Progress

A bit of progress to show on my new rug.  Slow going as life keeps getting in the way. But here's what I have so far.

A long way to go!

It's been a VERY busy summer, but not for rug hooking.  I finally have some time to start a new project.  I created a new design, something to ease me back into hooking.  An animal, still life or pictorial was going to require to much thought and concentration.  I don't have it in me right now.  I came up with a "geometric oriental', for lack of a better description.  Straight line hooking is very mindless and relaxing and that is what I need right now.  Here's the design.

I added a watermark on the image so it adds a bit of confusion but you get the idea, I hope.
In a few days I'll have a progress shot.  Check back later.

Alpaca finished.

Except for the matting and framing.  I'm quite pleased with the result.  I always name my animals when they are done.  It is at this point they 'speak' to me.  Her name is Alice.

Start of Alpaca background

I started the background, working my way from bottom to top, from the golden browns into the greens.  I created an angle to repeat the angle of the alpaca's chin. 

Alpaca done, on to the background

I finished up the Alpaca and laid out what I'm going to do for the background.  I wanted to repeat the golden browns of the alpaca's fur in the background.  I also wanted to add in some greens and blue-greens.  My plan is to work these in from bottom to top.

Thanks for stopping by.

Alpaca progress

Alpaca update. 

I sorted my strips into piles; whites, browns and greys.  I have a frame with a large working area that gives me lots of room to layout my strips close to my work.  This is very helpful in quickly picking out the right value. 

 A few tips for those of you hooking animals.

Hook in short strokes, no longer than the actual length of hair that your particular animal has.  For instance, when hooking a Boxer your strokes should be shorter than if you were to hook a Sheepdog.

Always hook in the direction that the fur grows. 

My latest furry endeavor

My time does just fly by.  I could have sworn I posted last only a couple of weeks ago but see that it has been a month!  Way overdue.

On to my latest endeavor.  I visited a local alpaca farm a few years back and took a lot of pictures.  Unfortunately, I am not the best photographer, but I did find one that I could work with. 

The alpacas had just been shaved and they looked SO naked.  This little guy just drew me in. What I found that I  couldn't pass up was how adorable he looked with just a wild tuft of hair on the top of his head!

I cropped the photo to my liking and enlarged it.  The piece will be 12" x 12" .  I went through my stash of cut strips and pulled out what I think will work.  I'm determined to use up some of my cut strips, I have a bin full! 

So, here's my photo and my pile of strips!  Stay tuned to see what happens.

A great resource

Today I want to share a wonderful resource I happened upon at our library's annual book sale.  It is a book by Mary MacCarthy titled "The Crafter's Pattern Sourcebook" .  The designs in this book include North and South American, Ancient Greek and Roman, Egyptian and African, Oriental, Mediterranean, Scandinavian, Celtic and British, Northern European, and South Asian.

I found one from the Egyptian section I just had to hook.  Three fish and three lotus flowers make up this circular design.  I chose a color plan that I typically don't use.  I had a lot of fun working on this one, no shading, just outline and fill.  I enlarged the design to 20" and used a 4 cut as the motifs called for a smaller cut.

The photo is not the best, a bit washed out.  I couldn't quite manage to tweek it in photoshop just right to get the true color.

Some catching up. What I've been up to.

I've been really busy with life. Designing, color planning and dyeing wool for others and teaching doesn't leave me a lot of time to get pieces of my own done.  I'm not complaining as I do love to teach, and dye and design. There is also just general living tasks one must not neglect.  The everyday housework and eldercare tasks. As well as the business end of things. Yes, it's tax season again.

With all that said I have managed to get some projects done.

First, I decided to do another still life piece.  Here's the photo of my setup. 

And then the actual photo I worked from...

I didn't take any progress shots with this one.  Here's the final result.

That's it for today.  More to come.  Thanks for stopping by.

No Excuses. Just a new post.

