Prairie Rose Rug School 2016

Oh my goodness!! We had the best time at Prairie Rose Rug School at Assumption Abbey in Richardton ND.  Ingrid Hieronimus was the teacher Patty, Carol, and I chose and we certainly made the right choice.  She is so amazing with color and she can add so much interest to a design.

 Carol worked on her covered bridge rug. It sure was nice to have Ingrid help her with her big tree. She has her wool picked out for all of the trees she has coming up. The foreground are some of my wools I dyed before school. The blue is one Ingrid dyed.

Ingrid dyed the wool for Patty's rug and the colors are so perfect! Patty stepped out of her wheel house on a leaf or two but I know she is going to absolutely love this rug when it's finished. I know I love it already.

 This is Patty's rug in the last day "throw down".

I was working on a design from Monika Jones, Folk Art Landing. I added a grid for the background which you can see a little of in the bottom center. Ingrid first worked on the height of my stitches and the packing I did. I am so grateful for her help. My background is two different sparkle wools from Dorr. One silver and one gold. I can't wait to finish this rug!

This is an original by Christine Sorenson from Missoula, MT. She is as sweet and cute as her rug and a pleasure to meet and have in our class.

 Christine's mom, Paula Peterson was working on her original duck design. I can see where her daughter gets all of her traits and talent from. She is such a pleasure to be in a class with.

 One of my favorite rugs is by Becky Newhall from Hettinger, ND. She had a friend draw a picture of their son's dog who recently passed away. She captured the dogs personality so well and I just loved the deflated soccer ball.

Sheri Matz from Evergreen, CO was working on her Celtic design which has sculpted rabbits and a Scottish Tartan plaid for the background. Talk about a "WOW" rug!

 Sheri also improved on a rug she had started before class. I am absolutely in love with these colors!! The big leaf is a strip cut with the stripe on one side and across the plaid on the other side. She was so much fun and I'm looking forward to her being in our class next year.

Throw Down Pictures

I could add names to some of the rugs but I can't remember all of them and I don't want to hurt any feelings by not remembering so I won't add any. Not all of the rugs were thrown down but this is a majority of them.

I will post the Rug Show later on. I am so impressed with everyone. There is so much inspiration at a school like this. I can't wait until next year!

Blog written by Sylvia Gauthier, Cody, WY

Demonstrating Rug Hooking

Four of our group of rug hookers spent the day in Thermopolis Wyoming at the Big Horn Basin Folk Festival / Gift of the Waters Pageant Days on Saturday. Sue Blakely from the Wyoming Arts Council asked us to demonstrate rug hooking. They had our canopy, tables, and banner all set up for us when we arrived.

 We were pleasantly surprised to meet Anne Hatch, above, who is the head of the Wyoming Arts Council. It is so nice to have such influential people showing an interest in rug hooking. Andrea Graham, Folklife Specialist from the University of Wyoming, was a real treat to meet. She has such a great interest in rug hooking. I hope that at some point she can spend a day hooking with us. I feel like we made a true friend when we met Andrea. She spends her time traveling to folk artists in Wyoming and neighboring states, documenting and preserving folk art for future generations. Thank you Andrea.

 Here is Carol Messerli from Greybull, Debra Inglis from Clark and Sue Blakey from Thermopolis.

Sue Blakey was such a pleasure to meet. She has worked so hard bringing the Juried Folk Festival to the Gift of the Waters Pageant Days in Thermopolis. It was so nice to meet so many people who had been to the Festival last year on vacation and made a point to be there again this year during their trip.

 This is a good picture of Patty Tyrrell's rug she has been working on that is a story rug featuring her dogs driving their Trooper on a mountain trip.

 From the distance you can see our rugs we had on display. It was fun to watch the reactions of people seeing rug hooking for the first time. We are working hard to educate people on Traditional and Primitive rug hooking. There was some real interest in learning the craft from a few. Others were just impressed.

 One view of Carol's nature scape and Debra's floral. You can see the edge of Debra's loopie rug that was hooked wide, high, and each loop cut.

 This is my (Sylvia Gauthier, Cody) lion and lamb and the back of Carol's nature scape

 Sheep and Sunflowers and the other floral are two of my rugs and the crock rug is by Patty.

The rug on the left is Carol's first big rug and the one on the right is Patty's cat rug. Those cats are so darn cute!

We met so many nice people and had the best time hooking outside on a beautiful day. I hope our schedules allow us to attend again next year. Thank you Sue Blakey for allowing us to be a part of such an amazing Festival.

