Saturday, November 29, 2008

Random Dye Thoughts............


Finally, recovering from a bug and catching up from the holiday, so back to the creative talk..lol.

First, something fun I like to do. When I place an order for Cushings, I like to pick up the dye chart and just pick something I have never used. You know a BLING color, those colors that are rarely used in a recipe. It is fun, and I have found some really great colors this way. For example, I love Bright Green, I love it over dark brown texture's. It is also nice to use Bright Green with any red, it works well as a drabber in a red recipe. Another color I like is Orange, I use it often with brown dyes or over a brown wool. Old Rose is very pretty when used with a brown, great for a primitive floral. Burgundy and Maroon are some other's to try for something different, they are very dark, so beware.

Let's talk gray. You know any Cushings gray will act as a drabber for a wool that has gone a bit bright. Do you need a good gray, say for a background?? Or for an animal in a rug?? Don't have a gray? Make your own by mixing a brown and a blue.

Tan will tone down a shade that is too vivid too. I like my colors prim and muted, but I don't like a nowhere color. I like colors that go easy on the eye's, but not one's that say nothing, a color should sing to you, otherwise put it back in the dye pot and try again.

Even though Cushings has some fabulous green's, sometimes I like to make my own by mixing blue and yellow. This is how I come up with new shades, otherwise I find them looking too much alike. Any yellow/gold, brown, and a touch of red dye will give you a nice new orange too. The fun can be what if??? You choose any brown, yellow, and red, as matter of fact try two different recipes using 6 these colors and compare them.

Bronze Green is great alone to dye a wonderful ruch warm green. Oh how I love green, must be all of the tree's I hook! LOL!

If you click on "All those extra wool strips," The poinsettia rug above is one where I used the re-dyed strips in the background. The directions are in the other post. You can click the photo and get a closer look.

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Cornucopia


I hope everyone had a cornucopia full of joy today!!!

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Seasoning?

I am the cook in the family! Saying I love to cook would be a stretch, but I don't mind and do an OK job. I'd much rather be hooking or sewing! Now every year by the time I get to the store, they are always out of poultry seasoning, or they have the mini container that cost about six dollars. So I went on one of those site's for substitutions, etc.. I just love those. Anyhow, I am going to just whip up a little batch of my own and wanted to share the ingredients here. For poultry seasoning a general list of spices and herbs are: Sage, Thyme, Pepper, Majoram, and optional additions are: Parsley and Rosemary. Add or subtract to taste. Enjoy! More Dyealogue, hopefully tomorrow!

Monday, November 24, 2008







Tiffany (Tippy) is our seal-point and Muffin (Pookey) is our blue-point. I name them and my hubby re-names them..lol!

Pet Thyme!

He was sleeping under the Christmas tree in the last photo. It was a pic from last year, no we don't have the tree put up yet this year...lol! I just took this picture of Nibbly tonight, such a character I tell you!!! LOL!! If he looks ornery it is becasue he is! haha! We love him!

We also love our girl's, we have 2 Himalayans, they are older than our kids! Our bunny adores them, but he just kind of aggravates them...lol!!

Saturday, November 22, 2008

My Turkey Rugs!!











Have you planned your Thanksgiving meal yet?? Even though I am practically a vegetarian, I do like a "little" meat on the the holiday's. I have kind of evolved into a vegan over the years, just kind of lost my taste for meat for several reasons. Give me a heaping spoon of sweet potatoes, and sweets....oh yeah! To celebrate our upcoming holiday, I am posting photo's of some of my past turkey rugs! The last one is a wonderful design by my friend Angela Jones of Breezy Ridge Rugs. I used some vintage paisley's to hook this one.
If you have never hooked or worked with old or new wool paisley, I recommend it! FUN! I bought a wonderful Talbot's paisley skirt on ebay for less than $10, I always throw a piece of it into my dye baths to have some in every shade. It is just a fun way to add a vintage BLING to your wool handiwork!

The rest of these turkey rugs are my own design's and pattern's, if you would ever like to purchase any of my pattern's you see, just let me know!!

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Inspiration and Mr. Nibbles.........

Who was the inspiration for this rug?? My love of tree's and..... our bunny- Nibbles, I hope to post a video of him, he does the funniest things sometimes, like run circles around the kitties!

Monday, November 17, 2008

Who is your best friend???

Ok, so I added a music player thingy to my blog. UGH! I know! I have a love/hate thing going on with those! You must hear Mary J Blige "Peace" if you have never heard it!! I love the old song "My Best Friend," makes me think of my husband!! Just wondering who your best friend is and if you have song's that remind you of them?? Gee Whiz, who are those kids in the photo???LOL!

Sunday, November 16, 2008

"Oh Penny Tree"


My Latest creation. Just listed on ebay.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

All of those extra wool strips!!


What can we do with all of those extra strips??? Dye them!

Thanks a bunch to everyone who has commented on my blog, etc.. I appreciate it!

