Birdbrain

I took a great rug hooking course this month in borders with Wendie Scott Davies. (Read here to see one of the things that happened at rug school and you will get an idea about how much fun we had.) At any rate, we were to bring the centre of a rug to class and spend the week designing and hooking a border. I started with this and over the last month have finished what I am now calling Crows’ Choice. It’s interesting how a rug develops. We had some discussion about whether this tree and branches are actually a border–I think they are, but just to fulfill obligations, I put a single line around the outside to create a ‘real true’ border.

The crows represent the two voices in my head: the one on the left critical and cautious, the one of the right full of ideas and ready to take a chance. They have an ongoing battle while I work my way through any creative project. The tree? Well trees represent many things, I’ll leave that to you. And the leaves are the ideas and creative projects, 13 of them, my key number.

I really enjoyed working through this process of hooking what is in my head. And whether that trunk and those branches make a border, I’ll leave that up to you as well. Finished hooked piece is 30″ x 17″ and once it cools down, (the weather, not the rug) I’ll dye some yarn in the same yellow for whipping.

On my list for the summer is a series of hooked mats which capture the views from our small island.  This is the first, looking south west to the far shore with one lonely tree on a rocky outcropping. I used lots of textured yarn and really loved the feel and the sense of freedom that comes with it. I am already planning the next one, in a rectangular shape. I think I’ll do a watercolour sketch first so that I get a better sense of the big shapes. Sketching and rug hooking–perfect activities for a summer on the island.

Things have been very busy around here as our almost-three-year-old grandson has been staying with us for a few days. But after lights-out I found a little energy and time to hook the crows on Perfectly. If you read this blog regularly (thank you!) you know that this mat is for the Borders Class with Wendie Scott Davis in July. My last rug had the text as part of the border and for this mat the text is in the centre. So what will the borders be? I want to have an open mind going into the class and see what happens…but if you have any ideas, I’d love to hear them.

I’m almost half-way through the whipping of Annie. I’ve promised myself I will not post any photos until the job is complete, in another month, I hope.

But anyway, it’s time to start a new project. I’m part of a show at a local gallery next fall, so I thought it would be fun to hook my slogan, Perfectly Imperfect, with a couple of crows looking on. I’m taking a course in borders at our local college in July and we were to hook the centre of a rug and come prepared to design borders. So this little runner fits the bill for that too.

I’ve piled some colours that I think will work for the birds. I love to use over-dyed Pendleton shirts to get a variety of  values and shades. I’m soon going to start on the crows whom I already know are smarter than I am!