IT'S HERE... NOT THE GRANDSON, THE BOLT OF DORR MILL WOOL

First of all, I was very surprised this morning to see that I had 2 new followers on my blog. And you know my reaction, my mouth opened wide and my jaw dropped.  The words that came out were " Oh my gosh, two new followers! " It feels like a ray of sunshine when I get new followers, I get a warm feeling inside. Welcome  The Paisley Studio and  Donna of Starkey Hollow blog. I intend to read your blog as soon as I finish this post. I just didn't had enough time this morning.

I was just back from the barn this morning having a cup of fresh brewed coffee when the door bell rang.  The kind petite letter carrier was delivering my big bolt of Dorr Mill wool right to my door. She had a big smile on her face as she put down my big package. I think that she went the extra mile for me and I'm so grateful for the excellent service this letter carrier gave.

I anxiously opened the package which was extremely well wrapped and I tell you even if this package would have ended up in the river, it would have floated, it was so air-tightly wrapped. I also got a #5 cutter wheel but the price went up quite a bit from last February. Last year I paid $23.95 + tax for each cutter  and this time I paid $38.50 for it plus tax of course.  I received a small black wool swatch speckled white as a freebee. It cost around $12.00 for shipping the whole package  which was not bad at all.

To keep on with my new motto, Just Do It, I ordered my air line ticket online this morning for the first time. I didn't know what to expect and I was reading everything and I had to keep extending my alloted time to do the buying on line.   I'll be leaving on  January 18, and come back whenever. It's a direct flight and I'm glad that I'm leaving a day ahead of schedule because the 19th is full moon and we know that more babies are delivered on the full moon. Well, actually not on the full moon but during the full moon. lol...I just hope he waits for me to get there.

For those of you who saw this before, please bear with me. I'm just trying to show Donna what goes into making my Childhood Memories rug. I just roughly drew my memories on a page and then I cut them out and I taped the drawings on a large piece of flip board paper. I had more memories but I couldn't fit everything on.

Then, I placed my burlap backing on top and traced the best I could with a Sharpie.  It's amazing that we can see through the burlap.  Notice that all there is here are ideas.

I hooked the figures first and added fillers like trees and clouds and tracks in the snow. I'm not pleased of my ribbon on top but I'm leaving it for now and the cow udder is too big in the back and there are several other details that bothers me.

When I first started hooking I used a home made frame until I bought this one My rug hooks on the gripper bars tightly but I think that a rectangular frame would work better for me as my rugs are rectangular.

 This is my Bliss model A cutter and as long as I keep it clean, it works well. I now have  #3, #4, #5, #6 cutter wheel to make four width strips of wool for hooking.  I use a Medium hook most of the time but I also have a fine and a large hook. The wrench is to take the brass nut off to change the cutter. The sharp snipper scissors is to snip my wool ends so it looks neat.

This is my work station in the sun room. I keep my wool swatches rolled up so I can see at a glance colors that I need to work with. My snippets goes in the little basket most of the time and the rest goes on the floor. I have three baskets of wool worms in small snack size Ziplolock baggies so they don't get mixed up.  I've clipped the corners a tiny bit to allow air in the baggies. The baskets with covers hold some clean recycled wool and I have three big drawers full upstairs.

What I'm not showing here is me hooking. Maybe some day, I'll get my husband George to take a picture of me. Oh my, that's scary. 

Thanks for your visit and leaving a comment.  JB

A BOLT OF LIGHTNING? NO, A BOLT OF DORR MILL WOOL

My new Motto for 2011 is JUST DO IT.  I have followed that advice from a Rug Hooking Daily friend who once said to me,  JUST DO IT when I told her that I have been contemplating starting a blog but never even tried. Even my daughters wanted me to start my own blog but I thought that I had nothing interesting to say. So now I have this blog that you faithfully read and I am humbly thankful for your faithfulness. It has brought some great friendship and hours of pleasure and has taught me  how to do many things on the computer  that I didn't know how to do before and I visited many of your homes. It has made me laugh and has made me cry. Many thanks...

So on that note I just took the bull by the horns today and JUST DID IT again by ordering a bolt of Dorr Mill Natural off white wool for dyeing.  It is being shipped tomorrow. I"m just thinking $$$, lots of it.  Not only a yard or two but a bolt. And for a second time today I JUST DID IT again. I joined April DeConick's Virtual Rug Camp Group on Palette Dyeing on Rug Hooking Daily. This is a huge commitment for me as I've been putting it off for about a year now. At least this is free. Thanks April for your generosity. This should be an interesting adventure for me.

 Another first for me, in mid January, I'm flying to Ottawa to be with my daughter who is expecting at the end of January and I need to buy my air line ticket. I was always accompanied when I flew before but this time I'll be by myself. It would be nice to have someone I know sitting beside me in the plane though. Don't worry, I won't pilot the plane, not this time any way. I'm very lucky that I live only several minutes from the airport. I can't wait to see my grandson. I pray for good weather for flying and also for the trip to the hospital.  The weather is so mixed up lately that I worry about traveling in the winter.

One good thing I learned today is that I will not have to buy another compression sleeve to fly as I can use the same one that I used when I flew to Scotland. That one cost me $125.00 around five years ago and I was told that I should have a fitting if I lost weight and had to fly. I lost weight but I grew muscles.  I had some lymph nodes removed from my armpit  in 2002 and to avoid getting a swollen arm for the rest of my life  I have to wear a compression sleeve  when I fly.  It's only a two hour flight. The compression sleeve was so tight that my arm looks like a big sausage when I wore it. Not very comfortable at all.

I'm not sure how long my stay in Ottawa will be but I don't want to overstay my welcome. I'm thinking a couple of weeks at the most. The baby may be two weeks early or two weeks late.  It depends on the circumstances but my husband think that I'll be there for a month. That's what he's telling his friends.  Humm... Is that wishful thinking on his part? lol...
Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. Sorry, no pics this evening.  JB