Friday, November 9, 2012

COMING ALONE!!

IT MAY BE HARD for you to see how much hooking I got done today. The Pink Whisper wool is a good mix with the blue ~ white wool. It's really popping the background.  Unfortunately I have to put the rug away again for the weekend.  I'm happy to report that I filled in wool from the sand half way up the background between tree and Dino, except at edge where white meets the dinosaur. I'm working on that next!!!

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

HERE COMES DINO!!


THIS RUG "DINO" BELONGS to my grandson Josiah, poor baby has been asking for it...  The problem is, I can't seem to match the dyed wool I used for the background. This in my second attempt at finding the right shade of wool in a light blue ~ white background. The last batch I bought from eBay was so gorgeous, but too blue for this rug. This wool, I bought by mistake. I thought it was blue ~ white with a whisper of pink... NO, I did not read the description of the wool.  It's GREEN and white and pink. I was bummed. But I kept looking at it, and realized it would work after all because the wool was dyed in faint colors, just like the blue ~ white wool. I'm hooking the new wool  around each cluster that i have spread throughout the rug and it is working out much better then I thought. So I have to say, I found a perfect match after all. Can you see, as the dyer calls this.. the whisper of pink in the corner? Of course, I rushed back to eBay and bought the other two pieces she had left of this wool. Baby, you will get your rug this month... 

Saturday, November 3, 2012

Getting Dressed Slowly

I'M FINALLY BACK on the Six Sister's rug... I'm hooking in a jet black background because there is so much color in this rug.  For sure, your eyes will need a place to rest!  However, the fact that I have five yards of black wool might have something to do with my background color choice.  It's a small rug so I will squeeze my signature and date in the upper right corner,  but, it'll be so small, if you blink you will miss it!!

Friday, November 2, 2012

SAMPLER RUG

OKAY, MAYBE IT'S not called a Sampler Rug, but it should be... Because you repeatedly hook the same design over and over again. By the time you get done hooking the very last heart you will have perfected your loops and would have earned the right to call yourself cupid!!  This rug does NOT belong to me, no, I did not steal the rug or the picture... :) But snapped it (myself) at a Hook-In a few years ago in Tuscon, AZ.  I don't even know the lady who owns this beauty and for that I apologize.  But I do know Monika Jones of Folk Art Landing designed it because I accidentally stumbled across a photo of this rug hooked in almost the exact same colors on her store website the other night. I thought, hey, I have a picture of that rug in a file somewhere. In fact it looks like the very same rug, nah...  It's another one of those, "one of these days rug..." Gosh ~ I love this rug and I can see it in MY COLORS!!

Thursday, November 1, 2012

MISSING TUCSON



LATELY, I'VE BEEN missing Tucson, where I lived for three years. I used to walk around my old neighborhood snapping pictures of native plants... These three are some of my favorites.

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

HOOKING LIKE MAD!!

THERE'S NO PICTURE with this post, but I'm hooking like mad....  The third sister is done and she is looking FINE in her teal blue wool shoes.  I'm hooking the hair and faces of the forth and fifth sisters... I will complete the fifth sister first because she is an easy one. The forth sister still needs her legs fixed, they are WAY OFF center. I found the CD that belongs to my camera so I will put up a photo of  the Six Sisters rug up later...

Monday, October 29, 2012

THE MIDDLE LEG

THIS PICTURE I snapped awhile back.  It's the only photo I have that shows a big FLAW in my tracing... A question for you ~ are the center sister's LEGS off center? I'm sure Deanne Fitzpatrick did not draw the pattern that way. Maybe it's an illusion  created as I crammed all the sisters together tightly or tried to make her dress swirl? Glad I caught it before I hooked her...

Thursday, October 25, 2012

SIX SISTERS


FINALLY, I'M BACK on the Sisters rug.  Still using my lousy cell camera so I'm not sure if you can see the dark golden hair, but I just love it. It's popping!!  This sister reminds me of one of my cousins. Yolie. She used to dye her hair this color and it looked good on her too. When I picked this golden worm out of my worm basket, all I could find was ONE cut #8 worm, a sad stash indeed.  It was a treasure found, non the less, so I ran it thru my cutter to slice it in half, lengthwise. Those two skinny pieces of wool only filled in outline and the back of her head, but left a bald spot on top, so I went hunting high and lo for another worm. As luck would have it... I found one in a slightly darker gold. I was able to finish hooking her bald spot. Nice, huh??  The cream wool behind her head is just there to help hold the hairdo in place. Same with dark piece of wool under her arm. I'm still not sure on background color though....  But, I'll work it out, we always do!!

