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 Nov 2004

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 🙂

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 🙁

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

Me, Linda, Jann and Debbie at The Homestead Collection

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)

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.