Happy New Year!

Thanks for reading my blog and sharing your rug hooking and your own blogs with me over the last year. It has been a blast and I have learned so much about rugs and color in the process. So many new friends have come my way that I feel honored to be part of this "virtual" rug community. I can't imagine my life without rug blogging (or rug hooking).

My wish is that the New Year will ring in true and good for you, and that you may hook at least one new rug and finish at least one of those UFOs tucked under your bed in 2010!

Rug retrospective 2009: Alternative Fabrics

This year I joined Phyllis Lindblade's Rug Hooking Merit Program and have started on the wonderful adventure of hooking rugs to fulfill requirements in different categories. I have been mainly working on two of the categories: alternative fabrics, and color/dyeing. The alternative fabrics rug, Got Wool?, has stalled after finishing all the alternative materials. It awaits the final wool border, but since the border consists of black background and autumn leaves, I can't get excited about finishing it until next autumn when I feel the joy of autumn around me. But wow did I learn a lot, including that wool is the superior rug hooking fiber. I understand why it won the battle of fabrics. Although other fabrics can lend interest and shine and texture to rugs, most are messy and difficult to work with. Patience and a broom are required.

I did enjoy working with roving and fleece. I loved the process of palm-spinning yarn to hook with, although it was labor intensive and took time. The lanolin on my hands was warming. I promise to post soon about the entire process should you ever care to try it yourself. The hooked results are fabulous, especially if you decide to blend roving colors to allow for some shading effects.

Top left block: hooked with polar fleece
Bottom left block: hooked with crushed velvet
Top right block: hooked with non-wool yarns
Bottom right block: hooked with stretch velvet
Top border: hooked with combination of all of the above
Middle block: hooked with roving and fleece

Rug retrospective 2009: Dyeing

The biggest thing that has impacted my rug hooking this year is the creation of a full palette of colors and the development of the Palette Dyeing technique. The idea is to have a full range of colors that are all related to each other like the paints on an artist's palette. Beginning with the creation of three "primary" colors (red, yellow, blue: left photo), I blended these formulas to create the secondary (orange, green, purple: middle photo) and tertiary colors (red-orange, orange-yellow, yellow-green, green-blue, blue-purple, purple-red: right photo) on the color wheel.



In the end, I had twelve colors in my color wheel, all dyed in eight graduations. I discovered that the first two graduations are really tints (color plus white) and the other six are graduations of the pure color. When I added black to the color, I ended up with shades (of red: left photo), and when I added gray to the color, I ended up with tones (of orange-yellow: middle photo). When I combined complimentary colors in my dye formulas, I ended with with fantastic neutrals (right photo).



My process is laid out on Rug Hooking Daily in a rug camp called Palette Dyeing. We have 78 campers, and I am hoping in the new year that more and more of the campers will post pictures of their palettes and hooked color wheels. When I spoke to my sister Tiffany, she said that she has created three primary colors that she loves and has dyed her secondary colors which have turned out just right for her. She wants to finish her tertiary colors over the rest of the break. I will probably return to the dye pot tomorrow, since I need to create one more neutral and then redye some of the colors I have already used up in my hooking.

Rug retrospective 2009: New Ideas

2009 brought with it a healthy wave of new ideas and new rug initiatives including the already-mentioned TEN MINUTE CHALLENGE. The first milestone of the challenge is fast-approaching: the six-month drawing for one of my pocket purses. We will continue with the challenge, and a second drawing mid-summer.

In the summer, a number of women from the Stash Sisters who cannot meet during the weekdays due to work schedules, got together and decided to open up a hooking circle at a local church (Bethany Christian Church on Westheimer) so we could hook another Saturday each month (the third Saturday 11-3). We call ourselves the Kirby Hooking Circle and we have had a wonderful time hooking together. We are a casual informal group with no agenda other than providing a space and time for rug hookers to gather and hook together. On June 26, 2010, 9-4, we are organizing a Midsummer's Hook In, complete with vendors and a rug challenge. The challenge is to hook a sun and/or moon in a 12" by 12" mat or similarly-sized project (approximately 144 square inches). Our theme is from Shakespeare who wrote in The Midsummer Night's Dream: "The object of art is to give life a shape." Contact for more information: Lurie McAdow (luriemcadow@aol.com).

