Happy New Year !

Wishing all of my readers a very happy and healthy new year ahead.

Per usual I welcomed in the new year behind closed eye lids and no one in my quiet neighborhood set off firecrackers to welcome the new year. Or if they did I was obviously so far into slumberland I didn't hear it.

You'd think I'd know by now to never say "never".  In 2015 I designed and hooked a Man Cave rug for my son as a Christmas gift.  It was started early in the year so that I could work on something else and still have it done for Christmas that year.  Didn't have any plans to hook another sizeable gift rug in 2016 but my grandson Zach loved his dad's so figured he deserved one as well.

Zach's favorite sports rug was also started early in 2016 so it could be taken off the frame with fun hooking between shifts.  Don't get me wrong, both rugs were hooked with love but when it is a gift find hooking more worrisome.  When it was all finished and bound I said to myself..."never again will I do a gift rug for anyone".

HA!  Never say "never" Saundra.   My grandson's face was so delightfully happy with his Christmas gift that grandma now has decided to hook his favorite soccer team logo for next Christmas.

The above photo of my grandson Zach will be part of the label on the back of it when finished.  This project should be a piece of cake compared to the other Christmas gift rugs ~ there's no detail which requires narrow cuts, just regular wide cut hooking.

May all your loops, stitches and punches be perfect in 2017.  And thanks to all of you who follow and read my blog.  Comments and questions are the icing on the cake too, so don't hesitate to ask questions.

Saundra

Designing a Rug by the Seat of My Pants

But then that's pretty much all I do with hooking, designing, color planning, etc.  

No, the sheep challenge isn't done but really close to being done and am afraid of going thru withdrawal.  If I don't have something to put on my frame immediately after the last loop is pulled I might need sedatives, lol.  Just kidding, but not far from the truth.

Since my 13 year old grandson Zach was so excited and interested in the Man Cave Rug I designed and hooked for his dad (my son) thought Zach should have one of his own.

Zach loves to watch sports on TV with the family and loves to play sports as well.  He's played soccer (his favorite), baseball and basketball.  There isn't a swim team at his school or he would be in that for sure as he loves to swim.

His favorite football team is the Redskins, favorite baseball team the Orioles and he also loves Nascar.   The family takes Zach to the team games when they can get tickets.  My mind started planning the rug many weeks ago so now it was time for templates.

Redskins and Orioles emblems were no problem.  But ran into a minor glitch in my mind for Nascar.  Seems his favorite driver is retiring soon so he has to choose a second string driver.  Initially I'd planned to do an outline of a car with the driver's number on the hood but vetoed that.  Then decided the crossed flags was a better idea.

Okay, so how about a hand drawn from Zach's hand put in the design, also a baseball and soccer ball?  As you can see it is WAY too much on the rug.

So decided to eliminate the hand, the baseball and knew it wasn't going to work so didn't even do the soccer ball.

Here is my second go.  Now it's beginning to look like a better design. Plans are to enlarge the crossed flags to stretch across the Redskins and Orioles logo.  There will be a black and white checkered border to pull it off.  I'm thinking this will be good.  Still a tad more tweaking and planning before putting on linen but a far cry better than the first one.

Since it is going to rain tomorrow that will give me time to play with the design. Have to really soon since the Sheep challenge is almost all hooked.

OH!!!!  Thanks to the new followers!!!!!!!  It is so nice to see people joining and hope that means you like my blog posts.

Have a great evening everyone.

Hugs Saundra

Christmas for my Son

My son, Greg, was over the moon in love with one of the gifts I gave him for Christmas.  He loves it and even my grandson told me it was "cool". Perhpas next Christmas there will a hooked piece for my grandson.

Greg couldn't take his eyes off the rug so finally had to tell him to face me so that I could take a frontal picture of him.

And guess what...... I pulled the last loops on A Day in the Country.  Will post a picture of it tomorrow.  Have you had a wonderful Christmas with family.  

Saundra

Time To Switch Projects

Thank goodness I'm ready to start my Black Kitten Mat.  It is patiently waiting for me on my frame, I've cut some of the background wool and pulled out my worms for the rest.  Well, okay, I did cut some wide cut primitive black but not much as there is a bag of various colors and strip sizes that would be great for the cat.

