MUCH Better, Yes?

I met with my Salt Lake Rug Group on Tuesday and got a good start on redoing the background of this little beehive rug - it is SO much better now that the hooking is done. Still need to tweak a couple of the flower centers, then get it pressed & bound. And I actually figured out a great use for this, which I will share when it's all finished.

(edited to add: you can see my earlier attempt on this rug in the previous post)

Three Projects

Well, I've worked a bit on the background of the bee skep hooked rug that I shared in a previous post. But I'm not loving it, so I think I will be pulling it all out and trying something different - just not enough oomph .

Last week I found a pile of hourglass blocks on my cutting table that were leftover from a previous project and decided I might try stitching up a quick little quilt. I decided to make it red, white & blue.

So I pulled out my strips of red & cream fabric - - -

and made up a bunch of scrappy 9-patches - - -

Then auditioned different settings that combined the two blocks - - -

Decided on this one then tried out some fabrics for the borders and binding - - -

Got it all sewn together, quilted (not very well), and washed, so now it's all done. Finished size is about 16"x20". Funny thing is that I made WAY more 9-patches than I needed, so now I have lots of THOSE leftover to make another project with - sheesh!

I've also been making some hexies and sewing them together like Kristie at Quilting Cowgirl - it's such a great project to work on in the evenings while I'm vegging in front of the TV - thanks for the inspiration Kristie!

Now I need to get myself in gear and make a twin-sized quilt for my grandson's 8th birthday on Feb 14th. He chose the colors and a design that he liked. Then I 'had' to go shopping for the fabrics since these colors aren't in my stash (poor me)...

and I have a start on it.

Oh, and just as a side note, I tallied up my book list from 2014 and discovered that I read (or listened to) 59 books last year - yay me!

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.

News Story

It's not too often that rug hooking makes the news, but my friend Sharon shared this article with me yesterday and I thought I'd pass it along. A Canadian rug hooker made this rug as a thank you gift for the political cartoonist who drew the picture - it captured the poignancy of war loss.

She spent three weeks working on it and I think the rug captures the drawing perfectly. Read the whole story here - it's awesome!

A Bit of Christmas

I did my large tree with creamy white ornaments this year - angels & birds & stars, plus a bit of glass. I made a garland but cutting six yards of tulle netting into 3" strips - then ran it through my sewing machine to gather it into fluffy, feather, lightness.

My kids helped me make small white paper Moravian stars one year and I always enjoy pulling them out.

DD#1 brought me home a dozen soldered glass stars from a trip to Mexico.

And I bought a crystal chandelier several years at a yard sale. Harvested the crystals and hung a few on the tree to reflect the light.

I've enjoyed watching and listening to this Christmas video several times already - and each time it gives me goosebumps. Hope you like it too. It is a local production with some well known Utah talent like the Piano Guys, David Archuletta and Alex Boye.

I've heard about the scrap bags that are available from Heavens to Betsy on occasion, and I was finally able to purchase one. I expected true scraps - pieces of wool in funny shapes & sizes, but was pleasantly surprised to find 19 eighth yard pieces. They're all washed up now and ready to hook with. YUM!

Salt Lake Rug Group

Last Wednesday I met with the Salt Lake Rug Group and we had a nice turnout - I think everyone enjoys visiting during the holidays! Lots of goodies were exchanged - especially chocolate - YUM! Here are the projects that were being worked on that day. I started this bee skep that I found in my studio - don't even remember where I got it! It's going to work up quickly I think - trying to decide on what to do to make the background more interesting.

Yvonne was appliqueing some small quilt blocks - I think she said this was a Kim Diehl design.

Vicky was binding this gorgeous king-sized quilt - the black setting makes all those colors just pop. She said it was ten months in the making.

Myra was making another set of wool pinecones - she shared photos of a set that her daughter used to decorate the bannister in her home - just lovely.

The rich colors in Arline's rug were just gorgeous.

And Nancy is making progress on the quilt patterned rug she bought from Sharon Smith.

We meet at Nancy's house each month. She's been hooking for over 25 years and is very prolific. She has given away lots of rugs to family and friends, and she has a lot of them displayed in her home too. However, some are rolled and stored in this large basket on the floor - think I'll look for one this size because I think it's a great idea.

A lovely day with friends.....

Socks!

Last month our rug group decided to exchange socks at our December meeting, so Tuesday was the day - and this was the haul - such a fun variety! I think we were all hoping to get a pair of Sharon's wonderful hand knit socks, but she wasn't able to make it so we were disappointed!

I don't think there was any show & tell except the rugs that were being worked on - so here we go.... Victoria pulled out an old project to do some more on it - I think it's very old fashioned looking.

Sandy is hoping to get this anchor rug done for a granddaughter by Christmas. She has begun hooking the background stripes in the lower right corner of the picture.

Marliss is still working on the rug she started in class with Sharon Smith - love the colors.

This floral is Tonia's design - has her name written all over it.

I missed Angela's little tree skirt for a wool feather tree, and forgot to snap a picture of Cora Lee's Purple Rain rug from Sharon Smith. Sorry gals!

Jeanette was sick and couldn't attend, but she sent me this picture of her dancing elephant rug - all finished! I adore the tulle netting she added to the ballerina's skirt - proddy I'm guessing?

I was a slacker and didn't take a rug at all - instead I was working on two different quilt projects. I recently found three more fabrics that would work great for my English Paper Pieced stars so I fussy cut the diamonds and got one of them stitched together while I was there. Some of the gals didn't know how this worked so they got to see the whole process.

And I brought a stack of 3" 9-patches to square up - I'm really just removing slivers of threads - not large pieces of fabric at all - but I think it helps a lot in accuracy.

I've now got probably 200 of these ready to go - might be time to start assembling the quilt top, but I need to cut a few other pieces of fabric - triangles & large hexies.

When making 4-patches I've often 'spun' the seam intersections, but the pattern I'm using suggested doing that with these 9-patches too - works great to reduce the bulk!

I haven't gotten any decorating done yet for Christmas, but I HAVE almost finished with my shopping, so that's progress, right? LOL