Art and Noodles

What a great time we had this weekend in our ART AND NOODLES class with  Diana Geisinger of Ankeny Iowa.  Diana is a former art teacher and McGown certified rug hooking teacher.  She led us thru a terrific weekend of hooking small projects from our noodle bags mixed with honest to goodness art lessons.  We learned about color and value.  We studied shading and design.  We sketched and drew like we knew what we were doing.  Amazingly, Diana made us all feel like real artists and everyone walked away with a lot of confidence in their newly found art skills.

Diana told us that as she finished a rug, she takes her cut leftovers and hooks a 9x13 mat that can be given as a gift or traded among friends.  She has one of the most creative minds and gave us at least a hundred different ideas for our mats.  We tried geometrics and animals and lettering and borders and the list goes on and on.

We had a great group of rug hookers and I thank them one and all for attending.  We had many great laughs, as always and a few surprises.  Sunday morning we heard an explosion from the bathroom and ran in, opened the pop fridge and found a can of pop had frozen and exploded.  Thank you Erin and Colleen for dealing with that disaster.

 Here are a couple of mats to show what our projects looked like.  I will post a few more later in the week.  The stones to the right were done by Kathleen Salak, the circles were done by Erin Schultz.


More later,

Janice

Bucket List

I have never had a 'bucket list' and have never felt the need for one.  I have always felt that I have had all the life experiences needed by one person, and perhaps a few that I could have lived without.   All in all, my life has been full of wonderful people, interesting experiences and particularly fantastic animals.

Tonight, I added an experience that should have been on my 'bucket list'.    This is Timber, he is a 4 1/2 month old wolf hybrid.  From his DNA testing they believe he is 3/4 wolf.  Timber was given up at the Nebraska Humane Society by his owner.  Perhaps the raising and training of such a pup was going to be too much, who knows.  But at 8 weeks of age, Timber was taken on by the humane society staff to socialize.

Pictured with Timber, is Dawn Thrapp, an absolutely amazing woman who works for the Nebraska Humane Society here in Omaha.  Dawn is often assigned the most difficult, problem pooches.  Dawn believes in 'shaping', a dog training regime, that has no negative consequences.  The dog's behavior is shaped by a reward system, via treats and praise.  Behaviors are broken down into tiny increments.  Often the first step in training is to have the dog look at you.  His attention for even a second is rewarded with a word like 'nice' and a treat.  'Nice' or sometimes a click from a clicker, tells the dog, you have done the right thing, the treat reinforces that this is a good thing to do.  Everything is built on that reward and before you know it, you have a dog that is seeking your attention and approval and wonderful and amazing things can happen from that relationship between dog and trainer.

Most of you know about my Standard Poodle, Blue.  He is about 3 years old now and we have attended many training classes together.  Dawn taught me the benefit of shaping and I have used the technique to teach Blue hundreds of tricks, skills and behaviors.  I take class from Dawn when ever it is offered and
Blue and I have been attending a class taught by  Dawn at Companion Dog Club, here in Omaha.  We have also taken classes from her at Go Dogs, another great facility in Omaha.

Back to my undiscovered 'bucket list'.  Dawn had been telling us about a trainee that she has been working with.  She is fostering young Timber, preparing him for the opportunity to go to a wolf rescue.  They are searching for just the right spot for him.

Tonight Dawn brought Timber along to class, to give him a new experience and further his socialization.  She asked if we would like to meet Timber.  Of course, we all said YES.  Out came this beautiful young wolf, with the most haunting eyes you will ever see in a living thing.  He was very happy to see all the dogs, he is after all bred to thrive in a pack.  To people he was polite, but distant.

OK....here it comes.  I think that Dawn sensed that this was BIG for me and offered to let me touch him after class was over.  So here I am, almost 65 years old, and I just had one of the rarest, most moving experiences of my life.  I sat down on the floor and petted a WOLF!!!!!!!!

Timber, was every bit a gentleman and let me pet him and stroke his beautiful coat.  He let me touch his face and ears and indulged me with great patience.  I hope he finds a wonderful home where he can be in a pack, with people that understand that this animal must be handled with extra care and respect.

