Delux Grandmothers Rug hooked by Marina Palo

This gentle beauty was at the front of the ‘Walking on Art’ rug show; sharing the front stage with 2 other rugs. The background is almost opalescent and the flowers exquisite! Bravo Marina!

Ione Cornwall’s mother’s rug

in the same grey opalescent vein… here is an old rug, hooked by a master of colour. or at least of cross swatching.

close-up of rose and scroll on Ione’s mother’s rug

Wonderful to see the rose colours reflected in the scrolls. So glad Ione Cornwall brought this rug to the show!

Another old rug with grey background

This beautiful rug was saved by Arlene Strutz and Susie Jones! I love the grey backgrounds of the roses!

Quilt Squares hooked by April Shekter

I’ve designed and taught Pennsylvania Dutch patterns and this one hooked by April, is really fine and true. She has balanced the 4 colours beautifully.

‘Leftovers’ hooked by Caroline Pons

Caroline’s ‘scrap’ rug has great colour balance too.

‘Nankoweap’ hooked by Helen Goldsmith

I always enjoy seeing what Helen Goldsmith is up to… here’s a Navajo style rug done with straight #8 cut plaids! wonderful effect!

‘Collection’ hooked by Katy Powell

A real departure for Katy… graphic black, white and grey. Wow!

‘Dutch Compass’ hooked by Lynne Howard

Another Pennsylvania Dutch design with a simple palette and grey background… Lynne also incorporated some fun ‘Special Stitches’!

‘Lobster Party’ hooked by Louise Jenkins

An exciting lobster on a colourful grey background; I love Louise’s blend of graphics and shading!

‘Snowy Day’ punched by Sara Judith

An inviting landscape in snow in more beautiful greys; Sara combines yarns of white and green for snowy trees and creates various textures with her ‘punch’ hooking.

‘Winter Night’ hooked by Michelle Petit

Snow is falling on the sweet and peaceful home on a crisp winter night… Michelle uses lavender greys to make tracks in the snow.

a few more rugs next time…

‘Covered Bridge’ and ‘Bottles’ hooked by Pat Horn & ‘Horse and Buggy Days’ hooked by LaVerne Crogan

It was fabulous to have Pat Horn honoured at the Friends by the Sea ‘Walking on Art’ rug show this year! Pat brought over 30 rugs including some of LaVerne Crogan’s rugs. LaVerne is Pat’s mother and they enjoyed hooking rugs together.

Pat Horn and her mother, LaVerne Crogan

The family tradition continues with Pat’s daughter Suzi Jones and granddaughter, Denise Camp!

Pine & Berry hooked by LaVerne Crogan

I posted this rug last year after attending Rockaway… and didn’t know who had hooked it. This year I found out that it was done by LaVerne and I am happy to know, but not surprised… Beautiful!

‘Giant Blossoms’ hooked by Pat Horn

This rug was included and also graced the cover of the second Celebration book! It is a striking design and a beautiful rug. My mother was included in this book as an Honorable Mention; it was great to mentally make the connection. Design by Fraser and Pat’s teacher was Lorna Smith.

‘Oak Leaf Branch’ hooked by Pat Horn

Wonderful Autumn leaves, acorns and branches hooked with this and that by Pat Horn. Four different branches and all the leaves developed individually! Designed by Gretchen Lieberg and taught by Wendy Halsell.

detail of Pat Horn’s rug, ‘Oak Leaf Branch’

Some of the acorns have a glint of sunshine on them…

‘Poppy Chair’ hooked by Pat Horn

An inviting chair, especially on a cool day. Pat’s teacher was Kathy Ludlow.

close-up of Pat Horn’s poppies

Pat definitely has mastered shading in the development of her ‘Poppies’! Her poppy swatches seem to include a duller version that she used for shadows and relief. I’m guessing that it is the poppy colour dyed over the beige wool used as the background. Then there are little bits of yellow on the tips of some of the petals to add excitement without your notice.

‘Rose’ hooked by Pat Horn

Pat’s teacher for this project, Ann Taylor, is known for her kind and generous instruction… and Roses!

Close-up of Rose, hooked by Pat Horn

#3 cut values, fingered together to create depth… 1 petal at a time = fine-cut fingering.

‘Savannah’ hooked by Pat Horn

Simply beautiful! I love the pink tips on the daisies and more pinks in the scrolls; they tie it all together with the burgundy border. Pat’s teacher for this project was Sibyl Osicka and the radiating background seems a hooking quote for Sibyl.

