Lots Of Rugs!

At our 1st Tuesday rug hooking meeting this week it was so nice to see all the gals. The last couple months our attendance has been sporadic because of the weather and other problems, but this time there were no issues and we all enjoyed our time together. Everyone was working on lovely projects, and we talked about books, and food, and families, and started planning for a rug hooking retreat that we're all  looking forward to. I snapped pictures of all the rugs that were there and will share them with you.

Tonia has been very busy since we saw her last and brought these projects all finished up!

I love how the design she did on this pillow bumps out into the border - I think it adds a lot of interest.

And she finished hooking part of the background on this one while she was at the meeting. She said her next rug was going to be a large runner - can't wait to see it!

This is Sharon's fun rooster rug. It's her own design and I love those polka dots! The border will have pennies all around the outside. The outline on the rooster really makes the design POP, huh? It's quite a large rug.

Marliss is working on a penny rug design from Maggie Bonanomi's book "With These Hands". She's going to hook the background with a dark wool and all those colors will look scrumptious. I have that book too, but haven't seen it for months - I need to unbury it so I can droll over all the wonderful pictures of her home again.

Victoria is doing a rug from a Need'l Love book. Love that red clamshell border.

Sandy is working on a small sampler rug when she comes to meetings, but there's a reallly big one on her frame that she works on at home.

I Might Be Addicted!

I think I have a new obsession! A couple days ago I made a couple flowers out of a wool sweater after seeing a tutorial on a blog. Today I made three new flowers roughly based on the technique taught in Gene Shepherd's proddy book. Except I didn't use wool for these, I used old t-shirts. I love the way they each turned out with such different textures. They're both quite large - probably 4" across.

When I finished with those, I found some mustard colored wool in my studio that was already prepped and perfect to make this cute little flower. I just coiled the strip and stitched it together from the bottom as I went round and round.

And then I realized that I made these three flowers a couple months ago using an old t-shirt also. Sometimes I just safety pin them to whatever I'm wearing - maybe I'll add some pin backs to make them easier to attach to my shirts/blouses.

On The Design Wall

I made this quilt several months ago - still want to add wider borders and some applique - probably some vines with flowers.

Wooly Flowers

Yesterday I read a tutorial on a blog called Craftaholics Anonymous on how to make a flower using a sweater. Since I have a ton of wool sweaters collected for future projects, I went to my stash and pulled out a striped one that I thought would work well for this. While watching TV, I stitched up three of them very quickly. I might still add a button to the centers to see if I like it or not. Anyway - it was a fun little project and adds a lot of zing to my blouse!

My TV Debut

What a special treat I had today! I was asked to do a short segment about rug hooking on a local TV talk show. It was a great experience and I had a lot of fun. The staff was all so helpful and kind - I loved seeing the studio set in person and behind the scenes. Here is a picture of the host, Brooke Walker (on the right) and myself (on the left) after we had finished my presentation.


Here is the video from my segment.

A couple pictures that I snapped during the hour I was there are included below. It was a live broadcast and I was really worried about flubbing up, but I think I did okay. My main goal for doing this, is hoping that we can get some more folks interested in joining our local rug hooking groups. It would be so awesome if we had enough people to make it feasible to invite national teachers to come to Utah.

First Finish of the Year

I started this rug several months ago and worked on it diligently for awhile. But then, something else caught my eye and it was put on the back burner - you know how that is, right? LOL Anyway, I pulled the final loops on it this morning and it sure does feel good to have it done. It still needs to be steamed and the edges need to be whipped, but I still call it 'done'.

I call this my Portugal rug because I made it to remember the trip hubby & I made to the Azores Islands last July. The friends who we stayed with have about 30 horses so I thought a folk art horse would be appropriate for the center. One of my favorite things about the island was the cobblestone streets and sidewalks - I snapped this picture and used it as inspiration for the corner design.


And here is a close up of the rug so you can see some details. Even though the colors in the background and border look solid, I actually used quite a few different wools to add some texture - maybe not quite enough, but it'll do.


I've already got my next project drawn on the linen, and all the wools picked out. It'll be a small one this time - only 16' x 20". Shouldn't take me long at all!

String

Sharon is such a talented person. She makes lacy clothing for rocks - can you imagine? They're the coolest things ever. Here is a bowl full of some she's made - they sit on the coffee table in her living room.

And this is one she made and gave to me as a 'just because' gift a couple months ago. I love it! It lives on the side table next to my bed and I adore it.


The contrast between the light colored thread and the dark rocks is so striking. Thank you Sharon! I don't really know what to call these - perhaps those reading this entry can make suggestions?