Kingwood Center Rug Show

I had a wonderful time at the Kingwood Center Hook-in! This was my first time there even though I actually know a lot of the people there including those who run it & help out. My friend Shelia comment that I have really got a lot done on this rug since I posted yet. Oops! Too much hooking & not enough posting is how it has been going. But I can tell you that being home for the summer with the boys in a house with no AC is bringing a screeching halt to that. We have also set our camper permanently in Loudonville for the rest of the summer,& I know that will be relaxing there with no wifi. Maybe I can post here & hook there! I changed some of my color planning as this rug unfolded & I was prepared for that. I was asked several times if Barb planned this for me & I proudly answered that I did it alone. I think this means I'm learning something at class! One lady asked about one of my smaller stars if Barb "made" me put that in there. I take that as a huge compliment! Although, I kind of got the feeling she didn't understand what I was trying to achieve. I had to laugh when another hooker asked me if my hooking is what they call dirty primitive. I told her it very well could be! I've been called fast & loose, but never dirty...I think it fits! This is a view of the room from my seat.
My mom Gloria (adopted that is) selling her wares.
And a few random shots of the rug show. I didn't bring anything to show. I really didn't know I should have, but I guess it was obvious. (Blond moment!)



Thank you Katie for putting together such a great day of hooking!

My Camp Pictures

As usual...I never take enough pictures! I didn't even come close this time. I guess I am just to aggressive of a hooker when I get the chance to be uninterrupted! I didn't even get our whole group or their rugs. Please visit my friend Alice's blog, www.alice-folkartprimitives.blogspot.com/ She did a much better job of taking photos of everything...but herself! In this first pic is Barb's new kitty Posie. She was big big hit & big fun too for such a little fur ball.

We had to search Peggy's bags before we left just to make sure Posie didn't accidentally get wrapped up in her pattern & wool stash.

When she wasn't playing with the kitty, Peggy did make some great progress on her huge rug. I think one night Barb actually trapped the little darling upstairs so Peggy would do her homework & not play too much! This is Heidi hiding behind yet another huge rug. Don't you just love all Barb's wool?

Sorry about this one Gloria, but I had to include you. You look a little puzzled here. Love the vest!

And this is Carol all packed up & ready to head home...If you think she looks like she was pouting, we all were.

Thanks for stopping by. I have two more little rugs done to show soon & my biggest rug yet is about to be my next work in progress posted here.

Kinderhook Flower Basket

As promised, I am finally getting my pictures posted of the rug I did at Thw Woolley Fox. It was a great time as usual! This is a pattern taken from an antique rug that Barb owns. It is a remarkable old rug. I was very excited & packed plenty of wool, but as expected, the rug's color story has us digging through Barb's wool stash as well. I just love building rugs with her. I learn something new every time. After three days, my rug was nearly finished. After we returned I travelled with Larry to vend in Saline, MI. This gave me an entire evening alone uninterrupted in a hotel room to finish it. I love the way it came out. After I returned home, I was still on a roll & hooked up this little Edyth O'Neill pattern "Cricket Whale". This pattern is also available from Barb. I will be posting pictures of class later. Don't forget that this is hook-in Saturday at Aults. See you there!

Hooked mat for sale!

Quilter's Basket, 14 x 14, by Edyth O'Neill. This was a fun little mat to hook, & I am offering it for sale here on my blog. I have a paypal acct. to make payment easy, or I will except a money order as well. Cost is mat is $115.00 plus shipping. You can email me at jthornton9@neo.rr.com if you are interested, or use the comment section for questions. Thanks for looking!

Finished!

Ault's hook in ended up being a great time this last Sat. I wish Gloria could have been there, but she wasn't feeling well. We had a great group of hookers there. I was able to finish my Magdalena Mayhem rug too! I am including a photo. I am pretty happy with the way it turned out. The only wool I actually cut for this rug was most of the background, and the border. Everything else came out of my wiggles basket. (a big mess of wool strips that I over cut & now use up in a make do fashion) Sometimes the best bits of your rug come from using these unexpected wiggles pulled at random. I like my rugs to look old, so to me one element of this is to use what you have. Sometimes you might run short, so you use what you can to match, or add something else interesting instead.

My Magdalena Mayhem Progress

Ever since the Christmas tree went up this last year, our basset hound decided that is okay to eat or chew up anything she can find. She is nearly four & has never done anything like this before. We would come home to chewed up presents, ornaments, and toys. It was decided that the only way to keep her out of trouble while we were gone was to shut her in the bathroom. After the tree came down, I thought she would stop, but she hasn't. So this morning I am hustling out the door & I need to put her away in the bathroom when I find a sleeping Jimmy Dean in there sleeping on the dog bed. I thought maybe I would just move him as I have done in the past, but he just looked too darn comfortable!


Then I look out in the dining room at this poor pathetic creature and I think, there's no way I can interrupt them today. So Wags the dog got another chance. I quickly scanned the floors for anything she might get into. Much to my delight, I came home to a clean house with nothing disturbed.

