Rug Of The Day - March 7th

 I'm going to wrap up the week-end with another fraktur inspired design.  This beauty is Tulip Bouquet, a PJ Rankin Hults folk art adaptation, and it is hooked by Janet Stanley Reid of Pennsylvania.  Janet used many different plaids and textures and I think they bring forth a wonderful vibrant quality to her rug.  I love the flower pot!  Note how the colors are equally balanced throughout the rug.

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It is too early here in Michigan for tulips to be poking up their little heads but this rug gives me hope for warmer, sunnier days and vases full of soft graceful blooms!

Rug Of The Day - March 6th

The rug of the day is Not Forgotten Flowers, an adaptation of Lori Brechlin's folk art.  I am showing two versions of this pattern today because I love the variety of how a rug can be hooked by two different people, and each rug will have its own unique look. The first rug is hooked by Rebecca Erb.  She used mostly muted and neutral textures.  Note her taupe and blue leaves.  When I look at this rug, I think "Ahhh...nice and soft."

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The second rug is hooked by me in a#8 cut on linen.  I was influenced a little by Lori's original work of art and I hooked my mat in brighter colors.  (although I think the camera made the red look a little brighter than it is in real life!)  I hooked this rug a couple of years ago in the middle of February when everything was so cold and gray-I guess I really needed a bouquet of bright flowers to help get me through to Spring!  Note the flower urn:  I chose a plaid and hooked it directionally from top to bottom.  The plaid picks up some of the colors in the flowers and helps balance the large tulip at the top.

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Both rugs have their own style and I think they are both terrific!

Rug Of The Day - March 5th

Today is Fraktur Friday!  This wonderful Fraktur-inspired design is named Tulips and Acorns, another adaptation from PJ Rankin-Hults folk art.   Who would have imagined that acorns and tulips would grow on the same stem?  It's just part of the clever whimsy found in this delightful pattern!   Liz Marino from Massachusetts hooked this rug and her color choices are absolutely terrific.  The vibrant jewel tones of the birds and tulips take center stage, while the yellow ware urn plays an important "supporting role." 

(yes, that is my poke at the Oscars!)

Rug Of The Day - March 4th

A very regal bird graces today's blog post.  This is Majestic, a pattern that is an adaptation from PJ Rankin-Hults folk art. Sue Russell from St. Joseph, Michigan hooked this beautiful design.  There are so many reasons why I love Sue's rug!  I love her color choices and the use of textured wool in the bird.  There is a lovely flow and movement in his graceful wings and tail feathers.  The side tabs pull the color from the bird out to the ends of the rug and gives the bird a lovely frame.   Truly Majestic!

Rug Of The Day - March 3rd

We still have a good amount of snow on the ground and there might be a flake or two fluttering through the air today, so the featured rug will be a snowman! 
This is a Notforgotten Farm adaptation called Cocoa and Cookies Alphabet Sampler.   This rug is hooked by me in # 8 1/2  and #8 cuts on linen.  It was quite a large project for me to take on, and yet it was one of those rugs that practically hooked itself.  Have you ever done a rug like that?  It seemed that every wool and every color worked effortlessly and was happy to be hooked in its place.  I enjoyed every loop and every minute spent creating  this piece.  This is one of my favorite rugs...who wouldn't be charmed by a snowman with a cute little chin?!?

Rug Of The Day - March 2nd

Today's lovely bouquet is one of my designs called Checkered Jardiniere. This rug is hooked by Betty Mix from Missouri.  Betty used proddy on the purple flowers, and the berries on the stem were sculpted with roving.  She also used beading around the border.  My favorite part of this rug is the wonderful blue urn.

Rug Of The Day

For the month of March, I have decided to take on a personal challenge and post a different rug every day on my blog until March 31st.
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The first one is appropriate for today since "March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb."
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This is Lion and Lamb, a Notforgotten Farm adaptation, hooked by me on linen with mostly #8 cuts and a few #6 cuts for details and outlining. This pattern is available with either the word "Peace" or "March". My favorite parts of the rug are the lion's mane and the leaves of the tree. I hooked the lion's mane with a golden striped fabric. When I cut the wool, I segregated out the various colored strips and hooked them so that each value stood out from each other. I also used just a few strips of darker gold in between some of the golden yellow values. The leaves of the tree were hooked in three different values of green: light, medium and dark. I mentally divided each branch of leaves into three equal parts and hooked the dark wool closest to the tree, then medium green, then the lightest yellow green was hooked toward the end of the branches. I love the effect it gives (so much better to see in person). And no, hooking all those leaves did not drive me crazy...they were actually fun to do! This rug's color scheme is fairly monochromatic and very restful to the eye. Just perfect for its message of "Peace."

