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Monday, April 23, 2012

A Fun Weekend and an Up-date on the Chicken Rug!!

Good Morning Friends!!


How are you this fine Monday morning?

It started out cloudy and gloomy looking here, but as I type this, the sun is shining brightly and all I can see right now are beautiful blue skies!!! I think that I will go on a nice long walk as soon as I finish this post. :)

WOW...lots to write about today, so I better get started...

THANK YOU all so much for the comments and emails about my chicken rug!!! Some of you even posted comments AND emailed, and I am so very thankful to you all for taking the time to give me your thoughts and expert advise!!

I think that Sherry hit the nail on the head with her comment....I really was disappointed that I didn't get the exact pattern that I thought I was purchasing. I certainly don't mean any disrespect to the designer, her design was very nice, but it would have been nice to see a picture of "her" interpretation of the rug, instead of a picture of the original antique rug.

That being said, everyone who contacted me thought that the rug actually looked nice so far, so I decided to just take everything into consideration and I am going to finish the rug...hopefully this week, and I will post more pictures of it then.

Lori suggested that I finish this rug and then hook my own version of it at a later date...I am definitely going to do that!! Like I said in the previous post, I have always wanted to hook this rug and I want it to be more like the original...plus, I can always sell or give away this first rug, right? :}

I also got some really good advice from Robyn and Elisabeth.

Robyn thought that maybe the color of the chicken's comb was throwing things off...I think that she was exactly right!! I hooked the second chicken's comb in a more muted red and as soon as I get the background hooked around it, I will take a picture to compair the two colors to show you...I like the second one much better.

Elisabeth suggested in her email that I might try pulling out the lightest color...the color that I have out-lining the chicken and mixed into the background. I pulled up a bit around the first chicken and re-hooked it with one of the medium colors. And, (like so many of you suggested) I set it aside and have been looking at it for four days now, from every direction, from across the room, in day light, at night, etc...and I think that I am liking it better with the lighter color gone.

SO MUCH GOOD ADVICE HERE!!!

I knew that I could count on all of you to steer me in the right direction...and thanks also to everyone else...too many names to mention...who posted comments and emailed.

OK...on to something else...

I had a really nice weekend...Saturday I went to a WONDERFUL antiques show down in Woodstock, IL. My on-line friends/customers, Beth and Jaye told me about it...THANK YOU SO MUCH GIRLS!!!

I almost didn't go because I am a BIG chicken when it comes to getting in the car alone and venturing out into unknown territories!!! I have no problem when I have someone with me, or if I had been there before, but to just go-it-alone...not so much my thing!! I even called my friend Joan in Ohio because I really wanted to go and I knew she would talk me into going, she is fearless when it comes to getting in the car and driving for hours to get to a good shop or show...I was right, she convinced me...thanks Joan...I am so glad now that I went!

The show was very "high end" and had some marvelous dealers from around the country. Prices were pretty high in my opinion, but you just don't see these kinds of early pieces here in the midwest. I over-heard several people making not-so-nice comments about the high prices as I walked through some of the booths. I could certainly understand their frustrations though because I love a good deal just like everyone else, and trust me, some of the prices were really high (too rich for my blood anyways), but I think that some folks don't really realize that these dealers are traveling a long way to do these shows and have lots of expenses so we should expect to pay more...I'm sure it's cheaper than having to travel out East ourselves to make the purchases and like I said, you just can't find pieces like that around here.

Even though I couldn't afford about 90% of what was there, I thought that the show was FABULOUS and it was fun just looking and being able to see so much "good stuff" all at once, plus, the dealers were all very friendly, so I will definitely go back...I'll just have to save my pennies or should I say $$$$$$$...because I have also found, that for me, I would rather pay more for one really good piece that I love, then to buy two or three pieces of lesser quality that I don't like as much just to buy something. It might take me alot longer to get my collection up there, but at least I will have pieces that I really love and won't get tired of in a year or two.

OK...all of that being said...I did manage to buy a little something...here he is...

A WONDERFUL early spun cotton Santa ornament!!! I got him from the same Colorado dealer that I got my antique Belsnickle from down in Arthur last fall.

He has the cutest little crepe paper hood with a sort of rolled paper trim, and if you look very closely, you can see a tiny little dresden paper star on the top of his hood. I think that there were more originally because I can see little glue spots, but the others must have fallen off over the years.

It was a really fun day even though I only left with one little ornament. I was happy and what made it even better was that I ran into Randee, her house was one of the homes featured in my book, An Early Christmas. It was so nice to see her!!

Yesterday, we spent the entire day house-hunting!! We packed up the boys and took them with us because we were going to be gone all day and wanted to really scout out that area we like. Still no luck finding a house!! Either we find an area we love and there are no houses for sale that we like, or we find a house that we like and we don't care for it's location. We had fun though...took the boys on a couple of little nature hikes and we got to see more of the beautiful countryside that we like. I am sure that we will find something soon!!

OK...time to get going...thanks for putting up with my long-winded post today!! Enjoy your week everyone...be safe and take care, Tina


6 comments:

  1. Hi Tina!...it's good to hear that you're giving the chicken rug another go...it's also good to hear that you had a fun weekend!...you mentioned the antique show was in IL and that you had to drive awhile to get there...what state did you move to?...I used to get lost going everywhere when we moved to Virginia ten years ago, sure coulda used a GPS back then! LOL

    Janet

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  2. Hi Janet...We still live in WI, the south eastern part of the state now, near Madison. The show was actually only a little over an hour away from here, but it took me about an hour and a half to get there...so funny that you mentioned a GPS...I had my Garmin with me and it took me on THREE wrong turns, so that's why it took me longer to get there!! I have to admit, I feel alot safer with it, but apparently you need to have those things up-dated!! :O The trip home went much better...no wrong turns!!! Figure that one out?!?!? Thanks for posting...always nice hearing from you, Tina

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  3. Hi Tina,
    What a great Santa! Funny how we are forever looking toward Christmas. I've been picking up a few goodies here and there myself. So glad you braved the unknown!
    Very happy you are pushing on with your rug...I'm guessing when it is all finished you will be well pleased...it's a great looking rug.
    Have a good week,
    Robyn

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  4. Next time - take pictures! LOL!! Glad you had a nice day. I am so "directionally challenged" that I need a GPS in town. And yes they do some times give the wrong directions. Why do they wait until you are 50 feet from the intersection to tell you to turn left and you are three lanes over on the right??? GPS and menopause - can't trust either one.

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  5. Oh Marly, you crack me up...and YES, next time I will take pictures...I can't believe I forgot my camera on this road trip...not like me, I guess I was too nervous about hitting the road all by my little lonesome!!

    Robyn...it's like I always say..."GREAT MINDS THINK ALIKE"...I have Christmas on my mind all year long and already start looking forward to the "next" Christmas on December 26th!!!! :) Tina

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  6. Morning Tina,
    I love your Santa...he's just perfect and I too agree that the prices really are higher at these kinds of shows because of the reasons you gave...I love a good antique show but rarely come home with anything.

    Your days outing looking for homes sounded like an adventure - and the boys I'm sure enjoyed themselves too.

    Blessings,
    Karen

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