Multi-Tasking

There's a few things rug hooking related going on at the same time here.  I tend to like working on more than one rug as it gives me a little diversity and like to hop from one to the other.  Now that the Bumblebee Chair pad and Fox mat are done it was just lion rug until today.... until I started the Karen Kahle spiral chair pad.

Also have 6 flower pins which I hooked in the extra space of the fox mat (being thrifty)  so have these to stitch pin backing onto them.  In a previous blog I posted a picture of how the backing which would be cut away and tossed was being utilized.

And then there is the lion still needing plenty of hooking done to it.  When I put it back on the frame think I'll concentrate more on the tree to the far left as I'd like to see how it is going to turn out.  But then it will the boring background and border.  The background will be boring but with the change of the colors and wavy lines of the border that will manage to keep my interest a little.  And that is exactly why I like having more than one project going on at the same time ~ a reprieve from the boredom.  Yet it is also because I'm just antsy to start that hooked piece that I've been just dying to put on a frame.

It would be interesting to know how many of you also like more than one project going at the same time.  I'm sure there are those of you who just have to work on one thing at a time, finish it before moving on.  But that's not me.


Thanks for the visit and stop by again.


Saundra

BACK TO THE LION

Goodness but I've taken some detours since starting this rug with Barb Carroll in May so now it is time to get back to finishing this rug so I can move on to other pastures.....so to speak.  Not that the other ones will be greener, just different.  Here is what the lion looks like right now.

Unfortunately I've not been pulling a lot of loops on it because of Ben's new playground being built.  Since it is a friend who is doing the constructing I really feel the need to help and walk behind and keep the area clean so he doesn't have to.  Plus the fact I'm trying to pick up sticks, thorny vines and other debris which I don't want my gentle giant connected with.  Also found a patch of poison ivy and I am extremely allergic to that.  Even if Ben had touched it and the oil from his leg touched me I'd end up being a piece of raw meat.


Right now the only rug which still needs binding is the Foxy mat.  On my list of 'next to hook' is Karen Kahle's spiral rug design and beyond that it is making dolls for my show in July.


Thanks for the visit and hope you stop by soon.  I'm  little tired from working in the heat and humidity of the day.


Saundra

Ben's Future Playground

My sweet boy Ben is soon going to have an area to run free, chase balls and heckle squirrels.  This is the boy in my life, and for those of you just now following me I adopted Ben (this handsome Rottweiler) when he was 3 years 7 months old.  Hard to believe I've had him now for about 9 months.  Looking at this picture you would think he's a beast to be reckoned with.  But he is a gentle giant, strong as an ox and loves kids and people.  However, there is no doubt in my mind that if anyone was aggressive toward me or my grandson he would rip limbs off. 

Ben is not the only Rottweiler I've owned.  Previoulsy there was Shumba and Panzer and they were magnificent dogs as well.  Very well behaved and obedient.  Of course since they were raised as pups and trained well, they would stay close by and not roam.  But I missed a few years of the training of Ben.  But we work just fine and he is getting better.  Rottweilers are a sweet gentle dog, YES, it is true.  It just depends on how they are socialized, raised and what traits the parents are bred with.


The picture above is when I was outside working in the yard and Ben was tethered to a tree so he could be with me outside.  Since he was adopted with the bad and potentially deadly habit of chasing cars there was no way I could let him loose.  Besides, living in the woods he would have plenty of wildlife smells to follow.


Breaking of the ground for Ben's playground.  Yeah, it is going to be a split rail fence but there will be a mesh wire attached so that he cannot go thru the rails and it is high enough that I don't think there is any way he could jump it.    I'll be able to sit on the deck, play ball with my boy and he can have some freedom which he could only enjoy inside my home.

Being concerned with the rabbits getting free, since they cannot climb trees like the squirrels, there will be an opening at the bottom for rabbits to enter and exit.  Some of the width of the wire mesh fencing will be cut down to fit.  But at least Ben will have a playground and we can enjoy the weather outside together without fear of my boy's safety.


