Lancaster County, PA

On Saturday, we--and everyone else in southeastern Pennsylvania--headed out on Route 30 to visit the Amish. We went to Intercourse (you just have to) and visited the People's Museum to see the quilts. Then we looked around the gift shop. There was a lovely piece (squares of wool felt--half inch piled on one inch--and topped with a button) framed, on sale for (hold on to your hats) $895. All it is is squares stitched to a ground fabric through the button--no piecing, no quilting, just a one inch squares topped with a half inch square topped with a button and sewn to a ground fabric. Ten across and ten down, or so. Slapped in a shadow box frame. Eight hundred ninety five dollars.

So I went downstairs to the fabric store and bought $22 worth of hand dyed wool felt that you see here. Someone's gonna have one helluva piece of art on the walls!

Baaaaaaaaaa

On Saturday, we headed down to West Friendship. I got to hang out with best pal for a while while the dude and brave astronaut and the offspring watched sheepdogs herd. BP and I met a loyal reader who was working at a rug hooking shop. I was a little hoarse, but that was fine because BP and LR had a lot to talk about. And I do hope that the blog will have brought even more people together. I bought a few things (pictured below), including a cute bag pattern, some wool fabric, and some felting fabric. I have no idea what I am going to do with any of it. A note to designers, if you just happen to find yourself in a booth selling your goods with a bunch of women cooing over what you have made, the appropriate response is "thank you." You may wish to add a few words about how you came up with the design or a little story about which is your favorite design. Grunting is not really an option.

My favorite family of three had to leave for naptime, so the dude and I perused the rest of the buildings. The dude bought himself a couple of pepper plants. He really wants to grow peppers. If he pickles them, things are really going to be nuts around here.

Somehow, I managed to leave the largest sheep and wool festival without any yarn. I'm blaming the cold. Which has gotten worse and worse. Yesterday, I thought I could manage to paint the front door, but overexerted myself. It all ended when I threw up. And yet the dude complained about the job I did. I'm home from work today, and if I can manage, I've got a little video of sheep to show you.

I Don't Know

I just don't know how I feel about the backstitching on the flowers. On the one hand, it reminds me of all the cute felt thingies I've been seeing on the interwebs and even making. OTOH, I think the flowers might look better plain. If I wanted the felt-thingie look, I could just order me up some Week's Dye Works 100% Wool Felt (I love it!) and make it outta wool.

Which reminds me, didn't I order a wool rug from the Mennonite woman like a month ago? When will I get the e-mail telling me it's ready? (Hey aren't I clever? I know she's not Amish by the e-mail account.) Wait til you see it. You are going to be in love with it!

But for now, I'd like your opinion on the backstitching.

Maryland Sheep and Wool

best pal and I are talking about meeting at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival next weekend. The thing is, it's a 2+ hour drive for me (but really, what better place to meet a friend than in West Friendship, Maryland?). So I was kind of hoping that brave astronaut was going to come, so the dude would come and I wouldn't have to spend four hours in the car by myself. So I broached the subject with the dude last night.

Me: So, next weekend, I'm thinking about going to Maryland to meet best pal at the Sheep and Wool Festival. Would you want to come?
Dude: What's there?
Me: Um, sheep...and...wool.
Dude: I don't think there's anything to interest me.
Me: [grasping at straws] And a sheepdog herding contest.
Dude: Now that I'm interested in [no hint of sarcasm].
Me: You are?
Dude: When I was a kid I used to watch this show on Saturday mornings, I think it was called "One Man and his Dog," and this guy would whistle and his dogs would round up the sheep. [Begins whistling.]
Me [thinking: Wow, you had a deprived Saturday morning]: You watched that?
Dude: Every child of my generation in Britain watched that show. I loved it.

So, brave astronaut, you in? Sheepdog herding. Now that I've studied the schedule, I see cheese. That's my final offer. Cheese.