Another new idea this year was to create a space for virtual rug camps on the internet hooking network, Rug Hooking Daily. Three went up in the fall (hopefully more people will set up other camps this next year): a sketchbook camp led by Heidi Wulfraat; a rug hooking merit program led by Phyllis Lindblade; and a palette dyeing group led by me. All of these camps are wonderful and provide a way to learn more about rug hooking while at home. Each camp allows the campers to move at their own pace and is open to new members at any time. Joining is as easy as signing on to Rug Hooking Daily and clicking a button to join. The expense is whatever materials the campers purchase to complete the projects.

The other initiative this year was to try to hook a monthly meditation rug using the monthly theme provided by my church. This rug has been difficult for me to get underway, but I finally am getting a handle on it over the Christmas holiday, although I am having to reformulate my concept for my rug. The dual colors isn't working, so I am going to turn it into a color wheel rug where each month is going to represent one of the colors on the wheel.

Rug retrospective 2009: Rugs finished this year

As the new year approaches, I am going to be posting some rug retrospectives.

This year has been amazingly filled with rug hooking. I hadn't picked up a hook in five years because my life was so busy with a new job, a new home, and a new baby. Being new to Houston, I had no idea where to find other rug hookers.

That changed when I saw the ad in RHM for the Stash Sisters, an ATHA guild that meets the first Saturday every month in Humble, Texas. I showed up for my first meeting in February and used the time to become reaquainted with my rug Transfiguration (then unnamed) which I had begun to hook on a trip north in August 2008. I met a group of wonderful women and struck up the beginnings of new and meaningful friendships that day.

I came back the next month, with no progress on Transfiguration over the month, but continued to hook on the rug at the meetings. In April, I attended the Stash Sisters' hook-in, met more area hookers, and decided then and there that I needed to get serious about hooking again.

So I started up this blog to chart my progress and to write memoirs about the rugs I had hooked already. I had no idea about the fantastic community of on-line rug hookers out there or the wonderful people I would meet through my blog. Or the direction that my blog has taken. To encourage community and rug hooking (and keep it up myself!), I initiated the TEN MINUTE CHALLENGE and also started the PALETTE DYEING rug camp on Rug Hooking Daily.

The TEN MINUTES a day has paid off for me. What rugs have I finished this year (plus some cup coasters, not pictured)? Dimensions and other information can be viewed under the GALLERY button above.



More retrospective later...

Santa was good to me!

Thanks to Wade and Alexander and my sister Tiffany, my sweet Santas. Look what they gave me for Christmas this year! Wade and Alex gave me a Townsend cutter with a #6 blade and Tiffany gave me the #4 blade. The dream gift for a rug hooker, something I have desired for years.

What a difference this will make. No more uneven cuts on my Bliss, which served me well since I bought it in 1995. But now I am happily enjoying the evening, imagining all the rugs I am going to make in the coming year with my Townsend cutter.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas!

A Merry Christmas from me and my family to you and yours.

Photo: Christmas at Mission Espada

This is not about rug hooking but...

it is a significant day. After two months on his cardboard box violin, Alexander played the e-string on his real violin for the first time ever. Congratulations Alexander! We are proud of you.



Illustration by Alexander: Self-portrait with his violin (12-09)

Hooking over the holidays

This holiday, besides making a couple more coasters for gifts, I am going to try to catch up on the monthly reflections rug. I don't have a picture to post yet, because I'm not done with my second square (October: Serving). I had planned to work each square with a Celtic pictorial design, but I can't seem to make it work. I keep turning to geometrics, and, oddly enough, hooking them without drawing the design on the foundation fabric.

This is really a strange approach for me, but it seems like the rug wants to come to life in bits and spurts on its own. It doesn't want me predesigning its every detail. The first square started with a nice drawing, and then, wham, it went out of the lines and the hook took over going where it wanted to, ignoring my original plan.

