Fall Finds and Daily Color

Fall continues to be brilliant!  It's a gorgeous Monday following a fabulous and fun weekend.  Today is a bit rainy and cloudy, but colors pop even more when everything is damp and the sky is grey.  I finally finished my latest hooked piece.  It's big and it's red!  My original plan was that it was to be a wall piece as there's quite a bit of 3D going on.... but for now it's on the floor in front of the fireplace.

Kinda crazy, but I just wanted to hook color and texture.  It's full of not only wool, but silk, velvet, various yarns, metallics, sari silks, and some cotton.

And you can see the beginnings of mittens I'm knitting.  This is just the first of a pair.  I wove in the silk ribbon for a bow, and will crochet the same ribbon around the cuff.  Just doing a bit of experimenting.  Hope to make a few pairs for The Vintage Suitcase, gifts for family and friends, and a pair for myself.

Speaking of The Vintage Suitcase, I grabbed this shot of our "sweet" new bakery at work the other day.  Needed to be quick before the customers started to arrive!

In the shop part of the Suitcase, we carry a nice selection of art papers and vintage look silk ribbons.  I was playing around with a cone made of doggie themed paper at work the other day to sell in the shop.  But, after I finished I decided to purchase it for a Christmas present (can't mention anymore about that here....shhhh...)

Love making these things!

And..... it's hedge apple season again.  My favorite color of fall!  My sweet husband picks these up on his outings and brings them home for me.  They don't last too long, but so gorgeous!

I just had to do a quick little watercolor in my sketchbook....

I love sharing the little things I make and do here in the Ozarks, and I so enjoy visiting all the other fantastic and creative blogs out there.  Such a great source for inspiration, education, and friends!  Thanks for popping by!
xo
dulcy

Fall Cuffs, Deck Time, And Always The Hedge Apple

I've been hooking away on chunky cuffs for winter and fall......

I just added these three colorful cuff to my little hooking shop on etsy.

I've also been knitting like mad..... working on some lovely soft wristies for winter which I'll post when finished.  Enjoying evenings relaxing with hubby and getting our end of summer/early fall deck time in.

 

I love the way hedge apples find their way into and around my cozy home.  Fall leaves are definitely gorgeous, but hedge apples falling from trees, gathering in ravines along the road, hedgerows, and the edge of parking lots are my first "call to fall".

We've been able to have a a few fires in our little stone fireplace (well, it's actually a gas fireplace, but I do love to be able to turn the fire on and off at will....).  Willow ejnoys relaxing in the chair next to the fire on these early fall evenings.

Wishing you a lovely fall weekend......

xo

dulcy

Gobs of Color!

Gosh.... I love the cool, crisp, colorful beginnings of fall.  I know it's not official yet, but I've got mums in pots and in the ground, pumpkins on the porch, and my hedge apple rug on the floor (which Willow immediately took up residence on).

I've been hooking and sewing a bit.  The results of my labors are these hooky cuff bracelets....

I used magnetic snaps for the fasteners.  Had fun playing with color while making these.  They're sewn onto wool attached to the linen.

I took a morning and trimmed out my last hooked hanging piece.  I felt that it needed something more colorwise.  There just seemed to be too much green, so I added this bright strip of wool and sewed on a few little beads.

I went to a hook-in a week ago with my gal pals Tammy and Sheri.
I picked up this luscious yarn.  Can't wait to make something wonderful with it.  I may save it for some hooking, but am tempted to knit a scarf (which I don't really need, but I think it's the best way to show off this homespun loveliness).

There's some pretty sparklies mixed in that don't show up in this shot.  Should have had  hubby shoot it for me.

I told you in my last post that I was having hand surgery.  Well, I did (actually it was on one finger) and it was a breeze (sort of).  So, I'm not hooking yet, but lots of knitting and other bits of this and that.  I went for coffee with bestie, Jessy,  a day after my surgery and she had this sweet little "get well" dolly waiting for me.

She's tied to a blue bottle to put on my bottle tree, but for now she's just resting on the mantle.  No, she won't go outside on the tree.... just the bottle.  Here's a link on the history of the bottle tree.  You may have never heard of bottle trees, but I find them quirky and beautiful.  I also love the folklore that goes along with this old form of garden folk art.  History of Bottle Trees.  One more time, here's my new little rebar bottle tree!

Hope your late summer/early fall is as lovely as it is here and you're enjoying every minute of it!

xo
dulcy

Winter And Fiber Go Oh SOOOO Well Together!!!

This week I've been staying close to home and relishing in cleaning out, getting rid of, and finishing projects in preparation for something new.  I'm soooooo pleased that hedge apple rug is finally done!

I've had more fun with this rug than any I've done in quite awhile.  I really wanted to put this one to bed because I'm starting Deanne Fitzpatrick's on line class next week.  I'm very excited to take a class from Deanne, and hoping that her wonderful instruction will help me on my hooking journey to being more free with my designs, textures, and colors.

I'm still having fun digging into old linens and making them new and happy again.  This is a set of Ralph Lauren pillow cases I found in a sale bin and bought ages ago.  They don't really go with a thing (which never keeps me from using things I love in my home), but they've now reached that lovely texture of softness and fray.  I blanket stitched the edges and corners to keep them whole.

