Category: Albuquerque Fiber Arts Council

March 2, 2016

Working a little beyond my comfort level

Finished project: "Ribbons Over Albuquerque." — Finished project: “Ribbons Over Albuquerque.”

Between my arthritis and my newest rug, I’ve been spending some time hooking beyond my comfort level. The project for the Albuquerque Fiber Arts Council’s Colors of the Southwest exhibit – you know, the one I’ve been going on and on about – was due early this week, and late last week I hadn’t even finished the hooking! That meant that Thursday and Friday I hooked during the day, an unusual event for me. I generally work in the evening for two to three hours while I watch television. So far that’s not taxed my RA too much.

Friday I was able to start finishing the main body of “Ribbons Over Albuquerque” (more on that in another post) and preparing its little “outrigger” piece. This is precisely where we approached and then zoomed by the comfort level. First and foremost was the physical. The main part of the rug is approximately 13″x39″.

Time to sew on the binding! — Time to sew on the binding. Ouch!

Now I really don’t mind the hand-stitching involved: tacking down the monks’ cloth backing and then sewing up the twill tape nice and pretty like. It’s easy when I use wool strips and/or yarn. Needles flow into those fibers like a knife into butter. Not so t-shirts. It’s tough getting even an itty bitty needle to pierce tightly packed t-shirt loops. But I did it, finished it late Saturday afternoon. My knuckles are still recovering.

The little outrigger part of the rug constituted the weekend’s other challenge. When I initially designed the project, I intended for the bows, i.e., the “ribbons over Albuquerque,” to all be hooked into the one piece. Preparing the pattern, though, I realized that one of the bows, the very top one, needed to “sail off” into the air, as it were. How to do that?

Luckily for me, Lucy Richard of the Wooly Mason Jar sparked some conversation on Facebook by posting something about finishing rugs. This led to talk about the Doris Eaton Edge – her method of sewing binding tape to the rug before she hooks it (as I do) and reverse hooking the row immediately next to the tape which I have never done. Until now. Because the bow was to be hooked from a white, “crepey,” diaphonous fabric, I needed to beef it up, you know, make it bulky enough so that it would stand “up” and be visible next to the much bigger and much more colorful part of the project.

Various thoughts came to mind. I needed something with more body than twill tape to edge the little bow. And it couldn’t be black like the twill tape on the big piece because it would be visible. What to use??? I’d edged the other bows in the piece with a lightweight silver ribbon, but was afraid to use that as binding tape; figured stitches would rip right out of that sucker.

Sudden lightbulb moment!

Stitching the binding - wired ribbon - to the design. — Stitching the binding – wired ribbon – to the design.

I had a roll of wired silver ribbon in-house. I could easily stitch backing to a wire edge. It worked like a charm. I was able to boost the ribbon’s inherent bulk by using Doris’s reverse-hooked first row. Sure, it was a little wonky pulling those loops. In the end, I decided not to attach the two pieces, to hang them separately, but the exaggerated, almost 3-D effect of the white bow allows it to hold its own next to the big piece.

Binding all stitched on and first row of loops hoooked a la Doris Eaton. — “Binding” all stitched on and first row of loops hooked a la Doris Eaton. (I.e., you’re seeing the back of those loops.)

All hooked and trimmed. Ready to sew down "binding." — All hooked and trimmed. Ready to sew down “binding.”

Thank you to my Adobe Wool Arts Guild members, Mary Ramsey and Melinda Lamott, for their support Saturday while I was working on the little white bow. We participated in the Albuquerque Biopark‘s Winter Wool Festival giving demos and helping little kids pull loops. I love doing that stuff. sharing our passion. So what if I wasn’t using wool?

Is rug hooking easy for you, your safe, happy place? Or do you spice it up trying new techniques or use fibers other than wool? How’s it feel going beyond your comfort level? Share your experiences.

For those interested, here is the YouTube link for the Doris Eaton Edge:
The Doris Eaton Edge

Melinda Lamott and a young rug hooking disciple. "Drink the Cool Aid, Padawan." — Melinda Lamott and a young rug hooking disciple. “Drink the Cool Aid, Padawan.”

February 24, 2016

Hooking feverishly, but what to do about those achy muscles and joints?

Tentative working title: "Ribbons Over Albuquerque." Has to be done and submitted by Monday! — Tentative working title of hooking project: “Ribbons Over Albuquerque.” Has to be done and submitted by Monday!

Not much time to post this week. The “Colors of the Southwest” project I’ve been telling you about is due Monday for jurying. The hooking’s not done yet alone the finishing! This means working during the day, something I tend not to do unless it’s the NFL playoff season.(If you don’t know it already, I’m a BIG New England Patriots fan. As you can imagine, this is not a popular thing in Albuquerque’s Denver Broncos’ territory.)

