Rug Group Day at Loch

You can see Chris's grandchildren rugs on the wall behind me.

Today Anne, Katherine and I (Robyne) took a trip to Loch for our get together in Chris's lovely home near the gorgeous hills of Western Gippsland. It's always a nice drive and this autumn weather was just perfect.
Chris worked on her big (huge) rug, clocking up hundreds of hours so far. It's going to be amazing when she at last detaches it from it's frame. Note to self: Be there when she does, with a loud hooter or some drums! And cake!
Katherine began her Magpie Rug with a lesson from Chris, and me butting in the whole time with helpful advice. I blame the cups of coffee I'd fortified myself with after the drive. And it's great to be back at Group Days such a long time away with family committments. Combo. Katherine has her newly constructed PVC pipe frame off and running too, and seems to have her hooking sorted! Being a knitter, she has tension well ingrained.
Anne Will Finish Her Hooked Carpet-Wool Rug At Some Point! Just as I Will Finish My Footy Rug! We at least work on them at our monthly gathering.
Unfortunately one of Joy's family had the bad manners to be born on this date, probably years ago, so she was forced to celebrate with them and was missing from action. A poor excuse!
I brought my new Penny Rug (just cut out) along for advice from the Gals. Who were very helpful. I couldn't see for looking anymore, to make decisions.
It's a design I have for sale on Etsy. However, my original version (as seen in the Etsy pic) was made with some inferior felt and it literally fell apart with use! I have dyed a few pieces of woollen blanket for the backgrounds and we lay it out in varous combinations. I can take bits on the train to stitch and use up some stash at the same time (bit hard with hookies). We agreed with which background colours to use, so that made me feel better. Feel free to share your thoughts! They both look good, but I'm thinking the plum-brown with the green peeking out from under will suit our bedroom. Both look good I think. We think.
It's lovely to share our food and company. We welcome any newcomers or old usuals. If you are interested, please put a comment on the blog or email r.m.square@bigpond.com.
From all of us. xxx

Home Schooling Proggy Workshop

Yesterday, I had the most wonderful opportunity and privilege to teach a group of twelve home schooled children the craft of proggy rug making.
I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly they picked it up. They all drew their own creative designs onto the hessian backing and very soon they were off and progging away in all colours of the rainbow. I was absolutely delighted at their skill levels, given their limited tools. Some even got inventive and brought thick wooden knitting needles. Most of the children used the proggers and home made pvc frames I had provided for their first time though, although some used embroidery hoops. The children will continue to work on their project throughout the term and I am looking forward to being invited back to see their finished mats.
Some parents, when they saw how much their children enjoyed the craft offered to make pvc frames for them.

If you would like to learn the craft of either proggy or hooky rug making in a small group setting please leave a message for me [Chris]. I give workshops in my home at Loch, of which the proceeds are donated to missions in India and Uganda.

Milpara Hooky workshop in Korumburra, Vic

six were present at this workshop

Chris' workshops for Missions had its second workshop at Milpara House in Korumburra today with six people in attendance. This was a first try at hooky for everyone bar one person. Barbara attended the first workshop a few months ago. After a practice run on my stretcher frame most got the hang of it and were off hooking their chosen project on their borrowed PVC frames in the first hour of the day.

Hayman

After a few trial runs, where she tried out several designs of her own, Susan settled on a colourful geometric pattern.

Susan

Morgen

Morgen [photo below] designed her own hot air balloon [seen side on] and started by outlining in a bold turquoise colour. She will continue with her 'colouring in' at home.

Hayman's [at far right] artistic ability and natural creativity made up her design as she went along, using a variety of textiles from wool fabric to home-spun wool, knitted fabric and sari silk yarn.

Barbara

This was Barbara's second workshop and she continued working on her chosen daisy design, using synthetic, wool and yarn to create this lovely colourful project.
 
Linda [below] worked on her technique but then decided to have a go at her owl design, which

Linda

was her choice of pattern in the kit. Doing great Linda, go girl.

Merril

Merril felt more comfortable working on her hooking technique but she caught up with the others sooner than she thought and decided to work her project as a hit and miss design using whatever fabrics were on hand.

It was a full day of learning, fun and fellowship. 
At the end of the day everyone had made new friends and maybe even catch up again at a local hook-in, which may well be at my home in Loch. Cheers

Beautiful Rug Hooks and proggers made in Ireland.

I have available:
6mm short curved hooks with either ball or pear handle at $28.00 each
8mm short shank straight hooks for primitive hooking with ball or pear handles at $26.00 each
Wooden proggers at $11.00 each.
Postage added.

These beautiful hooks are hand made in Ireland from brass, with a beautiful satin finish yew wood handle, for a lovely smooth feel.
For orders, you can contact Chris via the contact form on this Blog.
If you are receiving this blog by email HERE is the link to the Victorian Rugmakers Blog.

My last grandchild portrait

Phew, my last grandchild portrait, Milly is finished apart from a little tweaking and binding. It will be nice to continue on my oriental rug and that one will only take me a couple of years to finish!!!

