Stitches & Craft Show in Melbourne

We had an amazing extended weekend at Caulfield. It was the first time Rug Making was represented in the Guild area of the Stitches & Craft Show in Melbourne. Interest was constant, with our girls demonstrating for most of the day, every day.
Many, many people were surprised to see the rugs, especially Anne's Proggy rugs. "Oh I remember these!" was heard often. A nice memory.
Lots of folk remembered the day when they all sat around cutting or prodding or collecting rags for the rugs. 'Clippy' or 'Peggy' or 'Proddy' rugs, depending on where they were from. One gentleman said his mother covered the whole house's floors. One alone covering the entire lounge floor! He and his siblings had to cut the strips as well as muck in. Even the father's were involved.
Perhaps we'll find that some of the interested ladies will come and join our little group.
It was obvious that a spark was lit in people's imaginations and that's how we feel.
Demonstrating Proddy Rug all day over the weekend, on Hessian, I discovered how easy it was myself! I'd been using Latch-hook Canvas (an Op Shop find) and now I'll never use it again. Hessian is so much easier. No wonder I thought Proddy's a bit difficult. The Hessian is pliant and user friendly and I can't wait to get to it!
Don't forget to email us for your free 'Blossom' pattern! victorianrugmakers@gmail.com

This is the first day. All is neat and tidy. The vacuum cleaner man forgot our corner and by the second day, our space looked like our workrooms do after a day of serious hooking

 

 

Joy was inundated by people wanting to see how rug hooking was done. Some had a go, and with Joy's encouragement they were soon pulling loops like professionals

 Lis, also spent time showing interested people the ropes, while Anne chatted about backings, hooks and wool

This lady shared her vision of adding a hooked border to her current nancy knitted rug project.

Lots of fun was had by all.....

Stitches & Craft Show, October 24 - 27 2013

The Victorian Rug Group, as representatives of the Australian Rug Crafters Guild, will be at the: Stitches & Craft Show, Melbourne, October 24 - October 27, 2013, Caulfield Racecourse, Station St, Caulfield East. This is the first time Rug Hooking will be displayed and demonstrated at this annual craft fair! Judging by the reception in the show at Perth, Western Australia, we expect to be run off our feet. Our group is very excited and hope to inspire as many people as can be to take up this interesting and enjoyable craft. There will be lots to look at and you might like to have a go yourself. Ask questions, share stories or just come to see what we're banging on about the whole time! Come up and say Hi! We're situated on the top level, up near the coffee.

 

'Blossom'

Special Show Offer, email us at victorianrugmakers@gmail.com for a free pattern.

.

.

.

 

 Here I have started to add some hair. I needed to get the skin tones below his hair sorted out. Too dark and you wouldn't be able to differentiate between his hair and his face. Too light and there would be no hair shadow. 

Here I have added a shadow line to the left side [his left] of his face.

I still have some tweaking to do but I will wait and see what it looks like when finished, so I can have a good look at it.

I like to take lots of photos. You tend to see more on a photo.

My Love Rug finished

My love rug is finished, finally. It has taken me 9 1/2 months. Instead of whipping an edge I just hemmed back the excess hessian, which looks OK I think. Sorry about the photo, it's not very clear. I'll take another later and replace it then.

Isaac

In this, my second portrait rug, I have decided to implement April deConick’s   way of doing portraits, based on value rather than colour alone. April says; “It is based on the concept that the eye focuses on differences in value and intensity, more than differences in color.”

Within  each area of value I am using about 4-5 colours of the same value, rather than just one skin toned colour. The colours may include, pinks, purples, red, blues. As long as they are of the same value I will use them in that one area. It is also a great way of using up your stash.

A good way of knowing whether your colours are of the same value is to sort them into groups- i.e light pinks, creams, blues, mauves and so on in the light group. Do the same for light mediums, mediums, dark mediums and darks. Then take a monochrome photo of each group. Any that are not of the same value will easily show up as either darker or lighter. Put those with your other groups of values.

In the photos you will see this colour combination. I am very happy with the way this is working and will keep you up to date with photos. 

 My pattern traced onto the backing

 I start with the eyes, then the mouth.

 Once I have the main features hooked, I hook the light values first, then the dark, and finally the medium values.

October meeting of the Yarra Valley Rug Makers

What a most wonderful day we had. The weather was great, the company was great and the rugs were especially great.

We all arrived at Anne’s in Warrandyte around 10AM. We were welcomed by Anne and introduced to our visitors- Miriam and Jacqui, followed by a lovely hot cuppa.

We also welcomed our newest member Jo, who was very keen to learn how to hook a rug.

After showing off all our beautiful rugs, which were brought along for the upcoming Stitches and Craft show at Caulfield, we were shown a most wonderful large rug by Jo, who picked it up at a garage sale. It was owned by a lady rug hooker who had been hooking for many years. It is an unfinished project and hooked with all sorts of different fabrics. Lots of ideas were thrown around regarding a suitable background for the ‘Leaves’ rug.

Joy talked to us regarding the S & C show and our part in it. That finalised we talked about a name change for the group and settled on the ‘Yarra Valley Rug Makers’, or maybe, ‘The Yarra Valley Group’ as an offshoot of the Victorian Rug Makers parent group, the Victorian rug Makers. We then had a wonderful lunch and lots of socialising. Some of us even did a bit of hooking.

There was so much to see and so many people to talk with, it was just wonderful. With such lovely weather we took the opportunity to sit outside for a time.

Around 3pm we started to pack up, looking forward to the S & C show in a fortnight.

 Jacqui holding up a wonderful little rug hooked by one of her protoges in Africa

 

Miriam in deep discussion with one of our group

 Lis' gorgeous circle rug

 Jacqui's project that she brought with her to work on. An adaptation of a painting.

 Our newest member Jo, working on her very first rug. Great to have you with us Jo

 Jo's first rug

 Chris' portrait rug of her eldest grandson

 Discussing how to finish Jo's garage sale find

 Joy is hooking up a few small motives for her Christmas tree

 Anne, working on the background of her Santa Rug

 Our wonderful group enjoying the sunshine at Anne's

Close Up Of Bound Edges

 

I used my excess fabric to cut strips and bind the edges of the rug. I love it. It's a tiny weenie bit tedious but fits right in with the colour and texture. I tucked the ends under the top at the start, then the back for the finish of each worm.

The curved edges flute a little and next time I'll tack the hem first, however, it's fairly flat so I won't do another thing to this rug excepting stand on it!

Phew!

http://robynefmelia.blogspot.com.au/2013/10/its-over-i-did-it.html

Victorian Rug Makers October meeting

Hello fellow rug makers.

It is that time of the month again when we look forward to our next get together.
We will be meeting at Anne's home in Warrandyte on 12th october. We are all looking forward to catching up with, or meeting for the first time, long time rug hooker Miriam Miller, who will be visiting us from NSW.
So bring your projects, a smile and some food to share. All first timers welcome. If you don't have a project, that's OK too. We will help you get started.
Just comment on this post if you would like to join us. Hope to see you there.
Cheers from Chris