Thank you Dawn and Timber.  It is an experience I will never forget.

Til next time.....

Janice

FINISH YOUR PROJECTS WEEKEND

What better way to spend a spring weekend than to have a FINISH YOUR PROJECTS weekend here at The Rug Hooking Store.  This weekend, April 21,22,23 bring any project you want to complete.  We will start at 9am  each  day and hook until 10pm on Fri and Sat and 4pm on Sunday.   You can come for the whole time, a day, an evening, an afternoon, just drop in and out as you can.  We will potluck lunches and order pizza or burgers out for dinner.  This will be a very laid back, easy going time.  If you need help with a rug, I am always available for problems or a color plan!  This weekend is FREE and all are welcome.

Gail from The Paisley Pansy in Lake City Iowa, will be here at 1pm on Saturday for anyone who has a framing project.  Gail, formerly of Leonardo's in Omaha, is the one who framed all my favorite rugs.  She and her sister, do a fabulous job and it always amazes me how reasonable the framing can be.  We have all noticed that framing sure beats binding a rug, especially if it is to be used as a wall hanging.  It really changes things from rug to ART!  Bring a project, print, needlework, anything you need framed at 1ish on Saturday.  Gail will bring lots of corners and help you pick the perfect combination,  and then take it with her to frame.  She will return our projects in about a month!

I am looking forward to seeing many of you this weekend.  Friends will be coming from all around, so if you have a few hours, or days, join us!  You will be amazed how much you can get done, without the phone or doorbell ringing, the laundry calling your name or the kids yelling "MOM".

See you soon,
Janice

Chalkware Deer

While looking thru some rug photos to find something fun to write about, I ran across this chalkware deer I did in the Pris Buttler class at last year's retreat.  I had finished my footstool design for this class and Pris said "Pick something else to do and we will color plan it."  I have always liked this pattern from Woolley Fox, it is an old Edythe O'Neill design.  I was thinking maybe some primitive browns and predictable colors when Pris said....let's do this up a little different.

So, she went to the lights on the shelf and picked four or five different pieces, a greenish grey, pinkish grey, brownish grey etc.  Those colors became the rug.  We went with a favorite red color of mine, called Buttermilk Paint Red for the background.  It made this simple, lovely rug that I can use at the holidays or any time of the year.

People sometimes ask me "Why should I take a class?  I already know how to rug hook."  Well....this is why.  A good teacher takes you out of your own box, often out of your comfort zone.  We can all color plan a rug with our favorite colors, but Pris helped me look beyond the direction I would normally have gone.  Teachers gently push and prod (sometimes not so gently, but that is OK too) to help us achieve our greatest levels of creativity.  And having a fabulous teacher standing over you for 3 days at a workshop is a great way to find your new confidence.

I am very proud of the top notch teachers I bring here to the store to teach workshops.  Pris Buttler comes twice a year, Diane Stoffel comes 3 times a year, Donna Hrkman comes every November.  Maggie Bonanomi is a regular for a 2 day rug hooking class and 1 day appliqué class every May.  Diana Geisinger teaches here regularly and will be back in June for a great 2 day class called "Art and Noodles".  Pat Shafer teaches a wonderful 'FACES' class in January.   And talk about being coerced....I teach a bang up HEIRLOOM RUG WORKSHOP.   You will be encouraged to make your own vintage look rug with the help of a book I wrote on the subject that offers 15 different techniques to use, to make your own family heirloom, a rug that looks a hundred years old upon completion.

You can visit my website at janicelee.biz, then go to the calendar page to see the dates that all these wonderful teachers will be here at the store.  Careful.....they might push you out of YOUR comfort zone!

Talk soon,
Janice

The Morning Drive

Not to disrespect the daffodil, but now we are TALKING!  I finished this rug, THE MORNING DRIVE when Diane Stoffel was here teaching class a couple of weeks ago.  The photo on top shows my rug, the one below is the original picture, taken by Heather DePra, of my son Will and his dog Pard, moving cattle a few years ago.

