Home » rug hooking » Page 52

Category: rug hooking

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.
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.

 

Share

Here’s to hooking in 2016!

Just stopping by to dash off wishes for a wonderful end to 2015 and a hopeful beginning to 2016. It’s been a busy hooking week, though, ironically, I don’t have much to show for it. You see, I have to get a rug started for the Albuquerque Fiber Arts Council‘s April show. I believe I mentioned this before. Crunch time is coming. The theme is “Colors of New Mexico.” Designing this thing is giving me angina. I swear, I think about it in the shower, at 2:00 a.m. when I should be sleeping, when my kid’s begging me to go to the movies. I’m pretty sure I know where I’ll go with it now, but it’s still making me drink.

Behind schedule poinsettia.
Behind-schedule poinsettia.

Then I spent one whole evening pulling out most of my almost-completed poinsettia. In my attempt to do a little shading, I used colors with hues much too close to one another. There wasn’t enough contrast between them so I was left with a merlot-colored SPLAT. I’ve since started hooking with more of a rosé and a pinot noir. I think it helped.

Okay, I’m in a wine frame of mind. Whoopee! It’s almost New Year’s Eve, you know. Not only that, yesterday Tom and I went out to lunch then made a little field trip to a local winery, Gruet, which specializes in making bubbly in the Champenoise tradition. (It’s illegal to call any sparkly stuff champagne, so I’ll be technical.) We wanted to pick up a bottle for tomorrow night.

Celebrate with Gruet bubbly!

Um, we were more than successful. A lovely, young woman poured tastings for us and two other couples from Dallas and Portland. We had a great time talking wine, what it’s like to relocate to Portland (Oregon, hookers, not Maine!), Airstream trailers, vanilla lip gloss, and what-have-you. An hour and a half later, Tom and I were wine club members. Lucky you: If you’re thinking about visiting us here in Albuquerque, we’re apt to pop open a bottle for you.

Please share any hooking you might have managed to do this holiday week. If you didn’t get any done, who cares?!!? My wish is that you spend the rest of the week relaxing and enjoying friends and family. There’s plenty of time to work in 2016.

Happy New Year!

May your 2016 be filled with the most wonderful of fireworks and new adventures. Happy New Year!
May your 2016 be filled with the most wonderful of fireworks and new adventures. Happy 2016!

 

 

 

Share

Wishing you all a very merry Christmas!

Look who I met on Santa Fe's plaza Saturday evening!
Look who I met on Santa Fe’s plaza Saturday evening!

 

It’s Christmas week and I won’t even pretend that I’ll get a blog article out this week. But I do send fond holiday wishes to friends and family no matter what your faith. Eat, rest, celebrate, and enjoy each other’s company. Be kind and reap kindness in return.

 

Merry Christmas!

 

The pointsettia that's keeping me warm this week. What are you hooking this holiday?
The poinsettia that’s keeping me warm this week. What are you hooking this Christmas holiday?

Love,
Laura

Share

Christmas is fast approaching

One Christmas mat all hooked up. Another to design and start.
One Christmas mat all hooked up and ready to be steamed and finished. Time to design and start another!

Christmas is on its way, gathering speed whether we’re ready or not. I am not ready, but then I’m never ready for this big holiday. Like I’ve mentioned before, this year is tough. Call us crazy, but we left Massachusetts in July and moved to Albuquerque not knowing a soul. I knew this time of year would be difficult, but knowing and living that are two completely different animals.

All is NOT lost, however. I’m rushing to get this post out because tomorrow is my guild’s regular monthly meeting. With a twist; it’s our Christmas party! Instead of meeting at the library, we’re off to a generous member’s home for a potluck luncheon. So, it’ll be a day of good food, adult beverages, and hooking. Can you tell I’m looking forward to it? First, however, I must design and put together a little mat to work on while I’m there. Oh, and the chick pea salad (gluten free and delicious, if I do say) won’t make itself.

 

The dragonfly welcomed us to River of Lights. Its wings moved!
The giant dragonfly welcomed us to River of Lights. Its wings moved!
2015-12-09 19.03.58
Pretty flowers!

While I’m off with my preparations, enjoy a bit of the light show Tom and I attended last week at the same Albuquerque Botanic Gardens where the guild does our monthly demos. River of Lights is what it’s called, and it was absolutely incredible with hundreds of huge light sculptures.

