RUG HOOKING 102

If you are pulling loops and have a comfortable rhythm, you have already graduated from rug hooking 101.  Many of the seasoned hookers will know this already but for you newbies here are a couple things you may not realize.  

There are no real hard/fast rules in rug hooking but rather guidelines like, pull loops up as high as the width of your wool strip, it is okay to use different size strips in the same rug but if you use #8.5 for most of the rug and use #4 for inside the flower, you need to pull that #4 strip up as high as the #8.  Other than that it is follow your heart.

Someone asked me if I would be offended should someone make changes to one of my patterns.   My answer was an honest "no I wouldn't be offended" as I've made my own creative changes to others' patterns.  There is a caveat with that choice tho ~ you still cannot claim it is your design even after making the changes.

Case in point, 2007 I hooked Kindred Spirits' Crow Sampler, her design shown below.

After buying the pattern and ready for my frame, I felt it needed a border framing all the way around.  It took a little time but I moved the border over and re-drew the pennies all the way around.  This is my hooked version and I cannot claim it my design, it is still an Ali Strebel design.

Another example is Bev Conway's whimsical pattern Speckled Hens.

Although her design is cute with huge eggs laid by the hens, I envisioned the design for them to be sitting on a straw nest, thus my finished rug  ~ it is still Bev Conway's design.

Yet another rug I made changes to is by Bill Laraway named Gossip.  This is his original pattern with some of my early redrawing of the design to suit me. 

And here is the finished rug.  Am so proud of the feathers and my birds.  When I posted the finished rug photo on Facebook I gave credit to Bill, of course, for the design and mentioned I took creative license.  He saw that post and gave me a 'like'.

Although I drew a modern day image of clock, added a cabin and chicks in the mat below, I cannot lay claim it is my original design.  For it was inspired from the antique quilt of Harriet Powers, therefore, you guessed it, it is an antique adaptation.  You can read a little about it HERE and see what I'm referring to.

Evelyn gave me a Nola Heidbreder pattern named Golden in the Garden.  Naturally it beckoned me to change that Golden into a Rottweiler. 

Perhaps one day I will take the rug off the wall and change Ben's head and nose as it doesn't look proportionate to the body.

This is how my boy Ben looked and I hooked it in mostly #8 and #8.5.

There have been a few other patterns I've had to change but won't go into the lengthy detail of the purchased botched antique adaptation of the Mary Comstock rug but you can read a segment about that HERE.

More for you newbies to know...and something I notice often even with rug teachers and people to sell patterns which irks me.  There are those folks who put their web site 'watermark' on antique rugs as if it is their brand.  An antique rug in public domain and dated 1927 or older is free for anyone to draw and cannot be copywritten.  Sometimes people put that watermark on a rug to make people believe they own the rights to draw it and only them.  

Not true.  Perhaps it would be a friendly thing to do, but that would be a monopoly with a lack of healthy competition.  Another thing I've noticed is where a pattern seller will make changes to an antique adaptation (changing a deer to a sheep), (changing a Magdalena animal into something else) and calling it their design.  

Nope, again not true, it is still an antique adaptation.  It would behoove them to change the wording to something like: inspired by Magdalena Briner Eby, or antique adaptation of Magdalena Briner Eby or if the designer is unknown, that word would do too ~ but it is still an antique adaptation.

Sorry if this was a boring blogpost or seems redundant, but I wanted to write about something and this subject popped in my head.  Happy weekend and happy hooking.

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

P.S.  Colleen, I cannot respond to you since you are a no-reply blogger.  Please introduce yourself thru the E MAIL ME section of my blog so I can add you to my contacts.

                                    

January and Magdalena's Goat

The start of early January has been unusually mild, particularly enjoyable since it had been way below normal recently.  The last couple days I've worked in the yard blowing and raking leaves in preparation for the upcoming next rain.

Also drew a Magdalena Goat pattern (29 x 35) for yet another person; this gal is attending a workshop January 11th.  Now I'm wondering if the gal I drew the large one for in December is attending the same workshop.  

Here is Magdalena's original antique which measures 29 x 36.  I'm proud to say I found it while surfing my on-line auction houses and sent Evelyn Lawrence the link for her to confirm it was indeed a Magdalena rug.  

Magdalena's remaining family had confided to Evelyn when they were kids they remembered Goat rugs but none had been found at the time Evelyn was doing research for her book, shown below.  Which makes me wonder if there are more undiscovered Magdalena rugs out there.

The starting bid for the Goat rug was $100 and I watched it increase to the final selling price of $10,000.00.  So someone else knew it's value and the price skyrocketed.

Haven't made much headway on the 'forever floral' so no need to take a photo quite yet, nor have I chosen what to draw as my next project.   At this moment I'm thinking along the lines of a log cabin with a red fox in it somewhere.  

Since I feel like you're getting cheated with just one rug photo thought I'd show  you a couple log cabin rugs I've hooked but still think I'd like to hook another.  Would want the new one to be larger, hooked in #9 cut and  be a rug which is placed in front of my fireplace ~ which I switch out every couple months.

This first one was hooked in 2012 and is a design by Barb Carroll free to hook in one of her books.  I drew leaves instead of flags, redirected the smoke to make the design less tall.    It is hanging in my bedroom.

Rainbow Cabin is another Barb pattern which I purchased from her and was hooked 2016.

This last one was hooked 2014 and is an adaptation of a block from one of Harriet Powers Bible Quilts.  I gifted it to Evelyn Lawrence that year.

Happy hooking.

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

How Color can be Deceiving

It is very interesting to see how textures look so vastly different in yardage vs. hooked.  And, color can change appearance depending on what color it is hooked against.  Hmm, when I'm at a loss of what to write about that might be a good topic on how grey can change the colors of wool hooked around it.  

Happily my second antique adaptation The Old Brown Horse and Bunny is done.  Below is a picture next to the wool used for the ground.

In yesterday's blog post one of my readers thought the ground color below was pink.  I can understand as below is the picture she saw.  In this confusing photo the lighting was different I guess...., whether it be natural light, flash, different room....whatever.  But when taping on the photo to enlarge you would have noticed it was orange in color.  But an easy assumption nevertheless.

Wish I had the perfect set-up for taking photos and more times than not the picture on the monitor is not what the rug or wool looks like in person.  All of us hookers at one time or another have excused the color of our photos.  These two vastly different pictures, taken with the same camera by the same person can testify that color isn't always what it seems to show on the computer screen.

That very same orange and grey wool was used to hook 500 Mile Betts, my adaptation of a Harriet Powers Bible Quilt block.  And must say it does look pink when compared to the background.

Something else I noticed too, is that the newest picture at the top doesn't show the garish bright blue sky either.  Which means the jury (me) is still out about whether or not to use black walnut dye solution to soften/dirty up the sky.    Just might still brush or dab some in spots just to give it a little old worn mottled dirty look in places.  

Meanwhile, the pattern has been chosen for the next project.  It is too late in the day for me to start cleaning up and putting back the mess I'd made and choose wool for the next project.  The two mats have been steamed, edges prepared for binding and think tonight will be spent binding.  

Yes, hate binding but am okay with doing that tonight ~ matter of fact it even seems like a calming event.  Particularly since I did 3 loads of wash, changed sheets, picked up limbs and pine cones from the yard, cleaned out the fish pond filters and basket, walked Ben 3 times, steamed and did preliminary binding work on the mats.   Whew, I just made myself very tired, lol.

Have a great evening everyone.

Saundra