The Bible says: “Ask and you shall receive.” Yesterday, I asked for more blog hook-in reports and got four – 3 finished and 1 almost finished rugs.

Phyllis sent this updated photo of her rug. I looks as though she did not add the cat!
“I’ve attached a photo of my rug in it’s current state of progress. I think it has all of the attributes of a coffin rug, although it is a little small. It has the brightest colors I’ve ever hooked!”

Phyllis is referring to a discussion thread, on another site, concerning the practice of using brightly colored hooked and prodded rugs as coffin covers in the winter time when there were no fresh flowers to be had. I would be proud to have this rug on my coffin! Please note that some of the flowers have been prodded, as well as the dog’s ear. This rug has a real antique/whimsical … playful “flair” to it, in my opinion. Perhaps it should be called “Let Sleeping Dogs Lie?” I think the colors Phyllis chose extend the “old look” of the rug. People mistakenly think all old rugs were dull. Often, if looking on the back side of an old rug, one can see that the original fabric, before age, dirt and light dulled the surface, was very bright. It’s a classic in the making.

Arline (aka V. Sharmay) has reported before and even was the first to go on record concerning the problem of “the handle.” She writes:
“I am really happy about this basket. I put the handle in the front, but I had to put a holly berry in front of it to look better. Some of my red for the background was the lighter red with green over-dye. I used onion skin in the basket, yellow onions and the color in the scallop was red onion skin dye over white. I love the red berries standing up it adds a certain charm. It has been a fun project and I can’t wait to see the rest.”

Arline was the only one, that I know of, to utilize fruit in her basket. I think it works very well. The use of four different wools in the scallop is particularly effective for this piece. It really changes the look of that scallop … and I have been looking at a lot of scallops! Every time I think a motif can’t be done any other way, “another way” is sent in. The thing that makes the red on red of the corner berries work is the 3-D effect. Also note the fact that a smooth wool finished fabric edge has been utilized in this piece. While I am not usually a fan of fabric edges, the smooth plaid really sets off the border edge while, at the same time, showing a plaid before and after hooking. It’s almost instructive.

Connie – from Mustard Seed Primitive Designs (the original designer) has already turned out another variation on her original theme:
“I’ve been enjoying your blog. When you asked for finished versions, since I just finished the scallop border on the star flower variation, I decided to send it on to you. I now need to decide how to bind it. I’m not sure about the basket … I did have a gold line and when I looked at the rug, that was all I saw. I pulled it out and put in a lighter blue that had gold and darker blue flecks in it. The other option is to pull that out and go with a one color basket. You have some very talented rug hookers on your blog. It really is neat to see all the color combinations as well as the design changes.”

Connie – I think the light blue stripe brings some “light” down to the bottom of the piece … bringing some balance. Otherwise, all your “light” is in the arc of the star/flowers. I think it anchors the piece. If I were doing it … I might have experimented with three narrow rows there – light blue on top and bottom with one of the darker golds in the center … can’t say how that would work without trying it. I do like it as it is – it also picks up some of the lighter background colors.

When whipping, I would “cut” in the dip of the scallop and “notch” at the top, to get excess backing out and stretched places leveled out. This is where Fray Check comes in! We are looking forward to seeing it all done. A set of four would look great on any table!

I’ll close today with Michele N’s finished piece.
“I have finished hooking my blog flower basket rug!!! I am very happy with the end result. I knew from the start the scallop would be the blue wool that I love and it had to work with the venetian gold finish I did in the powder room. (I like rich colors). Thank you so much for all the info and inspiration you have shared in the blog. Now I am considering doing a prodded version for a gift.”

I thought a close up of this section would be good to study – take note of:

- the variety of different wools used in the leaves and red flowers – at least 6 or 7 greens and 5 or 6 reds. When one mixes all that wool it tends to produce a very interesting product.

- here is another basket with a blue stripe. I think the stripe fits in here as well. Of course, she has utilized a light and dark basket color to get hooked “texture” with the design.

-don’t miss the sneaky way she dated the piece on the right side of the basket

- a doodle border goes well with the perkiness of the florals.

Finally, Michele puts her rug in context by sending along a shot of it “in place.” Nothing “frames” a rug like the right location. The “doodles” in the background really compliment the design on the cabinet. In fact, I bet the cabinet looks better with the rug than without!

Good job everyone. Thanks for providing us all with some inspiration … now, back to work.

It’s always fun when I have progress report photos of blog hook-in projects to show. There are three today. I really enjoyed looking at all of them and know you will too.

From Liz: “I have reworked the breast of my bird but I think I may try it again. I am still not happy with it, especially after seeing the photo. I have finished nearly all of my leaves and much of the background surrounding the basket. I may pull the outline wool of the flowers. I think it is too brown and somewhat overpowering. Thanks for the updates from the other hookers. It is great to see how everyone is progressing.”

