Cock-in-Blue

(That should be read sort of like cock-a-doodle-doo.)

I briefly mentioned starting this project at the beginning of last month.

Work on it was delayed for a bit when I couldn't find the hook. There are various places I could have set it in the living room where I work, but I didn't see it in any of those.

Then it occurred to me while in the shower or falling asleep or while driving where it must be...in the drawer of the coffee table where I keep pens, remotes, spare spindles and other little objects that should remain handy but out of sight.

So the next time I had some time to work on it, I pulled out the bag of supplies, got settled in, opened the drawer to pull out the hook and...nothing. It wasn't there. Then I was truly puzzled, because I was so sure it was going to be there!

A few days (or more) later, getting frustrated because I still hadn't found it and it still hadn't just appeared and being positive it hadn't left the room, I looked a little more thoroughly. And where did I find it? In the ziplock bag with the rest of the supplies! I didn't find it earlier because I had put it in the smaller bag with all of the wool strips instead of the main bag with the canvas and it got lost in the wool. A happy ending but it felt like a pretty needless delay.

In any case, I kept good track of the tool after that and made steady progress on my hooked rug:

The piece is small (9.25"x7.5") and I am happy with it. I considered adding a coloured border because I have more wool strips from the kit that I could use, but I think I will leave it alone.

I also am considering giving it a soak and "blocking" it. (I.e. laying it flat to dry.) I'm pretty sure I put the loops too close together when I started (in the chicken body) and the piece wants to buckle because of it. I've never blocked a rug hook before but it's seems that anything made from wool would probably benefit from it. And I don't think it can hurt.

When I first opened the kit, I didn't like that there were different blue fabrics included. I thought it was a sign of a cheap kit or shoddy work by the store. But of course, the various blues are exactly what you need to liven up the background and keep it from being completely flat. I sometimes controlled what blue I was going to use next, but most of it was pretty random. Now I wish there had been some variety of browns for the rooster body! :)

Here is the back.

You can see some white space in the blue background but nothing in the rooster. I think the white space is there when you don't overcrowd the canvas. You can also see more clearly that I did one border row all the way around to even out the line of the edges and give it a nice finish.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it. It's common to sew them into pillows but it's pretty small and how much space do I have for more pillows? I'm also considering framing it somehow (but how much space do I have on my walls!?) I'll keep pondering it.

While I ponder what my next rug hook may be...I enjoyed the process and am dreaming of larger projects that could actually serve as rugs.

Shake a tail feather!

New Project

Pretty much the only thing I've been working on lately has been the Farm Girl Vintage quilt. (You may have noticed from my blog posts. :)

But today I opened up this rug hook kit that I purchased in Missouri, found the hook I had and got started.

It's not a lot done, but it's started. And sometimes that is the biggest hurdle.

And now I have a game to watch!

Epiphany

Similar to the Easter installation our church did in 2011, we were invited to participate in another one for Epiphany this year.

On the Sunday before Christmas we were invited to take home a "square" and have it done and turned in two weeks later. Today was the first day we got to enjoy it in our sanctuary.

And what was the "painting" we were putting up? This icon:

which depicts the angels who visited Abraham, but in church tradition also represent the Trinity. (I don't have the details right now...I forgot to pick up the handout! I trust you'll excuse me as this is a crafting blog, not a theology blog.)

In any case, the painting was divided into 30 squares and we could pick up a copy of the square we wanted to do:

I picked a simpler one to make sure I would be able to get it done. You can see the copy has a grid printed on it to help us duplicate the design. We were also given a 24" square of tar paper:

I had decided to do a hooked rug of my square and since I didn't think the tar paper would hold up to all the holes that would take, I copied the shape onto a netting that I've had forever. I have no idea where I got it, but it was obviously a "hand me down" because there was a few inches of rug hooking done on the one end. I ruthlessly cut it off and had just the right size left for this project.

Once I had an outline, I added grid lines:

and then copied the outlines of the design with the help of the grid lines:

Then I started outlining the shapes with yarn. Rug hooking is traditionally done with narrow strips of wool fabric, but since I don't have any and didn't have an easy place to find some I went with yarn. With the picture in hand, Troy and I went to JoAnn's and shopped for appropriate colour approximations in the bulky weights. Some were wool, some acrylic. When I got home I found some stash yarn that would work for the blue colours so I ended up returning the blues I bought.

