My newest hooking project, and some wool color help..please ??

I really want to do this project in these colors for some reason ?? They are almost neutrals except for the green and coral or burnt pinkish tone, but I have a really big problem ( well, for me it's big....lol), I don't have anything in the right hues...And...I don't have any acid dyes ...So I know that what I'm going to need to do is eiter " marry" some of my wools or "stew" them to get the right colors, or at least closer to it then what I already have...

Now, I know I hae been a pain asking question after question since I started my hooking adventures, but please, have mercy on me .....lol
I know most of you hookers out there have done these techniques, one or all, so ANY helpful advice or hints will be greatly appreciated...These wools , not all but most, have already been overdyed..does that make a difference in the process of marrying or stewing to change the tone or hue or whatever ??
Thank you in advance folks...I love you all for all of the help you've given me already..
ugs,
Robin

Very Quickly...Petunia Prairie Bunny Pattern Avalable !

Petunia Prairie Bunny Dool on Spindle


She is the sweetest little prairie girl. You could have her out just for Easter/Spring or all year ...

Price: US$6.50






I stayed up way too late to finish this..I must say night night now...LOL

*NEW* Petunia Prairie Bunny...pattern coming

I worked on this gal yesterday, and had hoped to get he pattrn done, but spent most of the day visiting with a friend and my daughters and Grandson Keegan...so all was not lost !!
Here is a long view of her. I attached her to an old beehive bobbin..a bigger one, but you could use anything really...
Her face is needle sculpted and I used wire for her whiskers...

I hope you all have a fun day being creative !!
Robin

Another talented lady....and..I finished my rug....

First off, I wanted to spotlight this talented gal...Sherry of " From Sherry's Heart "(fromsherrysheart847) always has something wonderful up for sale, whether on Ebay or she is also a member of our new selling group " Primitive Handmades Mercantile" ...
I am so thrilled she used a few of my designs for her creations...click on her name to go and bid on one of her lovelies !!
And now...onto my finished rug...Let me first say this...If you didn't read any of my last few posts or the comments that were left, you need to first, otherwise you just won't quite get the gist of it...
This is what you get when you tell me I can't do anything right, or that I will never finish what I've started :

I'm referring to a little discussion...errrr....argument between my mother in law and I when I announced I was going to take the entrance exam for Nursing School...
Not only did those biting remarks inspire me to finish, but I graduated class Valedictorian, and received a few other awards..now I'm not bragging, just stating a fact and don't get me wrong...I love my mother in law dearly, but we went a few rounds when I was younger....lol
So with that all said...I am even more determined to keep hooking ( after not so nice comments were made..allthough some were instructional...lol)And...I know I made " mistakes" I'm not representing my rug as perfect, I may still fix a few things, but hey ...here is the finished rug ...for now ....


Thank you so much....all the encouraging comments, some were so sweet, others were quite funny ...and sweet !!
Now, onto my next project...I am designing a Bunny Doll and creating the pattern...Then, another hooked project...hmmmm..thinking, thinking...

Everyone has an opinion....but ...

You know, I don't believe in moderating my comments on my blog, unless they are obscene or "hateful" personal attacks.
I've received many sweet compliments about my hooking projects, and I know they come from the heart with most , some God Bless you , you are probably just being sweet and polite......lol...and a few...well, maybe they aren't formed in the fashion that we have come to expect...Most of us have a tendency to tippy toe around an issue or like the 800 lb. gorilla in the room, we figue if we ignore it or pretend we can't see it, it doesn't exist....
Now, if ayone wants to critique my work , my beginning efforts at whatever pool of art form I am dipping my toes in, please feel free. I put it out there, I am a realist enough to know that not every question or story or little peek into my life is going to attract honey and roses...There's alot of opinions out there, some not always so nice....
Here's my opinion or " take" on some of the not so nice comments that have been posted on my blog by a person, concerning my hooking progress...
I am a TYPE A personality, but I try to hide it behind a sweet exterior and jovial personna....I am the quickest to rip myself up one side and down the other when critiquing my work. Sometimes with good reason, others at the hand of the critical person inside me that just can never quite get it " good enough".
I was raised in a certain environment, where there was a constant drive to do better. To be all that you can be, and better. I'm referring to Catholic School of course...I love it though....Within those walls of strict rules and consistent attention to striving for pefection, I felt I had nowhere to go but up. Most people are like that though, If you are surrounded by standards of excellence, unless you are truly rebellious, you will rise to the level of wherever your personal bar has been set.
All philosophy aside, I actually welcome the comments and helpful direction that this person has given about my hooking. There is a part of me that says, " take it easy on me, I AM just starting out, and it is supposed to be enjoyable !!", but another part of me says " If I raise the bar to this standard, maybe I can acheive this level of success in my technique...SOME DAY !"..
I will though, draw the line, when it comes to comments, that attack the lovely folks and my blogging friends that want me to stay motivated by gentle suggestion , and encouraging compliments. Like the mother in me says...dish it all you want to me, but leave my kids out of it !!!....lol
So...I posted another pic of my progress on my rug. I haven'y " fixed" uneven loops ...yet .... I have probably made tons of mistakes in regards to my hooking technique, but let me say this ...I am enjoying the experience as I go...I AM learning...I WILL get better with more practice...I am taking all helpful hints into consideration...but I have to accept that I am not going to be perfect, maybe I will never be truly successful in rug hooking as far as going to the heights of it becoming an award winning art form for me .....That's ok ....But ,I won't ever disregard useful information either....
Last comment : If I were paying BIG MONEY for hooking lessons, I would at least rather throw my money to someone who has a kinder, gentler way of saying I'm doing a crappy job !!!....lol
And ending on a more fun note...I got my plethora of overdyed wool I ordered on Ebay ..


