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Friday, October 28, 2011

Making room for Christmas

Well, I need to make some room in my cut up little home. I have NO idea what the builders were thinking when they designed the homes in our neighborhood back in the late 1940's. All the homes on our street are cape cod, story and 1/2 houses with no front door...but 2 side doors. Let me  try to explain...Here's a picture of the front of my house
The first door leads into what was our very small living roon and the second door leads into our kitchen. Well, I have big guys in my family (my boys are 6'3 and 6'5) and the kitchen just wasnt big enough for a table and there was no dining room. To the left of that window are the steps to go upstairs and behind that tall bush to the farthest left is another window that was my Marine sons bedroom.

Here are some pics from the inside...we decided to make the living room into a formal dining room and we made a family room in the basement (the guys Pittsburgh Steeler man cave). This is when it was the living room the first Christmas after we moved in...look at that hideous mauve carpet...the 80's called and wanted in back so we ripped it out to see hardwood floors !!!)

I also ditched the 80's couch...I let the hubs get those monstrous, totally NOT prim sofa's that have recliners on both ends...matches the hideeous very BIG scrren tv down in their man cave...gotta be comfy on game day I guess ! I will ahve to take some pics of their room and show you guys sometime...Its, well, um, manly and um, well, big in scale...just not my cup of tea, but I digress.

So here's the wall I want to knock down ...I think it will really give the house a more open feel,


Right on the opposite side is my sons old bedrrom...only bad thing is since my youngest left the nest in March, his room has become a resting place for everything I havent wanted to take down to the basement...Plus I let him paint his room black & gold...can you say WALL PAPER or I will be painting over that black for days....
Oh my...I should be so embarassed, but its just life. Now I need to move all the stuff downstairs into my other sons bedroom...then move the bed from this room across the hall to our guest bedroom which right now just has a twin bed (actually part of the boys older bunk beds, which I want to put on craigslist along with my dishwasher and a brand new snow board I won a few years back...I'm getting exhausted just thinking about it).

Of course, we had a mold issue downstairs in our sons bedroom (we have an addition off the back with its own entrance...our older son lived there until last October and apparently he had left the windows open and water got in and soaked the carpet without us knowing. A few months ago I was downstairs doing laundry thinking what's that odor (I have a VERY delecate nose) ? I opened up the door to the addition and thought YUCK...After looking around I saw some mold on the wall near the basebaord. I am very susceptible to mold, so out I went. When the hubs got home he said needed to take out the trim and wall board...well, that wasnt enough, we had to take all the carpet up !!! Hubs said there was mold growing everywhere under the carpet...gross. So, now I have cement floors down there. Guess I will be learning to tile ! Someday I want that to be my studio/wool shop. Its the perfect place...Huge room, private entrance, private bath and close o the laundry so i can wash/dry all my wool.

OK, but back to the present. We used to put one Christmas tree in the front window (even now that its the dining room)


And then one smaller tree down in the man cave where we traditionally opened gifts etc.

 Well, we put a wood burner in after Christmas last year and now I dont think I can squeeze in a tree, the table/chairs, my new hutch and the wood burner, so I think we HAVE to tear down that wall, dont you ???? Forgive the picture...I had snapped it as a "blank canvas" with none of my decorations up at all...BORING




 That way I can put a tree up in that room ...otherwise it just wont feel Christmassey enough. I love Christmas and would have a tree in every room if possible. Hubby and I go out every year on the Sunday after Thanksgiving and pick out a couple tree...Hubby says they get bigger every year and has to constantly remind me that we dont have 10' ceilings (oh how I iwsh we did).

SO, I have a few favors to ask of all my prim pals..

1. How hard do you think it will be to take down that wall...there's no electrical outlets or anything like that.
2. Do you think the hubs and I can do it with a little help from my father in law (he's remodeled his basement and hung drywall etc)
3. Can I get it done by Thanksgiving ????
4. Am I crazy to add all this stress ? Should I just do 1 tree down in the man cave ???? I'm frowning right now...can you tell ?

OK gang...I am gonna scoot. My son is moving into a smaller apartment (roommate bailed on him and left him stuck with all the rent a few months back...grrrrrr) and I promised I would help him pack and clean the old place tomorrow and then he and the hubs will move the furniture on Sunday and I will help him get stuff set up in his new place...Sounds fun, right ? Yeah, no, I am not looking forward to it. We are supposed to get a snow strom overnight...BRRRRR. I dont "do" cold weather really well, so I know I am going to be paying for this, but I love my son, so , well, we just do what we have to, right ?

