Home Tweet Home

With granma responsibilities over for the Easter vacation I was able to finish hooking the Karen Kahle pattern Home Tweet Home and finally post another segment on my blog.  Amazing how much energy a 7 year old boy has.  I was so anxious to share a picture of it that I took this picture even before it is trimmed and bound.

I was quite lucky to get this on e-bay for a song....along with enough of Karen's wool to hook the entire thing.  And even tho some of the wool was cut more narrow that I prefer to hook with, I used the wool anyway.  Hey, waste not want not is my mantra.  And if you could see my wool room you would know that lack of wool is not an issue.

Hard to believe that when I started rug hooking there was absolutely no stash at all.  And I am embarrassed to show anyone that room now because it looks like I am in the wool selling business.

So now I'll pull out my Sincerely Jane challenge rug and hook a couple more blocks on that until I decide on what else I'm going to hook.  Since my least favorite thing to do is bind rugs, I'll let this Home Tweet Home rest a few days and then do my stitching around and trim in preparation of the binding.

More Sincerely Jane Challenge

I've been working alternately between two main rugs ~ Home Tweet Home and the Sincerely Jane challenge.  Actually I do have another rug started but one I hook on only when I go somewhere to demonstrate.  So since my dear grandson Zachary will be with me this next week during their Easter and Spring break thought I'd do two more blocks on the SJ and move it out of the  living room to make room for my grandson.  I'll still have one rug in progress in there but don't want to monopolize all the living space with my 'stuff'.

Here is the rug now.  It has progressed so easily and without being bored that I probably should have (could have) taken on a larger endeavor.  But definitely not the full size as some of the challengers have taken on.

Perhaps the time away from the SJ rug will give me a little time to reflect on my next move........ do I introduce new colors or repeat what I've used?  From the picture I can see that if I follow a reverse of row one that I will have a green to the left of a green on the second row.... no can do, even tho they are different textures, they are still both green.  And the haunting question is:  what am I going to do with the border? 

So I think it is good to put away the SJ piece for a few days and 'sleep on it'.  Actually, I heard that term is appropriately used since having an unanswered question in the mind the answers sometimes come to a person in a dream subconsciously.  So I'm hoping for some answers during REM sleep.

Sincerely Jane Challenge Update

Thought I'd do a little more hooking on my Sincerely Jane challenge rug and put aside my Home Tweet Home for just a little bit.  As I look at it guess it is time to start repeating some of the colors in the top row and put them in the 3rd row.  One or two of the textures didn't hook up as nicely as I'd hoped so might introduce something else instead.  I'm not that crazy about the texture in the 2nd box from left on top and have an alternate for row 3.

And I was sure that the block in the 2nd row, far right would turn out differently because before it was hooked it looked like a blue and brownish texture.  However, it looks an awful lot like the color of the star in the middle of second row.  But, I'm not going to pull them out and re-hook because I figure our foremothers 'made do' and so shall I.

I'm still uncertain as to what I'm going to do for the border.  I'm truly looking forward to trying something but figure I should wait until I hook the rest of the block before I tackle that.  Plus, I'm in a quandary as to what to do with my corners and perhaps as I hook my plan will be a little more obvious.

Delaware Hook-in

Oh what a marvelous 3 days we had here at my home with gal pals hooking, laughing, checking out every one's wool, eating, drinking and basically just enjoying friendship.  Even tho it was in my home, these gals spoiled me rotten; I was not allowed to lift a finger to anything as they cooked and cleaned up.   Plus everyone brought me some goodies so I told them I was having another hook-in next week again.... we all had a good laugh at that.

This is the pattern I worked on and did get a little more accomplished on it but took a lot of time outs to chat, laugh and don't know about the rest of you but seems when I talk or listen to my pals I stop what I'm doing and look at them.  Guess I am not good at multi-tasking by talking and hooking.

I had intended to take pictures of all the rugs we were working on but had so much fun that the time slipped by all too soon. The only partial rug is on my friend Shari's frame in the picture below.

On Thursday two of the gals went to the MD Shores rug show in Ocean City, MD while 3 of us stayed behind to hook.  But the girls who did go took lots of pictures of the rugs to share with us and tantalized us with their purchases from the rug camp store. 

So here we are all together; from left to right there is me and my dog Shadow, Shari, Deb, Mary and Char.  We make quite a fun group and we will all be together in one month when we take a class in Ligonier, PA with the delightful and talented Barb Carroll.

