Monday, July 18, 2011

SURELY FALL IS NEAR???

What a stupid title to this blog post - with record high temps all over the country and the heat index here at 100 + and rising thru the week - I must be delirious from the heat or maybe just day dreaming about fall when I was plundering thru my rug hooking projects on Saturday night looking for something new and different to work on at rug guild yesterday. Meet Mr Fancy Pants.  Here is a close up shot of him - Jody made me laugh - he said he looked like that Jeepers Creepers thing in the horror movie - like he was going to jump up and get you any minute.  He said he has a sick sadistic look on his face - AAAWWWW - now wasn't that mean of him - I think he is sooooo cute and doesn't look mean or creepy at all to me.

I love this canvas with the whole backround filled with pumpkins and pumpkin leaves.  I thought the bird looked like some silly tropical bird instead of a crow so I had someone redraw it for me - I think it was DF Henri or maybe DF Karen - honestly it has been so many years since this guy has seen day light I don't remember who helped me redraw the bird.

My goal is to do every single pumpkin in a different shade of orange and use a lot of textures.  It is a very busy canvas and really does require quite a bit of study to make sure you are seeing everything correctly that is going on in this canvas.  For any rug hookers out there - the canvas was designed by Bev Conway and is called Punkin Patch or maybe Pumpkin patch and I did this in a 2 day workshop with her some years ago.  I've only worked on it a time or two since that workshop about 5 years ago but he is such a cutey and I sure needed a blast of fall feelings yesterday.  I am doing this mainly in a 6 cut mostly with wools I bought from Bev at the workshop.  I have a lot of browns so I am hoping to find stash for the aged picket fence in the foreground.

 Next up is the Figurehead shawl FINISHED and on time for the Camp Loopy KAL with the Loopy Ewe shop.  For anyone interested in the knitting stats - it was a design out of the Summer Knitscene mag knitted with the called for Spud and Chloe Sweater which is a worsted weight 50 wool/50 cotton - lovely yarn.
This photo is more accurate of the true colors - one of the requirements for the Loopy project was the item had to be striped - anyway - here is the cool horn button  I found in Savannah last week.

Yes there has been stitching going on in my house but I just did not feel like trying to take another WIP photo of that huge Spanish sampler - I do enjoy working on it but Jody's nickname of "the lap blanket" does paint a picture for how big this sampler actually is and working with that all over my lap and under the OTT light - it is a hot project so I don't work on it as often as I should.  I have fallen far enough behind in the Attic SAL that I no longer feel obligated to work on it when I don't want to. In sampler world - I just don't have anything that is screaming my name - I have enjoyed working on the Plymouth Sampler a few days here and there but no dramatic progress on it either. I have been doing some fun needlepointing on the Autumn House and maybe next post I will show you a WIP photo on that one.  That is what I am really enjoying doing at the moment.  Oh and I have just started the 2nd Camp Loopy project with the Loopy Ewe - mittens of all things - well my logic was that I had a better chance of  finishing mittens than gloves and certainly more than socks. To participate - you had to knit one of those 3 items using cables. 

I'm going to leave you with a beautiful breathe of summer - This hibiscus on our patio has done really well.  It always reminds me of sultry summer days.  I hope you are enjoying your sultry summer day doing what you love to do most.  Clink ! and Cheers to you all ~ ~