 By the way...dont forget about my Fall Fun Giveaway which ends Oct 31.

Grace to you,
Margie

Monday, October 24, 2011

Fall Fun Giveaway At Hungry Hook Primitives

Well, as usual, I am behind on getting my giveaway up. I had wanted to do it for my 50th post, but that post came and went, so I am just doing a Fall Fun Giveaway. I was trying to think of what what might be fun and decided to give folks a choice of giveaway prizes. First choice will be for the Hungry Hook Primitives original hand hooked
" Crows Take A Break " candle mat (12.75 x 15.5) shown here...

Now, to make it more fun, I decided that you can choose the mat already hooked, as shown above, or you can get it as a rug hooking kit and hook it yourself ! The kit will include the pattern on monks cloth and all the wool you will need to complete it.

 You need to respond to this post and let me know you want to be entered. You will get an additional entry for each of the following...posting to your side bar, putting it on your facebook page or tweeting about it. You will get 2 extra entries for doing an actual blog post about it, so you have 7 chances in total. Entries must be received by October 31st and the winner will be announced November 1st. Please be sure to leave your email address if you dont sign in using your blog name...that way its much easier for me to get in touch with you if you win !

 You have to be a follower and its only open to those folks in the US due to the high cost of shipping internationally.

OK...that's it. Oh, and please be sure to check out the wool I still have left from my last post...there are a few good deals left and I am adding a couple more bundles and pieces.

Grace to you,
Margie

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Wool Stock Up Sale

Now is a great time to stock up on some primilicious hand dyed wools for all of you who hook, do penny rugs or wool applique. These wools are absolutely beautiful and I had so much fun dyeing them and putting them together. If you see something you would like to purchase, please send me an email at hungryhookprims@aol.com with "wool" in the subject line .  Prices do not include shipping, so I will need your full address to calculate a combined final price. I will then invoice you through PayPal and will ship within 2 days of receiving your payment.


 Ok...lets get started.

Pumpkin Spice Starter Pack $10.00
Bakers Dozen (13 pcs) 12" long by 2-3" wide

Pumpkin Spice Bundle $7.95
Herringbone   4 x 16
Mottled Pumpkin   4 x 17
Pumpkin Spice   4 x 23
Cinnamon Toast   3.5 x 18
Burnt Pumpkin  2.5 x 14
Spiced Melon  2 x 15

75 Pumpkin Spice Strips  $5.95  14-15" SOLD

Mud Pie Wool 3 pc Pack  $3.75 SOLD
3.5 x 11.5

Leafy Green Trio $4.25  SOLD
Deep Leafy Green  4 x 12
Mottled Brownish Green 3.75 x 11.75
Medium Mottled Green 4 x 11.75

Vintage Dirty Red Bundle #1 $6.95 SOLD
Large plaid 3 x 17.5
Checkered Plaid  4 x 15
3 pc variety mottled reds
4 x 15
2.5 x 16
3 x 12


Vintage Dirty Red Bundle # 2  $6.95  SOLD
(color is more true in photo in bundle #1)
Plaid 2.25 x 26
Mottled Red (2 pcs)
3 x 17
3.25 16
Solid Red (2 pcs)
3.5 x 17
3.5 x 15

Sugar Plum Prim Bundle #1  $6.95 SOLD
Mottled Plum  5 x 13
Plaid Plum  3.5 x 24
Solid Plum Wine 3.5 x 25
Herringbone Plum 2.75 x 14
Solid Plum Wine 2 x 16

Sugar Plum Prim # 2  $5.95
Plaid 3.25 x 24
Mottled Plum  3.25 x 25
Dirty Plum  3 x 16.5
Solid Plum Wine  1.75 x 25

Santa's Scarf Bundle  $6.95 (color is deeper) SOLD
Watch Plaid  4 x 20
Tiny Plaid  3 x 24
Solid  3.5 x 21
Lighter Mottled 2.5 x 23
Mottled 2.5 x 17