Dear Liz – I think you are right about the outline color of the flowers – it’s very strong in this, otherwise, soft piece. However, you may not need to replace all of it. Even if half of that dark wool was replaced with something lighter – like the darkest shade of the bird’s breast – it would soften the over all look of the flowers. You may want to replace all the outline, but I would try this approach first. As for the bird … don’t know that I would change it. If anything, just a tad bit of extended shading at the dark spot of the breast. Hardly anything is needed there from my perspective. It’s a pretty piece nonetheless. GRS

Dorothe writes: “As you can see, I changed to red in the blue bird. Also, I was experimenting with the leaves. On the right side I first did the outline and then filled it in. In the middle, I filled in the leaves and then did the outline. I think the first way looks a little better. On the left side, I did a combination of the two. The three top leaves in the middle need to be redone. I don’t like them. The border around the center piece is going to be the same color as the basket. Then, I wanted to repeat the dark color. I am also thinking about using a 8 cut after I finish the beige border. Is that OK to do?”

Either leaf approach is fine Dorothe … but I do like the ones on the left best. There is something more natural, in my way of thinking, about veins not always showing up in vivid fashion. It is perfectly fine to use more than one cut size. I went back and forth between a #6 and a #8 in my version. What is important is the height of the loops – they all need to be the same. Of course, since it’s the same thing I use in my version, I like your dark background. Your shot actually shows the different colors in the wool better than the shots I have put on the blog. Your bird has got a lot of personality!

Vickey (shall I call her the dragon lady?) who has already sent in one finished version – dragon in a basket – is reporting on her second design.

“Here’s a photo of the Hopes and Dreams basket in progress on my blog. I have very mixed feelings about this one. It’s okay, it works as is, but I feel I could have done a lot better in a number of places including my shading. I’m using #6 strips except for around the lettering and am cutting the 6’s in half to get the strips for the lettering to work. This is on burlap. I am using a nice Black watch plaid for the background and it’s working very well. Thank you for the inspiration to try it. I’ve got about 4 days working on this so far. To me this is coming out more primitive than I had originally intended it to be. I can see other color pallets this could have been done in including a patriotic one making the banner into a flag and having the words surround the basket. Might try that in the future. Does it look okay?”

Readers should remember that Vickey designed this version as a way of acknowledging her children (hearts) and grandchildren (stars), as well as “wish” the words for them. Your cut size seems to work just fine. There seems to be plenty of definition with all the many things going on in this basket. My only suggestion concerns the first heart (from the left) which gets lost with the dull shadow color – it blends in too well with the basket. Maybe some wool more like that in the 4th heart? I am sure you used that “dark” since it’s next to the star. However, it’s a bright design spot and I think a richer, more vibrant pink/rose would do a better job of anchoring and establishing that star, while also making it pop out from the basket. Black Watch Plaid is my very favorite background. Wish I knew where I could buy a bolt of it! This is going to be a treasured family piece. Yes, a patriotic version would be superb.

If you want to see more about Vickey’s piece, you can do so on her blog:

FanXstitch http://fanxstitch.blogspot.com/

While I have not exactly counted up the number of reports that have been sent in, I know a lot of participants have not made reports. If you don’t want to, that’s fine, but it’s always an inspiration, as it was today, when someone sends in a report. Soooo, takes those shots and send them in. My special thanks to Liz, Vickey and Dorothe!

It’s Tuesday, which means I will be doing “lunch time” proddy today at the grade school.

I am still playing with my “corner” treatment, although it probably won’t end up too far away from looking like this. I know I do not want a solid gold scallop, although I may take out a bit of the red. Part of the benefit of blogging through the process is that it lets me look at my work on the screen, creating a better way of evaluating than just looking at it from across the room. Working with a #8 does not leave a lot of room so, in later versions of this pattern, I intend to do the scallop in a much smaller cut. (The prodded lilac and rose basket calls for a “lacy” look I think.) This “take” on the scallop seems to echo the size and look of the handle … which grows on me the more I look at it.

Although I am using bits of all the greens that were used in the leaves, they are not thrown in hit and miss. If randomly thrown together, the abrupt changes in the greens look too noticeable. Since all the greens were mottled, I take note of the shade value of the wool when the strip ends, making sure I continue with a new piece (different color) that starts with the same basic value. You can see the color change in the middle of this strip – but not the value.

When backing away from that spot, the colors in the strip flow together, giving the appearance of a dip dye. It’s a small, technical point, but one might as well take the time to make the most of every piece of wool and how it interacts with other pieces.

I finally got a bit of time over the week to get back to the “Noel Holly Basket.” Most of my rug hooking time recently has been devoted to final preparations for the Yellow Rose of Texas Rug Camp coming in mid March. However, things calmed down so that I could put in some loops on the upper right hand corner to see if my plans would work out to my liking. You can never tell exactly how wool is going to look until you hook some of it where it’s supposed to go. There isn’t anything too ground breaking in this application. After all, it’s called Noel Holly BASKET and I want the basket to take center stage. I am happy with the way things look, so will continue. Although there is just one of the “greens” shown in the pinstripe (#6 cut for that) done so far, all of the greens used in the leaves will eventually make their way into that little border line. The only thing yet to decide concerns the scalloped edge. I have not decided if I will fill that part with solid gold or leave some “cut work” spots – will probably know by the next time I make a post on this project.

My goal, with this piece, is to stay (mostly) true to the original design. There is plenty of time and room to go my own way with the other two versions I plan to do based on this theme. If all goes well, I can do some more hooking Sunday afternoon and evening.