Showing posts with label Off the Ocean. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Off the Ocean. Show all posts

Friday, January 31, 2014

WINTERTIME = WOOL

I couldn't decide what to title this last post for January 2014 - Many of you have had horrible winter weather to deal with in January 2014 - it will be remembered for a long time in the deep south where I live.  There was no actual horrific conditions to deal with here in NE FL but just slightly to the north and I mean mere miles away - there was sleet, ice and some snow.  Schools and businesses were closed and I'm sure those of you who live in true winter conditions all the time will be amused to hear snow flurries and a little sleet will close schools and businesses but indeed folks it does.  Take the debacle in Atlanta as an example. 

Oh well - on to the fun stuff - Wintertime for me equals lots of rug hooking.  Off the Ocean 2014 has come and gone.  This workshop was smaller than usual but we had the same amount of fun.  I was honored along with 3 teachers and 4 other students for having attended all 15 years.  We were given a beautiful "Relic" silver pendant with our initial on it by the directors and DF/s mother and daughter team Judy Colley and Katie Puckett.  I'll try to remember to show a photo of the pendant next time.

I have lots of beautiful rugs to show you from the exhibit - so off we go

BTW - I will be forever grateful to my blog friend Ann over at Dolls Musings for cluing me in to Picasa Web Albums - Gees - I am now able to upload my photos with ease - Thanks Ann!

The photos aren't that great because they were all shot with my Iphone and sometimes the angle was not good - the patterned carpet is always a detractor from the beauty of the rugs, best I can do folks.  As always there was a bevy of beautiful rugs in the show.  This is not all of them so if I missed your rug - please don't be offended - sometimes people were standing in the way for a long time and I had to move on.  A couple of the shots were awful and could not be published.
First up is this one called Ocean Beauty - I remember that because this woman was in my class.  It won a prize in the exhibit - 3rd place maybe - I don't remember all the placements.
 

Some of the rugs I don't know anything about and I will not comment unless I do.

This rug won a prize in the wide cut category.  A rug canvas designed by Bev Conway

This rug was hooked by a charter member of our local rug guild and it won a prize - 2nd place I think in the wide cut category.  It's the Button Basket by Holly Hill Designs

The snowman chair seat was designed by DF Katie Puckett and hooked by another DF and guild member Suzy S.

I'm pretty positive this was hooked by my teacher Sibyl Osicka - she does magnificent realistic animals in a 3 cut.


Another beautiful rug by guild member Susan R


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My scarecrow rug got a little lost in the carpet patterning.  This is a design by Bev Conway and is called Pumpkin Patch.  Most of the wool was from Bev but I arranged the color plan myself.



This rug was huge - It was the winner of one of the categories - Wide cut I believe but not sure
Another huge rug - hooked in a 3 cut by a woman in my class, Sibyl was the designer of the rug and also the teacher if I am not mistaken and this rug I think was 3rd place in the fine shading category.  Just goes to show the depth of quality at this exhibit.

Hard to tell but this was a stool - very cute design!

 More rugs hooked by Sibyl Osicka - you can visit her at www.sibylosicka.com
The gorgeous geisha girl was also Sibyls - a woman in our class was hooking one very similar.  What a challenge.

Here is my new rug I started with Sibyl - it is a crewel pattern by the late great Jane Olson called Dowry. 

Doesn't look like much for 4 days of hooking but I didn't hook any late nights this year.  My mommy wasn't able to be at rug camp with me this year and my whole karma was off without my pal.

I think this red flower was my best effort on the rug and that was the first one I did.  Fine shading with a 3 cut requires a lot of thought and a lot of time just looking and staring to make sure you are getting it right - it also requires some pull out in some cases. 

 
As you can see - Sibyl wanted to move me around the entire rug and see if I could get a little bit of each motif in while at class.  The very dark brown looking wool in this shot is my backround.  I would call it Oxblood - it is a very very dark maroon.
 
It was a great experience to be in Sibyls class this year.  I usually put away my camp project and go back to another rug which is closer to completion.  I have a very big rug at home from many camps ago that is sooooo close to being finished so I will continue to work on that one however - I believe I might try and work on Dowry from time to time just so I can see some forward progress on it and keep the shading concept fresh in my mind.
 
Yes there has been some stitching and knitting going on but this post is all about the wool so I'll save that for a February post.  Until then - with warm and wooley-thoughts ~ ~ ~

Monday, January 24, 2011

COMING UP FOR AIR

Coming up for air - that is exactly how I feel today - last week whirled by me in a vacuum of being sick at rug camp - being in the office only 1 day last week and leaving on Thursday - still not 100% for a long drive to Auburn AL for a meeting I needed to head up. 

