By Guest Blogger Della Ackles
GINGERBREAD MAN STOCKING Denver’s Ginger Bread Man
When I first saw this pattern by Christine Little, I knew my grandson Denver would LOVE IT! I got to work on this stocking for him in January 2014 and finished it the same month. It is mostly #4 and #5 cut 100% Dorr wool hand dyed by me.
Denver spends a lot of time with Grammy and Grampy so he sees Grammy working on rugs all the time. Denver had been asking me to make him a Christmas stocking ever since he saw the Christmas stocking I made last year for myself which was also a Christine Little pattern.
Denver’s favourite colours are pink and purple so I knew those colours would need to be incorporated into his stocking. Denver is usually with us each weekend and he saw the progress I was making and loved it. I was struggling with the trees and how I was going to do them so I got out a bunch of green wool and had Denver help me pick out colours. He says to me ‘Grammy, I think the trees need to be purple!’ "You know" I said "Denver, you are right" the trees will look fabulous purple. The back of the stocking I used a big piece of recycled purple, 100% wool I had laying around and I lined his stocking. Denver loves it and it was so much fun to do. I love Christine’s patterns and wish I could hook on them every day.
To view other Christmas Stocking Patterns click the link: http://www.encompassingdesigns.com/seasonal-designs.html
When I first saw this pattern by Christine Little, I knew my grandson Denver would LOVE IT! I got to work on this stocking for him in January 2014 and finished it the same month. It is mostly #4 and #5 cut 100% Dorr wool hand dyed by me.
Denver spends a lot of time with Grammy and Grampy so he sees Grammy working on rugs all the time. Denver had been asking me to make him a Christmas stocking ever since he saw the Christmas stocking I made last year for myself which was also a Christine Little pattern.
Denver’s favourite colours are pink and purple so I knew those colours would need to be incorporated into his stocking. Denver is usually with us each weekend and he saw the progress I was making and loved it. I was struggling with the trees and how I was going to do them so I got out a bunch of green wool and had Denver help me pick out colours. He says to me ‘Grammy, I think the trees need to be purple!’ "You know" I said "Denver, you are right" the trees will look fabulous purple. The back of the stocking I used a big piece of recycled purple, 100% wool I had laying around and I lined his stocking. Denver loves it and it was so much fun to do. I love Christine’s patterns and wish I could hook on them every day.
To view other Christmas Stocking Patterns click the link: http://www.encompassingdesigns.com/seasonal-designs.html
WILLIAM MORRIS STRAWBERRY THIEF
What can I say; I’ve wanted to do a William Morris for some time now. Several ladies in our hooking group have done William Morris patterns and I’ve always admired them. I’ve been learning to hand dye wool and last Christmas I decided to gift to myself a couple of Christine’s patterns; one was the William Morris, Strawberry Thief. I began this rug May of 2013. I wanted to dye all of my own wool for this project as I’ve been slowly learning how to dye wool using Lucy Richard’s, Wooly Mason Jar Method of dyeing. I had a plan now I needed to execute. I had borrowed some William Morris books from a few of the ladies from rug hooking. I had a few versions of the Strawberry Thief that other ladies had hooked to give me inspiration and to figure out how I wanted mine to look. I researched online and felt I was ready! Figuring out the colours I wanted to do was the hardest for me, decisions decisions.
The birds were the most challenging for me, as I didn’t want them to ‘pop out’ at the viewer. I wanted the birds to blend in and be a pleasant surprise to see. I tried many different colours and mediums and decided to go with some silk type of fabric very stringy and was silver/grey in colour, a light and a darker shade of each. I thought this would simulate feathers nicely. The silky type of fabric was about 1” in width if I were to ‘uncurl’ it and very difficult to work with but once I had some hooked, I knew right away, it wasn’t right. I was very disappointed as I was so sure that would make the wings look lovely. I tried some various other colours and mediums and nothing looked right so back to my silky fabric I went and got the bright idea, ‘what if’ I were cut the fabric in half? I ended up cutting the fabric into fourths by hand, ask me how much of a pain that was! Lol
I used recycled black for the background and the border I tried various methods for that as well before settling on the light/dark green in the center and black on the outer edge. It is funny how we know what looks right and what does not. I always say ‘if it talks to me’ I’m good to go. Always trust your gut, it knows!
I mainly used #4 cut in the rug and #5 for the background. I enjoyed this rug and I am very proud of how it turned out and can’t believe I DID THAT! Might be once in a life time kind of thing as it was a lot of work and I finished the rug January 2014. Hope you all enjoy!
To view other William Morris designs click the link: http://www.encompassingdesigns.com/william-morris.html
The birds were the most challenging for me, as I didn’t want them to ‘pop out’ at the viewer. I wanted the birds to blend in and be a pleasant surprise to see. I tried many different colours and mediums and decided to go with some silk type of fabric very stringy and was silver/grey in colour, a light and a darker shade of each. I thought this would simulate feathers nicely. The silky type of fabric was about 1” in width if I were to ‘uncurl’ it and very difficult to work with but once I had some hooked, I knew right away, it wasn’t right. I was very disappointed as I was so sure that would make the wings look lovely. I tried some various other colours and mediums and nothing looked right so back to my silky fabric I went and got the bright idea, ‘what if’ I were cut the fabric in half? I ended up cutting the fabric into fourths by hand, ask me how much of a pain that was! Lol
I used recycled black for the background and the border I tried various methods for that as well before settling on the light/dark green in the center and black on the outer edge. It is funny how we know what looks right and what does not. I always say ‘if it talks to me’ I’m good to go. Always trust your gut, it knows!
I mainly used #4 cut in the rug and #5 for the background. I enjoyed this rug and I am very proud of how it turned out and can’t believe I DID THAT! Might be once in a life time kind of thing as it was a lot of work and I finished the rug January 2014. Hope you all enjoy!
To view other William Morris designs click the link: http://www.encompassingdesigns.com/william-morris.html
LOTUS
This is Della's current project....one of my designs called "Lotus". All I can say is that Della can hook my designs any time! I love this piece and her colours are fabulous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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