‘Janice Lynn’ hooked by Pat Horn

Pat hooked this rug with Jane Olson, designer of the rug and dyer of the dip-dye wool. Pat’s creative handling of the dip-dyes is very exciting!

Close-up of Pat’s tulip

I can imagine that Pat had lots of fun with each motif; the beautiful wool changing colour and the fun design, a combination of flowers and padulas!

‘Fantasy Adaptation’ hooked by Pat Horn

Lately, Pat has gotten into vivid colour, and she gives credit to her teacher of this project; Ingrid Hieronimus. It’s wonderful that an accomplished Rug Artist like Pat Horn can continue to get excited about a new direction in rug hooking!

What a Show! more rugs next time… from the rest of us.

Tuesday morning at Rockaway Beach – photo by Laura Pierce

Getting up early has it’s rewards… especially when you’re staying at the ‘Lighthouse’ at Rockaway Beach. Only a few steps to the edge of the property to snap a quick photo of the pink clouds over the ocean!

Rockaway Beach Sunset w/birds – photo by Laura Pierce

Rain was predicted for our week in Rockaway Beach, but I could tell we’d have a nice sunset on Tuesday night. It’s quite a walk from the ‘Lighthouse’ to the 2 rocks and even though I hurried along I didn’t quite get there by sunset. I was pleased when this group of birds flew by and into my sunset photo!

Friends by the Sea – Laura’s class 2015

Here’s the official Class photo from rug camp; a great group of students, friends and artists! Typically, there are a few portrait projects in my classes; this year we had 5, plus a dog and a dragon. I like to share the processes I use to design, hook rugs, colour plan and strategize; we had some great talks. In this small class of 11 students; everyone was friendly and enjoyed seeing the progress of each others’ projects!

Sally with her driftwood, Barbara and Fran in the background

Sally is relatively new to rug hooking and wanted to learn about shading. Her driftwood project was big and ambitious, while her wool was mostly selvages from Pendleton. A real ‘Use it up’ kind of rug; and she was successful with the driftwood too!

Mary Ellen’s Poppies – fine shaded

Mary Ellen has a lot of experience in Art and Rug hooking, and it was a pleasure to work with her on her ‘Poppy’ project.  Turn-overs were the challenge, and successfully accomplished!

Lori’s little dog rug looks great!

Lori also has an Art background and was able to render the little Cavalier King Charles Spaniel with ease. Also a  relatively new rug hooker, she’ll have the background finished soon.

‘No Naptime’ by Kitty

Kitty chose a challenging portrait subject; a child, straight on. Children are so soft and plump, it’s a challenge to hook that softness. Straight on photos look similar to many other straight on photos; not much distinction. Since Kitty usually hooks in #8 cut, she took my challenge and hooked the portrait in #8 cut! The printing was a welcome respite and is well executed!

Helen’s version of Snow White ala Peter Max

We couldn’t tell if there was a copywrite situation here, since Snow White is Disney and Helen’s inspiration was Peter Max… mmmm. It’s a rug that will stay close to home, so no harm done.

Fran’s double portrait rug

Fran had a lot of ground to cover with 2 portraits! She was a willing and willful student.  Can’t wait to see it finished.

Chris and her portrait rug of her husband

Hubba, hubba… Chris’s husband is looking handsome! No crazy colours here, bright sunshine lighting, and she managed to soften the glare and get the shadows where they were needed.

Betty’s Art Deco Lady

Betty didn’t have much room for values on the Lady’s face, and the hand presented another challenge. Betty did well; but has to decide about the mascara… too much, too little?

Friday morning group – minus Kitty

After taking photos of all the projects that were still out and visible on Friday morning, we decided to take another group photo. Kitty took the photos, so she didn’t get in. A fun group and a great class!  I’ve got the bag of noodles on my lap… that helped a little in each project.

Rug Show photos next time…

Rufus & Milo hooking by Laura Pierce

I’ve had this portrait rug of Rufus and Milo on my list for quite a while. I’m so glad the gals in Grants Pass have asked me to come and teach a workshop for them… on Animal Faces! it’s fun to hook friends and family because it’s like a long visit with them.
I’m anxious to finish this little rug, so I’ve hooked a simple background; just like a studio shot. I chose a medium value background because one dog is dark and the other one is light. I could have graduated the background from light behind dark Milo to dark behind light Rufus, but this ‘dirty purple’ background is quick and ‘dirty’!
I like to use ‘dirty purple’ for shadows on faces, because it recedes into the background. It’s helpful in this instance too.

back side of ‘Rufus & Milo’ rug

I like to use ‘Random Fill’ for backgrounds because it gives it a nice texture, but I find I pack my loops. Can’t wait to iron it and make it lay flat.

