Enjoying the weather in Florida

Sorry for the lack of posts. My parents were vacationing in Florida between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I decided to join them for a little more than a week in Little Torch Key. We were about 25-30 miles north of Key West. I missed the worst week of weather so far. Yeah!

We went on the ghost tour. What fun. It was dark, and the stories were great. The one that really freaked me out was a story about Robert, the doll.

Before I went home we stopped at the museum just outside the airport that "owns" Robert. I wanted to buy a t-shirt for my son, Bob. The back of the t-shirt has a picture of the doll Robert and says something like "Robert did it." It was a slow morning at the museum and my mom chatted with the clerk about why I was buying the shirt.

The clerk looked up and smiled. "You want to go back? I won't charge you." OMG! Well, what the heck. I said, "Sure."

She led me back and I noticed that my parents stayed in the lobby. So much for parental support. She pointed down the hall and said, "He's in that case. Do you see him?"

When I turned back to answer her, she was gone. OMG!!!!!!

I took a quick picture and skedaddled out of there.

Day 65 Rug Hooking Progress

I had more done than I thought when I reviewed my last entry so here's another picture. I'm beginning to think the hit and miss is too large. If I make it smaller, I will have to add additional borders to keep the finished size. I need to start thinking about this now because the worse thing that can happen is that I finish hooking the entire inside area and I don't have a clue what I want to do with the borders.

Not much rug hooking, lost in Computer Land

Sorry for the lack of activity. I haven't been hooking all that much. My goal for this winter is to rewrite my website, www.cindigay.com. I started this website almost 7 years ago and it has become disorganized and needs an update.

I have to learn new software and I've been playing around with adding video. You have seen some of that in the past posts. I'm beginning to understand how to get it on the internet - I still don't know how to make me look better on film though. I contacted a webmaster that was willing to work with me. He would do the heavy lifting and I would decorate. He hasn't responded to my newest emails or voicemails so I think I am on my own. I do need help with testing and that's where you come in. If you are interested in seeing what is going on before the "public" does, send me an email. I will send you links from time to time to look at. You will send me an email with your comments. Your feedback is very valuable to me. I need users of all types, PC, Mac, novice and experienced.

Second Attempt at Video

Day 050 Rug hooking all weekend

This weekend my husband and I rented videos and stayed home. I was able to hook for hours and hours. I got a lot done, but I am determined to get to the half-way point (of the center) before I take it off the frame.

The rug is now large enough to drape on the ground as I hook. The cats, Georgia and Gracie, now have enough room to share. Georgia is almost two years old and was a good companion to our elderly dog, Samson. When he passed away over Labor Day weekend she seemed lost, so we adopted Gracie from the shelter. They get along very well and I (almost) don't miss having a dog around the house.

I should be able to post a full progress shot it a few days.

Day 44 Georgia loves my hooked rugs

Here's a full shot of the progress on the rug. Whenever it is on the floor, the cats are willing to keep it company.

Day 44 of rug hooking: Rose improvement

Rose - before

I did not want to hook the rose the same way I hooked in the stair riser, Queen Anne Rose. I did hook it differently, but I did not like it at all. I let it go and continued to hook. I hooked another one with more pronounced lights and darks, but it still did not work. Once I had a quarter of the center of the rug finished, I realized the problem was that the rose was too red.

Rose - after

The colors on the after picture are off, but I love this resolution. There are two large roses and two small ones on this rug, but the border contains several small ones. I'm glad I found something that worked. Now I can resize the border to fit....after I figure out how big to make the hit and miss.

A Day Off

Yesterday I traveled to Columbus with my daughter, Jenny. We went to the From our Hands show. It was great to see everyone.

On the way home, we made an impulse decision to go to Home Goods. This store is not in NW Ohio and we had passed it up many times on our way to Easton. Well, quite some time later, we were ready to head back home. We found many great treasures, including a white ceramic pomegranate.

Day 38 of rug hooking: Resolving the Large Leaves

The large leaf motif is one that I have not hooked in my study pieces so this was new territory. I hooked the two shown first. I added two different wools around the veins just to break up the area. The fill area of the leaf was so large. I did not like either solution.

