Rug Hooking Again

When I went to France last week to meet my new grandson, my first grandson, I decided not to take my rug hooking with me. My decision was a practical one. I wanted to travel light, with just a little backpack. I was having so much fun with my daughter, her husband and their baby, that I barely had time to miss my roosting hen project.

I was so glad though when I came home to get re-acquainted with my project, and to return to my routine of hooking in the early morning hours.

I have made some progress. The little hens are now sleeping in their night blue "sheets".

Flowers have started growing around them, each a little different.

Night is spreading around the flowers. I just love playing with my married over-dyed "night" fabrics.

The branches are growing, adding movement and at the same time continuity as I am using only one type of textured wool, a brown and white herringbone.

A demain!

The Hen Rug is Started!

Every Wednesday, I take my daughter to chorus. Yesterday was not like any other Wednesday, yesterday was the day I started hooking my new rug while waiting for her.
I packed my new lap frame (which my lovely husband made for me, I will tell you more about it another time.) I took all my hand cut wool strips that I had dyed for the project. We took the bus, then walked, and I dropped her there. I headed to the local cafe, ordered a coffee and a blueberry muffin, and sat down to hook.

I started by hooking a heart, seeing what I could do with my muted jewel tones. See, I had an idea that I wanted the colors to look like they were bright and rich colors but as they would appear at night, being lightly moon kissed. After all, chickens roost at night!

This night idea really came to me yesterday morning as I was looking at the colors, and wondering what I was going to do for the background. At first I considered a safe neutral, but safety is not my thing. I thought a grey could work, and was about to settle on that, when the idea of the night blue came to me. As always, impulsive, I pulled my dye pot out, grabbed some recycled vintage wool fabrics, in light grey, greying celadon, and even a plaid in navy and white, mixed a little bit of "night blue" , and over-dyed the fabrics.
I ended up with some variations of married night blues, some a little bluer, some a little more teal, and some almost black, and some grey blue. I have started playing with the background already. I am so happy with it!  

In my little Rhode Island Red's world, it is night time!

I am really enjoying working with the hand-cut strips, their slight variations in width really add a dynamic feeling to the rug, and maybe also a more authentic appearance. I just love the naive charm of this rug! I really hope I will have some time today to rug hook!

Blossoming Heart

Today, I just want to share with you the progress on Kalon, my heart design. I had a little time to hook yesterday. I added stems and leaves to the flowers.

I used vintage, recylcled wools to hook both stems and leaves. Both textured fabrics had been over-dyed in the same pot of green.

The stem fabric is a very subtle plaid, while the leaf fabric is a chevron. The almost solid plaid seems perfect for the simplicity of the stems. The contrasting texture of the chevron gives the leaves a certain glow.

I cut some more strips of wool from my hand-dyeds. I am proceeding slowly, laying colored strips here and there, making sure that I like their color before hooking, enjoying the time it takes to create.

I am hoping to have a lot more rug hooking to show you on Monday. Have a great weekend, and happy hooking!

Woolen Hunting

I love scouting the second hand stores for old woolen garments. I occasionally will pick up an amazing jacket, but my favorite garments are large skirts. You can get the most fabric out of them, and they are so easier to cut apart.

Most of the time I find neutral-toned fabrics with great chevron, or checkered patterns.

I love the neutrals very much because they over-dye so beautifully, and give me lots of color options. The neutrals immediately give the over-dyed fabric a vintage feel. It makes them perfect for using in primitive rug hooking. Add to that, a little bit of handcutting, making the strips of wool a little irregular...pure magic!

Sometimes, on my scouting trips, I find an amazing vintage wool skirt. This is exactly what happened last Friday. Even before I got to the skirt section, I spotted the skirt from afar. I kept my fingers crossed that it would be 100% wool. Just imagine my joy, when as I was looking for a tag inside the skirt, I saw the Pendleton Woolen Mills label!

The colors are fabulously bright, cobalt blue, kelly green, with thin lines of deep pink and a pale purple. Of course, I will probably rarely use it as is, because I tend to favor slightly muted colors. But I will definitely save an undyed piece to put as a splash of unexpected color in a design, and will overdye the rest.

I am sure you can sure you can tell I really love looking for old fabrics. I wonder if you do too? I might stop by my local second hand stores today on my way to the post office. I am already dreaming of what I could find!