Halloween Stair Riser/Kick is Finished!

I finished my first Halloween Stair Kick a few days after Halloween - but - at least it will be ready for next Halloween. I figure if I do one of these a year, or two, then before I know it I will have about 6 to go up the stairs before the turn in my stair case. I whipped the edge of this with a variegated wool yarn and I love the way that it gives some action to the edge. Kind of like an alien tractor beam beaming the little guy back up to the ship LOL!

Next I am going to start on some Christmas ones I think. These are really nice little projects at just 5" x 25" and work up fast and easily! I was thinking maybe some holly leaves, or Christmas ornaments, or a row of lights, a candy cane etc. All nice simple ideas that would translate well into this size. I think for the stair risers the KISS principle should be in full force! The simpler the better for sure.

As for some everyday risers I was either thinking birds or fish. I am really leaning towards fish to be honest. I love fish!! And you could do something really neat where the bottom riser is the ocean floor and have it slowly work up with common plants in the sides etc. And feature a different type of fish in each one. Then at the very top I could do some birds flying around on top of the water. My husband is a bird-watcher and I love fish so this might be a nice little concession for him :D

Any thoughts?

Christmas Panel for an Auction

Sometimes I get asked for donations to various auctions or draws for churches or charities etc. I always like to have a few panels like this one or place-mat panels around so that I can whip up a really quick donation; so, I don't have to say no and I also don't have to spend hours and hours of time to make something!! I usually pick up the Christmas panels, like this one, after Christmas so that the cost is lower thus making the donation rather painless time-wise and money-wise LOL! I figure that it works out for everyone :)

I did the inside out, "pillow-case," method here so I didn't have to put on a binding. For a seasonal panel like this one, or for place-mats, I just don't see the need to spend a million hours on the binding. And, when the panel has a nice edge on it, like this one, the binding just doesn't seem necessary!!

Tomorrow will be a busy day!! I am teaching two season of machine quilted feathers at The Quilting Quarters in Almonte; 1-3 pm and 4-7 pm. It should be lots of fun!! I do love quilting feathers and I strive to help other people enjoy it as well!

New Rug Started!

Well after I finally finished my Halloween rug I thought that I should get going and start another one. Inspiration can strike in the oddest places I must say! I bought some Yoplait yogurt tubes for my kids and they had these ones with aliens on on them. I looked alien on one of them and thought that it would make an excellent Halloween stair riser rug! I would like to hook a set of stair risers for everyday; but, also a smaller set (for my first six or so stairs that come before the turn in my stair case) of Halloween stair risers and also Christmas stair risers. So I drew a 5" x 25" rectangle on some old dot-matrix printer paper and filled it with a drawing of the alien from the tube. Then I transferred it to burlap and started to hook it last night. I'm using the same green that I used on my halloween rug. So far so good! There is another type of alien on the other tubes but he's much less likely to be a child in a Halloween costume, unlike this one, so, I'm not going to hook that one.

It truly is amazing where we can find hooking, or applique, patterns if we keep our eyes open and look for them :D

I Finally Finished my Haunted House Rug!!

Yeehaw I finally finished my Shelly Atkinson Haunted House rug and I did it before Halloween :D I have finished everything on this rug completely, including; the edge whipping, the binding tape on the back and a label and hanging sleeve! I didn't want to post the finished rug until I really was finished as an incentive to really getting it all done.

I just love this design and the wools that I used; so, I can honestly say that I have enjoyed the process, that started in June, and, I love the finished product!

I just need to get some jewelry wire to do the bottom cat's whiskers. I tried hooking them and stitching them afterward and I didn't like the effect so I think maybe jewelry wire will work. What do you all think?

I don't know if you have seen this video on Youtube for Herringbone Whipped Edge but the binding looks so nice like this! I just wish that she was explaining it a bit in a voice-over. I would like to know if the slight gaps between the strands are intentional or not????

A Weekend of Hooking

Wow what a lot of hooking I did this weekend!! We had a great time this weekend hooking away and meeting new people/potential hookers ;) Fiberfest was great and well attended - it was such a nice weekend so I think that people are trying to take advantage of the great fall weather we've been having to do things outside.

I got a lot of hooking done on my Haunted House rug between the 5 Minute Hooking Challenge and Fiberfest since my last picture on the rug! I bought two shades of red wool to do the far right house that I love! I'm fairly pleased with how it is turning out but I think that I might rip out the unfinished ghost and use more of the blue/white wool on him as I think that he is too white, and, will stand out too much, but, it is hard to say right now. I like the other ghost, on the left, better than this one so far. What do you all think?

I am tired but happy after a whole weekend of talking and hooking :D Maybe I'll do some more hooking again tomorrow LOL!

Rug Hooking Demo at Fiberfest this Weekend

Wow am I ever tired tonight! Today was Fiberfest in Almonte and 3 fellow hookers and myself sat and hooked and talked about hooking and talked and talked and hooked some more!!! Whew! It was absolutely beautiful outside today so not as many people went through as last year but we had a great time and met lots of interested potential hookers and lots of hookers and quilters :D

Most of the rugs in the display are my friend Bev's - she's been hooking for many years so she has a lot of wonderful rugs which made making a display very easy this year! Unfortunately we really needed the display to be easy to make this year since we could only set up this morning (instead of yesterday) so we had a lot less time to get everything ready and looking great! Fortunately many of Bev's rugs are larger and took up more space LOL! What will we do next year now that we have displayed so many of hers??? LOL!

Fiberfest runs tomorrow as well so I'll be hooking again on my Haunted House rug. I am getting a lot of work done and am very happy with the way that it is turning out so far. I bought some wool to whip the edges today that I think will really look amazing on the edges. I'll take a picture and show my progress tomorrow.

Haunted House Rug Progress

Hooking for 5 minutes a day is really paying off!! I've finished the whole bottom of the rug - except for the cat whiskers because I haven't decided what I want to do with them yet. And I need to under-score the wheels somehow but I haven't decided on that either yet LOL.

I'm really happy with the higgledy piggldy hooking in the grass to make it look unkempt. And I am absolutely still in love with that green!!

I started on the upper part of the rug now with the door but that's about all I've done on the top LOL! Now to get started on the houses! I think I have some wools I am happy with so we'll see how it goes!