Tried Needle Punch for a change of pace...free pattern

After hooking like a mad woman to get the gift done for the baby shower (dog rug), I put away my hook for a punch needle project. I punched this little snowman for a hostess gift.

I put the snowman into a little shadow box frame I had bought a year or so ago for a buck at the dollar store. It had a chinese design in it which I removed and placed my punch needle into it.


Below is the pattern which I thought I'd share with you.

You are free to punch it or hook it....Just give me credit for the design. Also, here are the DMC floss colors that I used for the pattern: background, (597 & 598), snowman (644,822 & 3033),scarf (347 & 3328), hat, (black and dark gray), eyes and arm, (black), nose (orange).

Speaking of the dog rug, here is a picture of the finished rug. My neice seemed to like it and the colors were perfect for her nursery. Around the border, I used the technique of beading and pulled colors from the dog (blue and brown). I also rolled several circles to add some whimsy to the rug which you see better in this picture.
You can see where I added the rolled wool into the rug. I just love this technique and think it would be fun to do a sheep with the circles in it. Thanks to Alice of Kindred Spirits for showing me this great technique.

And just for fun, I was playing with one of the editing functions in photobucket and came up with the pop art picture.

Have a good week. Maria

Charlie Brown snowman

If you are looking for a quick little pattern to hook as a Christmas gift than this little guy is for you. It took me about 3 hours to hook this little snowman. It is small, 7 x 13, and that is why it hooks up so quickly. I'm offering it for sale for $20.00 which includes first class mail.

Speaking of small, when I was at Barb Carroll's earlier in the month, Miss Alice saw me hooking a small rug using my quilting hoop. For years I used a hoop to hook all my rugs and she just laughed at me because the rug I was hooking barely fit into the the hoop. I was using my larger frame for the olde duck pattern and didn't want to pull my rug off to work on this smaller pattern at night. Anyways, Alice was kind enough to mention that she and Sonny sell a smaller frame that would be perfect for small rugs like this. I have the larger frame and love it so I knew the small one would work well too. And let me tell you I love that little frame also. It is perfect for those little pieces of linen that you don't want to waste but don't want to take time to sew fabric around the backing just to make it fit frame. So this little frame is a dream. I highly recommend it. For those of you that needle punch, this frame would work great for that as well. Here is the link to Alice's website where you can see this frame as well as the larger one. http://folkartprimitives-alice.com/products
Oh and I must confess, while on my way to Barb Carroll's retreat with the girls.....I stopped at Aults, http://aults.com/hooks.html , in Shelby and bought several,ahem.... let's just say several, of his Aultimatic pencil hooks....I just love them. I'm afraid Larry is going to stop making them so I keep buying them whenever I find them...and yes I bought another one at Barb's as she was selling them as well. What? A girl can never have too many hooking supplies!

Another Sweet Design by the child

I asked her to design a dog rug for my neice's baby shower and this is the sweet design.


Isn't darling? The design had small Dots all over it which would have been impossible to do so I improvised a little. I laid the rug on the floor to get a better look at it and my pup came and sat on it. Funny how the animals always do that! So is there any doubt where she got the inspiration for this design? Just look
at that big head and ears.
Remember the spots?

Here is the book that has inspired these new patterns. This book is so great. The pictures in it are wonderful and plentiful. The background in Susie's rugs are terrific. All you rug hookers out there should put this on your wish list. You won't be disappointed.
And for those of you that asked about Bedhead pattern, it is 13 x 10 and sells for $22 plus shipping. Enjoy the rest of the weekend. Maria

Look what a 6 year old designed!

My little one is so curious about my rug hooking and the business end of it. She also loves to draw. After reading the Susie Stephenson book "Designing and Hooking Primitive Rugs", I told her to draw me some things to hook. Here is first design. Don't you just love the whimsy of a child. We have named him "Bedhead". It will be available for purchase as a pattern. To teach her about business, I told my little entrepreneur I would give her a percentage of each pattern sold. To which she replied, ah mom, what about something for designing the pattern. She'll do just fine in the business world!

