This Time Last Week.....

....there was to be April MD Shores Rug Camp except it was cancelled for the second year in a row due to Covid.  So thought I'd reminisce, share parts of it with you and dream of the one for 2022.  I registered for Norma Batastini in 2018 but due to her health Eric Sandberg filled in for her.

I've had Eric before, he is a great teacher, very prepared and hands-on with students.  Eric LOVES color and I've always remembered his quote "light, bright, dark, dull" for what makes a good rug; although I don't always adhere to his advice.

The rug pattern I took for class was one for which I had no color plans but took wool colors I like and which go with my home interior.  Of course I'm always open to buy wool to make the rug better or wool that is just yummy for the future.  The design is called Flower Power.  Remember, I'm a primitive hooker and love antique rugs with dirty colors 😊.   In full disclosure the April camp is a McGowan camp therefore destiny might be determined.

This is the finished rug, it is pretty and definitely has Eric's signature all over, just not my signature.  Plus I've never displayed it in my house as it looks out of place.  Anyone want to buy a rug?

Yet I have been known to hook rugs with color, not all of mine have been drab or dull rugs.  Here is an antique adaptation I did called Stars and Diamonds ~ quite colorful I'd say.

Eric used me as a model for his color planning lesson on what wool doesn't work in color planning a rug.  I snapped the photo just as he was  gesturing in my direction, you can see the other gals chuckling as was I.  He said my colors were bland and basically all the same boring value.  Did I care?  Nope, ran off me like water on a duck's back.

Here are a few rugs from the show.  The one below was hooked by Capri and had a price tag on it of $6,862.  It was a big beautiful rug.

The one below is named Cape May.

In the rugs below I see a Bev Conway design with a girl and horse so there was at least one other primitive hooker in attendance.

Dorset Flowers below and I love that background with the soft large blocks of plaid.

Gettysburg, a Quail Hill design, is the rug below.

Love Margaret Shaw's designs and here is a rabbit design by her in progress.  Yes, at the McGowan rug camp but obviously not in my class.

Be still my heart...sure do love this Poppies piece below!!!!!  See, I do like color after all.

This is something I learned from this geometric hooker and another friend who does this.  When working on a big rug at rug camp pull loops where color is established to maximize time with the teacher for color planning then take it home with the story already planned out.  Easy peasy.  

One last photo I'd like to share is this fantastic pin hooked by Tish Murphy of Pierre Keller, Eric's grandfather.  It was unbelievably realistic and must have been hooked with colored dental floss size strips.  WOW!!!!  Do you believe what you are seeing right now??

Happy Hooking.

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

Getting Ready

The 'gathering' has begun and it is being collected in my office near the garage door.

Haven't packed my suitcase yet as I wanted to print out the 10-Day Weather Forecast  for Cape May to see what will be needed.  It looks to be a good week.  I almost feel guilty for being thankful Florence didn't come upwards along the east coast.  Poor folks and animals in North and South Carolina are being battered, some deaths, and will take a while for them to recover.

Okay, moving on to lighter topics.....

I weighed myself this morning before breakfast and am 125 pounds.  Always want to see how much weight I gain at camp and then upon coming home work at getting back to that weight again.  I do love the food there but choose to not eat the red meat or pork.  My favorites are fish (particularly the salmon) and chicken if it is baked ~ no fried chicken even tho I hear it is delicious.  Also yummy is their corn pudding and delicious homemade yogurt.  

In the photo above you can see 9 rugs rolled up, that is the number of rugs completed since last year's Cape May camp.  I'm not done with Lady the Donkey yet so she isn't among the rolled up rugs.  But will take her to work on until Lucille gets to me.

Last year at Cape May I started On the Loose with Cammie Bruce, a design by Bev Conway.

When it was finished I drew and hooked an adaptation of a dog who I named Spike.  I'm hoping my friend Evelyn will take hers as she started hooking it at Cape May last year.

Also hooked a smaller version of Magdalena's Goat.  The first larger one true to the original size was hooked similar to Magdalena's.  But the second smaller one thought I'd show folks a different color palate.

At Cape May last year I was lucky enough to purchase 1909 Horse pattern (by Emma Lou Lais) at a great price.  It seemed to hook fast since it takes no time to finish a block and before you realize it the whole rug is hooked.

At Ocean City, MD last November I started Primitive Horse which is a pattern by Lib Callaway that I'd had for some time. That pattern seems to be the rage now so decided to pull mine out and hook it.

In an April class with Eric Sandberg I hooked this Nola Heidbreder's Flower Power design. 

Next, itching to replicate an antique chose a design from the Kopp book which I named Radiant Flower.

With Cape May looming closer, was feeling the pressure to hook the "Sheep at the Beach".  It was a pattern so generously given to each student at last year's Cape May rug camp.  This is the design drawn on Monk's cloth, except there were no exterior lines.  I drew those to not exceed beyond that to ensure room for binding.

This what I designed.  It will be fun to see how others hooked their pieces and will take pictures of all of them to share with you.

And the last rug completed since last September is Stars and Diamonds antique adaptation.  I hooked the sheep in short spurts while concentrating on the adaptation.

