Onto Autumn Fruit on Off the Wall Friday

Shirley, hooked by Kyoko Okamura, 40" by 37"

 So, I'm onto my 2nd big project- Autumn Fruit designed by Pearl McGown & Jane McGown Flynn.  I'm still pretty shocked that I got this lovely pattern on linen with all the wool kitted out and class instructions all for $20 on eBay.  The more I looked at the project, the more I realized what an amazing deal it was.  Not to mention, it's a perfect 2nd project.  First it will teach me to follow a pattern and also shows me how to gradate the pattern to give it depth.  

It was given as a Northern McGown Teachers Workshop by Kyoko Okamura on July 17, 2018. (So nearly 8 years to the day from when I started it.)  The project comes with all the wool plainly labeled, a lesson in color planning and then detailed directions on how the fruit needed to be hooked.  This is where we started with the maker ending on the fourth step or so  :

The strips are in #7 cut (7/32).  I don't happen to have that die size, so I'll be using #6 cut (6/32nd or 3/16th's) I mean how much a difference can that be?  The lady who started this did exquisite work.  Her loops all are super - super even.   It's a bit intimidating but I put my big girl pants on, silenced the critic committee in my head and got the peach leaf done.  Not super even, but color placement is right and it looks fine.  

Next in the directions where the plums.  But, reading the directions carefully, I could tell that this is where the maker decided to leave the directions behind. (I mean who hasn't done THAT!)  She followed the color placement like the pear with the values gradating to show the shape of a round plums.  This is her version, and you can see how gorgeous her work is - 

But Kyoto went off of the actual picture that the pattern was based on.  Many rug patterns are made from traditional paintings and rugs. So her directions, had you using a whole different color and playing with values of the plums as a whole not the individual spots in them.  Bravely, I ripped out the beautiful loops of the maker and decided to trust in Kyoko's directions.  Taking loops out in rug hooking is easy since there are no knots - so with a tug here and a tug there - the plums disappeared.  That's when I realized that all the colors the maker had used were completely different.  

I spent yesterday putting in the plums and the leaves.  I experiemented with using a #3 cut (yep - that's 3/32nd - see you're gettin' the hang of this!) for the stem of the leaf. The color was the same and I wanted to see how the little loops looked with the 6.  Traditionally, most rugs are hooked with loops that are only 2 size difference - but I can see me totally blowing that off.  I mean really - rug hooking for me is about  texture and line and you can't play with texture and line without adding scale to it.  

They totally look different.  Not better not worse but you can see why she decided to go her own way. This is right though by the pattern and how Kyoko intended.

This is where I am so far - WoW!  this is turning into quite a lesson in value! One thing I love about it is that it's so easy to sit down and hook for 20-30 minutes at a time.  Quilting had turned into a big production that I never seem to have enough energy or time for.  I'm  self-aware enough to realize this is more a Nina issue rather than a quilting issue.  Apparently, a wool strip measured in 32nds isn't as intimidating at this season in life.  

Thanks though for going along on this rug hooking journey with me....

Onto Cool Things I've found....two treasures this month....

1. Hartman Hooks (Irish Hook) - now most people don't realize what a find this is  - but rug hookers know!  In 1988, an Irish man designed these beautiful rug hooking tools out of yew wood and brass.  An American woman distributed them here for the last 30 years.  Recently both retired and the hooks which were a staple in the rug hooking world became scarce.  After much research, I found a yarn shop up in Maine which had the #5 Ergo Hook as a back up for my #6 and the #3 Ergo for fine work.  (Both at good prices!)  The thing about hooks is that the hand wants what the hand wants and my hand loved the Hartman Ergo.  I did find out that the original designer's son is still making them in Ireland, so you can order them from EBay and Etsy but then they have to be imported and it's a whole expensive production.  So now with three Hartman hooks I'm set!

   

   Who knew such a little tool could be such a pain to find?

   
   
2.  My husband and I love thrifting and I'm always on thelook out for something unique.  Today I found the quilting book - Yoko Saito's Houses, Houses, Houses.  It's such a gorgeous translation of her Japanese book.  The book explains in minute detail how to design a small houses quilt.  Then there are directions and patterns to make them into 3D projects or a Block of the Month quilt.  All of it, I believe is done by hand applique. This has me thinking, I could do a version featuring my small town.  
   
   
   

That's what I've been doing - 

What Have You've Been up to Creatively?

