It's raining ice again!

When I hear the ice pellets hitting the window it brings back a very bad memory from Jan. 2007. This was our back yard after about an inch of ice lay on our city. We were without electricity for thirteen days. We "camped" in the basement for two days with the heat of the water heater pilot light for our warmth. Then we realized we had to give it up and go to a motel. We took my parents with us. Eleven days and four adults in a motel room! We did go to work during this storm though. The power had managed to stay on there. Figures. Amazingly the ice didn't stick to the streets and they were relatively safe to drive on. My parents house had a huge tree fall on the roof and rip a pretty big hole in it. We were lucky not to suffer any physical damage to our home, but our trees were basically wiped out. We had huge maple, pecan and walnut trees, gone in one night. The sound was eerie...cracking trees and explosions with blue lights flashing around the city. They were the transformers blowing. The sound made us sad. We were silent looking out the back door and opening it occasionally to listen. It is something I hope I never have to experience in my lifetime again. They are predicting up to one inch of ice tonight and into tomorrow. The forecasters have said that one quarter of an inch would be capable of bringing the power lines down. Wish us luck.

I want to mention the photograph I am using as my header. I found it on flickr and asked permission from the photographer to use it. His name is Glen Karlsen. Please check out his work on Flickr. He is an amazing artist with photography and so kind to permit me to use his photo! You know I said I want to hook "outside the box" this year. What better picture could I have found? I still can't figure out this blogger formatting though. You can see the Shabby but not the Sheep. I have read everything I can find about formatting and can't figure out how to move the words around. Any help would be appreciated!!!

And lastly here are some pics from last Wednesday night hooking group. We have alot of fun on our nights out. Such a talented bunch of girls in one small location. It's really amazing to see our different styles.

Tammy with her finished "circles" rug. Beautiful isn't it? She's giving it away!!! As a gift to their dear friend, David. He owns a pilates studio and loves to display her art in it. What a WONDERFUL GIFT!!! She really is an amazing woman.

Next there's Dulcy with her wild woman rug. It's finished now too. Look up her blog on the list on the right and read all about it.

This is Kelly and her adorable doggy rug. You remember her picture with the Huge bag of worms don't you? It was bigger than she is!! I love this rug. If I remember correctly she has adapted it from an antique rug.

JoLynn with her purple purse. It's so bright and cheerful! The pattern is Nola's from www.nolahooks.com. JoLynn took a class on embellishing from Nola in St. Louis, MO. earlier in the year. I love the bright colors. Sorry it doesn't show up so well. She's using beading, french knots, stuffed applique edged with the buttonhole stitch, chain stitch and I'm sure I left out something. She's also using all kinds of wool and funky yarns. This will be a great purse! She's going to make braided handles.

This is Rita hooking one of the patterns for our local Valentine's challenge. It's one of primitivebetty's free patterns. Isn't is great? She added an orangie red in the background to break up the color a bit. She and JoLynn are friends and came to hooking as a team!

Visit Betty's blog too. www.primitivebettys.blogspot.com.

And this is Marsha. She hooks the most amazing primitive rugs. Big ones!! They live in a saltbox near the center of town in an older beautiful established neighborhood. She is hooking a huge stars rug to go in front of her kitchen sink. She must have a huge kitchen to put it in. She still hasn't bought a wool cutter though. If any of you hear of a great deal on one, let me know and I'll tell her.

And finally, here's me! I don't usually include myself in the group pics, but I thought why not? This is a rug I designed of the fountain in our back yard. It is from a photograph and really looks like our yard! My husband and I built the fountain from a pot I bought at a flea market years ago with the intentions of making a fountain and we actually Did It!! I grow about six or seven different kinds of lavender in our back yard. I absolutely love the smell of it. It's all over our home and in my drawers. I hooked some heart shaped sachets and stuffed them with the blooms. MMmmm.... Since the pic, I have hooked the grass and am starting on the large tree. I am using wool roving for the greens of the tree from Deanne Fitzpatrick. I told her to surprise me with three different "tree greens". I was totally happy with her choices. She also picked out my red, orange and pink rovings for a sunset. Beautiful. Haven't even designed a rug to use it in yet, but I will. Underneath the fountain is pea gravel. I dyed this wool using an eyedropper and four different browns. I think it's a good look for gravel.

Wow, what a LONG post!!! I think the ice pellets are making me nervous. It's almost midnight and I'm wide awake.

Goodnight and

Peace,

Sheri