Old Prickly Pear at San Juan Bautista in Central California.

My husband, Kirby, and I decided to take off for a few days road trip and go see friends and the rug show at Cambria Pines Rug Camp. I’ve driven and ridden the trip several times down Hwy 101 to Paso Robles, then out to the coast to Cambria. We generally stop at San Juan Bautista for a picnic; it’s a dusty old California Mission town and something to see! An orchard fenced in with a brick and plaster fence has various fruit trees and includes a couple of old prickly pears. Look but don’t touch!

Big Sur view of cliffs and a bridge.

Since we were not in a hurry and enjoying the road trip; we decided to drive down Hwy 1 and see Big Sur. We were lucky with high fog and beautiful views.

Distant view of a 2 arch bridge in Big Sur.

It is a beautiful drive with plenty of pull offs so you can join all the other folks taking selfies and photographs. We met a young couple that were watching for whales. I’ll be back when I get a long lens for my camera. we’ll stay at one of the parks or possible a hotel; there were a few along the drive. A few people live up the hills, though not seen from the road; their mailboxes marked their presence.

‘Enigma’ rug hooked by Peg Richardson, 1992, adapted from newspaper illustration

It was great seeing friends and teachers at Cambria. The rug show included several original Elizabeth Black rugs, which Gene Shepherd had for sale. Most of them were quickly sold as soon as the rug show opened. I noticed another rug for sale by Peg Richardson. There was no price, but I was quite struck by the rug and decided to find out. It was a price I could afford and my musical husband thinks I bought it for him.

Rug information tag on the back side of our new rug.

Peg Richardson hooked the rug beautifully, in a #3 cut. The tiny outlines in textures add a sparkle and fine graphics. Peg is no longer alive, I found out, but she left us this information on her rug tag. I felt like buying the rug honored her and her fine workmanship. Now I’m looking for a good place to put it.

Old Broad Leaf Maple over looking Puget Sound

This big beautiful tree was part of the view from my classroom at Puget Sound Rug School, this past March. The location and spirit of this new rug school is phenomenal! It’s the new kid on the block… a rug school, not a rug camp. The difference is that each of the 3 teachers offers a subject which the whole class works on with their individual projects. A rug camp indicates open classes and a more casual atmosphere where campers socialize as much as learn. Oh, there is socializing at PSRS, but more after class than in class.

Black Pine and Gazebo at Puget Sound Rug School

A path around the grounds at the Dumas Bay Retreat Center in Federal Way, Washington, invites you to come outside and enjoy the elements! Lots of moisture in the Pacific Northwest and this Californian enjoyed it!

Mossy rocks lay across the grass on the south side of the walk

The moss reminded me of my younger days in Terrace, BC. There the moss in the forest is 4 or 5 inches deep; you can imagine Titania and her little fairy elves laying in their soft mossy beds.

View from the classroom

I took a few photos on the last day of class; this one shows the view from my classroom. You could see a ferry in the distance scooting back and forth from the mainland to the island directly across from water; which is actually a shipping channel with freighters traveling by. Tacoma is just south of Federal Way and has a big port where the freighters come and go. Puget Sound Rug School is easy to get to as it’s not far from SeaTac Airport. I drove up with my friend Gail Becker. She taught there the year before and knew the way.

Michele Wise and Laura Pierce at Puget Sound Rug School 2016 – photo by Ruth Scott

It was great fun having Michele in my class; she worked on 2 projects along with running her store in an alcove off the classroom. Next door was our dining and meeting room, where we had our meals, a daily shared happy hour, student sale, and slide show presentation. After dinner each night, we had a rug show by class. It’s always interesting to have the rug artist available for questions, comments and stories of the rugs they are showing. The other 2016 teachers were Diane Learmonth with Rugs like Georgia O’Keefe and Susan Feller with Elements and Principles of Design.