July Hooking

Four of us came to hook together at the Park County Library on Saturday. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful group. Three of the ladies drive quite a ways just to hook for the day with friends.

 Carol is working away on her covered bridge. It seems like such a large rug. You can't really see the snow in the picture but there sure is a lot of it.

 Debra was whipping the edge of this stunning floral. I just love the colors she uses. It is obvious by looking at her rugs that she has a wealth of information from all the teachers she has had classes from. The design is called 1830 Floral and it's by Black Sheep Wool Designs.

 Here is a stunning rug she is working on. I just couldn't get over how beautiful this rug is. We are so lucky to have Debra in our group. It is a pattern by Wooly Woolen called Cabin Fever.

 This is called Texas Lulu by Pine Island Primitives that Debra hooked. It is hooked high and then the loops are cut. She uses a wide cut. It is so soft and plush that I want to make a lulu pillow.

 Patty is moving along with her original dog camping rug. I am so impressed with Patty's talent for designing and hooking. Her story rugs are wonderful!

This is the New England Berry Tree I am working on. You can't see the background but it isn't as white as it looks. I have had a lot of fun with this rug.

We will all be demonstrating in Thermopolis WY on August 6th at the Big Horn Basin Folk Festival held in Hot Springs State Park. It is held in conjunction with the Thermopolis Pageant Days and The Gift of the Waters Pageant. If you are in the area, come by and visit. We will have a frame set up for everyone to try their had at rug hooking.

June Rug Hooking

Patty, Carol, and I all met at the Park County Library for a fun day of hooking rugs. We always have such a good time. What could be better than good company and hooking?

Patty had gotten a lot done on her Dog Camping rug. Her story rugs are just wonderful and I can't wait to see this one finished.

Carol finished her covered bridge and started on the little house. This is a big rug and she is doing such a great job.

I finished Laszlo from Woolley Fox. He is very hard to photograph and I think Patty did a great job of capturing the colors. He sure was a lot of fun to hook.

 My next project is called New England Berry Tree. It's another design from The Woolley Fox. I am having a blast with this rug. There are a lot of fun elements in this design.

If traveling through Cody, WY and you are in town on one of our hooking days we would love to have you stop by the Library and visit. People pop in all the time and we always enjoy the company.

Rug Hooking in May

Debra Inglis was back in Clark WY from the winter in Texas and it was so nice to have her back. Sadly she left early so I forgot get a picture of the star she is working on. We loved hearing about her travels to The Wooly Fox Rug Camp. The Camp is originally Barbara Carol's Camp but it is now owned and run by Katie Hartner, from A Nimble Thimble and Woolley Fox Primitive Rug Patterns in Tyler, Texas. It sounds like it is an amazing Camp.Teachers for 2017 will be Barbara Carol, Janice Johnson, Betsy Reed, and Ali Strebel.

Carol worked on her Covered Bridge. It is turning out so good!

Patty is working on her Isuzu rug with her dogs in the Isuzu and one dog by the campfire.

 Here is the close up of two dogs in the car and the little one by the fire watching his fishing pole.

And here is my Laszlo rug I have been working on. It is a design taken from an antique coverlet. The pattern is from The Wooly Fox. I love it that you can see rugs hooked by different people doing the same design in different colorways on The Wooly Fox website. There is so much inspiration on the site.

April Rug Hooking in Cody, WY

Once again, three of us met at the Park Co Library for a fabulous day of hooking and laughter.

 Patty finished her Rooster and made him into a pillow. It is wonderful!

Patty and her husband belong to a group of Land Rover lovers. She drew one of her dogs driving the Land Rover and her other dog sitting in the foreground. I can't believe what a great job she did drawing this adorable story rug!

 Carol is working on her covered bridge. This is a really big rug! It would have been nice if she had gotten a picture with the rug pattern so she knew a little bit more about what to do but Carol is very good at knowing what she wants. She is doing a beautiful job.

 I finished my Flower Banner from Red Barn Rugs. It was SO nice to work with a size 8 after doing my last two rugs. I'd really like to try a REALLY wide cut at some point!

For now, I'm hooking Laszlo. The design is taken from a woven coverlet. I truly don't have a fetish about lions. I do, however, love this rug. I saw it finished when Debra Inglis was working on the binding when she was here last and I knew I had to hook it. At first I was going to copy hers, and then I decided that wasn't very nice and copied another colorway instead.

Laszlo is a pattern from Wooley Fox and there are supposed to be new designs from old coverlets coming out very soon! I can't wait!

