cute. the bowl has a real nice grain on it. She also made the other two pieces. The mat and the cat face. AND she made the sheep pictures.!  I just kept unwrapping and unwrapping! A cute little tin house to hang on the wall with candles, a winter time pattern to applique, notepad, some gorgeous wools, and a little painted box with a thimble in it.   Thank you so very much Mimi for such a Loaded box of goodies! You are too sweet :)  Love this group ~~~