Catching Up!

I've been busy hooking & quilting my little heart out. Let's see if I can remember all the things I've made recently. This rug is my newest finish - I completed whipping the edge with yarn this week. It measures 36" square and is hooked with an 8.5 cut. Controlled scrappy makes me just as happy as scrappy with abandon! LOL

I finished this one a month ago or so. I saw a black & white photo of a rug similar to this in an old rug hooking book. It was interesting to hook because I wasn't influenced by the color choices in the original rug.

This was a Christmas gift for my daughter-in-law and was so fun to hook.

I love all the different black & white wools I used and the linear hooking.

There is a store in SLC that sells overstock and salvage items. A friend of mine goes every single week to see what treasures she can find.  She knew what this was as soon as she saw it, and since she knows I'm a rug hooker she bought it for me. There was a name on the back, so I got online and tracked down the gal who made it - asked her if she had any idea of how it ended up in Utah. She was totally shocked - said she made it for her sister's birthday and UPS claimed it was lost in shipping. I asked her if she wanted it back and she declined - saying she had already moved on and gotten over the loss. I didn't have the heart to tell her that it was sold for $1.00 - can you even imagine? It's a desert quail and she used a mixture of wool strips and wool yarn.

My friends have been busy too. It's been awesome to watch Nancy's rug progress over the last few months. She hooked the flower basket first and has been working on some really wide borders - at least 10"-12" I think.

Sharon has completed four chair pads - they're each unique and old looking. I love them!

She also hooked this rug that looks like a penny rug. Not sure if she drew the circles freehand or traced around a cup or bowl, but each one has it's own personality and they all play well together.

Sandy made these two cute little runners for holidays and she says they worked up quickly. The bunnies have the cutest little pom-poms for tails!

She also spent a day in her dye pots resulting in these beautiful wools. I can't even remember the last time I dyed - maybe I'll get to play a bit when warm weather arrives and I can work outside.

Kathy's son was married on March 17th and she made this doll to mark the occasion - it was displayed at the wedding reception. You probably can't tell from this photo, but her attention to detail is amazing! She uses sculpey clay for the head & hands, then makes the clothes without a pattern. She's made witches, fairies, and all kinds of other characters.

Several months ago Jeanette brought this old rug that someone had given to her. It's only partway done and was so interesting. I think it used yarn and was sculpted. Beautiful work!

Coralee has worked on some fun projects lately. (sorry about the wonky photos!)

Hook-In

I attended the Utah Hook-In on Saturday, but sadly, didn't think to take very many photos. A friend snapped this picture of me with the door prize I won - a basket full of yummy wool!

And this is the project I started that day. My sweet DIL said she'd love to have me hook a rug for her, so she looked and looked to find something she liked and decided on a design from West Elm. I will hook MY version of it. It's very modern and definitely out of my comfort zone, which will make it fun to work on. With any luck I can get it finished by Christmas (crossing my fingers!)

Two weeks ago we went with two of our kids and their families to Moab to go off-roading and do a bit of hiking. We had a wonderful time in a beautiful place - people come from all over the world to see our state!

2nd Wednesday Group

Last week when I met with the SLC rug group, our numbers were fewer than normal. One of our gals was cruising up the coast of New England (and got to visit Cushings) and another gal had just left for Italy. Sheesh! World travelers, both! LOL In spite of that, we had a good visit.

Here is the rug I've been working on for the last month or so. I'm hooking it with a #9 cut so it's going pretty quickly. It's long and skinny and will be a table runner. The yarn I found will be perfect for whipping the edges.

We meet at Nancy's house and she showed us a pillow that she had just made from one of her hooked pieces - it had a nice envelope backing made of wool.

And she pulled the final loops on this sweet rug while we were there..... might be another pillow!

The other Nancy was working on a small rug that will be the topper for a footstool - a vine with several hues of green leaves. She was still deciding what color to use for the background.

This floral arrangement was the centerpiece on Nancy's table for the season. So pretty!

My friend Yvonne - from the Netherlands - is visiting in Utah again. You can follow her travels here. I'm heading to the same area with my family later this week - sure would be fun to meet up with her, but I have a feeling she'll have moved on before we arrive. Darn!

