Secret Fall Swap

I signed up to participate in the Secret Fall Swap hosted by Jenn at Yankee Ridge Primitives. 

When I got home from school today I had a package waiting for me.  My secret partner was Denise from Florida and check out what she sent to me: 

Denise, you were far to kind!  I LOVE everything. 

First she made this adorable autumn pillow.  I put it in a chair in our living room with the pumpkin guy that my friend Melissa made for me.  They are the perfect compliment for this antique chair my Mom gave me earlier this month. 

I absolutely LOVE this Autumn pin keep.  The colors are perfect:

This little gingham pumpkin is done in maroon (my favorite color) - check out the tiny mouse on the top - how cute is that?

I put both the pinkeep and pumpkin in my bowl rack - perfect! 

Denise made me ANOTHER pinkeep - this one says "A haunting we will go".  I took it's picture in the bowl rack, but I have to find a perfect home for it on a shelf -maybe it will be in the dining room.

Cinnamon dough ornaments painted, 3 pumpkins and 3 black cats (with green eyes) are a great fall accent for my bowl of dried black walnuts...

A Prim stitchery - this one might go in the downstairs half bath...

To round out this generous gift, she sent along wax tarts in Pumpkin spice, 2 grungy pumpkins, a little bag of rosehips and a great Indian corn made from a neat fall plaid. 

Denise,  THANK YOU so much for the wonderful Secret Fall Swap box. 

My partner ( I can't tell you who it is - it's a secret!)  is still waiting on her package - I have something in it that might melt and won't mail it out until Friday or Saturday when the weather cools off just a little. 

Rug Hooking Exhibit

Last Friday my friend Melissa (Farm Field Primitives) and our teen age daughters - her 2 and my 1 attended the annual rug hooking exhibit at Sauder Village.  WOW!  The rugs on display were wonderful.  The event was open for 4 days and classes were going on for 5 days. There were more vendors there this year than in past years- all that beautiful wool to drool over.  

Noah's Ark was the highlight of the show.  It was absolutely amazing.  The frame was constructed from wood and the deck was Popsicle sticks.  The woodworker that built it was on site to answer questions. 

The bottom of the ark was hooked to look like the ocean and various sea creatures were attached to the bottom. 

The coolest part was that some of the waves were hooked dimensionally so they were a little higher than the the surrounding hooking.   If you look closely at the decks, you will see the animals were hooked and made to stand on their own in  3-D. If I remember correctly, over 100 people worked on the hooking of this masterpiece - it was over 5' long.    

Various holiday characters...

The local rug hooking group all made 3-D snowmen and individualized them to their tastes - this was my favorite...

  What talent this gal has!The shading in this piece was amazing.  It looks like a black and white photo, but it is all rug hooking with various shades of black, grey and white.

I loved the squares and rectangles in this one and the colors...

Halloween heads that were hooked and attached to sticks - these were SO cute and the crock they are in was to die for!

Another primitive type rug that I really liked...

This vase of flowers is neat because the hooking of the flowers "pops" right out of the canvas.

I went with the intention of buying a kit to hook over the winter.  By Friday the selection of kits was low and I was WAY to overwhelmed to pick a pattern and then the wools to do a project.  I can't even begin to tell you how impressive this whole event is, and I'm a very new rug hooker.  I was so daunted all I bought was a subscription to "Wool Street Journal"! 

I worked in the Basket Shop at Sauder Village last Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday and must report that we basketweavers did a great business.  Thanks to the rug hookers that come and buy BIG baskets - we appreciate you! 

School started for us on Monday, glad tomorrow is Friday!  While my family is at the football game I'm going to be catching up on my blog reading.  Have a great weekend ~Ann

Cute Spiders!

I am not afraid of mice or snakes - but spiders that is a completely different story - I really, really don't like spiders - terrified of them.  

This little daddy long legs is, however, completely OK with me! 

 

Even Mommy short legs is tolerable...

I had a blast making these little spiders - thanks to my friend Deb Perry for the idea.

I have to tell you that normally if I saw 2 spiders sitting on my kitchen counter I would be screaming for my husband to come and kill them. 

Both are now on my Lemon Poppy Seed shop. http://www.lemonpoppyseeds.com/shoppes/ps1803ohiofarmbaskets/

~Ann