Hooking for Missions

 Learn how to make beautiful, unique rugs, from recycled fabrics, while supporting missionaries and children in Southern Asia and Uganda?

100% of proceeds donated to missions.

Book into a half or full day workshop with Chris at Loch in beautiful Sth Gippsland. No prior skills required but fun and fellowship guaranteed.

Half day and full day workshops offered.

Tools available to borrow for the day, or purchase.

Please show your interest by using the contact form on the right of the Victorianrugmakers Blog page, click  HERE to be directed if you are receiving this blog by email..

Meet Sam the man, grandson number five

This is Sam, grandson number five.  He is 3/4 of the way finished. Still a bit of tweaking to do on the face, but I'll do that at the end. This is a very different background than my other portraits. I will be looking forward to doing a little girl though for my next and last portrait rug.

November meeting of the Yarra Valley rug makers

The day was bright and perfectly lovely for a Rug making get together. We started the morning off rather later than usual. Joy took the wrong turn, Anne was held up by road works and Sandra ended up in San Remo near Phillip Island. A good start to the day indeed. However it only got better from there. It was great to see our newest member Sandra again. She would be about my [Chris'] closest neighbour in the rug hooking world here in Victoria, being about an hours drive from Loch. it was great to see her.

Her Shaun the sheep rug was looking lovely indeed and more than half done by the time she left. Off course I didn't help things when I mistook him for an owl, having been brought up on the wrong side of the world I had never heard of him, while every one else had grown up with the mischievous little sheep.

Anne’s larger than life pear rug chair pad is looking rather grand with its lovely dark, contrasting background, and Anne now has the end of the rug in sight. But she is already thinking about her next project. 
In due time it too will appear on the Blog, so I better not give too much away. 
Joy is doing a superb job with her painterly, almost monochromatic moonscape rug. Her autumn leaf stands out beautifully from the surrounding landscape and really sets it off. It really is a work of art and will be a wonderful keepsake.
 
I [Chris] am working on two rugs at the time. One for at home, the other portable one is my fifth portrait of Grandson Sam, which is coming along nicely.
The Persian rug, purchased as a pattern on a Scottish Burlap backing took some time getting the colour plan together, but I think, so far I am happy with the result. It will be easier to get a picture of the whole when I have done a bit more.  

We missed some of our faithful members today and with Christmas nearly upon us we have decided to make our 13th December meeting a special Christmas celebration day with lovely goodies to eat and share. We will also partake in International Rug hooking Day, even though a bit late. IRHD will be celebrated on the 4th December, with lots of members all over the world stopping to share a cuppa or hook a rug together. Here in Victoria we will no doubt chat and share about personal and internet experiences we have had with our rugging friends across the world, as well as talk about how we can be involved in spreading the word about rug hooking to other Victorians.

And so our day came to an end, with each person hopefully arriving home in a relatively shorter time than they arrived.
Cheers till next time.

Blake

I have made a good start on my fourth grandson rug. This is Blake, nine years old and a lovely quiet boy. I think it shows in his face, don't you. [or maybe I see it, because he is my grandson].
In the first photo I have made a start on his eyes and mouth. There is always tweaking to be done, but I will do that when I have completed his face. I like to see it as a whole before I make changes.

Some tweaking done on the nose in the third photo. I think it is more defined now.

Josh finished

Hi folks, just thought I'd let you see the last of my grandson rugs. Let me introduce Josh to you.
Ta da!!

Jacob completed

Second grandson completed, only four more to go. I finished him off with wool piping. I love this method as it is fast and ties in beautifully with the background. I will use this method on all my portrait rugs I think. 

Jacob

Hello fellow rug makers,
I am hoping to see a lot of your beautiful work here as it will encourage rug makers around the world in their quest for more knowledge and more beautiful rugs as a result to learn from.
As I am now working on my third portrait rug and my second Grand Child rug, I am posting an update on Jacob.
I have had a lot of problems with the background on this rug and it took me a while to get the colours  just right. However I am finally getting there and now looking forward to getting it finished.
Here is a photo.

Isaac rug is bound

My finished rug, bound and all.
I finished the rug with purple wool piping, a method that Wanda Kerr teaches on the Welcome mat.
I used about 10mm thick cord, which I encased in a long strip of wool about 10cms wide by the length all around the rug plus some extra. You then sew your cord into the wool strip on your machine with a zipper foot, the whole length of your strip, leaving about 5 cms undone at each end.
You place your piping so that it sits nice and snug against your last row of hooking on your rug, with your loose flap at the back.  You then just sew it with a running stitch placing the stitches between your loops all the way around, easing in at the corners. When you get to the end, you cut the cord so that they but snugly together and overlap the fabric and sew it down.
You then sew down the access at the back as you would any binding. Voila, done. Quick, easy and a nice finish.
Here is a photo of the front and the back.

Isaac with hair

Some hair has finally been added. I'm getting there. Since this photo I have started on the background. Had some difficulty getting the right color. Finally settled on purples, from light in the top right hand corner to very dark on the bottom left. I hope it will be OK. I will post a photo soon.

 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.