A month has passed.....

Time flies when you are having fun. I wanted to share with you these two neat pieces that Lori Rippey made. The first one is a wonderful handmade quilt that she made for me. Isn't it awesome? She knows I love stars and baskets and incorporated both into the quilt. The colors are terrific.

The next piece is a hooked rug that she made for her SIL using the challenge pattern I designed for PRHG last fall. I love what Lori did with the design and colors. The blue sky is heavenly. Maria

Another New Rug.....

I started this rug last Sunday for the Cheboygan High School Band Booster fun raiser and finished it by Friday. Five days...now that is some fast hooking as it is 19.5 inches by 19 inches. TheBoosters used it in their silent auction. Well, after I had given the rug to the Band Boosters, I realized that I did not take a picture of the rug. I was hooking, sewing, and steaming so quickly that I forgot the dog gone picture of the rug. Plus I was hoping I could sell the pattern and needed a picture of the rug. So guess who won this rug at the silent auction? Hmmmm.....YES, me! It is called "Little Dog" and really does hook up very quickly! The pattern on linen is $40.00. Maria

Look what Lori did with this pattern!

Lori Rippey hooked this Star Rug Company pattern and isn't it just wonderful. The colors in it are so warm and cozy. Great choice on the colors. I just love the dark lamb...he is oh so wonderful. Thanks for sharing Lori. Send me your pictures of patterns of Star Rug Company as I'd love to post the pictures to my blog. Maria

Sneak Peak of a rug I'm hooking for my local Humane Society

for its annual fund raiser. Hopefully, I'll finish it this weekend and post a picture the entire rug later in the weekend. It is pretty big measuring close to 33 by 22 inches. This rug has all my favorite things in it. A star of course....

A cat and another star.....

A little area of hit or miss hooking......

And another area of hit or miss hooking...........

I think the Humane Society will be selling raffle tickets for the rug so if interested let me know. Plus, I may sell the pattern for the rug on ebay and donate a portion of the proceeds to the Humane Society. Have a great weekend.

New Piece of Furniture in my rug studio

We were out shopping the other day...not looking for anything in particular when I came across this wonderful hutch. It was a steal and I just love it. It is huge and will hold most of my rug hooking supplies for the business. Don't you just love a good bargain? See the chair in the forefront of the picture? It is from Yellow Creek Trading Company, a Johnson Benchworks piece. The fabric on the chair is one of my favorite patterns. My studio is slowly revolving into space where I have all the things I love and enjoy spending time there.

Below is a rug that I hooked years ago. It's available as a pattern if anyone is interested. I found it sorting through some old rug hooking CD's. The geometric nature of this rug appeals to me. When I find time, I'm going to hook this rug again with different colors. Maria

I've been tagged!

Tammy Burks of Skip to My Ewe has tagged me. The idea is for me to tell you 5 unusual things about me that you may not know. Hmmm, now why would I want to do that? You all might think I'm a little strange after I reveal my secrets....But what the heck, I'm game.

1. Ok speaking of game, the first unusual thing about me is that I would rather watch a hockey game or a golf match on TV than a good movie. I'm a sports junkie!
2. As for movies, I haven't been to a movie theatre in about 12 years. Refer to #1.
3. I have a terrible singing voice...just ask some of my friends (Right Shelly and Mickey?)
4. One of my favorite vegetables is beets! Can you believe it?
5. I've lost a tooth playing hockey.

Getting back to rug hooking, here are a couple more rugs that Marcia hooked.

Aren't these rugs great? I love her pictorial style and how all her rugs tell a story. Maria

Wonderful Rugs hooked by Marcia Barton

who is my mother in law. About 12 years ago, I taught her to hook and as you can see, she could definitely teach me a thing or two about hooking. Her rugs are amazing when you think that she hooks most of them with an eight cut. Can you believe that she is able to get all that detail with a wider cut? As you can see, she is very artistic and has won several awards for painting. Below is a rug of Dave's house when he was a little kid. She hooked this rug from a photograph of the house. I just love how she was able to make the snowman stands out from the snow on the ground. The trees in this rug and the next rug are awesome as well. If you look at the rug, it only has about 5 different colors in it, blue, gray, beige, dirty white and some red. How she made it so warm and full of life with only those colors is amazing!

The next rug is dear to my heart as it depicts one of my favorite things to do.....skating.....well playing hockey while I'm skating....Isn't this rug great as well? This one is a bit more colorful and just fun. The ice looks real and the snow on the roof in the house in the background is terrific.

And finally, this is a rug that she hooked for Dave and me. It is a rug of our two dogs that are no longer with us. Bear was my wonderful black lab and Dolly was Dave's sweet little English Setter. They were with us for a long time and this sweet little rug depicts them perfectly and is very special.

I found a picture of a rug that I hooked several years ago for my sister-in-law, Lynne. It is a rug depicting her Jack Russell Terrier, Nick. The green background was something a little different for me but I liked the way it turned out. Enjoy the pictures. Maria