Peas In A Pod: Works in Progress

Works in Progress

May 15, 2013

Rug Hooking--Cardinal Rug

Feeling slightly better today. Still not great. I think I have developed allergies in my old age. As one who has never really had problems with allergies before, I'm not dealing with it well. I don't like it. I'm having extra sympathy for those of you who have suffered this all your life. My head feels like it's in a fog (buzzing), sneezing, sore throat, runny nose....

To make matters worse, I went back to the eye doctor today, and she dilated my eyes. Misery. I hate that. And my optometrist expressed concerns that my pupils might be "stuck," because they didn't dilate as much as they should have. I'm watching them carefully to see if they go back to normal. It's been 4 hours, and they still seem to be fairly big.

I keep forgetting to mention that I turned on the word verification again for awhile. Sorry. I had something like 200 spams in one day, and then again the next day. A real pain. So, I turned it on again for a little bit. Sadly, I still had two more spams today! I'll try taking it off again in a bit, okay? Bear with me until then?

Many of you asked me to see the progress on my rug hooking after my first class. Here is how far I got in class. (The long pieces you see will get trimmed off when there is more wool around those edges.) Not bad! You can tell I need to get better at my evenness of loops. But I'm okay with it for a first try!

Yestereday, when I wasn't feeling so well, I did get it out, sat on the back deck, and did some more work on it. It was really very pleasant. You can see my hook in this photo. I love how the wood handle has that knot on it.

After an hour or so, here is what I had added to it.

I left the little wool trimmings on our deck railing for the birds. Thought they might like it. They are probably all done with their nests right now, anyway. Some are gone today, some are still out there.

I got it out last night and worked some more. Here is how far I have gotten. I need to finish the second ring of red. (Maybe you can see that the top part is not finished yet.) Then, it's just filling in the background.

Sweet Pea was watching me do this. I figured she'd say, "Oh! Can I help?" But here is how the conversation went:

Sweet Pea: What's that?!

Mama Pea: A rug I'm making.

SP: How did you learn to do that?

MP: I took a class.

SP: That's really neat. Can I touch it?

MP: Of course!

SP: That feels neat! I think that bird is so beautiful, Mom! I wish I could have it when you're done.

MP: Your wish is my command. It's yours when I'm done.

SP. Really?! Do you think you could cut off all that extra round the circle when you're done?

MP: Yes, when I'm all done, I'll cut that off, flip it to the back, and sew it down. I'll have to take another class to learn how to do that.

SP: Cool. (Pause) Do you think they have any smaller kits for kids so I can try?

MP: I thought you'd want to try. The lady who taught me said she can help us get some more of this linen fabric so you can try.

SP: Yay! I can't wait.

I may get her a small piece to practice on. I remember doing latch hooking when I was younger. I might consider starting her on that. But this is pretty easy. I think she could do it. I might even let her try on the extra background outside the circle to see how it goes.

Gene Shepherd is a renowned rug hooker, I've learned. I was reading his blog the other day, and I saw him talking about children attending "hook ins" with the adult women. So, it's not inconceivable that she'd be able to do this and enjoy it. We'll see!

Hope your day is going well!

Until next time,

Posted by Mama Pea on May 15, 2013 at 03:19 PM in Rug Hooking, Works in Progress | Permalink | Comments (7)

May 10, 2013

"Hooking" at The Hen House

I had an absolutely wonderful time yesterday learning to hook wool rugs at The Hen House. Today, I'd like to tell you about my lesson and show you around the store more. Last time I as there, I missed half the shop, because I never even walked back to the classroom! Shame on me!

Nancy began our lesson by having a discussion about frames and how to attach our linen to the frame. She has the most beautiful wooden frame. Oh, is it gorgeous! She's a woman after my own heart. She loves good, high quality, beautiful tools!

I am all set up and ready to hook!

Nancy showed us how to pull the strips of wool up from under the linen. We learned how to start and stop and how high to make the loops. We learned about cutting wool strips and all the different widths you can use. We had a discussion about wools and high vs. low quality wools. It was a ton of fun.

Especially fun for me was that I got to meet Sue of Simply Pieceful Quilting. She came to the lesson, too! I've been reading Sue's blog for a few years now, and we've had a lot of email communication. It was so nice to meet her in person! I had a gret time with her, and it's always more fun to learn together!

Here is the cute classroom space we were working in. Our stuff is all over the table. I loved all the different antique chairs that were at the tables, and there was so much to look at in the classroom!

From my seat, I got to look at all the basket-making supplies. How fun!

And next to those (on the right) were vintage, hand crank sewing machines (Nancy sells them), along with some fun quilts.

To the left of the basket-making supplies were all these finished baskets. I love baskets. They are containers after all, and you know I have a fetish for containers!

If I looked to the right from where I was sitting in class, I could see the sale wall. Lots of goodies in there!

