Angel Rug-Progress/Sunnie – Rug Hooking

Finally getting a chance to post..!!  

As you know from my little note in blue on the last post, my husband was quickly diagnosed and had surgery this month for a brain tumor.   As you might imagine, it is a difficult time for us as he recovers…but we are dealing with what comes each day and are blessed by all the good wishes, prayers and thoughts sent our way! 

I thought you might like to see what I had started (and was going to have as a Blog rug!) before we knew of the tumor.  I thought it was wonderful to have this to work on while at the hospital…and it helped other families who were going through the same or similar things with loved ones!   We said the angel was for all of us!!!      I’m still working away when I can…and it is calming and peaceful work.  That helps me!

Medieval Angel…an adaptation of a medieval illustration :

I collected this design some years ago and I think it might have been in a Dover book?????   It seemed so unusual with the gray and black wings and the black and white colourations!!!   Happy Hooking!  Sunnie 

Coming Up…Another Mystery Rug!/Sunnie – Rug Hooking

Just a quick note. for Saturday, May 19th. ..my husband is going through some health problems right now.  He is recovering from brain surgery for tumor removal.   We are taking one day at a time, and trying to live in the moment…but as you might imagine, it is a difficult time.  May we all live each precious day fully as we never know what problems will come to us and change our lives.    Thank you for your concern…I appreciate it so much.     Sunnie

 

I am preparing my next 24 x 24 rug which will be a “Mystery Rug”!!!   I actually have two patterns and am deciding which to put on my backing first…!!!   I want to do them both!    LOL

So I will be starting to post on the new rug in the next few days..must gather wools and decide which pattern!!   

I thought  today …(while waiting for me to get my act together!!!  )…you might like to see a smaller rug that I did when using what I call the “creative cutting” technique.   This is where you simply take some white copy paper,  cut out random shapes (maybe about 10 or so) and then try to arrange them on your rug backing to see if you can come up with a design!!!!!  LOL  It is simply a technique to jog your brain and I enjoy doing it once in awhile!

The “T-Time Lady” (!!) is one of those rugs and I had such fun doing it!  Some of my cutout shapes reminded me of a face, one of the spout of a teapot, one the teapot lid, the feet, and so forth!   Afrer doing the center teapot, I thought of using different fonts to make the “T” letters for a play on words!!!

Happy Hooking!  Sunnie   

New Hooked Rug Day 13 Finished!/Sunnie – Magdalena Briner Eby style

Hooray!  I was able to finish my first Magdalena-style rug this morning!!!   

This adaptation was a great experience and I had fun looking at Magdalena Briner Eby’s wonderful rugs and trying out some of her motifs.    My rug is done in all wools, from a #4 cut to a #8.5 cut…but Magdalena used many different fabrics in her rugs, mostly from castoff clothing.

Here is my  24 x 24 inch Finished rug…”Lollypop Tree and Menagerie”,  done in the style of Magdalena Briner Eby…

Since this is a 24 x 24 inch rug and Magdalena’s rugs were usually larger, mine does not have the “boldness” of the originals and is not as “primitive”…but I hope she would see the same scrappy spirit and love of animals that she brought to her rugs! 

There were several  things about doing my rug “Lollypop Tree and Menagerie” that I found particularly interesting.   One of them was what I call the “ghost leaves”…leaves where just the veins show up and the interior of the leaf just fades into the background.  they make a “soft statement” filling up space but not being too bold.

I also liked how Magdalena had her animals going “every which way”…and not arranged formally on her backing.   Although in the Magdalena book about her life and works, there is a statement by the “Domestic Zoo” photo that they are not sure if Magdalena actually hooked this particular rug.   But it seems to have her style and I used the rug as an inspiration and a source of motifs when doing my piece.

If you get a chance and are interested in Magdalena’s style of rug hooking, I hope you will try a reproduction or adaptation of her work yourself.  I found it to be tremendous fun!!!

Happy Hooking!  Sunnie 

New Hooked Rug-Day 12/Sunnie – Magdalena Briner style

Quick post today!!!  I did get some done…another bird and a star and some background!!!!  Heading for the right hand corner!!!! 

Here we go on Day 12…

Happy Hooking!  Sunnie 

New Hooked Rug-Day 11/Sunnie – Magdalena Briner style

I’m happy with my progress. ..so far(!!!)..Hooray!!! 

I was able to finish my cat on the upper center of the rug and I finished my Lollypop tree!!!    Because my rug is smaller than Magdalena’s rugs were, I can see that it would be more fun if the lollypop tree was larger so that the circles could be shown as real circles and not just “dots”..!!!!!  LOL

But I wanted to do my 24 x 24…so Here is Progress on Day 11:

The cat is sideways on the top of the rug!!!!

I hope you can see all the different wools…so many of them are plaids, and I love working with plaids!

Happy Hooking!  Sunnie 

New Hooked Rug-Day 10/Sunnie – Magdalena Briner style

Had a small amount of time yesterday but added my little gray rabbit to my menagerie!!!!   (And, some background!!!!) 

One of the nice things about rug hooking is that you can sit down for a few minutes or a half hour and pick right up where you left off without having to gather or set out a lot of supplies or fabrics!!!  

 As an old quilter (and I do mean old!!!!…LOL) I know that sitting down to the sewing machine to piece a new block or work on a quilt in progress entailed a lot of prep work!!!   Also, if you make a mistake in rug hooking you can simply zip the wrong strip (s) out…no need for that seam ripper and a lot of time carefully picking out the threads.   

Here is progress on Day 10… (first photo shown right side up…but it is upside down on the real rug!!!!) 

Hope you have a lovely day today!!!  Happy Hooking!  Sunnie 

New Hooked Rug-Day 9/Sunnie – Magdalena Briner style

Hooray…I have gone around the bend on the upper left of the rug and am making good progress!  Also, I have a larger cat drawn at the top and I think it will balance the lollypop tree!!! 

Here is Progress on Day 9:

The delight of hooking these types of rugs is that you can just do what you feel at the moment..!!!   I find the whole thing relaxing and fun at the same time  and I think you would enjoy trying a “Magdalena Briner Eby-style” rug yourself!!!   Happy Hooking!  Sunnie