Leaps and Bounds

I hooked a rug! It's a Calla Lily. I designed it and had the backing all prepared, and the pattern transferred for the first Tuesday of the month, thinking I'd buy a little wool and If I got a chance I'd have it dyed and ready to use at the next meeting two Tuesdays later. But I should have known I'd get all wrapped up in it. I dyed a yard of wool in all different pastels like, the day after I bought it, and then proceeded to hook the whole thing! It was so much fun I just couldn't put it down, so now I have no idea what I will have to work on this coming Tuesday. I think I'll just have to bring my tapestry frame and work on that.

I'm halfway through my second tapestry. I got all done the first one and was all excited to take it off the loom, but then I remembered that there was a whole chunk of warp on the backside. So I designed another cartoon based on a rose, and off I wove.

This first shot is of both the Calla Lily rug and the Rose tapestry. I have most of the difficult detail woven on it, so the rest should go relatively quickly.




I'm just in love with the process of rug hooking. It works up faster than tapestry, and I can have fun with salvaged fabrics. But most of my heart still remains with tapestry. I hope to have a series of these 8' x 11" ones completed by midwinter. Maybe I'll hook a few rugs in the series too!

And voila! My very first rug. It's about 12" x 15". I think it is destined to become a cushion top. I did hook this one too tightly. The loops were too densely packed against the linen backing and it makes the rug curl. I guess I'll know for next time. Loosen up!




Here is the finished first tapestry:




And I tried a few close ups as I am finally using my wonderful new camera. Thanks Dad!




You can't really tell (I think because of the flash) but there's a bunch of sparkle in with the pastels:




I really wanted to be patient with my rose and weave it up with a greater attention to detail. My former tapestries were very flat, with little in the way of intricacy. So I'm pushing myself more and more with each new project to slow down and add striations, shadows, more veins etc.



Sadly this photo doesn't give you all the information. Wherever I switch to turquoise against the pale pink petals it's raised, and you can see strands of pink between. It's quite delicate and lovely.



Okay! I'll try to get back again once more in June. I still have to post images of my paintings, and hopefully I'll be done the Rose by then as well. Maybe I'll have the loom threaded up for my Pitcher plant by then!

Hearts off the charts everyone!
JQ

Bracelets Galore Part 1

Here is that blue and brown threading I was talking about.




I am using brown upholstery thread for the stabilizer weft, and three strands of crochet thread, one each of the browns used in the warp. I wove with just the stabilizer for an inch at each end, which I will then unravel to where the picots start. I will then sew the unraveled weft thread into the weave backwards to secure it so the fringe wont unravel any further. Then I will cut the fringe to the desired length and shape. I have made the picots super long and then gathered them on each side with a large jump ring, which I will then attach the closure to once I am finished weaving up the rest of the bracelets and have taken everything off. This threading should do five or six bracelets. I'll do one with velvety blue fringe at the edges, one with little picots, and one where the picots actually get longer and shorter again to form scallops.


I found the neat pink and orange yarn bobbins at a store here in town. The orange bobbin should work nicely as a beater/shuttle for those wide brocade concepts my crazy friend has planned. I know you know who you are. :p

Ciao!

Greetings and happy May long everyone!

Here are a few shots of an 8 1/2" by 11" tapestry I've been working on. It began as a cabbage but it...evolved. :p Most of my current work seems to be exploring the visceral, biological, and the magical. I see flashes of neurons firing, electrical impulses, ovaries or a womb, sinew, nerve endings, fields folds flesh, femininity.


Come closer...


See how she sparkles?



I n other news a very nice lady from the rug hooker's group here in town paid for my membership in return for some design help, and I am super excited to be exploring a new path. I know, I know! I have too much on the go already but I've wanted to try this for a long time! This is my very first sampler. It was given to me by another lovely lady in the group, and had a nice simple design for me to practice on. As I am sure many have said before, I'm hooked!

I am spending this afternoon designing my first rug pattern, and I dug through some fabric in my basement and found some purple, green and tan stuff that looks and feels like wool, and I hear you can use anything you want if it's a rug meant for display, so I dug out some wool yarn too. I will be buying a piece of linen burlap-type fabric this week from the group and by next weekend I hope to have transferred my pattern and cut up enough strips of wool to begin working!

Birdhouse!


And I call this my temporary lapse into OCD.


Those cardboard tubes inside the crochet cotton balls? TOO MUCH space wasted. And I had sooo many of them, a lot in the same colours. So I went into manic panic and spent two weeks straight just balling up crochet thread.


GO ME! But it looks so pretty and organized, and I can't believe how much space I have now. To fill with Rug hooking supplies! *giggles*


And I still don't have a card reader or cord for that lovely camera my dad left for me. But the hubby is downtown today and says he'll pick one up so the next pictures of my dainty little inkle jewelery will be much clearer. These are five different bracelet designs I wove up on the same threading. I was just experimenting and a few of them came out a bit short so they'll have to be scalloped bookmarks, but they look pretty and feel soft and comfortable on my skin. The bracelet at the top (yes I put it on a baby bottle :P ) is my favorite and was based on a neat waxed linen bracelet that a friend of mine showed me. Again, I wish I had a close up, but that will have to wait until next time. I am currently threading up a loom for a nice brown, gold and aqua design.


Cheers and beers for this long weekend everyone!
Eat, swim, be merry!