Crazy Horse Quilt Runner: Ta-Dah!!!!!

One of my favorite bloggers (Lucy at Attic24) always says Ta-Dah! when she shows a finished item on her blog.  I like that!  So here's my Crazy Horse Quilt Runner Ta-Dah!

(click on it to see it bigger, then use back button to come back here)

 

If you've seen my blog before, you may know that I started this 30" x 91" runner on January 1 this year, posted my progress every Saturday morning, and was very close to being finished at the end of May.  My arm and shoulder had a Different Idea.  So my plan was to hook just a few minutes a day to keep things going - even though it would be Slow Going for sure.  Then all of a sudden it was hundreds of degrees here (well that is a slight exaggeration) and somehow my plan to help my arm by hooking "just a few minutes" a day didn't happen.  It was too darn hot to put a large heavy woolen item on my lap.

But after our vacation to Colorado and New Mexico in August, I came home ready to hook - more specifically ready to finish Crazy Horse - pain or no pain.  And now she's done.

The rug now lives on the floor in a walkway between my kitchen and family room.  It is a Treat to see it there and even more of a Treat to feel its soft scrunchiness underfoot.

Here are a couple of shots - one from each direction.

Looking toward the kitchen...

Looking toward the family room...

There are several "thank yous" I want to extend.  First, thank you to Susan Quicksall, Holly Hill Designs, for this wonderful design.  I have said this before, but the rug is a blast to work on - it never gets boring.  Each animal or motif is like hooking a little mini rug.  You finish one and you are off to the next.  Even the background is fun in a "mental agility required" sort of way.  If you decide to tackle this pattern, it is CRITICAL (see how that is all capitalized) to read and follow the short list of instructions provided by Susan.  Really... don't start without understanding everything in that list (not difficult... just important).

A big thanks to Anita White for providing almost all of this wool, including several pieces she dyed specifically for this rug (the dark eggplant and the turquoise).

Thanks to all you hookers at Anita's and here on the blog for saying Ooh! and Aah! and Other Nice Things as the rug has taken shape.

Thanks to my husband for standing on a kitchen chair and holding the camera WAY up in the air to get a photo of the rug from high above.  (I tried and it was terrifying.)

And last, I borrowed some space from Susan's design on the short edges of the border for my initials and the year.  With Susan in mind, I "beaded" my initials.  The "G" is from my maiden name - Green.  It's there because I want my Dad to see it.  He will really like that.

I have several unfinished and totally neglected hooking projects upstairs.  I hear you calling out to me and I'll be digging you out soon!  That would be a good blog post - not the digging out part - but the Ta-dah part!  So check back...

Happy Hooking and Happy Fall (well, almost, sort of, Fall).