TGIF!

Thank goodness it's FINISHED, that is!  I finally finished my Crazy Horse rug.  I bound it while watching several World Series games and put the last stitches in the binding tape in the last inning of game seven.  I won't let anyone look at those stitches up close - I was a bit too wound up to actually sew a decent stitch!

I really like the finished rug, and I am thrilled to be able to move on to something new. Now I just have to decide which UFO I want to finish next!

If Only...

I had BIG plans for hooking down at the lake this weekend. I'm not entirely sure that I was being realistic, but I really thought that I could spend all day Saturday hooking and might come close to finishing the Crazy Horse rug.  I am still working on the borders - I decided to finish those before trying to figure out what to do with the motifs.  Anyway, I pulled out my rug and frame on Friday night and was all ready to get started when I realized that my hook and wool were still in the closet at home.  It's really tough to make progress without wool!  Here's where I am at as of last night:

 















I have a couple of nights' work left to do on the last side border and then need to figure out the corners before moving back to the flowers. It's hard to see in the photo, but I am thinking about the medium blue for the corners. I'm not sure that I am loving it, though.  I may need to do something different...

Mother's Day Sewing

What a nice weekend!  Lots of sunshine (a little too warm for May, but given that it was the first non-rainy weekend in recent memory, I'm not going to complain!) combined with a fairly short list of things on the "to do" list made for a relaxing couple of days.  I spent the entire afternoon in the sewing room yesterday and managed to finish up all of the nine patches for my Lisa's Garden quilt.  I still have 8 blocks left to applique and then need to come up with the setting.  I am definitely doing it different from the instructions, but can't decide if I want to include the squares around the border or not.  Decisions, decisions!

I also spent a little time hooking over the weekend and made a little more progress on my Crazy Horse project. 

I pulled out the red in the first flower and finished filling in the second one.  I'm not sure what direction I am going to go with the petals on the first one.  It really seems to defy traditional logic to hook the background before the motifs, but I feel like I need to have the background colors in place in order to make decisions on the flower colors.  I plan to continue working on the background for a while before filling in any other motifs.

Paducah and Susan Quicksall

Last week was full of fun and excitement!  The week started with a trip to the AQS Show in Paducah, KY.  The show was quite a bit different from previous years due to flooding.  AQS did an outstanding job of last-minute logistics in order to pull everything off.  I was amazed at how smoothly everything went!  I thought parking would be a nightmare, but other than the crowds being a little thicker than usual in some of the vendor locations, I think it went rather well.  It seems like it took a lot less time to see everything than usual.

I returned home from Paducah a day early after giving up my room to some friends whose hotel had closed due to flooding.  It worked out well for me in spite of the fact that I missed a chance to have a second dinner at Flamingo Row and instead ended up with Hamburger Helper since I needed to be at Nola's Friday afternoon for my workshop with Susan Quicksall.

The workshop was wonderful! Susan is such an incredible artist. Her patterns are gorgeous, and sitting in her class you are tempted to buy one of each...if only I had time to do them all!  Below is a sneak peek at the rug she is currently working on.  It's amazing!

I ended up pulling out a rug I started in class with her the last time she was here (five years ago - yikes!) and was very happy I did.  It became obvious as I went through the materials I had packed away with that project that I must have left that workshop without much of a plan.  I was able to really focus on the color planning this time aroung and have a good idea where I am headed now. 

That being said, I was having trouble following the color map on Saturday night and ended up making a mistake.  The dark teal behind the red-orange flower is suposed to be red.  I pulled it out last night and replaced it with the correct color, but now the flower looks like it needs to be a different color even though it is outlined.  I will probably pull out the petals and make them some type of blue.  I think it will work better with the other flower in the long run.  It started out as gold and ended up red, and I hate having two red flowers so close together.  I'm setting aside my Antique Floral for a while to focus on this one - I would like to finish it up as quick as possible while I am in the groove. We'll see how fast it goes!