You can see Pard pretty well in the rug, he is just to the right off the rider.  You have to look really close in the original photo, Pard is so deep in the grass he is barely visible.

I really should tell you Pardner's story, it is a good one for sure.  Pard is about 15 years old now, but he came into our lives when he was about a year old or younger.  One of Will's Dad's friends called one day and said someone had tied a young border collie to a tree in his yard, left a bag of dog food and had driven away.  This man had dogs, so the person abandoning the young dog must have figured a dog lover would take care of the poor castoff.  Will's Dad took the dog in and of course, the next thing we knew, Will had taken on "Pard" as he called him, as a project.  Pard lived with us for a few years until Will went off on his own and was never anything but the best dog.  He rode everywhere with Will in his truck, and worked his heart out helping Will with his cattle.  Will says the only thing you could fault Pard on was that he had a soft mouth and nature, and would not be as tough on the cattle as some of his counterparts would be.  He was after all a Border Collie, bred to work sheep, probably a little more gently than was required with cattle.

Last year Pard developed a tumor on his leg.  It grew fast and was huge.  I always explain it to be the size of a dead chicken, hanging down so far it almost touched the ground.  Will was trying to wait till the end of fly season to have it removed, cause Pard lives outside at the ranch and Will is gone so much he couldn't just put him in the house and just leave.  So......of course, I volunteered to take care of Pard after his surgery, keep him at my house and let him recover.   Since we know Pard is at least 15 we were a little concerned about how he would make it thru the surgery, but he bounced back like a young dog.  His crate is in the rug store, and he immediately made friends with all the ladies and Blue, the Poodle.  Biscuit, our old lab did not take to him right away, but they tolerate each other now.  After a few weeks of healing, it was probably time for Pard to go back to the ranch, but winter was coming on and he loved his crate in the store and following Carl around the barn here.  And I hated to think of him living the hard life again at his age, even tho the veterinarian here told me he was in incredible shape for an old dog, great heart, teeth, weight etc.  So much for poor Pard, that hard ranch life will keep him alive longer that us softies.

I do have to report that my son Will was wrong about Pard being the perfect dog.  A few months ago, I was racing out of the house and forgot to lock the door on his crate.  I came back 45 minutes later to find every trash can in the store and house dumped over and trash everywhere.  There was no question who the culprit was....Pard had taken the best trash back to his crate with him and was sitting there smiling at me when I returned.  When I mentioned this to Will he said, "Oh, yeah, he does like the trash."  That my friends, is an understatement.

Talk soon,....

Janice

Spring is here

I got a new computer and everything is working much better for me in the techno world, so I am back to blogging.  I promise to be a better blogger in the future.   Pictured is a rug I just finished a few minutes ago.  You may have noticed this is not my normal 'style'.  Well, let me explain how this came about.  Diane Stoffel was here teaching a class a few weeks ago.  We had a terrific three days, class was over and Diane was ready to fly home to get ready for her next class.  But....Mother Nature intervened and Diane got snowed out of home.  Lucky ME, I got to spend 3 more days with Diane Stoffel, rug hooking, eating and watching Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries on Netflix.  Wonderful!  However, I finished my project from class and was pondering what to tackle next.  Any of you who know Diane, know that she gets up at 4:30 every morning, makes coffee and starts hooking.  When I got up a 7am and walked into the store, she said "I planned a rug for you.  It will be good for you to do this, the color plan is a split compliment, you will be mock shading the flowers and leaves.   Well.......OK, I know better than to argue with Diane Stoffel, but I HATE YELLOW, especially bright orangey yellow AND did she have to pick one of the biggest patterns in the store?   No matter, I dove in and really enjoyed hooking the beautiful daffodils.  This is a lovely pattern, from Kathy Morton at Oak Ridge Cottage Rugs.  Kathy's patterns are always beautifully drawn.  Diane suggested drawing puzzle pieces to make the background more fun to hook and I really enjoyed the lattice work.  I think it is very pretty and certainly a sign of spring.  I have yet to steam it, but had to take the photo and blog about it just to rib Diane a little.  She taught me a valuable lesson, never leave Diane alone in the store while I sleep.  She comes up with great ideas for lessons for me to learn.   Later this week, I will show you the rug I did in class.  It is close to my heart and one of my favorite rugs ever.  I think you will know why, when you see it.