In progress

This is a rug that I am working on when not hooking on my Sincerely Jane Challenge rug.  It was a Home Tweet Home kit I picked up on e-bay several months which also included Karen Kahle's wool because the tags were still in the bags explaining what colors were to go where.

The birdhouse colors I changed up a little as the stripe appearance didn't appeal to me so went with more red.  However, in person you can see some other colors which might give the appearance of a weathered birdhouse. 

Since my hook-in with gal pals will start this afternoon, this is probably the one I will work on between chatting, laughing, eating and having a few glasses of wine.  What is a hook in with pals without sharing a little of the grape in the afternoon.

Another face lift for a rug

If you have been following my blog you know that I did a face lift for a rug that I was unhappy with and it was a 6 year old rug.  And, I mentioned that same time there was another who needed a face lit too.  Well, today I pulled that baby off the floor and made a face lift.  Now, I must admit this photo is a little washed out as it was taken soon after being hooked and was outside on my back porch.  But even in the house I knew it needed a little nip and tuck after it was hooked. 

But hey, the rug is done, right?  Just bind it and put it on the floor or the wall.  Yet, every time I walked on it, by it, saw a picture of it, I knew that it had to be fixed. 

Perhaps my motivation was that 4 rug hooker gal pals are coming here for a Saundra's Hook-in on Wednesday.  Three of the four gals have walked on this rug for years and don't even think they will notice the change.  But I will know and will be happier.    I LOVED the pattern Harry ever since I saw it in an older issue of RHM.  And I'm loving Harry even more now.

So here is how my Harry looks now.  And, this photo was taken inside the house so it will be a little more mellow in appearance vs. washed out from the sunlight.

Oh yeah, baby... that's what I'm talking about.  This is MUCH better!!!!!  That dividing line between the border and background makes a huge difference.  And when I got out my value finder before, the values were completely the same between the pink border and background.  So now with this dividing line it makes everything stand out much more. 

Sincerely Jane Challenge Rug

I've hooked a couple more squares on my challenge piece.  For those of you who are just now catching my blog for the first time, this is a challenge piece that some of us members of the Yahoo Rughookers are taking on.  It is based on a quilt which was made by Jane Stickle in the 1800's and we have decided to do our version of it in hooked form.

Some people have taken on a humongous personal challenge as they are making the full size rug whereas I'm making one much smaller to suit me.   I have chosen blocks which I felt could be hooked in #8 strips and am using #8.5 wool strips for the sashing. 

It doesn't get boring because the colors change as do the individual block designs so it maintains its interest.  Since I had started another hooked piece I am switching back and forth from rug to rug.  The other piece I am currently hooking is Karen Kahle's Home Tweet Home.

Here is what Sincerely Jane rug looks like now. 

Now I'm going to start repeating some of the same wool colors after this second row is complete and I am saving the border until all the blocks have been hooked so that maybe I'll have a better idea as to how I want to proceed with the border.

Rug Hooking Demo

On Monday I volunteered to do a traditional rug hooking demo at a nursing care facility in town.  I was hoping that perhaps some of the seasoned ladies may have hooked sometime in their past but no one in the room had. 

My goal was to just stimulate the minds of the ladies and to fill in a little space of time in their day with something fun.  I took several smallish hooked pieces with various designs in the hopes it would provide some spark or twinkle to the eye and let each of them hold and feel the texture of the hooked items. 

Here I am showing the women an antique hook, which is a nail embedded in a crudely carved piece of wood and a latch hook and explained that this was not the type of hook used for traditional rug hooking.  Heck, I've no clue how in the world to even use a latch hook.

Below I am explaining how we 'outline and fill'.  And tho my visit there was a quick synopsis of the process of rug hooking, it provided a little entertainment and communication to what might normally be a hum drum day for some of the residents of the facility. 

Woodland Deer Rug

This is a rug I purchased from and hooked at the Woolley Fox; it and is an adaptation of an antique rug.  Since I live on Woodland Drive and have deer roaming the acreage here it seemed only natural for me to hook this rug and display it in front of my fireplace in my home.  Barb Carroll has a magnificent eye for color and I dearly love the results.

After I took a picture of the finished rug and sent it to a friend, she wrote back asking if I'd ever seen a picture of the original antique.  I told her I hadn't, so she kindly sent me this page from an antique magazine.

Soon it will be time to go to Woolley Fox for another mini-workshop and I'm as excited as if it were my first time there.  I already know what I'm going to hook and it is another antique adaptation which I will transfer to linen (it is old enough that there is no copyrite issue) but the design will remain a secret until after I return home from Barb's so I can share my progress with you.