In The Clouds

June is flying by here at Bee Line - Townsend!  We finished our 14" Orbiting Floor Frame, now available on our website at http://www.beeline-townsend.com/, or from one of our fantastic distributors.  I've been so busy getting that on the market that I haven't had time to actually hook on it lately!  My poor Iowa rug has been sitting in my cubicle, lonely, waiting for me to pick up my hook.  This week, that all changed.

I finally got some hooking done!  I wanted to finish the letters first, but in yet another rookie error, I let my worms get mixed up.  You can see on the right side of the "O", the wool looks a little lighter.  I think I accidentally hooked the lighter wool for the bottom in that layer, so I'll probably need to pull it out.  I got frustrated about it, so I thought I would hook a nice, calming cloud before I moved on.

I used Nola Heidbreder's "Snow" wool for the cloud, and I like the bits of blue/gray in it that brings just a tiny bit of dimension into the cloud.  I was trying to hook in a way that brought a little bit of "cloud-like motion" into it, not sure about my level of success on that front! 

Once again, I'm going to rely on steaming to save the day!

Now that my head is out of the clouds, I'm going to go reverse hook that poor "O".  I'd like to have this rug done by Sauder Village, because then?  I can buy new stuff!  Yay!

Dreaming of Cambria...

The good news around Bee Line - Townsend is that we've been really busy in the past month.  The bad news is that it leaves me absolutely no time to hook, so my Vintage Iowa Postcard rug is at a standstill.  I look at it every day, next to my desk, and think "Maybe today...." and then the phone rings or something comes up that needs attention.  It's a good problem to have, but I'm missing the hooking.  I like progress!

Something else I try to do every day is check Gene Shepherd's blog.  I'm subscribed to his Internet Rug Camp, which I love, and get the extended version of the blog.  There is always something interesting going on there.  Maybe not every project is something I'm going to tackle, but I'm interested in the process.  Dyeing, proddy, punch needle....I need to get the basics down first, but I like seeing what the possibilities are down the road, and sometimes looking at these things can give one an idea about how to do a current project a bit differently.

So this week is Gene's Cambria Pines Rug Hooking Camp, and I'm sooooo jealous I can't be there!  First, it's in sunny California, so really, how bad can it be?  The resort looks beautiful, and Gene had pictures on the blog of the wools and patterns he has available at camp.  Pris Butler was there with her Klimdt rugs, which look amazing.  Doesn't it seem like this should be a work trip for me?  Isn't it imperative that I get out to Cambria Pines Camp as a public relations tool for my company, to hook all day and into the night?

It's a sacrifice I would be willing to make.  Maybe after ATHA Biennial next year I can get Cambria on my schedule...