Will have my iPad with me so I'm only an email away.  Not sure how successful I will be posting newly created blog posts while I'm gone but will try.

Saundra

Maryland Shores Rug Show

I'll start with pieces hooked by Eric ~ Below is a design named Rick Rack and is for sale $1,700.  It was stunning looking at it up close.  I drew and hooked a rug similar, tho not this creative.  The shape is in at least one rug book on my shelf.

Eric, using the same concept but applying the design in a different way he did this smallish mat.  You can see the design in the four blocks, yet look at the artistic way he hooked the border and outlines of the blocks.  His mind is so creative.

Below is a huge rug hooked by Capri Boyle Jones which could be yours for $6,865. 

Another rug hooked by Eric is called Duncan and a Pearl McGowan design.  IF..IF I heard the conversation correctly, Pearl was asked to hook a 'log cabin' rug and this was her concept.  It is thought the circles in the middle was the chimney.  Remember, Pearl was NOT a primitive hooker.

Below, the edge of the rug and hit and miss scallop is gorgeous.  This was also hooked by Eric and he commented that primitive hookers love the edge but taken back by the orange and purple.   

Pat McDonnell hooked the rug below.  The design is called Gettysburg and was a pattern offered by Marion Hamm.

Dorset Flowers, below, hooked by Ingrid Heironimus is a design by Lucille Festa.  After seeing this rug hooked by Ingrid am now confident she could handle me in her class if I was hooking a primitive design.  Love her 'tile' squares for the background.

OMG, you should have seen this huge runner named Prudence, yet another Pearl McGowan design.  Eric said he had hooked about a third of the rug, found himself needing money.  So rather than finishing the project he sold it to Kathy Moyers who finished it.  You cannot tell where Eric's hooking stopped and hers began.  Awesome!

Here is the label on the back to document the story.  Eric asked if he could borrow it for his "Encore" to teaching this class.  And what a hell of a wonderful class it was Eric.

Pam Johnson hooked the proddy sheep design below from Heavens to Betsy. 

Pam Brune hooked Pumpkin Patch, a design by Betsy Reed.

There are more finished rugs in the show but since I hadn't gotten permission to post the photos didn't want to get in a battle with anyone.  

There are some in-progress photos from camp yet to come.  And then I'll show you mine.  Happy Tuesday.

Feeling so guilty and such a slug.  I have a rug pattern to design, still have laundry to do, yet enjoying the ambiance of slowly hooking on the camp rug.  Well, that is between doing yard work, grocery shopping and mom car pool for my neighbor's 3 kids.  I'm 76 and thought those car pool duties were over years ago.

Saundra

What Happened at Rug Camp Doesn't Stay at Rug Camp 😉

In a previous post I mentioned Eric Sandberg was my teacher again after 12 years.  Must say this class was top notch and would definitely take a class with him again.   Not sure if that will happen as he retired, has no wool (except for his personal stash), and only doing this gig since he is a substitute teacher for Maryland Shores Rug Camp.

Below Eric gathered us together to talk basics about...."light, bright, dark, dull".  For those who had Eric as a teacher before know these words by heart.

We students gathered in a circle and took turns showing our project and wool colors we'd brought to camp.  

Eric is working with us individually and we are learning as each person's rug is being color planned.    

It is impossible to give his 5 day class in just one blog post but there are many easy to remember hooking lessons ~ the Three Bears and Goldilocks, for just one example.  Don't ask, it would take too long to explain.  But OMG I will never forget that!!!

Below is a photo of Eric with just one of the hand-outs provided.  Cannot wait for life to get back to normal so I can read them.  He covered most in class but there is more in the handouts about hit and miss, geometric, dyeing hints and so much more.

Notice Eric also has a piece of wool in his hand.  He brought pieces to toss into the mix of what the student brought just to show how adding another color or value would change the rug.  

Below, this picture shows Eric using me as a 'teaching lesson' for bringing mostly medium value wool.  I brought red, blue, old gold and green ~ plus dirty white or black for background.

You can see students chuckling and I knew it was in good fun, yet a lesson for those who prefer colorful rugs ~ I was, after all, the 'what's different in the picture".   Eric said he took a class with Barb Carroll so he would be better able to work with primitive students.  

On another day we each took one or two rugs we'd brought for the rug show.  Students decided to have him 'critique' or suggest, how he would have chosen different wools.  We had to raise our right hand and pledge....."There is no such thing as an ugly rug, some are just better than others"

In the lesson above Eric used the Johannes Itten color wheel "The Color Star".   I'm sitting on a gold mine and have only looked at it briefly a few times.  Thankfully mine was purchased when the cost was maybe $40.  Because of Eric I unearthed my Star Wheel and will use it with future rugs.   BUT... lol, if I am replicating an antique rug of a woman who didn't know about bright, contrast, value, etc., I will hook it like the woman did but using what is in my stash.  

On that day I noticed a fantastic hooked pin Eric was wearing.  I asked if it was an image of him.  He said it was an image of his grandfather Pierre Keller which was hooked by Tish Murphy.    Was unbelievable to see the detail with wool which seemed to be hooked with floss it was so thin.  

