Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe: Three Samplers are finished and a chart give-away!

Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe: Three Samplers are finished and a chart give-away!

Another geometric

This rug is based on Amish Quilt square designs. There are three sections, and each section is one quilt block design. It's very easy to design a rug using quilt block patterns! I chose jewel tones as that is similar to Amish colors. Since my ancestry is Pennsy Dutch those colors have always made me smile. I wasn't sure about the rose color with the magenta but it seems to be working!

Making progress...

I believe I am about halfway (or more?) completed. Actually I have completed 6 more squares since this photo was taken. This is an enjoyable project because I just grab three colors from my basket that seem to work together and hook them in. Other than that there is no color planning. I may move some 'brights" around later but for now I am just enjoying the colors play with each other.

Stalled attempt at Tangled Garden by JEH MacDonald

I started this probably four years ago - maybe five? But became unhappy with the building on the upper left, which I think I need to take out and insert skinny shadow lines between the clapboards. I hate unhooking, unpicking anything, in fact.

What do you think? It has a variety of widths of wool as well as some yarn and some gorgeous silk from Deanne Fitzpatrick.

Thanks for any comments!
Maureen

PS Here is the real thing, which I don't aspire to, but love, so thought in my newbie innocence, that it would be good to have a version of in my home.

Artist Trading Cards

Some friends coerced me into making some rug hooked trading cards. I'm sure most of you are familiar with the latest craze where you make small cards and then trade them with other people. I have never done it before and was surprised how fast they work up. I thought I'd share my first effort with you. I worked in a #3 cut and have a struggle keeping my small loops straight. I am making 3 other cards on the same backing before I cut them apart from the backing, finish the edge and put a label on the back. I'm playing more on the others and using proddy, yarn and glittery threads. It's fun! Many of you know I recently went ballooning so that was my inspiration. It's a great way to use up scrap wooly worms!

Standing Wool Rug

Chelle asked what a "standing wool rug" was so I wanted to post a picture. This one is in process and is made from a variety of wool that is torn or cut to 1/2" strips. Those strips are then rolled and secured to form the mat. I use a long thin needle and thin crochet cotton to sew it together. I sew through the center of the strips to secure it to the "base" and you don't see the threads at all. If you want I can post pictures of how I sew them together.

There are a variety of ways to create different looks, including beading (small rolls), and shirring (folding the strip on the row). This is an old pre-1850's technique (before rug hooking was popular) and creates a plush mat that is sturdy and great as a chair pad or hot plate mat. You can play and create as you go...no patterns! You can use a combination of wools from thick blanket weight to thin and thready. Great for scraps!

Swirly Sheep update

I know...I'm slow. My excuse is that I have a busy life. Don't we all? I took a lot of the wonderful advice that many of you gave me. I changed the legs and head of the sheep to tweedy gray. I added the beaded line that Michelle suggested, and like it. I still have some tweaking to do on this, and that line is one of the things to tweak. I believe I should have hooked it higher, and should have really snuggled the adjacent rows to it so it would be straighter. I was running out of black or I would have enlarged the border by a row or two, and would have added a second row of beaded border with a black line in between the beaded rows. Gene Shepherd makes beaded rows look so straight and easy!

I have a very small black half round button that I will sew on for her eye. And I am going to re-hook the hooves with the tan as they are now black and you can't see them at all. I like the background color. It is a mix of tweeds, plaids and all sorts of recycled wools tossed into a pot with Cushings Turkey red and a touch of black.

As I look at it on the monitor I wish I has added a small butterfly sitting on her back! Thanks to all my internet rug hooking friends who brainstormed and gave me advice for this project. I appreciate each one of you! Hugs from me to you!!!

Where should I go with this???

I need some advice. I began this sheep mat in the fall at the N.Y. Sheep & Wool festival, and just picked it up again. I completed the swirly sheep, head and legs and liked it. I decided to do something in the background (hence the leaves) but didn't like them after doing them twice so the background will be one color. I chose the red plaids because they go well with the sheep...but now I can't see the sheep's legs. But I really like the red! And I'm getting near the border...more choices. Antique black looks nice, but gold might be nice too. As I look at the picture the golds on the right look too green.

Pigs can too fly, two

This is the next version with a few of the things changed I mentioned before. I decided on a brown border to bring it together, and might add more - I'll live with it like this for a bit first.    The only thing I didn't change yet is the tail, which needs help. Too muddy looking, even though it is a bright pink - I think outlining with the tan would work better than the darker blue.     Also still haven't decided whether or not to remove a cloud or two. I used all but one inch #6 strip of the spot-dye I used as part of the blues in the sky. Of course, it isn't pressed yet so I hope it will square up better then.

Pigs can too fly!

This is a little mat I am making for our elder son. He asked me a couple of weeks ago, if I had ever done a rug with a pig, as he wanted one to cheer up a co-worker who is very ill, and collects pigs. So, I thought, for whatever reason, of a flying pig, but changed it to a piggy hot air balloon. In the first sketch, the basket was empty but as I was hooking, that seemed silly. So I added a few animals.

