A whale of a time hooking & stitching

I am just on a roll/hook!!

 I am so pleased with the way my water and whale have turned out.

I had some help on Monday; I happened to look up to see those gorgeous green eyes staring at me. 

She is a real mess... I love her personality.

Worked on the sky today and hope to hook a bit more after dinner, by the fire.

Can't forget to share a picture of the Pillow Queen... Our Queen B (Bassett). Isn't she a cute pooch?

I've been stitching a few lunch hours lately and made some progress on my C@HRH block six. 

I am enjoying these little skaters.

Just for fun... I will throw in a pic of the scrumptious meal I made yesterday. I had the privilege of working from home so I put a pork roast with some fried apples in the crock pot. I added sauerkraut after a few hours and made dumplings.

Pared with Angry Orchard Apple Cider Wine it was the perfect winter meal.

Keep warm and stitch on.

P.J.

P.S. A big hello to Kim from Millie's Mats; thank you for joining my blog. I just loved her post with the season harvest; I laughed hysterically and my hubby flinched!! Hahaha.

Noodles, thrums, gizzards, worms...

Wool worms, noodles, thrums or gizzards; such interesting names for those lovely strips of wool to be hooked into rugs.

Well my wool worms runneth over.... Although I like the name gizzards...appeals to my south of the Mason-Dixon Line frame of mind. :)

One of the talented and generous Winterport Hookers brought in her "leftovers" as she is thinning out her stash. Her gizzard pile covered an entire utility table. I only took a fistful at first but she encourage us too REALLY take as much as we wanted...I did not want to be greedy. She grabbed a kitchen trash bag and told me to go to town. She said she had just as much if not more at home; all leftovers from completed projects. One of the other ladies said that just goes to show you the body of her work. For someone who is just getting started I cannot imagine. I thanked her for her generosity;  the work of cutting the strips is a gift in its own, much less ALL THAT WOOL!

I had my antique hit and miss rug in mind that I want to replicate so I can hang the original. I even grabbed a handful to add to the caddy I had bought my GF. How fun to fill one of the sections with a stash of wool worms/gizzards.

Here is my booty of gizzards!! 

 Aren't the colors so rich and beautiful.

Here is a progress snap of my Whale... almost done with my water. 

Which, by the way, I am loving the way it is turning out. 

We had our holiday exchange as well. We had to bring something made by hand. There were lovely hooked pieces, punch needle, crocheted washcloths and home canned goodies.

 I crossed stitched my exchange gift.

Here is the beautiful hand stitched wool mitten I received in the exchange. 

It is just lovely. 

We discussed and agreed to do a mug mat for a spring exchange. Since I am still learning I did a bit of research last night and I have come up with something different and special. AND I am going to use the gifted gizzards. Stay tuned.

Speaking of canned goodies my crafty, creative co-worker brought in a bounty of jarred foods from their garden this year. She had more than they would eat. I picked up a few jars; dilly beans, chunky applesauce, blueberry & raspberry jellies and tomato rhubarb chutney.

I used a jar of the chutney Friday night; simmer pork chops in the chutney with a side of cheesy gnocchi. Lands...was that a scrumptious meal, simple but delicious. Such goodness!

My GF gave me the coolest little Rug Hooking book; "Full of tidbits of Information for beginning rug hookers and experienced hookers alike. Can't resist sharing these two definitions:

HOOKER -The jokes are endless, and you've probably heard them all. User your imagination. See stripper.

STRIPPER - Of course it means the machine that cuts the wool into strips. However, when combined with hooker, it takes on a new meaning.

*****Funny Stuff*****

As we reflect on Dr. M.L. King's message, hopes and dream, may we each in our daily actions bring a bit more peace in this world.

A warm welcome to my newest follower; Cathy from Acorn Hollow. 

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend.

Keep on stitching and hooking.

P.J.

P.S. Can't help but share a few snowy pics as it is coming down again.

 It is just such a peaceful beauty.

P.S.S. I couldn't resist these adorable kitty lips!!

Too sweet!!

Art imitates Life

I spent the majority of Saturday working on the icicle draped bridge on Block Six of my HRH Christmas as an ice storm was upon us outside. Keeping the fire going we found a few good movies to watch while we puttered around the house and I got some good stitching in.

 I am very happy with this progress.

Before

                                              and progress                                                    

Thankfully this one did not generate the power outage as the Christmas ice storm did. BUT the roads were very, very treacherous.  We never left the house. It was amazing watching the icicles form on everything as the freezing rain layered the bushes, tree branches, fence posts, etc. The critters were not deterred; the birds, squirrels and turkeys feasted.

I stitched just a smidge this morning while watching Marly and  Me. I got the little tree done. I had read the book years ago and could never bring myself to watch the movie.... I knew it was going to be a mini cry-fest but it was this or Behind Enemy Lines (also an Owen Wilson flick - not one of my favorite actors). I had not had a good cry in a while and I knew would be crying later in the day as we were heading to funeral service.

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Today we honored  William Franklin Knight(91), Retired Navy (32 yrs), the original Maine Troop Greeter. He is the guy that started it all. He was an honorable American Hero. Th service was simple, emotional and with full honors. It was a privilege and a honor to have met and worked with him as a Troop Greeter on several occasions. Rest in peace dear sir! Thank you for your service.

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Wicked COLD!

