Pieces of January...

 

Yes, I know it's February...but I'm still picking up pieces of January (and, actually, several other months if truth be told.)

This winter - this year so far - has been bumpy. Extreme cold, frozen plans...and pieces that just fell apart. Most days, "Plan A" never stood a chance, so I moved on to Plan B, and, right about now, I think I'm pretty firmly entrenched in Plan D.

I'm far too far behind to make a pretense of catching up, so I'm just jumping in here and sharing some of my "puzzle pieces" from the past month and hoping things start to fit together at some point.

I am not entirely certain what happened the first few weeks of the month. I know what didn't happen (like getting Christmas put away...Lauren, I'm sure, is loath to have a twin like me) so we're going to skip that part, k?

But mid-month I remember both what I did and did not do, so we'll start with that.

The past several years I've spent mid-January at Cathy Stephan's (Red Barn Rugs') rug hooking workshop. For various reasons, this year's January workshop was cancelled. Instead, Cathy and a couple other hooky friends from the January group joined me at the lake for a few days of hooking.

Our friend, Marilyn Becker, who passed away the end of October, had been part of our January workshop group so we decided it would be a fitting opportunity to celebrate her, her friendship, and her amazing hooking artistry.

It was snowy and cold, but we enjoyed the few days we had together.

We took turns making meals, some hooked more than others (ahem!), we watched a few movies and, one day, we ventured out to do a bit of antiquing/junking.

A few of the things that caught my eye:

{Only one of the above items followed me home....}

And what about the hooking projects?

Well, yeah, I was a bit preoccupied with trying to remember how to be a hostess so failed quite miserably not only in that department but also in getting photos of the projects being worked on by the others. 

Here are the few I managed to get:

Marilyn ("Bad" Marilyn...not "Good" Marilyn who we were celebrating) was working

on a piece based on a photo she had taken of a Guatemalan woman and her child. She has already redone the woman's skirt at least twice and plans on redoing it again with totally different wool. She is also going to re-do her face. (Like Good Marilyn, Bad Marilyn is a fine-cut hooker, meaning she hooks with wool strips the width of dental floss.)

Below is the actual photo from which she is working:

Cathy, ever the over-achiever, was working on several things at once. This is the only one I got a photo of:

This rug is HUGE. It is shown below with my 20-lb cat for size reference.

(I believe she said the rug's name is "Hazel" and measures 48" x 60"??)

I tried to convince her to leave the rug for Rajah and me, but she declined.

Unfortunately, I did not get any photos of our friend, Kim's, rug. :-(

I'd like to leave the following part out, but I know there is at least one person out there who would be asking what I worked on.

It's little, it's pathetic...and I got pathetically little accomplished on it, but here ya go MD:

Each of us were also gifted a rug/mat that had been hooked by Good Marilyn.

This is the one I received:

I stayed on a day and a half after everyone left to clean things up, pack things up, etc. (i.e., to catch up on sleep??)

The end of the month? Well, I remember most of that as well - the good, the bad and the ugly.

First the good:  The night after I got home from the lake, I was drawn outside by a lightening of the sky.  Some of the strangest Northern Lights I've witnessed - not so much colorful as BRIGHT - especially against the white of the snow.

There are no streetlights (or any kind of lights) out where I am and I had no porch or yard lights on, yet it was so clear it seemed like early evening. The photo info is shown below. It was 9:59 p.m.

Then there was the bad:

I know many of you were inundated with snow and we, thankfully, escaped that...but we were plunged into bitter, bitter, cold. -30° actual temps with -50° windchills...and guess who came home to heating issues, AGAIN???!

Thankfully, it was in the shop, not the house but, in many ways, it was just as bad since the shop has an in-floor heating system and if it stops working, the entire system and floor can be ruined if it gets cold enough...and it certainly was cold "enough."

On top of that good news, I was unable to even get into the shop because the door had frozen shut.

I finally managed to break in after 2 days so I could get the heating company out in...only to be told that the company that manufactured the heating system had gone out of business, so replacement parts were no longer available.

Seriously??!! If you recall, I just replaced that entire system shortly after my husband passed away so, less than two years ago.

GAH!

They did manage to get it working again, but they had to bypass the auto-shut off function so should it stop working again and drop below freezing, it's done and gone.

Did I say "GAH!"?

And then the ugly:

I came down with a bad case of the flu.

Let's just leave it at that.