Thanks for listening,

Janice

Blue Is A Busy Dog

Have you finished your Christmas shopping yet?  Here is a suggestion for you!  My own Blue dog has been a busy guy.  He is the poster child for our fundraising campaign  "COATS FOR KIDS" which is raising money for coats and warm clothes  for the children of our area.

I wrote this children's book about Blue and all his activities.  As you may know, Blue is a store dog and a theatre dog and a therapy dog and a reading dog…..etc, etc.  I hired a wonderful artist, Jana Sesow of Lincoln to do the illustrations and they are beautiful.  Shown here, right, is a painting showing rug hooker Colleen Cochrane and Blue.  Blue likes to help the rug hookers in the store by hiding his ball in their baskets of wool. He then barks at them until they find it and throw it for him.  Big help, Blue!!!!!!

So this very pretty book with 10 illustrations, is for sale for $20, postage and shipping are included.  Help the children of our area get warm clothes for the winter and see more of Blue's adventures!  All you have to do is send me your address, I will send you the book and then you can send your check for $20.  Absolutely all proceeds go to our "COATS FOR KIDS CAMPAIGN".

Our rug hooking Christmas Party is Saturday Dec 12 from 10-5.  Join us for a fun day of rug hooking and friendship!

Merry Christmas
Janice

RETREAT COMPLETION

 Our 2016 Rug Hooking RETREATS are done, and a wonderful time was had by all who attended.  Two weeks ago, we had Diane Stoffel and Pris Buttler here for class.  Diane's students made some beautiful rugs and in Pris' class we did these fabulous footstools.  The one on the left is Pris' footstool, the one on the right is my finished project.

Both Diane and Pris will be back next Oct 28,29,30 2016 and sign ups are in progress NOW.  Diane's class is open and Pris will offer an open class AND the footstool option again.

My little baby rug, shown on top, was completed in
Donna Hrkman's class last weekend.   The baby is my little darling Quinn, of course she is more beautiful in person, but my little rug shows her adorable  personality.  Donna specializes in portraits, both human and animal, and her students did some marvelous rugs.   Donna will back next Nov 11,12,13  along with Kathy Morton of Oak Ridge Cottage Rugs.  Kathy has a wonderful pattern  line and is a terrific colorist.  Sign up now to take class from Diane, Pris, Donna or Kathy.  I guarantee you will have a marvelous time!

I am already reminding people we will have our annual Christmas party (hooking and eating and hooking and eating)  on Saturday Dec 12 from 10-5.  Dec 5 will be first Saturday hooking, from 12-5.  Join us for some holiday fun!

Soon…..Janice

More Heirloom Rugs

 As promised, here are a couple of rugs from our Heirloom Rug Workshop.  Of course, they are only partially completed, but the ladies all got a lot done is only 3 days.

On top is Erin Schulz' tulip rug, a design from The Sampling.  Erin tore and cut strips and her rug looks marvelously old.

Jeanette O'Brien hooked this Maggie Bonanomi design.  She also tore and cut strips.  Her flowers and flags are terrific and the bronze urn may be my favorite part of all.

These experienced rug hookers really embraced
the idea of making rugs that look 100 years old, a task that is really harder than you may think!

I will show you their projects again when they are completed.

In the meantime, remember Donna Hrkman will be here November 13,14,15 for a retreat weekend.   Contact me if you are interested.  I have a few spots left with this fantastic teacher.  Hook a face or primitive rug, she can tackle it all.

Janice

Heirloom Workshop

We just finished a terrific 3 days of rug hooking with a great group of ladies.  This was my Heirloom Rug Workshop and these brave souls came together to make their truly 'ugly bug rugs'.

