Crescent Lane Hooker

New things

2011-11-29T20:43:00.001-08:00

Here are some things that I have finished up recently. "The Prairie Fox" is found in 'The Rug Hook Book" by Thom Boswell. It was designed by Kathy Morton and her hooked original is 27" by 54". I hooked a miniature version of her rug (12½" by 24") and it is one of my favorite rugs now. I have it on a small table by my chair.

The Shepherd and Sheep were designed by Nancy Thompson. Again, hers were much larger (see other pictures) and attached to wooden boards, whereas my Shepherd is 14½ inches tall and the sheep are 4½ inches tall. All are stuffed with poly fill and finished at the bottom.

The above is a pillow that I made for my rocker/glider chair I recovered last year. It is a chair that my husband gave me when my first child was born back in the late 70's. It sure doesn't glide as smoothly as the new gliders that are out now, but I still love it. It needed a little something so I hooked the pillow for it. I rock my grand children in it now.

Happy Hooking.

Auction Day

2011-11-22T18:08:00.001-08:00

The covered dish dinner and auction was fabulous. Here are some pictures.

The sign in table for name tags, auction paddle numbers, and door prize jar.

Everyone went home with a door prize. We had some GREAT things in them.

This is the table to buy raffle tickets for our wonderful raffle rug.

Some Autumn decorations to put everyone in a good buying mood.

Pretty pumpkins made from wool. Some of these were in the door prize bags.

The Kitty would howl and hiss for about 30 seconds when you squeeze him. Kathy could not resist.

The little acorns are felted wool in acorn shells.

These are items for the big auction.

This is the silent auction table.

Of course we ate first. We know how to do a covered dish around here!

Let's eat!

Auction rules to follow.

Bidding frenzy at the Silent Auction Table.

Last minute sign up for the door prizes.

The Auctioneer and our own Vanna White modeling.

A happy bidder

This is most of our hooking group. What a great day!

Auction and Raffle

2011-11-12T17:19:00.000-08:00

This Saturday will be the Crescent Lane Rug Hooking Guild's Covered dish dinner and Auction.
Here is a picture of the rug that we made to raffle off that day. Everyone who wanted to hook a square got one free raffle ticket. Everyone could hook anything they wanted, and just look how cute it turned out. It was agreed that we would keep a rug going all the time and when someone wants or needs something to hook, it will be available to them at our hook nook.

During our lunch, we will have a Silent auction of several items to bid on. The auction will follow immediately after lunch. Each item was handmade by someone or a bought handmade item. We will also have enough door prizes for everyone. It will be so much fun.

We have so very many wonderful items for our auction. I hope to get some good pictures to post. Happy Hooking!

Make a cute magnet for your scissors and hook . . .

2011-11-04T17:51:00.000-07:00

You can make a cute magnet to hold your favorite hook and scissors for yourself or for a hooking friend. It is not difficult, and the magnets keep your hook and scissors handy. One magnet is placed on top and the other magnet is placed underneath your linen to hold the top magnet in place.

NOTE: I found the directions for making the sweet little snippet bag on Linda's blog at http://thewoolcupboard.blogspot.com/

You will need the following: wool fabric, fabric for lining, two strong magnets, pins, a needle, scissors, embroidery floss, buttons and scrap wool (optional).
I bought my magnets from Home Depot. They are a 3/8 inch x 7/8 inch by 7 7/8 inch block, two per package for about $2.50.

Cut 4 pieces of wool and 4 pieces of lining 3 1/4 by 4 1/2 inches.

Sandwich your magnet in between 2 lining pieces and then two wool pieces. Pin, centering the magnet.

With your needle and embroidery floss (all 6 strands), use a running stitch to secure the magnet in all the layers. Hide your beginning and ending knots in between the layers. The lining pieces will help to protect the wool from the sharp edges of the magnet. NOTE: Check the polarity of the magnets before you sew the second one if you are mixing your wool around like I did on the example. I can change my magnets around to show a different side.

Trim your lining pieces shorter than your wool pieces.

Embellish your magnets with scraps of wool and buttons if desired. Treat yourself . . . or make one for a friend. Happy Hooking!

Allie's Rug

2011-10-31T21:31:00.001-07:00

Now that the new grand baby is here, I wanted to make a rug for her big sister (my first grand child) who had to give up her room and move upstairs. That is a lot to ask of a big sister!

I decided to let Allie design her own rug. She looked through some of my rug hooking books and decided on some things to put in her rug. I gave her a large piece of paper (a mistake on my part) and she filled it up with her favorite things . . . Hearts and Stars and Flowers. I helped her with the leaves and side leaves and stems. Then she wanted a dog in the center. D-Daddy (my hubby) taught her how to draw a dog.

My next step was to talk her out of half of the tulips in the center. She decided on color placement and went through all my wools and picked out her favorite colors, all blues and purples. She liked dots, so she told me to add some.

When I gave her the rug, her face lit up with joy to see her drawing on a rug. I was trying to impress her and I pointed out that I added purple tint to the background wool. She studied it for a moment and said, "That's O.K., MooMoo. I don't think anyone will notice. Oh well, so much for for that.

It looks so adorable in her room.

Panda rug finished

2011-09-10T18:54:00.001-07:00

I had finished the Panda Rug about two weeks ago and took it to my daughter today. She was so delighted and surprised to see it. She knew that I was hooking something and just could not imagine what it could be.

When I showed her the rug, she remembered the picture that she drew as if it were yesterday. She remembered that I had saved it from years ago and that her dad and I had always loved it. She had no idea that I was hooking it as her rug for the new baby. My daughter studied the picture and then the rug over and over again. It made me so happy!

It looks adorable in the baby's room. All we need now is a baby! Autumn Kate will be born in a few weeks. We are so excited.

Cleaning and lubricating your Bliss Cutter

2011-08-27T17:11:00.001-07:00

It is not difficult to clean and take care of your Bliss cutter. Mine is rather old as you can see, but it runs smooth as glass. Do not be afraid to clean your cutter. (Please click on the pictures for larger images.)

First, you want to clean out all the wool dust . Lower the drum by turning the knob under the machine (unscrewing it a bit, not all the way). The drum will lower. I use an old toothbrush and brush all the areas underneath and on top.

Once all the dust is gone, you can use a lubricant (I use a Lithium Grease. It is like a tooth paste in consistency). To put the lubricant on the machine, I use an old paint brush with stiff bristles.
Lithium bonds to the metal which is a good thing. I bought this tube from Lowe's for about $3.75. This tube will last me more than a life time, but it is also good for door hinges. Lubricate you Bliss maybe once a year or whenever it is not running smoothly.

