Saturday, January 29, 2011

...Valentine's Day

I did a lot of baking over the holidays and had some empty spice jars. As I was about to toss them into the recycling bin a little thought popped into my head. These would make cute little spice jars for a play kitchen. And here they are all dressed up in some Valentine-y cuteness. They will make a perfect gift for some special little girls in my life, AND all I used were some scraps a touch of glue and one tiny twinkle sticker! Gotta love saving money and using up scraps while making something super cute! Now all I need is to get my hands on some more spice jars!

Saturday, January 22, 2011

...finished projects!

Wow! It feels good to finish a project, especially when it is one that I have been working on for a few years.I designed this rug for a class I was taking at Green Mountain Hooked Rug School with one of my favorite teachers, Jule Marie Smith. The class was a study of early primitive rug styles with an emphasis on making that style your own.I loved playing with the crazy hit-or-miss boarder which is a common technique of old rugs. It was a great way to use up scraps. I learned a lot about color and movement as I worked. Hit-or-miss isn't quite so willy-nilly as it may seem. There is a lot of careful planning that goes into it to make it look the way it does. I purposefully hooked a few quirks in here and there because that is something that I like so much about the old rugs.


This little house is a favorite of mine. Simple. Wobbly. Primitive. Colorful. This is my kind of house. I would love to live in such a sweet little place. It makes me happy just to look at it. I also really love the background. I had fun dyeing lots of light value yellows to mix together. Swirling them all gives a tone on tone movement that is a favorite of mine.

I love to design rugs and dye wool and hook! And, boy oh boy, do I love a finished project.
It's so freeing...
I wonder what I should start working on next...




www.greenmountainhoodrugs.com/school

Saturday, January 1, 2011

A Word for 2011

Like most people I have a tendency to get a little introspective at the end of one year and the start of the next. I used to make resolutions. Promises to myself to change, do, not do.... Promises that I broke before too long. Then I read a blog by Ali Edwards and she was talking about choosing a single word for the year. How freeing I thought! A single word to focus on, learn more about, apply to your life, listen for, and let speak into your life.


And so, at the beginning of 2011, I have been thinking about what my new word should be. It came to me slowly. After considering a lot of possibilities, this word just kept coming back to me. So I think it has chosen me as much as I choose it.



Believe.



I look forward to seeing what this word will come to mean to me over the course of the year. What is your word for the year?





"One life is all we have and we live it as we believe in living it. But to sacrifice what you are and to live without belief, that is a fate more terrible than dying." -Joan of Arc




"When you believe in a thing, believe in it all the way, implicitly and unquestionably." -Walt Disney


Believe: (verb)


1. To have confidence in the truth, the existence, or the reliability of something, although without absolute proof.


2. To have confidence or faith in the truth; give credence to.


3. to have confidence in the assertions of a person.


4. to have a conviction that a person or thing is, has been, or will be engaged in a given action or involved in a given situation.


5. to suppose or assume; understand.

6. to have faith.

Synonyms: accept, accredit, admit, affirm, attach weight to, be certain of, be convinced of, conclude, count on, credit, deem, fall for, give credence to, have faith in, have no doubt, hold, keep the faith, lap up, place confidence in, posit, presume true, presuppose, reckon on, regard, rest assured, suppose, swear by, take as gospel, take at one's word, trust, understand

link to Ali's blog: www.aliedwards.com/2010/12/one-little-word-2011.html