The second block has done the same thing. I started out with a picture, which quickly faded beneath a geometric pattern. What is emerging is a pattern of intricate blocks built to hold up the others. It is a geometric representing 'serving', where all of us are supported by what each of us does for the other.

Monthly Reflections Rug has already made a difference

I suggested hooking a Monthly Reflections Rug in order to see whether rug hooking, besides being creative, could also be spiritually transforming, like contemplation or meditation. What I didn't realize is how it would turn me to become more socially aware and active, not just introspective. Or maybe the introspection turned social at some point?

Whatever is the case, in October, in response to much soul searching about the theme 'serving', I decided to sign the dotted line and sponsor a woman victim of war through Women for Women International.

Photo: from Women for Women International website; picturing an unnamed woman in Afghanistan crafting a rug

I requested that I be matched with a woman in Afghanistan. For years I have been thinking about women in Afghanistan living under the Taliban and ravished further by an ongoing war, especially after viewing Kandahar, a movie (2001) that left me chilled when I saw it years ago.

Today my sponsorship packet arrived. The woman I am sponsoring is only a year younger than myself. She lives in Afghanistan where the life expectancy of men and women is 44 years old. I am 46. The woman I am sponsoring is 45. Unemployment is 40%. Per capita income is $1000. Literacy for females is 12.6%. Literacy for males is 43.1%. Access to safe drinking water? 13% of the population. The language of Afghanistan is a form of Persian known as Dari. "Hello" is "Salam". "Thank you" is "Tashakur". And "Goodbye" is "Khuda Hafiz".

What does my sponsorship do? For a year, the woman will be part of a group of 25 women who will become her support network as they go through an intensive training program. Each of these women will learn about women's rights, which will allow her to take greater control over the decisions that govern her life and that of her children. She will learn technical and business sills that will allow her to sustain an income. Upon graduation, she will receive direct cash and access to jobs or tools to start a business. Women who are enrolled in this program have become successful medicinal herb cultivators, livestock rearers, textile producers, jewelry artisans, shop owners and entrepreneurs.

I am excited to write my first letter to her and share with her that I hook rugs, a craft that crosses cultures and isn't limited by the boundaries of language or country. It transcends life's circumstances and allows for us to meet where otherwise we might not.

Gift idea for the sports guy

Wondering what to do about the uncle or brother or dad or grandpa who loves sports? Tired of buying them team t-shirts and sweatshirts and hats? Me too. So this year, I found a team mug for the Rockets and hooked a basketball coaster with the team's logo. Along with a ticket to the game, it should make a fun and unusual gift for Grandpa.

Create a wool feather tree for the holidays!

Jan (second on left) hosted a fun make-it-and-take-it feather tree project at My Little House rug hooking studio today. None of us knew what we were doing, but Jan and Martha (kneeling in front) brought along directions from Snippets and Scraps blog which you can find HERE. We individually ended up modifying the directions a bit in order to create the trees each of us wanted. So this is what I did to create the tree pictured.



Supplies

1/4 yd. wool: I used natural; others used green or brown or plaid
1 pack, 18 gauge FABRIC wrapped floral stem wire (the fabric wrap is essential to keep the wool from rolling)
1 roll of floral tape: I used white; others used brown or green
craft fabric glue that dries clear, or a hot glue gun
1 dowel: 1/4" - 12" long (or whatever size you want) and sharpened on one end with a pencil sharpener
wire cutters
sharp scissors
needle nosed pliers
sharpie
clothespins

Wire Preparation

Cut these wire lengths
7" - 6
6" - 5
5" - 4
4" - 3
4 1/2" - 1

Make a little rounded hook on the end of each wire with your pliers. On the other end, mark a line 1" from bottom. This marks where you will stop wrapping the wool.

Dowel Preparation

On dowel, make a mark 3" from top, 4 1/2" from the top, 6" inches from top, and then 7 1/2" from the top. These are the lines you will use to place your branches and wrap them on the dowel.

