WINDOWSILL SERIES

Just a little smaller and a little less expensive,

these cute little birds fit nicely on a windowsill.

Bluebird, crow, white bird, cardinal, goldfinch

and junco. Approximately 3 1/2" long. $25 ea.

Shipping included.

More Pictures of the wood

Ray Worden on the left and John, my husband
and fellow carver on the right, after an
afternoon of milling a basswood tree.

The whole tree in boards ready to be stored

in the barn for several months till dry.

Here are pictures of the tree once it has been milled into

boards which we will keep up in the barn until it has dried.

The time varies by thickness, but generally it is 2 months

per inch before it is dry enough to carve. I cannot wait!

A NEW TREE!!!

After a few years of carving hard and not the best basswood,

(you never know before you cut down a tree how it will be

on the inside) we bought a wonderful tree from our farmer

friend Sonny Beeman, and had it cut into planks by another

friend Ray Worden, with his portable saw mill. These pictures

show my husband, John, and Ray spending the afternoon

transforming a tree into carving material. It is beautiful

wood and we can't wait till it dries and we can start carving!

Sheep pins and carved buttons

Here is a flock of sheep pins and necklaces on their way to

Kris Miller for the Black Swamp Fleece Fair in Bowling

Green, Ohio, this last weekend, along with an assortment

of springy hand-carved buttons for your hand knitted

sweaters. I'll try to carve any idea you might have for

buttons. The possibilities are endless!

Inspirational Carvings

Here are some of my carvings that inspired my stair

treads. The frog will probably be the ninth one.

Seven More Stair Treads

I have been so busy getting ready for the Dexter show

(which was great, thank you everyone), I have

neglected my blog. A couple people asked about my

other stair treads, so I finally took a picture of them

too. They are all inspired by my carvings, with a black

and mustard border to tie them together. I have finally

come to the conclusion that I am not capable of hooking

a large rug, but love to do smaller ones. This way, when

they are all done, it will have the effect of a large rug,

but was done in smaller steps (haha). Partway through

the treads, I decided to add my bugs to the rugs too,

since I carve so many things and this would help to

incorporate more of my carvings into the rugs. My

dilemma now, other than what carving to hook,

is whether or not to keep each tread the same shape

and size, approximately 9 1/2" x 28", or to shape the

last 5 treads according to the steps which are winders,

and would be basically triangular. This decision might

hold up my hooking for a long time! I think my next rug

will be a big green frog with a fly on the end of his long

tongue. Perfect for spring, especially since we now hear

our spring peepers in our pond in the woods and on our

walks down the country roads. Kris Miller of Spruce

Ridge Studios carries patterns for the sheep, whale, frog

and Halloween scene, along with my chickens.Contact

her at http://www.spruceridgestudios.com/ for the patterns.

Hooked Rug Stair Tread

I am so excited that I finished my eighth stair tread!

It is patterned from my carved patriotic hand with

flag and has my ant with flag in the bottom corner,

as shown in the pictures. I struggled with the color

for the hand until I found the PERFECT wool at

Kris Miller's Spruce Ridge Studios. If you need the

absolute best flesh-colored wool you'll ever find and

anything else you might need for hooking, check out

her website at http://www.spruceridgestudios.com/.

She also carries seven of my hooked rug patterns.