(Linking to Kathy's Slow Stitch Sunday)

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A Finish - Rug #1 on Off the Wall Friday

 RUG DONE! And yes, my first real rug hook in the books.  Now when I say "done", I mean done hooking.  Hopefully, I'll get the edges finished up soon enough.  But to tell you the truth, there are so many ways to finish them, I haven't figured out which one I'm going to do yet.

That all said, I thought I would continue on with my habit of doing a self critique when I finish project.

Rug #1, Nina-Marie Sayre, July 2025
22" by 12", Hand dyed Wool on Linen, #6, #3 strips

Pros:

• Learned how to hook even loops

• 

  Store left over Strips 

  Learned how to hook graceful curves and circles
• The background is really interesting
• The negative space on the waves on the right is really working nicely (how cool is it that the negative space looks like a bird?)
  
• Good use of value, nice movement 

Cons:

• The palette needed some major tweaking (it's the orange)
• The design really needed another draft or two (see below)
• Two flat, needs more gradations
• There are two stories going on with this design

Okay, I preface this by saying the #1 objective of this piece was to learn how to hook nice even loops and curves.  That was success.  Also, I learned how to get a sharp point and how light colors show all the flaws in your hooking.  I also wanted to finish it because getting through your first big project is always the hardest. 

BUT, honestly, this design is a HOT MESS.  In my defense, I did it quicky - like 10 minutes quicky.  I wasn't really sure how long we had to design.  If I had done a few drafts I would have figured out a few things before I spent 2 months hooking it.  

See how the focal point is not in the right place?  This actually was set to be a diagonal composition.  Instead the focal point was too high throwing off the rhythm.  Also, that curve on the left needed some major help.  Maybe for fabric it would work  - and that's a major maybe - but for wool it definitely wasn't going to cut it.  Wool, by its nature is just that much more beefy .  

All of that could have been forgiven if that color palette wasn't off.  And why?

Background "S"'s 

It's telling two stories.  The calm of the waves and background is telling one story.  The accent of the circles is telling a whole other story.  So, it's leaving the viewer to say - hmmmm - there is something off and I'm not quite sure what it is.  Don't get me wrong. Tension in a piece is good but this is giving - "ocean nights with full moons on some freaky alien planet"...  Kinda like in some bad 50's B-Movie.  

Like a said a mess.  

But I made a rule...the goal was to learn how to hook and to finish it - not to pull out loops and fix what needs fixin'.  

I don't think it's a bad idea to set the objectives at the beginning of a piece and keep them in mind as you work your way through.  THEN do a self critique and ask - did you meet the objectives?

My answer to myself this time is ...yes!

 

Now bring on the fruit! 

So What Have You've Been up to Creatively?

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Spring Show '25 on Off the Wall Friday

Erie Art Museum Spring Show

Taking a break from my gushing over my new love of rug hooking, I want to share how great this year's Spring show was.  Every spring, the Erie Art Muesum hosts an art show that is open to artists who live within a 250 mile radius of Erie.     With no entry fee, it's very popular to enter and a great honor to get accepted.  That said, depending on who the guest jurist is really reflects how strong the show is.  

I'm happy to say that this year's juror, Keliy Anderson-Staley, curated the best show, I've ever seen.  So many strong brilliant pieces.  It truly was breath taking and inspirational.  Also nice to see that there were several fiber art pieces chosen.  Normally, I feel that the fiber arts choices (opinion alert) aren't always the strongest.  But this year...well... you be the judge....

Contemplation, Helena Sarah Richardson
Woven, Chenille, cotton, Linen, rayon ribbon 

Flowing Facing Forward, Joyce Morrow Jones
Fiber with 3D composition

Changing Directions, Felicia Daulhausen 
Shabari discharge hand stitched in Perle cotton

42.1211 N, 80.1300W, Lorena Alcarez Toca
Mix Media, Painting 

42.1211 N, 80.1300W, Detail

                                                                                    

Mended Soul, Lynn Fizel 
Fiber Art 

Mended Soul, Detail

Amazing right?  The rest of the show was just as strong.  Finally, fiber art shown at the show that would hold up at other shows. 

I could go on - but ya know  -  I got a rug to hook...

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Choosing What's Next on Off the Wall Friday

This week's progress

Wool with the Auction

The nice thing about taking up a second creative journey this late in life is that I actually learned something the first time.  The biggest thing I learned from my beginning quilt days, was "Don't bite off more than you can chew." That's why when I designed my first piece, I picked simple shapes in a manageable size but with enough interest that I wouldn't go batty.  I won't lie.  I thought I would pick "this whole make a loop thing" faster than I did but finally it seems like I've gotten the hang of it.

