Latest Felting Project

I've been doing a fair amount of felting and stitching. This is my latest project.

The background of this piece is a piece of natural wool that I painted with ProChem dyes using a foam brush. I painted a few others at the same time, not knowing what I would do with them. When I decided to start a new felting project, I pulled one of them out not sure of how the felt would adhere. It did fine! I added a lot of embroidery stitches, some beads, ribbon, and yarn, and the above is the result. After the felting was done, I added some batting and applied a back and binding.

I'm in Rug Beat Magazine!

Last fall, I joined Lori LaBerge's plein air hooking group via the internet. The concept was simple. Take out your hooking equipment, some worms, a comfy chair and venture outdoors to hook what you see. It is really a fun process as you turn the shadows and lights into loops. I've done four pieces now. Got them done before the cold weather set in.

Anyway, Lori was asked to write an article for Rug Beat online magazine about the group. I am lucky enough to have two of my rugs in this article.

Here is the teaser that came from Rug Beat via email:

Rug Beat #10 is ready for you!


Click here to read it now.

The new Rug Beat is filled with inspiration! Learn new techniques, like hooking en plein air and adding freeform crochet to your hooked rugs. See what artists are doing with these techniques to make contemporary hooked art, and learn how to apply them to your own work. 

Click on the links to take you to Rug Beat. The cost is around $10.00 per year and is well-worth the investment.

One of my rugs included in this article is called "Fall Descending." It is hooked with wool and yarn.

Biographical Rugs

Back in January, my class at Julie Smith's was challenged to complete a "ruglet" a month. Each ruglet should have a connection to the next, so I started thinking about ideas for a theme. I finally came up with an idea that had been in the back of mind for a while: a series of rugs depicting things from my life.

Awhile ago, I purchased Jill Berry's book, Personal Geographies: Explorations in Mixed Media.

This book really sparked my imagination for creating a "map" of your life. Although the book uses drawings/paintings to depict your map, I could see the possibilities for rug hooking. With all that in mind, here are the first two rugs in my bio series. The third rug is complete, but not bound yet. I will show that rug in a future post.

The first rug shows the street where I grew up, and the second the name of my town, well-known for its geysers and spring water. Although you can't tell from this rug, the rocks are done in a Waldeboro style, but not clipped.

What would your personal map rugs show?