~ Easter Weekend & in the News ~

Hello Friends & Folk!

Wishing you all a very Happy Easter Weekend from all of us ~

I purchased these beauties below and will put them in the ground this afternoon ~

my very favorite variety of Daffodil...

I also brought home 2 tiny white tulip plants,

 2 purple hyacinth, and a handful of tiny tête-à-tête daffy's ~

while I was snapping photos, 

a big old fuzzy bumbler-bee stopped in for a landing on my fingertip.

{this is actually a male Wood Bee, and while they will fly into your face of hover in front of you in a threatening way...they do not have stingers}

 

our Lily of the Valley are sprouting and will soon fill the shop garden with their sweet scent

and tiny white bells ~

did you know that one of my favorite perfumes, 

 muguet du bois by House of Coty

was released in 1941?

here is our Forsythia ~ vibrant and strong this year...

and take a look at our Pussy Willows!

all of the silvery catkins reaching up to the sun!

 

...our tiny Grape Hyacinths have returned again too,

and are popping up everywhere ~

 

a double bloomer daffy!

and I just noticed one of the dogs have chewed on the small picket fence. 

arrrrrgh.

  I looked out my sewing room window to find this peaceful scene ~

our donkeys, our sheep and in the paddock with the donkeys,

three deer!

 

 In Other News ~

our little shop is coming along!

Peter has put hundreds of hours into it already, 

and I can't wait till you see it....

when will that be you ask?

We will be reopening on Saturday, April 21st

10:00 ~ 4:00

woot woot!!

 and here are a just few peeks inside the shop:

new lace curtains grace the freshly painted windows ~

new shelving below the windows and around the shop will hold goods...

Peter painted one of our old cupboards {below}

~ with a beautiful coat of light grey enamel paint!

...and what a difference in displaying our Valdani Threads now ~ 

which are housed nicely in ball jars and labeled for your convenience...

{still making labels ;)}

 

we have brought in new rolling racks to house all of our wool,

and are in the process of filling them up...

 

 

shiny & new!

 

I will share more photos as we progress, 

we are so excited to reopen and have you all back for a visit!

Blessings from the Farm

 ~ Lori

~ A Beautiful Challenge ~

Happy Good Friday Morning to you all ~

oh the weather is beautiful ~ high 70's and sunny, with a bit of an easterly wind 

blowing away the last remnants of Winter...

I wanted to share with you a group challenge that was presented to me back in February of this year ~

I was contacted by a member that wrote:

Hello, Lori -

I am involved with a group of rug hookers at our county Senior Center in Geauga County, Ohio.  Someone found your pattern with a bunny in a basket on Pinterest. The accompanying blog stated that you had provided the pattern as a freebie in the past. 

Our rug hooking group wants to use an adaptation of your pattern as a group challenge. I wanted to let you know, because I hadn't seen the free offer myself, and I don't like to infringe on copyrights. So the bottom line here is -- do we have your permission to use your original pattern as a basis for multiple copies of an adaptation? When the pieces are done, most of the gals would like to enter them at our county fair next Labor Day weekend, and possibly submit a photo (or many photos) to ATHA magazine, with credit to you as designer, of course - if it is okay with you.

I enjoy your Pinterest boards - especially the craft-related and Halloween boards. Such unusual pins, and right up my alley :-)

Thank you for your free offerings, too. You are a very talented and generous lady.

Sincerely,

Marie Williams

Well of course I was honored to be thought of 

and so happy that they wanted to hook one of my freebies :) so I gave them permission to go!

I just received their loverly photos of their finished challenge pieces yesterday:

Hi Lori -

Just in time for Easter ---

Here are the finished pieces from our Bunny-in-a-Basket Challenge. These were completed by members of our county's Senior Center rug hooking class. Each of the gals put her own spin on the project and it was a joy to see the results!  I am attaching photos of the projects that were completed. There are three that are still works-in-progress, and I will send those along as they are done. 

Beth used applique techniques with hers, Linda used a punchneedle and yarn, and Bonnie made a pillow. The basic bunny reminded me of 'speak no evil', so I added 'hear no evil and see no evil' to make the group complete. 

