November 01, 2013
Grandmother's Rug
Designed by Jane McGown Flynn; Color planned by Nancy Miller; Hooked by me!
Next week I'll be attending my second rug camp. This time I'll be headed to the beautiful Mendocino coast and staying at the Little River Inn who is hosting the event.
To get my hands and mind back into it I decided to do a kit my Mom bought at a Sacramento craft fair from Nancy Miller maybe a decade ago with maybe some encouragement from me. She was unable to really start it due to arthritis in her hands. I hope to finish it in time to present it to her for Christmas. I did think maybe her birthday, but that was wishful thinking.
As I've written before, my first rug camp was at Asilomar quite a few years ago. I went with my Aunt who intended to just be my bunk companion, but she got hooked, too. She ended up attending one of the evening classes with me where we worked on a sea inspired theme. She just about finished her project before she passed away of cancer. I inherited her unfinished piece. I've been working up to working on it and finishing it. It will become a footstool in my home, as that was its intended use in her home, and a wonderful reminder of the laughter and kinship we shared that week.
Treasures of the Sea
Designed by Jane McGown Flynn;Color planned by ? (need to see if I can find schedule!); Hooked by Nancy Gaushell
This coming week I will be taking a workshop with Gail Becker. I'm bringing a rug kit designed by Sharon Smith called Poppies. (click on link to see what the rug looks like finished) Gail will help me with my technique and I'm sure lots of other things like color planning.
However, one of the things I really want to do is design a rug featuring my Daisy. I've seen some really cool rugs of hooker's pets so am excited to see if I can pull this off. If that goes well I'll do one of our Sam, Gretel and Moose. Gail asked me to bring photos of Daisy that she could use to help sketch the rug. I want to catch her spirit and not sure how to do that in a medium that is not quite as fine as say paint.
I was so surprised to see how much she's aged in these photos. The bottom left photo was taken when she was only two and a half. Her chocolate mustache was deep and dark and if it weren't for that and her large paws I'm not sure I would've realized it was her since she seems so much smaller now. The upper two were taken when she was seven years old and she was already starting to lose some of her chocolate to age, but she still had her long curly ears. The bottom right was taken when she was eight. I want to remember her at all these ages. (Good luck Gail!)
I'll be posting Instagram photos to my Facebook page while on my adventure so you can see some of the lovely rug hooking work that others are doing, as well as some of the beauty of Mendocino County.