Lot's to Share!

I haven't posted for awhile, but I've been busy with several projects that I can share with you now. First off, I totally finished the rug I started in Diane Stoffel's class in March. I have named it Bluebirds of Happiness and here is is in all it's 'glory'. The finished size is 30" x 43".

I used yarn to whip the edges and did a spot dye to help it blend more with the dappled green shade color behind the lattice in the border.

I think it turned out pretty well!

I decided to replace the bird's beaks with a darker wool....

....after I did a Google image search for bluebirds and discovered that they actually are darker.

Another bird project I worked on was this cute little garland made of wool. I attended the Open House at Black Sheep Woolens and this kit was a free gift to all those who came. It's hand stitched and I love the felted wool balls and beads that add to it's charm. Thanks Leisa!

A few posts back I shared photos of furniture my friend Kathy was making for her little Haunted House. I thought she might like a little area rug in one of the rooms, so suggested that she find a design that would work and she asked for a spider web. Here is is drawn on paper, and then transferred to the weaver's cloth.

This is the finished rug - done with needle punch - that finishes 3" in diameter. She hasn't seen it yet - I will deliver it to her next week - sure hope she likes it! I'll share more photos of her Halloween project as it progresses.

I finally got all the blocks made for the Woolen Willow sewalong - even got the blocks sewn together and the borders attached! Now it's all ready to be quilted, but who knows how long that will take! LOL The finished size of this quilt is 48" x 54" and most of the applique is done with scraps of wool.

I've also been stitching up the blocks that Cheri Payne is sharing on her blog - each 6" block is quick to make and the quilt is guaranteed to be a winner because that's all Cheri knows how to do!

I recently won a giveaway from my LQS and received a huge package of elongated hexagons for English Paper Piecing. I have begun working on a small quilt using some of these -  they're great to do while watching TV in the evenings.

As you can see, I've been quite busy with a variety of projects - which is my favorite kind of busy!

Rug Update

I've been spending all my free time hooking and I'm making good progress on this rug, so thought I'd share an updated picture of it with three of the four borders hooked. I used a #9 cut to do this part so it went rather quickly.

I had planned to use this marbleized green wool behind the white garden lattice (top of photo below) because it looked like dappled shade, but I didn't have enough for the whole thing. I tried to duplicate it by cooking up some camel with jade green - two different times - but neither of them turned out right, so I ended up just mixing in some textures and solids that blended okay with it. I'll save the failed attempts for use in a future project. (I had forgotten how fun it is to marbleize!)

I can hardly wait to get this finished!

Just a Short Post - - -

I've been feeling under the weather all this week because I caught the crud from my hubby - ugh! I missed a rug group meeting yesterday and another one today, but I hooked at home and imagined that I was visiting with all the nice gals I look forward to seeing each month. I have finished the center of the rug I began in Diane Stoffel's class last month - now on to the border - which will look like a garden lattice.

Do you think I need to change the beaks on the birds? Seems like they don't show up very well from a distance.

Last weekend hubby & I went south for a few days, and while visiting a quilt store there I saw this cute little sign made of license plates - now I'm on the hunt for all the right letters so I can do one for quilting and another for rug hooking. Fun, huh?

I recently stumbled upon a YouTube video that I thought I'd tell you about. A gal named Annette who lives in Connecticut started filming herself hooking rugs in her basement studio about six months ago. She calls her program The Rug Hooking Talk Show.  I guess she has always been a solitary hooker and uses this as a way to connect with others in the same situation. You can view her most recent video HERE and she also blogs HERE.