Lee Ann

I want to tell you a story about Lee Ann....

This is a story about rugs and goats and friendship.
I met Lee Ann about 10 years ago. You see, I had gone to the Michigan State Fair with my two young sons and had seen a pen of curious bright-eyed goats. And instantly fell in love with them. I went home and told my husband that I wanted to get some goats!!! He is the more practical one in this family and reminded me that I knew absolutely NOTHING about raising goats. As luck would have it, several months later an article appeared on the front page of our community newspaper. A local veterinarian was teaching goat care classes. "If you ever hope to own a goat," my husband said, "you'd better sign up for those classes."
I wonder now if he was thinking that I'd take the classes and change my mind, maybe thinking it was too much work. The classes were once a month on a Saturday for nine months. Each month had a different topic related to goat care, such as vaccinations, feeding, housing, pregnancy, etc. I was the only one attending who didn't own a goat...and I went to every single class and took notes. Oh, and guess what? The teacher/veterinarian was Lee Ann. She is a goat-expert and I learned so much. I got my first three goats shortly after the classes ended.
And the rest is "goat history"...
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Now let's speed ahead about 10 years. I ran into Lee Ann again at the Michigan Fiber Festival and she told me that she'd like to try her hand at rug hooking. So this January when I started some classes here at my home, Lee Ann signed up. She watched and asked questions the first day but didn't want to sit and hook. "I just want to watch" she said. In the back of my mind, I was a little worried...everyone else was jumping right into it. Lee Ann bought some linen and wool and said she was going to go home and draw her own pattern.
Now the rest is "rug hooking" history....
The rug pictured at the beginning of my post is Lee Ann's first rug! It portrays her mom's crazy energetic dog chasing a butterfly. Isn't it fabulous! You can just feel the happiness and energy in this rug! Lee Ann is smitten with rug hooking and she's having fun and I am so excited for her! The best compliment I can ever receive as a teacher is an excited and motivated student. This first rug has some sculpted flowers and beading around the border...just awesome for a first rug! And she's already dreaming of designing the next rug....a goat with prodded sunflowers.
Don't get me wrong...I am extremely proud of ALL my students! They always work and progress beyond my wildest expectations. But I think this particular story is so special. A spirit of sharing our passion of goats and rug hooking with each other. It doesn't get better than that.

Crazy Fun In The Snow

My son ventured out in the snow on Monday afternoon to shovel the driveway and play with the goats. I thought these pictures he snapped were really adorable! He made a little "snow goat" (note the stick "horns") and placed it on the goat's play-stump. Sequoia is examining it carefully.

Zack and Zion are giving it a curious sniff.....

Zion decides that he ought to taste it......umm, umm, good!

Emma got a little snow sheep of her own. I think she likes it!

Not your typical fiber farm but at least the animals are happy (and just a little spoiled)!

Sheep in a Snowstorm

Here's Lumi and Emma waiting for breakfast this morning.....

Step Away From That Rug!

Quite often at this time of year, I get caught up in the zeal and enthusiasm of rug hooking. This year the Olympics has had me glued to my rug hooking chair. I am often working on one particular object with glorious abandon, caught up in the moment of it all. This is when I have to remind myself of a basic truth...step away from the rug! You see, we are often hooking and focusing our attention on one small area and not stepping back to look at the big picture. Sometimes this sets us up for surprises. I usually pull my work-in-progress off of my frame for the night, and then spread it on the floor in the morning to see what's going on. There are several reasons why I do this. First of all, I pull my rug off the frame so it is not tight and stretched out all night. I learned this lesson the hard way on one of my early rugs as I had near-permanent "bends" and ripples from keeping it tight on my frame for days (or maybe weeks). The good news is that I did get it all steamed out to lay flat but it was quite a job! Now secondly, I do not look at my work until the morning because: A) I am a night owl and hook late into the night; B) if I'm tired and see something wrong before I go to bed, it will keep me awake thinking about how to fix it (you know you'd do the same thing!); C) a fresh eye and fresh mind in the morning can problem-solve much better if something needs to be tweaked.
Right now I am thinking "Spring" and hooking Ah Tis Spring (a Notforgotten Farm adaptation). I love hooking rabbits and I love using lavenders and aquas for spring colors! This morning I decided to really take a critical look at my work so far. What did I decide? The bottom button on the dress is just a little too far over to the left. (Need to move that over. Good thing I didn't hook around it too much.) Also, I originally thought I'd like the dusty purple pantaloons, however now I think that they look a little too "heavy" for this bunny's apparel. I'm going to rip it out and try something else. I could have lived with this for a few days but honestly, I don't think I would have changed my mind...
You've probably noticed that I used quilling again. I've done a lot of that lately and wasn't sure I wanted to repeat it in yet another rug. But the rabbit's dress was so plain and I think the quilling buttons added just the right touch of whimsy. Sometimes these rugs tell us what they want to be!