Red Starter Pack  $8.50
12 pieces 2-4" wide by 12-15" long

Green Starter Pack  $5.50
10 pieces
1.5-3" wide x 11-15" long

Blue Variety Pack #1  $5.50
10 pieces
2-4" wide x 11-15" long


Blue Variety Pack # 2  $5.50
12 pieces 1.5 x 11


Blue Variety Pack # 3  $6.50
12 pieces 1.5-2.5 x 17

 ONE POUND Penny Rug Scrap Bag $15.50 each Only 1 left
Multiple wools trimmed to squares and rectangles

Primtive Rug Hook  $7.50

Pendelton Red/Blue Plaid 
Piece # 1 (21 x 7.5)  $3.00
Piece # 2 (20 x 16.5)  $4.50


Pendelton Blue Plaid
Piece # 1  (7 x 24)  $3.00
Piece # 2 (25 x 25)  $8.50 SOLD


Pendelton Solid Blue  $3.00 SOLD
6.75 x 24

Pendelton Black Wool  $6.00
11.5 x 26

Woolrich Gray Wool (blanket weight) $4.00 SOLD
13.5 x 28

Pendelton Evergreen Wool  $3.50 SOLD
8.5 x 25

Pendelton Red Wool
Piece # 1  $2.25  (17 x 6.75)
Piece # 2  $2.00  (17 x 5.5) 


Houndstooth Wool  $3.00
  (13 x 11)


Tiny Plaid $3.00
( 9.5 x 22)


Green & Blue Plaid  $4.75
 (8.75 x 24)


Red/Black Plaid Wool $5.00
20 x 22


Auntumn Plaid $3.00  (6.5 x 24) SOLD


That's it for today gals....let me know if you need more of a certain wool...I may have extra that I did not list.

Grace to you,
Margie

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Catching Up...

Hello all my primilishious friends. I have still been battling the cold from helsinki, so I am WAYYYYYYY behind on giving a big shouting THANK YOU to Lauren over at Rugs & Pugs. She was my swap partner for the Bumblebee Lane "Prairie Swap" that Amy hosted. This was Laurens very first swap and let me tell you...you're going to hope she's your next swap partner cause she knows how to spoil a gal !!! Of course, I have the patience of a newly potty trained 3 year old who really has to pee, and I saw that box and just tore into all the gifts, so you all are missing out on how pretty she had everything wrapped. She had this adorable vintage newspaper and everything was tied with twine...Oh so sweet ! Of course I have told myself over and over to take a picture BEFORE I open everything, but what can I say ? I was too excited (which might mean I have a very dull life, but thats another story).

OK...drum roll please....Just loook at all the sweet goodies.
I just love the wooden bowl filled with dirty little gourds...they are wonderful and isnt that pumpkin mat just so sweet. She's very talented and I think that its punch needle ???? All I know is its really adorable...havent decided yet where to put everything since I have been ubdet the weather. The little pin keep is adorable too...oooh and do you see that necklace ???? It says "rug hooker" and has a little tiny sheep on it...SWEET ! Now, I must confess, much to my shame, it took me a little while to figure out the scrabble letters..I know, I know...It shouldve been easy, but guys, seriously I have had like, nooooo sleep and have been taking cold meds along with my pain meds since when I get a cold my body just does NOT cooperate...all the residuals of West Nile. Lordy Hannah I wouldnt wish West Nile on my worst enemy.  Ok, enough boo-hooing from me...I'm just saying I had legitimate reasons for it to take me almost an hour to figure it out ! No joke..I kept thinking well gosh, its not my name, or primitives or October and then DUHHHHHHH...it hit me ! I chuckle every time I look at it now. Gigantic hugs to Lauren !!!

So, here's where I put some of the loot..
Let's see....The bowl, pin keep and gourds are from Lauren, the corn cob beeswax bowl fillers are from Amy at Bumble Bee Lane . YUUUMMMMMMM they smell so good...wish I wouldve bought more sine I have 2 in my table center piece too. Oh and the pumpkin is one of the ones I swapped with Maire over at Old Lady Morgans. I painted the little round box and put a copy of a vintage Thanksgiving card on the front and all those wooden sewing spools are another thing from the hubs grammas that the family was going to pitch !!! I think they look nice in the mason jar with the old doily on top. I picked up the runner at Goodwill awhile back for $1 along with the Kraft cheese box, also $1.