Yep, it's been a long time.  No excuses.  I spent the spring doing a lot of teaching.  Summer came and August is upon us.  I did manage to get one new piece completed.    A bit about the piece.   One of  the ladies in our local guild has a sister who is a really great photographer and travels all over the world capturing amazing shots.   I asked for her permission to use her photo to hook this piece. (Sadly at this moment I can't recall her name) Thank you Jane's sister! The piece is "Leopard".  I loved how she was peering between the tree trunks. Trying to remain hidden from her prey perhaps?  Or maybe she was a bit timid and just wanted to keep a watchful eye on her stalker? 

Just a side note.  Since the creation of pinterest I have found my rugs pinned over and over and over.  Some with credit, some without.  Because of this I decided to start putting a watermark on all my posted photos so hopefully where ever they end up it will be known from where they came.

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. 

Rug retreat and kilim progress

Yes, it's been a long time since I last posted.  I've been in and out of town, dyeing wool, doing lots of yard work etc.  Life just gets in the way sometimes.

A couple of things to report.  First,  I got to the beach last weekend for our guild's annual retreat.  We had beautiful weather.  This was great for getting out and getting some fresh air but not so good for progressing on my rug.  However,  I have been working on it fairly steady and now am happy to say I've past the half way mark.  Yeah!  Here's the latest photo.

Here's a few of the gals at work.  As I said previously, the weather was a bit of a distraction.  When I took this photo I didn't realize how many of our group was out on the beach.

Lisa got a good amount done on her trout.  That's SOME trout!

One more fin and then to the background.


And here's Pat's very, very large floral.  It's at least 6' x 6'.

I had to stand on a chair with the camera way above my head to get this shot. Some really lovely leaves and flowers.

Time flies but winter just won't quit!

This is the longest, coldest, nastiest winter that I can remember since living in the south.  Everyone is just sick and tired of it and it just doesn't want to quit.  Being stuck inside one would think I would have gotten a lot done in the past 2 months since my last post.  I can't believe it's been 2 months.  Time flies but winter won't quit.

In these past months I have gotten a few things done.  I taught 2 beginning workshops. Had some nice thank you notes afterwards.  It's always nice to know your class was an enjoyable one.  I've already had one student finish their first piece and is ready to get going on the next one!  She's hooked.  I was so busy teaching I didn't get any pictures.  They were all great students and they caught on quickly.

I also have my advanced class going.  I do these in a 5 class block, once a week for 5 weeks.  We were supposed to have our last class today, an extended day as we were going to makeup for a snow day we had the second week.  Well, wouldn't you know it, mother nature slammed us again.  There has been sleet, freezing rain and now all rain. It has been going non stop since last night.  I do have a picture of Annmarie's ewe to show you.  She's just started but she'll move right along, she's got a natural artist inside her.  Her only bit of problem was with value, but I got out the value scale and I got her back on the right track.  I can't wait to see what she's got done when she comes back next week.

Lisa's working on a trout.  She found a great visual aid and next week when I see her she'll have it hooked, filleted and grilled. ha ha.

I got a request to design a series of fruit chair seats.  I was so pleased with the pear one I decided to hook it myself.

I also got the crazy idea to design a large kilim rug.  I've always liked kilims and have always wanted to do one.  I bought a book years ago filled with pictures of kilims.  I got it out and went through it noting the different motifs that interested me.  The one that really caught my attention was the motif they call "the goddess". I used it as a repeating theme across the entire rug.  To separate the bands of goddesses I made up a simple geometric band.  The border was just me playing and fitting something that I though would work.  The colors I chose to go in my home.  The rug is 32" x 78" so I'll be working on it for a while.  The one thing I really like is the strong graphic look that it has.

I think I'm mostly caught up now.  Thanks for reading.

Jumping into the New Year

After a really,really busy December I just keep going with a fast start to the New Year.  This Friday and Saturday is the annual Quilting and Fiber Arts Marketplace in Sanford.  I hope to see you there.
Here's the info...

Also, a few things I've been up to...

I managed to design and assemble a new purse pattern.  I call it Country Shoulder Bag.  I used some oatmeal and taupy wools for the purse body, did the appliques in some muted reds,blues and greens, and found a wonderful linen remnant for the lining.  Here it is...

