On The Learning Curve

It's been the best of times, it's been the worst of times.

Last year, I hooked during the entire Oscars broadcast and got most of my Bucky Bee finished during four hour show:

And my shoulder and neck killed me the next morning!  But it felt like the pain of VICTORY! :)

This year, I forgot my hooking at work and the Oscars started and I thought, "Oh NO!  I can't hook during the show!"  It felt like three hours I could have planted the Iowa fields in my vintage Iowa postcard rug.  However, I have been able to get a bit of hooking done - and learned some valuable lessons.

I used this beautiful green wool for my treeline, and it made the most gorgeous trees:

Aren't they pretty?  I was so proud of them!  The green below is the grassy field by the barn.  So I kept hooking and outlining and filling and outlining and outlining and then....I realized I don't have enough of my beautiful green wool to fill in all those outlines! 

So guess what is getting pulled out tonight?  That's right. Trees.  I'm going to be a logger and cut them all down.  I have a nice lighter green plaid that will probably fit the bill to finish these trees out, but oh how I hate to pull out those loops! 

Before my logging expedition, I started planting corn.  Again, I got really lucky on the wool I have, and this golden pattern does a nice job of looking like fall corn, ready for harvest, or maybe a nice field of hay or wheat.  Here's a closeup of my crop:

I'm hoping to get some work in on it today yet - work project! - and see if I can complete my field and figure out those trees.  In addition to my proclivity toward packing, I see that I am dangerously optimistic about how much wool it takes to fill spaces in rugs!  I like to buy my wool in person, and I don't have many opportunities to do so, so next time I am going to OVER BUY the wool I like.  Consider yourself warned, husband who does Quicken - wool budget needs to expand.

Red Stick Rug Hooking in Baton Rouge

Hello all! 

I'm taking a little break from my Iowa rug to take my family to Disney for the first time, so no hooking shall be done while I'm drinking in the pixie dust!

However, Gayle Soileau of Red Stick Rug Hooking in Baton Rouge, Lousiana, one of our fantabulous Bee Line - Townsend distributors, held a hook-in a week ago where she was selling the Bee Line-Townsend products, and she sent me some wonderful pictures to share.

Gayle demonstrating one of our fabulous wool cutting machines!

A student showing a visitor how hooking is done.

Teacher Anita White giving a talk on paisley and how to use in a rug,

model is another teacher, Capri Boyle Jones.

Sondra Ives from Texas won the raffle rug - so cute!

Kathy Meetemeyer and some of her students.....

It's a Throw Down!

Doesn't that look like fun!  I just love seeing other people's work, and I wish I was standing in the middle of this picture with my arms out, and then could walk around and look at each individual rug.

Thanks for sharing, Gayle!