Here is a picture that she drew in art class. Isn't it fun? Love the magenta hair.

Another wonderful finished rug from Star of Texas

Linda Gartner sent me this picture of her completed rug from the Star of Texas Rug Camp. Isn't it wonderful? Her background is simply divine. The background was easy to do once she figured out what her base color was going to be (olive/gray color). After that, we chose five to six additional colors to hook with the background. She did a great job on this rug. Thanks for sharing the picture Linda!
Tomorrow I'm going to try my hand at designing a cross stitch pattern for my sil for Christmas. Wish me luck! Maria

Back from Camp

What a wonderful time I had at Barbara Carroll's camp at her home in Ligonier. The wool, the rugs, the antiques, the wool, the company, the wool, Barbara Carroll and .....Did I say wool! Oh, I had a grand time and will post pictures as soon as I can get them uploaded. For now, I'll leave you with a few photos of rugs I completed before I left for camp. The first rug is Winter Angel and the next Ho Ho Sheep. Sorry about the quality of photos as they were taken with my blackberry.
Winter Angel

Ho Ho Sheep

Finished a couple of Halloween rugs

As promised, I wanted to show you these two rugs I finished. The first one is called Boo Boo sheep. Don't you just love the sheep with the witches hats. They make me smile. The pattern is available for $30.00 (16 x 11)

I tried to get a good picture of this rug but I just couldn't. The white in the pumpkin face shows up as bright, bright, bright and it isn't that way in person. This is a sweet little rug that hooks up quickly. I used beading as a border around the rug. Love the way it looks. This pattern is available as well for $38.00 (21 x 15)

Have a great weekend. Maria

The last batch of pictures from Star of Texas Rug Camp

New patterns will be coming in a week or so. I just finished one tonight that tickles my fancy. A couple of whimsical Halloween patterns and one new winter themed rug. In the meantime, I'll finish showing the last of the rugs from camp.
The first picture is rug adapted from a postcard. Mary Jo did a wonderful job hooking this Jack Russell terrier. The dog seems so alive and looks like he could walk right off the canvas.

The next rug is by Shirley. Didn't she do a terrific job with the colors in this
rug. The clothes on the snow family are great.I can't wait to see this rug when it is finished.

Terri from Nebraska worked on the Pearl, Laverne and Mae pattern and her roosters are
to die for. The wool colors are so rich and warm. You can't see it in the picture but for the circles on the middle rooster, she coiled the wool and it looks fabulous. People kept oohing an ahhing about how neat it looked. Keep hooking Terri!

Next up is Kristi and I love what she is doing with this pattern. The
rug looks so much better in person. Very dark and primitive. I just
love it.

Here is a picture of a finished rug by Kristi. You can see her wonderful sense of color in this rug.

Connie was hooking a Magdalina Briner style rug and doing a great job on
it. Hooking a rug in this "hit or miss" fashion can be somewhat daunting
but she did great with it.

Karen was hooking a pattern called nesting and was very open to hooking
outside her box. Throughout the nest, Karen pulled up wool at different
heights to give the nest dimension. She also pulled the loops of the rooster tails very high to give the tail depth and mixed in some wool yarn just for fun. This rug is going to be terrific when done.

Connie was hooking an Edyth ONeal pattern and it was coming along well.
She used a lot of Paisley in this rug and it made it look so special.
Connie is one of the fastest hookers ever and did a great job with this
pattern.

Last but not least is Sue's rug which I love. She did a fabulous job
with this pattern incorporating many different techniques such as
beading and coiled or rolled wool for flowers. She is making this rug into a
pillow. Go Buckeyes! (inside joke)


Thanks to all my students. It sure was a great experience and
I encourage you to attend this camp if you ever get the opportunity.
Cythnia and Katie do such an incredible job hosting this camp.