Linda Dwyer Clifford and Skippy at the American River.

Recently, I enjoyed teaching a 3-day workshop in Sacramento; Linda was my wonderful and entertaining hostess. After class, we walked her lucky dog, Skippy, down to the American River and were treated to a beautiful double sunset! She is looking down the river at a beautiful sunset and we’re looking up the river at the rest of the sunset.

Amazing Trader Joe’s rose bouquet

Kirby had bought this beautiful bouquet before i left for Sacramento and the white roses were opening up beautifully. When i got back, they still looked great… while the single stem of reddish orange roses had dried in perfect shape.  Now I want to see how long it will last… and the white roses are sprouting branches.

Japanese dancer with giant wisteria blossoms

Today, Kirby and I went down to San Francisco to take in the new shows at the Asian Art Museum… http://www.asianart.org/. I was so pleased to find a dancer in the exhibit; a big screen film of this beautiful Japanese traditional dancer. Her dance seemed extremely choreographed, but i know so little about this style of dance, i couldn’t be sure if there wasn’t some of her own expression included. the film was focused mainly on her, but every once in awhile, we could see the whole stage! The hanging wisteria and the dancer are inspiration for a rug… i think… perhaps.
Sorry this isn’t the video; you’ll have to go the Asian to see the film.

‘Dahlia’ designed and hooked by Laura Pierce

The Dahlia is dip-dyed in 2 different lengths of wool, to make the petals easy to hook. The black background suspends the dahlia in shadow and makes it pop. But oh… hooking black is difficult… hard to see what you’re doing. This and most of my dark backgrounds are hooked in a dark texture, the result is generally the same.

‘Emma – Rug Artist’ designed and hooked by Laura Pierce

Hooking my mother’s portrait with her black shirt, I used some colourful spot-wools and textures to hook the lines of the folds. It gives the illusion of shape instead of a black void.

‘Young Will Pierce’ adapted and hooked by Laura Pierce

Grandpa Will’s black hat would be flat without the brown and grey textures.

‘Kitwanger Pole’ from painting by Emily Carr and hooked by Laura Pierce

I bought this pattern from Sheila Stewart a few years ago. It’s from a painting by Emily Carr (1871 – 1945), an artist from Victoria, BC. The pattern is produced by Rittermere-Hurst-Field. It was time to hook it, as there will be a rug show of Emily’s paintings at the TIGHR conference coming up in October 2015. Using Emily’s painting as a guild, I used stronger colours than she did to high light the shape of the black totem pole. With the ‘black pop’ the colours are quite bright… and pleasing to me.

‘Rufus and Milo’ designed by Laura Pierce and hooking in progress

The ‘Kitwanger Pole’ experience has made me bold enough to hook this black long-haired dachshund named Milo! He is so black, except for a few tan markings, that he is hard to photograph. I’ve hooked several black and tan doxies in the past, but they’ve all been in the folk-art style. I’m teaching an ‘Animal Faces’ workshop in Grants Pass, Oregon in May, so this rug is a good rehearsal… ha!

‘Little Mabel’ adapted and hooked by Laura Pierce

My great grandmother, Mary Schofield Sloan, was a photographer in the 1800’s. She often photographed her children in made up scenes. This rug is adapted from one of her photographs of my grandmother, Mabel. The sepia photo includes a covered bridge in the background, but I left it out on Elizabeth Black’s advice.

Mabel fishing – Denver 1891 approximately, photographed by Mary Sloan

This is the photograph that I worked from. I feel very fortunate to have several photographs of Mabel and a few of the rest of the family. I can see now, that I didn’t get that little tilt to her head, but why be fussy… ha! Our medium is chunky! We’re happy with the rug and I imagine that Mary and Mabel would be too.

Sloan Miniatures – hooked by Laura Pierce 2010

This is another portrait of Mabel, center, with her mother and father. This is a very small rug, and the portraits are miniatures.  There is an earlier post of the process, from December 2010; Sloan Miniatures.

I may hook a few more ‘Rug Portraits’ of Mabel, but there are other portraits to hook first.

I’ll be teaching a Portrait Workshop in Sacramento this coming February 27, 28 and March 1. Let me know if you’d like to join the class.