Rose’s Dad – photo by Ruth Scott

I certainly enjoyed teaching Portraits from beginning to end. I always work with students ahead of time, via emails; some more than others. In this class, several students came with photographs to be made into patterns. It was fun sharing the whole process, from selecting a photo, to scanning it, tracing it, enlarging it and finally putting it on backing. Then we hook the portrait; a daunting subject, but exciting to see the faces come to life! Of course, I hope my method gives each student the basics of portraiture and that after class, they feel comfortable hooking more portraits on their own.

Julie’s Dad – photo by Ruth Scott

Doing a portrait is like a visit. These 3 dads have passed away, but are certainly not forgotten; we enjoyed the stories their daughters shared. Now, I’m inspired to do a portrait of my dad!

Bev’s Dad – photo by Ruth Scott

We all get involved with each other’s portraits in a class like this. We had 3 dads, a mom, a brother, a daughter, a grandmother, a friend, 3 ‘selfies’, 2 husbands, a cubist nomad and a sheep!

Next year, the line-up is: Donna Hrkman with Steampunk & Portraits, Brigitta Phy with Wonderscapes, and Molly Colegrove with Turning your Rugs from Ordinary to Extraordinary! Puget Sound Rug School

Caswell Impression #16; Birds in nests

this is the first Caswell Impression square that I hooked… and i was determined to use a recycled brown plaid as the background. but it was funky… didn’t have the body of the beautiful wool… so I decided to ‘run out’ of it… ha! the Dorr Antique Black was a great substitute!

Caswell Impression #13

Letting the wool at hand guide me; i used a bright swatch i bought from Robin Price several years ago; she was selling off Gloria Grey’s stash. Part of the idea of hooking these Caswell Impressions is to give myself permission to go with the flow; use wool at hand and let it be the guide to the whole colour plan. I know my mother was inspired by her stash… wool and colours giving birth to inspiration. so far it’s a very fun adventure!

Caswell Impression #15

the lead wool in this one is the outlining; a spot I dyed over yellow textured wool. I love the graphics of these Caswell Squares… and outline and fill emphasizes the graphic quality. Zeurah fills her squares… so many lessons to be learned.  I couldn’t see what the bottom motifs were; I thought they might be seed pods.  when I looked on the Metropolitan Museum website:  http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/13576    I found out that they were flowers.  I pulled out what i had hooked in and put in the lovely pink little flowers… more in keeping with the whole square.

Caswell Impression #17 pattern

There are 77 squares including the Strawberry Basket panel in the Caswell Carpet. I’ve drawn up 40 of the patterns so far. I’ve decided to ask my friends for help completing all the squares. They are addictive… ha… you can’t just do one. I’m working on the Strawberry Basket panel and thinking about my next square… with the little rooster…

yes… once you get started, it’s hard to stop.  like a good book,  1 chapter after another… ha!

Caswell Carpet embroidered by Zeruah H Guernsey Caswell, 1832-1835

This carpet is part of our National Heritage, stashed away for safe keeping at the Metropolitan Museum. An impressive testimony to one American woman’s fiber art. Zeruah probably had the gift of time to chain stitch this room size carpet, and a long winter or 2 in Castleton, Vermont.

Caswell Impression #3 dwg by Laura Pierce

This past summer, I spent many days sitting with my mother. Sometimes Emma would drift off to sleep and I liked to have something to do, to occupy those times. I took a photo copy of the ‘Caswell Carpet’ and copied several blocks in ink… nothing perfect, just quick drawings.

Caswell Impression #8 long dwg by Laura Pierce

I scanned the sketches, cleaned them up and came up with several patterns; some square and some rectangular. I couldn’t wait to get them on linen and start to hook!