Really, I'm serious when I say that this is so much more gratifying than buying something new!  I've got two more sets I plan on spiffing up, and a top sheet.  Such winter fun!

Speaking of fun....... Had coffee with gal pal Jessy from Luvvly Jubbly the other day.  If you haven't checked out her blog..... Please check in regularly!  She has so MANY wonderful ideas to make new from old, and she posts all the time.  She made these DARLING fiber bracelets for me!

I've been wearing at least one of them everyday.  Love wearing them with my knitted heart rings!

Wishing you a most lovely and cozy weekend........
xo
dulcy

My "At The Moment" Fav Rug!

I'm so loving hooking my Hedge Apple rug!  I love the colors, the wonky shape, and the simplicity of the design.  Not my usual small stuff with tons of details, which makes for a relaxing meditative sort of project.

xo
dulcy

Color and Kittys

I've been madly hooking away for the past month.  The colors I'm currently using really excite me and I love laying contrasting hooked strips down next to each other always wowed by the effect of color.  The following is my little "Water Garden" rug named by my sweet friend and neighbor Emma (who is 10 years old).

 

I really enjoyed creating this little abstract piece.  There's plenty of color, but I only used about six or seven pieces of wool in this composition.  In other words, I color planned it, even though it may appear a little willy nilly with color.  This rug is about 3'x18".

This next project is the one that really has me jazzed.  Every fall I so look forward to the color of the fall hedge apples.  I love bringing them in, but they last such a short time... so I decided to hook a rug with the hedge apple being the focal point.  It's another somewhat abstract piece, and is quite large.

 

As you can see, there is no rigid geometric shape to this one.  Just sort of wavy with a curly cue border ..... I'm saving the border for last, but will most likely be a hit n' miss using colors from the design.

And on to doorstep news....I'm so happy to announce that we have a new member to our family.  A sweet little girl that's been hanging about for the last week or so.  Meet Violet!

Isn't she beautiful?!  Right now she is living in the downstairs bedroom as she is quarantined from the other girls (that would be kitty's Iris and Willow).  Still concerns about a little respiratory infection she has.  It's hard to tell from this photo, but she is quite tiny.  The vet thinks she may be about 2 years old.  I love her markings... her coat has sort of a tarnished Bengal cat look.  Violet is the most affectionate sweetie ever!! 

I'm working on a new pastel, which hopefully, I'll have enough done to share in my next post.  And, of course, the never ending knitting of socks.  My new pair is waiting for the toes to get done.  I HATE, HATE, HATE doing the toes.  It never comes out right.  So, I'm experimenting some with this pair.  We'll see........

Hope you're enjoying a beautiful fall (although I know some of you are already experiencing quite the winter!).
xo
dulcy

Feeling Good, and Loving Hedge Apple Green!

So sorry for the long absence, and thank you friends for checking in with me.  I'm doing sooo much better since my foot surgery, although still painful and using one crutch.  This annoying pain comes on mostly in the evening and causes lack of a peaceful night's sleep, and good sleep is one of my life's priorities.  Which..... if not achieved..... leads to lethargy and crankiness.  But, today I feel rested, am blogging, and enough of these kinds of issues already!

Now, I will address my dear friend Tammy's latest post.

 

Maybe you can make the connection quicker than some people (Kenny?..........).  Of course, if you're not familiar with hedge apples, this is completely lost on you.  Sorry.  These are shots of my almost new car I bought just short of a year ago.  It's my baby Fiesta, and I love it!  After driving my entire life with a standard transmission (many small cute cars over the years), this automatic four door is a dream....... is this a sign of age?  Oh, and it's completely synched up with everything.  It's kind of like driving around inside my computer.

I'm starting to feel like I can get back to the studio and start pastel painting again.  I paint mostly standing up, so a bit of a strain at the moment.  I played around with the art app on my iPad during the course of this lengthy recovery, and here's a couple of paintings I did.  I just copied parts of magazine photos I found interesting since I wasn't able to set up a still life from my reclined position.  It's quite like using Photoshop with the layering techniques.  I paint with my finger, and after some practice, was able to mix color, shade, add lights and shadows, etc.

The above is a piece of a fall crafting photo I found in an older edition of British Country Living.  And beneath I found these bottles in another BCL where I just played around with trying to get the idea of old glass.   I did my own version of a couple of bottles from that particular photo.

I've gotten quite a bit of knitting done, and will post some of that later.  My brain simply has not been able to wrap itself around an idea for a new rug hooking project (too much anesthetic?).  So..... yesterday I called my buddy Tammy (hedgeapples from above), and threw out some color and shape ideas to her.  For some reason, when I talk art with Tammy, she can help me sort through my muddled ideas of colors and shapes that just weren't going anywhere.  Anyway, I'm very excited about my new project that evolved as we brainstormed.  I don't have anything down on paper, yet alone linen, but looking forward to moving ahead with a new hooking project for fall and winter!  Oh, one more fiber project I hope to be able to share soon, is a new wrap made on my tri loom.  But first, I have to finish building the loom.  Actually my man about the house built it for me, but it's still missing the nails..... and it requires A LOT of nails.  Maybe this week?  Well, overdoing things is what's been getting me in trouble for the past month.  So..... we'll just have to see how it goes. 

Thanks for reading my Monday ramblings, and wishing you a lovely week ahead.....
xo
dulcy