THIS and THAT

I switched out a rug from the computer room to my bedroom.  This is Shadow's Memorial which previously hung to the left of me as I face the computer.

Now she is in the bedroom along with the memorials of my other beloved pets.  Her collar is placed closer to her as are her ashes.  Each time I walk past her ashes I'm reminded to get a piece of that matching wool and hook a top for the ash box to make it less offensive to my eyes.  I love having her ashes but the crematory name triggers a memory of her passing.

I had a great teacher for Shadow's piece at camp but it was stressful for me to hook in a class setting.  Only regret is following her suggestion for this periwinkle color background; wish I'd used the soft green as in the Shumba and Panzer Memorial as well as Ben.  At least it would have been a better companion to the rug I placed her against which is actually similar in color to the other memorial rugs.

Most of you have seen these over and over but I do have a couple new followers and maybe they haven't.  Here is the Shadow and Panzer Memorial; they were hooked with #3 strips and the background with #5 or #6 cut cant remember which.

And here is Ben hooked at home without a teacher and hooked in #8 except for a few thin strips for detail ~ and yes I used the same background wool it just looks washed out as the photo was taken with a different camera.

In the same room I also hung a pattern by Nola Heidbreder named Golden in the Garden but I changed the dog to look like a Rottie named Ben.  Did a bad drawing job on Ben's profile but made up for it when drawing the real Memorial above.  This was never intended to be his memorial rug so the above piece was hooked after.  

Another view of the two on adjacent walls.  So now you can see this picture of Ben's profile is the same green as Shumba and Panzer.  The jointed fur bear I made for my mother from her mother's (my grandmother) mink coat and it has a Coast Guard charm as both grandparents were in the Coast Guard.  I inherited it after mother passed.

Remember last week when I filled my car up with gas and I paid $3.17 per gallon and that's the cheapest in town.  When I went to the grocery store during the weekend it was $3.27 so went up another 10 cents in just a few days.  Thanks to Joe Biden for shutting down the pipeline.

That's it for me tonight and I feel like a slug with nothing much accomplished, not much even on my horse rug.  Yesterday a lot got done in the yard and even made a big bowl of vegetable soup.   Matter of fact when I go outside and come back in it still smells like vegetable soup in the house.  So won't even be cooking tonight, just scoop out a bowl full of vegetable healthy goodness.

Saundra

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The Eyes Have It

Well, at least they are better ~ this is the new 'improved' version of Cat Nap.

Here are the eyes before.

Remember folks, Cat Nap is a primitive wide cut design and not meant to look realistic. The first realistic design hooked was of my departed Rottweilers Shumba (the mom) and her son Panzer.

My apologies to those of you are viewing these photos and reading about this once AGAIN.  The dogs were hooked in #3 with #5 cut for the background.  

As soon as I hung this sentimental beauty on my bedroom wall I drew out a primitive design of them.  Decided right then I'd never hook another rug in #3.  So the rug below was hooked in #8 cuts and still managed to get a realistic look of my babies.  

A few years later my sweet Shadow died.  During her lifetime I always told her 'she was a wide cut kinda girl'.  And so she was.  Shadow was hooked in #8 cut.

My boy Ben still needs his Memorial rug as Golden in the Garden (changed to Rottie in the Garden for me) is not a proper memorial for my precious boy.  And he will also be hooked in no smaller than #8 unless it is his eyes.

On a side note......in Rottweiler Memorial there is a section at the nape of the neck of each dog where their own hair is hooked.  When grooming the dogs during their life would save their hair in individual baggies.  A dear departed friend (Lesley) spun their hair onto a thin core of wool which was used to make it an even more special memorial.

Happy hooking.  Now will go back to work on Great Granddaughter's Rug and save binding of Cat Nap for later.  At least one step is done.

Saundra

Am Bored ~ So back to my Hooked Pieces

Still no new project on my frame but at least I've started whipping the edge of Flower Power.  Also started tracing out the sketch of the pattern planned but got bored doing that.  To prove just how bored I was ~  pulled out the vacuum and cleaned up my wool room and organized my master paper patterns.  So you know just how un-motivated I am on what to hook next.

The first rug camp each year was usually in May with wonderful teacher and perfect colorist Barb Carroll.  The 2014 class project was Magdalena's Farm and it has the signature bits of purple.  

Rugs by the Sea rug camp is September and hooked a memorial of my departed Shadow.  That class was with Diane Stoffel and I hooked Shadow in #8.  OOPS, I see that the date on the photo for Shadow was 2013.

Which means the rug hooked at Cape May 2014 was Ali Katz, a design I drew and hooked for a class with Ali Strebel.

November class with Betsy Reed in Ocean City, MD was Olde Ducks, another Magdalena design.

The rest of the rugs hooked that year were on my own at home.  One was another Woolley Fox design hooked was the small version of Folk Art Horse.

