~ Elda's Flowers ~ A Finish ~

It's official ~

I've finished my rug! 

"Elda's Flowers"

all hooked, blocked & bordered...
in it's finished-state,
with the edge it measures approx. 25" x 31"

this was a joy to hook ~ I must say...

watching the colors come together on my linen was pure happiness for me :)

 The story behind the design:

my Mom, Elda Elizabeth Geiste Smith 

~ is turning 87 yrs, young this June 30th.

she was born in Dauphin Co. PA.

She loves the color blue, and wildflowers..... 

💙

the main background color is deep dark blue...

and I pulled in a few other colors from the motifs to add movement.

For the border, I knew I wanted an old scrappy look ~ 

so I hooked it by randomly pulling chosen wool worms 

in shades that complimented the blues used in the background 

... and flowers themselves.

I decided the 'urn' looked too stark and naked ~

so I appliqued a wool heart on to it using linen-colored thread...

then I freehand embroidered Mom's initials on that

' E G S '

Lauren {from Rugs & Pugs} 

asked me to show the main wool I used for the background...

here are two photos of the same wool in different light:

it takes on more brown in some light, and more blue in other light ~ crazy, huh??

I added a label to the back ~

  ... used a scrap piece of homespun cotton fabric in a salmon-color 

and a micro-fine tipped black sharpie.

And as I did previously on my Lancaster Barnyard rug ~

I again crocheted the edge of this rug using delightful heavy hand dyed wool yarn from

Ali Strebel { www.alistrebeldesigns.com } in the perfect "Goldenrod" color.

I'll be listing the pattern in our Etsy shop soon, 

(( available as a mailed Paper pattern, a PDF pattern & hand drawn on Linen ))

and I'll have the rug and patterns on linen and paper with me Saturday at the Virginia Rug Fest

:) 

Happy to get this one finished & shared with you...

~ now on to the next!

Blessings from the Farm

 ~ Lori

~ Betwixt & Between ~

Good Tuesday Morning

~ Friends & Folk ~ 

a little rain falling gently on the farm today...

~ and we need the rain badly.

not much of 'the white stuff' fell on us this winter, so our ground is in need of a good soak.

happily, though ~ our Robin Red Breast friends are able to poke their beaks

 into now-softened ground to pull up a few fat worms...{no, not WOOL worms silly}

and speaking of fat,

just look at the bellies on these three below! ~

not sure but me thinks these are all females ~

aren't they sweet?

 

  sorry for the bit of distortion, my photos were snapped 

looking through our old wavy glass windows here in the farmhouse.

In other news,

 I've finished hooking the background of my

 'Elda's Flowers' rug...

and of course when I set it down to snap a few.....

 

well,

... do you approve, Iggy?

 

this background is made up of 3 different textured, as-is blues.

with a few random worms of off-blue for interest...

 

I would describe the overall background color as

" Denim-y, with a touch of Prussian and a pinch of Sunday School Wool-Skirt tweed."

{but that's just me...lol}

... now on to the border.

I have a bag of worms from previous rugs that I've been saving 

for a scrappy  hit or miss kind-of border.

I still have to figure out just how I want to hook the border, although I know what wool to use.

what direction? planned random-ness? controlled-chaos? maybe wavy?

OR how 'bout super prim, kinda-toss-them-up-in-the-air and hook 'em where they land technique?

sure. 

whatever my hook tells my hand to do will be...

are you a member of my Facebook group for Rug Hookers?

~ The Out of Hand Rug Hookers Group ~

(OOHRHG)

it is a WONDERFUL group of friendly folks for both new & old 'hookers'

where we get together and ask questions, share photos, learn & encourage one another ...

We are getting ready to begin a fun Hook-A-Long (HAL) {more details to follow}

and at the moment, I have over 3700 members and we are growing everyday!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/theoutofhandrughookers/

One of our OOHRHG members, 

Kelley from http://kankerdoodle.blogspot.com is holding her own little HAL on her blog and participating folks will be posting their progress on the group page while following along with Kelley's progress ~ join in the fun, won't you?

And just a friendly reminder that I will be vending again at the

~ Virginia Rug Fest ~

 this coming Saturday, April 1st 2017

http://shockoesliprughookers.com/virginia-rugfest-2017.html

 this event is in it's 15th year, 

and I have been blessed to be a part for a couple of years now...

Hmmm...actually since 2010

 as my blog 'records' show!

click on the link  and read all about the Shockoe Slip Rug Hookers 

and if you get a chance to come out to the event ~ stop in my room and say Hello!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

well I am off to run errands now ~ post office, banking and a little trip to the market.

then it's back to hook and frame for me!