Yeah, that means that other critters could potentially gain entry as well but hey, anything could have entered before.  And since I've had several bunny babies given birth under my deck, and it is still happening I'm sure, wanted my bunnies to have an exit route.  ..... just LOVE my baby and mommy bunnies.

This is a picture from the first corner and ttomorrow probably most of the rails will  be up, then the wire mesh.  Then finally the gates.  There will be two gates so I might gain entry or exit to my heat pump area to the right of this picture or on the other side for me to gain entry for the lawn mower. 

I'm looking forward to playing ball with Ben out back so he can get exercise.  Unfortunately he has put on a couple pounds since being adopted and I've felt like a bad mom since keeping him so restricted in his movements.  And even when we would visit Phantom (the Rottie down the street) and be in their backyard, after about 20 minutes Ben was ready to come home.  Surely there was plenty of shade and yard around the pool area with trees and fencing, so not sure if Ben has become accustomed to his 'controlled temperature' environment or if he just wants to be at HIS HOME.  He and Phantom get along just fine and they are buddies.  But it is a nice feeling to know your special companion likes where he lives.


Sorry to bore you with doggie stuff and not hooking stuff.  But as a teaser I'll let you know that I've put my antique lion rug back on the frame and am going to update my web site (maybe tomorrow????) with the Foxy Magdalena Style mat pattern ~ Not a kit, just the pattern.


Hope you're an animal lover, otherwise this would have been a boring read.


Thanks for the visit.


Saundra

Channeling Magdalena

I cannot believe that I just spent 45 minutes writing my blog and with a click of the wrong arrow just lost it all.  There must have been 8 or 10 pictures which I had to locate in different files and poof.... all gone.  I almost decided to walk away from the computer and quit but it has already been 5 days since my last post.  What is worse is that I was done with my post and was checking to see if the link attached was working and then clicked to exit rather than the arrow to go back to where I was.  Oh well, that taught me to click SAVE sporadically when I'm doing my blog.  (like now)


This small rug or mat evolved because my friend Evelyn Lawrence gave me a challenge.  It all started when I was hooking the fox mat for Barb before leaving for Woolly Fox.  Evelyn asked the size which was 9 x 15 and she said that would be the perfect dimensions for her to hook up quickly.  She asked if I would draw one up and send it to her..... well of course, anything for my dear friend.  Evelyn is considering teaching a Magdalena Style class and thought it might be nice for students to see how a design can be done in Magdalena style and how each one might come out differently.  We didn't know how each other was going to hook our rugs but I just knew they would be different....and so they were. SAVE! (not going to lose this again)


While the hooking is done it has not yet been bound but was excited to share it with you.  This   piece measures 12 x 17 as room was needed for the corner swags and circle flowers.

This is what it looked like before sending a picture of it to Evelyn and when I saw the bright outline of the fox knew it had to be pulled out and rehooked with a more subtle value.  As you can see I also fiddled with the circle flower on the top left too.

And this is the style in which Evelyn hooked hers, more of a hit and miss.  Carrying her challenge to the limits, Evelyn said that some of the colors in her corner swags were mostly wool strips adopted from left overs discarded by hookers at a camp she attended.  After all, Magdalena used what she had and Evelyn was following in her footsteps and utilizing what was available.  Besides, it makes for an interesting conversation and example of using what we have available, when teaching the students.

For my rug I chose the design of Magdalena's Dog.  Obviously this rug did have color at one time but with age, sun, wear and perhaps even natural dyeing it has lost some of it's color.  But for me it was using larger areas of same color that attracted me to this design; that plus it would have color in the swags and circles.

For those of you who may be new to the Magdalena style or a little timid, an even more simplistic approach would be to follow the basic design with a center motif and corner swags with a solid background like the Magdalena rug below.

There are various styles to Magdalena's hooking, the one I did was only one.  There is also the hit and miss style in Magdalena's Eagle rug where she filled in blocks with color and using different values just as we are taught by teachers today.

