Usually during the summer months I spend time doing other stitchings rather than rug hooking. Wool is a little too warm to want to hook much during the hot months. So I then spend time either doing embroidery, cross stitching or quilt top designing. Anything that keeps my hands busy makes me happy.

I have spent many an hour doing lots and lots of cross stitch...mainly samplers. I just love the look of old type samplers. I then set them aside until the inspiration hits me to use them for something. One of the things I love using are old wooden windows. I was fortunate enough to get lots of old windows and doors taken out of an old Victorian house that was being remodeled. So this is a sample of what I do. This one hangs over my bed.

This next one I did for a friend who had bought her old grandparents house and had moved to her property and then has gradually remodeled it but left it really primitive looking.

wool dyeing

I love dyeing wool for my hooked rugs. I always feel like a mad scientist or something. I love using naturals to see what can turn out when finished. I especially love dyeing white wool with onion skins. You can get a good person's skin tone and looks lovely mixed into a tan background. Here is my latest onion skin dyeing.

I also dyed some rosey color using ProChem and Cushing dye. I always write down exactly what I do and then when finished I cut a swatch and put it in a little notebook which is my Dye Book. This way I can always go back and try to recreate the same color.
Here is the Rosey dyed wool.

I used both these colors in the last 2 rugs I hooked.

Since then I've dyed 2 different shades of green using ProChem and Cushing dyes and also a rusty orange using Rit and Cushing mixed. I was aiming for a rosey orange but came out rusty. I will show photos of them later.

I'm going to try to feature some of hubby's work. He mainly works in wood but usually I can ask him to make me something and he can figure it out and come out exactly like I want.

I was wanting a bottle tree for my yard. I have some lovely blue bottles I had saved thinking I would slump them in my ceramic kiln and make windchimes but decided instead to use them for my bottle tree. He cut me a cedar tree and stripped the leaves and sunk it in cement so it would stay.

We have been so blest to raise 3 sons, who are all happily married and have gifted us with 9 grandkids. Out of all these 9, we only have one grandson. He is 16 I think and is growing up too fast.

We have a tree in our front yard that overhangs the house that we really need to have cut down. We can't cut it ourselves as we would probably fall it on our roof or the powerlines so we have just put off for several years. The main reason we know it is not healthy is it has this large crack on one side and every early winter or late autumn this big mushroom grows out this crack. I've been told it is a lion's mane mushroom and is edible but I don't want to take the chance that it is poison. But it is interesting to look at.

One of my interests are miniature things and gnomes. A friend of mine loves them as well and this is her newest little house. It is much smaller than the traditional doll house. I'm thinking I may try one like it some day.

new rug finish

My newest rug finish called "Bad Hair Day." I hooked this rug for a sweet young woman in our church. She has a beauty shop where she plans to hang it. It is amazing that sometimes when I plan the colors of a rug I have no idea what that person's color scheme is. I think God puts ideas in my head when I do these rugs for people that exactly matches what they have. Anyway the colors I found out exactly match her color scheme in her shop.
Sad thing about her is she lost her husband in a car accident a few years ago leaving her to raise 3 little girls that were all under age4. Our pastor and his family took her under their wings and she and our pastor's son are now getting married this Saturday. Such a sweet family.

This and that

We have a granddaughter that rides horses. She competes in barrel racing and has become quite good at it. She has been attending a camp of sorts for horse riding and has learned so much and it has made her become very responsible. Her younger sister likes to ride but hasn't been to camp like the other one. Their older sister could care less about farm animals of any kind. But this middle granddaughter lost her horse recently. It has been rather sad for her but she got 2 new horses since then. This is her on her old favorite horse. (RIP Georgia)

We live in the Ouachita National forest and mountain region of Arkansas. We have lots of fresh clear creeks, rivers and lakes. We are so blest. One of the rivers had a terrible accident several years ago when there came a flash flood. Many campers died. This is a small river called the Little Missouri River. At the headwaters of this river is what is called the Little Missouri Falls. They are lovely to sit and play in during the hot summer months. There are lots of hiking trails in the area as well.

I have this old planter that was my mother's. It is made from a tire. It was once on a wooden pedestal that looked like a flower stem with leaves but over the many years the wood rotted. So we place it on a car wheel and looks just as nice. We planted it with a succulent type moss plant. Not sure what it is called but there are some hens and chicken succulents in there as well.

A few years ago we made this trellis to grow some clematis. We bought what was supposed to be red, white and blue ones to give a patriotic look to the yard. But they turned out to be a deep rose and light pink and we do have a white which has not bloomed yet. But still it is lovely. This is about the 4th year of growth. We hang our hummingbird feeders here. Also there is a nest of chickadees living in the big birdhouse.

Our asparagus is winding down. Last year I had enough to can up several pints but this year sadly, not enough but we still have a big bag in the refrigerator for several more meals.

This is a typical meal...chicken grilled, steamed asparagus and rice with white sauce. With our fresh lettuce we are having now, salads make a preview. I love making a fresh taco salad. I grill chicken breasts and slice and add to our fresh lettuce, ranch beans, sweet onion sliced very thin, grated cheese, catalina dressing and frito corn chips. yum!!!

This is our small lettuce patch with 2 types of leaf lettuce and spinach. We have gotten so much off this small patch that we have been giving gallon bags of it to friends.

This shot of our garden doesn't do it justice. It has grown so much but sadly a little too much rain. Bean plants do not like this much rain we have been having. The tomatoes and green peas have fruit now and peppers are blooming.

Today is a cooler rainy day. We are spending today processing meat. Hubby is a big hunter and we process our own venison mix which is about half venison and half beef or pork..it is much leaner and fresher than store bought. Today is also bed linen change day. All is done and will be washing the doggy blankets tomorrow and giving Miss Gracie a bath.

Here is a shot of a wild thrillium plant. I dug and replanted them into a flower bed. They have thrived and seem to be spreading. They bloom in early spring.

We got a kitten last year and he was such a good kitty. We named him Charlie and he was the best cat we have ever had. He was a little bit afraid of everything. But he did like roaming at night so we usually put him outside at night and then he would come in and sleep all day..Never a bother and never got up on counter tops or tables. Then early this spring, he was out one night when a thunderstorm blew in. He got scared and ran off and hid. We called him for 2 days. The 3rd morning when the gravel trucks started running we found that the trucks had run over him. We have been very sad to lose such a sweetie. I've been looking for a replacement but so far none.

These are our outside dogs. Lulu and Freddy. They are both rescue dogs. Freddy is a Chihuahua but was unmanageable by people who owned him when he was really young. He absolutely loves Lulu and they are constant companions. Freddy is such a funny little dog and is mainly all ears...so we gave him a big name. Fredrick VonBlackballs. He has turned into a sweet little dog. Lulu is mainly hubby's dog and she loves riding in the Kawasaki Mule with him.