Color my world

If you look at the side bar you’ll notice that here in Springfield, Missouri we’re having glorious weather.I don’t remember the weather EVER being this cool in August.

To celebrate I pulled out the dye pots yesterday and did these!

The first one is a half yard piece that I experimented with tie-dyeing…when I pulled it out of the pot it had a lot of white places where the dye had not reached, so I popped it back in the dye pot with a light watermelon color to cover up the white, but still let the other colors shine through…..how fun!

The rest of these are spot dyes. Some over solids and this time I did some over plaids as well.

May your days be colorful!

Tammy

PS Merphy and Murphy have both been adopted!!!! I'm off to find new dogs needing a homes for my side bar. Now that I think of it it's kind of odd....my neighbor's chihuahua, Buster, passed away on Thursday....do you think Buster used divine intervention?

Brave enough to be yourself….

….sometimes that is hard in rug hooking, but it’s getting easier all the time.

While I was at “Rugs on the Rocks” in Maine I started working on a footstool pattern.  The template came from Kim Nixon and my husband drew the design.

I’m working this in very bright….almost neon colors at some points. Not something you see a LOT of in rug hooking. My colors are more vivid than they appear in this picture…when I have time I’ll take some close-ups for you.

 

I’ve found that a lot of people have a hard time coming up with something to say about the rug because of the colors.  “nice design”, “how unique”, “is that your own design?” are some of the comments that other rug hookers have made.

Then, there are a few, who truly love the colors…..are they secretly wanting to use bright and bold colors in their rugs, but are not yet brave enough to use them? Or do we need “someone” to give us license to use the colors that we really love?

So why am I writing about this today?  It all started when I got a friend request on “The Welcome Mat”.  It was from another rug hooker who is using bright colors in her rugs….I went to look at her rugs…..LOVED them…..then I went to read her blog postings.

I felt her struggle as well.

It’s been on my mind for several years actually…..not just the bright colors, but colors that are outside the “norm” for rug hooking.  By the “norm”, I’m talking about antique and primitive rugs (don’t get me wrong…. I LOVE the colors in the antique rugs….red/brown/green is one of my favorite old color combinations that I’m always drawn to and like to hook). 

When I first “explored” hooking with colors that were not “old” it was by hooking a rather pastel rug….I loved it and I felt like it was “me”.  Not me trying to be “someone else”.  So, this year, as you see my rugs, you’re seeing more of “me”…..maybe what you expect, maybe not.

Loverly

Loverly pictures of Maine and Canada.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much moss…..loverly!

The coastline dotted with lighthouses…..loverly!

The sunsets….loverly!

The harbor seals…..loverly!

The wools of Kim Nixon….loverly!

The scallywag wools from Searsport Rug Hooking….loverly!

Fresh Maine lobster….loverly!

….learning how to eat Maine lobster…..Loverly!

Hooking from 8am – 10pm…..loverly!

Hope your day is loverly!

Glorious!

I’m using that word this morning because I woke up to 54 degree weather towards the end of August….that is virtually unheard of here in Missouri.

Windows wide open and the attic fan on…..gLOrIoUs!

Glorious was also a key word while I was on vacation….I mean, look at this…

Here we are arriving at Searsport Rug Hooking. We were so excited, we honked all the way up the drive!

I can’t wait to get pictures from Sandy and Renee to share with you of the inside of Searsport Rug Hooking….I’ve never seen so much wool in all my life in one store…..GLORIOUS!

Of course I had to pick up some patterns while I was there!

I got this one: (click on picture to buy it)

Also a GLORIOUS pumpkin runner and a darling turkey mat….I can’t help myself around seasonal rugs!

One morning we dined on wild Maine blueberry pancakes that were EACH about 1/2 inch thick! Glorious! Yes, I put butter and syrup on them, but I took the picture before than happened, but after I got a bite of the sausage.

I’m a big eater, but let me tell you….I could only make it through half of the pancakes…..Mainers have BIG portions….even for this Midwestern girl.

Beautiful clear skies and rocky fields…..I’ve never seen so many rocks in a field before….definitely different than where I’m from. I have MANY pictures of the fields…..kind of embarrassing in a weird sort of way :)

I think this was along the way to Stonington, Maine.

More stones in Brooklin, Maine….this time in the water.

While in Brooklin we also got to stop by and see Ken Carpenter, proprietor of

  Maine Hooked Rugs. OMG, do you ever meet someone and feel like you’ve known them for years? That’s how we all got along….it’s always so much fun to meet someone you’ve known on rug hooking forums for so many years….such a delight!

A charming rug hooking studio and gallery all rolled into one.

I picked up some GLOR-I-OUS wool that I got to use in the rug pattern that I took to camp…..can’t wait to show Ken the pictures of how it hooked up….”Red Sky at Night” and “Tutti Fruiti”…..yummy!

We arrived at the SERC (Schoodic Education and Research Center) on Monday and were smitten with the views.

Hopefully, if you click on the picture below you can see a 360 degree view (no promises…trying something new here….once the window opens, click and drag on the picture to see the round about view…pretty cool!)

Like I said, GLORIOUS!

More to follow tomorrow. Have a GLORIOUS DAY!

Tammy

 

Traveling

I left for Maine on August 9th and returned on August 20th…..longest amount of time I’ve ever spent away from my husband.

I had such a great time with my friends that I went with as well as the people we met along the way.

