Yes, antique black is it!

I've finished the main background area around Mr. Baaaa.  That's the sheep's name so far.  It may change, but for now it's Mr. Baaaa.

I love the antique black background mix surrounding Mr. Baaaa.  It sets him off  so well and when you are close to the rug, looking at the mix of different wool textures is so interesting.

As I mentioned in the last post, the antique black mix is made up of many various wool strips.   Out of curiosity, I pulled a variety of strips from my big bag of worms that I use for the antique black background to examine the mix more carefully.  I  easily found 20 different strips that comprise the background.  They blend together well if you use short bursts of each strip.  In hooking a space of two square inches there may be 5-8 different wool strips due to hooking just a few loops of each strip of wool.

Here are some pictures of the mixture but the camera flash distorts the actual color.  They appear quite dark in person, verging on black, but not true black.

The browner strips are more pronounced due to camera flash.

Camera flash makes the strips appear brighter and more washed out than they really are,
but this will give you an idea of all the textured wool going into the background.

And here is Mr. Baaa with the antique black background.  I love it!

Hmmm, as I inspect this picture I see a strip that may have to come out.
In the lower right corner, just below the flower, there's a long discoloration strip.
I'll have to check this out for possible reverse hooking.  This is why standing back from your work is important.
You can spot pieces or sections that are not blending well.  

A close up of the bird so you can see the play of different dark strips of wool.

Lulu approves.  But of course, she's a herding dog so sheep are in her blood!

And speaking of sheep, did I ever show you the completed Peaceful Valley sheep pattern?  I don't think I ever posted the final pictures of this rug.

Next, the triangles on Mr. Baaaa!  Ugggg!

A Great Finish

Charlotte from Texas sent me a photo of her finished Dancing Rabbits rug which she began in my workshop in Texas in June.  Isn't this rug precious?

Charlotte from Texas with her finished Dancing Rabbits pattern.

And just as precious is Charlotte!  She is a relatively new hooker, but you would never know that by her quality of hooking and how fast she adapts to ideas and experiences in primitive rug hooking.  What a pleasure to have Charlotte in my class.  I so look forward to seeing you again Charlotte!  Thank you for sharing your finished rug.

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Magdalena Meets Andy Warhol

If you follow my blog regularly, you will know that I've been involved with a group that meets on Tuesdays that I call the Maggie's Girls.  We began as a group focusing on Magdalena's work and while this general theme continues, we are sort of moving on to other designs now, as more time goes by.  But lest we forget Magdalena, I want to share one of the latest Magdalena style rugs to come out of this rug hooking group.  I must give you a bit of background on this rug:

My friend Daniella is a very fine hooker and she tends to go back and forth between hooking either primitive or fine cut rugs.  After completing several fine cut pieces and watching me hook away with my larger cuts of wool, she decided she wanted to go prim again.  She has been telling me that she wants to hook a very, very old looking rug and so I encouraged her to hook a Magda rug along with me.  And so a tale of two lollipop bouquets was born:  Daniella and I started our lollipop bouquet rugs on the same day in the same room, sitting right next to each other.  But that is where similarity ends.

We decided we'd use up all our spare bits of wool and each of us brought lots of baggies full of wool to use in our rugs and to cross share.  After the first day of hooking Daniella went home and proceeded to hook all 70 or so of the lollipop circles in the next 24 hours.  She loved those little circles while I drag my feet on hooking them.  It took me few weeks to hook all of them!  By the next week Daniella returned and all the circles were hooked in luscious colors of wool.  They were not hooked in Magda colors of wool, but in Daniella colors of wool.  And they are drop dead gorgeous.  Daniella kept asking me if the colors were OK or not, since my rug was so different in comparison.  I encouraged her to follow her own spirit and not my lead of using drab, dirtly, old looking wool influence what came from her heart.  And follow her heart she did.

Whaaa-la!!!!  Can you believe this rug?  It is Magdalena on steroids and it is so beautiful.  Daniella took an old design and brought it into the 21st century.  Does this knock your socks off or what?  Don't you just love it?!  I love the spirit of it, the beauty of the colors and it is so fascinating to look at with all the beautiful colors and diversity of wool strips.

Seeing this rug is certainly enough to make me question my use of drab wool!!  I may be changing my tune soon enough!

Magdalena lollipop bouquet with tree stump vs. vase and primarily pastel and brighter colors by Daniella Brooks.

The beautiful artist who made a beautiful rug!

This is the first rug Daniella has bound on her own.  The yarn is very pretty with the rug.

Betty coaches Daniella on binding.

 Here are the three lollipop bouquet rugs together that have been produced by Betty (top), Daniella (middle) and me (bottom).

This just goes to show you can teach an old dog new tricks!  Might we all want to reconsider using primitive colors and just go bright?!