I'm on the mend but certainly haven't kicked it completely.

And there you have it...my January in bits and pieces. There's more, actually, but this is more than enough for now, I think.

*****

Oh...and one last thing for the person who asked....

{pssst....and soon there will be two....💗}

Are You Sitting Down Saundra???

I do so certainly hope so for this is not only a post about hooking, but it's also a post about my hooking and a hooking finish at that.

It only took me 15+ (?) years to get here.

I've posted about this rug several times already (Just use the index on the sidebar and look up "Welcome Cats" and you will find the posts about it...at least the posts from after the time I started using the label feature.)

It became a true bane...and pain.

It started when I saw this photo of an antique rug in a book.

It was love at first sight.

The muted/faded colors...the watercolor(ish) effect of the background...and

I mean, seriously, those wonderful, wonky, cats!!!

I searched for a long time before finding a pattern online. (This was long before my days of knowing Saundra of Woodland Junction and her gift for reproducing antique reproduction patterns.)

It was well before WWR ("When We Remodeled") that I finally located and purchased a pattern, chose the wools, and started it.

I am, by nature, a slow hooker slow at everything and, at the time, I was still working so progress was snail-like.

This is a photo of the original antique rug taken from a book:

Then WWR hit.

The rug pattern and wools were hastily shoved in "some box somewhere" (there was a lot of that during WWR) and forgotten.

When the dust of WWR (somewhat) settled, I eventually pulled it out again...only to realize I was at a complete loss as to what wool I had intended for where since I had not marked or noted or organized anything. (In fact, I wasn't completely convinced it was even the correct wool for this project that I had shoved in the box.)

I picked things back up, however, in earnest in 2021(ish??)...

only to realize three significant things:

1) The pattern I purchased was far from true to the original and, while not an antique reproduction purist like Saundra, I really had wanted it to be a somewhat faithful reproduction of the original rug. (One would think I would have noticed the discrepancies before I was halfway through...but....).

2) My style of hooking had changed over the years (not necessarily for the better), so it looked like two different people had hooked it; and

3) I somewhat regretted using the cool color palette of the antique and wished I had instead used the warm colors (and more simplified background) that others who hooked it had used.

It was even more slow-going from then on out, but I did, finally, finish the hooking in the latter part of 2022.

The cats' snaggletooth grins are one of my favorite things:

Another is the "ghost" ball between the two cats. The ball is barely noticeable in the original and I missed it initially. It was not included in the pattern I purchased and only discovered it when bemoaning the discrepancies between my pattern and the original.

While I generally enjoy binding my rugs, I felt this one was doomed to reside forever and always on The Isle of the Unfinished.  But then, in March of last year, Saundra and I decided to join each other in long-distance, virtual, binding "dates" for an hour each day.

Of course, Saundra finished binding her rug in no time flat.

I, on the other hand, did not.

Yes, I had handicaps Saundra did not:

 

My efforts were, nonetheless, quite pathetic.

But here is where the drumroll begins...and Saundra needs to sit down.

It is finally bound and fully finished (well, except for the labeling which will never happen...and the hanging on the wall which probably will never happen.)

Ta da!!!

{The colors in the above photo aren't quite true...but you get the idea.}

I used a subtle plaid wool for the binding:

It's officially in the books as the rug that went on forever.

😅

Paper Play

Are there other things I should be doing?

As Mia would say, "Oh yeeesss...."

But....

It's Halloween Week!!!!!!!!

Every now and again I put my needle and thread down (yes, and my hook...except I think I put that down months and months ago and can't remember where 😉) and play at another craft.

Sometimes it's spun cotton, sometimes punching...and, often times, just playing with paper.

There is something very satisfying about making something just out of a simple piece of paper.

 One of my greatest loves is vintage Halloween but anything remotely vintage Halloween comes at a very dear price these days.

And, although I generally don't like "fakes," I couldn't resist making a few of these little treat boxes.

These are made out of heavy cardstock that I aged/distressed to look authentically old. (Both the tops and the bottoms of the boxes are aged.)

This one I made with a cellophaned opening...haven't figured out what I will put in it yet though.

And, when I tired of the boxes, I made this scarecrow pick:

He's on a nice long dowel but I just tucked him in with my vintage hand brooms.

{Scarecrow pick pattern is by Walnut Ridge Primitives}

********

On an unrelated and sad note, I wanted to mention that the hooking community lost an incredible artist the day before yesterday.

