Icicles in March Meshness!

Mother Nature decorated a pine tree in our front yard while we slept last night. It appears she worked all night hanging the conical shaped little ornaments more commonly know as icicles.  Well, I hate to be the one to inform ya Mom Nature but you are a few months behind or ahead of yourself.  Could have used these free decorations around December.  These shots were taken this morning March 25th. 







On a more warm and inviting note, things have been progressing along here in my well lit studio.  Seems the new lighting Dave installed out there has given me more energy to get drawing up some patterns.  Or maybe it's just that I can finally  SEE what I am doing without the Ott Lamp hovering over my head!
In the photo below I am working on transferring a pattern onto linen.  The rug pattern is one I designed called Mary's Garden.  Mary actually requested that I design and make this rug sometime last year I think late summer.  Well...... as you can see I'm a lot like Mother Nature.  I tend to ignore what season it is and when the creative urge strikes that's when I finally get around to doing my creating.  But to be truthful it's probably due to procrastination more than anything.


The material I'm using to transfer my pattern is soft plastic drywall mesh.  It has a nice self adhesive backing and you can see through it.  I purchased it on Ebay about three or four years ago.  The seller I purchased from is no longer selling it.  I checked the local stores here that carry building supplies and would have had to special order it.  But you can Google (life would end without Google, no?)  drywall mesh and find several places that sell the rolls.  The size of my roll is 38 inches by 150 feet.  I just cut the amount I need and lay my paper pattern underneath and  trace onto the mesh. Peel it off ( nothing sticky or  anything remains) and stick it on to your fabric backing.  Trace away.  It's way better than red dot tracer or anything because it holds your pattern in place and stays there. Then you can keep your pattern and use it over and over and over and over.....
Thank me later if you ever try this stuff.  If you do finely detailed rugs it may prove a little more difficult for the finer lines because of the density of the mesh.  But you could go back and fill those in free hand.  


I hope this is useful information for those of you that do a lot of pattern designing and transferring of patterns.  It has made that task for me a little less daunting.  But sad to say it hasn't helped the procrastination side of me one bit. 
Cathy G

Ready for Visitors!

Oh my goodness!!  It's been WAY too long since I've been here to visit with you!  I apologize and to hopefully make it up to you I am posting a lot of photos!  Dave and I have been working our tail ends off getting ready for a mini open house for my students!   Yay!  Walls needed washing( wood stove smoke doesn't come off easily- yuk!), new lighting needed wiring, fresh paint on the walls( still isn't done!) curtains needed hanging, wool needed sorted and dyed (my aches and pains are still in high gear!)  and and and.......
Okay, you get the drift.   I am lucky to have an expert wool dyer and good friend Jill Holmes from North Woods Wool who helped me out!  Jill sells kits, hand dyed wool, applique kits, patterns on her website and travels to shows including Sauder Village.  She teaches kids with special needs and autism. And has a new (6 mo.) Grandson to cuddle!   I am sooooooo very lucky she loaned me some hand dyed wool and beginner kits to help out until my students get their feet on the ground.  As it turns out I think I am the one who needs to get my feet on the ground! LOL
That gorgeous rug in my header pic is hooked by Jill! Look at her hooking!  She whips her edges with such beautiful precision!  And to think I have never whipped a rug to this day.  I think I am going to give it a try soon.  
So without further chatter I am going to let you view the pics of the studio and the breezeway leading into the studio.  That is where the luxurious hand dyed wool and a few odds and ends ended up.  Soon I hope the girls will come and find their next new rug hooking project.   They better hurry up and get here because you know how I am around any freshly dyed wool that is lying around!   LOL!  Keep me away from that cutter!

                                                     Cathy G

Ten Hookers Hooking!