It appears Magdalena preferred or perhaps it was out of necessity, that she used a hit and miss style most often.  oops, I see this next picture is laying on it's side but you get the idea of the point I was trying to express.

It is quite easy to take any motif or several motifs and make your own Magdalena style rug.  All one has to do is peruse the book researched by Evelyn Lawrence and co-authored with Kathy Wright, and look at all the ways in which she made her rugs.  Then you just pick out the style that speaks out to you.


Just remember to date your rug and put a tag on it with your name as the hooker, the date and the wording "Inspired by a design of Magdalena Briner".  

If you do not own a copy of this magnificent read with many pictures, treat yourself and order it today.  Here is a link where you can purchase it:  www.rughookingtraditions.com .   I hope you have enjoyed this post and I fear that I've left something out that was lost with a click of my finger.  

Bumblebee Chair Pad

YIPPEE, It is finished and I love it!  I'm still not done with my lion rug but had a couple things that needed to be finished in order to take to my show in July.  One such rug was the swimsuit piece, the Beloved Belindy, an Annie doll and  this Bumblebee Chair Pad.  Here is my latest completed project, the adorable Bumblebee Chair Pad which is a design of Lori Brechlin.  The eyes are done using a technique known as 'quilling' and it certainly gives dimension and interest to the mat.

 I'll fess up to being a cheap skate ~ well, let's call it thrifty!  I hate wasting foundation when it is going to be cut away and thrown in the trash.  So when I decided to draw out the design looked for as small a piece of extra linen that was in my 'left over' pile.  There was a piece that was plenty wide enough and would fit over the grippers of my frame if a little cotton was added to the sides so I sewed some on and it fit over the grippers just fine.  However, it was going to be a little longer than I needed and no way was I going to let that go to waste either.  So I decided to hook some proddy flowers on the bottom and they will eventually be made into flower pins and will be sold in July.  This picture was taken after the extra cotton border was removed and my two rows of straight stitching and one row of zig zag was sewn all around.

I have bound round and oval rugs before so this does not intimidate me at all.  After the mat was trimmed up close to the stay stitching I did a gathering stitch all around and gathered up the backing to reduce the fullness evenly at the back.

Then it was time for the cotton binding to hide the backing and make it more eye appealing from the back view.

Cotton binding has one thicker edge which has a built-in gathering thread.  Must admit this one was a little devil trying to locate this time but once found it was no problem gathering the back so that it lays nicely and smooth.  This was a very fun project and I'm on to yet another piece which is still not the lion rug.


My dear friend Evelyn Lawrence has given me a challenge to do a small mat and do it in a Magdalena style.  I drew something out for her and sent it and she has hers done already and I'm still working on mine.  That is something for another post and I'll show you hers and mine.  But until then, ta ta!


Thanks for stopping by.


Saundra

More Woolley Fox Camp Fotos

Yes I know that the spelling of photos was different and I'd planned it.  One of our friends (Mary)  who was at the camp but stayed at the Guest House (2 person accommodation) took these pictures and shared. This view is what you see from the Guest House porch which is the deck you see above.  Below is the shipping room.  Last year this pond was filled with floating yellow rubber duckies in support of that magnificent icon hooker known as Barb Carroll.

I cannot express enough the tranquil atmosphere there is at this camp.  Here is a picture of the pond toward Barb's home and class room.  See some of the rubber duckies in the boat to commemorate our unity of the womanhood from last year; this is only a couple of the many rubber duckies who made the float.

Here is the Woolley Cottage Deck where Deb, Char and I sat and hooked after class.  I'd tried to take a picture of it but my previous posted pictures were too dark.  But, thanks to Mary we have a great photo of the setting we sat to hook in the evenings after class.

This is us gals in Barb's classroom..... starting from the left is Shari, me, Deb and Char.  It is Mary who is taking the picture and is missing from the group.

