Wedding Rug.....

Mom asked me to design a rug for a wedding she is attending in October. I had some ideas floating around but wanted to use pennsylvania dutch frakturs as my inspiration. Well, I drew out about 4 different ideas and this is the one she chose. I was secretly hoping she would as it was also my favorite. I don't really design with color in mind, I leave that to Mom and although she does ask my opinion, she kind of has her own ideas. Well, this is just beautiful!!! When she is hooking and it takes my breath away, I know "we done good". This is a big one at 24 x 30 inches and I'm sure the bride and groom will be thrilled. More stuff to come in the next few days so keep checking back.
Until next time..........

We are our own worst critics, but we thought we'd enter three rugs in the NY State Fair in hopes of being "accepted". We knew we could enter up to five rugs but when we got there we found that they had to be in different sections throughout the "Rug" class. So we entered in "commercial design", "by the Artist" and "traditional" hooking. Well, we were pleasantly suprised to not only be accepted but to win three Blue ribbons. In fact, the "Goin to the Fair" rug was the overall rug class, sponsered by the Pearl McGown Rug Guild. The rug was front and center as you walked in the building with all the "best in show" items. We were very honored. I had designed it specially for the fair and worried a bit that it was too cheesy, but it was very folky and pretty and they loved it.
The fair folks also asked Mom to demonstrate rug hooking, so as she sat and hooked for four hours I explained the three mediums we deal with: rug hooking, punch needle and wool applique. I had a tri fold board and had three finished items done up from my Ezzies Hat pattern. It was very well received and we met alot of nice people.
After our demonstration, we proceeded to eat our way through the fair......no point counting. The one thing we stopped short of was the big kahuna burger, a burger on a glazed donut. Mom wanted to give it a try but I just couldn't do it. Gross! So, we made up for it with a bloomin' onion, dont you just love the look on her face....pure joy!!
I have alot of neat pictures from the fair, so keep checking back and if you get a chance to go to the NY State Fair be sure to go in the Arts and Home building and see our Rugs.
Until next time....

Phew......

Oh my goodness, there are so many things to share, I justt don't know where to start. I think I better spread it out over a few blogs or you'll be reading alot. First, I was suppose to share a picture of the floss I tried dyeing. So, those are the pics you see. Thanks to several of you I tried RIT, and used a spray bottle as I wanted a variegated look. I layed a bunch of skeins out, sprayed them, rinsed them, hung them up, let them dry and them wound them around the floss cards you see. As I mentioned before, I really did not want to like this, because it is very labor intensive, but, alas, oh my god, the look is just fabulous and oh so primitive. Click on the close up of Ezzies hat to see how wonderful the "dirty linen" floss looks. So, I have decided to hand dye floss for my kits and only for my website. I'm a glutton for punishment, but the look is just too great not to share.
Mom and I have had a very busy few days and I only now am able to sit and catch up on computer time. Check back tomorrow for our news about the NY State Fair and then the Craft fair we did this weekend.
Until next time......

More new things...

Busy, busy, busy, trying to get ready for the Clayton Craft show next week and our demo at the NY State Fair on Thursday. (we may have exciting news about this, but I'll hold off on that for now).
I wanted to thank some of you for your suggestions regarding dyeing thread and tell you I have had outstanding results. I have about 140 skeins drying right now on an old drying rack and will show you the results tomorrow. I am loving the result of it punched and truthfully, was hoping I woudln't love it, because man is it painstaking. It's very tedious. But, sadly, I am punching my "Ezzies Hat" pattern right now and "OMG" it's fabulous. I overdyed Ecru with tan RIT, which I am calling "dirty linen" and using it for my background. It's so grungy. So, now I am trying to decided if I want to dye my own thread for my punch kits. Hmmm!
Above you can see three of our hooked rug patterns that I turned into penny rug or wool applique patterns. They are fun to make and will be available on ebay and my website in the next couple days. I am writing them up right now. You can also see my "Ezzies Hat" hooked rug pattern all finished. Very primitive and drab!!
Also, that gorgeous rug at the top is the most recent rug Mom just finished. She's a hooking machine, but has been working on this one for some time on and off as she did it with a four, six and eight cuts. It is based on a Charles Wysocki print. Absolutely stunning!!
Better get back to work........Until next time.......