Old Pueblo Rug Hookers group photo March 2014

Last year started off with a workshop in Tucson with some very creative rug hookers. A few of the folk were snow birds; coming to Tucson in the winter to escape the harsh cold in Canada, Washington State and Nebraska. By March, the days were already getting quite warm. It does snow in Tucson… I’ve seen photos of Saguaros in the snow. Saguaros grow mainly in the Tucson area… they’re quite rare and unique! My hostess, Kathy Kovaric, treated me to a trip to the Eastern Saguaro National Park, dinners with various students and dinner at home for her husband’s famous Shrimp Curry!

2014 Rockaway Class minus one

I’ve already posted this photo a couple of times… my class at Rockaway: Friends by the Sea Rug Camp, 2014. This is a warm and cozy rug camp on the Oregon Coast. An annual event for rug hookers in the Pacific Northwest… it’s great to connect up with everyone and see the wonderful rug show; Walking on Art! Held at the Friends’ Camp & Conference Center in Rockaway, call Kathy Cline to register; 971 302-8264.

Cambria Pines Rug Camp 2014 – most of my class.

It is always a pleasure to teach at Cambria Pines Rug Camp! Gene and Marsha Shepherd make us all feel welcome and wanted at this rug hooking extravaganza. Eating out in the garden on Wednesday is worth it for a fabulous rug show Wednesday afternoon and a fun auction at night. The Cambria Pines hotel has well lit class rooms, beautiful gardens, wonderful food and a lounge with entertainment every night. Register on-line on www.GeneShepherd.com

Portraits with the Colonial Ruggers, July 2014

After deciding to take a workshop with Roslyn Logsdon in Maryland, I was invited to teach a Portrait workshop for the Colonial Ruggers in northern Virginia a week later. This is another very creative group of ruggers and it was great fun working with them on their various projects. My hostess, Barbara Bashaw, showed me a bit of DC and arranged for dinners out in DC and ‘Old Alexandria’. 1 night it was in a fabulous restaurant/bar in old downtown Alexandria; another night, dinner was at the old Torpedo Factory where we visited many artisan shops while waiting for our reservation. I could definitely stay in Alexandria for a year or two and soak up all the American history!

Most of the Retreat Class at Sauder Village, August 2014

Capping off a wonderful year, I was invited to teach a retreat class plus a 1-day class at Sauder Village Rug Hooking Week. This is indeed an EVENT! Wow! Front and center in the Rug show are many of the Celebration Rugs; the Celebration Artists are often there too! There are many special rug shows; this year Norma Bastatini brought a group of ‘Folk Life’ rugs, Judy Knipe brought her rugs and those of her mother, Esther Knipe’s, a rare treat. Paula Laverty brought many beautiful, original Grenfell mats while Melinda and Laszlo Zongor brought a collection of American Woven Coverlets, which were complimented with hooked rugs inspired by the designs. There were also many other collections of rugs along with the rugs sent in for the regular Sauder Village categories. An amazing rug show, lots of wonderful rug hooking artists and a special group of Rug Vendors around the periphery. My students were fun and wonderful to work with; the retreat class had many landscapes and portraits and combinations of the two.  The 1-day class was quickly over and I didn’t get a chance to get a group photo. We worked on ‘Special Stitches’ and one of the students showed us a few more! I look forward to returning to Sauder Village in the future and taking time to visit the village, too. Kathy Wright and her crew put on an amazing event and show. Register on-line at Sauder Village Rug Hooking Week.

2014 Little River Inn Rug Camp campers

Of course, each year I get to run my own little rug camp! It’s small and sweet and we all certainly enjoy it! This coming November, Brigitta Phy and Judith Rippstein are teaching. We’ll have a few extra mini classes, a slide show and a rug show on the walls during the week!

Mistletoe with red surround hooked by Laura Pierce

The red is fun and exciting; I’m still worried about upstaging the yellow-green fine shading. Imagine lots more red!

Burgundy and magenta, then red textures hooked by Laura Pierce

Toning it down with the darker ‘reds’, I found it easy and effective to hook whole blocks of one texture. I could go back and change the first few dark blocks… but hey… they’re done! Also, it serves as a teaching piece; leaving in the first attempts and then showing the solution. The dark reds will look like rich velvet as a pillow on the couch.

Lamb Pride yellow green whipping, a complimentary edge.

My stash suggested a dark yellow-green yarn, picked up along the way; a fun and complimentary finish!

‘Card Tricks’ hooked by Helen Goldsmith

As promised… an inspiring rug… from the 2012 Rug Show at Rockaway Rug Camp (Friends by the Sea, in Rockaway, Oregon). The 2012 featured artist was Helen Goldsmith. She has done many wonderful rugs and several are geometric! It’s amazing how similar my Mistletoe Pillow is to her rug, ‘Card Tricks’.  I wasn’t thinking about this rug when I designed my background, but i guess the seed was planted!