The pic to the left shows that much of the hooking is actually done. Only the “bows” remain. Unlike the rest of the piece which is comprised of t-shirt strips, I’m creating them out of ribbon and/or cut up poly blouses so that they have a little of the shiny “bling” of a real bow.

Stay tuned; I promise to give more details about this rug and what it means to me when it’s finished. Meanwhile, working with the ribbons is shredding the crap out of my left thumb top, but there’s no time to spare. For now I’m rubbing Vaseline into it. Next week, I’ll give it a day or two off. The things we do for our art…

Lest you think my life’s all about suffering these days, I share our latest new home enhancement.

The kid enjoying our new hot tub. See those cup holders to the right? They hold a glass of chardonnay just perfectly.

Instead of a pool, we decided to go with a smaller investment: the hot tub. It was installed last week, and we christened it Sunday. Thus far it’s excellent for muscles and joints achy from the trails, the treadmill, and rheumatoid arthritis. Though it’s not done anything for my thumb but dry it out more. I can live with that.

Remember, our door is always open to hookers and other friends visiting Albuquerque. Come rest your achy fingers and hands.

Do you suffer from osteo- or rheumatoid arthritis, carpal tunnel, something else? How does it affect your hooking? I’ve been fortunate in that my RA hasn’t targeted my hands as much as it has other joints. Please share here (or privately) what having a disease or other physical challenge means to your hooking and other pursuits. Are you like me, fearing that you might have to one day give up doing something you love? If there’s enough interest, maybe there’s an article to be written…

February 17, 2016

Scoping out Albuquerque’s “other” fiber arts

Ostinato 1 and 2 by Katie Pasquini Masopust — “Ostinato 1 and 2” by Katie Pasquini Masopust

Since I had to make my monthly Target trip yesterday, I decided to combine it with a fiber arts show I read about in the Albuquerque Journal. Palette Contemporary Art and Craft is currently hosting the exhibit which features “textile paintings” by Katie Pasquini Masopust. One of these pieces to the right ran in the paper inducing me to visit the gallery and see her other pieces.

Katie is based north of here in Santa Fe – for now. Apparently, she’s getting ready to move to California. Too bad. As you can see, her quilts – not the kind you’d be putting on your bed! – look like paintings until you get right on top of them.

In this close-up, you can see the stitching that makes this piece a "quilt." — In this close-up, you can see the stitching that makes this piece a “quilt.”

The exhibit describes her work as “textile paintings.” I wouldn’t disagree. Painted pieces of canvas are stitched into the quilt with other fabrics.

"Mercato (Play with Emphasis)" by Katie Pasquini Masopust. — “Mercato (Play with Emphasis)” by Katie Pasquini Masopust.

mmmm — “Big Getty” by Katie Pasquini Masopust.

There were other items in the gallery. This is a painting I loved by Daniel North. It's called "Enso and the Modernist." — There were other items in the gallery. This is a large painting I loved by Daniel North. It’s called “Enso and the Modernist.”

Today’s errands about town involved a visit with my rheumatologist who’s based at UNM Hospital. Imagine my happy surprise when Tom and I entered the clinic and found these on the wall:

Tapestries by Linda Geisen. — Tapestries by Heather Gallegos-Rex.

I’d known that there was a tapestry show at the hospital, but I thought that I’d missed it. Certainly, had no idea it was in the clinic I use. (And if Tom had known it was there, I’m sure he wouldn’t have accompanied me to my appointment. Ha!)

Works represented several weavers.

Katherine Perkins's tapestry "Sirocco Sky Provence" was stunning. — Katherine Perkins‘s tapestry “Sirocco Sky Provence” was stunning.

"Iris III" by Letitia Roller was incredibly lifelike. — “Iris III” by Letitia Roller was incredibly lifelike and had a sparkly, gold background.

Series of night scenes from White Sands National Monument by Linda Giesen.

I have to say that Albuquerque’s more than met my expectations regarding textiles and fiber arts. They’re all over the city, and their exposure’s only growing. Saturday afternoon I’m hoping to attend a talk by tapestry weaver Donna Loraine Contractor at a gallery in the city’s Old Town. If you follow my Facebook page, you’ll often see her work. Before that, on Friday, I attend my first meeting of Albuquerque’s Fiber Arts Council as my guild’s representative. Bring on the fiber art fiber art!

Do you go out of your way to see other types of fiber arts? Or maybe you DO other types of fiber arts? Either way, please share with us how textiles other than rug hooking influence your art. That’s a blog for another day.

February 9, 2016

Playing a little hooky, creatively

It’s Tuesday, a perfect day for playing a little hooky. I know it’s also blog-duty day, but maybe we can fudge that a little in the name of unbelievably nice winter weather and creativity. Especially when I think of what I wrote last week vis à vis creativity and my re-burgeoning need to write.

