Fishing Trip

We had an excellent fishing trip to Shelbyville this past weekend. Chris, John and I left about 8:30 on Thursday morning and got there about 1:00. We set up camp and then fished from shore down from the camp site where Chris and I both caught little white bass. The lake levels were 14 feet above normal; I got some pictures of the parking lot at the marina where we rented a boat for 2 of the days. They had to shuttle us out in a boat from the parking lot to the actual marina because all of the walkways and part of the parking lot was submerged. The fishing was not good on the lake because of it, although Chris caught a nice large mouth. The beach camp sites were all underwater, and all the beaches were closed. John and I did not do well fishing on the lake. However, in the spillway by the dam was a whole other story. We went over there Friday night but we didn't catch much, although I caught a really big carp on a night crawler and I think Chris may have caught a little white bass. Saturday night we went back and I caught about a 14 inch white bass which is pretty good as those don't get that big. I also caught a small one and a couple of bluegill, and John and Chris caught some small ones too. So we went back again this morning before we left and it was phenominal! We caught over 100 fish in about 6 hours. A lot of them were small white bass, but we all caught some decent sized ones too, plus Chris caught a nice walleye, and John and I both caught a striped bass. It was so much fun we were already planning the next trip down there in the car on the way home. I got a lot of nice pics and will post more in the next few days.

Sheep Update

I have been pretty busy this weekend and was at moms all day yesterday so I didn't get as much done on the rug as I would have liked. I did end up doing a couple of dye runs; it turned out I did need some greens. The foreground is looking pretty nice; I am happy with it so far.

I also came across a pretty blue and white floral print when I was cleaning out my stash and made a sweet baby dress for the Etsy store. The only sale I've had in the past 3 weeks was a piece of fabric I listed the other day. I started a couple of dream pillows too; I want to get them made this morning and listed and then get back to the rug.

Sheep rug

Well, I may not be able to really card and spin all the wool I got until I buy new cards, however I find that if I am very gentle I can card a little which is exactly what I needed for the sheep in this rug! There are 4, and I've only hooked 2 so far but they are so cute I had to stop and take pictures! This is a rather large mat so it will take me awhile but I'm going to devote my time to it and get it done as quick as I can.

Mi Le M'uilinn

More video of Karen Matheson doing Mi Le M'uilinn. I absolutley love this song, it's one of my very favorites. If you can be homesick for your roots, this song makes me feel that way.




The girls have been telling me for quite some time now that I should focus on one or two things and not be all over the place as far as the arts and crafts are concerned. I think they are probably right, and I am going to focus on traditional crafts like rug hooking, quilting and crocheting. I don't really think Etsy is the right outlet for that kind of thing so maybe I'll need a website. Siobhan wants to do art shows although I don't know about that. Anyway, I am clearing my stash of a huge build up of stuff that I just don't see myself using. Some of it I'll put in storage and I'm going to sell some of it. I'll see if I can get rid of some on Etsy and then we are having a gargage sale after we come back from Shelbyville next weekend.

I drew up a pattern for a rug that I'm going to start hooking. I actually have a lot of wool dyed so I don't know if I'll be dyeing any. I'll post pics later on. I made myself a new rug frame, the hoop I was using finally broke. It lasted through almost 2 small mats though, which is pretty good. I'm also still working on Sio's quilt but it's almost done except the outer border. I might put it away til fall when the cooler weather comes back.

Wool! and clouds?

A friend of my mother-in-laws has a nephew whose wife has a sheep; she apparently doesn't spin or weave or knit so she just throws the fleece out! I said I'd take it, and here it is stuffed in a white garbage bag. I haven't taken it out to get a good look at it yet, I will tomorrow. I'm also going to wash it if it is nice enough outside to set up the drying rack and let it dry. I have a comb and cards that I got from Joan when she let me borrow her mom's wheel. I'm not sure how much of the fleece is usable; I don't know if I'll dye it or not, and if I do will I dye it as roving or as yarn, I have no idea how much yarn I will actually get out of it but I'm really excited to do this!