We have all been hooking some really beautiful projects.  Detailed faces and landscapes, 3 cuts for detailed minutia  have become common place for this group of former 'primitive' rug hookers.

The point of this class is to hook like a prairie hooker.  I wrote a book outlining 15 different techniques you can use to make your rug look 100 years old.  This year we took it a step farther.
These ladies had all taken the class before, a time or two….or many times.  So this year I raised the bar.  Now they could't just make a lovely primitive rug, using their 15 techniques.  NO…..now they had to make it down right homely.  I told them to hook like their children's feet were cold.  Hook high, hook low, hook like you are 9 yrs old or 90 years old, just get it done.   Commit to a decision, don't pull it out.  That prairie hooker made mistakes, ran out of wool and didn't have time to fuss with every loop.  EMBRACE IMPERFECTION was our mantra.

Well guess what?  They are awesome.  The look old and homely and used.  Each of these fabulous rug hookers did the seemingly impossible and made a wonderfully ugly bug rug.

I will show some partially done projects in my next post, but had to include one more picture.  Blue gets to attend class too, although he slows down progress by insisting every hooker take a turn throwing his toy.  This was one of the best moments of the 3 day class.  Pat Shafer, who is a highly regarded rug hooker, Celebration finalist and teacher of a dynamo face class here in January and February, made a rug for her dog Tucker.  Now, it would not be out of line  for me to tell you that Pat is a beautiful rug hooker.  I mean….her rugs are BEAUTIFUL (and she is beautiful her own self).  This homely rug concept kind of makes her cringe.  She is a game gal, tho, and hooked a great whale rug in last year's class and really grew to like it.  This year she chose the Woolley Fox pattern RAGS and decided to hook it for a rug for her beloved Golden Retriever Tucker to sleep on.  It is a great rug, full of rusts and plums and it was a difficult challenge for Pat to make it homely.  But she kept on course and this rug has many of the elements we attempted to include in the rugs, with great textured wools, no shading, no details, just simple shapes.

At the end of the day, Pat threw her rug down and we all came round to admire it.  Pat said, "My only concern is that Tucker will not know it is for him, how will I convince him it is his to sleep on?'  With that, the big Poodlie Blue dog came and plopped down on the rug.  He snuggled, he curled up into as tiny a ball as his extra large self could accomplish.  He laid out flat, he arranged himself in every possible direction on this rug.  He knew he had an audience of course, we were all laughing at him, which just egged him on further.  It was as if her was going to show Pat that THIS was exactly how her dog was going to like this rug.  Thanks Blue and Pat and Tucker.  It was a great way to end the day.

Soon…
Janice

Fantastic Weekend

We just spent a fantastic 2 days with a great bunch of rug hookers at our 'Hook-in Weekend' event.  We hooked all day yesterday and today, just for the fun of it!  We had perfect fall weather, cool and sunshiny.  Kathleen Salak taught us how to crochet a binding on a rug and Sandy Weller taught us how to make a pillow from our favorite hooked project.  Pillows….ok…sure.  Crocheting, YIKES, that was hard, but Kathleen was a great teacher and with a little practice, I might be able to do it.  Sandy gave us a great hand out with all the details to make our pillows.  Thanks to both Sandy and Kathleen for the classes.

Shown is Hidden House, a pattern I hooked in a Maggie Bonanomi class.  I know I have shown it before, but it is just a nice fall rug, I had to use for my blog tonight!

Oh…and just so you know…..the winner of the $100 gift certificate (all you had to do is make a purchase this weekend to be put in the drawing) was JANICE NAVRATIL.  Congratulations Janice!

Next time I will show you my NEBRASKA rug and tell you all about that project.  Can't wait.

Janice

More Holiday Patterns

 Here they are…the last of the hook-in event HOLIDAY PATTERNS.  On top is CHRISTMAS HOUSE and below is FEATHER TREE.  Both of these patterns will be available at our hook-in weekend event.  You can order ahead to make sure your pattern (or patterns) will be ready for you on Friday Oct 2 after the Omaha hook-in or Saturday Oct 3 for our all day hooking party.  We will hook until 10pm on Friday night and open bright and early at 9am on Saturday and hook until 6;pm.