Caswell Blue Jay by Laura Pierce

Wine Country Rug Hookers sponsored a workshop with Kris Miller earlier this month… I took my Caswell bird pattern and hooked a Blue Jay! I looked for visuals on the internet and found that Blue Jays have lots of lively blue turquoise in their wing and tail feathers! It was a fun hook using scraps of blues in #6 cut. Kris is a #8.5 cut rug hooker, but she loved my blue Blue Jay! I selected a beige plaid for my background; I thought it would be a good choice as it’s sort of a neutral version of orange… the compliment of blue. I kept the edges of my bird dark or bright blue to stand out from the beige plaid. Eventually, i realized I couldn’t quite go with the beige plaid… I added the off-white texture to the beige plaid in stripes. I had wanted to do this kind of stripy background anyway… so it made me happy! I’m going to use the beige plaid to make a biased tape edge for this rug; I think it will be a perfect compliment. Of course, the off-white texture is very pretty too. I’m going to give a short lesson in rug finishing at Wine Country Rug Hookers early next year; in an after lunch activity. I’ll get my biased tape made and pressed, then save it for the lesson.

Animal Tangle hooked by Emma Webber

This is the first ‘Animal Tangle’ Emma hooked; based on a drawing by an Inuit artist. She saw the drawing at my sister’s boyfriend’s place in the late 1960’s and was intrigued by the design.  Retirement in 1972 gave Emma time to pursue her Rug hooking and selling of her rugs.  She was looking for motifs to hook and this design was fun and popular.  This is the only one remaining in the family as all the others were quickly sold!

 

‘Animal Tangle on Orange’ hooked by Emma Webber

After the first ‘Animal Tangle’ taken from the drawing, Emma drew her own. This one varies a little with less legs and more blending of the animals.  It seems that the animals have more of Emma’s personality.

 

‘Animal Tangle with White Bunnies’ hooked by Emma Webber

Here’s another version that is pretty close to the first one… except we have a trio of bunnies adding to the mix.

‘Animal Tangle in Green’ hooked by Emma Webber

I love the monochromatic treatment of this Animal Tangle and it is framed by the red wallpaper of her Dining Room. As Emma hooked without a frame, she could use any size or shape of burlap. This piece of burlap apparently dictated a square version of Animal Tangle. Works for me!

‘Animal Ladder’ hooked by Emma Webber

Here’s another monochromatic Animal Tangle, but Emma called it an ‘Animal Ladder’ because of it’s long shape. Again, the burlap driving the shape of the tapestry.  Emma rearranged the animals to suit the shape  and added a few more favourites; a polar bear and a crow, plus the trio of bunnies.

‘Animal Tangle with Pink’ hooked by Emma Webber

In this Animal Tangle, Emma adds a mask, discards and adds animals as she likes. This one sold before she could get a decent photograph of it.

 

Two Animal Tangles on the wall, hooked by Emma Webber

A rare occurrence; having 2 Animal Tangles unsold at one time. I think the upper one on the left was an Honorable Mention in Celebration II or III; I’ll have to look that up.  It is fun to see the gradual morphing of the pattern as Emma made the design more and more her own.

There were a few more Animal Tangles that I have not included here. I have rehooked the first one and it was such a pleasure. That pattern is available in 4 different sizes; from 15×18″ up to 34×40″.  Also the ‘Animal Ladder’ is available; 16×39″.  Let me know if you’d like information about purchasing one.

Emma Webber enjoys a visit with her Pleiades Friends in July 2015

Emma’s been coasting down her 90’s for a while… 97 and picking up speed! off to the next adventure! She passed away last Sunday, October 4th, 2015.

2012 Opulence III by and with Emma Webber

Emma loved to sell her rugs… when she sold Opulence II, she had to hook Opulence III. It sold quickly to a collector.

2008 Emma Webber with some of her braided rugs

A young photographer came by and took some photos of Emma, and after she was done, Emma asked her to shoot a couple more shots with Emma’s camera. ha! nice…!

Emma and I enjoyed many years of rug making together; 19 years of sharing friends, trips and creativity.

I copied one of her rugs recently; it was fun using her colours… more or less. ha! a visit of sorts.

