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....

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