Ok, so its 4:30 am and I am getting tired and hopefully sleep will come to me soon, but let me ask a quick gardening question first. I am a gardening newbie (most plants I have ever touched have died so I was quite pleased when the mums I planted last year actually came back up this year, but they are so doggone big that they are falling over...any ideas ? They just are sort of falling over. Should I tie them up with something ?
ALso...look at how brown some of the red blooms are ...is that normal or did I get to close and now they are ready to die on me ?
One more funny thing before I go try to get some sleep...As I was trying to do at least some fall decorating the other day I took this picture of one of my hooked tugs laid over a basket....notice anything ????

Other than the fact that I seriously need to move the furniture and vacuum behind the sewing machine...Look to the right...Yep, thata a SNOWMAN sitting in my crock ! No, I am not super early getting my winter decor out...I am LATE. I guess its been up all year. I walk past this everyday....several times a day. It's right at the bottom of the steps and never saw it. Wow, when did that happen ? I used to move my furniture around almost weekly. I was always fixing and fussing over every little thing in my house and now I am lucky to get ALL my winter deor put away beofre it starts snowing again. Yikes ! I gotta get more on the ball.

Well, I guess I should go. Oh, this was my 50th post, so I will be doing a giveaway, but I am too tired to tell you all the details tonight, so stay tuned. I will get it up by Friday for sure along with lots of wool...I am still clearing out some of my excess wool and have made up some nice "stash starters" for rug hookers or penny rug makers.

OK...sleep may finally be coming..

Grace to you,
Margie

Saturday, October 15, 2011

How "Hungry Hook Primitives" got it's name...

Hi my prims pals....Just a quick blog post since it looks like one more insomniac nigth for me. I was thinking about what to write since I am missing all of you very much, but havent gotten a chance to take any pictures (I dont like to post without pics...silly I know, but I guess I agree that a picture's worth a thousand words. I am really hoping to get lots of pics taken tomorrow since I got a great swap in the mail this week from Lauren over at Rugs & Pugs and she spoiled me rotten. I, of course, was a little late sending mine out, but she should have it tomorrow. Also all of my mums are in full blossom and being a newbie gardner, I have a couple questions for you guys that seem to do it so effortlessly...but I digress, those are questions for another day.

Back to my post...I have had several people comment on the name of my blog and are curious as to how I came up with it, so I figured now was the perfect time to explain. I grew up listening to all the stories my mom and her sisters told about growing up in the hills of Pennsylvania and the plains of Ohio. You see my grandfather worked heavy construction so he needed to be where the jobs were and wanted his wife and 4 daughters with him, which meant lots of moves.

Both of my grandparents grew up a few hours north of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania in the tiny little coal town of Timblin...its not even a dot on the map, its that small. There's one church, a park, a few houses and a library, although I am told it was a little bigger back in the day (i.e. the 1940's). Today it boasts  151 residents according to the last census record. The closest town of any significant size is Punxatawney. Now you may be familiar with that name since each February there's a big nationally televised event to see if the ground hog, lovingly called Punxatawney Phil, comes out and sees his shadow...If he does, well six more weeks of winter ! Some of you may remember the Bill Murray classic movie Ground Hog Day but I bet ya didnt know that it was NOT filmed on location in Pa, but instead shot in the picturesque village of Woodstock Illinois...I know because I lived not far from there back in the 90's.

Well this little tiny town was near and dear to my mothers heart and like I said, she told stories of living there and going to visit her grandparents, even spending several summers there. Almost the entire town was at one time of  German descent, so my mother's stories were peppered with bits of Pennsylvania Dutch sayings, like "redd up the house" which means to tidy it up or and the constant omission of the words "to be" in a sentence , like "My bed needs (to be) made" My hair needs (to be) cut etc.

Well, my mom was a great storyteller to be sure and she always talked fondly of when they lived in a place she called Hungry Hook. I had always assumed it was it's own little town near Timblin somewhere, but it turns out it was just the name of their street. The picture at the top of my blog is my mom & aunt playing out front at Hungry Hook ! She would tell of having to use the outhouse when they lived there and it just seemed their was always something so old fashioned and quaint about it that it just became a sort of fairytale, post depression legend in my mind I guess...I am an only child and spent many hours imagining the details of the stories my mom used to tell. It conjured up pictures in my head of this tiny clapboard house with a porch swing and old wash tubs where my grandma would do the laundry outside. She told me of how the ladies of the town would judge a woman's cleanliness by how quickly on Monday morning they had their laundry on the line. She told me stories of the men going to work in the mines nearby and how my grandfather started in the mines at just 10 years old and wasnt allowed to even finish school because the family needed his money to be put in with the households just to scrape by in those days.