Since there are two buildings we tend to do our own thing for meals.  Of course there are great restaurants close by but we choose to stay behind and do our own meals.  So this is the night which all of us 5 gals were to get together and snack.  Char and I were in our jammies and she was cutting cheese for snacks ~ I've no clue what my issue was or what I was looking for but Mary captured me mid-sentence and thought I'd show the world that I have no clue what I'm doing in any given day.  But what you can also see is the wonderful cottage we are living in for a few days each year.

Check back on my blog later and perhaps there will be updates on the progress of all our rugs and of the grounds of Woolley Fox.


Thanks for stopping by.


Saundra

RUGS NEW and OLD

Oh my but I might be exhausting my collection of rug pictures that I've shown you.  So if you see something there that I'd forgotten that has been posted before please forgive me.  Here is a cute antique cat mat design which caught my eye.

This is a gorgeous rug made around 1920.  And can only guess that it is totally hooked with nylon stockings.

Oh my oh my..... just love this very primitive rug.  It sure looks like an antique to me and would love to replicate it one day so only hope I'm safe in doing so.

Yes, this one just below is yet another antique house design that interests me.  Since it is obviously an antique they must have been very wealthy landowners to have such a log cabin home that large.

This is the antique rug from which my friend Shari designed her rug she chose to hook at Barb's.  Story is that Shari knows the woman who now owns it and has the same initials as is hooked in the rug.  It was told to me that the husband purchased it for his wife which was sold at auction.

So this is another cat favorite of mine which I've named Cat Ebenezer.

And still another cat rug which is in the Rugs Underfoot by Joel and Kate Kopp.  I love this one too.  And, while I've owned cats before, they have been Siamese but mostly I've owned Rottweilers.  And, by the way, my two previous Rottweilers (Shumba and Panzer) got along great with my Siamese cat Pyewacket.... yes, named after the cat in the movie Bell, Book and Candle.

Hope you enjoyed the rug show and now to hurry and finish my project so I have something new to talk about tomorrow.


Thanks for visiting.


Saundra

DOING A HAPPY DANCE

I am one happy hooker.... first, and foremost, finally that wicked wug is done!!!!!!!!!!!!  Don't get me wrong, I love the design (an adaptation of one of Polly's Semper Fi rugs), but when it came to just the border and background to do I was bored to tears.  So it is DONE!!!!  Yippee, doing the happy dance again.

Now that I've looked at this picture can see that perhaps I used more lighter value blue in the left side border than the rest ~ but, uh, do you think I'm ripping any out and re-hooking it?  Not on your life baby!  It is staying like this.  And it could also be that there was more shadow on the right, but any way I'm not ripping out wool.


The other reason I'm a happy hooker and still doing a happy dance is that I finally purchased myself another hooker treat..... one I swore I'd not spend money on..... the Euro Steam iron.

After talking to my pal Char, who has one and swears by it, started to reconsider the purchase of one.  But $210 seemed like an awful lot of money to steam rugs so yesterday went on my search for prices.  I found one on Amazon.com for $149 and was still hesitant so before I ordered wanted to inquire with other hookers to see if, since it was made in China, if there were any issues or problems with it.  So far good replies from those who answered.  Went back to the Amazon.com site and there were no more left....HA, ya think?  At that price?  No wonder they were gone.  Okay, back to the hunt again and more research and then found another Euro Steam iron and did the purchase immediately, without hesitation, did not go past GO, did not collect $200, and I'll have it in a couple days.  And, got it for a good price as well.  Heck, I just might pull out all my rugs and steam them all over again.


I'd be very interested to know who of you own one and what your thoughts are on it's quality.... and if you use tap or distilled water in yours.


Thanks for stopping by.

Hooked Rugs Old and Newer

Since I thoroughly enjoy looking at rugs posted on other people's blogs I thought I'd give you all a treat and post some on my blog as well.  I'm sure this is an antique and find it so interesting that the little bit of red in the cardinal, door and windows is brought together well with that bit of red around the border.  Your eye moves all around the rug because of the brown walk and border.  Look at the squirrel in the borer to the right border and how the smoke climbs into the border on the top.