I have learned that I really don’t envy people who travel a lot with their job like I always had before.  Traveling can be hell arduous, but it can also bring many adventures.

Our Crew

Sandy was my seat mate….on the way out to Maine.  We met when she signed up for a rug hooking class a few years back.  We found out that we both loved Tasha Tudor, (Sandy has a Corgi), and that we both gravitate towards the same designs and colors.  She is also a great photographer, so I’m awaiting many of her pictures to add to the blog.

Renee and I have been friends for quite some time now….8 or 9 years. We work together in nuclear cardiology.  When we started working together I taught her to hook and she taught me to applique.  A few years back we started Skip To My Ewe on eBay as a joint venture for dyeing and selling wool.

I also met Patti by teaching her to rug hook and then we found out that my husband delivered her mail…..she lives just right around the corner from me.

Such a great group of gals to travel with!

More pictures and stories later.

Trying to get back “in the groove” of my daily life.

 

Back from Rugs on the Rocks

I will write more this weekend, but just letting everyone know that we had such a great time at Rugs on the Rocks! All of the girls I went with were making footstools except for Renee, she is doing the cat rug...designed by herself!

Sandy Johnson is standing in the back. Front row: myself, Patti Connelly, Renee Rethman of Skip To My Ewe

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Self-Portrait

Today I went and got my hair lightened just a bit more for the trip to Maine.

Minimal make-up day....eye-liner, mascara and lip-gloss

I love summer!

Here is a pic without the blue tint.....just playing around with my photoshop :)

Starting to pack

....trying to get packed for Maine....lots of layers is what they say....lots of layering takes up lots of space.

Also, trying to figure out what to wear when we depart...it will be HOT here and cool there.....decisions, decisions.

Countdown!

I’ve set the old rug aside for a while.

Today, I went for a few hours with Dulcy and Sheri to the Ozark Empire Fair to demonstrate rug hooking.

Today was a scorcher, but inside the E-Plex it was nice and cool in the a/c. We always have lots of interest when we demonstrate rug hooking, but this year I was surprised at how many people asked if we were punch hooking.

I’ve demonstrated for probably the last 6 years or so and I’ve NEVER had people ask me before…this year I had at least 10 people ask me that…..odd….very odd…..at least they weren’t asking if it was latch hook.

A few days ago I jumped on April DeConick’s bandwagon with:

What a great idea! Please visit her blog for more details.

On Saturday I sat outside and ended up hooking for WAY more than 10 minutes and got my rug to here:

While I was at the fair today, I got more of the background hooked in.

I think you can see the dark background color a little better in the close-ups.

Dulcy was working on her hydrangea tote

and Sheri was working on her Shabby Sheep banner rug

I borrowed both pictures from their blogs, so they are actually much further along than in the pictures. Actually, Dulcy has the hooking of her hydrangea tote COMPLETED!

Oh yeah, COUNTDOWN!

Heading to RUGS ON THE ROCKS on August 9th with 3 dear friends and meeting up with more friends when we get there.

Maine will never be the same again!

WHAT? Cotton homespun?!

Yes, that’s right homespun cotton/cotton homespun…..I have no idea…I’m a wool girl myself.

Here are some close-ups of parts of the rug that were unraveled and now dried out….the rug is still wet, but some of the unraveled pieces have dried and now I can do more investigation of exactly WHAT this rug was made of and what I’ll be searching for.

First…a light blue cotton check.

Second….a navy and white cotton check.

3rd…I’m not sure what fiber this is, but since it’s a solid I’m sure I could use a wool for this one.

4th…a brown wool….I have PLENTY of that!

Here is a close up of the border made out of the homespun cottons.

A little later I’ll go back out and measure and see about how wide those cotton pieces were. I guess Pat Cross was onto something when she wrote this book and is shown using homespun, yarn and wools!

Go forth and get creative with what you hook with,

Tammy

Rogue rug restoration

I don’t know what to say.  The rug I bought was so dirty and smelly that I just dove in and got after it today.

Here are BEFORE pictures of the rug.

 

The first thing I tried was vacuuming it with the attachment….that really didn’t do a whole lot for the rug….have I mentioned the smell…old, old, old.  I really don’t want to have it in my house because it is so dirty.

After I tried the vacuum, I ran some warm soapy water in the bathtub….yes the PINK bathtub….I love vintage…all the way down to my house :)

I put the rug in and let it soak for about 15 minutes. (I’m sure a proper restorer of rugs would not recommend doing this with a rug hooked on burlap, but, like I said earlier…I paid $25 for it and it’s absolutely going to be worthless if it’s still as stinky as it started out…..it needed cleaning and DEEPLY!

Here is the water after the rug had soaked for 15 minutes….wasn’t sure if it was dirt or dye…..pretty sure it was dirt, because when I lifted the rug up there was all kinds of grit in the tub.

I then rinsed it of the suds…and rinsed….and rinsed…..still more dirt coming out.

I did this 2 more times until the water ran nearly clear….this was one dirty rug!

I then drained the tub and pressed on the wet rug with my hands before lifting out and onto a towel which I rolled it up in to try and soak up more of the water.

It is now lying outside on a chaise lounge to dry.  How will the burlap fair after being subjected to all the water?  I guess time will tell.

As the rug became cleaner I could see that the rug was not hooked with all wool, but hooked with a variety of fibers…truly a make-do rug from the past.

Once the rug is dry, I will be begin documenting the restoration process.

BEFORE

AFTER