Rugs from the weekend

One of my online rug hooking groups does retreats every month. This month's theme was to make something you love or would love to give away. This was my first time participating and I'm glad I did because I started a rug that I've been thinking about since September.
When I taught at Star Rug Camp in Fredericksburg, Alice Streibel of Kindred Spirits (Love this gal!) showed me how to roll wool into circles and I just loved the technique. I thought they would look good in the body of a sheep. Because I was so excited about these circles, I gently persuaded several of my students to incorporate them into their rugs.
Last week, Kris Miller (another sweetie), debuted an awesome rug she is working on for a class using the rolled circles...check out her blog. Anyways it made me start thinking about the rolled circles again and so I finally started the rug. I usually hook neutral colored sheep so I stepped out of the box and tried a black sheep!

I also found some time to finish up two other little mats that I had started back in September after camp.
Grinnin Guy

I'm trying to decide what to do around the border. As you can see, I started to bead around the edge and the orange wool I pulled is a little too bright. I've also been thinking about crocheting with some fun eyelash yarn...Wouldn't that add some jazz to the rug? Oh, but I don't know how to crochet.
This guy is my Butterscotch cat. I beaded around the edges of this rug.
Thanks for stopping by, Maria

A NEW BUT OLD RUG

I hooked this rug a few years ago but never added it to my website. Not sure why? I think I just forgot about it. It is patterned off of an antique butter mold. Thought I would share it with you as it is perfect for Valentines Day.
This rug reminds me of my first rug camp at Barbara Carroll's house. What a wonderful time I had. I used the leftover wool from my project for the star and hearts. Check out Barbara Carroll's home page to her website. When I was at camp, Barb always used the phrase "cool beans" which tickled me so.....So, I hooked a little mat that said cool beans on it for her using the leftover wool from the project. Here is the link so you can see the mat. www.woolleyfox.com Maria

Another Unfinished Project

I'm trying to finish some of these unfinished projects that have been stacking up and I can cross this one of my list.

Next is a sheep rug that I designed several years ago. I love it and will try to finish it up in the next two weeks to share with you. Maria

AND THE WINNERS ARE.....................................

Wow what a response to the giveaway.....and your reasons for needing the wool are clever, creative and compelling! I enjoyed reading them all....because so many of you responded, I decided to give away 8 pieces of fat quarters. I wish I could give everyone some of this wool!
As for the method of determining the winners, I couldn't choose from all these great answers, so I asked my little darling to pick 8 numbers between 1 and 35. And the numbers are 2, 5, 7, 16, 18, 21, 29, and 33. I also asked her to give me two other numbers and those numbers are 1 and 24. Keep in mind that I had a response in there so I did not include that in my number calculation.
So if you see your name here, please send me an email to davemariab@sbcglobal.net with your address. Beth Twist (2), Kathy (5) (Woolfind), Befruitful Kreations (16), MaggiesFarm (Merrie) (18), Sandi setelzrow@grandecom.net,(21) Jo (29) and jsrotts (Judi)(33). Debbie (1) and Bobbie (24 ) also send me your addresses as you will each get the pattern for Mr. Hempenstall.

I also wanted to share this picture of snowguy and primitive Christmas tree.
I just love these rugs. Something a little interesting about these two rugs is that they were punched using the Oxford Punch with wool yarn. How cool is that? Segan explained that she uses the #8 punch and that makes a 1/2 inch loop. It's a smaller more compact loop.
She said she stretches the linen on the frame just like you do with hooking and just starts punching. When you punch the wool in this manner, the loop goes to the back of the linen. So it is just like needle punch. She said it punches up very quickly with the snowman taking her about 4 hours to do.
The speed of the punch is what drew her to it as she has 4 kids....can you imagine having time to do anything with four kids......YOU GO GIRL! She buys the wool yarn from Kindred SPirits. VERY COOL!!
I have an Oxford Punch and will give it a try after seeing these two little mats. Thanks again for all that participated in the wool giveaway. Maria

Wool, wool, wool giveaway

So did I get your attention? With the hustle and bustle of the holidays, my hooking took a back seat for a few weeks. Over the New Years weekend, I found some free time in between sledding, skiing and hockey (it's a wonder that I am still walking) to hook this little mat. It was so snowy and cold during the weekend that it just seemed right to hook this snowman, Mr. Hempenstall! You can purchase him on my website ( which I need to update)

The colors in this rug are a little more muted than my normal palette but I really like the look of this guy. The background wool is the most awesome wool. It is a taupe checked wool and hooks up so old looking and is just so soft and wonderful. I bought close to 15 yards of it and can see myself using it over and over! It also great wool for sheep. When I sold it at Star of Texas, it was the first wool to go!
So for the giveaway.......I'll giveaway 4 quarter (1/4)yards of this wool to 4 of you.....just leave a comment in the box as to why you need this wool! I'll pick the winners Thursday night!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. I sure did spending time with my family. With the new year, I’ve been trying to think of ways to make my life less complicated. The easiest way to do that, and this is my New Year’s resolution, is to become more organized. I’ve started the process already and am going to continue throughout the year. Wish me luck with this one! I think a diet would be way easier. Oh and my other resolution is to try and post more frequently to my blog!
I also have a few pictures to share with you. Two of my students from Star of Texas have sent me pictures of rugs they have completed. The first is from Donna Holdiness. She completed the Triangle Sheep and made it into a pillow.

The sheep looks so real. Isn’t the pillow just darling? And so is Miss Donna! She also runs a rug camp in Mississippi and I hear it is fabulous!

The next rug is from Linda Long and oh my can this gal produce rugs. She hooked four rugs while she was at camp and just finished this rug (25 x 35), Halloween Hooligans.

This rug is so fun and the colors Linda chose are terrific. I can’t wait to see it in person. Thanks Donna and Linda for sharing your great rugs with us. Maria