Have you ever headed out on the road with multiple options to get where you going and you're certain the roads you chose were the absolute, without a doubt, indubitably, wrong choices? It took me 60 minutes to go 23 miles. Not that I could have hoofed it on two feet to get there faster but jeez!
I met Holly out at Great Lakes Crossing Mall for her anniversary dinner, minus her husband. I really wanted to give my present to both of them but, oh well. We walked around the mall a bit, looking in the stores, deciding where to eat. We settled on 'Toby Keith's I Love This Bar & Grill'. Before she could get her hands on the grub I handed her the bag with her gift in it.
I really do hope that Kevin didn't spill the beans but I couldn't be certain. Either way she loved her gift:
I began hooking 'The Forest Journey' when it seemed for sure that she and Mike would end up together. I didn't expect it to take nearly 4 years for me to finish it but that's the way life goes sometimes. The pattern was originally done by P J Rankin-Hults as a folk paper cutting design but was adapted for rug hooking by Kris Miller of Spruce Ridge Studios, and finished at 17 1/2" x 47 1/2", so it's a pretty good sized rug. Kris also dyed about 90% of the wool I used. I used a Puritan frame, a Townsend cutter to cut the wool into 1/4" strips except for the animal outlines which were 6/32" and a plain ol' Joan Moshimer primitive hook. Fancy cutter, un-fancy hook. Go figure. I used cording and wool yarn, Cascade 220 and Classic Elite Skye Tweed, to finish the edges. I would use this method again in a heartbeat -- so much easier than using twill tape to bind it --
And of course I had to make a label for it. Behind the duck cloth label is a piece of paper with more details about the rug pattern, maker, etc.
Here are some close ups of the animals:
I sure hope Mike 'gets' it. Holly said this would be a family heirloom so I think that's about as much praise as you could ever hope for!
After we ate out meals -- note to self, skip the spinach artichoke dip soup, and drank our drinks ($8 each for a glorified Arnold Palmer) we headed out, first stopping for a photo op:
Holly did get on the bull but it wasn't actually functioning:
It's a little blurry but you get the point.
With that we headed for home and a much less stressful drive.
Tomorrow at work will be very quiet with half the staff or more out of the office. Hopefully I'll have time to finish up my mid-year review and get caught up ahead of a very busy week there next week.
3 comments:
Suzanne--
THIS IS OUT OF THIS WORLD!!!
What a labor of LOVE...what a marvelous gift.
Your daughter is right...it will certainly be cherished for generations to come.
You are a terrific Mama!
It's beautiful Suzanne! Great Job!
Kim
The rug is beautiful and a wonderful wedding gift. Great finishing job, too.
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