Most of the wool for my hooked rugs comes from thrift store clothing - I love the thrill of the hunt I guess - plus the price is much friendlier! As I dismantle each piece I save the buttons (of course), sometimes the seam tape, and usually the labels. Here's my stash of labels that I store in an old sewing machine drawer.
I'm not sure what exactly I'll use the labels for, but I recently found some inspiration about that.
Janet buys wool sweaters to use for some of her crafts (you should see the family Christmas stockings she's made through the years) and she made this darling tote bag/purse as a birthday gift for her daughter using the clothing tags from those sweaters.
Several months ago I attended a quilt show and saw this piece that is totally covered with labels. The story of the quilt was especially touching because each block was laid out by a small boy who was hospitalized at the time - and the nurses and doctors who cared for him all donated labels from their own clothing, plus gathered some from friends and family. His mom would then sew the labels down and he'd start on the next block - eventually they had enough for an entire quilt.
Here's a couple of close-ups. .
And I found this jacket that was embellished with vintage clothing labels.
Hmmm....... do any of YOU have ideas of what I can use my collection of labels for?
What a great weekend I had attending the Ali Strebel 3 day workshop organized by the Utah Rug & Fiber Guild. Each of us who attended purchased one of two different design kits that Ali prepared. She then proceeded to teach us some specialty techniques to make our hooked rugs more interesting. Things like beading, standing wool circles, wool applique, snipped loops, and needle felting for small details. It was a great three days of learning and eating and visiting with friends (not especially in that order LOL!) I was able to finish the hooking on my little mat and I think I'm going to turn it into a pillow with proddy fringe around the edges.
You can see lots of pictures of the event on our Guild's blog, and more on Ali's blog too.
A couple of Saturdays ago I drove with Jayna to a flea market that is held one hour south of us. Flea markets are rare here in Utah - I envy those of you who have them available to you on a year round basis. This one is called Flea-o-logy and it's held three times each summer. This was our first time there and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. One of my favorite purchases of the day was a pendant made from a vintage silver fork - the artist twisted the metal into a pleasing shape and added some dangles taken from other pieces of silverware. I'm not sure if I like wearing it on a ball chain - might have to see what else I can find for it - but it's been fun to wear because it's so unusual - definitely not something you'd find in a jewelry store at the mall!
Jayna found LOTS of goodies. One of them was a small shallow wooden drawer that she used as a canvas for an art piece. Using letters of various sizes and made of different materials, she wrote out a favorite quote and has it hanging on her kitchen wall - so cute!
A group of friends were at my house Wednesday night and we worked on a fun project that Angela had shared with me a few months ago. Using Sculpey clay, we embellished and decorated lowly ballpoint pens and made them much more attractive. Even though we all used the same technique, it was fun to see how differently they turned out. You can find the tutorial here.
Yesterday was the first of a three day workshop our rug hooking guild is hosting with Ali Strebel as the teacher. I'm heading back there this morning, but wanted to do a quick post before I leave. Will share photos from the event soon.
I thought I had done a good job of taking pictures of the rug show at the Denver Hook-In, but after looking at what was on my camera, I see that I neglected to get quite a few. However, here are the ones that I did get. Enjoy!
Laura Pierce was there from California and I see that she has shared some pictures on her blog - so if you want to see a few more you can go here. My friend Tonia attended the Hook-in as a vendor and she has posted some pictures on her blog here.
I hooked the challenge rug for the Denver Hook-In and entered it in the rug show - you saw it a couple of posts back. Here are pictures of the other rugs that were done - it's amazing how differently they all turned out!
The one below was probably my favorite - it was hooked by the same gal who designed the pattern. I love that she made a runner out of it by joining three of the motifs into a row!
Hubby & I returned home from our visit to Denver on Sunday night. It was a nice trip and we really enjoyed ourselves. Highlights of the visit included a drive to Estes Park in the Rocky Mountains - just gorgeous! We did a little hiking, a little shopping, went to a movie, ate good food, sat in the hot tub, and explored during our five days there. There were lots of thrift stores, flea markets, and antique stores everywhere we went, and we stopped at quite a few of them. I'm always drawn to furniture pieces with small drawers and cubbies, so these three pieces pictured below really grabbed my attention. However, NONE of them would fit in our car so they didn't come home with us - the $2,600 price tags had nothing to do with it! LOL
I was able to visit my very first rug hooking store - The Wool Basket - in Loveland. We don't have any stores like this here in Utah so it was fun to go in and look around.
Oddly enough, the carpet in the hallway of our hotel caught my eye - these wonky squares would make a fun rug, yes?
I'll share pictures from the hook-in on my next post.
Today I attended my monthly rug hooking meeting in SLC and while I was there I whipped the edge of the challenge rug I made for the Denver Hook-in which will be held May 19th. It just needs one more pressing and it'll be good to go! It measures 18" square.
Nancy has made quite a bit of progress on her rug since I saw it last month - she says it's so much fun to work on this because every day is a different motif & color. I love it!
Myra brought a new cabin/woods rug that she's started hooking - it will be a gift for her cousin. The bear and trees are looking great (in spite of the hassle her sons-in-law have given her) and I'm looking forward to seeing the ground and sky as they develop.
Fun day!
