Daylilies and Twinkie and One Crazy Acorn

Hi Friends.  Gayle asked me "What are you working on now?".  Good question.  There is a hooked rug somewhere in my answer to the question, I promise...

Mostly I'm working on keeping my house clean in case there is a showing.  We're on the market!  I must admit that each passing day without a showing I lose a little bit of steam for this whole housecleaning thing.  So many things I'd rather be doing...   like spending time watching the garden coming to life...  Classy Cast has bloomed...

When our son was a little tyke, he used to describe each of his favorite things as "my best".  

Classy Cast is "my best".

Here's another early bird in the garden... Celebrity Elite.  These have had quite a bit of sun on them already today, so they look a little fadey, but this daylily develops a shiny look during the day - almost like they have been sprayed with lacquer - which I can completely guarantee is NOT the case.

And now (drum roll please...)  may I present the 2012 Tiny Bunny.  Following in the footsteps of Little Bun Bun (2010) and Bun3zle (2011), here is BunTwinkle, aka Twinkie.  So far this is the best photo I have been able to manage.  Twinkie is by far the tiniest of the Tiny Bunnies and is faster than greased lightening.  He (she?) is also the shyest.  He is eating the baby carrots I put out there, but only after I leave the area.  Today I bought Kale at the store - he won't be able to resist that!  He is so tiny that when he sits in the lawn (eating it), only his little ears stick up above the grass.

OK - you are probably here to see a hooked rug, so here's my current rug hooking project.  This pattern is called "Nutty" by Cactus Needle.  The pattern may be purchased here nolahooks.com.  I saw a completed version of it at the Lenexa Hook-in and thought it was really cute.  I pretty much copied the acorn colors from that rug because they were awesome, but I've used other colors for the other elements.

So, that's what I'm working on!

I have an idea percolating in my head for my next rug, but I am doing my best to finish Nutty before I tackle the new idea!

Flip Flop Bunny Hop... Done!

Yesterday, when I had to stop everything to carry my most precious items to the basement, I was not quite finished tacking down the twill tape on the back of Flip Flop.  Damn TORNADOES - leave us alone!  Thankfully, we were spared all but some high winds and a bit of rain and hail.  The bad stuff skirted right by us to the northeast.  This time.

So Flip Flop Bunny Hop did not get finished last night, but didn't get blown away either!  It took just a few minutes to finish up today...  so...  Ta-Dah!!!

(The light green you see around the outer edge is not part of the rug.)

I think this pattern by Dogwood Hooked Arts is very clever and creative.  Thank you Dogwood Hooked Arts!  (Pattern is available at www.heartandharerugs.com). 

I tweaked a few things after my previous post about this rug.  I emphasized the dark outlining around the bunnies a bit more, I re-did the eyes several times, I lightened the center bunny just a wee bit, and I added a very narrow and slightly recessed dark brown outline around the white tails - very narrow as in a #4 cut.  It is hard to see in the photo, but just that tiny bit of outline made the tails seem more dimensional - made them stand out better against the crazy background around them.  (Thanks Anita!!!)  Last, I finished the edge with cording and a nice green wool yarn that blended very well.

If you have not seen my previous post about my inspiration for this rug, you can check it out here. 

 Thanks for looking!

Bunnies in Progress and More...

Hi Gayle!  : >)

Hi everyone else too.  For my birthday last year, when I was 39 for the umpteenth time, by BFF Anne gave me the pattern Flip Flop Bunny Hop from Dogwood Hooked Art (website info is at the bottom).  She knew I loved it and even if she didn't know, it would have been a very good bet that I would!!! 

Before I had a chance to start it, I saw this rug in Celebrations XXI...

...and I was immediately Inspired!  About one second later, I thought of Flip Flop Bunny Hop...  could I use this technique on that pattern??? 

First, let me say right away that the rug above, which is called Fishing Day, was designed and hooked by Capri Boyle Jones, Navarre, Florida, in 2010.  (I hope it is OK to put the picture here on the Dusty Trail.)  Second, let me say that although I was inspired by her rug, I knew I was after a much-scaled-down version of her technique.  Her rug is artistic and painterly, with shadows and shading and exquisite use of color - you know - techniques that require TALENT!!!  According to the article in the magazine, she used 3,5, and 8 cuts to create her rug.

So here's where I am as of this morning with Flip Flop...

See what I mean by saying mine is much-scaled-down?  It is definitely more "naive".  Originally I pulled lots of bunny colors, ranging from cream to dark brown, and lots of grass colors, ranging from very light to very dark green.  The only other idea I had in mind was to make the middle bunny medium and dark values and the other two bunnies medium and light values, which I did.  I cut the browns in #8 and the greens in #4 and #6.

