Sunday Finishes

Actually the sheep rug was finally finished being bound yesterday evening but I'd already made a blog post.  The pattern is called Flag Day Sheep however I had other plans for my prize sheep and took liberties. It is a Woolley Fox design.  

Since I hate binding and whipping, or any other type of finishing a rug the task drags on and on for days prolonging my misery, lol.

The rug below you may have been shown since it was finished.  It was finally whipped with that special wool yarn spun and dyed by my departed friend Lesley Coveney.  There was enough and some left over. A Day in the Country is a design by Mad Hen Prims.  

Maybe someone can tell me why the top and bottom of my whipped edges are rippled and sides aren't?  At first I thought the ripple was due to the scalloped hooking and maybe it still is.  Perhaps I packed the curved sections too full on top and bottom.  Strange.  And yes, I steamed the back again after whipping.

Now I need to do labels for both of these rugs, plus a few others which haven't been labeled.  But I don't print labels until the sheet is full of rug labels.  Then it will be to sew each on the appropriate rug.

Today also drew a Domestic Zoo pattern to have one ready to go. As two will soon be going to rug camps there may be another request for one when folks see the progress the hooker is making. Since the pattern is rather large and lots of motifs I don't have a stack already drawn but do like one ready and another foundation serged waiting.

How are my horses doing?  Have started hooking the top section of the one horse pattern so will make some progress on that tonight I hope. Am fighting the urge to cut some dark strips for the stripes at the top but want to use my worms.  So while the colors or width may not be like the original antique I'll use what I have.

Have a great evening everyone.

Saundra

Closing in on My Sheep

Nope, still not finished but am corralling that sheep at what seems like a snail's pace.  Am so glad to have at least tried hooking the one corner to see if that would 'ground' the piece and make it better. By unanimous decision by me and comments left on the blog the triangles won.  If you'd like to see the post with the corner block hooked just scroll down my blog or maybe it was even in December.

During the hooking process of the border have used ONLY worms from my baggies.  Numerous times I wonder if my choices are good putting a color beside another...as that color is just two or three blocks down so now what??  And also the value in color needs to be in the equation.  

Looking at the rug above I'm questioning my three (3) tan blocks and wonder if they should be another light value color.  OMG, my friend Evelyn Lawrence continually tells me I'm my own worst enemy (critic).

So tonight perhaps I'll continue to whip the edge of A Day in the Country with the wool yarn as I've not finished the second side and there's more to do. Then I'll have an opportunity to look at my sheep rug.  

OH!!!!!  I think that when taking a picture of a rug that I should put a level on top to be sure it is placed on the floor straight.  However, perhaps that right side is shorter because there is unhooked space there.  Hmmm, ya think?

Have a great evening folks.  I'm cold here and happy to have some homemade soup to warm my 'innards' as my family used to say.

Saundra

Three Corners and a Sheep

Couldn't resist trying one solid square corner just to see if I like that better than thee split corner triangle shapes.  So I'll let my audience give me their opinions ~ remember, there's no right or wrong, just preference.  

Meanwhile I'll work the bottom border toward the fourth corner and stop until I've had a chance to look at the rug for a while and made up my mind. But at this first glance think I like the triangle corners best.  

Having all the blocks being rather square makes the rug sorta humdrum.  With the triangle corners it seems to put a little pizzazz in the rug. What do you think?

Today I over dyed some more of that same recipe over camel wool and will show the results tomorrow.  

Have a great evening everyone.  And good luck to the participants of the Out of Hand Rug Challenge.  If you are a member of Facebook and would like to see the many rugs and would like to vote, visit this link on FACEBOOK. 

Have a good evening everyone and hope all are warm.

Saundra

Wool and Rug Update

A friend and follower Cathy asked me what wool was used to hook the curvature areas of the sheep so thought I'd post a picture.  It is a herringbone and actually am using two different herringbone pieces of wool for this rug.   

The wool on the left is a light grey & white herringbone and if you click on the photo should enlarge it enough for you to see the change of stripe direction is about every half inch.  

The wool to the right is what I'm using for the outer edge of the main design since it is a tad more bold.  That wool is double-sided and used the dark side for the legs of the sheep but in a smaller cut and the lighter side for the outer edge.