Closer to me on my right was this vintage stove, where the "Hot Sales" were. How cute is that? I love attention to detail like this.

On the back wall, to the right of the vintage sewing machines is this rug that Nancy hooked. Isn't it fantastic? I love it. This is one reason I wanted to learn to rug hook. I want to make one of the primitive pumpkin men rugs for Halloween. (There is another vintage sewing machine below this rug. I meant to get it in the photo, but blew it when taking the photo.) You can see the light from the back door coming in on the right-hand side of this photo. It was such a beautiful day, we got to have the door open. It was so nice!

On the way out the back door, there are some more fun Halloween quilts.

I especially liked this one. I complimented Nancy on it, and she told me it was a quilt she had designed for one of the local shop hops. I love it. I meant to get this pattern and forgot. I need to remember this next time I go there!

Going back out to the front of the store, I found this cabinet full of thread. I had completely missed this last time I was there! What an excellent assortment. And Nancy carries Aurifil thread, which you know I love.

And this might be a TMI, but even the bathroom is adorable! Everything in it is so in keeping with the shop.

Here's the view while you're doing your business. LOL.

Nancy showed us her progress on her hexie table topper. I think it is just wonderful! I am looking forward to seeing it finished.

I also saw this little wall hanging on the way out. Nancy designed it, with monthly little quilts you can make and change out, using the little clothespins. So cute!

I forgot to take a photo of my rug to show you my progress. I guess I'll do that in a future post. But I had a wonderful time. I learned a lot. Nancy is an excellent teacher. I appreciate it so much that she was willing to arrange this class to meet MY schedule! When I finish my rug, I'll go back for another lesson on how to bind and finish the rug. That will also be fun. I hope Sue can come then, too!

And Elise, who also works in the store, is just the sweetest, most wonderful thing. I really enjoy seeing her in the shop when I come in. What a combo these two women are!

I have to say, I'm feeling pretty bad it takes me over an hour to get to this shop. I really love it. It's probably a good thing. If it were closer, I'd be in there all too often! ;-) Nancy does have an online retail business, too. So, if you see something you want to peruse, you can see her website here.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone. It's a rainy one here.

And Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there!

Until next time,

Posted by Mama Pea on May 10, 2013 at 08:11 AM in Quilting, Rug Hooking, Works in Progress | Permalink | Comments (12)

April 24, 2013

Feathered Star Progress (still Block/Month 1)

Two weekends ago, I made a little more progress on my Feathered Star BOM from Hoop Sisters.

One thing I made progress on was the center for the feathered star. Again, the stitching line you see around the edges is water soluble thread. This is where the blocks will get seamed together. On the pink parts, I was using pink embroidery thread in the needle and white thread in the bobbin. I'm having a little trouble with the bobbin thread pulling up to the front. I will likely end up coloring those with a permanent marker. I could use pink in the bobbin, but this stitching is done before the backing fabric is put on, and I'm afraid the pink would show through the back. That would not look good.

Here is a close up shot. Maybe you can tell I used two different colors of thread on the star points. I more "aqua" blue where the lines echo the shape of the diamonds. That stitching is done before the back is put on. The darker blue matches the blue fabric and is stitched after the backing is on. So, you can see the blue thread on the back of the quilt. It looks good. I forgot to take a photo of the back for you. I'll do that when I finish the block. I think it's neat how the blue star in the center looks pieced. But it's just one big piece of blue fabric that's stitched over with all these embroidery stitches.

I also finished three more of the feathered star points. So, here is how the block is looking so far when I lay it out. Not bad! I'm still having fun with this. I need to stitch the four corner blocks next. Those will just be whilte, with quilting stitches in them. Maybe I can get those done this weekend. This block is huge. Each of these squares you see so far are 8" finished! So, the block will be a 24" finished block. Wow! There are smaller blocks in the quilt, too. These are the largest ones, I think. There are a few of these.

I am still having fun with this project. It takes a lot of thread! I'm going to need more white Aurifil thread! :-) I went through a full bobbin of white thread about every two feathered star tip blocks! Just think how much thread it will take for the white corner blocks, which are almost all stitched with white thread (except for the remining "feathers" for the sides of the star tips). I think it will be worth it in the end, however!

EDIT: So many of you have interest in this and have asked good questions, I'll try to do a process post on this next time I do an applique block like this (the next ones I need to do are just all machine embroidery) so that you can see how it works. It may take just a bit for me to get to that next point, so hang tight. But, knowing I'm going to do that will give me the motivation to get moving and get to that point so I can do the post. Thanks for your interest!

It was 36 degrees this morning....with a forecast of rain mixed with snow. I started pricing plane tickets to Florida. Seriously! But it's supposed to be sunny and 70 by Monday. Finally, a little relief in sight.....

Until next time,

Posted by Mama Pea on April 24, 2013 at 08:29 AM in Machine Embroidery, Quilting, Works in Progress | Permalink | Comments (10)

April 17, 2013

Cotton Club BOM

Just a quick post today....

