The Wool Studio
This vendor, Rebecca Erb, allowed me to take a couple photos of her booth. I purchased some beautiful wool from her. The rugs she had on display were just gorgeous!

Finally…..after years of hearing about Sauder Village’s Rug Hooking show, Jann and I drove to Archibold, Ohio Saturday morning to check it out and we are so glad we did!!! There were many incredible rugs on display by very talented rug hookers and the wool that the vendors were selling was absolutely beautiful….. it was a bit overwhelming! Alice Strebel for Kindred Spirits had a great booth there. It was nice to finally meet her, she is a sweetheart. I’ve been purchasing wool yarn from her for quite some time and now she is offering variegated wool yarn! I can’t wait to get my hands on it! Wendy Miller from The Red Saltbox was the booth next to Alice….it just went on and on, each vendor had so much to offer…….Jann and I kept thinking “if only we had buckets of money”…………

I am only showing a few of the many, many beautiful rugs that adorned the walls (these were my favorites mostly because of the colors). I wish I would have wrote down the names of the talented ladies that hooked the rugs in the above photos in order to give them a shout out, but I didn’t think of it until creating this post, sorry ladies!

If you ever get the chance to attend this show I highly recommend it! I left the show inspired to get back into making rugs and even more inspired to offer my artwork as rug patterns. The folk art acrylic paintings I have been creating lately would make amazing rug patterns…..and I have a sketchbook full of more ideas so here we go!!!!

Buster was born August 21, 2004 in Bernie, Missouri. We went down to MO to spend Thanksgiving with family and brought our precious lil‘ Buster home with us. He is a great addition to our family 🙂

What a face!

I did some photoshop tricks with this photo. Love it!

Buster always looks like he was out partyin‘ the night before with his droopy red eyes and sad face. Such character!

Buster may look intimidating and mean but truly he is the sweetest dog you could ever meet. He may lick you to death but biting you would never cross his mind. Off and on as Buster grew up he would wrestle and play with Daisy and end up hurting his leg and would limp for a few days afterwards. We knew he had hip dysplasia so we attributed the pain to that. Well a few weeks ago, Buster started walking real slowly and just wasn’t his excited playful self……also I pet him on the back and he yipped. We were headed out of town at the time so Kevin took him to the vet and he gave him some pain medication….he wanted to do x-rays but they were backed up and it would be approx a 3 hr wait so Kevin decided to reschedule the x-rays.

We suspected that Buster may have been hit by a delivery truck because we had three deliveries the day before this all started and Buster tends to run out to “greet” anyone that pulls in the driveway by running up to the vehicle.

The pain medication seemed to be working at first, but the past few days, he has been walking extremely slow again, was having a hard time laying down and wouldn’t eat his morning meal.

I took him to the vet yesterday for x-rays and we received bad news. Buster’s left knee has bone spurs and arthritis and he has hip dysplasia in his right hip. Both causing him pain. But the worse part is his spine. He has Spondylosis deformans .. “a degenerative, noninflammatory condition of the spinal column characterized by the production of bone spurs along the bottom, sides, and upper aspects of the vertebrae of the spine”. Some of Buster’s vertebrae are actually touching causing pressure on the nerves which results in tremendous pain.

So…the treatment you ask? Well, the pain medication he was taking for his knee and hip unfortunately cannot be taken with the steroids that he needs for his back. However, it is his back that is causing the majority of pain. Buster will be taking steroids for the rest of his life…..there is no cure, only pain management. Sweet, sweet Buster is breaking my heart 🙁

“HE gives me Strength”

collage papers & acrylic on 10×10 cradled board
©teresa kogut

Many, many thanks to Jann…..our driver this year and our organizer. She painstakingly planned each day’s shopping ports…..our first stop, The Homestead Collection in Findlay, OH….only 2.5 hours from our starting point. Behind this beautiful store is Jeffery’s Antiques…..the largest antique store I’ve ever seen chock full of treasures! We also shop at a wonderful store named Early American Home while in Findlay.

Next town was Tipp City, Ohio for some great antiquing. (sorry no photos)

Linda, Debbie and Jann in Waynesville, Ohio

North Shore Primitives in Washington Court House, Ohio

North Shore Primitives tops our list of awesome primitive country stores. Two stories of the most incredible displays and vignettes of home decor and accessories…..by now we are wishing we brought a u-haul trailer!!

Saturday was our last day of shopping……we drove from Coshocton, Ohio to Berlin, Ohio. The most beautiful landscape was a delight to our eyes. Snippets of early Americana with barns, farm houses, rolling hills, and the Amish in their horse-drawn buggies. So quaint!

Berlin was really hoppin! I wish every town we went to had as many people out shopping as Berlin did. It was quite a sight! Even though it was 90 degrees and super humid, it didn’t stop us crazy shoppers from walking the town in search of more treasures. Our slogan at this point was “it has to be small or buy nothing at all”. We were packed to the gills. We filled every nook and cranny in Jann’s vehicle. Ahhhh, good times.

Jann and Me 🙂

Before I left last weekend to go up north a thought occurred to me…..why haven’t we used slip ‘n slides down our hill yet? Geez….we’ve lived here for 9 years and I have yet to make this happen? So, while up north we made a trip to Wally world and I found 3 slip ‘n slides for only $4 each. Ryan couldn’t wait to hook them together this afternoon and let the fun begin! Actually they had to add two tarps at the bottom of the hill because they were tearing up the grass! The entire slide was over 50ft long! Nothing brings me more joy than watching my boys have good ol‘ summertime fun!

Thank you Bob & Theresa for letting us stay at your adorable homey cabin! There’s nothing like a cabin on the lake in northern Michigan. Instant relaxation!

The view…ahhhh

My wonderful husband

We celebrated Theresa’s birthday one night at the campfire.

Renee, Theresa and me having our morning coffee while gazing out over the lake.

Theresa & Bob

Keri & Paul

Renee & Bob

Amy & Roger

Kevin & Me

Many great memories were made and shared over our three day weekend up north with friends. Thank you to our generous friends that opened their quaint cabin to us all. We started our mornings off with several pots of coffee while enjoying the sunshine over the lake, then onto a huge country-style homemade breakfast. Then a quick change into our suits for the afternoon flotilla…whoo hoo! After our fill of fun on the lake we headed back to the cabin to cook incredible dinners……Saturday night we had salmon, BBQ chicken, fried potatoes with mushrooms, onion, peppers & garlic, fresh corn on the cob, garden salad and fruit salad. Yummo!! Shortly after cleaning up the dinner mess we’d make our way to the campfire for a night of laughter, story-telling, reminiscing, and conversation. Kevin and I are blessed to have so many wonderful friends in our lives.

Thank you Studios magazine for featuring my studio in the fall issue!! I am so honored to be a part of such a beautiful magazine along side of such talented artists! Get yours now….on newsstands until August 10 or you can order straight from the source here.