Thank you again for providing your pattern and allowing us to use it in our challenge! We had a wonderful time :-) 

Happy Easter!

Marie

 

and Here are the results of their hard work and talent:

this one is Beth's ~

here is Bonnie's ~

this is Judy's ~

here is Linda's ~

this one was done by Lois ~

and here is Marie's ~

aren't they all so pretty & different!

I love to see other folks' finishes of my designs ~

 

 Thank you Marie & Girls for allowing me to be a part of your group challenge!

Blessings from the Farm

 ~ Lori

~ Progress & News ~

Short & Sweet posting today ~

heading to town in a bit but wanted to share my progress with you on my Wool Witch rug...

I hookled all of the lettering using the same wool as I did to hook the sheep ~

i thought I would go with a much lighter, cream colored wool but pulled that all out.

see? things change & that's ok with me 

;)

I am using two different textured as-is wools in oatmeal colored tweed & heather

for the background behind our little friends,

and am almost finished filling that in ~

 

...then I will move on to the squared-off border surrounding that ~

I won't even begin to tell you what wools/colors I'll be hooking that with,

as my brain hasn't gotten that far yet!

In Other News ~

while at the Woolwright's hook in two weekend's ago, 

in my booth I displayed my 'Daisy' rug ~ 

which is a lot smaller than the rug that Kris Miller offers for us over on her  website...

and you can see her adaptation in the upper left of her booth photo below:

lots of folks wanted to know if either I or Kris had the pattern on linen for 

more the size I was displaying, so we asked Kris to work her magic and 

Voila' !!

this is what she has to say: 

We had several requests at the Woolwright's Hook-In two weeks ago for a smaller sized Daisy pattern that was more fitting with the sample Lori Brechlin had hanging in her booth. 

 I am happy to say that the new smaller size is now listed on the Spruce Ridge website!
https://www.spruceridgestudios.com/product/daisy-24-25-x-14/

Awesome!! Thank you Kris!

and hereis my Early Bird punch needle design that Kris has adapted for rug hooking and hooked ~

isn't this gorgeous??

 https://www.spruceridgestudios.com/product/early-bird-20-x-20-75/

  

Hoping you all have a beautiful, creative Thursday my sweet friends!

Blessings from the Farm 

~ Lori

~ Happy News!! ~

 Hello Friends & Folk!

Peter & I have something to share with you...

that's right!!

this year, 2018 ~ marks our tenth year for our

Gathering of Primitive Friends show here on the farm ~

how time flies when you're having fun!

... to make this year even more special,

we have decided to turn our attention to our love of rug hooking and all things wool!

SO, along with our vendors & dealers of primitives, antiques and folk art ~

we are honored to include awesome *new* vendors of rug hooking related wares for you!

you might know that we have been in the process of renovating our shop 

to better accommodate more room for us when we gather to hook {punch, stitch...}

 and for our classes

but we have a surprise for you...

On the day of the Gathering, in addition to general shopping in our dealers' booths and our shop,

you can pre-register to enjoy a full day of Rug Hooking with us 

~ for our 1st ever {and soon to be annual} Hook In & Rug Show!!

excited yet? 

~ we are!!

Hook In attendees will need to pre-register to hold their seat, {Limited to 50 attendees}

$25.00 registration for the Hook In includes:

*paper bag lunch {turkey/ham sandwich, chips, drink, fruit & sweets}

*Rug Show space to show your work

*all day Hooking under our Porch Roof & all day shopping!

{*registered attendees will receive more info}

how much more fun can one have, than to be hooking with friends old and new ~

...while enjoying the sights & sounds of a beautiful farm in the Early Fall...

shopping to your hearts' content 

& 

sharing your wonderful hooked rugs with everyone to admire?

 I hope you are as excited about this as Peter & I are...

there is lots of work to be done, but this is something that we have talked about for many years

and now is the perfect time to do it.

If you would like to pre-register and SAVE YOUR SEAT for the Hook In & Rug Show

call or email me:

434-263-6508 {leave me a message if no answer}

  notforgottenfarmwitch@gmail.com

we accept check, Paypal & CC by phone

Can't come for the Hook In??

you can still come for the SHOPPING!!

regular admission price at the gate is $3.00 ~ with proceeds going to

Almost Home Pet Adoption Agency in Lovingston, VA

Vendor List Coming SOON!!!!!!

