Off to Rug Camp!

Today is the final day for our Cambria Pines rug camp prep.  This includes finishing student sale items selecting all my wool and packing in general.  We will leave early Sunday morning and we have about a 5 1/2 hour drive to Cambria.

Cambria is a beautiful area on the "gold coast" of California.  This part of the coast has the nickname "gold coast" and I don't know the history of the name but it is an incredible part of the state.  If you are ever in California, it is a must to drive Highway 1 / 101 to see the coast.  We have the best coastline along with Oregon in the country!

So, it's been a serious work day and I'm exhausted.  It's only 3:30 p.m. as I write this and we are still finishing rugs for the rug show, selecting wool for Larry's turkey rug (in a 3, 4 and 5 cut!) and then we have to pack our clothes.

I spent about an hour and half pulling all my major wool.  I've been stockpiling colors for weeks for my rug, so it was all about sorting the colors for motifs in the rug and selecting final choices.  I laid out all my wool in color groups:  the corgi dogs, the sky, the dark foreground and trees, the light foreground around the sheep and the sheep and rocks.  I photographed the various groups of wool but unfortunately the camera flash really disrupts the real colors of the wool.  Here are my selections for this pattern:

The corgi dogs:  Gracie is the dog that will be sitting up and she was a red and white corgi.  Piper is laying down and he is a tri-color in black, white and some bits of red.  I had several red/rust selections but in the end I selected the one that looks most worn and old to me.  The black has some light color to it so when it hooks up it looks old and worn too.

Next I worked on selecting the sky wool.  This picture does not do this wool justice in showing you my selections.  They look much better in person.  The sky has neutral tones, light faded apricot, blue and taupe.

Now I'm onto the light foreground that is around the sheep.  It's a mix of light greens and taupe tones.  The sheep will be similar in color but the original antique rug has a fair amount of outlining in it of the animals and I will be adding dark - like maybe even BLACK outlining - like the original antique rug.  Yes, I know this is taboo, but I'm a folk artist and I don't follow the rules.  Besides, our fore mothers outlined, so we can too (and this is the point of my latest ATHA article I just wrote in my column "Musings From the Antique Rug Corner."

Here is the sheep selection and notice one has some dark gray stripes?  Well that will become a little black sheep to represent me.  

Next is the dark areas, trees and horizon ground, and the foreground at the bottom of the rug.  This batch really didn't come out well in the photo.   You will have to trust me that these selections look good and will blend nicely.

And last is the selection for rocks.  

A couple months ago we bought a new bed and pillows.  The pillow bags are a perfect size for carrying a nice assortment of wool and there is a clear pane where you can see all your wool.  We asked at the store if they had extra bags and they gave us a bunch!  This is my wool ready for packing in the car and I separated it into motifs so I can go to one bag or the other for my general areas of the rug.

I won't be blogging while I'm at camp.  Cambria is a hard place to get cell coverage and I'm not expecting my 3G or wifi to work at camp.  The lodge had a computer available on dial-up last time we were there, so you get the picture.  But you can follow all the fun because Gene Shepherd blogs nearly everyday of camp (he must bring his own wifi?).  Follow Gene's blog at http://geneshepherd.com/blog1/ for lots of camp info and wonderful photos.  

I'll post camp info when I get back, so have a great week everyone!