Clean and lubricate everything that turns on the underneath side.

Get into all the grooves of each gear.

I will also lubricate the handle because it squeaks sometimes.

Take good care of your Bliss. Happy Hooking.

Panda progress . . .

2011-08-17T19:20:00.000-07:00

I am making some really good progress on my Panda rug. I've had to make a few subtle changes here and there, but I'm trying to keep it as close to the original as possible. My daughter and my initilas were the same when she drew this picture, so I am adding her date before and my date after the initials . . . just not sure what color I want to do them in.
Happy Hooking!

"Panda" and other things

2011-08-05T13:59:00.001-07:00

WOW . . . has it really been that long? I have been very busy working on an auction for our Guild. It has been over a year since our dear Nancy's passing, and our Guild has moved twice since then. We are now back to our beloved Crescent Lane and I really think that we now have Happy Hookers.

We were in desperate need of something fun that we all could look forward to, so I convinced the Board to have a Covered Dish Lunch and an Auction where everyone would donate something we could bid on. We are also working on a rug to raffle where everyone hooks a 5 inch square anyway they want. It is turning out so adorable. Here are some samples . . .

I am also working on decorating and having door prizes for everyone attending. It will be a fabulous time. It will be good to have a get-together like this. I will post more about this later.

Wondering about the rug I am working on? My daughter is having her third baby and I wanted to do a rug that would be sentimental to her. She drew the panda picture when she was in the fourth grade, I think that was in 1987-ish. Anyway, my hubby and I always loved the picture and I saved it all these years. I took it to be enlarged, traced it on red dot, and drew it on linen to be hooked. SHE DOES NOT KNOW ABOUT IT YET. . . and she never reads my blog so I think I am safe.

It is a great rug to hook . . . everything is either blocks or little items . . . and it is nice to be hooking again for pleasure and not project oriented.

Happy Hooking!!!

Little Stuffed Lamb

2011-04-07T10:48:00.001-07:00

This was a fun thing to hook. It is a Lamb pattern by Mary Ellen Wolff of Sunnybrook Design. It was a little tedious to sew together, but I just love him . . or her. Mary Ellen has a few more fun 'Critters" I just might have to have!

Repairing an Antique Rug

2011-03-27T12:12:00.000-07:00

This beautiful antique rug belongs to a friend of a fellow hooker of mine. It needed repair and I was asked if I could repair the hole and bind the sides like the top and bottom were bound. I have never done a repair before and it made me terribly nervous to even consider it. I read several articles from Rug Hooking Magazine, one of them found in September/ October 2004 and then got the courage to tackle it.

Accessing the damage front and back . . . (please click on the pictures to see larger pictures)

The rug was hooked on burlap with different fabrics, not wool. I needed to remove some of the hooking far enough to find some good burlap to attach a new piece. The fabric that I took out was difficult to remove and it fell apart as I removed it making me even more nervous.

The piece I attached was Scottish burlap, surged on one side. It goes about two inches below the removed hooked part as you will see on the back side.

One row hooked to secure the piece. You can see my basting stitches. I used #8 wool strips as close to the background colors that I could find.

After the hooking was complete, I trimmed the excess (new) burlap and I turned back the surged edge twice then secured the edge by whipping.

The top and the bottom of the rug had been bound with binding tape that showed on the top side about 1/4 to 1/2 inch. It was faded so using new binding tape would show too much. I took new binding tape and boiled out as much black as I could using a little dishwasher detergent in the water. It took about 6 times of boiling before it stopped bleeding.

The white line on the tape shows me where to sew to make the edge as even as I could. The tape was then flipped over and sewn to the back. Below are the remains of the hooking that I took out. Not much was left and very tedious to remove. The rug was worn and needed a good cleaning . . . by an expert cleaner who knows antique rugs!

Finished back repair.

Now that it is all over and done, I feel so relieved!

Uncle Sam and 'repositioning' . . .

2011-03-08T11:00:00.000-08:00

This is "Uncle Sam". I found him in the January/February 2010 Rug Hooking Magazine (volume XXI, Number 4). It is by Sally Kallin of Pine Island Primitives. He was fabulous to hook and I enjoyed hooking him up. I will probably hang him on a wall since he is so tall and skinny (15 x 44 inches).

If you choose to hook a pattern from rug hooking magazine, the instructions are always very thorough with colors of wool used and enlargement of pattern per cents provided. The place you choose to enlarge the pattern will help you to figure out the percent of enlargement when it is not easy to understand. I enlarged my Uncle Sam by 200% (just a little larger), but had I enlarged the pattern like the directions stated, it would have been easier to hook the flag and other details since Sally designed it for a #8 cut. My flag is a little fatter in places than hers. Live and learn! However, I wanted him a little larger.

"Measure" and draw the rectangle first. The lines of the border need to be straight on the grain, so do not try to draw the straight lines from the pattern. The rest of the design can be drawn from the pattern itself. I use red dot when transferring a pattern onto linen. I do not have a light table and my space is limited, so I use my kitchen counter top, lay the pattern down, put the red dot on top of the pattern and trace it. Then I place the red dot on the linen and re-trace the pattern, checking to make sure that the permanent marker is going through to the linen. If I need to, I go back over the markings on the linen to make them show up better.

If you do not know what red dot is, here is an example. I free-handed drawing my initials and date on the linen and got the date noticeably off. Here is how I corrected it.

Now go over the orange marking with the pen to 're-draw' the date on the linen.

Happy Hooking everyone!

Hooking with leftover Snarles

2011-02-10T07:15:00.000-08:00

I just took a class from Eric Sandburg in January on Geometrics, which by the way was a fabulous class. We could only work from our snarl bag (leftover strips from other rugs). Before class we divided our strips into light, bright, dark, and dull (or by colors) and brought them with us to class. Our pattern was an original that he drew called "Step Medallion", a 16 x 16 inch square. LOVE the pattern and it was wonderful to hook.

Working from just a snarl bag was so very challenging and I never realized how many strips it took to hook up a 16 x 16 area. If you run out of a color, you have to improvise and decide what to do next. It really stretches you and the tendency to cheat was always on my mind. BUT, I persevered and I am so very proud of myself.

