Another Finish and Exercise

Today's finish comes from Anne and she hooked the Halloween Hooligan pattern.  This pattern is fun to hook and provides opportunity for creativity.   Anne's colors are wonderfully primitive and her hooking looks terrific.  This rug just makes me smile!  Thanks for sharing and keep the pictures coming.

On another note, how many of you had New Year's Resolutions to exercise?  I did and I even started early.  My fitness routine started the Wednesday before Christmas.  Along with the exercise (and I have been faithful), I have been really good with my diet.  So this morning when I hopped on the scale after almost 6 weeks of daily exercise and healthy eating, the scale registered a big fat 0 for my weight loss.  Zero, Nada Zilch weight lost!   Grhhhh.....I was ticked.  I knew that I was doing something right though because my clothes are now loose and some too big.But let me tell you Zero weight loss was just hard to comprehend. It wasn't until I stumbled upon this picture (I know it is gross but powerful) that I regained my willpower and focus to carry on this exercise routine.   Hope this motivates you like it did me.

Changing the subject again on you, I was impressed with Kris Miller and her blog where she documented a "rug a day" for a month and thought I might try something similar but on a much smaller scale. Thanks for the inspiration, girlfriend!  My goal is to write a post for the next two weeks, leading up to Valentine's Day.  Each day I will show either a rug, a piece of folk art with hearts or a handmade item to inspire you to create something from the heart with hearts!  Maria

EWE WHO

Is the title of my latest rug pattern. Don't you just love the name of it?
 It is featured in the January/February edition of Rug Hooking Magazine and is the free pattern for the magazine. If you want the kit or pattern you can order a kit for $143 shipping or just the pattern for $52. Shipping is included with the price. Simply contact Rug Hooking magazine at 1-877-462-2604 or order online at www.RUGHOOKINGMAGAZINE.com

I'd love to see some finishes rugs so send me your pictures.
I've switched gears a little and am currently punching the old geometric heart rug that Kris Miller had on her blog. I'm contemplating making a kit for the needle punch. If interested drop me an email. Here is a picture of it thus far. Have a great day! Maria

Another Finish

This finish comes to us from Helen who hooked O Christmas Tree. Didn't she do a great job hooking this rug? She enhanced the design by changing the red bird to an owl, which I adore, and turned the rabbit into a cat! Her background is terrific. And the trees....love the trees! Thanks for sharing your rug Helen.

On another note, I've had many requests for the Window Wonder. I purchased the cloths from the local trophy shop in Cheboygan. The name of the shop is the Trophy case. The website is www.ourtrophyshop.com. I did notice on the website that the shop is closed during the month of January but there was an email address for questions. Here it is: berdens@sbcglobal.net. These cloths Rock! Maria

My latest great find

While shopping a couple of weeks, I came across this amazing cloth. It is the bomb! Seriously, this cloth makes washing windows and mirrors an ease. Whenever I would clean windows or mirrors, I always had streaks....not anymore. All you do is lightly wet the cloth (actually, the less water the Better) and wipe down the surface. The cloth does the rest. I'll be honest, the lady who sold it to me said it was great but I was a little dubious. Not anymore! It makes the Task of cleaning mirrors and windows a breeze. If you can't find them online, let me know and I'll pick up one and send it your way! Maria

Brown Bag Popcorn

This is my new favorite "go to" snack. It is easy to make and good for you as well. All you need is a brown paper lunch bag, 1/4 cup of un-popped popcorn kernels and scotch tape. Put the kernels in the bag, fold the bag over twice and seal with tape. Place the bag in the microwave on high, laying the bag down or upright either way works fine, and cook for two to three minutes or until there is 3-5 seconds between pops.
To keep the popcorn as fat free as possible, I spray the popcorn (after it is popped) with fat-free spray butter (not butter but tastes like it and it has no calories) and sprinkle with salt. It is kind of like air popper without the hassle.

We have a new saying at work....is it "popcorn-thirty yet?". Everyday around 3:30 someone makes a bag. Yum. Just writing about it makes me hungry.
The perfect snack for all of you thinking about diet and exercise for your New Years resolutions. Maria

"Another finish" this one is from Debra

I'm going to start posting finished rugs from customers and students more frequently. When I do so the title of the post will be "ANOTHER FINISH"   This one is from Debra Inglis from the 2011 Star of Texas workshop and she worked on my winter walk pattern. She wanted to proddy the trees so we had some fun with it.

 We started out proddy the whole tree and it was way to bushy! So we took out most of the proddy and scattered it around the tree. Didn't it turn out wonderful? Debra has a good color sense and this rug is very primitive. I just love it. Debra added the snow to the background and I think it is just terrific!  Also check out the right tree. Can you see the red bird in it? We needle felted a bird and added it to the rug. Just another example of different techniques you can use to embellish your rug! Hope everyone had a peaceful and joyous Christmas. I sure did spending time with family. Maria

Do you have snow yet?

Normally this time of year we have a good ground covering of snow.  Not this year, sniff, sniff.  Right now we have a light dusting of snow which is in danger of melting with one warm sunny day. Not that I enjoy the cold weather that comes with snow, but I do like a white Christmas.

In the meantime, I'll keep hooking snowmen rugs.  This one is a Kelley Belfast design and I just love it. Kelley has a special knack with snowmen! I'm giving this guy as a gift and I'm contemplating making it into a pillow. I used my Oxford punch on this rug and hooked it entirely with yarn.  The colors just make me smile!

Here is Kelley's original hooked rug

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I have to give a shout out to a few people with this rug.  First, obviously,  Kelley for the great design.  Second, is Ali Strebel of Kindred Spirits for her wonderful yarn selection.  I used her yarn in the scarve and the yarn looks like hooked wool.  The rest of the rug was hooked with bits and pieces I have gathered over the years. Believe it or not much of the yarn used was not wool!   Lastly, I steamed the rug with one of the irons Kris Miller sells.  Her irons are the bomb. There is no need to wet a cloth and steam the rug.  With this iron, you just place the iron on the rug and steam away.  Literally, within minutes the whole rug is done.  I wish I would have told you all this secret before Christmas so you could have put one on your Christmas list. Enjoy the holidays and have Merry Christmas! Maria