Patterns and woolens will be available at the show. 

At the show I will also have info on rug hooking classes for the New Year.  I have a couple of beginning classes set up for February. 

Hee Haw count down to Christmas

After the Carolina Designer Craftsmen show ended I crashed.  I got a nasty cold and had no energy for anything.  After the cold subsided I had to finish up my second commission.  I had started it prior to the show but just didn't have enough time to get it done.  I finished it up and sent it on its way.  It is a gift from daughter to parents. A portrait of one of their adorable donkeys.  Hee Haw!

A cute little fella...

Time for the Carolina Designer Craftsmen Show

It has been a busy past couple of weeks.  In the middle of November I exhibited at the Piedmont Craftsmen Show In Winston-Salem.  There was a good crowd and it was good to catch up with some old friends and make some new ones.  Sales were good and I  received 2 commissions to top it off.

I was able to get one of the commissions done since the show.  This client had purchased a small still life piece from me previously and wanted another, this time an apple.  She collects pear and apple art/craft.  I had some Cortland apples in my fridge waiting to become pie.  (My mother always made pie with Cortlands and I have to agree with her on this one, they make the best pies.)  Back to the point... I set my apple out and went to work.  The finished piece...

I've started the other commission and I'll talk about that in a future post.

Now to the get to the titled subject of this post.  The Carolina Designer Craftsmen Show opens this weekend in Raleigh.  For more info click here and watch a youtube segment of the show and get all the info.  If you're able to go be sure to stop by and see my newest work. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Yet another bird...

I'm having a great time with these feathery creatures.  I just finished up the latest.  Here he is all framed and matted.  I again, as with the previous birds, struggled with the eye.  They are just SO tiny.  I am happy with the way it turned out.  He looks so knowing.

Dye workshop

A week ago I taught a color class. I did a thorough walk through of the Color Wheel Company's color wheel.  Have you ever read ALL the information it contains?  It is a whole lot of good stuff packed into one handy little tool. Every artist, no matter their medium, needs to have a color wheel!  We discussed primary, secondary and tertiary colors as well as tint, tone and shade.  Also discussed were color harmonies and value.  After my students had been totally overwhelmed I sent them home to absorb and rest.

Color Wheel Company colorwheel

 Yesterday I did a follow on class.  Using what we learned the previous week and applying it in the dye pot.  First we did a simple color wheel, primary and secondary colors only.  In doing this we had to decide what primaries we would use.  Because  we were trying to imitate the Color Wheel Company's color wheel we chose Prochem 351 (bright red), Prochem 119 (sun yellow) and Prochem 490  (brilliant blue).  We then had to decide what amounts of yellow to add to red to make orange.  It ended up being a 4:1 ratio of yellow to red.  With the green we used a 4:1 ratio as well, yellow to blue.  For the violet we did a 1:1 ratio.  The only secondary that I felt was not quite right was the orange.  It needs a tad more yellow.  It leans towards the red-orange side.  Here's our results in a photo.

They look a lot brighter and truer to color in real life.

We then did some toning of colors using the colors complement.  Here we have the mixing of Prochem 808 (raspberry), a red-violet with Prochem 719 (grasshopper), a yellow-green. This is the grouping on the bottom row.  In mixing various amounts one gets a beautiful array of complex colors.

The top row is a combination of 228 (saffron), a yellow-orange and 401 (colonial blue), a blue-violet.

We then just did some playing to make some beautiful things...

For the birds

I enjoyed hooking theTitmouse so much I decided to try another bird.

Titmouse

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This time I went with a chickadee.  It has been so cold here the last week I decided to put him on a snow covered branch.

Chickadee

 

I fussed and fussed with the eye.  It is so small I was hooking in threads of wool so as not to make it too big. 

I like doing the backgrounds in spot dyes, hooking them in order as they come through the cutter.  It is more tedious but I like the blurred watercolor wash effect it gives.

Enjoy the day.  Thanks for reading.