The new year is starting off with a cold snap vs a bang! In the negative teens and twenties up this way. We got over a foot of snow the Monday before New Year's so we needed to rake the roof for the second time in front of the storm that was headed in on Thursday. Luckily it did not make it this far, we only got 3 inches this round.

The husband raking the roof.

 I did help the first round....hung out the bedroom window (where I took this shot from) to break up the ice from the peak on the garage.  Very grateful the main house is a Gambrel roof, no raking needed.

The Christmas ice storm was not so kind.... Many folks were without power for over a week. We were fortunate to not have lost power.  A few shots of the beauty created by Mother Nature.

The snow is up to the bottom of the top rail!! 

I am so excited to share this next piece. It is my first finished piece with the sewing machine. I mentioned it in my previous post but did had forgotten to take pictures before I gifted it. My friend was very sweet to take a few pictures and a fine job she did.

 

I love the antlers...

She  used antlers in her wedding decor....

This is the centerpiece she created.

 Very creative girl!

Then I stitched up this little freebie from Sampler Girl for my Winterport Rug Hookers exchange.

It also filled with balsam.

Due to the ice storm our December meeting was canceled; we will have our exchange in January.  I am currently stitching one up for myself...it sure is cute. :)  Then I hope to plunge my needle into The Spanish Mystery Sample for a bit today and tomorrow as I sit cozy by the fire.

In closing I wanted to share a couple of non-stitchy pieces I had finished by my framers. I love how they turned out; especially the Moosehead Lake piece for my husband.

Polly and I have such a good time picking out framing; should have heard us squeal a little squeal of delight when we found the perfect combination.

No profound insight to what I hope for in the new year... Simple peace and happiness to all. Hope everyone has a delightful and warm weekend.

Take care and keep on stitching.

Slush....

 

 

My brain feels like the slush on the road. I have been right out straight ( picked that up since moving to Maine:) since Thanksgiving. Well really before....

We have a Military Appreciation Committee at work that I am a member of and we have been planning a holiday open house party for the family and kids of a Army Guard unit that is currently deployed. For many of them it is the first time and over the holidays. Months of planning, with the week prior driving down to Augusta from Bangor three times for final preparation. It was an amazing experience seeing all the families and especially the kids having such a happy time; presents with Santa, lots of food and goodies, a corner for video messages to their soldiers, live music performed by a co-worker. It was invigorating, emotional, uplifting and exhausting (the good kind)!!! This is Christmas!

The good times rolled on the 14th; the week prior to the big event I had a vacation trip to Kansas with the Mister to celebrate our friends 35th anniversary. It was made even more special because the Navy Girl flew in to spend the week with us as well. I got plenty of hugs in.

I had a stitchy project to finish on the trip. The Navy Girl requested stockings for her friend and his new bride for Christmas. I was so thrilled to do these... And I used the chain stitch; my first time embroidering names with the chain stitch vs cross stitch. And I added the bells for a nice jingle touch.

In between all this I've been elfing away with packages to family; everything is mailed, nobody local.... Can't find my address book to save my life! So cards have been trickling out as others came in with return addresses, OY! Dog ate my page for HRH block six....my bad I left the stitching closet open. I still got my CRAFT ON; I made close to a dozen garlands made from pages of an old dime store romance  (see opening picture) for friends and family. Finished....FINISHED on the sewing machine a little balsam pillow for a gift; I was so tired when I finished it I forgot to take a picture. It will ask the recipient to send me one. I have been terrified I would mangle the stitch work on the machine so I have always hand finished what few things I have sewn. I am so glad I faced that fear; no time at all I had it sewn, reversed, filled and stitched closed. Matter of fact finishing another exchange gift for my Hooking group the same way. Liberating!

Tuesday night drove into Ellsworth right after work from Bangor to pick up a condiment dispenser I was borrowing from my girlfriend for our holiday luncheon in our building. We were volun-told to bring a main dish so our department decided to do steamed red hot dogs. Inspired by nostalgia, a co-worker was reminiscing about going shopping in the small towns at Christmas and there was always a hot dog vender. Well my GF just so happens to have a steamer and the condiment dispenser. Another co-worker brought her steamer in, so I just borrowed the dispenser. It was predicted to start snowing Tuesday evening but I made it back home after a fun visit over dinner with out any significant precipitation. So yesterday was all about steamed hot dogs and the fixin's! It was a huge success; every loved the set up. Know what's funny... Another department did steamed hot dogs too. What are the chances of two departments coming up with the idea to do hot dogs. It had never been done before and we were so excited to do something very different. We had some fun with a friendly Best Red Hot Dog challenge. Considering that two departments provided dogs; we made 130, they made 80, they were a Red Hot item because we both had just about a dozen left. There is rough 180 peeps in the building. That's a lot of hot dogs!

The bosses party was canceled for last night due to the freezing rain...which did not amount to too much, but I was kinda glad. I am beat! Predicted ice storm tonight into tomorrow so I have a bit of running to do right in town and then I am hunkering down in front of the fire for some stitching and a much desired NAP. I know it 5:45 AM and I am already planning a nap. :)

I will post more pictures in the next post.

Wishing everyone a safe and joyous holiday with friends and family.

P.J.

P.S. I have a couple of Pay It Forwards to get off in the mail; I really did not forget about them, they just haven't gotten done. I am terrible! But they will happen. Wont it be a real surprise when they arrive. :-)