Marilyn (a/k/a "Good") Becker passed away.

Marilyn was not only a near and most dear neighbor, but an amazing fine-cut hooker and has had several rugs in Rug Hooking Celebration magazine.  She mastered the technique of mimicking a photograph in wool.

I've shared a few of her pieces over the years. You may remember her "Marry Me Mary" rug which was based on a photograph and memorialized her father's proposal of marriage to her mother.

Look closely and you can see the fur that Marilyn incorporated in her mother's coat.

Marilyn read my blog and whenever we were together would mention it and, if others were present, would tell them about it.

She was a dear soul, and I hope she is reading this on the other side.

 

 

Blizzards, Bindings, and Birthdays

 

Another week three days, another blizzard in Nod.

The 8" of snow we received last week (Wednesday) had just begun to properly melt...and then yesterday happened.

Another 8+" of s**w.

For some reason, snow is prettier in December.

That's all I have to say about that.

On to binding....

A few weeks ago, Saundra (of Woodland Junction fame) and I had virtual, long-distance, "dates" for an hour each day dedicated to binding our rugs.  

Saundra, of course, finished hers and I, well...didn't.

I attempted to work on mine again during yesterday's storm, but I've come to the conclusion that I have a definite handicap.

Oh well...I'm sure there'll be another blizzard and another chance to bind.

The bright spot in the whiteness (and the most-welcome distraction to binding) is little Miss Mia. 

She celebrated her second birthday this month with all things kitty.

She has grown so much in one short year but one thing that hasn't changed is her now-trademark "skunk eye."

{Mia at one on the right and at two on the left}

Some things are irrefutably genetic.

Hope your blizzards are few and far between....

Should I Tell Them?

Nah, I don't think so.

But get the snowballs ready...

A Fish Out of Water (For the Hookers)

In the middle of my furnace woes (which continued and intensified following my last post), I did my annual "stepping-out-of-my-house-box" undertaking and ventured down the lane to Red Barn Rugs for one of Cathy's hooking workshops.

(No, we do NOT hook in the barn, but I love how it looks against the moody sky.)

I don't tend to post a lot about hooking (because, if you haven't figured it out already, I'm a very "part-time" and distracted hooker), but thought I'd share photos of some of the rugs for those who might have an interest.

We neglected to do a "throw-down" (which, at Cathy's, I call a "throw-up" because we usually actually tack the rugs to show on the hanger on the wall) and, even though there are only 10 of us (excluding Cathy), it is a bit crowded with everyone's frames, rugs, supplies, etc.

So, I don't have a lot of photos of the works in progress - just of few of the rugs my immediate tablemates were doing - and several of Cathy's completed pieces.

I'll start with Cathy's and apologize if I've posted some of these previously.  She has so many dang rugs it's hard for me to keep track.  

If I happen to remember the name Cathy gave the rug, I'll include it under the photo.  Otherwise, if there is one you would like to know the name of, I certainly can find out for you.

{I think she calls this "Quilted Stars"}

The rug below is based on the painting The Angelus by the French master, Jean-Francois Millet:

{"The Angelus"}

This next rug was an adaptation Cathy did of a painting found on the front of an old folk-art reusable shopping list. (The photo following the rug is of the original piece from which Cathy worked.)

{"The Washer Woman"}

This rug is also based on a famous Millet painting I'm sure most of you are familiar with:  The Gleaners.

It is Cathy's pattern but this particular one was hooked by my tablemate, Marilyn Denning.  (It was also being worked on at the workshop by my other tablemate, Kim Zwiers.)

{"The Gleaners"}

As for works-in-progress, this was the rug Marilyn D. was currently working on:

I believe she was hooking this in a 3 and 4 cut.

The hookers may remember this piece of hers from Celebrations a few years back:

Another Marilyn, Marilyn Annin, was working on an original design she entitled "Good Trouble" based on the book of the same title by the civil rights activist, John Lewis.

Marilyn is an artist from Madison who does not only fiber arts but sculptures and paintings. (You can see some of her works by clicking here.)

She was celebrating her 87th birthday.

And Kim, who was working on "The Gleaners," had just finished this fun rug:

 For obvious reasons, I absolutely loved it.

As for the furnace....After nearly 2 weeks, 4 different service technicians, and 6 (give or take one or two??) service calls, I officially have working heat again. 

Oh...and that fish out of water?? 

That would be me amongst that group of hookers.