 

Blessings from the Farm

 ~ Lori

~ Eggs-actly ~

 Rain, rain.....

 gentle but cold, wonderful rain.

much needed, since our Winter was not really snow-full.

a good day to clean this old farmhouse,

& decorate for Easter {Eostra/Ostara} a bit ~

I have a small white basket filled with beautiful paper mache eggs

that were gifted to me by a sweet friend that visited us here on the farm from far away Canada ~

 

so vintage & sweet!

 I'll have to get more of my decor out

as Hannah will be coming home for the holiday dinner...

Baked Ham

Asparagus with lemon sauce

Red Beet Eggs

Mashed Potatoes

Spinach Salad

Sweet Rolls

&

Ricotta Pie for dessert

yum!

 Progress on Wool Witch ~

and after I am finished tidying up the farmhouse I will

pull more loops on her...

I finished hooking the sheep,

the strange plant to her right and some of the ground beneath them ~

you can see the conjoined words 'wool/witch' to their left, 

and I think they will be hooked with a wool very close in value 

to the background wool behind her and the sheep.

I like when things are 'hidden' in a rug, especially words.

but we'll see...

the strange looking flower came about 

when I was hooking with the mustard wool, 

then looked down into my wool pile 

and saw the mustard wool right next to the black reversible wool

that I used for her hat & shoes...

I like it.

Well off I go then ~ 

orders to be processed and shipped, 

a farmhouse full of wool dust needing to be cleaned,

and a hook waiting to be held and warmed up again.

have a beautiful, rainy day my friends!

Blessings from the Farm

 ~ Lori

~ Early Morning Hookin' ~

Hello Friends & Folk!

and happy Monday to you all ~

Oh I am so happy I'm feeling better!

after a full week of rest, fluids, rest...ibuprofen, more rest and more fluids ~

I have declared victory!

though not quite ready to venture out 'there' yet, 

as I am coughing and don't want to get anyone else sick.

{Note to the infectious woman in the Lancaster PA Walmart: When you're sick, STAY HOME!}

my poor Joan has been sick with it too, and she is feeling better as well!

while the house was quiet this morning,

I took advantage of the bright sun and worked a little on my Wool Witch rug in progress...

I thought I was the only one awake, but...

Iggy is never far from me.

 

At first I thought I would hook a dark background around witch & sheep...

but then decided not to.

I wanted a 'dirty' looking sheep, 

and purchased a fabulous wool from 

Wool'n Gardener that is perfect {I think} for such a sheep ~

I also changed her skin from pale peach to 'poison apple' green.

more befitting of her, don't you think?

 

my Hooker's Bling:

my hook necklace ~ a Miller hook that Peter drilled a hole in for me

{I use this hook when I'm not using one of our own Primitive hooks}

I switch between hooks to keep my hand from getting fatigued and I suggest you do too ;)

my scissors are also wearing their bling ~

assorted charms & antique bone ring dress them up and let everyone know 

these are MINE! lol

 

I even have a tiny little silver rug hook charm,

~ looks like the perfect size for my tiny witch to use perhaps?

 

I'll drink more tea today ~

rest a little more and hook a lot more...

and share more progress on Wool Witch soon.

🐑

Hoping your Monday is full of everything you love!

 

Blessings from the Farm 

~ Lori

~ Chickens ~

Hello!

 

what is my obsession with these little fuzz-butts lately?

I don't know...but I shouldn't say lately ~

I have always loved chickens....

 

 we have raised many feathered-friends both here in VA

and in CT as well ~

I love to incorporate them into my needlework and folk art too!

these were embroidered onto some old linen I have,

I used beautiful Valdani 3 ply cotton floss {all 3 strands}.

 

look at those tiny peeps and daffodils ~

 

I am keeping it in the small hoop as it is ~

{{ I whitewashed the hoop. }} 

they are showing up in my sketchpads 

... and coming alive in my watercolors too ~

 

Have a beautiful & peace-full

Palm Sunday my friends ~

 

Blessings from the Farm 

~ Lori