The Chicken Challenge offered by Woolrights Guild seemed like fun and this was my version with the blotchy background.  Should probably have kept the hit and miss upper corners but I love the faded background of antique rugs.

Just before Halloween I designed and hooked a piece named Mache' Jacks.  Unfortunately I don't own an antique mache'Jack so made the one on the table and hooked the likeness in this mat.  OMG, I love that mat if I must say so myself.

That year I finally finished hooking an antique adaptation started well over 5 years prior.  The original 1890 antique rug in the style below was sometimes referred to as "Waved and Stepped" pattern, according to the Joel and Kate Kopp book.  I named it Granny Geometric since it reminded me of the crochet afghan squares.  But more recently has come to be known as a Zig Zag rug.  Perhaps that is the name given by the woman who most recently drew and hooked it.  

An adaptation of Pot of Flowers antique was a smallish, easy and fast mat to hook.

Was in the mood for another antique adaptation so drew and hooked what I named The Cat's Meow.  This is the rug hanging on the wall of a log cabin over a bed.  It was difficult to get a good view of the rug even tho the owner sent me personal photos.

An antique design haunting me for some time was this adaptation which I call Hearts and Swags and made into pillow form.

For years on my 'to do' list and finally hooked was the antique Santa and Deer adaptation.  I've seen various border designs and did mine plain so as to not take away from the main focus.

I hooked small pieces like a hit and miss circle mat (not shown) and welcomed people to join me.  And designed an adaptation from the Harriet Powers Bible Quilt piece which I named "500 Mile Betts".  After the Cape May rug camp I gave it to my friend Evelyn.

Hopefully something will SOON motivate me to make a choice of design to hook.  But for now will slowly whip Flower Power.

Saundra

My Rugs Continued

In 2014 I hooked several rugs and mats.  As some were small mats the list of hooked pieces was more extensive.  Yesterday's post included a couple of those done that year also.  Among others were the small size Folk Art Horse (Woolley Fox pattern).

Magdalena's Olde Ducks is what I hooked in a class with Betsy Reed and is presently on my harvest table.

I miss my girl Shadow and after having hooked my Rottweiler Memorial in #3 told Shadow 'she was a wide cut sorta girl'.  So hooked Shadow in #8 in a class with Diane Stoffel.  Shadow's Memorial is hanging on the wall to the left of me.

This was the year that Deb Burcin hosted a "chicken challenge" on the Woolrights Guild Blog.  Visit the site and you can view all the entries.  I bound the rug using Betsy Reed's primitive binding technique and think it adds to the old look.

For several years the Granny Geometric was a UFO....I mean SEVERAL years.  Finally found the determination to finish this.  You can even see how my hooking evolved and my finally learning how to make sharp corners.  You can see the difference in some of the blocks.  Another great way for me to use up those excess wool strips.

Magdalena's Farm was a rug hooked with Barb Carroll, another Magdalena design.

Even tho there are always numerous rug patterns in my stash I continually end up drawing an antique adaptation to hook.  Such was the case for this Antique Pot of Flowers.

In order to use up more of those pesky multiplying wool strips I challenged people to join me in a circle Mat.  Since circles was the theme thought I'd round the corners of the mat to compliment the look.

In 2014 my friend Evelyn told me she was teaching a class at Sauder on Harriet Powers Bible Quilts and Granny Donaldson's cow blanket applique.  So took that as a challenge for myself and told Evelyn my plan to design a small piece from a Harriet Powers' Bible quilt block.  If you would like to read the article I wrote about it on my blog in 2014, click HERE.

That wasn't the end of that story....... Evelyn asked if she could take it to Sauder with her to show the class as an example of adapting a quilt piece to a hooked piece.  Evelyn razzed me about people coming into her class to see the mat and how it was tilted on the wall, how with all the muss and fuss of having to deal with visitors the rug should go to her as payment.  

That is Evelyn's humor but at Cape May when she returned the mat to me for the show there, and upon picking up our rugs after that show, I presented Evelyn with the rug as a token of our friendship.

Lucky me, I was the winner of a give-away for the Duluth Pumpkin kit offered by Maria Barton of Star Rug Company.

Afterward decided to design my own pumpkins mat.  I've always wanted a collection of vintage paper mache' Jack-O-lanterns....well I'd be happy with just one frankly.  So decided to design a rug pattern called Mache' Jacks.  It measures 15 x 25 and costs $30.

That year I finally decided to hook an adaptation of the old Santa and Deer pattern.

Same year I fell in love with a small Snowman mat design by Maria Barton so had to order it.  That hooked up really quickly and is cute to display during the Christmas holiday.  Oops, sorry Lauren, I said that "C" word again.

Have a great evening everyone.

