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Doughnuts, the best medicine....?

2/19/2018

6 Comments

 
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It’s an off day for me today.  I’ve been feeling a bit under the weather since Saturday, something brewing in my head, nose and chest to take the edge off my energy and smile. 

​Although today is a holiday, I’d planned to work.  With rug school coming there’s lots to do and although it’s months away, there’s a lot of prep that goes into taking a shop to be a vendor at a school.  So I was sitting here feeling lower than the bottom of a rock and decided to cheer myself up with a batch of freshly made doughnuts before whatever is brewing mutes my taste buds.  I’m usually lucky, whatever invades my body tends to pull up states quickly, knock on wood, so I’m hoping for a speedy recovery.   I made my magical chicken soup last evening (Shane swears it heals common ailments) and I was a bit better this morning after ten hours of sleep so hopefully I’m already on an upward swing.   If doughnuts don’t cure me, I hope they don’t kill me, but what a way to go..... 
 
We had a lovely omelette for brunch and then I whipped up a batch of dough immediately after. There’s no part of the process that isn’t exciting but of course tasting is the highlight and they were magnificent.  I popped these cylindrical mounds of warm, crispy fried dough into my greedy mouth savouring the texture and flavour while memories transported me to my childhood. 

I like mine plain but I dipped some in sugar and a combo of cinnamon and sugar to take to work tomorrow.  I love them but can’t have them hanging around the house as I don’t have an off switch or willpower.  Today’s indulgence is enough to last a while.   During past doughnut parties I found the sugary coated ones get eaten first.  I think perhaps my childhood memory of the plain ones that I lifted, I mean stole, well..helped myself too, from my granny’s pantry cemented them as the favourite and who am I to mess with a perfect memory.    Papa must have been the happiest man alive because she loved him enough to keep that tin filled and he did his best to empty it.
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So the inside of the house is now glazed with the sweet waft of doughnuts; nothing sticks like the aroma of deep fat frying.  Our range hood doesn’t vent to the outside, there was only one place to put the stove against an opposite wall of the living room, and so all cooking odors are trapped inside the house.  It lingers on every surface, the coats hung by the door and my hair, even the pups smell delicious.  When we go upstairs we drag the smell with us to linger there, clinging to the bed sheets and towels.  I’m not perturbed, there are definitely worse things than the smell of deep fat; I think of it as a hug, wrapping around me like a greasy security blanket.  It comforts me, takes me back to my childhood and brings to the surface memories of my beloved nana and papa.....all good and tasty! 

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WORKSHOP WITH MERYL COOK!

2/16/2018

2 Comments

 
Workshop with Meryl Cook at our Encompassing Designs Studio! 
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Call or email Meryl to Register at 902-431-4888
​Email meryl@merylcook.ca   
​   
Credit Card Payment can be made on her site by clicking this link:  
http://www.merylcook.ca/shop/hooking-from-the-inside-out-design-and-hook-your-own-healing-mat/ 


2 Comments

A sweetheart of a day.....

2/14/2018

2 Comments

 
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On Valentine’s Day endorphin levels rise and the daily doldrums are cast aside as thoughts of romance tickle our fancy.  Date nights and dinners out and the perfect mushy or joke cards are exchanged.   Flowers are delivered and smiles are abundant.   Some receive gifts, perhaps something blingy, but no matter how we celebrate this day of love, it will rekindle the spark of the amorous heart, and perhaps cement over any little cracks since the last February 14th.  
 
A lot of people call it just another day, but we really shouldn’t let it pass without commemorating the event.  Do something simple but special for one another.  You don’t need a lot of money to show you care.  Leave a note on their pillow, serve coffee in bed, linger a bit longer over a hug or kiss before you head out the door.  The little things mean a lot. 

Valentine’s Day doesn’t have to be a big show.   It’s about reconnecting and honouring feelings. Sometimes we can get lost in the day to day emotional functioning of our lives especially when a lot of times work comes before play, so we can use this day to bring feelings back into focus. Tell the someone you love, that you love them.  Knowing is one thing, hearing it is the reinforcement we all cherish.   

I’m pretty laid back these days.  At my age, love has gone from sassy heels to a comfy pair of slippers.   Being home with our fur babies at the end of the day is always a wonderful ahhhh moment and is really all I need for romance.  I purchased a $10 bunch of tulips from the grocery store and told hubby ” thanks  sweetie” and I couldn’t be happier.  We’ll probably sit in front of the television eating dinner off our matching trays and feel perfectly comfortable on our 30th Valentine’s Day together.  

To me love is in the doing.  Sharing, helping one another, being there for support and encouragement and most of all laughing together.  We are coming into the stage in life where love is all about friendship, comfort and compatibly and we couldn’t be happier.  We are cut from the same cloth he and I and happiness for us is just hanging out....

​I hope all your Valentine's wishes have come true!

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2 Comments

Got the T-shirt, liked it so much she continued on.....

