Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Rug Re-Do

I hooked this rug

ages ago...
it was all finished
wool yarn biding
with
strips of wool
to finish the back...

but it never pleased me
no what I tried
the background
never looked quite right

this color was too blah

so I started reverse hooking
and
tried a brighter blue
more a clear
fall sky look
that wasn't it either

So the rug was rolled up
and put aside
for a while
some of the
background empty
some blah blue
some bright blue...

I look at it now and then
but never really knew how to fix it...

One day I

spent hours
taking most of the
background out...
and today I
picked it out of the basket
reverse hooked the headstone
changed it to a pumpkin
so far, so good

Now...
what about the background?


FYI: this is a

Lori Brechlin
notforgotten farm pattern
from one of her
fall booklets
~I highly recommend them ALL~


8 comments:

Kathy (woolfind) said...

Kelley the pattern is really nice. I like the idea of a blue for the background. Have you tried spot dyeing over a light grey? I believe I used spot #59 out of the spots and scraps dye book. If you don't have it email me and I'll send you the formula. If you want to see what it looks like, look on my blog a few posts back where I posted my mats. It's the longer skinny one with the flowers. I really like the way it turned out.Neutral, but different. Or, now that you've changed the tombstone into a pumpkin, what about shades of green for the background? Hope it speaks to you, so you can finish it. It looks great!

Carlie said...

New to your blog and have really enjoyed especially Chester and Olivia. I am looking forward to following it. I think changing the tombstone to a pumpkin was a good idea then the blue background would be alright. I like your hooked rugs. That is something I have always wanted to try...Keep up the good work.

WoolenSails said...

I think changing the tombstone was a good idea, set it off I think. I like the blue idea, but the first was blah, but maybe it was the photo. I would go with a mottled blue and do with light and dark shades, but not so much that it competes with the design.

Debbie

Cotton Eyed Jo said...

Shades of green might be just the thing to give it a prim look, or maybe shades of dare I say it? Purple! Purple is the complimentary color for orange after all... :)

Joanne said...

I like the blues too but i think several shades like Debbie said - one color is too flat - more swirly Halloween like - what about marbelizing the blue with say a gray since I know you won't do purple! LOL!

Joanne said...

Meant to add too the pattern is great - love it!

newburyarts said...

*****perhaps there are a few things to consider in choosing the
background color. first the house is blending into the grass and since the grass is a spot dyed material a green background would only frustrate you all the more.
second...it's a fall theme so why not use a medium old gold as the background.
you try this over a light texture in dying several batches...NO SPOT DYEING, this only makes it look as if confetti has been sprinkled on the design.
try: 1/4 tsp old ivory
1/8 tsp of old gold
1/64 of purple
dye two batches...on with the original strength and one with either double or one and a half strenght. this will give you the
necessary movement along with the texture working with the dyes.
hope this helps...i've been hooking wide cut primitives for almost thirty five years. best of luck!!!

newburyarts said...

another dye formula that would be really good is:
1/2 tsp buttercup yellow
1/2 tsp old gold
1/4 tsp nugget gold
1/4 tsp purple
all into one cup h2o
start gradually with this dye and
build it until you have a nice
mediume light color. again, different batches of material swished around in your dye pot at different strenghts will yield a
good background.
best of luck.