Wool Preparation

Rip your wool in a long strip 1 1/4" wide. Fringe along the long edge of the wool, cutting narrow fringe (1/8-1/4" fringe width) about 1 inch deep into the strip. This will leave 1/4" uncut.

Wrapping the wires with the wool fringe

Take a piece of fringe and attach the hooked end of the wire to the first fringe so that hook catches the 1/4" between the first and second fringe. Daub a bit of glue on the spot and wrap the wool tauntly down the wire. Daub a bit of glue as you go. Stop at the 1" line and daub some more glue. Clothespin to hold while it dries and set aside. Do this to all your wires.

Attaching the branches to the dowel

Wrap the 1" ends of your wires with floral tape and attach each separately to the dowel by wrapping the dowel (per photo). The 4 1/2" branch is wrapped at the top of the dowel on the sharpened end. The 4" branches are wrapped at the first black line; the 5: branches are wrapped at the second black line; and so forth. Be sure to wrap each of the ends of the wires and then attach to the dowel with further wrapping. The entire dowel will be wrapped with tape so that there is no exposed wood when finished.

Stick bottom end of the dowel in a fancy old spool or pot

ATHA Region 9 Update

Martha Lowry is beginning to circulate a monthly update about ATHA Region 9. Here is a copy of her e-newsletter.

Greetings! It is time for another of our Region 9 monthly updates. I would appreciate if you would forward this email to your hooking group members. I will try to email at-large ATHA members who might not be affiliated with a local group.

Thanks to all the group leaders who sent in news for the email. If I missed you, please email me. Here is the news from local rug hooking groups:

THE MAGNOLIA WOOL DUST SOCIETY (Mississippi)--This group has planned their calendar of meetings for the entire year. At the January 9 meeting, there will be a "Finishing Tips and Techniques" workshop led by member Martha Langley. At the February 13 meeting, they will make face pins. Much of their work during the year will be preparing for their annual Jail House Rock hook-in (Save the date: Oct. 21,22, and 23, 2010) in Canton, MS. Contact is Lisanne Miller (lisannemiller1@aol.com).

HEARTS AND HANDS GUILD (Fredericksburg, TX)--This group has regular open meetings the second Monday of each month, 9-12 noon, at Stonehill Spinning's classroom building, 204 W. Ufer. Guild president Judy Burgess writes that she is having a MARCH MADNESS STASH SALE on Friday, March 5, from 9-3, at the Fredericksburg Inn and Suites, 201 S. Washington (Hwy 87S). You can shop for free. Or you can contact Judy to sell items from your own hooking closet and wool stash that you are ready to part with--it is $10 for a 4x8-foot table. Judy is not making any money on the event, as the fees go to the hotel for use of the space. Professional vendors may only bring items from their personal stash, not their business. If you want to spend the night at the hotel, Judy says mention "hookers" for a reduced room rate. If you need information, or want to bring items to sell, contact Judy at jacknjudyb@austin.rr.com
(Judy says, don't forget the b in the email.)

AGGIELAND RUG ARTISTS (College Station, TX)--Guild president Linda Kahil writes that this group, along with other fiber arts groups, had a fiber arts show at the Brazos Valley Arts Council Building in July. The show was a wonderful collection of fiber arts in a gallery setting, as I had the privilege to attend. Presently they are working on individual projects at their twice-monthly meetings. Secretary Emma Gene Schroeder writes that charter member Martha Hix has just completed embroidering a beautiful museum-quality Christmas stocking using llama wool for Santa's beard and angora wool for his fur trim, and that member Loyce Kahil completed hooking a wonderful turkey rug in only a month. The guild members are good friends and encourage one another's progress in their work.

HUB CITY RUG HOOKERS (Lubbock, TX)--This rug hooking group will be demonstrating rug hooking at "Candlelight at the Ranch" in Lubbock on Dec. 11-12. The rug hookers will dress in period clothing appropriate to the home in which they will be demonstrating. It is a true reenactment, as the rug hookers will not have interaction with the hundreds of visitors who will visit to catch a glimpse of years gone by. In January, the Hub City Rug Hookers will display their work at the Mahon Library. In the display will be rugs of all types, primitive, fine and seasonal. There will also be a display of tools, books and supplies, in order to educate visitors about the art of rug hooking.

