Splish! Splash!-Blog Challenge #3 revealed!

I thought I'd get my project posted early because we are leaving later to attend my mother-in-law's 87th birthday party!

Again, here are the objects that we had to work with:

 And as you remember, I had a bit of indecisiveness with my project.  However, once I sat down and got hooking, things flowed fairly smoothly and I am happy with the results:

 The overdyed sheep's curls were used for the hair, the bit of variegated yarn was used for the "wave", the twig was used as driftwood and sewn to the hooking, the sparkly cording was used as accents in the mermaid's tale.  I overdyed the white roving with a greenish yellow hue.  There wasn't enough to hook the entire tail, so I used it to outline each "scale" and filled in with the same striped wool that I hooked in her tail.  It really turned out better this way, I like the dimension that the combination created.  Since the twig added a three-dimensional visual to the mat, I decided to add the shells as accents too (then the twig didn't look like it was just stuck there all by itself).  I love the shell-bra too, don't you?  She's a little sexy but not risque...no wardrobe malfunction here!

Closer views:

 Close up of Mermaid's face and torso.

 

  Scales with roving outline.

(not so good) picture of tail with glittery cord accents.

Angle view to show the dimension of the objects.

Oh!  Forgot to mention that I bound the mat with a crocheted edge, using wool strips, cut in #8.  I used the same wool as my background, thus a harmonious blend that extends the border out a bit.  You can see the crocheted edge in this picture.  A fun and quick way to bind your rug! I'll be teaching this way of binding in my Sauder Village workshop this year.

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It was a very fun project indeed and I'm looking forward to discover what my blog sisters have created!  Check them out:

Maria Barton

Ali Strebel

Alice Fraizer

You would think....

You would think that since I was the person to send out the mixed media for this month's blog challenge, I had everything figured out for my project.

Nope.

I thought that maybe I'd have a small advantage over everyone else to dream up something as I was gathering the materials to send out to Ali, Maria, and Alice.

Nope.  

Last Friday, I was suddenly overtaken with a sinking feeling that the blog challenge was less than 10 days away and I had nothing....

well, actually I did have something...

two totally different ideas that were fighting each other in my head.  I had even sketched something up on a piece of paper.  But my indecision literally took my creativity hostage and I had nothing started...I couldn't make up my mind!

Late Friday night, I sat down and started to hook.....

ripped out and hooked again....

things are taking shape....

only six more days....

I think I might make it to the deadline.

It's Mississippi, y'all!

Mississippi: land of King Cake, fried catfish, and fried pickles!  And some serious rug hooking happens in February as well!

I flew out of Detroit just minutes before the blizzard hit...and flew back into Detroit during a second snow storm.  Seems apropos that this year's Mississippi workshop rug was Santa!

Here are a few photos of the happy hookers, busy with their patterns:

 Everyone was very productive and as you can see, they did a fantastic job with the Santa face.  Part of our lesson was hooking eyes.....

 The part I loved the most was that everyone put their own little spin on how they hooked their pattern.  Some used paisley for accents, others used more muted or antique colors for Santa's robe. Unfortunately, I did not get a picture of ALL of the rugs, but this is a good representation of the work being done.  As always, I was simply amazed at all the talent in the room.  These girls were serious rug hookers!  They got a lot done and it all looked good!  

We decided next year would be a Halloween theme.  I can't wait!