Awesome wool !! some of the colors are a bit brighter than they looked in the pictures, but I'm ure some of you can give me "polite" tips on how to tone it down a bit ....lol
Have a constructive, creative day !!
Robin

Bunny Rug Begginning ...hmmmm

I'm not real sure my mind is made up whether I am liking this so far...I love the color wools that were gifted to me, but I'm not working them right ??

I am happy however with the skill level I've nudged my way too...I am starting to get the hang of the even loops and not hooking so tight. I AM Loving hooking, that is a positive !! I can't wait to get better, and learn some new skills...color planning is a challenge for me... But I guess that all works out in time..Tell me I'm right please ??
Hugs,
Robin

Experimenting Dyeing wool with Rit Dye...

I have been reading alot of blogs and tutorials about dyeing wool with Rit dye instead of the cushing or other dyes used specifically for wool. The lady from the shop where I purchased some hand dyed wool insisted that you can dye wool with just about anything from food coloring and kool aid to onion peels.( yuck, does it stink ??...lol)
So here is what I did... First off, I had purchased an old blanket from Salvation Army years ago. It was probably a full size. I had washed and dried it right away, but it was just an ugly pinkish tan color, I never wanted to use it for anything.
I didn't had red or yellow dye , just tan, brown, black, royal blue, orange and hunter green.
I cut the blanket up into smaller manageable pieces, and I also had to other types of a very gaudy red wool I wanted to tone done.
I soaked all my pieces in just a squirt of cascade rinse for dishwashers. This, I've read does something to the wool to make it more porous to accept the dye...The rit dye isn't acidy ??? like the others like Cushings, so this increases the color absorption. I added about 1/4 cup white vinegar to the color bath, and 1/4 cup vinegar to the rinse water also.
The problem with the old blanket was that it didn't want to accept the dye enough to cover what little color it had, until I added almost too much of each color I was using.The green that I had was hunter green..I had originally intended to add a small amount of that and a bit of tan to make kind of a sage color. Didn't work, I ended up using too much hunter and tan and it ended up almost like a black green....
The two different types of red wool started to bleed alot in the pre-soak, so I added just a hint of orange and a dash of tan and it came out almost a nice deep brick red.



Oh, I found a piece of real light tan and added that to the blue with a touch of tan...That piece came out nice, but I had to add more blue for the blanket piece to dye up and it came out too dark of a blue...






Well..all together, I'd say it was a learning process, and I'm happy with the fact that at least now I have some nice big pieces of wool that are at least some not too bad usable colors....
I will be looking for more wool skirts and jackets from the thrift stores and trying other colors and shades out...I think it was fun !! I have sore arms though from all the wringing out, but I did throw it in the washer for quick spins as I went along,to get the last bit of excess liquid out of the pieces...
Good Night !
Robin

Wool Pouch and Punch Needle For Sale...

I had hoped to add this wool pouch with the sheep punch needle I did up from my Freebie Doodle that was in the Feb. Newsletter from Primitive Handmades
Mercantile, but I had so many distractions and visitors, including Grandsons, I just said heck, I'll put it up for sale on my blog.wow, just realized what a long sentence that was...lol

If you would like this freebie doodle, go over to PHM and sign up for the newsletter...If you don't get a link to complete the sign up, letme know here as a comment under this post and I will send you the newsletter...

