• Use your scrap bag, not just the colors from the center
• Be sure add neutrals
• Hook a crooked line every few inches and then fill the area between.
• Decide if you are hooking complete lines from one end to the other or partial lines.

Conquest of Queen Anne Rug Hooking Pattern
A wonderful primitive floral with style. This pattern is large enough to make a statment and can be hooked in large cuts. The outside hit and miss border is a great place to use up scraps.
Size: 51.5" x 36" - choose your backing below.
Price: $75

Special thanks to Mary McMaster for the photos.

Sherry Sayles, Elkhart, IN

I love the unusual choice of color for the sky. Notice that it is still lighter at the horizon which helps with the realism.  The method Sherry used to hook the pine trees is described in my book, Pine Trees, Grass and Sky. The trees in the foreground have more detail and more variance in color than those in the background.

Can’t you just imagine sipping your coffee on the porch in the morning and catching lunch in the stream?  Great job, Sherry.

Note: Sherry, Did you give this rug a name?

Bea Brock, my teacher this year

I decided I wanted to use very bright colors. I had picked up a few treasures from Gail Dufresne in June at the Manistee Camp and I wanted to use them right away.

Some of the great colors I am using -- at least what is left after 3 days of hooking.

Creekside Blossoms designed by Bea Brock

Sauder Village has four teachers this year, Bea Brock, Gene Shepherd, Jane Halliwell Green, and Helen Jeffrey.  I will be teaching next year with Susan Quicksall, Jeanne Field, and Jen Lavoie.  This is the first time I will be teaching at Sauder Village, but I have attended as a student for the last 11 years.  I will post pictures of the show in my next post.  It is unbelievable.

These are the 3 treasures that I purchased from Tish:


Babooshka Woman (my name not Tish’s) is MIA. I think she saw this as her chance and took a walk about. I hope she came home with me but I haven’t seen her since the night before we left.

I fell in love with the pin idea because you can get it done in a short time frame and it is very portable. You can read more about Tish’s pins in Rug Hooking Magazine issue June/July/August 2009 page 58.

Here’s the face pins I hooked during the week. Their faces are a bit misshapen because they are not fully hooked yet.

Face Pins hooked by Cindi Gay

Here’s another face I did during the week.

It is a bit larger and another challenge because it is a softer child’s face and not an imaginary person. I started this pattern several years ago at Sauder Village Rug Camp with Abby Vakay. I kept it mostly traditional but I did add some of the glitz and non-wool fibers that Abby was teaching in the dandelion blossoms.

I’ll post the finished pins when I get them done.

I’ll post more about the class next week. Right now I am sitting in a Pizza Hut in western Michigan somewhere off I-96. After being delayed about 20 minutes by construction, I heard a ping and a thud. After a few moments I realized I had a flat tire. Took AAA about an hour to get there and to change it. Belle Tire is predicting a 90 wait.

As they say, just when you think it is bad it can always get worse.

I needed to simply hook yesterday so I finished the flag.  I am happy with those colors.  For those of you curious, I am using the following wools for the flag:

R13 Brickhouse Red
I love this rich red with a slight touch of gold. Hooks almost like a solid. Coordinates easily with many other reds.
Available Qty: 9
Price: $23

White: W27, not on the website yet, but available as of the date of this posting.

Blue: Some prepared pieces available ($3.00 a strip), no yardage.

I also worked on the lettering.  As I explained before I always hook different sections of letters with different wools.  This gives me an idea of how each color will compliment the rug.  I also think I get bored, so by using different colors for the first pass, I get to play.  Lettering is always crisper if you hook it first, hook the background and then rehook the letters.  By the time I am ready to rehook, I’ll know exactly what color(s) to use.

The bee’s green legs are really blending with the yellow on the body.  It has to do more with value than anything else.  I may need to lighten the yellow.  I checked the shelves today and found one that will work, but I am going to try it first for the rope.  I really need to finish the bee wing, the flag behind the bee’s behind and the background under the bee.  When you make decisions to rip out and change out wools too soon you often waste time.  Get it completely hooked.  That is the only way to know for sure.