Blog post written by Sylvia Gauthier.

March Rug Hooking

Three of us met in Shell Wyoming on the 19th and again in Cody at the Library on the 26th. Patty, Carol and I had such a good time sharing ideas, life stories, and just plain having fun.

Debra Inglis is still in Texas but Woolley Fox had her finished rug in their Newsletter. This is Gilmore 1839. It is one of the rug designs taken from a woven coverlet, I am always in love with the way Debra colors her rugs. We are all learning so much about textures from her. 

 Here my Lincoln Bag is almost finished being hooked. I am now done with it and it's ready to be sent to Down Home Leather to be made into a bag. They do such an amazing job. I can't wait to see it finished. I changed one element of the design. I don't know why I can't do a pattern without changing something.

 Carol Messerli finished her flowers and fruit mat. She really had a challenge whipping the curved edge but she did a beautiful job.

Patty Tyrrell hooked the rooster from Judy Carters, Hooking Animals book. The background is all Patty's design. I just love how it turned out! When she was taking strips out of the rooster and redoing them her husband said, "How many time are you going to pluck that chicken?"

We have all moved on to other projects so next month will be full of surprises.

Written by Sylvia Gauthier

Our February Rug Hooking

Barbara Pearson was a sight for sore eyes yesterday at the Library for our monthly hooking at the Library in Cody, WY. We hadn't seen her is a few months and we missed her so much!! Sometimes life takes over and I pray Barbara's gets easier.

Patty had finished her Cups by Deanne Fitzpatrick. It turned out so cute!

She used Black Magic wool on the border. I wish is showed better because it makes a great design. She used leftover wool for a lot of it. Great job Patty!

Carol was working on her flowers and I didn't get a picture. She is almost finished too!

I finally finished my Lion and Lamb. Leonard Feenan drew the pattern for me and Judy Carter color planned the lion. I am so grateful for Judy Carter's book, Hooking Animals, How to Bring Animals to Life in Wool Rugs.I learned so much doing this rug. I'm thankful it's finally finished.

January Hooking

Three of us, Patty, Carol, and I, met up in Shell Wyoming earlier this month for a fun filled day of hooking. Patty was on her Christmas vacation from bus driving so we thought it was the perfect time to hook for a day. Carol and I were the only two at the Library this month but it was still a really fun time.

The big news of the month is that Patty got her Lincoln bag back from the leather place. It has leather gussets, leather around the top, leather handles, and a sturdy lining with pockets.

Patty's bag is absolutely stunning! I am going to hook mine after I finish my lion and lamb rug. I'm ready for a geometric and since I'm used to a size 4 cut that I'm using in the Lion and Lamb it seems like a good time to hook it. But after that... I'm going to an 8!

 I have finished my grass since I took this picture at the library. I am pretty happy with how it has turned out so far. I'm so happy to be finished with the animals.

Carol finished the edge of her landscape rug but it blends into the carpet at the library so it's hard to see. I absolutely love how it turned out.

Carol started this small pattern. She hasn't decided what it is going to be when finished. A pillow, a chair pad, we will have to wait and see.

Patty this picture of her cups when we hooked in Shell, WY. She has since finished the background. The cut she hooked on the far left cup has the most amazing wool in it. When I told her how wonderful it was she informed me it was one she bought from me! I over-dyed a plaid and didn't think I'd ever use it. Now I'm trying to remember what I over-dyed it with so I can do it again. You know what they say, the wool is always prettier in someone else's rug. Okay, so it's grass and a fence, but you get the idea.

December Hook Together

Patty, Carol and I got together at the Park County Library this month to hook together. We enjoy that time so much. Not just to see what each other are working on, but for companionship and support.

Patty had finished her Lincoln Bag and it is already on it's way back from the leather place.  I know she is waiting by the mailbox every day! We are all anxiously awaiting it's arrival. I will post pictures when I can.  In the mean time Patty started a cup runner of Deanne Fitzpatrick's. I just love her bright colors. I think these are leftover worms that she is using. 

Carol has almost finished the rug she started in Briggita Phy's class. She took out some of the sagebrush and she is almost finished. I absolutely love her colors! This was done primarily out of leftover worms. 

I am still hooking along on my Lion and Lamb. I swear if I have hooked an area once, I've hooked it 5 times. But I have to hook more to see what I want to change. I really am enjoying this rug even though I keep saying, " I have no idea what I'm doing."

We are going to try to get together during the Christmas break. I'll keep you posted!