Have Ye Any Wool Workshop

This is my finished rug "Have Ye Any Wool." If you remember from a couple of posts ago, I was frantically trying to finish my rug before I left for Mississippi to teach the workshop at P Is For Primitive. Well, I'm happy to say that I managed to get it done the night before I left. Maybe I just work better under pressure! I added the little hit-or-miss corners at the last minute. They weren't drawn on the pattern but I think I like the way it turned out...adds a little extra color up at the top of the rug and gives your eye a place to rest up there.

Here's the orange goat with quilling circles. Even though I used a texture for the body, the little circles just added a little more dimension and interest to the goat. The horns were hooked as a single piece of #8.5 cut. I am pleased with the way they turned out.

I hooked my sheep with roving. It is very special roving because it is from my beloved sheep Mikko, whom we lost almost 2 years ago. His wool was more of an oatmeal color and I love the way this little tribute to him turned out (If you want to read about Mikko, check out my blog post...but beware! it still brings tears to my eyes to read it).
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OK! On to a more festive subject....the workshop! Here are a couple of pictures of the happy hookers. I love these next two pictures because it shows all the flurry of activity and all the creative hands busy at work!

This is Mary and Abby, just two of the happiest gals you'd ever want to meet.

This is Deb. She did more hooking and just a little less talking than everyone else...and it shows! Look at how much hooking she got done!

Brenna was adding quilling circles to her sheep.

Candi had just completed hooking her "old goat."

Chris gave her sheep a blue-gray face, and while it is a little hard to see by the picture, it was looking absolutely terrific!

Deborah had gotten some of her letters hooked in. Her letter-hooking was very neat and tidy! Also love the yellow-gold star.

Great progress by Ginger!

Jane had also gotten quite a bit hooked before she had to leave.

Don't you absolutely love the happy little face on Linda's sheep?

I love Windie's gray goat....and don't let Windie fool you....this was probably the only minute that she had a straight face! There was a lot of laughter coming from her corner of the room!

Patricia was hooking Emma's Garden. She is fairly new to rug hooking but you'd never be able to guess that from her rug! She was really rolling along and got a lot done!

Margaret chose to hook Lion and Lamb. She did quilling on her little sheep and the lion's mane was coming along beautifully.

Carol was hooking Home Sweet Home. She did quilling in the inside of the "O" in Home.

And finally, Sue was hooking Merry Christmastime. This is one terrific rug. Don't you love the candy cane "C"???
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Thank you to Lisanne Miller at P Is For Primitive and all the workshop participants! It was a wonderful and productive week!

Quilling

For all of you out there who have asked about how to make the little rolled circles that I call "quilling", there is a wonderful tutorial on Ali Strebel's blog about how to do it. I learned to do this technique from her last September. Her instructions are so easy and clear-cut that there is no need for me to show you...just skip on over to her blog and check it out! I used three strips of wool for the rooster's wing (above). Just have fun with combining different colors and textures, and experiment with the number of strips that you roll. I found out that 2 or 3 strips rolled well...but 4 strips...well, not so much.
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I'm back from my Mississippi workshop and have lots of fun pictures to post! I'll save that story (and pictures) for tomorrow!

Just Part of the Flock

Just 2 more days and I'll be on my way to Mississippi! Yikes! I'm STILL hooking on my sample rug but I think I can see light at the end of the tunnel (so I'd better not spend too much time on my blog and get back to work). I worked up this little sheep pillow as a sample for the same class so the students can see what it would be like to use some quilling on their little sheep.

Besides the quilling, I used beading around the border of the pillow. Isn't she sweet? I was having trouble sketching a sheep, so I used a photograph of Emma to draw the body...this is really and truly Emma, personified on my pillow!