SOLD THANK YOU

Primitive Handmades Mercantile Update..and sneaky peek...

Here is a sneaky peek at a punch needle piece, that I had hoped to finish up by Midnight for the update...I had company in and out all day and evening ??? No special occasion ??
Here's another sneaky well, hint...If you havent already signed up for our newsletter...get on over and do it...you get a FREEBIE DOODLE for this month...
So...go check out all of our new goodies for February...Our theme for this month was, Spring, Sheep, Presidents.....
go....whatcha waitin' for ??lol.....oops here's the link :
Click On The Banner to go check out the updates !

Blessings....and a booboo.....

Have you ever had a "Godwink" moment ?? I've had so many I can't count...I'll bet you have to...
Saturday I was working on a rug..Nothing fancy, just a design I threw together from one of my old doodles, but spaced elements apart to make it roomier for me to hook...
It just so happens to have a beeskep in it.... I hooked the flowers first and thought I had the wool picked out for the beeskep, but the more I looked at it, it was too orangey.
I began to search through all of my wool, but didn't have anything that I thought looked right. All of my tans were too light and blah...


As I sat here pondering what to do, my thoughts turn to quick prayers for help picking out the right color....
Next thing I know, the mailman is at my door with a package..hmmm, I didn't order anything.
I see that it is from a fellow blogger, Carolyn. She had asked a few days before , to email her my address...she was up to a surprise, but I didn't know what, but wasn't thinking anything would come so soon....
Inside, was wool strips....wonderful, beautiful wool strips..They were separated in nice plastic baggies and looked so wonderful...Guess what was amongst them ?? Theeeee perfect tan checked wool strips !! God is sooo good, isn't He ??
She had hooked up the cutest little round coaster with a primitive bunny...And, when you see the pic ( the pic was taken of course after I've dumped all the wool strips out and dug through to get the tan and muddy brown for the background on my rug...), you need to read the tag that was included inside the bag of the TAN STRIPS..isn't that awesome ?


!!! Thank you sooo much Carolyn !! And like I said, your gift was Godsent !!!!
Well...later in the evening, hubby had gone to the store to pick up a few groceries...weather was horrible, snowing like crazy and I was all involved hooking my rug. I had chosen a wool from my re-cycled wool to do the accent inside the beeskep. I didn't really need much, and actually, I was cutting strips as I needed them.
***WARNING WARNING*** if the sight of blood makes you sick, DON"T SCROLL DOWN !!!!
Why didn't anyone ever tell me that you are supposed to keep your fingers away from the blade of the rotary cutter while you are cutting your wool ??? Hmmmm?
This what happens when you are careless like me.....

I had to call for my daughter Taylor to come help me....The second it happened, I pulled my finger out of the way and blood went all over my shirt , down my arm...I knew it wasn't just a nick ( I had done that already the week before cutting some larger pieces for a wool applique piece) The Blade was brand spankin new !!I just bought it the week before !!!Guess where the piece of my finger was ?? Still on the blade !!! The blade was so sharp and it happened so fast, there wasn't even a drop of blood on the cutter or the chunk of my fingertip...weird. And this wasn't just the top layer of skin, it was alot deeper...It would not stop bleeding..I am a nurse, I did everything, cold damp rag, direct pressure, held my arm up high....I didn't have band aids so I called hubby at the store, to pick some up..Why ? he asks ...when I tell him, he told me to stop !! He was getting sick and woozy there in the store on the phone with me.....lol
Did you know that your pointer finger has a pulse of it's own ?? Well after cutting it, you can really feel it !!...lol
Of course, it did finally stop bleeding, hubby came home with band aids and I could finally remove the homemade dressing Taylor had made me out of a paper towel and first aid tape.I cleaned it, put a thin laer of neosporin on the band aid and covered it...What did I do next you ask ?? Cleaned off the rotary cutter blade ( no blood but I'm sure there was some of my DNA on it...lol )Inspected the wool for any blood ( clean as a whistle),and finished cutting my piece of wool.... I started hooking my rug again, but this time, I looked like I was at a fancy tea party, but I'm holding up my index finger instead of my pinky.... :)
My boo boo doesn't look too bad today, but it does hurt still..I was afraid to scrub the blood completely out from under the nail..( you can see it in the pic) it really does hurt and I a afraid of nicking the cut....lol

Sorry for the gruesome details, but I thought most of you could appreciate it, allthough, hopefully you move your finger out of the way before cutting fabric or wool with a rotary cutter.
I think he is a criminal ... I happened to find the culprits "mugshot".....lol

Hugs,
Robin

These lovely ladies are at it again !!!