That all said, it got me thinkin' ...What's next?  Ideas popped into my head...Design somethin' new??? .... Buy someone else's pattern???? .... Buy a pre-made kit???  Take a class???  Soooo many options - none really cheapie!  I also know already that my second project will not be a "signature" piece, and it will be just another learning experience.  So why spend a lot of money?

That led me to one of my favorite, "I'm bored" past-times - scrolling on eBay.  That's when I was blessed with seeing the listing of a UFO rug hooking project.  It included the original partially hooked pattern, instructions and a good handful of wool - all for the low, low price of $20.  What more could a beginner ask for?  What drew me to this project is that it included a lot of nice irregular shapes, an opportunity to practice shading and a manageable size of 14" by 20" .  To tell you what a good deal this is - the pattern on linen alone sells for $68 on their website.  

So apparently my next project will be fruit! 

With the hot holiday weekend, there left plenty of time to hook in the air conditioning.  With that I binged watched hooking on YouTube and found someone new - Deanna of Ribbon Candy Rug Hooking.    Deanna - finally - is someone that is more of the same mind as I am about hooking - that it's a craft which has a frugal "use it up" history that can be practiced that same way now.  Deanna through her many hundreds of short videos proves that all you need for hooking is an even weave backing, some kind of fiber strip and a decent hook.  She, self admittedly is more creative driven than technically driven.  Honestly after 5 hours of her videos, I had to admit - I'm a fan.  It solidified what I already was suspecting - that hooking and art quilting were definitely kissing cousins.

Here is a list of short interesting videos what will show you what I mean.. 

• Rug Hooking - how to move your hands 
• Rug Hooking with Difficult Fabrics 
• How to Hold your Hook
• Rug Hooking with Recycle Sweaters 

Deanna from Ribbon Candy Rug Hooking 

Honesty that is just a few and I watched so many great ones.   I'm just glad that it gave me hope that rug hooking is actually a fiber art rather than a patterned craft.  Don't get me wrong...I know lots of ladies like to do patterned crafts with a lot of traditional rules (some of my best friends are pattern craft makers honesty!)... I'm just not one of them.

I got so excited when I found Deanna because really, I took up this new adventure to add two fold fun.  The first was indulge my love of all things thrifted.  I mean who doesn't love a bargain as well as the thrill of the chase.  And secondly, the idea to translate some of the art elements I've learned into something other than quilting.  

That's how far I got down this rabbit hole of rug hooking this week....

What are You Up to Creatively?

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Cross Over Benefits on Off the Wall Friday

 

This week's progress 

To all my US readers, Happy 4th - I feel so blessed to be an American. Hope you get some time with ones you love.  

WoW everyone, thank you for the warm welcome back.  It's always nice to see the internet being used for actually bringing people together.  It's funny, the minute I finally got myself writing and creating, all the normal ideas would pop in my head.  My workflow the last 15 years have been that during my week, I'll get ideas on blog posts and then jot them down quick before they're lost.  For the last 6 months there weren't any and all of a sudden now they're too many!  

But today, I picked the elephant in the room - Cross Over Medium 

At first, when I decided to try to my hand at rug hooking, I thought, I'll just keep this as my little side gig secret.  It's something to do in the evenings while I indulge my deep dive on YouTube (don't ask but let's just say my husband thinks there might need to be an intervention soon.)  But the more I learned about rug hooking, the more I enjoyed it and could see similarities it has to art quilting.  Plus, it's fun to learn all the little nuances of it (something that I conquered with quilting long ago).  

Recent things I learned: 

• After MUCH research, the easiest and most economical way to cut wool strips, is to use a Sizzix system.  Sizzix is a die cutting system that is mostly used for paper crafts, but it can be used for other materials.  They did try to market it for quilting but have since dropped that line.  Thank God, the Old Tattered Flag came up with the brilliant idea of using it to easily cut strips of wool in different widths.   The whole system might cost you about $400, but its WAY cheaper than any other wool cutter they have on the market.  Traditional cutters are machined which makes
  
  
  them expensive.  Plus, as the craft gets less popular they are harder to find.  I found the Sizzix to cut quickly, efficiently and with very straight lines. (Part of the issues is that the strips are cut in 32nds widths from about 3-10)  That all said there is no reason you can't cut your strips with a rotary cutter  - although I have YET to hear a rug hooker say that - lol!  Let me know in the comments if you want me to talk more about this cutting system.  
• Most rug hookers are like quilters, they are a traditional lot.  They like to have patterns and they like patterns to show them exactly how to make it.  That said, I do think more and more hookers are branching out to make their own design.  This week I sat in on Cindi Gay's weekly Saturday Hook -In. It's free and there were about 12 ladies just hooking for about an hour chatting over Zoom.  People showed what they are working on and new people asked questions.  In the discussion, I learned a lot of hookers struggle with value and shading (that sounded familiar).  With a little research I learned about an app - Value Study App - finally a little app that will easily give you value study of picture.  I thought - WoW - where has this been all my life!  The android version is still in beta testing but I didn't have any issue getting mine to work on my Samsung Galaxy. 