Love this Moose design and have a hankering to hook one myself one day while it isn't old there is something about it that speaks to me.  I forget if this is a design by Emma Lou Lais or someone else; so if anyone recognizes the designer, please let me know.

This shepherd rug definitely is an antique and very washed out but still lovely.

Just look at the gorgeous E.S.Frost horse rug ~ OMG, it is delightful and the horse has such great sleek lines.

What a beautiful antique hit and miss geometric.  And while it is an antique the hooker obviously had some artistic abilities because the inside sections almost gives the viewer the feeling it is being looked at thru a magnifying lass and showing the larger image of what is below.  Very intriguing.

Another antique with a little hit and miss going on, also eye catching.  

Well I've more rugs that I could post but will save some for another day.  Meanwhile I'd better get back to pulling more loops on my swimsuit rug.  I almost think I'd rather be scrubbing my kitchen floor than finishing that rug ~ all the interesting fun stuff has been hooked and I'm left with the rest of the background and border.... BORING.


Thanks for stopping by.

Shifting Gears

It's time to put aside my fun time of hooking the lion which was started at Barb's and work on things for my upcoming show in July.  Meanwhile, this is what the king of my jungle looks like now.

And, I was torn about what to do with the dome of the head area.  I'd thought about not hooking anything there for fear it would lose the shape of the head and ears not be noticed.  But then the ears may have ended up looking like horns if the dome were not hooked.  But this morning as I was waking up had an idea that if I used the mane colors and made it look like it was flowing backward it might work... and I think it does.


Back to my show.....There are LOTS of unfinished things and thankfully got one finished  today.   I just finished another Beloved Belindy.  Guess they are making a comeback as I've recently had a few orders for them so thought I'd make another to offer at the show.

Well at least I'll get my hooking fix satisfied tonight as this is another project which I want to take to the beach show.  It's getting close and want this dang thing done!  I'm tired of looking at it and want to move on.

Then tomorrow I'll work on another doll which was started a couple months ago.  Since I prefer hooking to making dolls now, my attention span for dolls is short lived.  So I might cut out a doll or two, make one and the other one sits half finished until the urge strikes me again.  Such is the case with the body parts in my sewing room; but at least they are stuffed, they just need to be assembled, face, hair, clothing, and eventually it will be a doll.


Thanks for visiting.


Saundra

Summer Seasonal Swap Mat

Today I received my swap mat from my partner Debra Henkle and I love it.   Not only do I adore watching my birds at the feeder but have numerous bird houses hanging throughout my wooded lot for them to nest in.  So Debra's choice of hooking me this piece was right on target for me.

I'm hoping that Debra isn't reading my blog because I'm not sure if she has received mine in the mail yet or not and don't want to ruin her surprise...... but am taking a chance to post a picture of the piece I hooked for her.  


Since I forgot to take a picture of the mat I sent Debra just went to Rughookers and see she took a picture and posted it.  So...... this is the mat that I sent her.

Normally I don't do the swaps or challenges but this year it was really different and was interested because of the gift Jo-Anne Harris has on pulling people in.  And must admit it was fun.  So I'll end up with 4 seasonal pieces which measure 8" x 8" and can use them individually or I can sew them together 2 x 2 or all four in a row.  But for now think that I'll use them individually and pull them out each season.  And this was a very easy challenge not only because of the small size but it didn't need to be bound perfectly.  All we needed to do was tack it back with no whipping, no cotton binding in the event someone wanted to join them all together ~ and, if not the final owner could bind them how she or he wished.


If you are not a member of http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Rughookers/ you may want to stop by to see about other upcoming challenges or swaps.  There is still the fall swap coming up but Jo-Anne has talked about extending the swaps in the event there were late joiners so they could get all the seasons.  And Jo-Anne has talked about different kinds of swaps coming up so you may want to join Rughookers and read to see what events are going to happen.


The Sincerely Jane challenge was one great geometric piece I worked on which was based on a quilt make by Jane Stickle in 1863; again this was hosted by Jo-Anne.    This is the finished piece I did which was not the original size of Jane Stickle's quilt but blocks I chose to hook using a #8 strip.  Other participants could choose which quilt designs to hook and do their own color planning and border.