I knew there was something wrong with Aunt Belle’s outfit… it was light coloured in the black and white photo I had, but it didn’t look elegant. I know my Aunt Belle put on her best outfit for the family photograph; she just would.  Maybe it was light blue…

Latta Folk in Fox Hollow by Laura Pierce

This rug has been hanging in my mother’s dining room; her father’s family, after all. Recently, her friends from her Pleiades Art Group came for a Tea Party. Emma was telling them about the family in Fox Hollow, Southeastern Ohio; when I heard a voice say, “why is Belle in her housecoat?” Aah, nothing like a group of artist to ask the hard questions… ha!

Lattas in Fox Hollow hooked by Laura Pierce

I’d been wanting to give Aunt Belle a red dress, but a red velvet skirt would do! And once I added a red velvet skirt to the piece, I had to add red and burgundy around the rest of the piece; red in the flowers on the porch, red in the peonies by the fence, and red cardinals in the trees! Wow! Love that red; it really jazzed everything up! Thank you Pleiades!

Then there was that Mockingbird for Texas… that eye was really bothering me.

Texas Mockingbird by Laura Pierce

It’s an auction item for the 2015 ATHA Biennial in San Antonio, Texas… it needs to look spectacular! I’ve been preparing for my class at Biennial and when I finally wrote out the instructions for hooking the mockingbird… I realized that the eye merely needed a few changes. The mockingbird has a couple of dark streaks beyond her eyes, and the highlight needs to be small and to one side.

Texas Mockingbird with a little more black by Laura Pierce

Wow! What a difference a little dark makes!

Yes… rug hooking is the forgivable fiber art… you can change a few loops today… or tomorrow… or a few years from now.

Laura & Michele with Michele’s ‘Yoga Pillow’

Michele and I had a good time working together at Western Teachers’ Workshop this past June. Michele designed and hooked her ‘Yoga Pillow’ last year and it was at the Rug Show… taking up the entire couch! When I first saw this rug pillow online, I didn’t realize how big it was and I thought it looked like silk.  Values can do that!

‘Bowl of Flowers’ hooked by Dana Rae

It’s always fun to see which rug patterns get hooked and brought back for the rug show. This is a pattern you see frequently; it is fun with wide-cut! Available through Honey Bee Hive, http://rughook.com/, I love the way Dana made the bowl silver with a shine!

‘Hearth Scrap Rug’ by Kathy Stephens

Pleasing in a quiet way; Kathy’s stones and scrolls make a welcoming rug.

‘Grandma’s Rug’ by Melissa Pattacini

Melissa used the scrap method of cutting up her various blue materials, then pulling them out of the bag and hooking them in… it was hard to leave it to whim, but the results are wonderful. The diamonds look like water or glass and take my breath away! I also love the dogwood blossoms!

‘Grenfell Goose Schooner’ by Patty Yates

Patty followed Gail Becker’s lead in this Grenfell design, substituting the goose with a schooner; I have mine redrawn too. I love how Patty threw some colours into the icebergs, sails and wake; it makes a lively rug!

‘Fruit’ by Sally Ballinger

Marvelous to see Sally’s ‘Fruit’ rug with those ‘juicy’ grapes! The peaches are practically fuzzy as well.

‘Quilt Tiles’ by Judy Rippstein

Katy Rainwater teaches a fun class and in this one; she encouraged her students to make it their own. Judy’s little kitty is a fun variation from the given pattern. Judy has lots of creative ability and had fun making this little rug her own.