This morning, while the kid was at work and the husband was out at some doctor’s appointment, I took up pen and paper and set forth to write fake stuff – fiction, that is – once more. I gave myself a prompt I’d collected (I keep them on my Pinterest page, if you’re interested) and wrote till I heard the garage chimes ringing that Tom was home. It was a good start. Tonight the journal comes out after the dinner dishes are cleared.

The afternoon hitting 60 degrees here in west Albuquerque (sorry to all those who might be finding their own climate a little chilly), after lunch Tom and the dog and I headed down to the Bosque (the forest along the Rio Grande) to check out the local wildlife. Got so warm, I had to take off my sweatshirt.

The Rio Grande as it flows through Albuquerque. Those are the Sandia Mountains in the background. I’m thinking that I’ll have to do a landscape piece sometime soon. See, playing a little hooky is good for one’s creativity.

Tonight it’s back to pulling loops. My March 1 deadline to have this current piece done is quickly approaching, and there’s still some project infrastructure I haven’t figured out. Just trying to get the major hooking done first.

Praying that the old Clairol will come through for me... — Praying that the old Clairol will come through for me…

Tomorrow’s creative endeavor: Early this morning, before I sat down to write, I did my monthly-or-so coloring of the grays. I hate dying my hair. Hell, I haven’t even tackled dying the t-shirts I hook with. Tried a new shade. And changed to L’Oreal when I had been a Clairol kind of girl. Very bad idea. I’m a natural redhead. Or I used to be. Currently, I’m more Lucy meets a violet crayon; the box called the color it “Ruby Rush.” Yeah. Made a call back to Maurice in Rhode Island: “What do I do?!!!?” Then took a trip to Walgreens to pick up the old Clairol. Back to the dying board tomorrow.

How’s creativity going for you these days?

January 13, 2016

It’s been all about organizing

It was finally time; organizing had to occur. Welcome to the closet that Laura and High on Hooking now share.

If you read last week’s post, you’ll know that I’m energized going into 2016. I’m in a new house in a new town. I’ve been cleaning it up, clearing out the final moving boxes, and organizing. I’m looking for a job in Albuquerque. A resume or two have actually gone out. (Will let you know if anything comes of them.)

Like I said, the honeymoon is over, and I’m embracing life in New Mexico. Even if it’s cold. (At least the sun came back. Yea!)

I'm feeling so much better now that everything has a place. — I’m feeling so much better now that everything has a place. Although it’s quite the climb up to the top when I need RED (hidden in the green basket).

One area where I was dragging involved both my closet and all my hooking gear. The latter includes, but is not limited to: a small wool stash; a considerable t-shirt stash; magazines; twill tapes and other ancillary materials; felting “stuff”; pads, rulers, and other art items; sewing and other sundries. Stuff, in other words. A fair amount of it.

Maybe I was psychologically resisting making the final transition to the new house. But I have this utterly fabulous walk-in closet, and because we elected Tom to be lord of the very nice and very large office, I got that closet. It’s a fair trade. I can still keep a small desk and bookshelves in the office, but because it’s so very public given the home’s open concept, it was never going to make it as a studio/hooking containment zone.

Don't those little shelves look like they were made for my hooking needs? — Don’t those little shelves look like they were made for my hooking needs?

Anyhow, for whatever reason, I hadn’t gotten around to organizing High on Hooking’s real estate. Last weekend, I finally went there. And I’m damned glad I did. You can see the results yourselves. The closet has shelving perfect for most of my bins and baskets. (I tend to organize by color.) I picked up the little metal shelves at Lowes; they fit perfectly under my shirts and sweaters. Sweet!

Then I turned my attention to the laundry room off the closet. Oh, I did forget to mention the laundry room? It’s much better than my old one. (It didn’t figure into the office-closet negotiations because I perform a family service in there. And I let Tom store the light bulbs in the the cabinets. On one shelf.)

Everyone needs a laundry room like this one. Isn't that counter the best? — Everyone needs a laundry room like this one. Isn’t that counter the best?

The best part of the laundry room is the counter. At almost six-and-a-half feet, it’s awesome! The bins under it contain GREEN, BLUE, and GRAY/BLACK plus my laundry basket. I ran out of bookshelf space in the office (a topic for another day), but you can see that my Rug Hooking, ATHA, and Fiber Art Now magazines found a perfect home atop the counter there along the back corner. And I still have room to fold laundry!

Now that the organizing is done, it’s back to the job search. Although the new rug on the frame is calling.,,

A tease. This is the beginning of the rug that will, hopefully, find a place in the Albuquerque Fiber Art Council's April show. — A tease. This is the beginning of the rug that will, hopefully, find a place in the Albuquerque Fiber Arts Council’s April show.

Are you one of the lucky ones with a whole room or perhaps a cozy, little building devoted to your hooking endeavors? If not, how do you deal with your hooking stuff? A corner? Spread throughout the house? Either way, please share pics below.