It is not the prettiest thing I ever hooked, but it is . . . interesting and really shows the pattern. Click on the picture and you can better see where I had to re group and throw in another color, or go into a different direction. Every one in the class is hooking the pattern differently. It is amazing how different the results. If I can snap a picture of the some of the other hooker's geometric, I will post the pictures.

Wonderful class!

Angel Fraktur plus Avacado pits dye

2011-01-30T08:52:00.001-08:00

Finally, a new post! Here is my Angel Fraktur. It is hanging above my front door in my foyer. It is a copy of the fraktur that our sweet Nancy Thompson had hooked and hanging above her kitchen door. I always loved it and my rug will always remind me of Nancy. She had her own way of hooking the sweetest faces in all of her rugs, something that I cannot capture, it was her own unique style.

The rug measures 7.5 inches by 46 inches. Here are some close-ups.

Notice the nice rosey cheeks. I used blusher on a Q-Tip for that effect. Nancy would have hooked it in with a soft rose color wool.

Now for a great tip on dyeing flesh tone wools that I got from Rug Hooking Daily.
AVOCADO PITS! Yes, indeed! I am VERY impressed with the color it produced. I only had three pits, but I got a great 6 by 15 inch sample. With more pits I could have gotten more wool with graduated tones. I put the pits in a old pot used ONLY for dyeing and filled it with water. Simmered for a while, threw in the wool and let it soak up the dye. Then I put in about 1/2 cup of vinegar until the dye was gone.
A good thing to do is to strain the dye first, then put in the wool. I had little bits of avocado pit on the wool I had to deal with.

Here is a picture of the pot with Avocado pits. See the beautiful dye? Have a try at this easy dyeing technique!
Happy Hooking!

"Pumpkin Vine" and "Eat Ham"

2010-11-06T14:19:00.000-07:00

I just finished these two hooking patterns recently . . . both were quick and fun to do. The Pumpkin Vine was placed in a frame made for it and 3 other seasons from Anita White.

I loved the Turkey pattern, I could go through all my tidbits of wool and use them up.

German Santa Claus

2010-10-13T08:26:00.001-07:00

Well! I have not posted in quite some time, I see. However, I have been hooking away. I have hooked this charming little rug "German Santa Claus" by Sandra Hershey that I found in an older Rug Hooking Magazine. The beard was hooked first and then I added the wool roving.
I am also working on some more "Snow Folks" . . . I love making those. I found the free pattern for them in Jennifer Manuell's blog "Fish Eye Rugs". One was finished and given as a door prize at the Atlanta Dogwood Guild's Hook-In a few weeks ago. It was a fabulous hook-in, by the way!

I am also working on some patterns I bought at the hook-in from Kathie Meyers, owner of the Woolen Rooster in Sharpsburg, Ga. One is called "Eat Ham" by Kathie and the other is "Pumpkin Vine" by Anita White. Both are adorable! Hope to finish them really soon.

The Forest Secrets Challenge

2010-08-06T10:23:00.001-07:00

I hooked this mat for the "Forest Secrets" Challenge on RHD. The challenge presented by Sunnie was to think of secrets that a forest might have and add a rock, a ring, and something royal purple. It could be any size and we had two months to complete the project. We were to S-T-R-E-T-C-H our imaginations and think creatively. I wanted to do this challenge to learn just how to do that.

The rugs and mats were just so wonderfully creative and clever. Actually, I learned more from seeing the finished rugs than from working on my own. I could see things differently after seeing them all.

One rug was a castle in the woods with a sword in a rock and a ring on the handle. There was another of an owl in a birch tree and and little bird holding a ring in its beak. I loved the one of a tree showing the roots growing, and a cross section of the tree with it's rings behind the tree and a few scattered purple flowers (hard to imagine that one, isn't it?). There was one of a hand with a purple ring gathering mushrooms by a rock. A sweet little frog and a purple salamander surrounded by a ring of moths was another. A cute one was of a little girl by a tire swing. There was a bag made of a mat hooked with a little purple fairy. Sunnie did the "Spirit of the Forest" . . . so creative, and one of a walk in the forest with the pet dogs. It was all so much fun to see how hookers think.

We also had to write a story that went with our rug and I was NOT prepared for that! So here is my 'short' story . . .

My 'Secrets of the Forest' is 28"x10". I used mostly #8 cuts of my leftover strips and I only had to cut wool for some of the sky.
When I first read of the challenge, all I could think of was trees. I guess you could say, I couldn't see the 'forest' for the 'trees'.
The trees were so much fun to do, especially since blues and greens are my favorite colors.
I love a crescent moon on a clear night because if you look hard enough, you can see all around it with a tiny bit of light on
the shadow side of the moon. The ring around it reveals the secret that the moon isn't a crescent after all.
My rug is more about . . . not what you see, but what you hear when you look at it. I hear serenity, interrupted only by the noise of the cicadas and the trickling of the nearby brook. . . with shadowy purple rocks. A quiet noise that is soothing and peaceful.

Our next challenge will be in January.

Max Rug . . . continued

2010-07-25T20:32:00.000-07:00

With every rug I hook, I learn a little more. I have always liked the look of the primitive antique rugs that I see in books and magazines. They have an innocent charming appeal, some are whimsical and fun, others have intricate designs with wonderful colors, there are those that tell a story, and some are very utilitarian and plain. I love the whimsical and fun and so I chose to make our cat Max with a folk art look.

From what I have gathered from my hooking books, rugs were hooked for necessity and the fact that commercial rugs were not affordable to everyone. Hooked rugs were used, worn out, thrown out, and another was made to take it's place. Because of this, not very many hooked rugs survived. It is so wonderful to see the ones that did survive, and it makes me curious about the creative person who hooked them.

We can tell a lot from the antique rugs that have survived. What backings were used, if they used wool or cotton fabrics (or other things for that matter), the colors that were used, and how the rugs were bound. It is a look back into an era of what was available to the hooker at that time.

Most think that hookers of the past used dull and washed out colors of fabric, however the back side of antique rugs reveal that much brighter colors were hooked into the rugs. The color had faded from sunlight and wear, so a truer picture of the rug is seen from the back.

I liked the worn and faded look of the antique rug and I tried to make my project resemble that look. My first attempt at the Hit and Miss boarder was a little too bright, so I pulled out strips and re-hooked other colors. Here is a side by side before and after picture of the left side.

I continued around the rug with lambs tongues, squares and fans. The background is various white and cream wools, then I added an old date that I pick out of the blue.

The rug and Max . . . .

And now the true test, does the rug wear well . . .

