NEW RUG~HAPPY JACK

Well, I just love this rug. He makes me happy everytime I look at him hence the name Happy Jack. Don't you just love the orange wool? All those colors from just one piece of wool...Oh, and the grass...also from the same piece of wool. It is the best wool. Can you tell I love it? This pattern is available for sale if you are interested. The pattern is actually larger than it looks here. It measures 16 x 20 and sells for $40.00 on linen. Right now I'm working on a really big Halloween rug that I am so excited about. It will take me a while to finish but will post when done.
Had some fun with my photo editing program. This one is the cartoon. The coloring book program is fun as well.
On another note, check out these cute charms for rug hookers. I just have to have one. My pay Bren made these and they are just the cutest. You can purchase them on her blog which is listed in my favorites.

More Pictures from Paris

The first picture is of the Eiffel Tower at night. Isn't it pretty? You just can't believe how big it is until you are standing underneath it.
The next picture is a view of Paris from the second level of the tower. I was not daring enough to go any higher. My knees were knocking at this height. Isn't the city wonderful?
And finally, this a picture(at night)of the tower from underneath. Isn't it just awesome? I just bought a new camera for the trip and am so pleased with the photos. These pictures are straight from the camera. I didn't have to retouch them at all.
On the rug hooking front, I've been busy hooking a few new designs. I just finished up a pumpkin rug and used some wool from Rebecca at the Wool Studio. It was such fun wool to use in this rug. When I post the rug, I'll take a picture of the wool. Have a great week. Maria

I recently had the pleasure of chaperoning a High School French class's trip to France and will be adding pictures of the trip. What a treat it was to see France through the eyes of high school kids. The kids were in awe of the sights, culture and people. The teacher who planned this trip is amazing and gave the kids (27), not to mention the chaperones, a trip of a lifetime. Here are a few pictures of some of the beautiful flowers that were in bloom while we were in France.




I bought a new camera for the trip and am pleased with the results. With my old camera, I had to adjust all the pictures before posting. Not with this camera. This is the picture without any adjustments! I'm hoping my rug photos will turn out as well. Maria

I'm Back!

After several months of "no Posts", I'm finally back in the swing of things and hope to be posting more regularly. I've recently started hooking again and hooked up this little blue bird the other night using all scraps of wool. You wouldn't have believed the huge pile of worms I had accumulated over the years. So I sorted them into color groups and decided to hook a rug using only scraps. I could probably hook 10 more of these little mats. I am offering this pattern for sale if any of you are interested. It is 9.5 x 14 and sells for $22.00.

And I also punched this sweet little Sheep Guy over Christmas break. Sometimes, I'll punch one of my rug designs before I hook it. That way I can color plan my rug before I hook it. I can't wait to hook this one up for you. Maybe over the next couple of weeks.

I'm trying very hard to hook rugs with different colors (rather than my dark background that I always use) and I have a doozy on the frame right now. I can't wait for you to see it. It should be ready in a week or so. Maria

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

I've begun to hook again and this is the rug that I just completed last night. I had a hard time deciding what colors to use for the snow people and decided to go with red and green and these colors worked well in the border as well. It was a fun rug to hook and hooked up pretty quickly. I started it about a week ago and finished last night. It is available as a pattern on linen (16 inches by 20 inches) for $42.00.


Hopefully in the next couple of days, I will finish up another rug, well it is a needle punch, that I will have available as a pattern. It is a sheep...just about my favorite thing to hook. It is pretty whimsical and not my typical sheep pattern. Although I punched it, it will be available as a rug pattern. Many times I'll punch a pattern as it is easier for me to color plan the rug by punching it. Plus I punched it during Thanksgiving holiday when we were traveling and it was easier to haul my punching supplies than my rug hooking supplies. Take Care, Maria

Meet the real Mister Iggy

Isn't he a great looking cat? Yes, he is the inspiration for my free rug hooking pattern in latest Rug Hooking Magazine. If you haven't seen a copy of Rug Hooking Magazine, you might want to buy one. Not only is there a free pattern of one of my whacky and whimsical Halloween patterns, there are some great articles as well. Wendy Miller of the Red Salt Box wrote about gravestone rugs and it is an informative article. Also there is an article about copyright infringement...again an informative article.

For your viewing pleasure, here is another one of my Halloween hooked rugs. This one is called Tilda and is available as a pattern for $28. Have a great week. Maria