Well here it is the eve of the goal I'd set to have the sheep rug done and as you can see, it isn't.  And, no way can I get it done tomorrow New Year's Day either so may as well slow down and enjoy the process until it is finished.  

In the above photo you can see that I did remove the red strip from around the star and like it much better now.  Must tell you that the rug looks more rich in person.  And what makes it a whole lot better doing this kind of border is that I'm using up lots of strips from my worm baggies.

Come to think of it, that may be part of the reason for not meeting my deadline by tomorrow.  Seems I spend so much time looking thru my baggies for just the right wool strips when that could have been hooking time.  Oh well, it is still very rewarding knowing that I'm using up wool worms which seem to magically multiply faster than they can be used.

I'm staying in this New Year's eve and hooking and have a glass of Pinot Noir with me now.  Back in the day I was a party person but stay close to home now.  If you do go out to celebrate the new year, Please please be safe and have a cab or friend drive you home.  Enjoy the closing of 2015 and welcome in 2016.  I'll welcome 2016 behind closed eyelids.

God Bless, thanks for being my blogger friends and followers as I appreciate you all.

Saundra

Not Going to Happen

Tomorrow is New Year's Eve and was my goal to have the rug completely hooked by the end of the day.  Then changed my mind to finish it on New Years Day.  Well looks like that 'ain't gonna happen' either.

While I had hopes that elves would drop by after Christmas to help me, haven't seen any great progress on the hooking of the sheep rug in the mornings.  Plus I was out shopping today to take advantage of a $10 off coupon, plus a 30% off coupon at a local clothing store which expires tomorrow.  So I was able to get a pair of nice denim leggings originally $48 and only paid $13.52 for them.  

Okay, the pattern above I'm still working out in my mind as I look at the photo.  Regarding the hooked star ~ think it needs to be reduced in size like the one to the right of it.  And think that red outline needs to come out as it will be fine without it.  Am still considering putting a small star to the bottom right of the design.  

Those dark blue hooked lines in the background have my attention but they can wait.  Gee, I wonder how far along I'd been if I hadn't ripped out and re-hooked a few areas?

Have a great night everyone.

Saundra 

Sheep Rug and Weather

Will bore you with an update on the sheep pattern, which is from Woolley Fox.   It was originally a design called Flag Day Sheep but I've taken some creative license.  Some of that creative license was not drawn properly as the top border was 1/4" smaller than the other sides so changed that.

I also moved up the star on the left just a tad so there will be two stars above the sheep, the moon encroaching the border (I like that idea), and not sure if I'll make a smaller star just below the sheep's chinny chin chin or not.  Right now, me thinks not but I've been known to change my mind.

There's only 3 days left in 2015 so I'll have to work my buns off to get this done by the end of the year.

A few days ago Lauren (Rugs and Pugs) showed new blooms on her forsythia bush and now I've them on mine.  Poor things don't know what season we are in.  Of late it has been in the 70s but today in the 40s.  Tomorrow is supposed to reach 71 and then winter returns to show us that mother nature is still in charge and reminding us it really is winter.

So enjoy this soon-to-end balmy weather folks because it is all about to change.  And the poor folks in Texas.  The horrific tornadoes and now snow. 

Wishing you a pleasant evening with lots of hooking, stitching, punching or quilting.

Saundra

Working on Goal #2 for 2015

With A Day in the County all hooked (but not bound yet) was hoping to get the sheep rug completely hooked before the end of 2015 since it was started in September of this year.  I've not been a slouch in the hooking department since managing to hook 3 rugs since starting the sheep.

There's still a ways to go with only 4 days left in 2015, and this is how it looks now.

I'm planning on hooking that sliver moon and having it encroach the border that I drew.  Plans are to eliminate that lower star near the feet which was originally drawn in the rug ~ instead will hook a ground and sky background.

Today I didn't hook a lot since I used this last warm day to work on the leaf situation in the yard and did some laundry. So the next few days will have to work harder at hooking with such little time left.  This one I'm not so sure is an attainable goal to achieve.  So my house desperately needs cleaning but that too shall wait.  Ben doesn't mind the wool dust or his floating dog hair, lol.

Hope you had a great Christmas holiday and weekend with family.

Saundra