Signs of Spring?

Only in my dreams. It has been extremely cold these past few days but at least, no snow for the moment. The only signs of spring are the dragonflies on my mat. I used a metallic rope in a shimmering purple to outline the dragonfly and then, filled in with a lovely mixed yarn.

Dog Gone It!

Well, here is Alice's completed mat, Abby, her brother's Labrador. This picture doesn't do it justice and the shaping in the black coat is much more visible than what is showing. Unfortunately, blogger doesn't support my old browser and today, I had to update to Google Chrome and the new look in the blog. Here is hoping that it works better than it used to.

Adding Dimension!

I took a creative stitching course sometime ago and I learned a nice technique to add dimension to elements in rug hooking.

I decided to rehook the daisy and add a 3D effect.

First you outline the area using wool yarn and work the next row(loop) higher and each subsequent row, higher than the last.

Once you have finished filling it with loops, it should look something like this depending on the shape of your element.

Take a small, sharp pair of scissors and cut each loop. Yes, cut each loop apart and trust me, it doesn't fall apart.

Then, you can use fingers to fluff up the yarn. Once your wool yarn is fluffy, you can shape the element with scissors. And there you have it.

Next?!

Aunt Bertie's Daisy Garden has been on the Cheticamp frame for sometime. Now and then, I work on it but mostly, it just stares back at me, almost asking, when I am next?

It is a very large mat and with so many shades of green, I have struggled with it.

Maddy Complete!

Besides talking about the weather, my internet was down for two days, two very, very long days. I never realized how dependent I have become on it. I couldn't send emails, I couldn't listen to Coast to Coast on internet radio, I couldn't watch Netflix, I felt disconnected.

After two calls to Bell Aliant, I am re-connected and feeling better. In the meantime, I did complete Maddy's little mat. It looks just like she does before her spring haircut, little lion dog, mane and all.

Now, working on Aunt Bertie's Daisy Garden, while watching Netflix. How do you spell, relief?

Frozen!

Coast Guard Ship cutting a channel in the Bay of Islands February 3.

Snow Squall February 5


You know it's mid winter in Western Newfoundland when the ice covers the Bay of Islands and the Coast Guard is out, cutting a channel for the ships.

While the rest of Canada enjoyed reduced snowfall this year, we had ours early and it's already deep. But February can be our worse month and one year, I counted 26 days in a row where it snowed at least 5 cm every day.

The good news is 2012 seems different and although, we have had a couple of days of flurries, it has been calm. The light seems brighter and the air warmer, can it be that we are at the end?

Of course, you never know in Newfoundland as the weather can turn dirty in a blink of an eye.