I'm guessing this is what the rug would look like prodded.

My Max Rug

2010-07-25T13:46:00.000-07:00

I am back to working on the Merit Program. Looking over the list of projects, I have decided to hook a Primitive rug with a Hit and Miss border. The Primitive rug is on the list of projects from the Garnet Award list and the Hit and Miss border is a project from the Ruby Award.

There are so many terrific rug hooking books that I have used to help with this project. I've just about worn each of them out looking at all the fabulous old rugs, reading about the back ground of each one, and learning how to hook and choose colors to make mine look as old and authentic. Here is a list of the books that I used (no particular order). They are all so wonderful and a great addition to any rug hooking library.

I chose Max as my subject for my rug. Max was our barn cat. I say 'was' because he once lived in our barn at our old house. He spooked a horse late one night and was kicked by it, breaking his hip. We brought him to the house and nursed him back to health. Max decided he liked our 'barn' better than his and became our house cat. He is still with us, ruling over us like a king.

Max is a tuxedo cat with markings on his face which makes him look like he is frowning. He isn't really, but it gives him the appearance of a disgruntled superior feline. I wanted to try to capture that in my folk art rug.

I will show more pictures as I progress.

Nancy Butts Thompson

2010-07-04T10:27:00.001-07:00

My very dear friend and hooking leader has passed away to be with the Lord our Savior Jesus Christ. She was loved by so many and has left us with her legacy of her love of hooking. The Crescent Lane Rug Hookers all morn her loss, but the angels in heaven are getting a really good lesson in rug hooking about now. I will miss her so much. Here are only a very, very few of the wonderful rugs she hooked.

Replica of 1910 Hooked Rug

2010-04-27T16:29:00.000-07:00

My version

Original

WELL! I finally finished a rug that I have been working on. It is a replica of a pre 1910 hooked rug that I saw online. It really looks more like 1920's/30's to me from all the rugs I have seen in that era . . . the hookers of that time liked to add an outline around the design. I'm hoping that it will pass for a 1920's rug for the Topaz Award in the Merit program, and I'm thinking who really knows for sure what era the rug is from anyway.

I fell in love with the rug the moment I first saw it. I loved the flowers and turquoise vase, but I think that I was drawn to the background the most. It is a stripe using gold and cream, hooked straight across like the Grenfell rugs. I was thinking that it would hook up easily since it was mainly straight rows, but I forgot that the stripes would have to meet eventually. That was tricky, especially since I had hooked the flowers and vase first. I tried to place the rows at the same place on opposite sides of the vase and then used my hook to 'run' across the canvas to find the same row of holes to hook in on other areas of the rug.

I used a #7 cut with a #4 cut for the outlines and used Michele Micarelli's hairless linen canvas because it has such an even weave to it. It is a little more expensive, but it hooks fabulously and I really loved the even weave. The background wools were plaids used 'as is'. You might notice that the cream plaid looks a little 'dirty' in places. That is the darker parts of the plaid which gave it that "I've been used and loved" look or, just plain "OLD" look. I bound it using the technique of whipping the binding tape on as you go. I learned that from Nola Heidbreder at a workshop. One of my friends from RHD told me pictures of how to do it are on Gene Shepherd's blog.

I loved working on this rug and I love it more now that is it finished! Now, on to something new.

Topaz Award, Merit program, McGown Pattern

2010-03-12T07:58:00.000-08:00

One of the requirements of the Topaz award for the Merit program is to hook an early McGown pattern. To learn more about McGown patterns, I found (on the internet) an old copy of Pearl McGown's book "YOU . . . can HOOK RUGS". It was reprinted in 1953 and smelled like it had been in someone's basement since 1954, but I read it anyway to learn more about the woman and her patterns.

Pearl was definitely my kind of woman! In 1930 she hooked her first rug and took off running from there. Although she loved hooking, her interest was more into creating patterns (she had well over 1,000) and her business had gotten so big that she enlisted help from her son, two sisters, and her father-in-law. She bought the larger house across the street (she named it the 'Rose Cottage') just so that she could hold her patterns and swatches, and have a place for hookers to get together and share their rugs and discuss the aspects of technique, color, and teaching others. She and her helpers would hand draw on burlap the patterns that she designed.

Pearl McGown was very much into an artistic effect when hooking a rug. She realized that the only way to achieve this effect was to use a graduation of hues to hook flowers, leaves, or to accentuate a scroll, all with using fine cuts of wool. Her book is a wealth of information! She covers all aspects of rug hooking, my most favorite is the drawings which illustrate where to put each value in different leaves and flowers to help you 'see' that particular item in a realistic way. It is such a shame that the majority of the beautiful rugs in the book were not in color. However, the ones that are were beautiful.

For my project, I chose one of her chair pads that I squared off for a pillow. Recently, our rug hooking group offered a workshop with Nola Heidbreder, a certified McGown teacher, so she helped me with my pillow. Nola is a fabulous teacher! She is so into the 'fun' aspects of hooking and embellishing. So I wouldn't miss out on the fun, I would hook on my pillow for a few minutes then go and do some of her fun things she taught us in hooking. If you EVER get the chance to have a class with Nola, I HIGHLY recommend her. Anyway, I got the jest of hooking the McGown way. There is a lot to learn and my attempt is puny at best in comparrison to rugs in Pearl's book. I used a #4 cut with some of the Palette Dyed swatches I dyed from April DeConick's virtual class "Palette Dyeing' on RUG HOOKING DAILY.
I may also get credit in the Garnet Award for using a fine cut. I'll check on that.

Grenfell Style Hooking for Garnet Award Finished

2010-03-04T07:10:00.000-08:00

I have finished the Grenfell style mat. I love the style (straight rows across), but do not like working with the flannel strips as much as I like working with wool strips. Wool is so much more forgiving and fills in and fluffs out to make a more smooth look whereas flannel stays put where it is hooked. Even after a little steaming, it just stays where it is. Also, it is not as soft to the touch or to stand on. It does seem very durable and if it were not for the burlap that was used, I think it would last a very long time. I do like the fact that the Grenfell style looks as pretty on the back as the front. (I think I remember reading that the Grenfell mats were mostly used with the back side showing and then flipped over to the front side for guest or special occasions.) I would love to do another rug using the Grenfell style in wool strips and on an even weave linen canvas.
Moving on, I have started reading about Pearl McGown and I am hooking one of her original patterns.

