Catching up!

I haven't been on here for...it seems like....DAYS!!!

However, today I've got GOBS of pictures to share with you.

Fair entries are due for the Ozark Empire Fair and here are some of the pieces I'm entering this year. (I think if you click on the pictures they might enlarge for you) "Big Truvy" is finally finished......this is one of the reasons I haven't blogged in a while. I've been feverishly sewing on the binding to her rug....NOT my favorite part of rug hooking! As a matter of fact, I got it completely finished this morning at about 10am....nothing like a little procrastination now is there?

This "Santa and Friend" rug is probably my largest rug that I'm entering. I hooked it in a class this past winter with Anita White as my teacher. The pattern is available from Rhonda Manley of Black Sheep Wool Designs. If you look at the background of the rug you can see that there are holly leaves hooked into the background. This was one of those synergistic things that happen at rug hooking camps. I don't like hooking "plain" backgrounds and was trying to think of something that would make it more fun to hook, but knew I needed something "simple" that wouldn't detract from the subject. I honestly think I was making Renee and Vicki crazy just yacking and yacking and yacking (oh yeah...did I mention they came up with this at 11pm....maybe TILT is not the best thing for me to drink in the evenings.....not to mention that I found it has 384 calories!!!)
This is a rug called "Flint Hills Sheep" from Judy Cripps of Rustic Rugs. The sheep is prodded. (Have I mentioned how much I love to prod?!) I like to enter a few items that are not completely hooked....just to give others an idea of options within rug hooking.
And lastly is this snowgirl pillow that has sparkles and needle felted nose and lips.....one of my experimental pieces.

I had a few other pieces I wanted to enter, but they are hanging at Simply Fibers, so I think I'll just save those to enter next year.

One of the other things that has been keeping me busy is Pilates after work. My instructor is my husband's good friend and I helped him with his studio logo.

It's a beautiful place to work out....from the outside.....

...to the inside.

I hooked the rug that is on the back of the bench where we sit to take off our shoes and the vase coneflowers are from our garden.very colorful This is Ricky....the beta fish. I guess he's the studio mascot.

Oh yeah....and some of the equipment that we use to do Pilates.

The machines on the left are called "reformers" and the one on the right is the "cadillac".

On a sadder note....

Wednesay we attended a funeral for Kenny's aunt Joyce who was killed in a car accident last Friday, she was only 58. Kind of odd because she had been in poor health and they had only given her 2 months to live......in the end she was taken from us in an instant.....mixed blessing?

Kenny has been re-working some of the beds in the front yard and planting these wonderful caladiums.

While things in the back yard continue to grow and grow.....we've been so fortunate to have lots of rain this summer.....it really looks like April rather than the middle of July.

As always, the girls are always happy to have any visitors who might stop by. Wish you could have seen how fast their tails were wagging when I took this picture!

Go forth and be creative,

Tammy