As I studied Capri's rug more thoroughly, I quickly noticed there are LOTS of other colors in there, not just "browns" and "greens".  I knew this when I started the bunnies, so from the beginning I added the little spots of color here and there.  When I started the grass, I didn't really think the spots of color would be necessary - but that was Wrong!  I did a big patch of grass using just the greens and it had no sparkle, no personality, it was just kind of blah - even with all those different greens working together.  So I started putting the spots of color in the grass too.  It made an amazing difference.  Here is a close-up of the grass...

When viewed from a distance, the spots of color add "dimension" - that's the best word I can think of to describe it.  I'll post it again when it is finished.  I love working on it, so it has a good chance of being finished soon!  I really enjoy hooking in a "free-form" on the grass (nothing is actually drawn on the background for the grass so it feels a bit like painting).

I was looking for something on my blog the other day and realized I had never posted a photo of the little table my husband built for my sunflower rug - at least not in finished form.  So, here it is...

How it looks on the area rug under it was a rather happy accident.  Here's a shot from the top...  the pattern is called Penny Rug Sunflower by Primitive Grace.  This is the smaller size - it is also offered in a larger size. 

OK - as promised to Gayle - here is a shot of the baskets where I store my wool strips.  My husband built the shelves for me - they slant down just a bit.  The shelf part is not solid - you can kind of see between the baskets that there are "sticks" of wood.  Just enough to support the baskets - which of course weigh very little.  The baskets are Longaberger bread baskets purchased on ebay.  It took forever to collect that many because I had a very low price threshold!  Every once in a while I would win one, and eventually I accumulated enough to make this work.

In the interest of full disclosure... the photo above was taken right after he built the shelves and right after I spent a LONG TIME organizing all these strips by color (sort of).  Strips go in and out of these baskets all the time.  Baskets get pulled out and stacked on the floor. Strips get dumped out on the floor and lots of digging around happens.  Re-organizing does happen from time to time, usually after I finish a rug.  If you could see a photo of my little "studio" this morning you would know why I laughed out loud when I opened this photo this morning!

Here are a few more shots from my little hooking hideaway...

That book cover with the bunny (above) is so wonderful - I want to hook that someday.   Snowman and pumpkin patterns are by Anita White.

I found black striped fabric on a clearance table and bought it to cover the rocking chair seat (above) and make a valance.  I had a pro do the rocking chair seat, but I made the valance - complete with beaded edge (from Hobby Lobby).  I must say I was pretty proud of myself!!!

I know everyone is enjoying the early Spring...  hasn't it been wonderful!!!  We've had several days in the 80's here in Kansas.  The flowering trees are magnificent (already) and the allergy sufferers are... well... suffering! 

Flip Flop Bunny Hop will be back soon...

The pattern may be found on this site:  www.heartandharerugs.com
Click on Catalog, then click on Dogwood Hooked Art, then click on Animals - there are 5-6 pages of patterns, so just keep going until you see it.  There is a photo of a finished one.

2012 Rock Creek Hook-in, Lenexa, KS Photo Set 2

Here are the rest of my photos from the hook-in.  I posted the first set yesterday, so if you have not seen those, take a look at them too.

I know I missed a few rugs - one for sure was a wonderful pine cone design - sorry!  It is really beautiful.  Maybe someone else got a shot of it and will post it.

At the end of these photos I will put a link to more photos.  You should take a look at that too!

 My Crazy Horse!  There are better photos of it in my "Ta-Dah" post from a few months ago.

 This is the picture that inspired the rug above.

 Darling rug by my BFF Anne!  We can always count on her to brighten up the rug show!

 I really loved this...  it is hard to tell in this photo, but there is wonderful texture and dimensionality to this rug - and wonderful expressions on the deer and the child.

 Sorry the lighting is not right on this Rose of Sharon design.  The background is creamy white.

 Here is the pillow table.  I didn't get all the info on all of these.  I know the rabbit rug is Flip Flop Bunny Hop (Dogwood Hooked Art).  The two pillows in front of the rabbits are mine - Gypsy Rhyme and Gypsy Riddle, designed by Susan Quicksall, Holly Hill Designs.  There are better photos of them in an earlier post here on the blog.

I did not get the info on these two moose rugs.  They are the same pattern - reversed and with very different styles.  I think is in fascinating to see how the same pattern can be interpreted so many different ways.

 I absolutely love the colors used for the water in this rug.  It looks FREEZING cold!

 Cactus Needle designs (like these two vintage postcards and many more designs) are found at www.nolahooks.com.

 

 This is a rug named Nutty, design by Cactus Needle (nolahooks.com).  Nola Heidbreder had it in her booth and I love it!  I bought the pattern and plan to make an Exalted Acorn - a lot like this one!  This cracked me up.  Love it.

OK - here is the link to another set of photos.  Other than Nutty above, I didn't take any photos in vendor booths - so you will have a chance to see some of those rugs in this set.  Also check out the great rug patterns (like Flip Flop Bunny Hop above) and other stuff on the site, including the beautiful raffle rug!

More photos:   www.heartandharerugs.com

If you have not seen my first set of photos, they are here.