Oh there is so much more to share from rug camp but will be in separate blog posts.  My hope is to have more time to pull more loops on my rug before having to share it.  But reality has given me yard work, laundry, pattern drawing, etc.  I like being on vacation better 😁

Saundra

Maryland Shores Rug Hooking

I haven't attended the April rug camp in many years.  Since I was self-taught this was the venue for my very first rug camp.  I wanted to unlearn bad habits and find out how to hook the right way.  It was convenient as it is only an hour away from my house.  But of course I would stay at the hotel to enjoy the fun and cerebral happiness that is shared among hookers.

Below is a photo taken with Eric Sandberg as my teacher in 2006.  Twelve years later he is my teacher again this year.  Eric is helping me color plan Birds and Pomegranates, a design by Edyth O'Neill which was in a book for me to copy.  I'm on the floor and friend Shari is on the other side of Eric.

Below I'm still soaking up whatever it is Eric is teaching during class.

Since I'm unable to post photos from my iPad, I'm preparing blog posts at home and saving them to publish once at camp.  Yeah, I'm cheating Blogger.  But will take photos while I'm here at camp which you will see once I return home.

Here is how the Birds and Pomegranates turned out.

Saundra

Rug Hooking Related Chit Chat

To me this is a total MESS!  I'd like to think it as 'creative chaos' but in reality it changed from an organized grouping of wool worms (by color) and developed into CHAOS.  Here is photo #1 where the worms are filling the spot where my handsome boy Ben would normally be looking at me with love in his eyes and guarding the yard.

Notice the gathering of mixed colors on the arm of the sofa as well as to the left where I'd fill that clean space.  All those worms will multiply, then when the rug is done will need to be separated AGAIN to put in bags by color.  Just for effect, here is a front view.

For over 10 years I went to Barb Carroll's rug camp and stayed on her lovely premises in one of the Ligonier cabins.  That is until May 2016 when my ex husband couldn't come take care of Ben.  I couldn't find a kennel in time so missed last year.  Then Barb sold the property and our group decided it was time to end the delightful camp.  

Long story short, I needed to fill my spring hooking habit.  But my registration for Maryland Shores rug camp in April was sent too late so couldn't get into any classes.  Told the camp organizer to put me on a waiting list and just Monday found out I'd gotten lucky.  So now in a class taught by Eric Sandberg who is filling in for Norma.  I've taken a class with Eric before so since he does color well.  

 As all of you know my color choices are earthy and am uncomfortable using bright colors.  Therefore I'm taking a pattern which spoke to me but require colors not in my usual comfort zone.  That camp will be in April and you will have a chance to see what that design will be.

Am sorry if you got bored by all this verbiage ~ guess I need to shorten my blog posts.

Hope you on the eastern shore have enjoyed these 60+ temperatures as things are about to get back to normal temps.  The party is over.

Saundra

Fun Wool Info from Teachers

Yesterday I posted a picture of the new project I'm working on as well as the wool below.

The first fun information is about that very light piece at the center top. One year in a class with Eric Sandberg he demonstrated how to dye what he called "Birch Bark".  That is what I'm planning to use as the tallowberries.  IF you would like to read the tutorial I did on my blog back in 2012, click HERE. 

The next fun thing I learned and also answered a question which always haunted me was about those ripped edges of wool with the eyelash.  In the past I would trim them off thinking of them as not being desirable or true to traditional rug hooking.  Until......My last class with Barb when I was hooking Simple Gifts.

 

Honestly don't remember which piece of wool in that rug above had a bit of an eyelash.  But Barb volunteered the information that she will often leave that fringe eyelash on to give the appearance of an old rug which is worn.  OMG!!!!!!  That is something which had haunted me forever.  That was a release, a freedom and acceptance of my inner thoughts.  Thank you Barb.

I thought that a 'purest' hell, do you think I'm a purest rug hooker HAR HAR HAR.  But to get the validation that it was okay to leave it on from a hooking icon like Barb Carroll!!!!  You kidding me!  I was over the moon happy.  

So you are wondering what that has to do with this rug, right?  That would be this piece of wool and others which are hooked in the turkey.

The eyelash on this wool is far longer than what was in the piece of wool on Simple Gifts.  Most of the wool on the blue chest of the turkey and all of the wool on the wing were both from Dorr (who has no more of this wool) and Barb Carroll who may have more.  It is a boucle which doesn't rip well but has a nice look.  So you decide and contact Barb if you want some.  

So thought it might be fun to have that eyelash around the tender underparts of my turkey legs and the edge of the wing.  Am sure it will show up more once the dark background is hooked in.

So for all you guys and gals who wondered if you needed to be anal and trim off those threads of weave ~ worry no more.  Unless, of course you're a purest.  In which case you aren't reading my blog anyway. Have fun with hooking.  

Have a great evening.... I'm sweltering here.  High heat and high humidity.  Hope you are comfy where you are.  Thankfully I've A/C this July.

Saundra