Drawing vs. Hooking

I have too many rugs I should be actively hooking, but instead I've been drawing out pattern ideas.  This recent drawing flurry is based on going to Yellow Rose Rug Camp in Salado TX in a few weeks and I want to have my class project ready to go.

I've been in love with this peacock for a long time, influenced by an antique rug.  I began designing some patterns around the peacock about two years ago, but other projects got in the way of this bird making it onto my frame.

Focusing on a camp project has led to this design:

Kathy Clark, Briarwood Folk Art Peacocks and Tulip Tree influenced by an antique rug.

This rug is a precursor to a larger scale rug with the peacocks.  I have a special wall in my living room for a larger rug where I want to put the peacocks among a floral menagerie.  That design will be about 40" x 32" but that's only a guesstimate on the eventual size.  I've got to get this smaller peacock rug finished first.

The E.S. Frost sheep is coming along, but the triangles are not calling my name for long bouts of hooking.  This is the tedious part, but it will be worth it in the end.  I hope to have this rug ready to take to Yellow Rose for the rug show.  I do love this rug; it's a keeper.

E.S. Frost Sheep and Birds antique rug adaption - pattern available through Saundra at Woodland Junction.

Happy hooking to one and all!

Mouse in the House

Continuing with my Canadian experience, we are staying on the lake with Loretta and Gord at their year round lake house residence.  If you regularly read Loretta's blog Hooked on the Lake http://hookedonthelake.wordpress.com/ you know that many critters visit the Moore property throughout the year.  

One of my favorite blog posts Loretta wrote last winter was about the mice who try to visit the house each winter. Loretta and Gord are so animal friendly and loving toward all living creatures they only use a live trap for any little buggers who get into the house.  They also put out some feed for the mice on a blanket (so they can stay a little warm) in the garage area.  After reading one of her humorous posts last winter, I was inspired to make this pattern up in honor of Loretta:  "Mouse in the House"  

I felt it was important to hook this little rug before heading to Canada to honor of mice, and lake houses, and Loretta as a fun story teller of  mice visitors.  So here is a small version measuring 14 1/2" x 8" (rug area) not including the border.

Due to the small size, I did not add the fleur-de-lis shapes on the back wall of the drawing in my little version of this rug.  This pattern was also recently introduced on my website.

I will post some pictures of the finish for this rug and the Beavers for Canada rug in my next post.

If you wish to pin pictures from my blog for Pinterest, kindly give credit to this blog in your pin. 

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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New Designs

I've been playing a little lately, making up some new designs.  Making designs on the computer is so fun and relaxing for me.  But tell me, when will I find time to hook these designs?  And which one shall I work on first?  After all, I have a huge number of patterns I want to hook besides these new drafts.  The colors below are for purposes of illustration and not color plans for the ultimate rugs.

I am not really a big angel fan, but I have always been fond of the Fractur image of two angels arms up to one another.  This general design has been used in so many art images and hooked rugs with the angels grasping candles, Christmas trees and whatnot.  Mine are passing on a message to be true to yourself, love yourself and take care of your heart.

To Thine Own Heart be True:  Kathy Clark, Briarwood Folk Art, all rights reserved.

I was sort of itching to work on a pictorial rug and I usually head for the dogs on my pictorials.  But I have been doing a lot of dogs in the past two years and I figured it's time to expand my horizon.  So sheep became the focus (what a surprise, huh?).  Capitalizing on one of my favorite antique rugs of a Ewe and lamb, I added in another sheep and a farm scene around the sheepies.  I have this rug in progress and am working out some bugs in the design.

Farm Life:  Kathy Clark, Briarwood Folk Art, all rights reserved.

I want a fun rug to hang in the guest room that is whimsical and makes guests feel welcome.  The guest room is still "under construction" but it's getting closer to completion.  I am hoping to have some very honored guests here from Dallas TX in October.  Hint, hint Martha, if you are reading this!  And Pat, who sometimes reads this blog, when are you coming out dearie?!  This rug is next on my "to do" list so it can adorn the guest room by late September.

Friendship Message:  Kathy Clark, Briarwood Folk Art, all rights reserved.

If you are interested in hooking any of these designs, please email me for more info: briarwoodfolkart@surewest.net

If you wish to pin a picture for Pinterest, please give credit to me and reference to my blog.

Another Magdalena Menagerie

My friend Martha has been busy lately.  It's probably because she knows she will see me at the Star of Texas rug camp in Tyler in less than two weeks.  Perhaps this reunion is sparking a deadline for her hooking on the Magdalena Menagerie pattern.

A prolific hooker, Martha is very tuned in to the hooking of Texas.  Texas, as you know, is a big state and there is a lot of hooking that goes on there.  If there is a hooking event in Texas, you can count on Martha knowing about it and probably being there.

I had the pleasure to visit Martha last August.  As a humble gift of appreciation for her hospitality, I customized the MM pattern and took her one which includes her two dogs Rose and Abbey.

