We're lit! (hey, Jodi, Bernard, and all others who make things)

[mark]

That looks awesome, Brenda!

[jon-nyc]

That looks great!

[Jolly]

Very talented lady.

Turn a hobby into a small business? Sell a few pieces, but mainly have small classes on how to do this, along with selling accoutrements?

And just thing of all the great names like...mmm... Hooker House, House of Hookers, etc. Not to mention all the great slogans I'm sure we could conjure up for you.

Help us, to help you...

[brenda]

@jodi said in We're lit! (hey, Jodi, Bernard, and all others who make things):

Wow, that looks really great! Love the wallpaper too!

Thanks, Jodi! When do we get to see more of your goodies that are handmade?

BTW, we papered the ceiling in multiple papers, too.
Yes, we are still married.

[brenda]

@taiwan_girl

Thanks, TG!

[brenda]

@friday said in We're lit! (hey, Jodi, Bernard, and all others who make things):

How long did it take for you to hook the rug Brenda?

Hmmmm, I made this rug a long time ago. I typically put a date on each rug for the year of completion, and this one is inthe lower right hand corner showing 2007. I started it in March or April of 2006, so it probably took about a year, maybe more.

It's a well-traveled piece, going from Minnesooooota to Charleston, SC in 2006 for a municipal insurance conference. I worked on it in the Tahoe all the way to SC and back. That trip meant we were gone for Mother's Day. We happened to be going near Maryville, Tennessee, home of Kim Nixon at that time. She was a wonderful and innovative rug hooker, and I had a private session with her at her home studio the day after Mother's Day. I'll post another thread showing the piece I made using what I learned that day. Kim asked to see my current project, and I shyly got out the quail rug project. She asked who my teacher was, and I told her I did not have one. She said not to bother with a teacher, becuase I did not need one. With her sweet southern voice, she said I had my own style, and that it was "workingvery well."

This quail rug has another funny story with it. It was heavily damaged before I even finished it. We had a slumber party on the third floor for daughter's birthday, and I pushed the rug frame, with the rug project still on it, off to one side of the room to make space to open the big sofa bed for the girls' sleepover. That was a very busy year for me with campaigning, and I was gone a LOT until late in the year.

Several weeks went by before I was home again for movie time on the 3rd floor with the family, and I noticed the rug had been moved. Hubby was acting rather nervous. When I looked at the rug, I saw a large part of the completed section was charred black. It had been pushed up against the glass of the gas fireplace at some point weeks before while I was away from home. Hubby had lit the fireplace to warm the space one evening, gone back downstairs, and later came up to watch a show. The entire third floor was filled with smoke, with the rug very damaged, but not aflame. Wool is not prone to flaming. It will smolder and singe, but doesn't flame like other fiber materials.

Hubby was chicken to tell me about the burned rug project. He thought it would be a huge loss to me, but I hardly cared about it. The house had not caught fire, and no one was hurt. That's all that mattered to me. I know how to repair sections of rugs that get damaged, and I had everything needed to make the repair. It was really not a big deal to repair it. The funny part is that hubby was just sick about it, thinking it was ruined after many months of work.

As I attached the rug to its new frame yesterday, I looked at the back again and saw the repair I made years ago. It's the part of that rug that I cherish, knowing that the wool kept it from flaming into a nasty fire that could have cost me my home and loved ones. Had the third floor caught fire, it could have spread very quickly to the attic above and the second floorbelow before hubby even knew it.

I will always use 100% wool. Always.

[brenda]

@mark said in We're lit! (hey, Jodi, Bernard, and all others who make things):

That looks awesome, Brenda!

Mark, you would really get into the tech of these display lights. Hubby and I had to study about all this before deciding what would work best. That kind of tech detail is right up your alley.

[brenda]

@jon-nyc said in We're lit! (hey, Jodi, Bernard, and all others who make things):

That looks great!

To Jon and Mark, if you like these types of lights, I can send you info. I'm very impressed with this one. It looks far better in person, too. The pics just don't show how well these lights work for this purpose.

[brenda]

@jolly said in We're lit! (hey, Jodi, Bernard, and all others who make things):

Very talented lady.

Turn a hobby into a small business? Sell a few pieces, but mainly have small classes on how to do this, along with selling accoutrements?

And just thing of all the great names like...mmm... Hooker House, House of Hookers, etc. Not to mention all the great slogans I'm sure we could conjure up for you.

Help us, to help you...

Now, Jolly, ...........

Thank you for the lovely compliment.

As for the business .........

You and I have talked about this before. I already have a job I love. I'm not ready to give it up, not even to retire, which a young lady such as myself would hardly be old enough to do yet anyway.

I also have no interest in teaching rug hooking. Working with new rug hookers would be rather tedious to me. I want to ZOOM. The teachers I have met make their money selling patterns and wool. My designs are too detailed for most hookers, or styles that would have a very limited market. They're just not general enough, and I have no interest in drawing designs 'for the market'.

My hooking is just that, mine. It's not for general consumption, not at all. I kind of like it that way, and I'm to ornery to change. LOL

[Friday]

Do you just free hand the image? Or do you trace it out?

The one and only time I hooked a rug was in middle school. It had a pale blue background with a huge white E in the middle. I gave it to a friend as a present. I had to draw out the letter with a black marker. There was no way I could free hand an E.

[brenda]

@friday said in We're lit! (hey, Jodi, Bernard, and all others who make things):

Do you just free hand the image? Or do you trace it out?

The one and only time I hooked a rug was in middle school. It had a pale blue background with a huge white E in the middle. I gave it to a friend as a present. I had to draw out the letter with a black marker. There was no way I could free hand an E.

I make a pattern and trace it to the linen backing. I could hook the leaves and such without a pattern drawn, but the detailed items need to be drawn on the linen.

Sometime I should just do an entire rug without a pattern. I'm thinking some wild paisley designs, with patterned interiors. Just have the colors selected and in big bags, with the strips already cut and ready to hook. That's called ABC wool, as in 'already been cut'.

[Mik]

We’re about half lit here too. Daughter got home today.

With cat. Nice to have furry critter in the house.

[brenda]

@mik said in We're lit! (hey, Jodi, Bernard, and all others who make things):

We’re about half lit here too. Daughter got home today.

With cat. Nice to have furry critter in the house.

Yay! Kiddy and kitty! You are a lucky man.

[George K]

@mik said in We're lit! (hey, Jodi, Bernard, and all others who make things):

We’re about half lit here too. Daughter got home today.

With cat. Nice to have furry critter in the house.

Excellent. Pictures, please!

(Cat's going to open the next 48 hours hiding under the bed)

[Jolly]

@mik said in We're lit! (hey, Jodi, Bernard, and all others who make things):

We’re about half lit here too. Daughter got home today.

With cat. Nice to have furry critter in the house.

[brenda]

@jolly Did you get a puppy, Jolly? Or just encouraging Mik to get one?