Saundra

Textured Wool vs. Solid Colored Wool

In yesterday's post I told you I'd show the wool used for CHUM and here they are.  At the very top left is the herringbone textured wool for Chum's face and to the right of that...the plaid, is what was used for the body.  Sorry, can't remember where I got that wool.  Oh but there were two solid green spots on the body and tail stripe which were a dark green.  

To the right of that (cattycorner) is a similar colored wool to what I used for the inside border.  When I started with that wool wasn't sure if there would be enough left home to finish the border.  So Barb Carroll generously gave me that piece to use whether I ran out or not.  She thought it would add to the old look if I put it in the rug since women used what they had and 'made do'.  Barb is so dang sweet.

On the left side bottom is a  boucle nubby wool which was a woman's blazer fabric and Barb loves using it in my rugs each time I take it.  Just love how it gives the look of wear.  And then the wool above that is a textured wool I purchased eons ago when I took a class with Patsy Becker at Cape May.  You can see a better view with the close up pictured below.

In the first picture, on the bottom is a plaid called Gemstone, a wool by Heavens to Betsy, which is the outer border line.  The inside primitive dark is a bunch of different dark colors from my stash of dark wool.

 

I've a confession to make.  Actually guess it really isn't so much a confession as an acknowledgement of my lack of knowledge about wool and hooking when I first started my journey.  So I'm just like the rest of you ~ hey, we all had to start somewhere.  So the thrift shop became my best friend to get different colors.  Problem was I didn't know how to use textures and tried to avoid them.  You can see this poor bland rug below that was hooked in almost all plain/flat wool...all except for the bowl which at the time I didn't particularly care for.  This rug I hooked on my own at home using #8 cuts.

Even some of my first teachers used mostly flat wool.  Everything in this rug is flat wool which may have been mottled or over dyed but still considered flat wool in my eyes now, thanks for the education by Barb Carroll on how to hook a warm antique looking rug.  Don't get me wrong, I love this rug and think it is beautiful.

Do I still hook with flat wool?  Yup and did so in my Ali Katz rug last year at Cape May.  But it depends on what I'm hooking.  If I want the rug look old and try my best to replicate an antique I'll use textures and strips of this and that to add to the 'make do' appearance.

I published this post yesterday but had forgotten to write another interesting fact about textures.  This one just blew me away.  I was at Cape May hooking a profile of my departed Shadow and to my dismay ran out of the wool for her head.  So my teacher (Diane Stofel) and I visited all the teachers to see what might work.  See that textured wool to the right of Shadow?  That is what I used to finish a lot of her part of her face and neck.

Once upon a time after taking my first few classes with Barb Carroll at Woolley Fox rug camp I thought about getting rid of all my flat wool but have since changed my mind since I do use it to hook flower pins and have used some in my son's Man Cave rug.  Just couldn't picture pool balls with textured wool since they are a solid flat, but shiny color.

In reality I really should dispose of some but hooking is more fun than downsizing the wool room.  Besides there just might be another whimsical or other rug which dictates that type of wool. 

Have a great evening everyone. 

Saundra

New Rug Labels

Since all my rugs have been bound and ready for the Cape May rug show thought I'd make rug labels for them and some older rugs which had no label. 

Last year at Cape May is when I started working on my Shadow girl Memorial rug from a photo.  During the labeling process decided that her photo should be on the label which was the inspiration.  Here is my Shadow girl who was a wide cut with #8 wool strips.

This is the label which I've attached to the back.  I'm so glad I decided to put a photo which was the inspiration on the back.  All I did was copy and paste a smaller picture in the label area.

Then it was onto the Rottweiler Memorial piece which was hooked way back in 2006 and never had a label.  I hadn't started labeling rugs back then, just the initials and date on the rug.  Here are my departed Rotties and they were both delightful, perfect companions.

This is the label on which I mentioned my then married name and my special loving names each dog was given by me.....Shumba-dumba and her son was Panzer-wanzer.  I used to sing, "Panzer-wanzer sitting under a tree......."

If you would like to read about how I made these labels again, or if you are new to my blog to find out how they were made click HERE.

 

Have a great evening everyone and enjoy this beginning of fall like weather.

 

Saundra

 

 

 

Last Day of 2013

I promised myself that I would have my departed Shadow Memorial hanging on the wall THIS year.  And by golly girl dog I kept my promise.  As of this morning binding on Shadow was almost 1/4 done so spent the rest of the afternoon finishing that and preparing a sleeve for the dowel.  Now she will hang on the wall and begin the new year at my right side every day..... like she always did.....by my side.

So that leaves just the antique adaptation Hearts and Swags piece for me to make into a pillow.  That will be fun and a challenge which I plan to do before binding Santa and Deer.

Speaking of which...... I haven't pulled a loop on the Santa rug all day but plan to do so tonight.  HA, which means my plans are to spend a calm new years eve hooking and will welcome 2014 behind closed eye lids.

Have a great evening, and will chat with you NEXT YEAR.

Saundra