Fourth Blog Challenge Project Revealed!

Here's the fourth and final (for now) Blog Challenge Project!  As you remember, Alice Frazier sent a "conglomeration" (those were her words!) of wool fabric, nubby wool yarn, shibori ribbon, pieces of knit sweater, piece of purple paisley, and three beads.  I was totally at a loss...nothing was speaking to me....this was a true challenge...what to do?

I did a little sketching.

I hooked a little bit of wool.

And then hooked a little bit more....

Guess what?

I think this little guy turned out pretty darn cute!

I call this piece "Dreaming."  

 "thought-cloud" with fish and dragon fly

 I hooked the nubby yarns around the edge to create a funky frame for the piece.  The chenille yarn was used for the cat's whiskers, the shibori ribbon was used for the bow around his neck.  You can see the strip of purple paisley along the upper left side of the piece.  I used the various blue strips of wool in the sky.  The glittery navy knit sweater piece was cut into smaller strips and used as the outline around the cat's head.  And of course the two fish beads and the dragon fly bead are used in the thought cloud.  Little kitty is thinking about his next catch-of-the-day and he is licking his lips!  Yum!

Even though I used #8 cuts, this piece is small and I mounted it on a piece of gator board.  I wanted the yarn edge to be the border so opted not to whip the edges or finish them with crochet like I did with the previous project.

Check out Maria, Ali, and Alice to see what they have cooked up!

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It was a grand challenge indeed!  I am off to other adventures this Spring and Summer, but I'm sure at some point we will all put our heads together and figure out another challenge to keep our creative minds and hands busy!

I Love This Rug!

The hooking on my Midnight Clear rug is completed!  I pressed it last night and now have to decide on a binding technique.  I love how a good steam press really brightens up the colors and makes your rug look a whole lot better.

This is hands-down one of my most favorite rugs I have ever hooked!  The color plan came together nicely and the rug was a pleasure to hook.  I was sad to pull up the last loop, knowing that it was over. 

Note the glow of a light in the upstairs window of the blue house...someone is trying to stay awake for Santa!

There's nothing on my frame right now but I can't feel too sorry for myself...I have lots of hooking projects waiting for me.  One project is my blog challenge (still have designer's block about that one!) and now there are new Notforgotten Farm patterns posted on my website!  Hmmm, which one should I choose??????

A Carefree Girl

 It was sort of a weird weather day today.  First it poured down rain and then in the afternoon, it turned to snow and it came down all day long.  I'm sure we have two inches of fresh snow on the ground right now.

I was so amused to look out of the window and see little Miss Emma laying out in the snow storm, chewing her cud and acting as if she didn't have a care in the world.  I took these photos from the back window.  If I would have opened the door, I would have interrupted her beautiful and carefree daydreaming....

I love her spunk!

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The colonoscopy went well...everything was clear and I don't have to be back for 10 years...yippee!  PS:  The anesthesia was worth the whole thing...best nap I ever had!  Now go schedule yours!

March Happenings!

Alice's blog challenge material came Monday in the mail.  It is quite a collection of various wool and yarn pieces, a strip of purple paisley, shibori ribbon and some little glass beads.  One is a dragon fly and two are tiny fishes.  This box is proving to be quite a challenge for me as nothing comes to mind just yet.  You and I will both be surprised on March 20th!

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I have been working on my Midnight Clear rug and it is almost done!  I have just a few little areas left to hook so I won't show a picture until it is all finished.  If you are a fan of Lori Brechlin, you might want to take a minute to visit her blog...she is having a great give-away and the drawing is this Sunday, March 6th.

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And lastly, did you know that March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month?  I had no idea either until yesterday but the timing is perfect.  I am having my routine colonoscopy tomorrow.  Yes, I am apprehensive about the prep (I'm going to start drinking that yucky liquid in about an hour) but I have decided that I'm going to do this in honor and memory of my brother-in-law who passed away from colon cancer just this past January.  My sister-in-law is certainly too young to be a widow.  I decided it was time to quit putting it off and just get it done!  I hope you make the same decision.

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!

Tomorrow is the beginning of something BIG!

Tomorrow is the first day that you can officially register for the ATHA Biennial which is being held in Lancaster, Pennsylvania this October.  This is a BIG, BIG event!  There is lots of buzzing going on about the classes and the great roster of over 20 teachers.  I think there will be a huge response to the classes being offered, so if you are interested...tomorrow is THE date to mail in your registration and don't delay!  The hotels have been booking up fast (I believe 3 hotels are already close to capacity).  If you need a registration form, click on this link.

If you want to see the roster of teachers, click here.

(psst!...just a sample of some of the teachers include Barb Carroll, Jule Marie Smith, Elizabeth Black, Pris Butler, Heather Ritchie, Maria Barton...and Kris Miller!...)

 (c) 2010 Kris Miller/Spruce Ridge Studios-All rights reserved

 This is the project for my ATHA class.  It is officially called Fancy Barn Symbol but my friend Kate calls it "Eight Ways To Thrill A Hooker."  I think she's right!  There are lots of different techniques and embellishments to try out.

1. Hooking with antique paisley

2.  Beading (hooking with 2 colors)

3.  Herringbone stitch

4.  Hooking with roving

5.  Quilling

6. Bird's eyes

7.  Hit or miss

8.  Proddy

and a bonus, folks...separating and hooking a striped fabric to make it work for you.  

This will be kitted up with a linen pattern, all the woolens, and some hand-outs, all at one affordable price.  It will only be available to the people who take my class.