My first line in dark brown actually followed the wrong line, but I noticed it before going any further. The nice (and scary) thing about rug hooking is that pulling on the end quickly pulls out all your loops. There are worse things to undo.

When I had that fixed, I added more lines in the dark green:

With the outlines done, I started to fill in the rest:

Since this is netting, I just followed the holes and the yarn ends up in a grid pattern. I think rug hooking is usually done on a type of burlap and then you can give the solid areas texture by filling in the area with curved lines. But I was on a deadline, so I didn't mind not having to make those decisions. I just had to fill all the holes.

I was a little worried about something catching a loop or loose end and ripping everything out, so I covered the back with masking tape as I went:

It's not fool-proof, but I thought it would help enough.

I continued to fill in areas:

I was pleased I was able to work on this in the car as we drove to Missouri and back. By the end of the trip, all the hooking was done:

My original thought was to stick it to the tar paper with spray adhesive, but when I couldn't find the spray adhesive I decided that was probably overkill anyway. I put the tar paper on the back of the "rug", folded over the excess netting and taped it down with my fancy duct tape. (We somehow were out of regular duct tape.)

The masking tape was my "basting."

Here it is finished and "bound":

And this morning when I got to church, I got to see it on the wall:

Here is the whole thing:

A little closer:

Closer still:

I was distracted today and didn't get a chance to get a close look at the other squares. I will admit that I spent a lot of time studying them during the service and may have missed parts of the sermon...

The glitter one was very popular. I always like the ones done with ripped paper. The top right square of the right figure's halo was done with some very effective 3D effects. The halo looks like corrugated metal (but maybe it's stiff paper?), I think the hair is string and the top of the staff looked like a stick. And I think one of the squares in the very top row is done with tinted photographs. That idea occurred to me but I didn't know if I could do it. I hope to get a closer look next week.

I just love these projects. I also was reminded how much I enjoy rug hooking. I have had that scrap of netting to do a rug for years and now I wonder why I hadn't done it yet??? And the grid method of copying a picture is just so easy, it makes me think I could take a photograph and make a hooked rug hanging from it. I would love to take an "iconic" family picture (doesn't every family have those pictures we all know and have seen a hundred times?), simplify it, and hook a rug. And you know if I do, I'll tell you all about it!

Field Trip!

On Saturday my mom, Isaac, and I went to the Buchanan Art Center to see an exhibit of hooked rugs by two local rug hooking groups.

"Lunch" by Jane E Shimp

I am very interested in rug hooking and don't know why I haven't done more of it. (To date, I've done one rug with yarn (as opposed to strips of fabric) from a kit.) Oh yeah, probably because I spend all my time knitting...

The detail on some of the rugs was amazing:

"Complimentary Flowers" by Marge Collins

And on others, the simplicity and "primitive" nature was just as pleasing.

"Ma and Pa" by Ethel Hess

The majority of the projects were rugs (and actually used on a floor) or wall hangings.

"Antique Shoppe" by Miriam Jackson

But there were a few 3-D objects as well:

"Pumpkins" by Jane E Shimp

and a least one great example of a "carpet bag" in the literal sense.

There was a display of some of the materials and tools needed. The "automatic" rotary strip cutter is just great. I can imagine it would work just as well to cut fabric and tshirts into yarn for knitting. Hmm...I'll have to keep that in mind!

The art center had two other galleries which currently hold a show of wood carvings and another of mixed media. They were also worth a look.

If you're in the area, take a drive to Buchanan and check it out. Admission is free, and you can't beat that!

Walking up and down the main street was also worth it. Lots of used items for the home (furniture and decorator items) curated with a good eye. I especially liked Alan Robandt. This is not your small town junk shop! The store, Front, had a fun collection of new items in clothing, jewellery and pop art items. I may have been seduced into buying a new handbag...

The July-like weather didn't hurt for making it a very pleasant way to spend a day!