‘Prairie Chicken’ by Judy Rippstein

This rug caught my eye at the Cambria Pines Rug Show back in 2008; that’s when I first met Judy Rippstein.  She designed this little rug and hooked it in wide cut; I was impressed! You can check out more of her work on her website: Judith Rippstein Rug Hooking

Mr. GQ by Judy Rippstein

A fun portrait, Judy designed and hooked it with wide-cut textures… WOW! Judy brought this little rug to 2011 Western Teachers’ Workshop, and I found i was starting to notice more and more of her rugs. I like her style and colours, and I thought my rug campers would too.
I asked Judy if she’d like to teach at Little River Inn Rug Camp and indeed she would! Please join us this November for 5 days of rug hooking fun and inspiration! you can find a registration form on my Little River Inn Rug Camp page; LRI rug camp 2015

Little River Inn Wonderscape by Brigitta Phy

Brigitta Phy is also teaching at Little River Inn Rug Camp; her latest rug passion is creating ‘Wonderscapes’! This ‘Wonderscape’ is based on a photo from Little River Inn Rug Camp. Visit Brigitta’s website at: Green Valley Rug Hooking.  All of Little River Inn’s rooms look out on the Pacific Ocean; the sunrises and sunsets are spectacular! We hang a rug show on the walls of Abalone Hall; our classroom for the week. It is a small intimate rug camp with a few extra ‘mini-classes’ and a short Rug Slide Show to enrich our experience.  Husbands and companions love to tag along; there is a 9-hole golf course, tennis courts and a spa.  Ole’s Whale Watch Bar has great food and drinks, while the Little River Inn Restaurant is famously fabulous! Little River Inn

It was another fun workshop for Wine Country Rug Hookers, an ATHA chapter in Northern California! We are quite active in bringing in teachers to expand our knowledge and expertise! Monika Jones is known for her beautiful old fashioned rugs and textured wools; she is also a lovely and attentive teacher.

‘Chicken Runner’ designed and hooked by Monika Jones

Monika recently finished this rug for her Arizona kitchen. Yes, she uses her rugs on the floor in the kitchen and washes them as needed.

‘Floral Oval’ designed and hooked by Monika Jones

I love the changes in the background on this rug; in the old days when folks used scraps to hook rugs, they almost always ran out of one colour or another. This rug has various backgrounds in the old fashioned way.

‘Diamond Floral’ designed and hooked by Monika Jones

The simple colour scheme in this rug is so pleases me; yellow, green, blue with a tinge of red violet, an analogus colour plan with an antique black background; an old fashioned variety of blacks. If you look closely, you can see the loops in the center are very large cut… perhaps as much as 1/2 inch.  Delightful!

All of Monika’s rugs have a beautiful edge; biased wool plaids that compliment the rest of the rug. Monika showed us how she creates the biased wool strips, irons one side and sews it to the edge of the hooking. She uses a ‘ladder stitch’ to keep the strip close to the hooking. Watching her demonstration, I knew I was finally ready to try this finishing technique!

‘Fraktur Blessings’ designed by Laura Pierce

This is one of my Fraktur patterns and I thought it would be suitable for this workshop. I decided to use a simple colour palette; one of my favourites, blue and gold!  Another ‘Outline & Fill’ project for me… I just love outlining with a plaid and letting it take me on a ‘Colour’ adventure.  By the end of workshop, i had picked my colours and wools.   My background would be light grey… dangerously dull… to tone down the YELLOW and BRIGHT BLUE!

Beautiful wools for ‘Fraktur Blessings’ by Lwp

Monika’s hand-dyed wools were all textures and laid out on the table behind me. The yellow wools started calling my name almost immediately, so I bought several along with a grey plaid and an orange red plaid. By the time I figured out my colour plan, the rest of Monika’s grey wools had all been purchased, so I used a couple of spot dyed greys from my studio wools. The stack of wool on the left are the wools bought from Monika, the middle stack is the background grey wools I dyed, and the stack of wool on the right is the wool I came with… that worked.

‘Fraktur Blessings’ with bias wool tape

This project was so fun, I hooked it in a couple of weeks. It took another couple of weeks to get the bias wool tape prepared! I dyed several pieces of wool including some plaids and selected a piece that was a little heavy for hooking. With my rotary cutter, I cut 2″ strips on the bias, then sewed the strips together, ironed the seams and one edge folded.
At this point, I was hoping it was all going to be worthwhile!

