Reminising and on to a New Year

A belated Merry Christmas!

  I managed to stay unplugged yesterday for the most part and enjoy the day.  As I reflected back to prior Christmases I recalled the Christmas of 1979.  Yes, that was 35 years ago, I did the math.  I can't believe how time flies.  Back to the point.  It was on that particular Christmas I received my first rug pattern, wool, hook, cutter and frame.  My mother got me the whole kit and kaboodle!!  I was on my way and never looked back.  Yesterday I went looking for that rug that was started on that Christmas day.  It has been rolled up and tucked away for a few years now as I haven't had a place for it.  I laid it out and took a picture to post today as a reminder of where I started and how far I've come. 

Here it is!  A pattern by Pearl McGown, called Paisley.  I hooked it all with a #3 cut.  It is on burlap as that was the only option back in the 70's. 

Now I look forward to a new year and some new rugs, keeping in mind where I started and how far I've come. 

Catching up for a lot of lost time

Yes, it has been a long time.  No excuse, really just life.  Once I did decide I really needed to catch up on my posting I had issues getting into my account.  It would be so nice if you could just pick up the phone and ask someone but that is not to be.  So after many bad words under my breath and a lot of just trying everything I could think of I FINALLY figured out what I needed to do to get into my account.

So, here I am, and I'm going to fast forward through all the rug hooking related things that happened over the past few months.

First,  I did finish my very large kilim runner.  Ta Da!

Picture is not the best.  I took it inside atop a very tall ladder.  It is 32" x 79" after all.

Second,  I attend a fabulous Hook In put on by the Merry Mountain Rug Ruggers in Asheville, NC.  They are the best!  Met some new hookers and caught up with a lot of old friends.  I had a wonderful time and I was awarded Best Original Fine Cut rug in their show for my Beltie.

Next, I was off to Ohio to teach the Buckeye Rug Hooking Guild, a great bunch of gals.  They were very warm and welcoming and were working on some truly awesome pieces. Sadly, I can't put my hands on any of the pictures I took to show here today.

My next adventure was to go hook with my teacher buddies at our annual meet up in Kentucky.  Every year we do a different project.  This year it was a zentangle.  I designed and hooked a small piece for my Grand daughter.

When I arrived back from Kentucky I had only a few days to  regroup before I was off to our guild's workshop for 3 days.  This year we had Vivily Powers come teach.  I've known Vivily for a  lot of years and know that she loves bright colors and excels at doing crewel jacobean type designs.  I've had a chair that has needed a new seat for years and I decided that a Jacobean design would suit it very well.  I drew up the design and sent it of to Vivily with some color swatches.  I had wool I wanted to use for the background but she did the rest based on the swatches I sent.  I think it turned out just lovely.

Here's a close up...

The last thing to report on is a class I recently finished up teaching at home.  I had several students wanting to hook Tish Murphy Santa designs.  I scheduled a series of classes and we dove in.  I just finished mine up this past week.   Here's mine.

I did change it a bit from the original design.  I wanted a moonlit evening sky. When the gals finish up their Santas I'll get photos to post.

Well, I think I'm caught up now. Whew. I will make an effort to post at least once a week from now on, sort of a pre New Years resolution.