Diary of a Rug --- Final Chapter

Yesterday was a wonderfully laid-back Christmas...we opened gifts and sat around in our jammies all day. The goats and sheep got apple treats and the dog got some extra scraps in her dish. Basically, we all did what made us happy. I did a lot of rug hooking and finished my Harvest Goode Things rug! Here are pictures and tips to share:

I decided that I wanted to dig into my scrap piles to hook the pumpkins instead of cutting into fresh pieces of wool. The pumpkins are small and I wanted to vary the colors a little so they were not all the same. I found some orange scraps and also a light green heather for "white" pumpkins. I had to mindful of color value since the ground is such a medium neutral tone (it tends to make other similar values sink and fade away). I needed to outline each pumpkin so the accent lines would give some shape and definition, and they wouldn't just look like orange balls. I found some nice outline wool in my scraps but a lot of my scraps are cut in #8. I outlined and filled the first pumpkin with some of these #8 cuts. However when I was done, I thought the outline was too thick and overpowered the pumpkin too much. So I ripped out the outline and hand-trimmed it to a smaller size (more like a #6). Once I hooked it back in, the difference was astonishing! So all the pumpkins ended up with #6 outlines and then filled with #8 strips. Once each pumpkin was hooked, I put a line of the ground wool around it to hold its shape. Finally, when all had been hooked, I went back and filled in the entire ground area....
Voila!
The
rug
was
done!
(drum roll, please!)
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*
*
The finished rug:

Now mind you, I consider this rug "done" even though it hasn't been steamed or hemmed yet....Some of you who know me (wendy!) know that I'm a "professional pinner" and tend to avoid hemming until it is absolutely necessary.
Hemming is just not creative....
don't ask me to explain my bad habit any more than that.
Maybe there's a New Year Resolution evolving here....

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you a warm, wonderful day with family and friends that is full of fun surprises and special moments!

Diary of a Rug --- Part 6

Oh my, how time flies! It seems like just a week ago that I posted my last "Diary" chapter. I haven't had a lot of time to rug hook since I've been preparing for the Holidays but recently I have managed to sit down for a few precious moments in the evening to work on my rug a little bit. Thanks, everybody, for hanging in there!

The next element to be hooked in my Harvest Goode Things rug was the little outhouse. Someone suggested the color blue. I had to think about that for a while but then found a great gray-blue striped wool..."that might work" I thought. Then I found a very odd shade of rusty red wool while digging through my secret stash...."that might work, too!" for the roof. I wanted to hook this little building like the house, straight across. So first I had to put in a row of background for my "reverse" outline. Then I hooked in the roof. I just outlined the roof and kept going around and around until it was filled in. Next I hooked a single #8.5 row for the chimney and hooked a single line of antique black for the corner of the building.

This picture shows the reverse outline process and the gray/blue wool being hooked straight across directionally. Notice that I had to hook one row of the ground underneath the outhouse to help keep everything in place.

The door and moon were scraps pulled from my leftovers from other projects. I wanted to hook these in first before I hooked the rest of the building. The moon is a very dark bronze (didn't want it to show up too much, but didn't want it to fade into the building) and the door is a reddish orange/gold/brown texture, which shows up nicely against the blue too. I continued to hook straight across, even when I got to the moon.
(the outhouse looks like it's leaning but I think it's the angle of the camera...sorry!)

Here's the finished "privy." I do really like the blue color and I think it's a keeper!
I have finished hooking all of the background and most of the brown outside border. All that is left to hook are the pumpkins and the ground! I really didn't think I'd be hooking pumpkins at Christmas....LOL!...but this will be a fun area to play with. I'm going to dive into those scraps again to come up with some pumpkin outlines and then fill with all kinds of wonderful colors...some might be orange values but I'll leave my options open for some other colors too.
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Merry Christmas!

Upcoming Classes

This is me at a Quilt show in 2008, teaching little Rachel how to rug hook. What a joy for the both of us...Rachel was smitten with learning her new craft and I was overjoyed to be able to teach her! I loved her enthusiasm and perseverance.
I am offering rug hooking classes here in my studio, beginning Saturday, January 16th. If you are interested in joining me, click on this link: classes This will take you to my Schedule page where you can read all the particulars. You can also download a class flier by clicking on the "Download a flier" link on that page. Why not start out the new year by learning a new craft, brushing up on your skills, or just getting together for a few fun hours with like-minded friends?

Merry Christmas From My Barn to Yours!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Starring Kris, Emma, Bryce, Willow, and Lumi!

Rugs From Independence, Missouri

I had a wonderful time at Wooley Woolens with Janice Johnson and all the gals who took my workshop. The rugs were turning out fabulous and the food was absolutely delicious! We had a show-and-tell and I thought I'd show you some of the rugs that were color planned and hooked from my previous workshops at Wooley Woolens.

St. Nick is shown above and hooked by Sue Clark in my workshop in 2008.

Sue Clark hooked Give Ye Thanks for my workshop in 2007. As you can see, Sue is a terrific rug hooker!

LaDonna hooked Wool Garden in the 2008 workshop. Her colors are so soft and wonderful, just like spring!

This version of Give Ye Thanks was hooked by Kathy Simmons in 2008. I love the background on this rug.

Rhonda Timberlake hooked Pearl, May and LaVerne in last year's workshop. Her bright colors are absolutely wonderful in this rug!
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All of these patterns are available on my website. Just click on the pattern name and you can check them out.
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Big, big thanks to Jim and Janice Johnson for all their hard work! It was another successful year!

A Holiday Show

Just like one of Santa's elves, I've been busy creating some wonderful goodies for the
All The Trimmings Holiday Show.
Saturday December 5, 2009
10 am to 4 pm
Chelsea Fairgrounds
20501 Old US 12
Chelsea, MI 48118
You can go to the All The Trimmings blog to check out the other artists and their wares.
I found some great holiday gifts last year for my sister and my husband....and a couple of things for myself too......
Admission and refreshments are free!
I hope to see you there!