LONE STAR HOOKING GUILD (Dallas, TX)--Fifteen guild members spent Friday and Saturday, Nov. 13-14, with national teacher Gail Dufresne and two of her wonderful patterns, SUNFLOWER and SHEEP, at a workshop in Dallas. They learned to proddy, sculpt, and add mixed media to their rugs. This was the final official guild meeting, according to president Martha Reynolds. The Wednesday Hooking group will continue to meet. This group meets almost every Wednesday from 10-2, at Lakewood Methodist Church. There is a $2 donation for facility use fee. Martha will be the contact for the group. rugbug48@gmail.com

KIRBY AREA HOOKING CIRCLE (Houston, TX)--This is a new hooking group in the Kirby area, which meets the 3rd Saturday of each month from 11-3, There will be no December meeting; the next meeting is January 16. Save the date for the MidSummers Night Hook-in which this group will host on Saturday, June 26, 2010. Contact is Lurie McAdow at luriemcadow@aol.com

STASH SISTERS (Houston, TX)--This group recently had a worm swap and fall mat challenge at their October meeting. They are busy hooking a raffle rug, to be drawn for at their 5th annual Hankamer Hook-In. Save the date: Friday and Saturday, April 9-10, 2010. They are planning their 2010 calendar, which includes a mug and mug mat exchange for the February meeting. Contact is P.D. Hankamer at heartspd1@yahoo.com

KATY LAMBCHOPS (Katy, TX)--This group's regular meetings are the first and third Wednesdays, 10-4, in old town Katy, and also the first Tuesday evening of the month. Contact is Jan Peckenpaugh at mylilhouse@hotmail.com

Our other hooking groups are active, also! Let us hear from you as to what you're doing, and if you are sponsoring any events. We would love to save the date, and join you!

ATHA NEWSLETTER ARTICLES

Please consider sending in a rug photo and short article telling the story of your rug, to Judy Long, editor of the ATHA NEWSLETTER. The NEWSLETTER is a member-driven publication, and Judy relies heavily on the interest and support of ATHA members, who will take the time to share their rugs. Many Region 9 members have contributed. Congratulations and thanks to the Region 9 members who have articles published in the current issue of the NEWSLETTER (Oct/Nov):

Wanda Clark (Bulverde, TX) wrote an article about her dog pillows.
Melinda Smith (Katy, TX) sent in her horned lizard rug.
Deborah Neslage (Brady, TX) sent a photo of her scarecrow doorstop.
Lisanne Miller (Canton, MS) sent an article about a sheep rug workshop.

We enjoy reading about and getting to know fellow rug hookers.

SEEING RED MAT CHALLENGE

Look for the information about the SEEING RED MAT CHALLENGE in the February/March issue of ATHA NEWSLETTER. (Not "Hooked on Red", as I previously reported in error.) Region 9 members are inviting the general ATHA membership to join us in hooking an original 9x12-inch mat which celebrates the color red. The deadline to send the mats in is Jan. 15, 2011. The SEEING RED exhibit will go "on tour" throughout the year of 2011 and will be featured in the NEWSLETTER. We hope your hooking group will adopt the SEEING RED MAT CHALLENGE as one of your projects for the 2010 year. Details will be in the NEWSLETTER article. Contact is Martha Lowry at mlowry52@hotmail.com

INTERESTED IN FORMING AN ATHA CHAPTER?