I promised a complete run down of the Off the Ocean rug camp however the first day of camp I was already beginning to feel sick.  I went home Friday night instead of staying at the hotel with my mom - Saturday I was worse and by Sunday I was holed up in the hotel room too sick to even get dressed or venture very far from the bed.  How horrible is it to be sick at an event like this????  too sick to even get in my car and drive 10 miles to my house!!!!!!!!!  It's pretty horrible I might say - I missed the exhibit on Sunday - missed seeing many friends who come to see the exhibit.  I missed more than a full day of hooking/class time and my progress on this rug really shows it.  On the positive side - I did get a good start on this very large rug which is an original design by friend Katie Puckett who is a co-director of this rug camp.  I got to name it so it is Medieval Melody and I wanted William Morris type colors.  I must admit that I started this rug about 4 years ago with another teacher - somehow it just did not come together - it did not excite me - the colors were not what I wanted - it was too monotone so I rolled it up and put it away with the thought that one day I would pull it out again and find a teacher who was willing to work with some of the wool I had previously purchased and maybe add some of their own flavor and spark to the rug.  I knew I would get what I was looking for from Vivily Powers - I have had Vivily several times before at the rug camp I attend every year in Sebring Fl.  She did not disappoint - after tossing out a few of her choices that were too bright for what I had in mind - I added a gorgeous dusty plum 5 value color set and a rich rusty red 5 value set all looked awesome upon her great backround color called White Trash (yep she uses cute catchy names for many of her wool color formulas) - So she will have to dye more wool for me but I have made the plunge and am quite happy with how the rug is shaping up so far.  Here is a close up of the center medallion. 
Vivily came up with a beautiful spot dye that was the inspiration for the whole color plan on the rug. It is the leave section of the red flower on the right.  There is also a great 4 value turquoise set that is being dyed but is not currently hooked into the rug - so that will be a lovely addition to this color plan. 

Here is the full view of the rug including the border which is really the focal point of the whole rug.  For any rug hookers out there - I have started in a 5 cut and I might add some 4 for that looping vine in the border or any other fine detail - since there is not a lot of open backround in this rug - I will probably just stick with a 5 cut even in the backround.

Here is my mom's new rug - it's called Bunny Trails and is by Not Forgotten Farms reproduced to canvas by Spruce Ridge Studios.  My mom is a meticulous hooker - it takes her a while to make progress but she does a lovely job with the actual hooking.  She wanted something bright and springy and this certainly fills the bill.  The house is 2 shades of yellow gold - how about that blue door ???  Don't you love the texture of the daddy bunny and his cool ty dyed shirt - Vivily was trying to encourage my mom to make a plaid dress for Mommy Bunny but I'm not sure she is going to bite on that idea.  I love the rounded edge on the top of this rug - should be great fun to watch it take shape.

Here is Vivily on the right with fellow student and friend Susan Rogers on the left.  Susan is doing a lovely crewel pattern called Vasa and her color plan was exquisite.  Susan is a quilter convert to rug hooker - she told me she would sit and hook all day if she could and I think she has some interest in dyeing as well. 


 Dawn friend and a charter member of our local rug guild was hooking a stunning peacock design.  The colors in this rug were so wonderful - I know it will be fun to watch this one come alive.
Ladie (yes that is her real name) was doing a neat rug that was adapted from a old post card or some type of media like that.  She lives on St Simons Island Ga and  I wish the photo was better - the waves at the bottom were so neat - it has a shrimp boat and a rendition of the lighthouse on the island.  Her color plan was gorgeous and she said she dyed all the wool herself. 

there were about 15 or so people in my class - there were lots of  great rugs being hooked that I did not get photos of - sadly people were in and out a lot the last 2 days and I was mostly out of commission so I missed getting photos of many of my class mates rugs.

Off the Ocean 2011 is now a distant memory - it was their 12th camp and my 12th camp with the directors who are a mother daughter team and good friends of mine.  I have been fortunate enough to take classes with many great teachers at this camp - I have started a new rug each year except this year - yes I have many WIP's which are not finished from this and other camps but when I look back over the past 12 years of rug hooking - I have had so much fun and created some awesome rugs and made many friends along that journey.  I would not take anything for the experiences I have had and the time spent hooking with my mom and our friends is priceless.