Rug Hooking Workshop (Picture Heavy)

Over the weekend I was fortunate to attend a three day rug hooking workshop sponsored by the Utah Rug & Fiber Guild. This year our national teacher was Donna Hrkman from Dayton Ohio - what a delightful lady! We met at a local quilt store.

I chose to work on a landscape rug of a red rock slot canyon in Southern Utah - an area that my husband absolutely adores. I'm hoping that my project will turn out well enough that I can have it mounted on stretcher bars and he will want to hang it in his office at work. If not, oh well! I worked from a photograph so you can see what it's supposed to look like when finished. It's only 18" square, so not a huge rug.

The Guild has always done a great job on prizes & treats for the attendees. This time all 20 people in the class received one of these adorable sheep! He's quite large - can you imagine how much work it was to make so many of these? Love him!

This rich, chocolate cupcake was sooooo delicious to eat - and cute to look at with that little face!

I recently visited my friend Kay who is hooking a rug depicting a church that is right next door to her home. She mentioned that she thought she'd like to make it have stained glass in the windows, so this morning I got out my electric frying pan and attempted to make dye some wool for her that would work as a surprise.

I used only three colors of dye - red, blue & yellow - hoping that they would run together to create orange, purple and green.Turned out kinda dark and muddy, but she might like it anyway. I'm crossing my fingers...... maybe I should have done rows of color instead?

Donna is well known for her portrait rugs, and that is what most of the gals chose to hook during the workshop. After three days solid of working on their projects, most of them had two eyes hooked - which is why I wasn't terribly interested in doing faces - too time intensive for my tastes - plus they had to use very, very narrow cuts of wool to get the details right - a #3 cut.  Jill is doing Marie Antoinette - a long term project I imagine.

Judy was hooking Freida......

Mary worked from a photograph of her granddaughter......

Leah is hooking her hubby & herself......

Brynne recently moved here from CA where she was active with a rug group there. She started an angel rug - might be a weathervane? It's a big one.

Brenda is hooking a sheep that will eventually become a small handbag.

Stacie is hooking a beloved pet dog.....

Tonia worked on one of Donna's patterns of a steam punk pumpkin......

Cheryl also bought a pattern from Donna, but she loves to make sculpted rugs, so this dog has a muzzle sticking out a couple inches from the surface of the rug - he also has a steam punk vibe....

Terri was hooking a rooster in varied colors - one of Donna's patterns also.

Marianne drew her own pattern of her sister with a cat and a computer - her two favorite things!

Coralee is doing a picture of a town on the Oregon coast she visited - great weathered wood.

Jeanette is hooking a rug to go on a window seat near where her grandchildren play when they come to visit - such fun bright colors for the three elephants!

Sandy got a whale hooked, but there is much much more to the pattern she's doing - she works quickly so I'm looking forward to seeing this when we meet again next week - it might even be done by then! LOL

Pat is making a footstool - she's started with these coiled circles and will hook around them until the surface is finished. Can't wait to see this one!

There was a small rug show at the end of the class where I snapped the pictures below - lots of talent in our group!

Over President's Day weekend we spent some time in St. George Utah - usually we escape there for the warmer temperatures, but not this time. We still had a good time - drove out to Glitter Mountain and collected these shards of rock that look like clear glass - very cool! I like them displayed in this small rope bowl that I recently made.

Hubby & I have had a new home built and it's nearly finished now - maybe two weeks till we close. After living in our current home for 37 years it's going to be quite an adjustment for us - and the physical move will be quite an ordeal - especially my studio with it's supplies. But we're looking forward to it. Thankfully, we can take as long as we need since we won't be selling our old home until the move is complete - no pressure to hurry, hurry, hurry. It's only three miles away so that helps too. I haven't had a lot of time for reading blogs lately, so I'll go catch up with everyone now!

Eye Candy

In my last post I shared a penny rug that I worked on during a recent road trip. This little quilt below was another bit of handwork that kept me busy on the same outing. I got all the hexies basted and stitched together while traveling. Then I sewed them onto the backing fabric and added the appliqued flower when I got home. It's quilted and bound and I'm enjoying it in my home now. Measures about 8" x 10" total.

Last week I met with my rug group and they had some great show & tell. Leisa was working on her poppy rug during the meeting, but she pulled out this wonderful quilt to work on during the ride home (she was a passenger for a one hour drive). I LOVED the story behind this quilt and she gave me permission to share it here. She made this quilt for her husband's 50th birthday and every bit of it has significance. The background was made by printing important documents onto fabric - things like his Air Force discharge papers, his wedding certificate, his diploma from medical school etc... She then added the wool tree which has a wool leaf for each of his 50 years. The birds nestled in the branches represent their family (children & grandchildren).  He raises bees - hence the bee skep. Because he was in the military, they moved a LOT through the years and each of their houses is depicted in the border. He's an avid fisherman so that is depicted by the water and the fish. The fabric on the back of the quilt was printed with world maps - perfect! This is a one-of-a-kind quilt that will become a priceless heirloom to her family - kinda makes me cry when I look at it!

