Purple Rain Progress

I've been making progress on the great pattern, Purple Rain, that I took down to Cambria Pines Rug Hooking Camp in June. Would you believe that I'm finding the hills more challenging than the women's clothing?
I have no idea what colors I will be using for the rain drops hence the odd color place holders....

Thankfully, I can get away with "no face" faces on this rug!

A Day in the Studio...Making Rug Hooking Kits

A typical day in the studio....hooking, shipping, dyeing, tons of emails and, ocasionally, days devoted to making up rug hooking kits.
Good kits require a lot of time and planning but can be fun and creative too!




This beautiful collection of about 70 different colors and textures is destined to be hooked in to the wonderful Poppies design by Sharon Smith that I carry on my website.
This picture was taken during the later stages of planning....when I'm choosing the colors it's a much bigger mess. Wool everywhere!

All packaged up and ready to send off to the hooker who will turn this into a lively rug....

Project Planning

It's been so long since I've blogged.... you've probably thought I've forgotten all about you. Terribly embarrassing, but life just stays so busy!! I'll try to be better....

Earlier this summer I had the opportunity to go down to Cambria Pines Rug Hooking Camp for the first time. What a great week! Three of my friends from the Wine Country Rug Hookers ATHA Guild went as well and we had a fine time hooking, visiting and making new friends.

I chose one of the new patterns from Off the Hook Rugs that I'm carrying on my website, Purple Rain, to hook. You can find the pattern here: Purple Rain

Of course, this meant I had a lot of planning and preparation to do during the week before camp.

First, I photographed the pattern and printed out the photo. Next, I pulled out my trusty box of art pencils and, pretending to be a kid again, colored in most of the clothing. Then I spent an unusual day in the dye pots dyeing colors just for me! (I call this unusual because most of my dyeing is done for other people....it's rare that I take the time to dye specifically for myself.)

For the rest of the week, I pulled out different combinations of colors to use elsewhere in the rug, changing my mind frequently and heading back to the dye pots a couple more times. By the time I got on the Amtrak train to head down to Cambria I had a general idea of where I would start with the rug....

but there's always room for change!