Maria Barton has also begun to hook a sheep mat and incorporate quilling. Check out her blog here. I think it's really interesting to compare our individual styles. We each have our own "look". I can spot Maria's hooking style from a mile away.... I love her primitive palate and I'm a HUGE fan of her style and designs. She makes everything look so whimsical and yummy!
Back to my hooking....I'm working with roving....more about this later!
See y'all when I get back!

New Year, New Design, New Rug

In just about 2 1/2 weeks, I'll be heading down to Canton Mississippi to teach another fun rug hooking workshop. The gals who took my Emma's Garden workshop last year asked me to design another pattern for their 2010 class. I have been happily hooking away on my newly designed rug and I'm having a lot of fun in the process!!!
Here is a sneak peek:

The new pattern is called Have Ye Any Wool and features a sheep, goat and rooster standing one on top of the other. The techniques I'm teaching this year include: quilling, hooking two different kinds of eyes, hooking houses, hooking letters, hooking with roving, and hooking stars and giving them nice crisp points (If you've been following my blog, you are already privy to my lessons on hooking letters and houses ~ lucky you!). There might be a few more tips and tricks, depending on what I can think up between now and then. I'm still waiting for my background wool to come in, so some of my hooking progress has been put on hold. In the meantime, I've taken the sheep motif and made it into a smaller pattern...I'm hooking a smaller mat and I'm going to make it into a pillow. This will allow me to demonstrate some alternative techniques for hooking sheep. And maybe do some beading around the edges...this is just so exciting and I'll be showing you more soon!
I love when a plan (and a new rug) starts coming together!

Quite Frosty .... but Beautiful!

I think these pictures say it all....

Don't you love the color of that sky? Gorgeous!

I hope your week-end was spent somewhere cozy and warm...and perhaps working on a creative project that inspires you!
These are the days for hot tea and soft warm wool.
I've started hooking on a new design.....

Did I break a New Year's resolution ALREADY?!?

Happy New Year! I've been reading other blogger's entries and de-cluttering seems to be a common theme amongst most of us in this young new year. There are times that I feel like such a pack rat and I decided that it would do me good to re-organize and de-clutter a little. Yes, that's what my resolution should be ...and throw out or give away all that stuff that just sits around and doesn't get used like it should. And really be selective about what I drag back home....
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Yesterday, Ken and I headed up to Frankenmuth, Michigan to take some lovely Corriedale fleece to the woolen mill for processing. It's about an hour's drive so we always try to do some other fun things along the way. After dropping off the fleece, we headed to Zehnder's for lunch. They are famous for their fried chicken dinners, but the best kept secret is downstairs from the restaurant where they have a bakery and cafeteria. I love to order their Michigan Cherry Salad with chicken. It's like THE perfect "woman food"...trust me, it is THAT delicious. You'll be dreaming for more.
Then we passed an antique store that I hadn't really noticed before, so we decided to stop and take a peek.....
and I found this:

Gorgeous old bent rug hook. This baby looks really old. I had to have it. Justification: I collect rug hooking stuff. It wasn't too expensive. It's not big at all, and it can fit in a drawer.

Cute tiny little children's book. I have to have it. Justification: I collect sheep stuff, don't I? It was pretty cheap and it's small. Won't take up too much room on a shelf.

Old cast iron holly candle stick holders. I have to have them because they were 1/2 off! Justification: They will look great with red candles next Christmas. They aren't big. And they were 1/2 off.

Marvelous grungy galvanized box with two handles. I have to have it. Justification: It was super-cheap. I love how unusual it is. Maybe I can put something in it. Maybe I can use it to display something when I vend at a show.....

Yikes! Be still my heart!! A vintage shoping cart with wire baskets (OK, it came with just one but I have plenty of other wire baskets that will fit perfectly). Yeah, it's yellow...so what? I have to have it!!! Justification: I've been looking for one of these babies for a while. Sure, the wheels are missing but do I really need them? Maybe I can find replacement wheels? Maybe I can use this to put stuff in when I vend at shows!!! It was really, really inexpensive! It folds up so it won't take up too much room to store it.
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Darn! There goes my de-clutter New Year's Resolution, right out the window!
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After the antique store, we did make another stop at Pottery Barn Outlet. I was a very responsible shopper there. Look what I got:

Lovely rattan baskets that fit perfectly on my desk. I cleaned up my odds and ends and stored them in the baskets. That would be my start for de-cluttering.
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Maybe I'd better stick to my resolution of binding all of my hooked rugs that have their edges "temporarily" pinned in place....

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!