Grenfell Style Hooking for Garnet Award

2010-02-02T07:34:00.000-08:00

I am bouncing around to hook one of the projects of the Garnet award. One project is to hook a Grenfell style mat. I didn't know what that was so I had to look up a little background history on the Grenfell mats. (Brief History) Dr. Grenfell started a medical mission in the impoverished Labrador fishing region in 1882. He wanted to help the people supplement their income during the cold winter months when no fishing could occur by teaching them a trade. Jesse Luther came from America and helped Dr. Grenfell start a cottage industry by teaching the women to hook mats (or rugs) which in turn would be sold. (NOTE: we think of mats as being very small, however the Grenfell mat was a full size rug.) Most of the women already knew how to mat, but a matting club was started in 1908 and "the Industrial" began. It rose to a peak in the 1920's and 30's but fell during the Great Depression. CLICK ON PICTURES TO SEE A BIGGER VIEW.

The matting style is unique and simplistic. The canvas was burlap. They used flannels, wools, and when times got really tough Dr. Grenfell called for people to send their silk stockings to use as a hooking material. (For a facinating article on hooking with panty hose, and a view of a wonderful rug hooked using them, please read Judith Dallegret's blog "Just Go Hook It- Rug Hooking", How to Hook with Nylons, or click here.) Every hole of the burlap was hooked in straight lines and the strips that were used were cut very narrow (1/4 inch). The stockings were cut on the bias and then pulled tight so that the strip would roll up before hooking it. Designs were normally scenes found in the area; dog sleds, polar bears, boats, houses, or snowy scenes from the area. The finished mat looked as if it were a needlepoint and the back was as pretty as the front. This is mine from the back.

For me to achieve this look, I had to play around with various materials. I wanted to hook a mat as closely as possible to the way the Grenfell mats were hooked, so I decided to use burlap as the canvas. I played around with various fabrics and widths of those fabrics. Here are a few things I tried hooking on a sample piece. The first one (kelly green) is a felted wool sweater. It hooks up fabulously. Next 13 strips are flannel, next three strips are pantyhose, next is yarn, and the last one (turquoise) is fleece (another fabulous one).

This is a close up on the flannel. I didn't like the raw edges showing on some.

This one is panty hose that I cut up to see what it was like. Silk stockings are a premium and the places you have to buy them from . . . I don't visit often. Actually, pantyhose was fun to hook. It rolled up nicely and has a little stretch to it as I hooked.

After a week of playing around, I decided that the only way that I would achieve the Grenfell look was to use flannel. AND, the only way I could use flannel was to run it through a bias maker and iron it so that the raw edges would not show. Time consuming to say the least! I cut strips 1/2 inch wide on the straight of the grain and used a small bias maker to make the strips 1/4 inch. Cut the strips.

Pulled it thought the bias maker.

And ironed it as I pulled it through.

Hooking in every hole made my loops push together and the burlap spread out, so I hooked every other hole in the burlap, and every other (and sometimes every third) row. One would think that hooking in straight rows would be easy. The Grenfell style formed perfectly straight rows vertically and horizontally. I found that I would mess up occasionally, not matching up vertically. (Hooking in every hole would have resolved.)

After hooking the Grenfell style for a while, I can truly say how much I admire the Grenfell women. Their hooking looks so delicate and fine, mine is crude and primitive. They somehow mastered a technique of allowing the flannel to roll as they hooked, their strips being much thinner and the look of their hooking was smooth. They truly have my admiration for their diligence in creating a beautiful mat.

One more thing that I would like to mention. Instead of binding their mats, the Grenfell women would fold the burlap back at the edges twice and hook through all thicknesses to finish the edge.
UMMMM, I'm not going to be doing that! The next Grenfell mat I do will be using a different canvas and wool strips!

Hooking with Yarn continued . . . (Jet Award)

2010-01-21T11:13:00.001-08:00

I have completed hooking my project with yarn. For the border, I used a chunky yarn 100% wool in a charcoal grey. The chunky wool yarn hooked much easier with very little splitting unlike the 4 ply acrylic. Then on a scrap backing, I tried using a 3 ply 100% wool with a single strand and then with a double strand. It too hooked up easier than the acrylic yarn. If you choose to hook with yarn, my suggestion is to go for wool instead of acrylic. The wool texture is better and does not have a tendency to pull out or split. The acrylic was really not bad to hook with, but it does have a tendency to split (which is aggravating) and has a softer finish (which could cause it to pull out of the backing). However, I did love the look of hooking with yarn. It was interesting and different . . . a definite change of pace.

Here are some pictures to show the comparison of the size difference of yarns I used.

The darker spots on the hooking are from the ends of the yarn that were brought to the top and cut even (not as noticeable when looking right at it) . I'm making the hooked piece into a pillow to finish it.

Hooking with yarn for the Jet Award

2010-01-18T19:36:00.000-08:00

Last night I started working on the Jet Award for the Merit Program. The projects for earning the Jet Award requires working with alternative materials. For my first project, I chose to hook with yarn. I have an abundance of left over yarn from knitting mittens for Christmas a few years back. The yarn is mostly 3 and 4 ply acrylic so the mittens would be easy to wash and I had a wide variety of colors.

To start my project, I drew a 12x12 inch square on some inexpensive burlap that I had and divided that into triangles. On my first two triangles, I used a single strand of yarn. The weave on the burlap wasn't quite tight enough and I had to go back occasionally and pull up a lost loop or two which made it time consuming. On the third and remaining triangles, I decided to double up on the yarn. It made the hooking so much easier and covered the area to be hooked much faster. I still had an occasional lost loop and sometimes the yarn would split which was a little aggravating, but I really liked the look. Here is a view of the back. It could be neater, but I was concentrating on the front more than the back.
There is a warning here to be VERY careful putting the hooked part on your frame. The gripping strips wanted to pull out the hooking when I tried to reposition my mat.

The project is going fairly quickly (this is what I have done since last night). I could see me making a small rug using yarn but with a tighter weave backing.
Here are a few pictures showing how I hook with it. I cut off a long length of yarn and folded it in half. I began hooking by pulling up the loop end, then I continued hooking pulling up two strands at a time. To finish, I pulled up the tails and cut them even with the hooking.

Finished Color Rug!