 

You’ll have to take my word on that as the battery died on the phone soon after we arrived. Won’t make that mistake next year.

 

How are your holiday preparations going? Are you ready? And please tell me that you’re making time for at least a little hooking.

 

A ship of lights ready to carry my cold self away...
A ship of lights ready to carry my cold self away…
I'm a butterfly!
But as a butterfly, I can sail off on my own. With my hot cup of Starbucks tea, that is.

 

 

 

 

Share

A season of waiting. Even to hook.

High on Hooking wishes you all a productive Advent. What are you waiting for?
High on Hooking wishes you all a productive Advent. What are you waiting for?

It’s Advent in our house, the season of waiting. Of course, we’re waiting for Christmas. First and foremost, around here we do that by getting a tree and decorating the house. This year there’s a learning curve involved. One simply does not throw up window candles and a blow-up snowman in a southwest pueblo-style house as one did in their New England colonial. For one thing, there’s no front yard for Frosty. So, he’s history. Instead, his little, light-up, burlap buddy is gracing the front door. Glass balls gussy up some landscaping. Fortunately for us, the previous owner had strung our big, backyard pine tree (maybe it’s a ponderosa?) with lights long ago. (We pray to God that the lights continue to function.) Festive red and completely-appropriate-for-New-Mexico chili lights hang on the pergola.

 

Tree's up New Mexican style!
Tree’s up New Mexican style!

I decorated the indoor tree last night. Despite our 12 or so-foot ceilings, we’ve been trending to shorter trees in the past few years. In Massachusetts, the family room had a cathedral ceiling. We spent decades practically needing a crane to dress the tree. It was plenty fun, but I’m done with the holiday bombast and have been moving to a quieter Christmas. That includes focusing on smaller things. Like the tree.

Because we’re new to Albuquerque, we’ve been anxious to experience some of the city’s traditions. The River of Lights is on the docket. I’ve hit up two big arts festivals. Trips to the fairs are also intended to gather intel, to determine the feasibility of High on Hooking setting up shop next year. We’ve got some possibilities…

The charm of Old Town Albuquerque.
The holiday charm of Old Town Albuquerque.

Friday night we headed out to Old Town to see the city’s Christmas tree being lit. Us and a couple thousand other people it seemed. Parking was a bitch! But it was a pleasant evening. Streets were closed and lined with hundreds of luminarias. Shops and galleries were open; carolers and school kids sang. Flamenco dancers in street clothes clicked their castenets. A good time was had by all. Till we tried to leave and sat waiting in traffic for some time. Yeah, now that we’ve experienced this venue, we’ll move on to something less parking-challenged in 2016.

Waiting’s not just a part of the Christmas holiday for me this year; it’s factoring into my hooking too. First and foremost, I’ve come down with a case of shingles. Damn rheumatoid arthirtis meds lowered my immunity that much. The ironic thing is that my guild members and I were discussing shingles – and the priority of avoiding them – when we did our monthly Botanic Garden demo a week ago! Little did I know what was percolating just under my skin at that moment… Hence, not much hooking’s going on.

But I am able to plan which is another big thing to do in December. Albuquerque’s Fiber Arts Council has scheduled its 2016 spring show. Members of all guilds are encouraged to submit pieces as are non-affiliated artists. The theme is “Colors of the Southwest.” Now I’m in the midst of planning a new rug that has to be finished by early March. Call me indecisive, but I can’t for the life of me choose from the various designs I’ve sketched. It’s back to the drawing board with help from the likes of Deanne Fitzpatrick‘s Simply Modern book. Unfortunately, Susan Feller‘s Design Basics for Rug Hookers is still buried in my unpacked boxes of books. But we’re making progress on that front! Bookshelves are being painted as I type. (Tom’s turn; we only have one paintbrush at the moment.) We will have an office again by Christmas.

 

Two little mats wait to be finished.
Two little mats wait to be finished. Hope they’re done in time for the Adobe Wool Arts Guild Christmas party!

Waiting is a December tradition: for a baby to be born; for Santa; for family, friends, and festivities; for the new year and all it’s to bring. Being in a new place and home adds a wrinkle to it all. Not to mention the freaking shingles. But I’m praying that I’m able to gracefully and productively anticipate the results of all preparations, for Christmas and for rug hooking.

 

 

 

Our willingness to wait reveals the value we place on what we’re waiting for…
Charles Stanley

What specifically are you waiting for this December?

Share