The best news

My Daughter-in-law is on the mend. She should be able to go home this Saturday.  We did a face to face two afternoons ago.  We were both so relieved to see her looking awake and talking to us.  She still has antibiotics to take and her Doctor decided the best place to do this was in the hospital rather than at home with a huge puppy who is going to be so happy to see her Mama again that I hope Mama is up to the love.

Just a couple of pictures of what will be coming to the Etsy shop when their edges have been finished

I can see this in a kids room.  Everything white but the rug.  And it's hanging on a wall.

This one is not going to the Etsy shop.  I sold it as I was working it.  I just wanted to show it off!

Have no idea where the sun flash came from.  Sorry.

I've been calling this Patty's rug.  Patty is my best friend's big sister.  She LOVES, I mean LOVES primary colors.  I usually don't use that many primary colors in my rugs. Except for a few red worms I cut just to have enough to do this rug, all the strips in it are worms left over from other projects.  I was surprised.  Surprised that I had that many primary worms to work with.  This is also a large rug.  Measures 40" long.

They will go into the Etsy shop at the end of the month so check them out.

Ok, back to work.  I made the mistake of deciding that I would change everything I had at Eclectic's in Kansas City every other month.  So I'm working like mad the rest of the month to get things ready to go.

Enjoy the February thaw for as long as it lasts

Linda  The Preening Crow

Some things in life happen

That change all other things in your life.
One of my Daughter-in-laws is in the hospital.
This is day 8.
My son finally convinced her to go to an Emergency room and thank God she went.
She had a simple Strep infection that blossomed into something that almost took her life.

It is very hard to comfort your grown child when they are 13 hours away and you can hear how worried they are by their voice.  You don't want to tell them what you've been researching on the web knowing that what you've read will only bring more worry.
I finally decided to just say "yes, it's what I've read" and leave it at that.

It has been a rough 8 days.

We think the worst my be over now and she can begin to deal with her recovery.
We're not sure what this will mean but I'm fairly sure her life will never quite be the same.

So sorry for no posts and no pictures.
We are taking it all one day as it comes.  With luck something that begins to feel like normal will happen sometime this coming week. So check back

All prayers are more than welcome

Linda
The Preening Crow

The birds are happy we're home!

Snow, snow and more snow!  We ended up snowed in, in Kansas City for 2 1/2 days.

I did manage to get hooking done after the mad dash to Liberty for wool.  But the half day we were there yesterday, I spent making Valentines boxes with my Grandkids.  Should have taken a picture of my Granddaughters.  Pink, of course , with hearts and flowers and flower wand and space for her 3 - D heart flowers that were going on it as soon as Mommy stopped at WM on her way home from work to bring green pipe cleaners.  Mommy said it was going to school with a note attached saying "I did not make this"   She said she was afraid the teacher would get ideas that she was able to do things like it and she'd end up having to make something else and she'd fail miserably!  I love my Daughter-in-law and how her mind works!  

My son was left with directions on how to turn a box into a cool race car for my Grandson.  With no hearts on it, he said.  I told him the girls would think he was geeky not to put hearts on it and his reply was they already did think he was geeky and that was fine with him!  He's 10.  Wonder how much longer that attitude will last?

The birds missed us.  The were totally out of food.   

The two large blobs at the edges of each picture are my beautiful Boxwood balls I've been working on for 8 years.  Tomorrow is supposed to be warmer so I will go out and gently remove the snow from them and keep my fingers crossed that they pop back.

I'm just marking time till spring.  If all goes as normal, I will be uncovering my garden again in a month.  I hope.

Stay warm and dry.

          I wrote yesterday that I would show you what I was trying to get more wool for.

And yes, we are snowed in.  Started this morning at about 8:00 and is still snowing and the wind is beginning to come up.

I can see a deck railing and it looks like there is about 5" of snow on it.  I don't plan on going outside to find out.  I'm sure the weather guys will tell me tonight.

So, my latest projects.  The first on is called "Rabbit's dance"

I'm not letting you see all of it.  But I will explain the problem.  It's supposed to be night.  I had a blue gray picked out for the background.  When I looked at the fabric before I cut it I thought it would be a nice soft blue gray sky.  Nope!  It turned into the most beautiful sunny day sky you could ever ask for.

So back to the drawing board.

I buy most of my wool from a shop named "American Whatever" in Liberty Missouri.

To get there it's a 3 to 3 1/2 hr drive from my house.

From where we are now it's only half an hour so I took advantage of being so close.

I took both problem rugs to Sandy and asked for her expert opinion.

Her solution on this rug was a darker blue.  I wasn't sure at first but now that it's in, I'm happy with it.

The second rug is closer to being finished.  But not until I had most of the background in did I realize two of my colors were too close in value to each other to come off correctly.

I have a friend who is color blind.  I find this fascinating.  I am

 such a visual, color based person that to imagine what his world looks like just boggles my mind.

I have learned enough about what he sees and does't see to know that to him there would be nothing but sameness in the center of this rug.

His wife, my friend, and I worked out the black surround idea and it helped but I still wasn't happy and I had hoped the outside edge would be black.

So, Sandy to the rescue again.

She had a great idea for the whole design and a good choice for the outside.  

I'll tell you that solution.  I bought a brown and black plaid!  Can't wait to see what it's going to look like.

But I'm going to surprise you with her other solution when the rug is done.

So, more pictures to come

Stay warm and dry.

The snow is a pain but we really needed the moisture.  My garden is happy and with luck, I'll be uncovering it in less than 2 months!

The Preening Crow

Lesson learned.  Never listen to Husband, always follow what Self says.  And when Self says "take charger for computer" even though Husband says " you can use Son"s" ignore him!

We've been here for 4 days.  Son has been using his the whole time.  My computer went down to 3% and was sending me nasty notes implying it was going to self destruct if I didn't plug it in.  I figured I'd use Son's after he left for work this morning, knowing he has several and thinking he uses one at home and one at work and thus doesn't have to take one back and fourth.  As Son says "there you go thinking again , Mom"  Went to plug this in.....no charger!

Now, sending Son a text does not always get a response but I was thinking again and figured it might be worth a try.  Yeah!!!!  Extra charger in Family room.  I am saved.

So I'm back blogging again. No pictures today.  Rushing to get out of here to go to a rug wool place to figure out what colors I need to finish two rugs before we get snowed in.

I'll post pictures of the rugs in progress tomorrow.

Stay warm and know where your shovel is.