A couple of weeks ago, at Little River Inn Rug Camp, Tanya Graham taught a mini-class on the ‘Fine Fingering’ technique. A lot to learn in a mini-class, so Tanya designed a little mat with Mistletoe; a small leafed winter motif! Tanya had various swatches available in her kits; naturally, I picked the yellow green one. it is quite bright, so I wasn’t sure of my ‘shading’; it was more like a ‘brighting’. I love a challenge; it always opens new facets of our art and techniques! My leaves seemed a little fat, but Tanya reassured us that once we put in the background, things would even out. I was anxious to fill in that background and decided to pop the design with a dark plaid; green and purple.

Mistletoe with extra canvas hooked by Laura Pierce

After the Mistletoe mat was complete; all that extra backing was staring at me… I knew I couldn’t cut it off and make a tiny mat… I would have to add a border or background. Measuring 2 inches from the edge gave me an idea of what size was possible. I squared it up; 15.5 x 15.5″; a perfect pillow size!

I planned to show my design technique to my Wednesday morning students, but didn’t actually get to it. I wasn’t sure how to lay out blocks to fill with colour…? That’s why I use a crayon to design on rug backing; it’s not permanent and I can ink-in after I get my general idea drawn out.

Mistletoe with hooked lines hooked by Laura Pierce

I hooked the lines with the same green purple plaid and have decided to fill with recycled reds! Red to purple red to compliment the yellow green Mistletoe! I stopped outlining in one corner; did it invite viewers to leave the artwork? Discussing this with my Saturday morning students; I changed the orientation of the lines a bit.

Mistletoe with Red hooked by Laura Pierce

Okay… got started filling in the blocks! the small ones; one for each corner, are filled in with my swatch in the ‘Mock Shading’ technique. The rest of the blocks will be filled in a variety of red. so far… it’s exciting and bright! will it be too bright for the center motif? perhaps I’ll fill the outer blocks with red plaids; which should translate darker.

I just got my registration package from Arlene Strutz… director of Friends by the Sea Rug Camp, also known as Rockaway!  It runs March 29 – April 3, 2015.

2 rocks of Rockaway Beach, Oregon at sunset!

It’s a lovely spot on the Oregon Coast and a fun camp with lots of friends, a fabulous rug show, great teachers, good food and the yearly ATHA Region 11 meeting. I’m a Region 11 member; you bet! it’s a great ATHA Region!

Laura’s Rockaway class 2014, minus Linda

Back row from the left; Norman, Nancy, Pat Y, Barbara and Polly.  Front row from the left; Libby, Janice, me, Pat R and Anne.  Now it’s true, I’m known for portraits! I enjoy helping people hook portraits, it’s not so hard! I also enjoy ‘Outline and Fill’ fun designs and Geometrics and Colour! Colour is that attractive, yet sometimes challenging aspect of rug hooking.  I love the  variety of rug hooking; following are some other projects I have taught and enjoyed!

Romance, design by Charco, hooked by Laura Pierce

I was happy to teach a 1-day class at Western Teachers’ Workshop with this little rug… ‘Outline & Fill’ fun! I love outlining with #5 cut texture or spot, then filling with #8 cut. Random Fill is a great wide cut blending stitch that I used to blend the orange-red swatch in the birds’ tail feathers.

Tribal Kilim design by Jane Flynn hooked by Laura Pierce

Here’s another Western Teachers’ Workshop piece I taught. I break the rules by using #8 cut, again. This time I used one of Dorr Mills’ Ombre wools to create a changing burgundy motif; as the wool changes hue, so do my motifs. I hooked straight from one end to the other, changing colours as the design directed. Fun with colour and quick #8 cut results!

Autumn Leaves Chair Rug designed and hooked by Laura Pierce

I taught a ‘Design, Dye and Hook an Autumn Leaf Chair Rug’ class for the Hooker Hills Rug Retreat Gang! I love promoting design in rug hooking to my students. In this class, I also shared the dyeing and hooking techniques I learned from Helen Connelly; spooning dye onto various pastels wools and hooking the leaves from the veins out.

3 Padulas designed and hooked by Laura Pierce

Here’s my second Celebration winner, ‘3 Padulas’. I was just having fun and people liked it. I was surprised and delighted to have it selected for Celebrations. I used a bit of this and that for the Padulas and leaves. the background is recycled wool over-dyed with Antique Black. Simply hooked straight from the beauty line to the motif, it was fun and easy!

I hope you’ll join my class at Rockaway and let me assist you with your special rug camp project!