A few of MY favorites

Saturday, blogless Sandy and I headed to Lenexa, Kansas

for the annual Rock Creek Hook-In.

In an effort to stay true to myself, I decided this year to take pictures of MY favorites from the show.

I think you’ll notice that I’m being drawn to bright colors, original designs, and

of course…..animals!

Hope you enjoy! If I happen to run across any blogs or sites that have pictures of the

full show I’ll be sure and let you know.

I love the bright color and general craziness of this

rug….check out that wild hair! Love it!

Wish I knew the story behind this rug….it’s one of

those pieces that makes you ponder.

***

Tumbling bunnies….what could be cuter?!

***

All I can say is that is one brave bird! Digging the

bright yellow background and the funky striped

piping on this pillow.

***

I really love the background on this Klimt inspired

rug!

***

Again, sweet animals and kids…a rug inspired

from a photograph. It has a dreamy quality to it.

***

Love the abstract approach that the hooker took

on this rug. Never would have thought of hooking

the sky quite like that, but it really works in this

rug!

***

Such happy colors in the froggy rug, this one

really makes me smile!

***

Digging this scrappy happy rug!

***

What a cool idea….melding a found window frame

with hooking….wonder if the window frame is from

the couple’s house who is depicted in this rug?

***

Brights against darks…..LOVE!

***

Very chic and Jackie O!

***

Fluffy clouds, a cute dog, chocolate and hats…

what’s not to like?!

***

Sculpted hooking and embroidery? Too cool!

***

Love these birch trees!

***

Not something I would normally be drawn to, but

I love all the motion in the water against the

peacefulness of the sky and tree shadows on

the snow.

***

This looks like such an old rug! Love the wonkiness

of it all!

***

Again, love the old looking colors in this one and

I think it has a lovely old looking frame on it!

***

I definitely need to try the sculpting sometime soon!

This was a rug in Susan Quicksall’s booth.

***

Another Susan Quicksall rug…..WOW! Again, quite

taken with the waves and the sky!

***

I believe this was in Sally Kalin’s booth….glad

she displayed it, even though it’s still in progress….

I think it’s wonderful!

***

Today it’s back to the REAL world of work….vacation

was such fun! I’ll post soon about finishing the Redbud

Runner….had no idea so many people were interested

in the FINISHING topic.

Happy Birthday

(picture taken a few years ago in Las Vegas)

Happy Birthday to my wonderful and handsome husband!

Finish Itself

"When you have a great and difficult task, something perhaps almost impossible, if you only work a little at a time, every day a little, suddenly the work will finish itself."
– Isak Dinesen

8:00 last night I was certainly wishing that this rug WOULD finish itself!

I was sewing my covered cording and had about 5 feet finished when the machine

jammed up.  Really, this was a blessing in disguise, because when I took the

cording out I could see that the bottom thread was all wadded up.

I “googled” the problem, adjusted the tension, ripped out about 3 feet of seam

and then got back to it. We’re talking 21 feet of covered cording to make.

Let me just say that I give the phrase “cussing like a sailor” a whole new

meaning when I sew!

1/2 a sleeve of Girl Scout cookies later, (yes people, that

is stress eating at it’s finest!) I had the cording finished.

I’m in the clear……

…..or am I?

Zig-zagging around such a heavy rug was a challenge….

this is one heavy rug!  Even though I was working at the

dining room table, so I’d have more room to distribute the

weight of the rug, it was still frustrating!

However, I persevered and I’m finished with the machine sewing…

now on to the hand-sewing!

Will I have it finished in time to take to Lenexa tomorrow morning?

We’ll see!

Home stretch

Just finished hooking and steaming the runner….finally…..

 

Now to get reacquainted with this old friend while I make some covered cording….

Savoring

A day to one’s self

Sitting in a café…..

….natural light pouring through the windows..

savoring chicken quesadillas with fresh mango salsa

and sriracha sour cream….

….oh how I love quesadillas….a little melty- gooey cheese

encased in that crispy tortilla…..heaven!

Local artwork on exposed brick walls….

So inspired by the time you leave that even broken shards

of a beer bottle, glinting in the sun look beautiful.

A good day

Had a wonderful day yesterday with my husband and our friend Steve

tooling around Rogers, Arkansas.

So much fun, that I forgot to take nary a picture.  But that’s okay, because

I can scour the net and find pictures of most of what we did……

yes, it was a big CHAIN day….

Lunch at P.F. Changs

bloody Mary

lettuce wraps

Buddah’s feast

We had to get fueled up before we went to

Pottery Barn….and the cocktail never hurts to loosen up

the purse strings…..

“Why be a pauper, when for a 1/2 pint you can be a prince?!”

We were hoping that they would have these seagrass

chairs at the store, so we could check them out…

We have a pine table and thought they would look

good with it, but they didn’t have any of the chairs at the store.

However, they did have some stools that we were able

to look at and sit on to get an idea if this is what we

really want.

The chairs we have now are totally fine and in great shape….I

guess everyone’s tastes just change and evolve.

(current chairs)

However, we didn’t leave empty-handed….we picked up

this lampshade for a lamp in our den….

….even better, used my Discover Card points, so it was

FREE!

Then we headed on to Williams-Sonoma…..love browsing

in that store!

Here we got a new Easter platter

and some of this great smelling Pink Grapefruit

kitchen countertop

spray.

We popped into various other stores and browsed around.

I was able to hold myself back at Dillard’s….they were

having a shoe sale, but honestly, I didn’t find anything I couldn’t

live without.

However, in another shoe store they had Timberland and Frye boots.  I saw this pair

and loved them, but I’ve had a bit of a boot fetish this year and decided I probably

didn’t need another pair….at least not on THIS trip.

We left the Promenade shops and headed on to find TJMaxx.

Even though we have a TJMaxx here in Springfield, they always have different stuff.

I picked up two pairs of jeans (Paige and Joe’s….which I’ve NEVER seen at our TJMAXX) and by this time we are getting hungry yet again….ahhh

the food.

We ate at Acambaro….I had fish tacos….Kenny and Steve both ordered some type of platters, that when they came out, I decided we could have ordered one of what they had and ALL have eaten and gone home full!

Today I’m hooking….HAVE to finish that rug in time for Lenexa!

More than Chili

Yesterday, we went downtown to the 31st Sertoma Chili Cook-off.  Yes, this has been going on for YEARS and this is the first time we’ve ever gone.

(lesson for next year….get their earlier, so we don’t have

to park and hike from so far away)

All I can say is OH MY….now I want to go EVERY year!

Gobs of people……I think they estimate about 9,000!

I guess you could say it’s an Ozarks Mardi Gras

of sorts….

Beads and all!

Many businesses and organizations from the area

serve up samples of chili….. 110 samples to be precise….

yeah, even by tiny little appetizer size cup-fulls, I was done sampling

after about 15!

My favorite was from here…. Elks Lodge #409 (just found

out they got 3rd place from the judges and were #1

in the people’s choice awards)

They had a hot and a mild chili….I tried the hot and it

was my favorite, plus I loved their booth!

As the day wore on, the Springfield Firefighter’s booth

got fairly popular…..was it the chili or the pole?

There were live bands, this was “Machine Gun Symphony”,

who was belting out popular “80’s hair band” music….

they rocked!

We brought home some Chipotle Mayo that the Kraft

booth was giving away…

and just generally had a really great time!

The money raised by this event goes to the

Springfield Boys and Girls Clubs.