You can now order:

Long Lean Jack
Bad Ass Jack
I'm Melting
4 Pumpkins 4 Sale
Sunflower
Christmas House
Feather Tree

Each pattern is $48.  Check out the last few blogs to see all the finished projects.  Here comes the fun part…..at our hooking weekend party on Oct 2 and 3, I will have 1/2 yards of every imaginable color needed for the projects.  Then we can tear off just what you need.  These will make wonderful gifts or holiday projects for your own decorating.

AND…..on Saturday Oct 3, Kathleen Salak will teach us how to crochet the edge of your project, instead of our usual binding.  Kathleen's class will be at 11am.  At 2pm Sandy Weller will teach how to turn these projects into a pillow.  Both classes are free!

Hope to see you at our weekend event Oct 2 and 3.  It is free and fun for all.

Soon….
Janice

Bad Ass Jack

3 Days in a row, blogging!!!!  Beate will be so proud of me.
Here is another in the fall event pattern series.  This guy is one I drew a few years ago.  I call him BAD ASS JACK (can I get in trouble for blogging that word?)  if so, we can just call him BAD JACK.

Bad Jack is 14x14 and hooks up in a skinny instant.  I used Sweet Potato Pie for the pumpkin, Spunky Monkey for the background and  one of my favorites, Moose on the Loose for the tree.  The green were just pulled from my noodles bin.

I think this would make a great pillow and Sandy and I are going to try that tomorrow.  Did I mention that Sandy has agreed to give a little tutorial on making a rug into a pillow at the hook-in event.  She will do a demo at 2pm on Saturday.  Thank you Sandy.  I know how much you hate public speaking.  But you do such a beautiful job we will all appreciate it soooooooo much.

Maybe I will have another done for tomorrow.  Who knows.  I think it is time for a Christmas pillow!

Janice

More fall patterns

As promised, here are two more of the patterns for the fall Hook-In event here at The Rug Hooking Store on Oct 2 and 3.  These patterns are $48 each and all you need to do is call or write me, to reserve your pattern.  janicelee@me.com  or 402-359-2699

On top is I"M MELTING.  As you can see The Wicked Witch of the West pushed Dorothy too far.  Splashed with water, all that is left is her hat and her own green self melting out underneath  You can see her castle with the rising pumpkin moon, all for Halloween fun.  This pattern is 15 x 17.

Below is 4 PUMPKINS 4 SALE.  Please note 2 ghosts floating thru the sky.  Leave off the little faces and you have 2 clouds, if you prefer.  This pattern is 14X14 and the perfect size for a little mat or holiday pillow.

Want to see more?  Check back tomorrow.  I am on a blogging roll…2 days in a row.

Janice

Hook- In Weekend

The Omaha Hook-In will be coming up Friday October 2 from 9-4 at St Robert Bellarmine Church, 120 and Pacific.  As you know, I no longer 'do' hook-ins, but this should be a fun one to attend.  After the hook-in, you are all invited to the store for a fun weekend of hooking.  We will hook until 10pm on Friday night and then start up again on Saturday from 9 to 6.  There will be food, a drawing for $100 Gift Certificate from The Rug Hooking Store and much more.

I have been drawing up fun fall patterns that will be available at our special hook-in weekend.  I will show the first two today and will show more tomorrow.  There will be about 8 of these small, easy to complete patterns.  I have hooked up 5 of them, so far, and they go quickly.

The top pattern is called LONG LEAN JACK.  The pattern is 12x15.  I picked a poisony green, mustard gold, violet, orange and black for the striped background.  It went so quickly, I almost completed it during 3 episodes of Breaking Bad, my latest binge watching addiction.  I am thinking I will make him into a pillow, perfect for Halloween decorating.

The bottom pattern is 15x15 and I call it SIMPLY SUNFLOWER.  This was fun to hook!  I used three golds of very different values.  The center on the sunflower was done with a gold that was over dyed over a dark black and white texture.  I alternated that with a rich golden brown, in a higglety pigglety style to get the chunky look of the sunflower center.