One possible fix would be to leave the outline around the yellow spaces and change just the fill with a lighter yellow.  In many spots this will be just one row.  It will keep the richness of the current yellow but give a bit of lightness that may help to show up the bee’s arms.

I need to find something for the gun this afternoon.

I changed the yellow on the bee to a brighter and darker color.  You can still see my first choice on the head of the bee.  The two stripes on the body are the new color.  Not sure if I will change the line on the flag.  I’ll get background around it before I change it.  Because the rope on the rug is not a focal point, it might be better to have something lighter that will blend slightly into the background.  It makes no sense to change it now.

I started some of the lettering.  I used the gold from my initial choice on the rope because I had it sitting around.  Lettering is always crisper and fresher if you hook it, hook the background around it and then rehook the letters.  Because I will be rehooking it anyways, it really does not matter what color I use.  I typically test out several colors during this process.  Hooking several letters in the possible colors will make it a snap to make the final decision.  Use any colors that come to mind.  Sometimes the least expected choice is the right one.  If you don’t try them all, you will never find the best one.

I’m still not sure on the rope, but I’ll keep trying combinations until I find something that I am happy with.  As I get more done, the combination I have may be just fine.  This is where the you have to “earn the right to rip it out.”  Only when I run out of rope to experiment on will I rip out what I already have hooked.  By then, I will have more of the background hooked so the rope will look different.

I hooked a bit of each color so I could make adjustments as soon as possible.  This method is not new for me, this is how I hook every new rug.  The exception is my room-sized rug but I had already figured out the colors first by hooking stair risers and footstools.

The blue plaid is not working – it is too dark.  See the area next to the rope on the left.  Luckily, I found an overdyed check that is the right value.  This is hooked across the bottom.  That’ll do.

I’ve tried a few different things with the rope border.  I tried outlining in the dark brown that I am using for the outer background.  If this had worked I would have had to figure out something else for the background in this area.  Still not sure if I have the right combination, but it works for now.  The best part so far is at the lower left next to the new background color.  I don’t have enough hooked to make a decision now.  I’ll have to get more of each background hooked first.

The yellow in the bee needs to be brighter.  I’m also going to grab a few other options for the wings.  I don’t think there will be enough difference when compared to the white stripe in the flag.  I am not hooking the black outline that allows the graphic to work, so I have to adjust the color.

The flag is fine but I will need either a lighter or darker green for the second value for the hat.

Notice how I’ve begun hooking the background.  I hook small curvy lines that remind me of puzzle pieces to make the loops disappear.  By hooking some of the background now, I will have less to hook later.

I guessed at the size but after putting the pattern on the end table it looked too small. My husband is not gentle on furniture and a mat on the end table will hide the scratches and prevent any new damage. I decided to print it again 2″ larger.

Now that one looked too large so I split the difference. . .

Now it is just right.  The rug fills the space but I still have room for the whipped edge and a row around the lettering.   I use this same sizing method if I am hooking a rug for a particular spot. Laying the pattern on the floor is the easiest way to judge if the size is right. It often takes several printings until I get it right.  I also analyze the pattern to be sure it is hookable. This one has a lot a detail. Dave will want the gun to look like a gun, the hammer to look like a hammer, etc. I will have to use some smaller cuts.

I pulled wools that I think will work. Since I will be stationary for a while, I’ll have to live with what I pulled (at least for a few days), but I’ve used most of these wools before so I am pretty sure they will work.

The ones on the left will be the major elements.  The dark around the circle to make the rug square, the 2 golds for the rope and B11, one of my newest favorites, as the background.  The logo is actually a bright turquoise blue, but I don’t think I could live with that.  This plaid is a good compromise.  In the center, the red, white and blue for the flag and above that the greens for the bee limbs, bright yellow for the body and a different white for the wings.  I will probably use the outer background wool for the black in the bee.  That wool is an old brown black that I have had in my stash for years.  The scraps on the right will be used for the various tools.

1 head broccoli
1 head cauliflower

Washed, drained and broken up into bite-sized pieces.

1 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 cup crisp, crumbled bacon or chopped ham
Raisins

Combine broccoli and cauliflower. Blend together mayonnaise and sugar. Fold mayonnaise mixture into vegetables. Add bacon or ham and toss gently.