I don't expect you to get the whole mat done in one day!  But we will work on all the various techniques during class and then you can go home and finish it up.  Sounds like fun?  Yes, I think it does!

Materials for Blog Challenge #3

It's my turn to challenge my blog sisters with some different types of materials.  They should be getting their boxes today so I thought it was safe to show you what is in my magic box of tricks:

 There is about a yard of nice Corriedale roving, some over-dyed Wensleydale curls, a couple yards of variegated blue and green yarn, a length of glittery craft cord, and a twig!  Just like all the other projects, I have a general idea of what I might want to create.  Last week-end I stopped by a yarn shop and unexpectedly got some inspiration!  You'll see the results on February 20th!!!

Second Creative Blog Challenge Project

Ali Strebel has posted her project so I am going to go ahead and post mine as well.....

as you remember, we were given these materials to work with:

 

When I saw the old lace, I had a general idea of what I wanted to do.  

So here is what I came up with...

  A little Valentine heart pillow! I was inspired by those candy hearts with the messages printed on them.

 

Back of pillow.  The lace is used as trim around the outside.

 

 Here are the words and you can see just a glimpse of the pink sari ribbon hooked around the edge.

 I sewed the felted heart to my foundation and hooked a shadowed shape around it using the stretchy nylon and some purple sari ribbon I had in my stash.  The purple sari ribbon was also hooked all the way around the outside edge of the pillow.

 I appliqued two small hearts to the back of the pillow and the beads were sewn to the center of the hearts.  

My personal challenge?  Well, I don't use pink in my hooking so that was certainly a challenge (although the color I used was more of a coral-type pink)!  Sewing up a heart-shaped pillow and attaching the lace trim in between the hooking and the wool backing was another small challenge.  And I discovered that I love hooking with sari ribbon!  I had bought a little from Ali Strebel in years past to keep in my stash and now I know I want to get some more...hope you have some more, Ali, because I'll be buying more from you!!!

Please check out Ali's blog, along with Maria and Alice for their results.

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I'm responsible for the materials for the next Creative Blog Challenge.  Give me a few days to recover, girls, and your package will be on its way!!!

Teaser!

The last stitches have been put into my Creative Blog Challenge project!

Come back tomorrow afternoon for the grand unveiling!

A Tale Of Two Santas....In January

I never get tired of Santa and here's proof...I've been working on this Santa rug for a workshop in Mississippi, coming up the first week of February:

 There are several different techniques that I'll be teaching my class...hooking with roving (of course), how to hook eyes (and there are three of them here!) and sculpting.  The holly berries are all hoved, which means they are sculpted from wool strips that have been pulled up high.  They are actually 3-dimensional.  And the pom pom on Santa's hat is also sculpted, but it is sculpted from roving.  It's hard for me to say which materials I like to work with the most, but I do think perhaps the roving is a little easier to sculpt with.  I'm also going to crochet wool strips around the edge to finish it and that will be another thing that will be taught in class.

I still don't have a name for this pattern...any suggestions???

And I am itching to return to my hooking on this......

 My Midnight Clear rug!  I had to set it aside to work on the other Santa rug, but now I'm anxious to get back to it.  Everything was hooking up wonderfully and I couldn't be happier!  The background is a mix of two navy plaid wools.  I think they make a stunning midnight sky.  It is important for the letters to pop (but not too loudly) so I chose a brighter blue plaid for them.  I don't use a lot of blues when I color plan for myself but I love what I am using for this rug!

Of course, there is no rest for the weary!  I'm ALSO working on my blog challenge project which is due on January 20th.  Yikes!  I'll be burning the midnight oil for sure because I am nowhere close to being finished!  I don't even have enough done for a sneak peek yet...but I can tell you that it will have something to do with Valentine's day.  LOL!  So come back on Thursday to see what I have concocted.

More Farm Mischief!

While I was eating my lunch and looking out the back window, I noticed the goats acting a bit odd and out of sorts.  The little voice in my head told me to get out there and see what was going on....

Yes, I had another "jumper!"  This time, Willow had gotten into the hay feeder and was waiting  patiently for someone to help her out.  The last goat to do this, Bryce, is actually her twin brother.  And like a good brother, Bryce was standing close by.  I'm sure he would have helped her if he could.

Some of the other little boy goats are acting strangely, but I'm pretty sure I know the answer to that...little Miss Ruby has come into season and she is driving the boys crazy!  Even though my boys are neutered, the call of the wild is loud and clear and they like to think they are Big Men On Campus!

I know....too much information.....welcome to my world!

Forgot something!

Just an addendum to my blog challenge items...I found 5 little red beads in the bottom of the envelope.  They look a lot like Red Hots candy and will be a perfect addition to the rest of the Valentine theme.  Here's a corrected view of everything:

 

The Newest Blog Challenge

I received a package yesterday from Ali Strebel for the newest project of our blog challenge.  There is a length of vintage crochet cotton lace, a small pink needle felted heart, a couple of yards of silk sari ribbon, and a curious little piece of material which reminds me of a nylon stocking with runs in it (also pink). It's time for me to put my thinking cap on and get creative!  This definitely has a Valentine's Day theme to it!  I do have somewhat of an idea of what my project will be.....but again it could be a mystery as to how I will get it to all come together!  January 20th will be the next unveiling....

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Here is the aftermath of Christmas Day....Jack was totally exhausted after opening gifts and all Riley wanted to do was play with the paper!  The goats and sheep got apple slices in the morning so it was a wonderful day for everyone!