There was lots of other great eye candy to see at our gathering. Sandy brought this finished rug that has a nautical vibe to it - she plans on using in in front of her bathroom sink - nice to sink your toes into on a chilly morning!

Her Maggie B. bee skep is completed and looks SO nice!

She also had this cute baby quilt that she made for a niece.

And she hooked this cute little sheep while she was with us - ran out of wool and could quite finish his tummy....

Kim has been working on some 'draft dodgers' for three of her windows that let the cold air in during the winter. The background is unhooked linen and adds a nice touch to the project. These two are finished with snowmen & trees, and she's currently working on a third with mittens on it.

Her mom recently died and she showed us this darling little quilted pillow of entwined hearts that two of her dear friends made for her - such a special gift!

Victoria is nearly finished with this apple harvest rug - just a little bit more to do.

Coralee is hooking a memory rug that shows her life on a farm in earlier years.

Jeanette's colorful turkey should be done in time for Thanksgiving in a couple months.

And Sharon's old looking floral rug is so pretty - there will be two of them that are very similar in color and design.

I just sat and visited the entire time - didn't even have a project to work on - and that was just fine with me for once!  Here is a book that I read recently - it was a good  story set during the Blitz in London.

In my next post I'll share the finished baby quilt that I made for my new grandson. He's not here quite yet, but should make an appearance very soon - we can hardly wait!

Stash Enhancement

My stash of quilting fabrics has increased nicely over the last several days. I have heard good things about the fabrics that are sold at Connecting Threads, so when I saw a spectacular sale just before Christmas on some, I took the plunge and ordered half yard pieces of several. I paid $2.96/yd and they seem to be very good quality - I think I'll be ordering from them again. These are from their Country Essentials Collection.

My mom gifted me with these lovely fat quarters....

....and DD#2 gave me another bundle of FQs, a Gingher rotary cutter, and a nifty sewing organizer.

DD#1 gave me this darling sweater with sheep on it - fits me perfectly - both size-wise & style-wise! My family knows me well and always gives me the most thoughtful gifts geared toward my interests. Sweet!

And speaking of gifts, hubby & I made this book lamp for DD#1 who loves books and reading, as well as bright colors. I collected the books from thrift stores over the course of the summer, then hubby drilled holes in them and assembled the floor lamp. This picture is kinda blurry....

...but this close-up of the various books is better. The subject matter of the book didn't matter to me when I was shopping - they only needed to have bright bindings - so there are medical books, novels, textbooks & I think even a cookbook. It was a fun, fun project and the only handmade gift we gave this year.

Project Updates & Hooking Stuff

In my last post I shared a glimpse of a quilt I was making. The top is now complete so I'll show you the whole thing and tell you how it came to be......

Months ago I joined hundreds of other quilters and started stitching Bonnie Hunter's Easy Street. I made nearly 70 of these sections - - - 

and then realized I had the colors wrong! What to do? (correct colors are below)

One day I was browsing through my quilt books and I noticed the quilt on the cover of Kim Diehl's most recent book. I realized it had the same block section as the one I had messed up.

So I did some more piecing and ended up with this. The center stars are scrappy reds & the churn dash parts are all scrappy green, but the background is only one gold fabric.

For the sashing I finally used a Moda paisley print that I've had for years - it helped me choose the colors for the entire quilt and I quite like it. After cutting the sashing and the binding strips, I had one small strip leftover so I barely had enough. Whew!

I had originally planned to set the blocks 4x4, but ended up doing a longer, skinnier version. Working with 12" blocks was a real different experience for me because I rarely make any that big, but it was worth it. Since this will be used as a couch quilt for watching TV, long and skinny will work just fine.

Another project I have been working on is a Christmas wall hanging. This is what it looks like right now.

I used this book for piecing all the alphabet letters and plan to add some applique somewhere before it's done.

I've used the book before to make this quilt that hangs in my studio- - -

- - - and this one that hangs in the bathroom downstairs.

Saturday at the Hook-In I was thrilled when my Row Rug won 3rd place in the People's Choice Awards! It was a fun, fun day! For more pictures from the hook-in, please go to the Guild's blog here.

On Tuesday Eileen showed me a small hexagon quilt that she made using the same pattern I've been working on. I think she said her hexies were 3/4". Mine are 3/8" and the size difference on the finished product is amazing. Her colors are so beautiful.....

Here's a picture of the rug that she's working on - a classic Emma Lou Lais design. We brainstormed some ideas for the border - she's so close to having it finished!

I have finished polka dotting all the burlap on the twelve table runners for the wedding reception next month. I was pretty impressed with myself because I only made one single mistake on placement! Here's a sneak peek. They're not as shinny as the fabric you can buy at JoAnn's but I think the price difference more than compensates for that.

I've got nothing on my schedule today except to stay home and sew, so that's what I plan on doing.