2/8/2018

1 Comment

 
By Guest Blogger Ernestine Baggs
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Hello Christine, I am sending you a photo of a rug that I designed (loosely based on a piece of fabric I have). The rug measures 3 ft. by 4 ft. It is done entirely with 100% cotton t-shirt fabric and took me 3 months to hook. Ernestine Baggs, NL

I use all-cotton T-shirts, but you can also use poly-cotton ones too.  You must cut them into strips vertically, with the grain of the fabric. 

Light coloured shirts can be dyed and you can also lighten the colours with bleach.  I use scissors to cut the shirts into one quarter inch strips.  If the shirt is really thin then I will make the strips one half inch.  You can always trim the strip if you need to before you use it.  You can also use a rotary cutter.  I enjoy hunting through the few thrift stores that we have looking for the shirts and I buy any cotton that is tie dyed or has multi colours as long as the colour goes completely through the fabric.  I do not worry about a right or wrong side.  I just hook the fabric as it comes.  Ernestine Baggs. 
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I'm sure you heard the old saying, 'got the T-shirt and moved on', well Ernestine decided to keep going.  She has created an impressive body of work with her rugs all made from coloured Tshirts.  If you think about them, they do come in a wide assortment of colours so Ernestine's rugs are never lacking and are as bold as punch when needed or subdued with a little bleach for subtle shading. 

A few years ago, Ernestine hooked our Pumpkin Grinners pattern which was my introduction to her way of hooking and I was suitably impressed.  I recall thinking, 'Wow, this is T-Shirts?' 

When one has the desire and need to hook, we do find ways to dabble in the craft.  Pantyhose, (nylons from another time), wool fabric, cottons, yarns and even polyesters are used to create art pieces for today's floor and walls.  An woman once told me a heart warming story of her husband passing and not wanting to throw out his clothes.  She cut up his polyester golf slacks and shorts and made rugs for each of her three children.  An heirloom full of special memories, what a labour of love and a dynamic gift. 

Where there's a will there's always a way to get our addictions to come to fruition with whatever medium we chose or is chosen for us by the availability of materials close at hand. 
​                                                           HOOK ON SISTAS!

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Left - Pumpkin Grinners, above Bottoms Up, both hooked by Ernestine with T-Shirts.  
1 Comment

Toutons and tea!

2/7/2018

6 Comments

 
By Guest Blogger Lorraine Burch
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To celebrate Canadas 150th, Don & I joined his sister Janet & hubby Howard ( from Calgary ) for a week in Newfoundland -- Janet and Howard had never been there. We decided to focus on a small section and do it well with lots of time to travel to the ends of country roads.

So as the song says .... "Fogo, Twillingate, Moreton's Harbour, all around the circle" was where we spent the week. It did not disappoint

The tea cozy gift idea was born from a desire to capture one particularly special day as a way to say thanks for the memories.

It was typical windy overcast Newfoundland day. We were out exploring when we ran into a heavy downpour that turned into a major hailstorm. We pulled over on a secondary road to wait out the storm--the car rocked back and forth the whole time, the sky was dark as pitch, the wind was howling and the sound from the hail stones was deafening .  Yikes !! Thankfully the storm did pass in about 15 minutes.
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We decided to carry on down the side road ....it ended up on a bluff overlooking Greenspond. Hard to describe the beauty below ...a typical Newfoundland village, brightly painted houses, boats bobbing in the protected harbour, a wee patch of blue overhead .....and a bright rainbow off to the left .  Blueberries, bearberries and bakeapples at our feet (they're called bakeapples because when the sun shines, they smell like apple pie);  wild flowers in the meadows leading down to the water. Perfection!

Janet and Howard love their tea, so the cozy was a perfect fit. We enjoyed many cuppas in Newfoundland...and, one day,  even had toutons with our tea. A special treat indeed!  If you can check out the Split Peas singing Toutons & Tea. The Split Peas are an all-female signing group--they have been singing and playing their instruments (including the ugly sticks) in & around Twillingate for over 25 years.

I am making a tea cozy for Don and I  -- a view of Moreton's Harbour. Another just so perfect Newfoundland village

To listen to the Split Peas song - Toutons and Tea click this link and turn up the volume!     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzCxtHiEImE

 

6 Comments

Hot and colourful items in the shop!

2/1/2018

0 Comments

 
2017 is packed away and its time to rebuild the stock from inventory counting!   Year end is no longer a struggle having a book keeper so I'm free to pursue the fun aspects of the business.  I will be taking the shop as the vendor at the Nova Scotia Guild Rug School in May so our socks are pulled up and we're rearing to go to provide all the students with a room full of eye-candy.  Stay tuned for a plethora of new designs as well.  It's so exciting!
A new shipment of Sari Silk just arrived.  The colours are so inspiring!  
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Shane, The Dye Guy's been dyeing yarn and this is just the start.  You love our customs colours and ​we aim to please.  
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New textures are and will be arriving, gorgeous wools!  
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In the next few months we will be launching lots of new products for the shop.   Yippee! 
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    Christine Little has been ranked #5​ out of the 60 top rug hooking bloggers by Rug Hooking Magazine!

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    Max Anderson, Australia, recipient of my Nova Scotia Treasures rug.  An award of excellence for promoting Canada through his writing.  
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