what a pretty hell this is

It was such a gorgeous day I had to spend most it outside. But now I'm paying for it with watering, itchy eyes, constricted throat and chest, etc, etc. The dry, breezy weather is making this one bad spring pollen season. It's great to see the trees coming back to life and unfurling their leaves but I'll be thankful when those pesky maples and birches are done with it!

Flowers and Vines Variation

This punchneedle embroidery version of the hooked stool is done I think. I may rearrange the vines a bit. It's done on hand-dyed wool, using 2 strands of embroidery floss. The loop pile is fairly high. I applied woven interfacing to the back of the wool in order to punch through it successfully. I think I'll make a handbag out of this; still thinking about the bag design.

Dying with Bonnie

My sister, Bonnie, had to come into Cambridge Saturday to drop off one of her pieces of art at the Cambridge Art Association for their upcoming National Prize Show in May. Afterwards she came to visit and we dyed some of her wool yarn. One skein came out a brilliant terra cotta and the other a yellowy-gold. Unfortunately we weren't paying attention when rinsing out the gold and it started to felt! Cascade 220 yarn really is a great felting yarn. Later, I tried out some Pro-chem dyes I got. I used a new washfast acid dye color, golden pear which I used on a natural wool. I love it - mottled some and very pear-like. I also tried a new one shot dye, Autumn, on a dark oatmeal wool. It's nice, a bit darker than I wanted. And definitely not as delicious as the homemade pumpkin bread Bonnie gave me! I also got to see in person many of her beautiful perfectly knitted pieces that I covet. You can see them for yourself on her blog, Towards the Blue Peninsula, in the sidebar.

Cover Up

Another punchneedle embroidery gets a permanent home. The cat gets to grace this address book cover. This was quick and easy to put together!

Spokes and more spokes

On the left is the punchneedle embroidery sample I made for the spokes stool. It's 2 in x2 in, worked with single strands of embroidery floss. I think I'll use it on the front of a needle case I have been thinking about making. The other photo is the hooked rug stool as it stands so far, based on the pne sample. Have a super weekend, and a heartfelt thank you to each of you for your extremely nice comments!

Apron

So what did I end up doing with the turnip embroidery? It became decoration for the pocket of this apron I made. The patterned material is from a (Gap I think!) shirt I stopped wearing because it shrank too much. And as you can see, I added a little clip for hooking scissors and such on. Almost too crafty a project for me!

Color Sandwich

Sunday morning I did some dying. I'm trying to use up most of my Cushing's dyes before getting some Pro-Chem dyes. These are Old Gold, Dark Green, and Terra Cotta dyes straight up - no dye recipes used this time. Now, time to run the gold through the cutter and start hooking.

Put Yer Feets Up Thursdays

Week 9:
It's a beautiful Spring day so I'm posting the finished Flowers and Vines stool. I'm thinking on working this design using pn embroidery on some hand-dyed wool - and maybe another hooked stool using different colors.

Wrap Up

I finished up the embroidered bracelet and I'm semi-happy with it. I trimmed the bracelet and applied glue to its edge. I couldn't find silk ribbon locally so used sanmari ribbon instead that I'm quite pleased with. Attaching the ribbon to the band with Wonder Under worked well. Here's what I don't like: There's not enough of an edge to cover up the tiny white material edge that peeks through. And, something about it reminds me of high school. Still, I think I'll try a 2 inch cuff using more delicate-thinner threads.

Put Yer Feets Up Thursdays

Week 8: Dark Stripes
It actually feels like spring out this evening so this is a quick note as I'm going out for a walk. This week's stool is primarily greens and purples and lots of texture. I gave this stool to a sister and brother-inlaw.

Tree of Life

Here's an old rug hooking pattern I have. It's a Virginia Snow design. From the pictures on the pattern's flyer it looks to be from the mid 1920s or later. The Virginia Snow patterns were for punch needle and distributed through the Dexter Thread Company. I think Dexter sold their products through Sears Robuck. Anyway, I like the quirky tree of life design.Then again it could be just a whimsical flowering plant.

Sunday Samples

I keep changing my mind on the color scheme for the spokes stool. My most recent leaning is to use a split complementary of yellow green, violet, and yellow oranges. My original idea involved using salmon with red violets and a myrtle green. Either way I'll need to do some dying! But really, I'm pretty sure I'll be changing my mind again before I finish.


I'm making a punch needle embroidery wrist band as an experiment. It's about 1 inch wide. My plan is to use a small toggle clasp for the fastening and attach the embroidery to silk ribbon for the inside backing. Now I'm trying to find a store with nice silk ribbon but may have to go the online route. I'm pretty happy with it so far, but I'm thinking a wider 2 inch band would be cool.

Put Yer Feets Up Thursdays

Week 7: The Underbelly
Sometimes how the underside of a piece looks is as important as the top. I always add upholstery fabric and sometimes a trim to cover up the raw stool bottom. I try to use a fabric that works well with the hooked stool design. Since I use fabric remnants it can be tricky now and then to find a smashing pair up.

Turnip Up

I ended up tacking the turnip I made a while back onto a piece of linen, and then added a little embroidery and applique. I'm thinking of turning it into a pot holder or I may stitch to another base fabric to make a small hanging.

Put Yer Feets Up Thursdays

Week 6: Re-tread Stripes
This stool was my first commission. Its colors are the same as the first striped stool I posted except for one subtle different color. I varied the stripe pattern also.

Embroidered Buttons

The other week when I made my felt ball pin cushion I found some half ball button covers in my button stash. This weekend I punched these buttons while taking a break from hooking a handbag. The size of these are 3/4 inch.

Put Yer Feets Up Thursdays

Week 5:
Here are random rectangles with a small color palette. Could this also be influenced by Klee?

Primitive kitty

This is my version of the little primitive kitty project featured in the new book, Miniature Punchneedle Embroidery: Simple Techniques Beautiful Projects by Linda Repasky. It's a must-read (or must-have!) if you're interested in this type of needlecraft. The book is very well written, has outstanding photos for visual learning, and is just chock-full of useful information. And check out these pretty hand-dyed cotton threads, Wildflowers by Caron. I was recently turned onto using them for pne. The kitty and border were worked using these. The background is 2 strands of cotton embroidery floss.
Now, back to rug hooking.

Turning lemons into lemonade

I never much liked the saying but it's turned out to be that kind of weekend. I didn't have any lemons but I did have my cats' old worn felt ball and the need for another pin cushion. I didn't pay attention to stitch perfection but had fun making my new pin cushion. (and it makes a funky creature turned upside down).

Cambridge Hooked Rug Exhibit

It's not every day there's a hooked rug exhibit so if you happen to be in the Cambridge, Ma. area in the next couple weeks, plan to see The Passion of Emily Robertson: Contemporary Hooked Rugs in the Sherrill Library at the Episcopal Divinity School on Brattle St. All the rugs are wonderful and span a variety of styles, including some of her garden rugs that are brilliant expressions of light and shadow. Other rugs are downright humorous and thought-provoking. Emily joined our rug hooking group when she moved to Cambridge to pursue another degree. The rug shown is taken from the Green Mountain Rug Hooking Guild's web site. Emily will be one of the featured artists at the guild's rug show in April. Bravo, Emmy!