The other 2 pics are from a really cool cloud formation we saw while John, Chris and I were fishing. Siobhan didn't want to go so it was just the 3 of us. We didn't catch anything but it was a nice finish to a nice Fathers Day. Anyway, John thought it looked like a mushroom cloud, and I guess it does; I just liked the way part of it was bright and there were some smaller dark clouds scudding across the front, and the way the shadows looked.

We are planning a fishing trip to Shelbyville the last weekend of the month Thursday til Sunday. I hope the weather is really nice and the fishing is good.

Charm Necklaces

I made these necklaces a couple of weeks ago and am eventually going to list them on Etsy. Melissa wanted to see them so I took these pics using the old camera, the new one isn't working for some reason. I love the red one with the handcuffs! I've worn it a couple of times, but I really think it should be sold. The components are all vintgae except for the red leaf and drop beads; I did the filigree wrap on the drop myself and glued it in place. The one with the aquamarine stone and brass locket is all vintage, the stone pendant came from a pair of earrings I got from Carla a long time ago. I wore it too, to the Green Festival when we went a couple of weeks ago. The one with the cameo is the only one made from new stuff. I got 6 of the cameos on Etsy and the chain at Hobby Lobby, the rest of the beads and findings are stuff Sio or I bought over the years we worked at Hancock. The earrings have vintage beads, again from a necklace Carla gave me; the findings look vintage but they aren't. I like these a lot too. All in all a nice lot of pieces; as soon as I can take better closeups I'll list them.

I also made a very cool dress that I have titled "US Blues", after the Dead song. I haven't taken pics because it's such a pain in the ass to haul Mildred outside, take all the pics, and then haul her in again; especailly for one thing. Sio is coming home tomorrow so I'll have her model it. Stuff sells a lot better on a person anyway.

Catch Up

I know I haven't blogged in a bit, but I have been very busy. My last day at work was the 31st, and I have been sewing sewing sewing to try and have a nice back log of stuff to list and take me over vacations when I will not be sewing. The first of those will be June 19th to the 22nd, when we will be camping and fishing in Shelbyville. Chris , John and I will go, and probably Sio who will be back from New York this Sunday. She will be staying here for awhile anyway, maybe for a long while, so that's a nice thing. I have missed her a lot, although to be able to kick around NYC for awhile without any real responsibilities is a very cool thing to be able to do at her age.

I am really into the hand quilting and I have dug out two quilt tops I made a long time ago and am finally going to quilt. The scrap one I made trying to get the feel of an antique utility quilt; it's from a Marsha McCloskey book I have. The blue and white nine patch is really nice, I didn't have much of the print which is why I made the borders so wide. So I need some really nice, fancy quilting to fill them up. I think I'm putting some type of wreath in the alternate white blocks. I might quilt it with just a piece of flannel for the batting, it won't be at all puffy, but it will work well as a summer quilt. I also need something for the outer borders of Sio's crazy quilt, they are 10 inches wide. I am ordering a book of Amish quilting patterns from Amazon, but until they get here I think I might start quilting the utility looking quilt. I also started a new top called Arknsas Crossroads. Mom has a quilt made by my paternal grandmother and her mother; it has some issues with some of the fabrics and the binding wearing out. I am going to start hunting for fabrics so I can replicate it in the future.

Sunny Bunny has been staying with me until Sio gets home. Here she is sitting on the living room carpet. She is a very politically aware bunny, she watches MSNBC every day from about 5 til 9, while she is petted and praised and fed. Her favorite game is making me chase her around the table to try and catch her and put her to bed.


The fishing started out very well but has kind of slowed down. The bass spawned a bit later I think because we had such a cool spring. Hopefully it will start picking up again now. We have a new lake to try, hopefully this weekend. Every one Chris and John has talked to has said there are really big bass in there.