Here is my progress on my Magdalen Mayhem rug. I may have to change the bird in the top left corner, but I'll cross that bridge later. I will not be able to post tomorrow, but you all are probably tiring of my ramblings any way! I will try to post again later this week. I will be hooking this Sat. at Ault's. If you live in the area, please join us from 10-4. No cost & lots of fun!

Magdalena Briner inspired hooking.

This is the last of my pictures for Barb's class. In this picture Mary is busy hooking away. I think this is Dea's rug. These ladies truly embrace the primitive style.

This is Maria's rug. She biggie sized here animals rather than hooking a lot of smaller ones. She hooks fast like me. Using a wide cut sure does help with the progress.

And finally one last picture of my friend Tammy. This was her first class ever & I am so glad I was able to talk her into it. She is definitely "hooked" & would love to do it again! She did a great job & I will post her finished rug when she gets it done.

Barbara Carroll at Ault's Rug Hooking Store

This is the last picture I took from day one. The ladies are eager to get started on their rugs. Below is a picture of Ginny. She is designing her rug to be a wedding rug. She is a descendant of Magdalen Briner herself.

Here is some more progress on day two. Bobbie's rug is on the left & Melissa's is in the foreground.

This is our lovely host Gloria Ault & Jackie, who's rug is coming along nicely.

I still have a few more pictures of day two to share tomorrow & then I will post my progress on my version of this rug.

Magdalena your way at Ault's.

As usual, Barb brought loads of wonderful wool. In this picture she is explain how this class is going to work. On the table is a selection of background wools to choose from. This was the starting place for the color planning. Also picture here is Roxanne.
These are my dear friends Peggy & Tammy. I enjoy hooking with both of them. At this point the class is cutting their templates. I am envisioning them saying, "you want us to what?"
This is what my linen looked like after I filled in my animals. I have never done a rug with my cats Jimmy Dean & Travis, so I thought this would be a nice opportunity to get that done. Remember, every ones rugs will be different from the very beginning. Barb even encouraged some of the students to write over some of the existing animals with a red sharpie if they didn't want a chicken or a donkey. I chose not to do that. Tomorrow's pictures with contain some more of the hookers & their rugs in the hooking stages. I am about half way through mine. I plan to put an hour or two in tonight.

The Woolley Fox came to town!

Last week was a crazy busy one, but it was so much fun. Barbara Carroll came to Ault's Hooking Store in Shelby, OH for a wonderful class called Magdalena Your Way. Unlike other classes, in this class we were given a partially draw patter & templates to finish the pattern how we wanted. It made for a very interesting lesson full of self expression. The first rug shown is Barb's and the second is the one her close friend & helper Lisa hooked. Next I have included a picture of the linen as it looked when we got ours. I was working during the class, but I did get a little hooking done on mine already. Tomorrow I will post some more pictures of some of the other ladies & their progress, as well as mine. I have enough pictures to keep you coming back to see more for a few days or so. Enjoy!

Leaping Deer & a favorite corner.

This little rug was started in October & I just finished it two weeks ago. Sometimes I can hook up a storm, & sometimes life happens & I get out of the habit. Regardless, I am glad to have this one finished. I wanted this rug to look old & to have an interesting background. I tried to make it look like a sunset. I really like the way it turned out. This is an Edyth Oneill pattern available through The Woolley Fox. I took two pics, one with flash & one without. To me the true color lies some where in between the two. I should have taken it in the day light. I don't know why the rugs are on their side, but I'm to tired to figure it out. Sorry!

I am also sharing a little spot in my home that separates the kitchen from the living room. It is also where the basement door is. I used some of that wallpaper that looks like an old log cabin here, & I really love the way it looks. I hung an old tobacco drying rack here, that I have been holding onto for a long time. I never had any where to put it till now. I love the narrow primitive stand. It is holding some old primers from my family of teachers, some neat old amber colored jars, and some cool stone colored crocks. I also have a small collection of old clothing hanging here too.

My Pennsylvania Find & More on my Rug

When ever I do travelling somewhere, I always like to try to find a great primitive piece to remember my trip by. Plus, I just like getting things from other parts of the country. Not that I actually get around that much! While I was in PA I picked up this great wood box. When I say wood box, I mean it was made to hold wood near the fire place...& it is made of wood also. It is a great black color and has a tongue & groove back. Now if that isn't neat enough, wait till you see what my plan for it is at the beginning of next week. For now here is a quick pick...yes, those are wii rock band drums in the background. (sigh) I also did do some hooking while we were camping last weekend. It was so darn windy we couldn't have the awning out or even have a fire most of the weekend. Oh yeah, & it was cold. We did have a great time though & a wonderful mother's day.

So much hooking...so little blogging!

The end of the school year is always a busy time for me. So many things are going on and wrapping up. After next week things should slow down a little bit. Connor will have gone through confirmation and had his last track meet, and Logan will have his last cub scout meeting for the year. If only that darn jazz band practice at 6:30 am twice a week would end, I'd have it made. I say that now, but summer activities are just around the corner.