These were punched by Rebecca(goodwool)
Don't you just love how Rebecca uses the earth tones ?
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These are punched by Doris(luv2punch)




Just look at these punched goodies from a few of my favorite ladies that I am in AAPG group with. Maybe you likey what you see and go bid on their super punched pieces !!
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Finished up a few things for the Update on Primitive Handmades Mercantile on the 17th...I am going to be transferring a design onto my linen as soon as I finish this post , to start a new hooked piece to add to the update..So, you probably won't even see it until then..Hey, a girl's gotta leave something to the imagination....lol
Good night..sweet dreams ...
Robin

New "Oh Spring" Punch Needle Pattern fnished !

Oh Spring Punch Needle


Wonderful Folky punched piece for Spring decorating or year round. Done in all soft colors and ...

Price: US$5.00




Just a quick post to add my new pattern...All done !
Thank you for the kind comments about the design !!

New punch needle pattern, and another talented lady...

I've been working on this piece since last Thursday.. It was another one of those punch, tear out, punch, give up, re-draw the pattern, start all over again....I'm learning alot by trial and error about the dimensons and placement of elements in my doodles, to make them easier to use for punch needle...I started out drawng my doodles just for the purpose of doing stitcheries. In that case, it's much easier to stitch up just about anything , no matter how small or crowded ....

I would like to see how I can better adapt my designs for rug hooking...But, I guess I better start doing more hooking for that to happen....lol

As soon as I finish this post, I will be finishing up the pattern for this punch needle entitled, " Oh Spring" ...

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Now...This gals punched pieces, are superb ! Her work is just so wonderful ! Every piece I've seen her punch is so perfect !

Chris of mysticalprimitives is a true artist !

I'll have a few more wonderful items by some of my other favorite ladies tomorrow...

A new FREEBIE ! and Some other talented gals...

I have been at it, drawing again...I'm working on a new punch needle pattern for Spring...When I finished this up, I wanted to see it colored in...then I decided to offer it as a freebie...It may not be to everyone's liking, not really primitive per say....don't worry, I've got more doodles in my head....lol
Here is the plain line drawing:

Here is a pic of a super sweet wool applique pillow, made from one of the designs in my "Thyme for Valentine " Doodle Booklet.
It's by Roberta of Cottonwood Lane Primitives



And, here is a stitched pillow by Pam of Beverly's Garden
I'm teeling ya, she does wonderful work...Make sure you check out her other stitched pillows !



Gotta get back to work...
Hugs,
Robin

See my new header ?? Reminder, stop by the PHM...

Hello everyone... How are you this fine Wednesday February 1st ? We had a high temp of 60 degrees here in Erie, Pa, yesterday...That is almost unheard of for what they call " The Mistake On The Lake " . It really isn't...Erie is a beautiful city. We are actually the 3rd largest city in Pa. , bigger than Harrisburg, the state capital.
We have Presque Isle, it is natural Penninsula right off the Shore in Erie, and it has beautiful beaches... oh well, AS I was saying, Erie is usually in Competition with only 1 other city for the Golden Shovel Award on ABC Good Morning America, and that is Buffalo, NY ...So, yesterdays weather was a fluke..Today, rainy, but not too cold...40's...

Did you see my new header ? That is just one of the designs that is included in my New Spring Doodle Booklet.. I colored it in , and added it for the header..I found the closest color background on http://hotbliggityblog.com/
Just getting a little bit ahead of myself, and welcoming spring...It will be here before we know it..Look how fast January went by ??

And, that brings me to my Reminder about Primitive Handmades Mercantile . In just 16 more days, we will be updating , with all new handmades, and created with a theme including at last one of these themes: Sheep Presidents Early Spring ... We have added 5 new artists that will be showcasing their talent !
And, don't forge, if you sign up for the newsletter, you will have access to exclusive freebies, discounts and giveaways that will be only for the subscribers to the newsletter.

Here are a few Goodies that are still available for sale, before the next update, and they are gone.
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Kathy of Woolfind's Keepsakes



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Teresa of Teresa's Primitive Treasures


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Lori of Homespun Prims By Lori



Have a great Day everyone !!