While looking through some pictures, I found a few from Sauder that I thought I'd share. Both are new patterns from Wendy Miller, The Red Saltbox. Aren't they wonderful? Til next time, Maria

More pictures from Star of Texas rug camp

It has turned cold and rainy here in Northern Michigan. Snow is right around the corner! I've been busy hooking some new patterns but am not quite done yet. When they are done, I will post pictures soon as they are done. In the meantime, I'd like to share with you a couple of more photos from the camp. The first one is my Halloween Stroll pattern hooked by Connie from Texas. She wanted to adapt the stroll pattern for a gift and wanted two little boys in it. Didn't she do a great job with the colors? Love the red coat with the purple pants. Her hooking is just wonderful. She too was a speedy hooker and completed this rug in class.


Linda from Texas hooked the next rug. She wanted her background to look old and did a great job with the colors. The entire background will be hooked using this patchwork and the horse will be a dark colored wool. This rug will look so old and primitive when done. Just stunning.

Enjoy the photos. Maria

Pictures from the Star of Texas Rug camp

The camp at Star of Texas, Fredericksburg was a great experience. The gals in my class were so much fun and oh so talented. Over the next week or so, I'm going to share pictures of their rugs in progress. Several of the ladies actually finished their rugs. And then there was Ms. Linda Long.....she was a speed demon when it came to hooking. She actually finished two rugs and started a third.
Linda is great with colors and her rugs are terrific. I just wish you could see these rugs in person. Her hooking style is amazing. She hooks pretty high but the neat thing about her hoooking style is that she leaves so much space between her loops. I examined her rugs in depth and learned that she oftentimes leaves three of four spaces between loops. If you flip her rugs over, you see a lot of the foundation material showing on the back. This style of hooking makes her rugs appear old. I tried to hook leaving more space and if you are a packer like me, it is hard to do. Below is one of the rugs she finished at camp called Tilda. The colors she used in this rug are great.

The next picutre is of Matilda. Who would have thought of a blue face for this gal? I just love the color choices she made in this rug.


The next couple of pictures are rugs that Linda brought to camp to show us. This one is Mister Snowman and Linda did a wonderful job with the color in this rug. She used wool yarn for his socks and the star. I've never used yarn in a rug before but it hooks up great and looks awesome in a rug. The colors in this rug just make me smile.

The next photo is of my Halloween Stroll and is terrific as well. As you can see from all these pictures, Linda has a great primitive sense for color.

The final photo is of a rug she hooked with Cammie Bruce. I believe the pattern is from Barb Carroll. The colors and hooking style just make this rug look old.


I really wish you could see these rugs in person as my pictures are not doing them justice. Well that's it for now. In the next day or two, I'll show another rug or two from camp. Enjoy the pictures, Maria

Something to Crow About

Is the name of the new rug I've finished. I started it 3 to 4 weeks ago but was inspired to finish it for an online retreat. I'm offering it as a pattern for $38. It is 11 by 23 inches. I have to give credit to Lori Rippey as she told me to hook a black pumpkin. It would have never occurred to me to do this. This pattern would also look sweet with a white pumpkin as well.

I just returned from teaching at Star of Texas Rug camp in Fredericksburg, Texas. OH MY goodness, if you ever get a chance to attend this camp GO. The camp is wonderful. The founders, Cynthia Norwood and Katie Hartner, are just the best hostesses. They make the camp very special. The facilities were wonderful. My bed was so comfy! The town of Fredericksburg is a quaint little place with the sweetest shops. And the food....OH my, so good.
My students were awesome. Wait til you see some of the rugs they hooked. I'll feature them over the next week or so. Maria

It's been awhile since my last post

Kind of feels like true confessions. I've been busy with work, gardening, hooking and getting patterns ready for a show and rug camp. You know, life sometimes just gets in the way of blogging. I'll try to post more often. As for my hooking, remember a while back I told you about a big Halloween rug I was hooking. Well, I finished it about a month ago but was not all that happy with one of the characters in the rug. I put it away and someone asked to see a picture of it the other day, loved it and purchased the pattern. So I thought I would share it with you. The pattern is 25 x 35 and retails for $70.00.
As I finish up a few more patterns, I'll post them on the blog. Happy hooking! Maria