2010-01-13T21:37:00.000-08:00

Just finished the binding last night on the Color Rug for the Merit Program. This rug has 6 of the projects required for the Peridot Award, each project is either 10x10 inches or 5x20 inches (total area each project 100 square inches for a sampler rug). I chose the following projects to hook in my rug: a color wheel, all primary colors, complimentary colors, tertiary colors, cool/warm colors, and an obvious balance color plan.
To begin, I measured off blocks on my linen and then drew a design for each category as I finished the previous one. All colors co-ordinated in some form or fashion because I dyed the wool with one color palette using April DeConick's "Palette Dyeing" method. It is amazing how the colors flow and blend together using this dyeing method. I was worried about how it would look to hook primary colors next to the other projects, but it doesn't seem to matter since all the colors are from the same family of dyes.
On the border are words that I learned about color, and when possible I hooked with the appropriate wool to demonstrate that word.

Value,
Tint,
Shade,
and Tone
are examples. The words for the 6 projects that I chose to complete the Peridot Award are next to the project. I also had room for my

secondary colors
and my neutrals.
Because I chose to do lettering in the border and binding my rug by whipping with yarn, I will get credit for two projects in the Ruby Award. And, by dyeing all the wool in this project using chemical dyes, I get credit for one project in the Amethyst Award.
I will now submit my rug and descriptions to the Merit program for review.

Neutrals, Tones, and Shades (Palette Dyeing)

2010-01-09T12:55:00.000-08:00

In the past week I have been dyeing more wool to finish up my Palette Dyeing. I am learning Neutrals (equal amounts of complimentary colors), Tones (color plus grey), and Shades (color plus black). It is so exciting to see the colors that are created using the color palette that I chose. This is a picture of my Neutrals; two values of red and green, two of blue and orange, and two of yellow and violet. Each is so unique.

Next are my Tones. I used a yellow-green in value #2 with 1/16, 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, and 1 tsp. of my grey dye mixture (grey dye used was Pro Chem Mouse Grey). The top swatch is the original color.

Here is what it looks like on my Color Rug.

Last are my swatches of Shade. I used value #2 of red-orange with 1/16, 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, and 1 tsp. of my black dye mixture (Pro Chem Black). The first swatch is my original color.

Here is what it looks like in my rug.

I really thought that dyeing Neutrals, Tones, and Shades would be boring but I was quite surprised at the results. I really like the Shades and can see where it would add a lot of depth to hooking a rug.

Continuing on with the Color Rug . . .

2010-01-03T09:44:00.000-08:00

I am continuing to hook on my 'rug of color' for the Peridot Award. The border is almost finished, I do want to make some changes, however. I worked my initials in the neutral colors from my "Palette Dying", but it looks out of place so I will re-hook them using a color with the blue-green border background. That will be more consistant. (If you want a laugh, look closely at my initials. I hooked them upside down and got the 'J' backwards. Think before you hook!) Also, I haven't dyed the wools for the "TONE" and the "SHADE", so the lettering will be pulled out and re-hooked using wools dyed for those words.
It took me forever to decide what to hook for the 'balanced' part of the rug. It is so darn narrow nothing seemed to work. My husband suggested hooking a neck tie . . . it is long, I could make it colorful . . . but it didn't go with the rest of the rug. I'm going with a kind of patch work quilt thing and have a "Georgia Peach' in the center squares.
I'm sure hoping to have this thing completed in the next few weeks!

Tertiary Colors (Merit Program) Peridot Award

2009-11-10T12:06:00.000-08:00

I just finished hooking my tertiary colors for the Peridot Award on the Merit Program. I decided to do proddy for my flowers mainly because I had just bought the book "Prodded Hooking for a Three-Dimensional Effect" by Gene Shepherd. It is a fabulous book AND it comes with a wonderful DVD. I enjoyed prodding so much that I prodded some flowers on a hooked purse I have been working on. (Hopefully the purse will be sewn together very soon).

For my tertiary project, I used at least one value of all of the six tertiary colors.

Hydrangeas used values 1, 2, and 3 of blue-violet (110).
The marigold is value 3 of yellow-orange (104).
The flower top left uses value 1 of red-orange (102) for the center and value 4 of red-violet (112) for the petals.
The flower bottom right is value 5 of red-violet (112) and the petals are value 5 of yellow-orange (104).
Leaves are a mixture of the first 6 values of yellow-green (106).
The background is value 1 of blue green (108).

I used a different method on my hydrangeas than in Gene's book on his delphinium. Gene knots each flower separately using a fine cut of wool, trims off the tail, and then places a drop of Fray Check on each knot. I took yarn and attached each flower with a french knot, just like one would in embroidery. My thought is that it would be faster (love that!) and perhaps a bit sturdier. I would like to put my rug on the floor occasionally and I think the flowers would be less likely to fall off using the french knots.

Re-visiting Complementary Colors

2009-10-27T12:53:00.000-07:00

When I hooked the Complimentary colors, I was wanting a better transition on my background from values 5 to 4 and 4 to 3. I decided to dye two more values of the blue-violet calling them values 4 1/2 and 3 1/2 to see if it would make a difference in the transitions. To figure how much formula of dye to use, I divided the difference in the measurements between the two values by half (the difference of value 5 and 4 was 1 tsp. of formula, half of that = 1/2 tsp.). My total amount of formula for value 4 1/2 will now be . . .
1 1/2 (value 4 amount) + 1/2 (the extra amount)= 2 tsp. Complicated unless you have done Palette Dyeing, but I'm pretty sure that I think I know what I think I'm doing. Anyway, to compound the confusion and just because I'm cheap, I wanted only to dye half of the amount of wool normally used for one value. So, now for my 4 1/2 value I will be using 1/2 the wool and 1/2 of the 2 tsp. = just 1 tsp. of blue-violet dye formula. Was it worth the trouble? I don't know, you tell me . . .

It was a fun experiment. Maybe it made a slight difference, but I would always wonder if I hadn't tried it out. And, it gave me something else to blog about.

Warm and Cool Colors (Peridot Award) Merit Program

2009-10-25T10:00:00.000-07:00

On the Peridot Award, one of the choices is to hook a mat or 10x10 inch square in a rug of warm or cool colors. I asked permission to combine the warm and cool in one area of my rug as I thought it would be interesting to see the contrast between the two. I think it was very effective in my hooked butterfly. It was a challenge to choose the wool from my dyed palette of colors, but I came up with a combination that I liked. This is a picture of how the rug is progressing.

It will be a rug of the six chosen projects of the Peridot Award. As a plus, I will be using lettering in my border and finishing the rug which will count as two projects from the Ruby Award. Dying all the wool for this rug counts as one project for the Amethyst Award.