Tour of our Wool Studio

Well, I did my homework and learned something new. Enjoy!!

Link

Well, that didn't work...........for the link. I'll keep working on it, I promise, in the meantime you can either copy and past the link in the url box, or go to youtube and type in the search box The Old Tattered Flag tour and it will come up. Uh, technology!!

Social media

I have been fighting the social media for quite some time. My friends have tried to get me into facebook and I still don't like it.................but, my son, who took a media class said, "mom, if your in business you have to join in." So, I had to create a facebook page for my business and then of course, "well, you can't have facebook and not have a twitter." Good god, where does it end. And, I am very bad about keeping up with everything, but, I do think he's right. So, in an effort to "keep up with the Joneses" I have made a little movie tour of our wool studio, and, get this, put it on youtube. If you'd like to take a look at it click the link below to go to youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dR2dFYjjbAw
Be sure to watch till the end for one funny picture (had to get Baxter in there). Next in the work are instructional videos on hooking, punching, penny rugs. What am I getting myself into? I'll keep you posted. Until next time...

Zucchini anyone??

I feel like Bubba.......we've made zucchin bread, zucchini soup, zucchini vegetable pasta..........I wish you all lived nearby so we could give you some, but then again, you probably are all in the same boat.

Here's another rug I just finished hooking. A very simple design, but I've found that most of our students like the more simple designs. I used some of the new wools mom got in last week. The background is our tic tac toe plaid wool and it has highlights of tan/orange and blue/gray in it which makes a really neat look. The pattern and kit are available on ebay and will be on the website by the end of the day.

Thanks so much Ginger for your advice about dyeing floss. I'm going to give that a try later today hopefully. I actually can't wait to see the results.

Until next time......

The Witch's Parade

Here's a rug just finished up by Mom. I designed it last year as I was trying to come up with a Halloween parade rug but decided to go with a smaller design. So, this will be a one of a kind rug. Mom had a vision for our Witch and wanted her decked out in purple. Nice choice! I also love the leaves and background, they are so warm.

In a different direction, I was wondering, if any of you are stitchers, your feelings on embroidery floss. I have more than 40 punch needle designs and am not afraid to admit that do not like punching with anything less than 6 strands (the horror) for a couple of reasons. First, I like a larger design. If the design is larger, then you don't lose any of the definition by using 6 strands, plus, I just like a larger design. Second, I like to use a skein of floss while I'm working, hence less threading. Third, I'm cheap. (for you serious punchers I also am almost afraid to mention that sometimes I punch on fabric other than weavers cloth......I know, I know!!) But, in the world of punch needle I have found that there is a trend to use the more expensive "hand dyed" threads. As you know you can purchase a skein of DMC floss for about .35. Hand dyed floss is about 1.80 a skein or more. While the hand dyeds give the design a more textured and primitive look, which I love, I also like the look of regular DMC and for a primitive look, I dab it with coffee. I want to offer my customers what they want, so would love to hear your opinion as a stitcher, if you would be happy to pay up to $50 for a punch kit, with the expensive threads, or if you would prefer to use DMC in a kit or on your own. Give me your thoughts.

Until next time............

Hookin in the Garden....

We had a wonderful day for our "hookin' in the garden" party. It was our way to thank our local students for a very successful first year into our rug hooking venture. Though we have been doing this for many years we consider this year our first official year as we have regular classes and quite an extensive collection of wool.
The weather cooperated and everyone brought a yummy dish to share. We had sooo much food. Thanks to everyone who came and to those who couldn't make it because of prioro committments, we hope to see you at our Christmas open house.
Until next time....