I've just taken this photo and see that there are several things I'd like to change. The teddy needs a bit of outlining, I think, to make it more visible against the sky. I'm not liking the pig's eye. The last [rt hand] section/field of the hill on the left doesn't show up enough - so outlining or changing the colour there, I think. Likewise the ballast bags on the basket don't show up well.I maybe should have outlined the tail in the same tan I used for the pig and then the thin darker blue outline? Too many clouds?

Lastly, border or no border....?

I am hoping to finish this today, so this may be an academic exercise, but if anyone is online and wants to comment, please do!

thanks, maureen

[it is my own original design, hooked mainly with #6 cut, with a bit of hand cut in the 'fields'. All wool on primitive linen; 12" x 25.5"]

Old Glory

I finally finished pulling the loops on this rug! The pattern is by Monika Jones of Folk Art Landing. This is 32" x 32", cuts 6 - 9 and done in hand dyed wools. I added the wavy border which is done in re-cycled wool. The eagle was a challenge for me, particularly the neck feathers as they kept coming out square. I consulted the Rug Hookers Bible and found a lesson on "feathering" which helped a lot. Thanks Gene and Jane! On my monitor I can see many things I should change but I'm always learning and expect my next rug to be better. Don't we all expect that? Just don't examine my loopy loops too closely! And now...off to bind it!

Neon Footstool

Oops, I always forget to post here.

Here is the neon footstool that I'm working on.....bright huh?

If you want to see more pictures please visit my blog http://www.skiptomyewe.blogspot.com/

My forlorn kangaroo

Well, he has been mailed, and now I can go back to working on a UFO.

live simply - thank you!

I have been having trouble posting comments on blogger sites, not just wool snippets. I am asked to sign in, I do and then it goes to my dashboard, where I click on go to WIP blog and it asks me to sign in again.... frustrating!

So, I will try this way to say thanks for the kind words on my Live simply rug. I have no idea where this will show up, but since I was given the option of posting to WIP via email, that's what I am doing. If it ends up on my page - or Lauri's - argghh.

Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks, all, for the kind words!

cheers, maureen

Donkey for the Noahs Ark Project

I like to take photos as I work to see what needs changed and I see a few things in this that I will be changing. But this is the front side of the donkey body.

JoEllen

Finished Live Simply! [finally]

I finished whipping my live simply rug last night and it was on the floor next to my bed this morning - and it worked - I smiled and loved the feeling of it under my feet instead of the icky carpet we inherited the house with. The fact that the sun was shining, after three plus weeks of solid rain, grey and fog may have had a little to do with it as well. I am so glad it is finished, not only because now I can use it, but it was getting to be a pretty warm and heavy project for the summertime.


It didn't make anywhere near a big enough dent in my leftover woolly worm baskets, though, so another scrappy rug is in the cards sometime soon. This is mostly #6 & 8 cut as-is wool, some hand-dyed, on primitive linen. Approx 2 ft x 3 ft; whipped with wool yarn from Cottage Craft Woollens, here in St Andrews, New Brunswick [Canada].

More info is on our Quoddy Loopers group blog.

Happy hooking, all!
.

Happy Independance Day!

I wanted to wish our American friends a safe and family filled Independence Day. I pulled out my patriotic UFO a few days ago to work on and have attached a picture. The pattern is "Old Glory" by Monica Jones of Folk Art Landing. I thought it was apropriate to work on it this weekend!

Hugs to all, Lauri

CABIN RUG

Well I finally finished this rug for my brother Gary and his wife Chris. This is their wedding present. They were married on

November 23, 2007 and this cabin is actually the cabin they

purchased in Vermont. My good friend Debbie (woolensails) helped me out and drew the cabin on linen for me from an actual picture of the cabin and did a beautiful job. I asked her to add the trees and the moose. Everything else is exactly the way the picture looked. I dyed all the wool in this rug except the sky which I purchased

from Norma Batastini and it turned out exactly like I wanted it to be. I'm anxious to give it to them. I guess by now they think they aren't getting a webbing gift! I have some other stuff to show you but that will be in the
next posting. Just so busy right now with so many different projects. So until next time enjoy this weather and hope everyone is doing just fine!
Blessings to all my dear friends..................Cyndi

Background almost finished

I think that says it all. I like how her name is now a secret message.

I posted in the Snippets main blog about a class I took yesterday. This is a photo of my sampler that I began in class. I plan to keep working on it until it is a nice size for a chair mat. They work up quickly! The center is a standing wool coil, and the next layer is shirred. I am forming the coils into teardrops on the current outside edge. Who knows where it will go next!

This photo shows the bee skep that I am working on for JoEllen's beeskep tutorial. There will be three pieces made like this, and then joined to make a 3 dimensional bee skep with an additional circle for the bottom. I'm challenged with the contrast of the bees and might change them to light yellow. Just another of the projects that I'm working on!

Lauri