Home Tour

Tonia is a relatively new rug hooker in our group, and when I found out that she'd been an antique dealer in a former life, I asked if I could come see her home - knowing that it would have beautiful things in it. She graciously agreed to let me, and I totally enjoyed my visit. Her style is clean and totally uncluttered so each piece can be seen and appreciated individually. This great rooster weather vane greets you right inside the front door.

As well as this little chair with firkins behind it,

and this Tree of Life hooked rug (I don't think she made this one)

There was a large opening above her fireplace that was designed for a TV, but she didn't like that so covered it with these mirrored windows that she & her hubby made for dirt cheap. I love that the mirrors reflect light into the room to make it seem even more spacious.

And the fireplace is flanked by two Windsor chairs and matching bookcases. I noticed that she had removed all the dust jackets from her books and they were grouped by color - how clever is THAT?

She has a 'thing' for wooden boxes and trunks - just like I do - and this is her most recent treasure. She found this trunk at the local thrift store for $5 - can you believe that? It was painted a hideous color of orange and after she stripped it and stained it, she discovered it was a six-board chest with hand cut dove tailed joints! A real find! Look at the detail on the bottom - it's just lovely! And the braided wool rug under the trunk was given to her for FREE! It's really large - I've never seen one with squared of sides like it has.


Here are a few more of her trunks and boxes. (I think that's Sharon waving to us! LOL)



I collect vintage toy sewing machines so I especially like this display.

Great gathering of her pewter on the wall in the kitchen,

And more in the step back cupboard in the dining room, along with some redware plates.


Her bedrooms are so nice - love the pencil post bed with coverlet in the master.


And the canon ball bed in the guest room,


As well as this one with the beautiful bedding and just a splash of red.

Thanks for the tour Tonia!

Dyeing today

I recently acquired a ball of wool fabric that had been cut and prepared for rug braiding.

Since I don't braid I decided to use it in one of my hooked rugs, but the color was such a bright blue that I decided it need a little help. I dashed off a quick email to Gene Shepherd asking his advice on what to do with it and he kindly offered some suggestions. I followed his instructions this morning and ended up with wool that is much more interesting.

I don't know WHAT exactly I'll end up using it for, but I sure like it a lot better now! Thanks for your help Gene! One of my favorite things about the blogging world is that it makes "Rich and Famous" people accessible to everyday folks like me.

All pressed and pretty......

Fun With INCHIES And A Finished Rug

Each month when we meet, the members of my quilt group bring a project that we've been working on for one person. This month Janet asked us each to make her four 'inchies'. Are you familiar with those? They're similar to quilted postcards, and ATC's, but much smaller. Usually they are made 1" x 1", but Janet chose to have us make 'inchies-plus' instead, which measure 1-1/2" x 1-1/2" - so a tiny bit bigger than 'normal'. I had so much fun making the first four that I asked if I could do more, and she was glad to oblige. I ended up doing 11 of them and used a large variety of materials that included metal zipper teeth, lace, buttons, snaps, beads, and Scrabble tiles. Here is a link to an online photo album showing over 1,000 examples of other people's work. FLICKR
You might want to click on the picture to make it bigger so you can see the details better.


A couple years ago, Angela designed this cute sheep rug for our group to hook as a challenge. We've slowly been getting them finished - Eileen's is the most recent one to be completed.

Beautiful Rugs

Sharon has finished hooking her rug! I shared a picture of this one a few weeks ago when it was about half way done - it's based on a painting that her artist husband did and it's just beautiful! I wish I had taken a close up picture because the colors and textures of the wool she used are so perfect for this piece! She still needs to block it and whip the edges, but I couldn't wait any longer to show you.


And I got to see this large rug that Sandy is working on when I went to her house. She designed it, along with her hubby and it includes some family information/history on it. There will be another border beyond the vine so it really will be quite big when it's finished.

Vintage Runner

Doesn't seem like I've had too much to blog about lately, but here is a runner that I bought about five years ago. I got it off of ebay from one of those businesses who will sell your stuff FOR you if you're not computer savvy, or don't want to bother. Unfortunately that means that I don't know the history of it because I didn't get it from the maker. Believe it or not no one else bid on it so I paid a whopping $10 for it! And I drove one hour south to pick it up in person so I didn't even have to pay shipping! WooHoo! It measures 18" x 72" and I have it on the floor next to my bed. I've seen this same design in one of Deanne Fitzpatrick's books, but don't know if she's the designer or not.


I'm pretty sure all the wool is as-is - probably from recycled clothing.

Projects

Here are a couple pictures from our rug hooking gathering this morning. Tonia just finished this cute squirrel rug that she made as a gift for her new DIL. It's a pattern that's in the most recent issue of RHM.

Since finishing the squirrel rug, she started this floral - she is one fast hooker!


Angela showed us her latest punch needle design for her pattern-of-the-month club available on her website. Such a cute bee skep - love the colors on this.
I just finished up this sunflower pinkeep - the free pattern and instructions are available at Mary Flanagan Woolens.