These patterns will be $48 each.  I have already started a list for people who want a pattern or patterns.  I will have them all ready by our hook-in  weekend event on Oct 2 and 3.   Call or write to order!  Janice at 402-359-2699 or janicelee@me.com

More soon,
Janice

Hooked Houses

Dear Blog Followers…..
I should be admonished for not blogging more regularly.  And although I have a million different excuses, like there was another pot of wool that needed to be dyed or Blue needed some attention, there really is no excuse.  I could promise to be better about my blogging, but no one would believe it at this time.

However, I have made some nice rugs lately and thought you might like to see them.  The top photo shows a Lori Brechlin design from Kris Miller's Spruce Ridge Studio.  Kris was here teaching a class in June and this was my class project.   I love the sunflowers and outhouse and the bright blue door.  All of Kris' patterns are great and I have a zillion of them here in the store to choose from .

The bottom rug is the second of the rugs I color planned with Maggie Bonanomi when she was here in May.  The first was the floral with the bunting shown in my last blog.  This HIDDEN HOUSE pattern is a charmer.  We strayed from my usual color palette and went with chrysanthemum and pink mums, persimmon and sittin' pretty.  The greens were blue greens, yellow greens, poisony greens all mixed together.  I used Maggie's method of tearing each strip wide, then hand cutting it in half.  It gives such a uniquely primative look and I actually find the hand cutting sort of relaxing.  Who KNEW?  I whined and complained about it enough when we first started, but grew to LOVE it.

It has been pointed out to me that I do whine and complain a lot when doing something new or difficult.  This became most immediately apparent during the July Diane Stoffel class.  I did the hardest rug I have ever tackled.  And….according to all who attended, whined thru most of the first two days.  Was that me?  Yes, I guess it was.  I will try to blog soon to show you the difficult little devil of a rug.  It is all done now, and looking at it, I think….what was so hard.   With Diane Stoffel standing next to you, everything seems doable.

Did you hear we are having a 3 day hooking weekend starting tomorrow.  This is FREE to all, we will potluck lunch and finish our unfinished projects, to get ready for more of the wonderful classes we have coming up this fall.

Pris Buttler is here for the annual MASTER CLASS this September.  Then I will do my yearly HEIRLOOM RUG CLASS in October.  The Hook-In Weekend will be Oct 3 and 4, with lots of great hooking here at the store after the Omaha hook-in is over.   Then Oct 31 Nov 1 and 2, Diane Stoffel will be here to teach, along with Pris Buttler for the RETREAT, then Nov 13,14,15 Donna Hrkman and Ali Strebel will be here for their RETREAT weekend.  Contact me if you are interested in signing up for any classes.  We bring in fantastic teachers every month.

All for now.  There is wool on the stove, better go.
Janice

Class/Kisses

Our Maggie Bonanomi class last month was terrific.
We loved Maggie, we loved her patterns, her color style and her unique hooking technique.  I tried to follow everything she recommended and the rug to the right is the result.  I love it!

She brought many one of a kind patterns and we all went nuts over them.  Some people had her help them color plan 3 or 4 rugs.  I got her help color planning 2 patterns and bought 5 more for the future and to have here at the store.

I love the bunting on the urn of flowers.  The colors are so soft, faded and worn looking.  Just like an old flag should be.  Of course, I have lots of wool here in the store that Maggie likes to use!  She picked Persimmon for the red, Grease Monkey for the blue and a textured birch bark for the white.  Gloriously dirty and old looking.

The flowers were a mixture of marmalade, dijon and pumpkin pie.  The background was a mixture of textured and mottled Spunkey Monkeys.  It made for a wonderful faded, dark blacky brown background.  The urn was Itty Bitty Moose, another favorite here at the store.  Loved it, loved the class, loved Maggie.  She is coming back next year for a 2 day rug hooking class and a 1 day appliqué class with an original pattern drawn just for us!  Can't wait.  Thanks again Maggie.

