From a 2 to a 10 (and Everything In Between)

 ...and I'm not talking about my dress size.

🙈

In a (somewhat) un-ending (well??) quest to locate my elusive hooking mojo, I once again wandered down the lane to Red Barn Rugs.

I didn't find it (the mojo, I mean...I found the Red Barn of course). But I did find myself in the company of some incredibly talented hookers.

Since I didn't accomplish any hooking and was not successful in finding that mojo, ya think I would have managed to at least take some more (and better) photos; but it seems when one thing goes missing, others do as well.

Be it as it may, I did come away with a few snippets from the day.

Miss Marilyn (a/k/a "Good Marilyn") was working on her own design of which I did not get a photograph.  I was too amazed at the bag of so-called "worms" she was working from.  I call them dental floss.  YIKES!  I do believe they were 2 and 3 cuts.

Seriously?? Who does that??!

(For you non-hookers who are still with me, the smaller the number of the cut, the thinner the strip of wool is that one pulls through the foundation...so 2's and 3's, like in dresses, are wee thin.)

Anyway, I did manage to get a photo of her precious Charlie rug.

Yeah...it was done in dental floss too.  But as precious as her real Charlie.

Some of you may remember Marilyn's tribute to her grandparents' engagement ("Marry Me Mary") that she hooked several years ago and I had on my blog...also years ago. 

Yeah, THAT Marilyn.

This rug still stuns me.

Rumor has it that Marilyn will be having another rug featured in Rug Hooking's Celebration.

Good Marilyn was scheduled for surgery the following day.... If you're out there reading this Marilyn, I hope you're recovering well. (And thank you for your so very kind words.)

Pat was putting the finishing touches on "Southwest Geometric," by Cathy (Red Barn Rugs*).  This is one big rug...and, yup, done in pretty small cuts, although no 2's or 3's.

And then there was Bad Marilyn. 

(She is one BAD Marilyn, let me tell you.)

Again, I did not get a photo of her current project (DUH!!), but I did get a photo of her David Galchutt "Witch."  

Who needs a fancy title with all THIS??!

Try as I might, I just couldn't capture the color or the details...so many details! 

So many varied textiles (I particularly fell in love with the black chenille), so many embellishments... It was one of those pieces you could look at a dozen times and always find something new to squeal about.

And, yeah...those teeny, tiny, cuts.

Cathy* had finished hooking her new "Colonial Eagle" pattern...she just needed to finish the binding.  I could drown myself in this background...it's that good.

And, yeah...Cathy hooks with 10 cuts.  (Actually, I think this one was done in 9.5?? but who's counting??) 

As for the "in between," that would be me...if I ever got any actual hooking done.  My "sweet spot" is an 8 or an 8.5.

I have no updates on "Welcome Cats" (or any other of my started-but-finished projects).  So you are probably wondering what it is I did do if I neither hooked nor took decent photos.  Well, about all I did was work a little on binding my "13 Stars" mat.  Very little...but I did finally finish it up a few days later.

{Design by The Old Tattered Flat}

It's not perfect, but it's done...and, in my world, done is good these days.

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I've fallen a bit behind on the "current reads" since I haven't posted much (but I continue to read).  This is the book I finished up last week (I think??):

Kristin Hannah is the author of one of my very favorite books The Nightingale, and I have read many (most?) of her books.  I have enjoyed them all, but none as much as The Nightingale.  This one is one of her older books and I am not certain why I hadn't read it before...probably because it was described as a "love story."  (Yeah...just not in the mood for those lately.)

But Cathy and I swap books and she had this one so I read it.

It is, indeed, a love story...of sorts...but also much more.  It is actually a story within a story set both in modern (well, early 2000's) time and in war-era Lenigrad.  Would I recommend it? Yes...It was not as good as The Nightingale, but it was a refreshing change from some of the "darker" things in which I tend to get mired.

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*For the hookers:  I believe I may have confused some readers in my last post and perhaps in this one as well.  Let me clarify:  "Red Barn Rugs" is Catherine (a/k/a Cathy) Stephan's business.  And to answer several questions from my last post, no, she does not have a website.  She, does, however, have a Facebook page (search under her name, Catherine Stephan, and when you find the red barn, you've found the right one).  Many of her designs are listed in albums under the "photos" tab on her page...but she has so many more.  You can keep up with her newest designs by following her Facebook posts. 

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That's it for now.... 

Beware the Ides of March.