This weekend we are camping at the local KOA. I'm sure we will all have a great time. I have some new caramel marshmallows I can't wait to roast over the fire. I hope they are as good as I am imagining, or maybe I should hope they aren't so I don't over indulge!

I have really been bad about blogging this last while. I am trying to work on this rug a lot in my free time. I can't even keep up on reading all my favorites. I think my next sneak peek of our home will be of our bathrooms, so stay tuned for that. For now here are some pictures of my Oliver Cromwell rug. I meant to mention in my last post that I ran out of background wool and had to pull some of my work out and find a close match to mix it with. Thankfully, it looks like I meant to do it! That's one of the fun things about hooking. You just never know where the next happy surprise is going to be. Sometimes it's in the colors, or the textures, or the pattern, or your own stupidity for not making sure you have everything you need to complete your project!

The Weather is Here, I Wish You Were Beautiful

I can't believe this is spring break & so far I think we've had more snow than we did over Christmas break. So I am quoting the title of a Jimmy Buffett song. The song is about him writing a postcard home after enjoying a few to many adult beverages on vacation.

Anyway, I have been busy hooking up some stuff for the In the Spirit of Friends Show. I went to Ault's hook-in on Saturday after staying out late at a scrap night the night before. It was 2 hours of creativity for me! But with camping season coming, I will be missing out on some of these things soon enough. Better cram them in while I have the chance! The first picture is of a small mat by Edyth O'neill called Quilter's Basket. This is a fun little pattern that is available thought The Woolley Fox. I went for the old soft look again for this rug. The next picture is another one of my kitchen. I am going to feature my kitchen the rest of the week here on my blog. That's right! I am going to actually post more than once this week! Funny how the time slips past between postings. Thanks to all of you that bare with me! The rug pictured is Tennessee Hearts, also available from the Woolley Fox. I love this rug...and it has special meaning to me because my husband & I lived there for a year early in our relationship. The close up is a picture of Jimmy Dean's opinion of this rug. Now mind you, I hang most of my rugs to avoid such problems as this, but he managed to how use his back claws to jump & snag this one anyway. It's not a big deal, I can hook it back through. That cat is something else! This large rug is available for purchase, please email me for details. Thanks!

Let's Talk Wool

First I would just like to thank everyone that posted comments or emailed me regarding my rug. It is so great to have encouragement to help get you through a large project. I have already begun my next rug...it is a small mat that I will have for sale at the In the Spirit of Friends Show in September. I still have not chosen a rug to do next month at rug camp. Oh decisions!

Now a little in site into the colors I chose for my last rug. For me, the goal is to create a new rug that looks like it has been around for a hundred years or more. I mostly like to use soft colors, because to me it looks as though they are colors that have faded. For this rug I started with the house. I wanted it to look like a New England shingle sided home by the shore. I used a piece of over dye that I have had for some time & I have used it in three different rugs. I just love it, but I used every last scrap I could find, including my noodle bag to find enough to finish it. Therefor, I couldn't include it in the pictures. It was a really drabby blue/gray plaid. From there I picked the roof, windows, door, trim & chimney. I decided to go with a lights on look which came from my scraps and a white & grey tiny check for the trim. I don't really know how to explain the roof, but I didn't have any left for the photo. It was an interesting small plaid with lots of colors running through it. I guess I was thinking it would look like old metal. Now the chimney I just love. It is the black wool in the picture. It got it from Barbara Carroll, but she has since sold out. It gives a great old rock look. I have some more I am saving for a sheep some day. The trees were completely done from scraps...can you tell I have a problem judging how much wool to cut! I always make sure they are used sooner or later though. Now for the background...I couldn't use blue because the house is blue. I didn't want dark, because I have a few night rugs, and I wanted something different. I looked at some beige and even mustards, but I decided on this creamy-grey plaid. I travel to New England, and if there is one thing I have seen alot of up there, its fog. So that is where I went with this choice. ( Seems like every time you make a trip to see something you run into the stuff...not great for sightseeing!) Next it was on the the border. I went with a pair dark navy wools. One was a gold stripe & the other was a the other was a two toned dark plaid. I used a rust plaid for the vines, a green one for the leaves, & a red one for the berries. I am very pleased with the way it all came together.

I am also showing you a picture of our baby girl, Wags, the basset hound. She & I are the only two females around this place. She will be cropping up here in my blog from time to time. She is such a great dog. She loves to run & play with the boys and she is a major lap dog.

Ding Dong the Rug is Done!

Okay folks, it's finally done! I actually finished it Friday night, but yesterday and today have been filled with yard work, window washing & vehicle shopping. I still haven't decided on my next ride yet, but the search is narrowing down. I can't even begin to tell you how great it feels to have completed this rug. My winter project is over & so is winter. I am so over them both. Now I can just enjoy the spring as my favorite season, summer, approuches. And soon one of my favorite rugs will be hanging in my favorite room of the house. I will be binding it and having it pressed first, but I will post a before & after picture of it's new home. So for today enjoy a few quick pictures, and tomorrow I will post the wools I used in their uncut form. Thanks for looking!