Friday, July 18, 2025

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...

So, What Have You've Been Up to Creatively?

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Friday, July 11, 2025

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.. 

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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Friday, July 4, 2025

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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Friday, June 27, 2025

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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Friday, June 20, 2025

Off the Wall Friday


 

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Friday, June 13, 2025

Off the Wall Friday

 

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Friday, June 6, 2025

Off the Wall Friday


 

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