Apparently, I'm not the only Sayre in this house that needed a change.  My husband decided last year that he wanted learn how to paint - yes not my house but actual paintings.  He first looked for painting classes locally and not finding any, he did what we all do lately...turned to YouTube.  Since he's retired, he then spent quite a bit of time watching videos until he started to follow some teachers he really liked.  He set up a little painting space in our basement (14 rooms in this Victorian and he chooses the basement which to me is like a dungeon) and started painting.  Over the last year, he's turned out some really nice pieces but his last series is kinda crazy good - no, seriously - here they are 

They are from copy-right free vintage photos from around 1910 done in oil.  He recently entered them in a local art show and won his first ribbon.  He's entered this show before but always with his woodworking pieces.  Imagine the surprise from the gallery owner when she saw he could paint.  (I knew exactly how she felt- I had no idea he has progressed this far in a year!)

That's right he taught himself off of YouTube.  Now for the first time in our marriage all he talks about is paint rather than wood.  He did easily make his own frames and stretched canvases.  Plus, he's planning trips to art museums rather than me for a nice change.  

That's the Cross Over Madness that is going on in the Sayre's house ...  (I'm linking up to Kathy Quilt's Slow Sunday Stitchin' because my hooking is all done by hand!)

What are You Up to Creatively?

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New Beginnings on Off the Wall Friday

The design so far

 So for the last month, I've said I'm going to write my blog on Sunday afternoons.  For 15 years, I always managed to have Thursdays off for quilting and posting my blog.  Then in the last year with a new job change, I'm working Monday - Friday.  Go figure that now that I'm looking at 60, I'm so tired Thursday nights after work that it's become more of a chore to post rather than the pleasure it's always been.  Plus somewhere along the line, I lost my creative mo-jo.  

Frame my husband made for me

FINALLY though, after my time at John C. Campbell Folk School, I found it!  I told myself, I'm just going to go relax with no agenda in mind accept to enjoy myself. (I barely even took any pictures!) I
took a 5 day rug hooking class with Linda Bell.  Rug hooking, for anybody who doesn't know is where you take thin strips of wool (think 1/8th-1/4th in thick), use a hook to pull them through a backing making little equal loops.  The loops make lines and the lines fill in patterns.  The patterns can be abstract or representational.  It's a very old school tactile craft and I've totally fallen in love. 

While at JCC, we learned how to make a pattern, cut wool, and practiced making little loops.  Hooking the loops is something it takes 5 minutes to learn and a LOT of practicing to get right.  Some ladies in the room got it right away - that would NOT be me.  The more I hooked though, the more even they became.

Quickie Pattern designed in less than 30 minutes

I was working on a design that I quickly drew up using a picture in one of my books as inspiration.  When I say quickly, I mean like 10 minutes.  So crazy!  Then without my usual process of doing value drawings and auditioning color palettes, I quickly came up with a fly by seat of my pants plan of attack.  Really it's not a bad idea to work out of your comfort zone every now and again.  Besides this was all about the hooking.  

Things I learned that week

• curves are harder to hook evenly than straight lines
• light colors show imperfect loops easier than darker colors
•  remember to stretch your hands, arms and shoulders regularly
• A frame that rotates is a true blessing
• Wool is WAY more expensive than cotton

Wool Strips  - called - Noodles

I know there are still plenty of rug hookers out there, but I've also learned that it's relatively an unknown art. I thought I would write a series of posts in the upcoming weeks that will take you along on my rug hooking adventure.  

I want to thank everyone who has hung with me as I've made some creative adjustments this last year.  Honestly, I know that creativity ebbs and flows as with most things in life, but I was beginning to worry.  I just had to keep reminding myself that I spent the last year using a lot of my creative energy solving problems at work (which I totally loved and still love!) 

Close Up of what the loops

So yes, I'm still quilting but for now I'm taking a little detour into rug hooking.  

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Off the Wall Friday

 

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