Next I hooked the veins with the vein color only, no secondary color. The vein was a bit harsh. Then I decided to try just the lighter value. This is the same wool that I am using to fill the scrolls. I like this a lot better. The dark that I tried initially was too dark on its own, but I like the look of two different values together. This is something that I might not have thought about if I had ripped out the dark when I decided I did not like it alone. My personal rule is to not rip out until I need the spot to hook. You need to see what does not work in order to find what does work.

When I hook the next leaf, I will try the light vein with another wool. When I find something I like, then I need to decide if I want them all the same. Probably not. I will need to find a few solutions that work.

Day 36 My temporary rug hooking set up

I actually rearranged this corner of the living room. This way I can hook whenever I have a few spare moments. They really add up. The wire shelving is the same shelving I use in the studio. It can be set up and torn down in just moments. See my website for more details. Click on the rug eSchool and take a look at the pictorial tour of my studio. They are old pictures. I have actually added another row across the top.


After about a week I decided to roll the edges of the backing up and baste them in place with yarn so that I could deal with only the center of the rug. That helped a lot.

I initially tried to use clamps for quilting to hold the edge of the rug out of my way. I need to get my arm under the frame either at the bottom or the left side. The rug was just too heavy for these clamps. I found these heavy duty clamps at the home improvement store. They were even on sale for about $4 apiece! They have helped a lot. Even if I cannot get the heavier hooked part of the rug inside the clamp, I can close the clamps on the rug itself and still get the bulk of the rug out of the way.

Day 35 Still rug hooking the scrolls

The design of this scroll is based on the porch supports at the Chalfonte Hotel in Cape May, NJ. I fell in love with this hotel and the area the first year I taught at the Rugs by the Sea rug camp. It is held every year in September. There are two weeks of instruction offered. See the teaching schedule on my website for more information on this camp and others.

I started the hit and miss that will be outside the scroll. I haven't decided how wide to make this border, so I hooked it the largest I think I want to go. If I decide later that I want to make it smaller, I will just rip out. I started with one row of dark at the outside of the scroll and I felt the scroll was getting buried by the hit and miss. I increased the dark to three rows of the background color. I think this will work.

Day 22 Rug hooking the scrolls

I really like to hook the scroll. I am using two rows of random golds filled with my favorite gold/green combination. A darker vein down the center gives some definition. I am still experimenting with which wool to use for the vein.

Day 10 Rug Hooking Progress

I began hooking the scroll.

Day 7 Rug Hooking the rose

I am not happy with the rose. I will try to hook it another way when I do another. For now, it will stay as it is. If I rip it out now, I will not have a record of what DOES NOT work. Knowing what does not work is often as important to know as what does work.

Day 5 Rug Hooking Continued

I took the rug downstairs. This was no easy task. The backing alone weighs 20 pounds!

I wanted to be sure that the rug was going in the direction I wanted. You can see my couch with the footstool in front of it. I am pleased with it so far. I am now very anxious to get it done.

Day 5 Rug Hooking Progress

Hooking has gone fairly easy, but I did my home work before I started. I knew how the motifs hooked up and how all the wools worked together by doing several "study" pieces. You can see the hooked pieces I mention below by visiting the links that follow.

I designed a stair riser, Queen Anne Rose, with some of the motifs that I wanted to use. Next I hooked a footstool, Square Pocketful, using more of this same color scheme. Karen Kahle's pattern, Antique Rose Runner, used lots of hit and miss, again in the same colors. Next came another stair riser, Annie's Scrolls. Finally, I designed a companion footstool, Annie's Flower Power, experimenting with shapes and using the same color scheme.

Queen Anne Rose
Square Pocketful
Antique Rose Runner
Annie's Scroll
Annie's Flower Power

I am not satisfied with how the vine over the center support. I will change it later if it still bothers me.

Day 1 of rug hooking: Putting the pattern on the backing

October 1, 2007 This is the pattern design now. The borders will probably change as I go. It took me a full day to prepare the backing. I had to iron it because it was folded badly for a long time and some of the creases were quite sharp. Next I zig zagged the edges with my 1975 sewing machine that is in desperate need of an adjustment. That took forever. Then I traced the pattern onto red dot. (You can purchase red dot on the supplies page.)

I only traced the center of the design out to the scrolls. I left off the borders because I will probably change them anyway.