Happy Flag Day

So there has been talk lately about unfinished projects. Do you have any? My guess is that I have somewhere around 30 rugs that need to be finished. Well, make that 29 rugs. I started this rug about a year and half ago and just wasn't happy with it. The Uncle Sam was too squatty so I enlarged the pattern and made him a little taller. This design is my patriotic version of my Antique Santa & Reindeer rug. I am offering for sale as a pattern. It is 24 by 27 and retails for $55 plus shipping. And in between planting some flowers today, I found some time to dye some more wool. I'll have no problem using these warm primitve colors in my rugs.
Happy Rug Hooking. Maria

As promised.....

First, Here's a picture of a rug that I just finished hooking. I just grabbed wools from my scrap pile and just starting hooking. Do you accumulate alot of strips of wool? No matter what I try, I just can't seem to make a dent in those piles. But I won't give up trying! Check out the birds. Do you notice anything? I forgot to change the wool on the curly ques on the heads. I'm definitely using the darker wool. The next couple of pictures are from my dyeing session over the weekend. The first picture is from Wendy Miller's Dye book. I bought a bunch of the milled wool and it is perfect for dyeing. This wool now is perfectly primitive for hooking. I've already started using it as my background in another Lazy Sheep pattern that I am hooking. This picture shows two different wools dyed using the same AlJO dye recipe. The more muted red is so wonderful. I just love it and am using it in an Uncle Sam rug that I am currently hooking. Speaking of hooking, I'm off to pull a few loops.
Maria

Just Hooking and Dyeing

Well, I have been hooking up a storm in the last few weeks and can't wait to share some of my new designs with you. It was so dreary here today so I played in the dye pots and used one of Wendy Miller's dye recipes and just love the color. I bought some wool off the bolt and the color just did not speak to me. So I dyed it using Wendy's canning jar blue recipe and I love it now! Can't wait to use it in a rug. As for the new designs, I still need to steam them and hope to have that done in the next couple of days. But I do have a few pictures of past rugs to show. This was my attempt to hook a rug and make it look like a braided rug. One of these days, I'm going to hook this rug using different colors. See the white spot in the rug....candle wax.
This rug was inspired from a scherrenschnitte-paper cutting from long ago. It's a nice litte chair mat. Have a great week. Maria

Hooked Rugs from the Past

While looking through some of my photos, I came across some rugs from the past. I hooked this rug in 1999. Back then I was selling rugs on ebay and sold this one. I wish I still had it as it is still one of my favorites. It is fun to look at older rugs and study them to see how or if your hooking has evolved throughout the years. Ten years ago, my favorite colored background was still the dark wool with motifs in brighter colored wools. Today, I still hook mainly with a dark background but my wool selection for motifs is a little more muted or primitive than in this photo.

I love this version of my lazy sheep pattern. Isn't it just great? Karin Manuel of Ohio hooked this rug. The colors she used in the rug are just wonderful. And Black sheep are my favorite. After I'm done finishing the BIG rug (tease, tease)I'm working on, I'm going to hook the Lazy Sheep similar to this one. Enjoy the weekend and Happy Hooking. Maria

A few of my favorite things!

I'm working hard on a new rug to show everyone but it is so big that I fear I will never finish. In the meantime, I thought I would share a few of my favorite pieces of folkart and antiques I have around the house...You know, the pieces that make you smile everytime you see them. And this just happens to be one of my favorite pieces of folkart. Last summer, I stumbled across this folk artist who makes pieces of art out of tools and such. This cat is made out of a hammer, screwdriver, funnel, spoon, piece of leather for the ears, and his head is a piece of wood that came from a campfire. Just delightful! Behind the cat is a fun little bike wheel. Love the graphic element that it adds to the decor.


Here you can see the hammer, screwdriver and spoon holding his head up!
Happy Mother's day to all. Maria