So the cat picture will be by my side when I finally sit down, the background wool is in the smaller basket and the worms are in the plastic container and in the bags.  And  yes, my loyal companion Ben will be to my right and by my side all night long.  See those white dot eyes?

By the way, Ben was acting as my protector last night when the horrific storm came up.  I knew the storm was coming but he heard sounds outside before I did and thought he had to go to the bathroom so let him out back.  He bolted out the back porch door and started barking like an attack dog. 

It was then it dawned on me the storm might have developed into a tornado.  I live in the woods and could now hear snapping and thrashing of debris coming thru the woods behind me.  So started screaming Ben's name so he and I could go into a closet to be safe. Seems that as quickly as the worst wind came up it soon departed.  But Ben would not let me out of his sight.

Had a lot of tree debris to pick up this morning before I could cut grass (yes, the new mower works again) before the next onslaught of rain and summer storms starting again tomorrow afternoon.  Most limbs and leaves I picked up but this was too heavy and needs man power.

They may look like easy limbs to drag but they aren't.  And, there are several there which has a lot of weight with healthy leaves...used to be healthy. 

And here is the look of the Man Cave Rug as it is folded away for a bit.  I'm at a comfortable place now to play and have fun hooking.  There is still some dark wool which needs to be pulled out around the pool balls, also need to get the word MAN centered properly.  But hey, I've still got almost 6 months before it is due. 

And for those of you who many not know, my big boy Ben was adopted at the age of 3 years 7 months.  I've had him 3 years now and he is wonderful.  His only fault is fast moving vehicles as he was a car chaser.  Ben is never let loose and thanks to my ex has a fenced in back yard that he can enjoy.  Ben still gets his walks daily because no family member likes to see the same scenery or smells every day.  Just love my boy Ben.  Think pet adoption.

Have a great evening everyone.

Saudnra

Back to the Man Cave Rug

Since Chum is hooked (not bound yet tho) and nothing planned (yet) to go on my frame thought I'd better work a bit more on my son's Man Cave rug which is to be a Christmas gift.  Here's where I am.

I've ONLY 6 months to finish this and it isn't quite half done yet.  Yeah, I know there's plenty of time if I stick with just finishing this rug.....but there's so many rugs I want to hook and temptation to start another 'between' is calling me. 

My plan on Man Cave is to do the border, then top lettering and hook background toward the other beer mug.  I'm not happy with the background on the bottom left and part of the darker outline around the pool balls. 

As I was concerned on having enough of all the same color value of blue added some darker value blue into the mix.  But now not happy with the way the background looks, particularly on the left bottom.   Rather than reverse hooking at this point will just finish the rest with the wool colors that work best.  If then I run short of the good colors will pull loops from here and there and 'make it work' as Tim Gunn of Project Runway would say.

Have a great evening and happy hooking, quilting or stitching....whatever floats your boat.

Saundra

Before Woolley Fox

Alrighty then..... Harvey's Magdalena is hooked and will bind it on the way to Woolley Fox.  Soooo, you're wondering what I'm working on now.  Happens to be the Man Cave rug. 

I've stressed out so much with trying to achieve the beer, foam and mug colors, have pulled loops and replaced and now I'm calling that DONE.  Hey, it's #8 cut and think it 'looks like' a beer mug so believe my son will be okay with it.

Guess it is a good thing I've nothing else to hook between now and when Barb's class starts next Monday since there are a lot of decisions which need to be made on this piece. 

Uh, like whether to have a beauty line or not... and if so what color?  The picture below has 3 rows of primitive black and then a solid red line between that and the blue background.

Then below is 3 rows of black border with a gold line.

Or, I could do a sort of hit and miss using all the colors of the pool balls. 

In the beginning my thoughts were to do a hit and miss.  But seeing all those colors placed on the rug I'm not sure I like it. 

So for the next few days my plans are to work on the letters and some background until my decision is made on beauty line.

As always I'd LOVE your feedback and suggestions.

Have a great evening.

Saundra

Hooking Man Cave and Binding Tape

Not sure just how little progress was made on the beer mug since loops were pulled and replaced.  Maybe I'll get colors to suit me and/or wish I'd just think about that picture Julia sent and make it more simple. 