If your group is interested in joining ATHA as a chapter, contact me for an information packet. mlowry52@hotmail.com

A REMINDER TO ATHA CHAPTER PRESIDENTS

*All ATHA chapters receive liability insurance coverage for their regular meetings. It is important to inform the national organization of the time and location of your meetings, which is done by sending in the ANNUAL CHAPTER UPDATE FORM, due Nov. 30. You can download the form from the website. Go to www.atharugs.com and click on chapter presidents. You can click on the form you need at the top of the chapter president page. Send the original, along with a list of current members, to Susan Feller, Regional Coordinator, and a copy to me, regional rep. (Contact info at front, in ATHA NEWSLETTER.) Thanks for your effort in this matter, as most of you have already sent it in.
*Don't forget, that the ATHA chapters can also get liability coverage for their special events, such as rug shows, and hook-ins. There is no extra charge, but you must contact the ATHA COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, Lisanne Miller, ahead of time, to get a Certificate of Liability for that event. Lisanne is a Region 9 member, and her contact info is at front of ATHA NEWSLETTER.
*Another reminder! Each ATHA chapter receives one free ad in the ATHA NEWSLETTER each year for a chapter event. The free ad is 1/6 page, black and white, valued at $75. You can upgrade the ad's size or add color, and apply the $75 to the upgraded ad. Don't forget the free ad when planning your events. Contact Ads Mgr, Cynthia Norwood (contact info in ATHA NEWSLETTER) well in advance of the event. The publication deadline is a couple of months ahead of each issue's pub date.

LET ME KNOW

Let me know if you know of other hooking groups who would like to receive our Update. Let me know of any events, or just what your chapter is doing. Thanks for sharing your events and your ideas. We all learn from each other.

Martha Lowry
ATHA Region 9 Rep
281-550-7562

December 2009/January 2010 ATHA Newsletter

Check it out. Sharon Oppengard's Santa Flip designed by Frank Bielec, Martha Lowry's Christmas purses, and my piece on Alexander's backpack are all featured in this newsletter - all with Houston associations!

Saint Nicholas 2009: Fourth and Fifth Eves

Finished except for the binding!

A note about the background black. I pulled some old black wool I had in my wool closet to use and it just didn't "go" with my palette. Can you believe that a black can be the wrong color black?! I didn't. But there it was staring at me all wrong.

So I took out my crock pot late this afternoon when I got home from work, measured in one tablespoon of dye per 6" by 15" strip of black wool. I had six pieces, so I used 3 tablespoons of my 10=BLUE-PURPLE and three tablespoons of my 12=PURPLE-RED which were two of the dyes I used in Santa's coat. I figured that I could 'marry' my icky black with my palette this way. And wow did it work!

By the way, I have to say it again: I LOVE my crock pot. I just put the dye in warm water with a squirt of synthrapol, added the black strips, put on the lid and turned it on high for 1 1/2 hours. At 30 minutes I added 1/2 cup of vinegar. Then I took Alexander across the street to "Christmas in the Village" where he petted reindeer and watched the children play carols on their violins and played in the slush pile the Villagers make to treat the children to snowballs (remember we're in Houston). When I got home I processed the wool in my washer and dryer, and hooked it in the background this evening.

So if you don't know what to ask Santa to bring you this Christmas, and if you don't have a crock pot for dyeing, ask for a 6 1/2 quart with a timer and porcelain insert. It will change your outlook on dyeing because it is so darn simple and about as mess free as you are going to get. And what fabulous results!

Monthly Reflections Rug: December's theme

The theme for the Monthly Reflections Rug in December is "Awaiting". I am thinking of advent and the coming of Christmas and the arrival of the Christ child.

But also I am thinking of my own pregnancy six years ago when I awaited the birth of my only son who was born on December 15th. I was forty years old and very ready to bring Alexander into the world, to hold him and look into his eyes for the first time. I never imagined I could love this much.

Saint Nicholas 2009: Third Eve

Here is the progress I made last night...mainly worked the beard. I hooked my #1 values plus dorr white and natural and one off white grey texture in the top of his beard. About 2/3rds of the way down the beard I switched to #2 values. What hues did I use? My two neutrals created by mixing half and half of my recipes for 11=PURPLE and 5=YELLOW; and half and half of my recipes for 1=RED and 6=Green. My 9=BLUE; 10=BLUE-PURPLE; 11=PURPLE; 12=PURPLE-RED; 1=RED.

Tonight my plan is to work his coat. Then all I have is the background to go. Now that I see a photo of the beard, I think I will replace a couple of the darker strips with a lighter value.