This is a very quick post letting you know the second session of my rug hooking class was crazy great!! I cannot say enough about what a wonderful group of ladies I have been blessed with for my very first experience of teaching  rug hooking!   There are a couple of students missing in the photo.  I think April got cut off the pic and Patty couldn't make it that night.
Those attending and letting their creative abilities soar were: Mary, Dee, Francis, Betty, Eva, Nancy Jean, April, Jamie, and Cora.  I had to quickly take a couple of photos as I was busy helping and flying around the room!   Wait til you see what wonderful things were being done for first projects!  I was astounded at what simply giving them the wool, a hook and backing stapled to a frame what each student designed within a five inch square!   More photos to come as they progress!

I am making progress too on the new little ditty I designed last week.  I'm using hand torn strips for the background and number eight cut for the flowers and tongues.  Slipped a little hand cut strip of Terra Cotta color into the tongues.  It's going really quickly and hopefully will have it ready to steam and bind. This will part of the class Wed. night.

Now I have to put my mind and hands to work deciding how to handle and keep the momentum going for all of these ladies to continue on and be the great hookers they are destined and want to be!   Obstacles or should we call them challenges will be to find cutters, frames and wool.  I have irons in the fire  for some of it and still working on outlets for other things!   As Spring slowly approaches here in Northern WI ten new  hooker chics have been born!  They will need nurturing and tender care and a steady diet of hand dyed wool!  Lets hope this old mother hen is up to her new challenge of caring for her brood!

Class Is In Session

It's almost time for the second class session! It's tomorrow night and I haven't even brought you up to speed on the first one!   It's been a blur and flurry of thoughts and crazy emotions, but most exciting!
I have TEN lovely students.  ALL sweethearts!  It started with six who signed up but during the time I began to set up, things started to happen.  It seems my rugs caused quite a stir! (blushing here).... In fact one lady passing my room on her way to Zumba class, came in for a look and to make a long story short decided she had to take MY class and scrapped the Zumba class!  Oh my!   I hope  the Zumba teacher doesn't come looking for me tomorrow night!  Yikes.  In case you're wondering what Zumba is..... it's a dance work-out set to Latin inspired music!   From dance to rug hooking!  Hmmmmm.... I guess my rugs must be pretty exciting!  LOL!
A couple more students had signed up just hours before the class began and a friend told a friend.... So we now have ten!Of course I was caught without enough supplies. But kindness prevailed and all were willing to wait until this week to start on the projects.  There were so many questions and having a classroom full of students who don't want to miss a thing was truly inspiring for me!  The dyed wool was a huge hit! Also the questions flew about where, how and the price of frames and cutters!  One student inquired whether there was such thing as an electrified cutter as cutting the strips a couple at a time on my Bliss cutter seemed quite the chore.  I assured her that yes, there is an electrified apparatus available.  However at least to start with she may not want to cut all her available wool into strips!  Such enthusiasm!  I hope there continues to be all the excitement and wonder and craving to learn as we get into the nitty gritty of putting hook through backing!
I don't know if it's from all the excitement this past week or what but I have had a few days of not feeling the greatest.  One big ache from head to toe! The thyroid may be out of whack or something.  Maybe it's the weather!  It's still COLD and more white s#@* predicted for tomorrow.  Depressing to say the least. So I did start a little Spring decorating in the breezeway which leads to my studio.  In my header photo you'll notice the empty space upbove the shelf.  Well, I decided it needs a little rug there so I designed a new little ditty with simple flowers and tongues on the bottom border.  I'm planning soft antique blues and browns.  Trying to tame the brights as you know is very hard for me.... Mrs. Orange Sink!
Well, I must part for now.  Have to go crack the whip after Mr. Orange Sink to get him going on the four more frames I need for tomorrow night.  I think he has them almost done!   I need a cup of hot tea to warm my bones so I can get going on drawing the rest of the patterns.  Boy, I sure hope those extra hooks come in tomorrows mail or I am going to have to carve some for class...... just kidding!
Enjoy your day and tell your loved ones how much you love them!
Cathy G