Rug Hooking Exhibit at the Airport

For the past month, I've been working with regional rug hookers and the Quad City Arts to put together an exhibit of rug hooking and wood turning.  We're fortunate in the Quad Cities to have a public space, at the Quad City Airport, that is managed by an art organization, Quad City Arts. A few months ago, I started collaborating with Dawn from QC Arts to discuss having a fiber arts show in the airport space. Dawn had also been in contact with the local organization of wood turners, and a partnership was born.

I was able to get some amazing rugs from regional rug hookers, including Sharon Townsend, Nola Heidbreder, Jan Pierce, Annette Boland, Lori Rokusek, Julia Bohl, Beth Anne Smiley, Ella Davison, and the lovely Katie Lane. 

Wool Kaleidoscope from Nola Heidbreder, hooked by Nola and designed by Cactus Needle.

Angel, hooked by Lori Rokusek, designed by DiFranza. Note the halo on the angel is repeated in the wood vessels.

Side view inside the glass enclosure, includes Beth Anne Smiley's "1885 Horses" at the top left, Julia Bohl's "Woodland Deer" in the middle, and Julia's "Ligonier Duo" on the floor.  All three of these rugs were designed by Barbara Carroll of the Woolley Fox.

Here is Jan Pierce's "Frog" pillow, designed by Cathy Morton Mulvaine - this photo doesn't do it any justice at all. The frog is bumpy, and multi-colored and multi-dimensional.  The wool in the dragonfly wings is metallic and gives the impression of iridescence. 

Sharon Townsend's "Joy: A Puzzle in 15 Pieces" - too much window glare from the glass again, but this is truly a rug hooked in 15 pieces, and jigsawed together.  The colors are fantastic.

Ella Davison's "Birds and Berries", designed by Bea Brock, along with a piece I received as a gift from a customer in Canada.

"Santa Fe Crossing", hooked by Beth Anne Smiley of Wheaten Woolens, designed by Barb Carroll of the Woolley Fox.  This rug is HUGE, and is serving as a focal point of sorts for the show.

Here is a table by the wood turners, with a Bee Line cutter on it.  There is a tiny sheep by Lori Rokusek, designed by Diane Kelly, on the table, and my Iowa rug is on the wall (designed by Cactus Needle), and then Lori Rokusek has another piece, "Down on the Farm", designed by Sue Hamer of House of Price, on the floor. Jan Pierce kindly let us use her work-in-progess, which is a gorgeous fox, designed by Jon Ciemiewicz.  It's nice for people who are unfamiliar with hooking to see the pattern drawn on the linen, and then the actual fox popping off of the piece.  The eyes are fantastic.

Another piece by Jan Pierce, called "Starry Harvest", hooked and designed by Jan.  This piece is full of stories - my favorite is about a third of the way up on the left side, only half of Little Miss Muffet shows, with her tuffet and her curds and whey spilled and a big spider hanging out of the tree.  Such a fun rug, and this one is big too.

Katie Lane's "Trout", designed by Keith Kemmer. He looks like he's fresh from the stream!  I was at a couple of shows with Katie while she was hooking this guy, and am so thrilled her husband Ralph gave it up for a couple of months for the show.


On Wednesday, I'll post more photos from the show, including more wood turned pieces.  They dovetailed with the rugs beautifully.

Enjoy!

Getting Ready for Sauder!

I was hoping to get the Iowa Postcard Rug done by Rug Hooking Week at Sauder Village, but it isn't looking good time-wise.  So much to do before the Big Week!  But what better place to be to finish a rug?  Here is the shipment of Bee Line - Townsend product going to Sauder Village:

Over 1000 pounds of wool cutting equipment and frames in these two pallets.

Pretty excited to go.  If you're going to be at Rug Hooking Week, be sure to stop by the Bee Line table, see our new 14" Orbiting Floor Frames, and grab a Tootsie Roll!

I used my new navy blue wool from Wheaten Woolens on the outline of my letters, and I love how that turned out.  The navy really pops, but it coordinates well with the blue in the sky background.

Plus, I stopped by The Woolen Needle in Williamsburg (one of our fantastic BLT distributors) and Carla helped me pick out some black for the bird wings and some darker gold for the spots on the bird.  Then I stopped in at The Rug Hooking Store to see Janice Lee.  You can maybe see some lines in the sky above the barn - once again, I underestimated how much wool I would need for the sky.  The part under the Iowa is in a pretty marbled light blue, but then I ran out.  Janice found the blue I'm using above the Iowa, and told me to pull some worms out of the lower sky and incorporate them into the upper sky, and vice versa, so they'll blend.  I'm working on that now.

Here it is with worms out....

Here it is with worms in.

I can't believe how close the two blues are, and how well they blend.  Janice was helpful in not only helping me with my sky issue, but also with my "double wool twists" on the back of the rug.  But that is a topic for another post!

Hope everyone is enjoying cooler weather and maybe some RAIN!  The crops are certainly sad around here.  Have a great week!

Gimme An "A"!

I'm getting close on finishing the A, and in what is exciting news for me, I finally got an outline color for the letters!  Yay!  No more indecision!  This means I finally have all of the wool I'm using for this rug.  Oh wait...except the bird.  Dang.

Here is the rug so far - I'm loving how it's turning out:

Just a bit more of that Gene Shepherd Roman Sun and I'm done with the letters!  There is a small shadow outside of the letters and on the inside of the O and the A.  The picture that came with the pattern from Nola Heidbreder shows a light brown or burgundy outline for the letters, but I wasn't a big fan of that color.  I thought about taking the ruby red color from the side of the barn and bringing that in, but alas - not only do I not have enough wool to do it, but as much as I love that ruby it seems like it would be a little harsh against the letters and the sky.  Someone suggested the green, but I love the trees and don't want to detract from them.  What do you do when you can't make a decision?  Make someone else do it!

There aren't many rug hookers in the Quad Cities - if there are, I have yet to meet more than four.  So imagine my delight in discovering a new studio opening in Davenport - Wheaton Woolens, by Beth Anne Smiley!

This is a picture of Beth Anne from her website, www.wheatonwoolens.com - here she is actually at The Wooley Fox, enjoying a camp.  Beth is opening her studio in this adorable 1860 stone barn on her property.  The other hooker I know in town, Julie Bohl, was at the studio as well, and she and Beth Anne took a look at my rug and made a number of suggestions as to what color would go well with the rest of the rug.  We finally settled on a beautiful navy blue - I'm hooking it in now, and it is really giving the letters the "pop" they need without overpowering the whole thing.

Beth Anne is holding rug hooking classes in her barn, so be sure to check out her website for more information.  The more the merrier!  I'm going to the Omaha area to see my mom for her birthday, and fortunately I'll be within 10 minutes of Janice Lee's shop, The Rug Hooking Store and Black Horse Antiques, so I think I'm going to finally get some "closure" on that Magdelena Eby purse I hooked last fall.

Only two weeks until Sauder!  Be sure to go to their page on Facebook, "Rug Hooking Week at Sauder Village" to stay up-to-date on what's going on!