  

It will be wonderful to see all our efforts in an upcoming issue of Rug Hooking magazine and must admit it was fun chatting with others about this challenge during the process.  

The Wool Chronicles

Oh my.... I just got my wool order from Heavens to Betsy and I'm in love.  These are the wools I just washed ~ sorry it is showing up so dark, I am not great at photography or lighting.

Okay, starting from the top is the wool which was used in my rug started at Woolley Fox with Barb  Carroll.  While at the color planning table with her she explained her usage of wool with not only the wool I took but the little I purchased from her.  The top one was first purchased from Barb at camp and she said that when hooked it looks like antique rags and is a "must have" in the wool stash ~ obviously this girl bought some from Barb.  Then when arriving home and looking at Betsy's web site realized this was Betsy's "SMOKING JOE".  Well dont'cha know I ordered more from Betsy since Barb said it is a "must have".


The next photo is the rug I'm working on using Smoking Joe and you can see that piece of wool just inside around the border of the rug to the far right and a larger section below the tree on the far right.  It also extends toward the left in the ground and will continue across the bottom and all around.

In the washed wool stack, the middle darker wool is absolutely more beautiful in person than is depicted here or on Betsy's web site but Betsy's web site will give you a better picture of it.  This wool is a wonderful teal but then has some light and spark in it as well.  Lovely wool and am sure I'll use it in lots of rugs because I remember Kris Miller saying that "teal is the new purple".  (Shsssssh, don't say that loud enough for Barb to hear).


Then finally at the bottom is Goose Feathers, also from Betsy's site.  I fell in love with that wool and Shari told me that she bought a piece from Barb to put in her rug but I'm not sure where Shari used it.  All I can say is that it is one fantastic texture and washes up a smidgen darker than the photo on Betsy's web site.


And, ya see the little strip just under my lion?  See the lighter areas in the two trees to the right?  That same wool will also appear in the green areas in the trees to the left.  That is wool that I took to Barbs and was found at an outside community sale; actually I was given my share of a piece of wool by my friend Deb who was kind enough to share it.

So, when Barb was going thru my wool she went bonkers over this piece of wool and wanted me to give her some.  Uh, well, I didn't have much but had an idea in my  mind.  So again, going into the brain of Barb's rug planning she said that she saw this piece of wool as either a very dirty and used wash rag or an old school boy's school britches which had been worn to rags.


I thoroughly enjoy Barb's explaining how she sees wool in rugs to make them look old.  So hearing this about this Scottish wool and the "Smokey Joe" makes you know what needs to be in your stash.


Now, don't go and get your hopes up as I'm not sure this is going to happen.   BUT...when I came home from Woolley Fox I sent Betsy a sample of the Scottish wool ~ enough for her to see the repeat.  Betsy and Erica do a great job on anticipating the needs of the teachers and hookers so don't know where down the line this milling process may or may not take place, OR..... if it ever will.  But can tell you that I will guard what is left of this piece of wool with my life.


Hope you enjoyed the wool chronicles and maybe there will be future posts about wools and how they are used.


Thanks for visiting.


Saundra

Rug on the Frame

This is the rug I started at Woolley Fox with the magnificently talented Barb Carroll. Since coming home there's not been a whole lot more hooked on it since life has a way of interrupting, but frankly I'd rather just be hooking.  Anyway, this is how my present rug on the frame looks now.  As previously mentioned It is an adaptation of a yarn sewn and chenille sheered rug made in 1840 with a braided edge.

I've got a couple other projects which have been started that need my attention to but want to keep working on this rug.  And I also have a show in July which means that more dolls need to be finished, yet again I want to keep hooking on this rug.


I've just written to my other gal pals asking that they send me the pictures they took at camp as well as an update on their rugs so hopefully I'll be able to post more of our journey at this year's camp at Barb's.  So stay tuned to see what is posted next.