When I was on my retreat a couple of months ago, I finished my Cotton Club quilt top. In October, 2012, I blogged how I had the center part done. You can see that post here. (It's pretty amazing how much darker the quilt looks in the photo above than in my previous posts. These outer borders really darken it up!) All it needed were the three outer borders (the small dark brown one, the small white one, and the very wide striped one). I took this project on retreat and was determined to finish it there. It's much easier to do this at retreat, where you can lay it out without (a) having to run upstairs all the time to lay it out, or (b) lay it out downstairs and have dog hair all over it. (Our dog stays downstairs.)

I'm pretty happy with it. Those wide outer borders are about 8" wide. They are mitered at the corners. I'm a little worried about them, becuase they look a little "ruffly" to me. I hope they work out okay.

So, I finished it a couple of months ago, but I didn't send it off for quilting yet. I still needed a back for it. I was waiting until I could get up to the Attic Window to shop for backing. Chris always has a nice selection of sale fabrics at the Attic Window. (In some shops, I look at the sale rack, and I can see why the fabrics are there...they aren't very attractive. But Chris always has beautiful fabrics on her sale rack. I don't think there's a bolt of fabric in her shop I don't like.) I can usually find something that works well. I hit the jackpot last weekend. Look at this perfect Thimbleberries fabric I found on the sale rack!

Here it is with some of my scraps from the front of the quilt. Isn't it perfect?! It was on sale for $5 per yard. I got the entire quilt back fabric for $25....and it's beautiful! I think it's really in keeping with the rest of the quilt, both in color and design style.

When I complimented Chris on this beautiful fabric being in the sale pile, she said, "Yeah, well it's been here a while." She showed me the date on the bolt...2011. I said, "Well, that's about how long ago I started this quilt, so that's about right!" Chris said, "Yeah, and now that this fabric is sold, I can go buy more fabric for the shop!" Right on, sistah. I like how you think.

I got the back pieced last weekend, and it--along with the top--went off to Shelly for quilting. She should be getting it about today. I asked Shelly for a wool batt on this one. I'm very excited to see what she does with this one. She is looking at all the different blocks as a "playground" for quilting.

Happy hump day. And for the record, it's still cold here. :-/

Until next time,

Posted by Mama Pea on April 17, 2013 at 07:00 AM in Quilting, Works in Progress | Permalink | Comments (11)

April 09, 2013

Feathered Star Block 1

You might recall that one of the BOMs I'm doing this year is the Hoop Sisters Feathered Star. I did a blog post about my excitement for it a while back.

For some reason, I have been paralyzed by fear to start it. Don't know why...maybe because there's been quite an investment in fabric, thread, and embroidery designs. Maybe it's because this is different from anything I've tried before. The blocks are all done on the embroidery machine. While I've done machine embroidery, I have never made quilt blocks of this level of detail before.

But at the Great Lakes Modern Quilt Guild meeting, I met Elaine, who is also doing this quilt. She said, "Just go for it! You'll be fine!" So, with her encouragement, I am forging ahead.

I finally took the plunge this weekend and made my first block. And here it is! It measures 8" inside the line around the outside. That line is water soluble thread and is where the block will be sewn to another block. I haven't trimmed everything yet. This is one block of six that will form the feathered star. I'm using my friend Jackie's hand-dyed fabrics for the colors, and a Bella white for the background.

Here is a close up of the stitching/quilting. The "feathers" are all threadwork, not fabric. There is an extraordinary amount of quilting in the block. I am using Floriani embroidery thread for all the colored threads. I was successful in finding threads that matched my fabrics really well. Maybe I shouldn't have matched them so well...they might show up a little better if they were just a bit "off."

Sorry for the poor lighting. It's another rainy day here! Here is a photo of the quilting in the white/background area. Also beautiful! I am using Aurifil 50 wt. white cotton thread here. I wanted it to contrast with the embroidery thread. It is thinner than the embroidery thread and not shiny.

Sharon Schamber did all the quilting designs for this. I think the quilting is just fantastic.

Here is the back of the block. I am using a Bella white for the back also. For some steps of the embroidery, you do the sewing before applying the backing fabric. Then, the backing is applied, and you are supposed to put matching thread in the bobbin so all the quilting stitches show up on the back.

Here is another view of the back. I think the back will be as spectacular as the front!

This block had almost 28,000 embroidery stitches on it. Wow! It took me about 3 hours to stitch it out (there were a few breaks in there). But it's worth it. I am looking forward to making more blocks and getting them assembled. I'll keep you posted. So far, I am happy with how it's turning out. I'm wondering how "comfy" this quilt will be as a bed quilt, however, with all the threadwork on it. It has the potential to be sort of stiff. Oh well....perhaps the beauty of it will make up for it. :-)

Hope you are having a good week!

Until next time,