Now in case you have been wondering what Blue and I have been up to.....we just finished our therapy dog training class, 10 weeks with Domesti-Pups.  Saturday was the big testing day and the Blue dog passed with flying colors.  He already had his Canine Good Citizen rating, but had to take it again along with the advanced Community Canine test too.  Of course he is a genius and he and I take our higher education very seriously.  We start 3 months of supervised therapy visits in nursing homes and then in the fall, we will also be in the
'reading pups' program, where we will  be assigned  several students at our local elementary school who need help with their reading.  They say reading to a friendly canine listener can make reading fun and something to look forward to, for the young reader who may be struggling.  Blue and I can't wait for our first assignments.  We plan to work with 3 kids, every 6-8 week session.  

In the picture, Blue is giving me a big slurpy kiss for being his best friend and driving him around to all his fun classes.  We start Rally class tonight and have agility on Wednesday.  He is agile.....I am not....but there is much to be learned in every class.

See you soon,
Janice

Maggie Bonanomi is coming!

Exciting news!  Maggie Bonanomi is coming for a 2 day class next week, Friday and Saturday May 15 and 16.  Maggie will bring along her patterns for you to choose from and color plan from wool here at the store.  I know all her favorite colors and there will be plenty to choose from.

If you don't know Maggie, you are in for a treat.  She has a really beautiful color sense and her style is primitive.  She has wonderful books out and promises to bring along some of those too.   Her creativity is endless and the ideas will flow, I guarantee that.

The two day class is $185.  Please contact me if you would like to attend.  It will be a fun time for sure!

Email me at janicelee@me.com or call at 402-359-2699 for more information.

Soon….

Janice

Finish Your Projects Weekend

Guess what we are doing next weekend, April 17,18,19??   We are having a FINISH YOUR PROJECTS weekend here at the store.  Join us to finish up some of your projects, and get ready for some new ones!  The weekend is only $50, Carl will make us lunch and we will have a relaxing 3 days of rug hooking, chatting and fun!   We have room for a few more…..so going us!!!!!

You may have been wondering what the Blue man has been up to lately, and frankly, he has been very busy.  A few weeks ago, we started a Competitive Obedience class at Companion Dog Club in Omaha.  The teacher is awesome and we are really enjoying that class.

Last night we started classes for Blue to be a certified therapy dog, thru Domesti-Pups.  After classes and testing, he will do a 3 month trial visiting nursing homes and assisted living facilities.  When he graduates he will be ready to go for nursing home visits several times s month.  Blue is already my official theatre dog and store dog, this will be a new adventure for us.  Blue loves children and old people (after all, his mom is an official old person, difficult to admit but true, haha).

Blue loves going to these classes as much as I do.  I think he knows he is pretty awesome and always a well behaved boy.  I have learned so much in the competitive obedience classes.  I had no idea of the detail and nuance expected of these dogs.  But Blue is a game guy and tries his best at everything.  I couldn't ask for a better dog.

See you soon….
Janice and Blue

Hayden's Rug Complete!

This is Hayden Moss, one of Leah's voice students that I taught to hook over Christmas break.  Here is Hayden with his finished rug, a great little star with an very nice coral and turquoise background.  Hayden left it with me to bind, maybe as a Mother's Day present for his mom.  (I am actually going to try to talk Sandy into binding this one…..it is so winky, Sandy could do it in a flash)

Hayden spent quite a bit of time with me here in the store in the last few weeks.  He was a member of our cast of MUSIC MAN at The Elkhorn Valley Community Theatre.  He played the part of Tommy Dijlas, his favorite voice teacher (my daughter Leah) played Marian the Librarian, and I played Mrs. Paroo……therefore playing my own daughter's mother in the show.  We had a wonderful time on stage and during the rehearsal process, but also had some fun on the nights that Leah and Hayden stayed over at my house, between shows.  On Sunday afternoons, Hayden had plenty of time to work on his rug….and VOILA…..it is done.  Congratulations Hayden!!

Till next time….
Janice