Press and Seal - Have you used it?

Press and Seal is not just for leftovers anymore!  It should be in all your Hooking and Punch needle Bags. I was first introduced to it last summer while teaching at the Manistee Rug Camp in Manistee Michigan. {Huge shoutout to a wonderful camp!!} One of my students put some over the top of rug to keep that pesky wool dust for imbedding in the rug she was Hooking. BRILLIANT! 

It was too good a tip not to share with the class so I showed everyone everyone the tip and many of the gals also had Press and Seal in their bags and they started to share other ways to use it. One of my favorites was to use it when Oxford punching to cover the front side of  your work so as not to pull out your loops when you detach it from a gripper frame. 

So fast word to today. I was Punch Needling a larger design and I had part of my finished design over the gripper  strips. When I went to move my Needle Punch Piece, I forgot to be gentle with it and snagged many loops. Darn it! But that’s when I remembered what the ladies in Manistee had taught me about Press and Seal and knew it would work with Needle Punch as well.

I pulled  it out out the drawer and cut a piece to just cover the design that would be over the gripper strips and pressed it on the design.

        

 My design wasn’t the whole width of the the gripper strips so I was able to still get some of weavers cloth to grip the gripper strips while protecting the finished piece. 

And the weavers cloth is tight as a drum on the frame and I can finish it without worrying about damaging my finished piece. 

Press and Seal for the win! Thanks for stopping, Maria 

Inspiration for Punch Needle patterns

Where do you find your inspiration for punch needle or rug hooking patterns is a question I get asked a lot. And the answer is everywhere. Probably like most of you, much of my inspiration comes from the web. Pinterest is the bomb when wanting to find inspiration and most of my ideas for antique inspired patterns comes from it.



Sometimes though something just pops into my head out of the blue. For instance, last week as I was driving to work in a snowstorm (yes you read that right) and passed a farm with cows and I thought “Those poor cows. They need spring and warmer weather.”  And I remembered an antique rug I pinned with a cow surrounded by a border of flowers.
                               

Isn’t it a wonderful rug?  The muted colors make my heart pitter patter. The brain works in weird ways and what made me think of this rug that I had pinned is a mystery but I love it and  think that it will be my next project. I’m still deciding which medium, needle punch or rug hooking, but but hope to work on it this weekend.



Since I have cows on the brain, I have been doodling all sorts of designs involving cows. I’m certain several of my doodles will wind up as whimsical rugs or needle punch patterns so stayed tuned to Facebook and Instagram for photos.



Like the cow pattern, most of my patterns are based on antique rugs. My latest needle punch pattern “Pennsylvania Birds”  is based upon an antique fractur.
                        
                                          
Interesting that both of the inspiration pieces have warm brown, blue and parchment colors and I punched a brighter version. While, I love the colors above, I always tend to gravitate to the brighter colors. I think we all have a color palette that we are comfortable with and tend to hook or punch in the color zone unless forced outside of it.

                                

As you can see, I didn’t include the horses in the pattern. I like the horses and may someday punch or hook them separately. I also have started to hook this pattern and changed up the colors and used a dark background.

Both the needle punch and rug patterns are available. The Needle Punch pattern is $18 plus shipping  is 6 x 8.5 and the rug pattern is 30 x 39 and is $75 plus shipping. Thanks for stopping by my blog. Maria 

Garden Rabbit Needle Punch Pattern

Goodness gracious I didn’t realize it had been almost 2 years since my last post. I wanted to do a little post about my latest needle punch pattern, Garden Rabbit, and share more than you can on Facebook and Instagram and gasped at my absence from the blog.

This is my Garden Rabbit pattern that is finished!
                                         
I used Valdani threads to punch it and couldn’t be happier. One ball of Valdani thread nearly punched the entire background. I had my cameo set on 1. You can see in the picture below the small area where I ran out of thread and will have to use a new ball. But I wanted to show you how much area one ball of  Valdani covers.

And just check out that gorgeous, deep, rich background color. I absolutely love the hint of purple in
this thread. Isn’t it wonderful?
                                            

Just look at that color.....

                                               

The pattern is available for $16 and is 5.5 x 6.5. It comes with the pattern drawn on weavers cloth, color chart, instructions and thread placement. Email me at davemariab@sbcglobal.net

One more look at the finished piece...    
                                              
I want to do a fun finish for this pattern and hope to share with you this weekend.


Thanks for stopping by, Maria