My grandmother died when I was just 5 or 6 and I  wish I had paid more attention to each and every story that was ever told because now my mother is aging and often her stories get mixed up. I truly wish I would have written them down years ago.

Now you may all be thinking that all those old fashioned ladies must of done some rug hooking...well, not a one of them to my knowledge. My great grandmother was one fine quilter with stitches so tiny and straight it was unbelievable and she could bake the best pie you ever tasted, but no, I 'm the only hooker in the family (haha). It's just that I wanted to honor the memory of the women in my family who came before me. My creativity and thrift were passed down to me from this long list of interesting women. I'm not sure what all Hungry Hook Primitives will include someday...for now it seems to be mostly decorating and rug hooking, but perhaps I will add some family recipes and a tale or two from time to time. Most of all I just wanted to have a connection to the past and naming my blog and business after a romanticized story from my youth seemed like a good fit.

So there you have it folks.

Grace to you all,
Margie

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

New Tutorial Up...Saving some cash on recycled wool !

I just want to say I am sorry for not posting for an entire week...Grrrr, I had a really bad sinus/head cold/felt yucky all over thingy, but I seem to be much better now, but even a head cold can throw me in bed for week since having that stupid West Nile...I think, above all of God's creatures, I hate the mosquito the most !!!

Well, at least  I did manage to get the next tutorial up and I think you guys will enjoy it if you've been following along...it's all about tearing up old woolen clothing to make spectacular rugs...Now how fun does that sound ?

I also want to say how much I have enjoyed reading all your terrific blogs and all the sweet comments you all have left for me while I was resting in bed. Your kindness has meant so much to me. I am putting the final touches on my items for my swap with Lauren from Rugs and Pugs...we both signed up for the Prairie Swap that Amy over at Bumble Bee Lane is hosting...I am so excited, but I cant show you what I made until Lauren sees it first.

Nothing else really new right now. I have some pics to get up in the morning...er, well I guess it is 5am right now...Oh man, its 5 am...I have been blogging all might long. Oh dear, thats not good. I am going to sign off now and crawl in bed with the hubs and snuggle in for some well deserved sleep before the sun comes shining through my windows.

Until later today,
Grace to you,
Margie

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Rug Hooking Lesson # 4 And Swaps

I wanted to let everyone know that the rug hooking tutorials now have their own space on my blog. Look to the right and you will see individual lessons you can click on to view those individual lessons. Lesson #4 is up and it covers finishing/binding  your rug or hooked project. I will adding more as I get them done.  Since we have gone over the basics, I will be doing lessons on over-dyeing wool with chemical and natural dyes, some of my favorite dye recipes, garment deconstruction, perhaps a glossary of rug hooking terms...Let me know if you have other topics you wold like to see covered or as always, any questions !

Just a quick apology for not having the lesson up sooner...I accidently deleted my photos and had to at least start finishing another piece to show the steps along the way...GRRRRR...That amount of time was NOT in my plan !! Anyway..that's my excuse, such as it is. Forgiveness...please ??? I thought for sure I had already downloaded them (sigh).

I also have had some really terrific swaps recently and I just wanted to show everyone what I got and give some credit to the gals who I swapped ...They were sweet enough to take WOOL instead of CASH and I just LOVE that.

First I got this beautiful dust pan & cover, done penny rug style, from Gina over at Cat Nap Inn Primitives...isnt it darling ???



I also got these terrific pumpkins from Marie over at Primitives by Old Lady Morgan...in fact they were so awesome that I swapped a second bag of wool for 4 more pumpkins (wiping her out of pumpkins...wink wink, but I dont think she minds).


And finally I got this sweet combo pack from Patti over at Raspberry Lane Primitives. It has the sweetest Raggedy Ann notepad, some SUPERBLY scented cinnamon room spray, some tart warmers and some scented  potpourri that is really yummy smelling...very spicey!!!


Well, guess that's it for now.
Grace to you,
Margie