In looking at this picture below I see things now that will change.  The right side of the glass part of the foam needs the yellowish wool pulled at the far right side and the brighter white put in for at least one row.  On the same side below the handle need to clean that up some too as mine looks YUCK.

My hat goes off to all you hookers who have successfully hooked glass or mirrors.  Perhaps if I would try harder and reduce the size of cut from #8 to #3 I might achieve that success too....uh...ain't gonna happen...I'll dumb it down and make it simple first.

Today someone inquired about the 3" binding tape that Lauren wrote about on her blog.  I replied to her but others may have wondered where to purchase the 3" BINDING too.  It comes in different colors and yes it is expensive since you need to buy the whole roll.  However, if you have a group who would like to purchase a roll you could each share in the cost to make it more affordable. 

I used that to bind my antique adaptation of Santa and Deer a couple years ago.

However, I didn't want the coffee brown color on my son's rug since the border and lettering will be in black.  So my the Man Cave Rug will be bound with a wide denim since I'm thinking of attaching it to a wooden frame.  Thankfully (or sadly) there is still an over abundance of all types of textiles in my house so had some yardage of denim.  As the background is blues and the outer border black this should work perfectly. 

The denim was ripped straight of grain 4" wide since 1/4" is used as a seam allowance and there should be plenty of extra width for me to staple onto a wooden stretcher frame.  Or at least that is where my thoughts are going now.  Who knows how the final finishing will end up.  But if bound traditionally it will have a nice wide border.

Have a magnificent evening!  Over and out from chilly Delaware.

Saundra

The Man Cave Rug Update

After some lighthearted harassing comments on yesterday's post (you know who you are!) I decided to start working on the first of two beer mugs in my son's Man Cave Rug.  Interesting that the first colors of worms pulled and thought would work...didn't.  Back to looking at other worm colors and wool yardage.  Maybe I have it and maybe not.

I've never tried to replicate glass and while my plans aren't to even attempt realism would like to have the beer mug at least recognizable.   What will give me a little better perspective is when I look at this picture on my blog later.  Many times when seeing it on the computer have chosen to replace loops ~ that just happened on the Harvey's Magdalena after a previous post.

So.. get ready...and here we GO.  Really wanted to put a border outline of blue around the mug but I was under the gun by the beer mug Nazi (you know who you are).

For comparison sake, below is the picture of the mug found free which seemed like a good shape to use for my son's rug.  Here is my hooked mug next to the picture.  And I DO see YET, maybe the top shape would have been okay had I outlined it with the background.  See gals, that is also a lesson about outlining the image.  By outlining it controls the spread of the other colors and shapes your image.

Okay then, so Kim, just for the record I am NOT a Princess!  For your information, in my house I am the QUEEN!  Now let me see what YOU GOT !  I want to see some hit and miss border go'n on!

Have a great evening everyone and enjoy the lighthearted banter between me and my friends. 

Saundra 

A Magdalena Design

I made a little progress on Harvey's Magdalena.  And if you check back on a previous post of this pattern you will see the horse's eye color has changed.  Since Magdalena used red often for eyes, feet and berries in bird's beaks, decided to carry on her tradition in mine.  Actually I think in her original rug Magdalena crow's eye red too, will have to check.

Feels so good to work on a Magdalena and use up the odd wool strips and it always works ~ the easiest and most creative way to utilize those multiplying worms. 

 

Happily I received a sizeable pattern order so even tho there may not be lots of loops pulled on my Magdalena it will put some moola in my wallet for upcoming camps.

 

Also, yesterday I pulled out my yellow and gold worms to sort out colors for hooking the beer mugs in my son's rug.  Oh my how will I ever pull that off?  Did find a few suitable colors but am at a total loss on how to hook glass since glass isn't really white and there is no 'see thru' clear wool.  And then there is the foam on top.  EEK. 

 

No way am I going to hook the beer mugs in #3!  The mugs are going to be nothing less than #8 cut unless the worms are smaller.  The Man Cave Rug will be wide cut and will do my best to make the beer mugs recognizable.  Stay tuned from time to time so you can see how that pattern develops.

 

If you newbies have any topics you'd like for me to address on the blog please write me.  And as ALWAYS, comments, suggestions and input on my work is always welcome.  That's the other thing I like about rug camps, you get ideas from other hookers on how to do something. 

 

Have a great evening and play nice with one another.

 

Saundra