When I need more of a certain color for the rug from the color palette, I can determine which value I want and I am able to dye just that one value in the amount of wool that I need. Such will be the case when I hook the border of my rug. I will need about 3/4 of a yard of Blue-Green value #7. April DeConick has given a chart for us to determine how much of our formula to dye 1/2 and 1 yard increments of the values we need in her Palette Dyeing class.

For the next project, I will be trying some prodding.

Complimentary Colors (Peridot Award) Merit Program

2009-10-18T20:12:00.001-07:00

This is my example that I hooked of Complimentary Colors (colors opposite the color wheel) for the Peridot Award. I have used all 8 values of Yellow-Orange for the pumpkin and leaves and values 7 to 3 of Blue-Violet for the background. I am wanting a smoother transition on the background between values 5 to 4 and values 4 to 3, so I think I will dye a strip of wool in between those particular values and hook only one row using those new values (let's call them value 4 1/2 and 3 1/2). It will be interesting to see how much smother the transition will be.
Click on any photo to see pictures close-up.

Merit Program (Peridot Award) Primary Colors

2009-10-16T08:17:00.000-07:00

My second project for the Peridot Award is to hook a 10x10 inch area using only primary colors. I have drawn three stars along with some stripes and have hooked red and blue stripes with yellow stars. I began with the darkest values and progressed to the lighter values on the stripes. With the stars, I used the 4 darkest values for the first star, the 4 middle values for the middle, and the 4 lightest for the last. So, I have hooked an area using only primary colors but using most or all of the values that I have dyed with my formulas.

I used ProChem dyes for my primary formulas.

My primary red formula is:
1 tsp. #307 Chinese Red
1/4 tsp. #304 Cape Cod Cranberry
1/16 tsp. #233 Bright Orange

Primary Blue:
1/2 + 1/16 tsp. #440 Blue
1/2 tsp. #495 Teal

Primary Yellow:
1 tsp. #119 Sun Yellow
1/2 tsp. #120 Golden Pear
1/32 tsp. #233 Bright Orange

All other colors in the color wheel were dyed from mixing these three formulas.

The Merit Program

2009-10-13T21:28:00.000-07:00

I have been learning the Palette Dyeing process from April Deconick (Red Jack Rugs) on Rug Hooking Daily. I have now dyed eight values each of all 12 colors in the color wheel. So, having done that, I have decided to work on the the Peridot award for the Merit program. To do this I have chosen six of the eight projects and will be hooking them into one rug instead of doing individual mats. My first project was to hook the color wheel using the palette of colors. I have re-drawn my color wheel several times making a mess on the canvas before deciding to hook just plain 'ole squares. Not real creative on my part, but it got the job done. I wanted to show how subtle the color changes were from one color to the next, so I placed them next to each other without a dividing line or space. Above is my color wheel, below is my palette of colors . . . six dyed yards of values.

Snow Folks

2009-10-13T20:20:00.000-07:00

I just finished a "Snow Folk". It is an adorable rug hooked snowman that I found the pattern and fabulous directions FREE on Jennifer Manuell's blog 'Fish Eye Rugs'. You can find her blog on my blog list, or to go direct to the "Snow Folks" click here. She has wonderful close-up pictures and detailed construction tips. Fun to make! She even gives instructions for the knitted hat. I suggest hooking several at one time. My tip for the snaps is to sew the bottom of the snap on first, then snap on the top part. The scarf is an old wool sweater that I felted and cut up. I made the trees from old bobbins using #8 cuts of wool tied in a single knot around the bobbin. I found the rusty old stars at Hobby Lobby in the Christmas department. Make one for yourself!

Footstool is finished!

2009-09-27T15:00:00.000-07:00

The footstool is now finished, not without removing and adding some hooking here and there. After sewing the corners and checking the fit, I found it to be too loose around, and that it was about a row or two short at the bottom. I had to remove the stitching from the corners, remove some of the hooking from the corner area, then add a row or two around the bottom to lengthen it. I re-stitched the corners together, folded the excess corner area to one side, and then turned up about a 1 1/4 inch hem. The hem was slip stitched to the back of the linen. It now fits snugly. To hold the slipcover in place, I sewed some yarn to the very bottom edge, wrapped it around each leg and stitched it to the bottom side edge. I did this several times to draw in the sides and to hold it in place.
PLEASE CLICK ON ANY PICTURE FOR A CLOSE-UP VIEW.

Draw a line for a 1 1/4 inch hem.

Zig zag or serge at hem line. Notice that I did not trim off the corners. I am leaving them intact. If ever I would want to undo the footstool cover, I could always go back and hook the corner area and make a rug mat. There is enough of the hem to whip an edge. This corner area is where I needed to pull out a row of hooking on either side to make the cover fig more snug.

Pin corner area.

I used yarn and I used a back stitched from the top corner down to the hem.

Check for fit. Here is where I discovered it was too loose and I needed to add another row all around the bottom. I had to remove the corner stitching to remove a row from the corner area (each side of corner). Notice a little of the corner area hanging out? Before hemming, I basted the corner edges to the hem and then turned up the hem.

Here is a close up of the bottom. To keep the slip cover on securely, I took a stitch at the hem, wrapped it around the leg, then attached that yarn at the hem on the side. Do this about twice and then pull the corner area together with a few stitches. I did NOT attach it to the footstool itself.

Another view. Nothing fancy here!

And here you have it!

Just having fun . . .

2009-09-22T15:26:00.000-07:00

Due to all the heavy rains and flooding that Atlanta has been experiencing, I haven't been able to pick up my white wool needed to do palette dyeing from my rug hooking group. I only had 12 6x16 strips of creme wool and my primary color dyes re-figured for the umpteenth time, AND I was so very anxious to see what the secondary and tertiary colors would look like. So I spent the morning figuring out how much of the mixed dye from the primary colors I chose would it take to mix one value of each of the 12 colors. I'm certainly not a mathematician, but somehow I figured it out. It is amazing how the dyes mixed to make all the colors from my three primary dyes. This is value 4 of the 8 values. Also, this is Max the barn cat . . . who is no longer a barn cat, ever since he got kicked by a horse and broke his hip years ago. Max has decided he likes 'our' barn better than his.

Palette Dyeing

2009-09-18T07:17:00.000-07:00

I am having so much fun doing the Palette Dyeing, I just wish I had more time in the day. I figure it takes about 2 1/2 to 3 hours start to finish (dragging out all the dye paraphernalia, dyeing the wool, and putting it all away again) to dye one set. If I didn't have to cook I would try to do two sets. I am working on finding my favorite blue, red, and yellow so I can start my color wheel. Here is a yellow I tried . . . I'm not using it because it is too brown for me, but it made a beautiful palette. It would be great for Sunflowers!