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Hooking "Six Sisters" Rug

I AM NOT happy with the second sister.  She is too fat, too lopsided, frumpy, and just plain boring... so I left her hanging there. Will work on her last. The third sister, much better. I love her dark golden hair. It looks like a good dye job...  For some reason, I am loving hooking all the hair. I feel like I am playing "dress up" with dolls. I too am one of Six Sisters, so maybe that is why this rug is so much fun to work on. As soon as I finish hooking the arms, I will snap another picture, that is... if my cell phone will charge itself. Dang thing is falling apart on me.

Friday, October 19, 2012

TRANSFERWARE ~ PURPLE

ANOTHER IDEA FOR a rug design...  I collect a set of purple transferware china... This small serving bowl is not from my set, but I do own it and bought it just for the sole purpose of adapting the design for a small oval rug. The flower border is beautiful. This old china pattern is called Colonial. If anything, wouldn't it be a challenge to hook this pattern into a rug using your favorite color of wool in 5, 6, 7, 8, nine shades?? Just an idea...

Thursday, October 18, 2012

BIRD OF PARADISE


OKAY, MAYBE THIS bird is not called Bird of Paradise, but it should be. It's such a gorgeous bird and would make an awesome pattern design for a rug!! I've held onto that single bread plate for a few years now!! Another "One of these days, rug..." Maybe I should first focus on getting a better camera.  Unfortunately both pictures are blurry, SORRY! :(

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

HOBO CORNER

MY THIRD UNFINISHED rug...  I bounce between Dino, Six Sisters and the Hobo rug.  As you can see, I'm only showing you a corner, not because I'm trying to add suspense to my blog, but this is all I did last night before I went to bed. I snapped a photo from my cell phone. The flowers was an idea for another rug, so they will be covered when I fill in that background border. I'm hunting for the perfect deep dark teal to finish the border.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

HOOKING DINO

I'm back to hooking Dino and I'm finishing the background. Or trying...  I never got ahold of the lady who dyed this wool. I just want this rug done and gone!!  I do have a small pile of white blue left. I will use it up and worry about bare spots later.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

SPOTTED WOOL

I HAD MY eye on this spotted wool for some time...  I don't dye wool myself so am always on an eBay lookout for interesting wool.  Bev Conway has a turkey pattern, that has my name on it.  On bottom of pattern it has two large pumpkins. I can see one of those large pumpkins hooked in this green spotted wool.

Sunday, September 30, 2012

FRUMPY SISTER


I'M NOT LIKING this second sister...  That outfit has got to go!  She is looking frumpy!!  The plaid I'm using for her skirt is actually a pretty wool with teal blue and orange mixed in with the tan.  But, the tan collar and outline around her boobs is sinking into the blue blouse. I have a solid orange wool that I might use for collar and outline instead of the tan.  Of course, I should finish dressing her before I make any changes. I'll work on it more today...

Thursday, September 27, 2012

FOXY LADY IN RED



This is part of the Six Sister's rug I am working on right now.  I loved hooking her curly hair. The yellow worm between her legs and green worm on right side arm is just to hold its form. Now I have to dress her sisters...

Sunday, September 23, 2012

MEET DINO~ 31" x 21" in Cut #8

                                                     

YOU CAN SEE from the date on the upper right hand corner, I started this rug two years ago.  I worked on it a bit, then put it away... It's time to get it done before Josiah goes off to college.  My grandson Josiah, was 6 years old at the time he designed and drew this dinosaur on a beach.

The problem I'm having... is this rug was not planned out.  Josiah and I just picked out the brightest and prettiest noodles from a wire basket where I kept my small stash of worms. On the second day we hooked the sea. The big round tree is blue. Again, Josiah's colors.  

The background was planned.  A hooker from my old guild in Tucson dyed the wool, only I did not buy enough at the time, and I'm out again... I picked the background wool because it looked like sky. THIS IS NOT A CLEAR CELL PHONE PICTURE, so you can't really tell but, there is a lot of blue in the background blended in with the white. It looks really good.

 I was never happy with the background on this rug.  Not the wool itself, but the direction of hooking.  I tried hooking the background in straight lines, then little boxes going left and right, then up and down. It didnt look good. I'm not good at perfectly straight line hooking, and my loops sit high and low. I'm a sloppy hooker, so, what I did was rip out all the line hooking and draw S's all over background and hooked around the S's. Much better!! This way also gives me a bit of leeway when I beg for more dyed wool to finsh off this piece.  I can just fill in the new wool around the S's... I am so ready to finish this rug.

Since there isnt anything else I can do on Dino until I locate Kathy, I started another rug last night using Big Boned Girls paper patterns from Deanne Fitzpatrick. I (designed?) a small rug and I shall call it
"Six Sisters..."
I'm hooking the Six Sister's rug now.

The first sister is hooked, and she is looking so fine in her bright red wool dress!!