1st Tuesday Rug Group

Last week I attended one of my monthly rug meetings and enjoyed visiting with all my friends there. Lots of beautiful rugs to see! First up is one that Kim recently finished a floral with birds and an urn.

And this is what she's working on now. Our guild recently had a workshop on how to hook a rug and attach it to a small footstool. This is how she will be using this.

Sandy is the one who designed this floral. She had the entire thing hooked but ran in to a glitch and is now pulling out the wool to rehook on a new piece of foundation exactly the same way.

Marliss is nearly finished with this pumpkin that she plans to give to a friend.

Coralee is working on a stained glass image that should be ready for Christmas.

Sharon was finishing the edge of this penny-style rug.

Victoria is nearly done with a memory rug depicting a silhouette of her & her sister sitting on a swing watching the fireworks as children. The border will be hooked to look like a wooden picture frame.

She's using wonderful shinny metallic fibers that capture the sparkle of the fireworks perfectly!

I'm nearly finished with my most recent rug so I'll share a picture of it when I'm done in a few days.

Halfway June

Hard to believe that June is half over already. DD#1 & her hubby have gone to Cancun so I have their little boy for the week. Yep, feels a little like deja vu since I did the same thing for DD#2 a month ago! Sure do love those little ones, but I know why we have kids when we're young ourselves. Whew!

I met with one of my rug groups last week and there was some good show & tell. Kim hadn't done any hooking, but showed us her beautiful blocks for a square-in-a-square quilt she's making. She'd planned to make it for herself, but her younger son is making wedding plans so she decided it would be made for the newlyweds instead. Beautiful fabrics!

Sandy's husband designed and hand drew this awesome rug for her entry way. It's at least 4' x 6' - maybe a bit bigger. She plans to hook is using only brown & cream wool - very classic and totally awesome! I have several friends who's husbands are interested in their rug hooking and it always amazes me to hear of their support, since my hubby isn't like that. Lucky gals!

Yesterday I met with the Salt Lake Group - our newest member had finished her very first rug hooking project - a floral pillow inspired by a piece of fabric. The back and piping were black velvet - very rich looking.

I love the way she added bits of purple fabric to the black background when she hooked it.

Yvonne is making progress on her bright floral rug - plans to put it in the guest room where her grand daughters sleep when they come to visit. Isn't it happy looking?

Nancy is nearing a finish on her rug - she often includes clever and/or inspiring sayings in her projects and this one is a goody.

Myra has been very busy and brought two sewing buckets that are spectacular. She designed several of the motifs on the outer pockets to reflect the owner - this one is her's......

....and this is for one of her daughters. She has plans to make many more. What lucky family members she has! Makes me wish she would adopt me! LOL Over the weekend our guild had a workshop and made Nuno felted scarves. Sadly, I was too busy helping put in a sprinkler system and couldn't attend, but Myra brought her scarf and it was just beautiful. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of that. I'm hoping to try this technique myself some day!

Mary Jane featured one of my rugs on her blog yesterday - I was honored that she asked to do so - she did a great job on it! You can read her entry here.

37 Years!

I'm very late at getting this post written, but today is my 37th wedding anniversary!  Hubby hand drew a picture for the front of our wedding invitation all those years ago - it was very unconventional to say the least - showing a frog marrying a princess! About 15 years ago I found a Willie Rae figurine that reminded me SO much of his drawing that I had to buy it. I dug out one of our invitations and framed it in a thrift store frame. Now they are displayed side by side on my bedside table.

Yesterday my friends Kay and Sue came to see the new house. Kay is a rug hooker and brought some show & tell. Several months ago I dyed some wool for her to use as stained glass windows and hoped it would work for her. Well, here's how it turned out.

Pretty perfect, I think!

This depicts the Kaysville LDS Tabernacle which is right next door to her house......

....and here is an old photo of the pioneer era building.

(the stained glass windows from the inside)

She also showed me her newest rug which includes one of the things she always tells her sons and grandchildren - very good advice for all of us - BE NICE! As always, her hubby drew the design for her.

She had this darling little piece of embellished stitchery that a friend had gifted her with - so sweet! I love the smushed thimble being used for a flower pot!