There are only so many Hit & Miss projects, and borders to use your "extras" in right?? I always need more antique black for backgrounds. I love a mixed look, not a solid color, but lots of variation. So what I like do is take a mixed bunch of strips. I have some divided by color, but I always have several "strays" of all colors in a bunch.

***You may want to start with a small pot of strips and see if you like the outcome first, then go back and repeat the process if you do.

There will be few casualties, and you will loose a few strips, but you will have several you can use in an upcoming project. I say you will loose a few because some will become overfelted and too thick to hook with. Some wool can be dyed more than once and not end up too thick, others with fatten up too much. You can always use those strips unfit for hooking to stuff pillows, etc...

Use enough strips to almost fill your pot, I throw them in my pot and see how many I can get in, then I remove them. Fill your pot with water and bring it to a boil. Once boiling turn it down and stir in your favorite black dye recipe. A good one to use is one that combines all of the primary colors, this way you won't end up with a pile navy blue or dark green strips, etc..
Since I am not sure how big your pot is, let me give you a general idea on how much and a recipe, but please adjust as you see fit. For a medium pot, let's use equal parts of Cushings, say 1/4 teaspoon of Khaki, Golden Brown, and Black for a total of 3/4 tsp. of dye. Stir these dyes in your pot and turn the heat way back, this will prevent too much over felting of your wool. Now add your strips. Stir a bit and watch them for awhile. Pull your strips up with your spoon, do you need more dye, is one shade showing up more than you would like?? If say the khaki is going too green, add some Mahogany or any red. If they are not dark enough you may need to mix up another batch and add it to your pot. Add vinegar when you are satisfied with the shade in your pot.

You can hand rinse your strips, or I usually go ahead and run them through the warm/cool rinse cycle, and then machine dry them. Hopefully, you will end up with a nice collection of mottled and varied antique black strips you can use. You should have nice deep interesting mix of black.


Another way to do this is........say you have a bunch of dirty white's, but you actually need a nice mix of mustards. Just follow these directions, but use your favorite mustard recipe over your dirty's for a great selection of mustards. A good mustard is a mix of Mummy Brown and Gold. Have fun!!!!!

I am adding a photo of a rug I just finished using strips I re-dyed in the background.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Let's start a dye - dialogue or a dyealogue.


Ok, let's talk color! I think about color, well most of my waking hours! I think most rug hookers are always looking for a good background color. My favorite is a black/brown. One of my favorite ways to get brown is by mixing plum with any yellow or gold. This is Cushings or any dye you choose. If you want it darker use a bit more plum and if you want a very warm shade of brown use a bit more of your yellow or gold. Gold will make it very warm. Try it first by using a 1/16 of a yard of any wool. Get a glass jar, fill it 3/4 full of water and heat it in your microwave for about 3 minutes. Carefully remove it, set it in your sink and mix in your dyes, then add your wool. Let's use 1/64 of Plum and 1/64 of Yellow for a light to medium brown. Use equal parts 1/32 of each for a darker brown. This is good way to use up extra purple dye!!!LOL!!!

I like the basic Cushings brown's but also like unique ways to get to brown. It tends to get rid of the blah...oh no not that color again!!! LOL!! If you don't have purple or plum, just mix a blue and a red together. I would use say Sky Blue and Scarlet. But this is the fun part, just get in that dye box and pick 2, it is only a small piece of wool... Once you have the dye combo that you like, dye larger pieces. I added the picture of my Abe Lincoln to show you his beard. I had a yellow/gold wool texture, I dyed it with plum and came up with his beard color. So you can do this on an undyed piece using yellow and plum or over a previously dyed piece using the missing color. No reason you could not take a piece of purple wool and over dye it with gold to get a brown. More dye-alogue soon!

Sunday, November 9, 2008

New week!

Are we all ready to start a new week??? Just think it is about 2 weeks until Thanksgiving!! We just decided on ham and turkey. I am the cook in the family, so I better start gathering the recipes and ideas quickly. I learned to cook from the very best, my grandma Rose! My hero! The nicest and most giving woman I have ever known. She lived in a very small town here in Indiana, worked full time, raised 5 kids, tended to grandpa, made all of her own drapes and such. A wonderful cook, she managed to win the Pillsbury Bake-Off TWICE!!! The 1st win took her and my grandpa to New York, and the second trip they got to travel to Hawaii. I am still so proud of her and miss her so much! I try to do her recipes justice! Her second bake-off win was for Apple Crisp, her winning idea was that she used coconut cream pudding in the topping. Just the dry mix in with the basic topping ingredients. You should try it, very yummy!!

Burgundy Sweet Annie!


Have you seen this burgundy Sweet Annie?? I just love it!! Got it on ebay, where I get many of my prims and bobbins!haha!

Bobbins!


Maybe someday I will get over my bobbin thing!! Well, maybe not! I don't know what it is...just got a new shipment yesterday, fabulous collection of oldies, but goodies! I imagine all kinds of creations displayed on them. Maybe it is my love of antiques, or a recycling thing! LOL!! Watch for more, because if I can get it on a bobbin, I will!!! Peace and Old-time Happiness to all!