Hoping you all have a beautiful day my friends!

Blessings from the Farm

 ~ Lori

~ Farm Shop Open Today ~

Grab your workbasket

 and come on out to the farm!

We'll be OPEN today from 10:00 - 4:00

 come browse the shop a little,

 and create with me and the girls!

Blessings from the Farm 

~ Lori

~ Inspiration Friday ~

Inspiration truly is everywhere

 ~ isn't it?

 • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ •

Today's posting is about being inspired by symbolic gravestone/headstone art...

more specifically, those sweet little lambs we see on ancient children's graves ~

a bit morbid to think about, but the stonework on these are just beautiful...

if one can look past the sadness of what they are representing.

I turn to these for inspiration for my needlework, but especially so in my rug hooking designs.

... what better symbol to use on a rug made from wool?

here are a few of my favorites ~ borrowed from my Pinterest boards.

{{ https://www.pinterest.com/loribrechlin }}

or you can simply Google-search & type in the keywords:

'gravestone   art   headstone   symbols'

love the striped-effect of the marble

perfect, primitive profile

ravages of time....

different poses with legs curled or unfurled

just plain sweet

an almost-alien, naive lamb on a more contemporary stone

perfect texture

a sweet pile of lambkins

especially love the pose and texture of fleece on this one

tiny and weathered

i believe this to be contemporary, more garden art than marker, but still loverly

another fav. with nubby coat

and don't forget to study other gravestone art as well...

such beauty & much inspiration waits on your next visit to a local graveyard.

~ I find walking among them peaceful and a quiet place to reflect.

 Hoping you all have a beautiful Friday

~ filled with inspiration at every turn!

Blessings from the Farm

 ~ Lori

~ Peace-maker ~

Think about this....

I mean, really....

Peace on Woolly Earth.

 

Ok, there may be a few squabbles over wool

but....

 I couldn't imagine anything more than that,

could you?

 all of us,

quietly {or-not-so} gathered together in unity across the planet

stripping and hooking and happy and calm.

a dream.....

maybe not-so calm, as we tend to get excited....

each of us sharing and learning from one another in peace.

 

what a Wonderful World it would be.

 

 using our art as voices of reason and peace

and therapy for ourselves

to sooth our weary modern souls....

some of us use our art to express the goings on in our Country, and I admire you for that.

it is a way to tell the world our thoughts and feelings and we should do that...

~ we as women, the once 'Silent Majority'  have been doing that for centuries, through our needlework and art...

... and we will continue.

creating records and memories

~ in wool and linen for our future to stop and think about,

pausing for a moment to reflect and perhaps

 planting a seed of inspiration for them to continue our work and voice.

Life is what we choose to make it.

I'll make mine happy, thanks.

 

I will live in my world of color, 

~ of linen and thread and wool and fabric 

happily and peaceably with my neighbors.

Blessings from the Farm

 ~ Lori

~ In a Nutshell ~

 Here's all I got for today...

You Betcha.

 {feel free to 'borrow' the above and use on your own blog}

Blessings from the Farm 

~ Lori

~ Woolwright Hook In ~ photos ~

Hello
~  Friends & Folk! ~

 as promised,
photos from this past weekend's event:
the Woolwright's Hook In in Lancaster PA
www.woolwrights.com

If you have never been to this wonderfully-woolly event,
mark your calendars for next year ~ you won't want to miss it!

All of the members of the Woolwright's guild that I met were so very nice,
they welcomed Hannah & I and made us feel so comfortable!
... and we just can't thank them enough fro helping us load/unload :)

So many freinds that I have known online came in to our room to say hello....
~ how I love meeting friends and getting a hug or two ;)

we shared our room with Green Mountain Hooked Rugs and Wooly Dye Works...
and being in one place with all of that wool made my head spin!

Here they are in no particular order ~ just random snaps...

our room ~ Hannah to your left, Green Mountain straight ahead and Wooly Dye Works to your right

sweet Terri Leamer from My Winter Cottage

our booth

wool-crazy women

most-happy shoppers!

some folks brought along their rugs-in-progress of my designs adapted by Kris from www.spruceridgestudios.com

another rug in progress ;)

Such a fun time ~ I wish I had more photos to share, but we were super-busy!!!
Thank you Woolwrights for allowing us to share the joyful day with you all!!

Blessings from the Farm

 ~ Lori