Hooking and Graduation

2009-09-15T13:02:00.000-07:00

Since it is football season, and football reminds me of the University of Georgia (my family's favorite team . . . except for the Georgia Tech Grad that married my daughter), and UGA reminds me of my son's graduation this summer, I thought it would be appropriate to show the pillow I made for my 'baby' boy. He graduated Magna Cum Laude and now has a job! Good going, son.

Footstool Update . . .

2009-09-10T10:25:00.000-07:00

I have all of the top and one side of the footstool hooked. I have decided to add a beauty line around the top to frame it and to separate the top from the sides. The muted green plaid wool worked the best, something subtle so as to not take away from the colorful top. I'm still thinking through what I want to hook on the other three sides.

Palette Dyeing with April DeConick

2009-09-09T15:29:00.000-07:00

On Rug Hooking Daily, I am taking a virtual rug camp on April DeConick's 'Palette Dyeing' technique. It is an intensive study on color and dyeing colors in 8 values. It is so fabulous . . . I am learning volumes and I've just begun.
Here is my first attempt. It is very mottled, but I was so thrilled at my sample.

I tried my hand at mixing my own formulas with the Pro-Chem dyes that I had on hand. Each set looked like brown to me. I had red brown, yellow brown, green brown, and a brown brown. However, look at what my red brown and green brown dyes produced . . .

In upcoming weeks we will be dyeing the color wheel. I'm looking forward to that!

footstool progress . . . hmmmm

2009-09-06T20:43:00.000-07:00

I am making progress on the footstool, however after ripping out and starting over I re-thought my wool selection. I took out some of the brighter colors and replaced them with more neutral wools. It still is pretty bright and I'm not sure if I like it or not, but I'm not going to do any more reverse hooking on it! i'll just go with it. Here are the new colors I chose . . .

This is what it looks like so far . . .

I am still trying to decide what to do with the sides. I will probably do something very simple since the top is so colorful, and use the brown as the background color.

Hooking a footstool with a "free spirit" . . .

2009-09-03T15:40:00.000-07:00

I have been wandering around "Rug Hooking Daily" looking at all the wonderful pictures of hooked rugs and mats that are posted. There are so many talented hookers and so many delightful rugs. I am very drawn to the whimsical and primitive rugs that I see, but have never hooked anything I consider either.
I am striving to design something with a little more ... what I call "free spirit". Sometimes I feel like I keep myself in a box as far as creating a design or hooking. Today I have spend all afternoon measuring a footstool that I have been wanting to cover. I have the dimensions drawn off, so it is ready for a design. I want something colorful, something whimsical, something 'hit or miss', and something eye catching. The top, I'm thinking, will be the 'hit or miss'. Around the sides of the stool, I'm just not sure yet.
PLEASE CLICK ON THE PICTURE FOR A CLOSER VIEW.

I measured the top of the footstool. I also took measurements both ways starting at the bottom of one side, up and across the top, then down the other side (allowing about 1/4 inch more to these measurements).

This is how the pattern looks drawn off on linen. I put on 'X' on the corners that will not be hooked.

More than a color wheel . . .

2009-09-02T11:05:00.000-07:00

I am now following Wanda Kerr's blog. I first learned of Wanda from when she spoke at Caraway Rug Camp a few years ago. She is a delightful speaker and a very talented fiber artist and rug hooker. Anyway, today she has written a post on "Is there Help for the Colour Troubled". So much for the color wheel (and I was so proud of my sunflower cushions). . . however, I suspect that I will still lean heavily on the wheel till I grasp the concept of color. Her post is definitely food for thought and I suggest that you check out her blog "WandaWorks". If you pan down her blog, you will see videos of her dying the color "pewter". Thanks, Wanda.

Sunflower Cushions

2009-09-01T07:38:00.000-07:00

Last summer I took a one day class on the use of a color wheel for color planning. I was wanting a small project to do to reinforce what I learned, so I drew a large sunflower and leaves (I sure didn't want anything too complicated to start off). Using a tetrad (a contrast of 4 or more colors, kind of like two split complimentaries opposite each other on the wheel), I used Navy for the background, Yellows and Yellow Orange for the petals, which left purple for the flower's center. I was so tempted to make the center the normal brown but then, what would I have learned? I was so surprised at how well I liked the purple center. This little project has given me a little more confidence to tackle other (maybe even bigger) projects.

My "LuLu" rug

2009-08-25T08:13:00.000-07:00

This is my rug "LuLu". It was made for my daughter's in-laws for a Christmas gift last year. LuLu was a Jack Russel Terrier and the family pet for 13 years. She loved the beach and the mountains and was a wonderful family pet. LuLu passed away today. It is so difficult for my daughter, husband and his family, and I mourn their loss with them.

20 years in the making . . .

2009-08-23T01:43:00.000-07:00

My first blog . . . my first post. I'll start by telling the story of a rug I have finished.

This rug was started 20 years ago by my sister Beverly. She was always the first to try out new crafts, and I always 'caught on' about 5 or more years later.

My sister tried so hard to get me interested in rug hooking, but I just didn't 'get it' at the time! Then about five years ago (a few years after Bev lost interest), I started hooking and absolutely fell in love with it! I was sick to learn that she was no longer hooking and had given away all her wools, dyes, and dye pots. All she had left was a half finished rug, thumb tacked to a huge frame which sat in her closet for years. She gave it to me in hopes that I would finish it, but it only sat in my closet for a few more years. I finally got mad at having to move it out of my way every time I went into my closet to find something, so I decided to see what I could do with it to get it out of the way.

It was a Lib Callaway design called "Tree of Life" drawn on a very inexpensive burlap. Bev had all of the tree and some of the border and background hooked. All that needed to be hooked was the rest of the background and finishing the border. But, she and I had a very different hooking style . . . so to keep the rug somewhat consistent I ripped out the background, washed the wool strips and hooked the rest of the rug. Her background was the yellow that she dyed from onion skins. (I wasn't motivated to dye from onion skins, so I just used some gold wools that I had on hand and used her yellow strips around the tree.)

I was really pleased with the way it turned out . . . and I fell in love with the "Tree of Life" pattern. I gave the rug to Bev for Christmas last year. She was so surprised to see it finished and very happy to have a hooked rug of her own.