Close-ups of the sewn bias wool edge

When I had the blue bias wool tape made, I laid it around the rug to make sure it was long enough. I liked the 1 1/2″ edge of blue, so I realized I would have to add 3 more rows of hooking with the same blue, because the bias wool edge would only show about a 1/2 inch. I brought the project to the May chapter meeting and Nancy Bailey was able to describe the ‘Ladder Stitch’ technique to me. It works quite well getting the edge tight to the hooking. After I completely stitched the wool bias tape to rug, I trimmed the linen to just a little inside the width of the tape. I knew folding them both over, the inside layer would be longer; the linen wanted to be enclosed by the wool. With the rounded corners of the rug, everything eased in beautifully!

‘Fraktur Blessings’ designed & hooked by Laura Pierce

After a good pressing, ‘Fraktur Blessings’ is done and has a great finished edge!
‘Fraktur Blessings’ is available in my Flying Dog Hookery Catalog of Patterns; 20×36″ on linen, $65.
Now that I’ve hooked it up, I can tell you how much wool you’d need, or kit it up with similar wool.

‘Lost Moose on the Prairie’ hooked by Janet McLean

Janet designed and hooked this wonderful landscape with moose. It was honored in a Rug Show in Alberta with special recognition. It was my favourite of several ‘Moose Rugs’ at the Rockaway ‘Walking on Art’ rug show.

‘Blue Bird’ hooked by Pat Mischaud

a very sweet little rug; possibly 4×6″, mounted in a lid on a little box; quite a change from Pat’s rug from last year… a gigantic Oriental rug.

‘Dance Your Heart Out’ hooked by Janice Ashley

Janice really gets us Rockin’ with her fun rug with swingin’ and twistin’ dancers!

‘Mary in Blue’ hooked by Malynn Moorhead

Malynn thinks Mary is great! Mary takes care of us at Friends by the Sea, the Quaker camp where we stay for Rockaway rug camp. Malynn sent me a photo to create a pattern for Mary’s portrait, so I was in on the surprise. All hooked and framed, Malynn gave this beautiful portrait rug to Mary at the beginning of the week. At the end of the rug show on Thursday, I was there picking up my rugs, when I noticed Mary making a bee line for the rug show to pick up her new rug! She was thrilled and it was sure nice to see.

‘Crazy Goat’ hooked by Nancy Terhaar

Nancy had fun with this pattern and wool kit from Susan Quicksall. Nancy took a class from Susan at ATHA Biennial 2013 Long Beach and enjoyed hooking this crazy quilt inspired rug!

‘Crazy Goat’ signed on the rug tape by Nancy Terhaar

Nancy showed me that she stitch signs her rugs on the rug tape on the back of her rug.  She does that with a needle and thread; it does look simply perfect!

Tree root beckons us to the beach…

Nancy and I spent Saturday at the beach, south of Newport Beach on the Oregon Coast. It was forecast to rain Saturday, but we got lucky and had fun taking a long walk along the beach, then up through the trees into the neighborhood and road home.

Sunshine filters through the gnarly trees and lights up the moss.

It was a nice break taking a day off before I headed back to Sonoma County. I found that it was the same amount of time and less miles to take Hwy 101, the coast road home. It’s very familiar to me and I enjoyed the drive. It rained off and on, but nothing heavy; I so enjoyed the moisture!

Heceta Head Lighthouse at dawn photo by Laura Pierce

I started home in the dark, but soon the sky started to turn pink. There’s a couple of nice turn outs just south of Heceta Head Lighthouse; it’s so beautiful. when I got out of the car to take the photos, I heard quite a commotion on the beach below; a seal celebration!

Cloudy weather on the Oregon Coast

I had breakfast in Florence, at The Little Brown Hen Cafe! it was just me… I was early. I couldn’t eat all my breakfast but was very glad for the coffee! I ate my left over breakfast at this little spot further down the coast… yummm, fried egg sandwich!

It was another great year at Rockaway and I’ll be back to teach again, next year; April 3-8, 2016!