We got a bit of a start on the pattern while together in Dallas last August, and now Martha is working on the pattern again. Here's her progress last week:

Abbey

Rose

The girls with one crow completed so far.

Cute huh?  I just love seeing this pattern hooked up with various dogs.  It is so much fun.

Martha also clarified for me, Abby is a Chiwennie and Rose is a Jack Russel/ Rat Terrier.

If you'd like your dogs included in this pattern, feel free to email me for details:  briarwoodfolkart@surewest.net

Fine Finishes

We are back from Texas and had a wonderful trip to the Lone Star state.  Before sharing about the trip and rug camp, I want to pay homage to two fine hookers who sent me pictures of their finished rugs while I was traveling.

A couple posts ago I showed you Ellen's rug in progress and she has now finished the rug which memorializes her Oda Mae Cardigan Welsh Corgi.  Ellen elected to make the sky a sunset in this rug as Oda Mae died suddenly and unexpectedly after Ellen ordered the pattern from me.  The pattern is a rendition of an antique rug which I customized to include Ellen's Cardigan Welsh Corgis.

Here is Ellen's beautiful rug; Oda Mae is the brown dog laying down in the rug.

Ellen Eckerd, memorial rug for Oda Mae.

My rug in progress with my Pembroke Welsh Corgis.

I also received a picture from my good cyber pal Trudy Johnson who has hooked a couple of my dog patterns.  I love the way Trudy hooks primitive and often would rather have her version of the rug than my own!  Someday I hope Trudy and I can hook on a pattern at the same time, in person, together to yak, yak, yak about our choices for wool in a primitive rug.  

Shep's World by Trudy Johnson.  

My version of Shep's World.

I love seeing patterns I've drawn as hooked by others.  It is rewarding and fun to see how each hooker puts their spin on a rug.

I hope you've enjoyed seeing these fine finishes.  I'll share all about Texas soon, once I can catch my breath from moving, travel, camp, fun, fun, fun and getting back home!

Please Note:  if you download pictures for Pinterest purposes, please kindly give credit to my blog and or website for the pictures.  Thank you.

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!  

Are Ye' Patriotic Sneak Peek!

In honor of our democracy, and one of the most historic elections of our lifetime, I recently designed a simple pattern called "Are Ye' Patriotic?"  You may have noticed the small photo clip of it over to the right.  I’ve been steadily working on this rug, so it's time to start sharing bits and pieces of it.  But ……. before I begin sharing my approach to this rug, here's today's mind plexer:  what's wrong with the design of my rug?  Maybe by the end of the blog series you will figure it out if it doesn't jump out at you immediately.  I figured it out about halfway through the rug and had a good, hearty chuckle.  I will fix it in the final pattern which will soon be available as an inexpensive paper pattern in my Etsy shop. 

To achieve an old look, I intentionally outlined the animals and stars.  Outlining is prevalent in many antique rugs, as is BLACK outlining, so I went with black.  This is generally considered taboo in today’s rug hooking teaching.  But remember, I want an old look so I’m following the old rules, not the new ones**.  In adding the outline, it would have been best if I’d used a 4 cut, but I settled for a 5 because a 4 is a pain to hook (and a five is still bad enough). 

After outlining the animals, I worked on the elephant.  I added some off colors to help age him.  I am not sure of the darker brown strips; they may come out to be replaced by a lighter strips so they are not so obvious.  But I am pretty happy with the elephant so far, so I'm leaving him as is for now.  I can make more changes when the overall rug is further along.

 The donkey is OK as is, I’m not changing him; I may add some stain to him later to make parts of him look older. 

For the background, I used a neutral textured background but I am adding some other wool here and there.  I think it gives it a bit of a worn look and maybe a little stained as if it’s an old and well used rug.

Next session:  I'll tell you about adding the red, white and blue hit and miss bunting.  Here's the mock-up of the pattern so you see the whole design.  Can you spot the design error yet?  

** Did I tell you yet?  I don't like to follow the rules!


POST SCRIPT: ha, ha, ha, Lori from Not Forgotten Farm emailed me (grinningsheep@gmail.com) to tell me what she found as the potential design flaw!  Ha, ha, she found something besides the design flaw I found, but what Lori found isn't the design flaw I noted.  So keep guessing!  And as to Lori's finding (see comment below), well yes, technically she is correct, but remember this is primitive hooking!  Keep looking!


SECOND POST SCRIPT:  great guesses ladies, but no you haven't figured it out yet.  I'm upping the ante.  Whoever figures it out first gets a paper copy of the pattern via PDF file for their own hooking pleasure.  


THIRD POST SCRIPT:  See the comment below for many fine guesses, but Carol from Mesa AZ got it!  In our political system we hear about the parties as much on the "left" or the "right" as we do by their name Democrat vs. Republican.  So I was halfway through hooking the rug when I realized my boo boo on the design.  It made me laugh and think maybe the name should be "Come on Over to My Side" in order to end the great divide taking place in our country!