I started hooking this last Friday--
VERY pleased with how much I got done!
The cooler weather has helped immensely, I have more energy and don't have to sweat holding all this wool in my hands.
I have added myself to this, can you find me? LOL, not exactly, but I have added a butterfly, who will be purple. Purple butterflies are the symbol of Fibromyalgia, and as much as I hate to let a disease define me, it IS my life. However, you will note she is flying AWAY, not towards the tree, like the other critters. This is to symbolize that she cannot stay, the day will come when she flies off to Heaven.
Phase 3 has been added! The white leaves are my paper patterns. I plan to hook separate leaves and tack them to the front. making a more dimensional piece.
It took a solid week to do the drawing, tracing, and transferring of Phase 2, which is the large piece that will hang at the top. But tomorrow I can start hooking it!
This is the center.......
This is the left side.......
And this is the right side.
This is the whole piece, it is 22 1/2" wide at the widest point, and the length is 89". I'm not TOO crazy...............
The world goes on out there--somewhere far from me. I have become the proverbial ostrich with my head in the sand--or the trees, as the case may be. As my darling hubby points out to me, there is nothing I can do about things that are happening in the world, no matter how terrible they are, so I may as well ignore them. But being who I am, I say "Chuck it in the F*** it bucket and forget it." ( I always did have a vocabulary that would make a sailor blush......)
So I am hooking most days, and planning the additions to "The Rug", as my family now calls it.
Hard to see my chicken scratches, "Phase 2" is the big part across the top, "Phase 3" is the part on the right. The other ones are not drawn yet, as I will probably change 15 things as I go. Of course I thought I had enough linen for the top, but I was short--had to order it. SO I started on Phase 3 first, since I already had everything.
This is a rendition of our silly chickadees. A couple years ago, they took over one of the hummingbird feeders, so Wade started filling it with water for them. They have their own personal water supply, the 4 birdbaths we have are not good enough for them, I guess! Quite often we see them lined up on a branch, waiting for their turn to get a drink. So polite! This always makes us laugh, so I had to add them and their story to "The Rug".
My intention, at this point, is to hook separate leaves and leaf clusters, and attach them to the border to help blend the new pieces into the original one. At first I was only going to have the branches and leaves coming out of the top, but as usual, my crazy brain took over, then it picked up my imagination, stole a fast car, and took off down the road! I am now contemplating painting some branches and leaves out onto the ceiling--who knows what else may develop!
Just in time, as the next big heatwave is supposed to start tomorrow! I will be planning/drawing Phase 2, but no way am I hooking until it cools off here.
I have been drawing/sketching/painting since I was 10 (long, LONG time ago!) Over the years, I got into many other things, and this ability just sat there and quietly waited for me to come back.
When I decided to come back to it, I first needed my model/muse--then she arrived. Then Amazon had Prime Day, and I treated myself to glorious new art materials, some of which I never knew existed! This is 11" by 14", done in watercolor pencils and inks.
For quite a while now, I have been searching for a "model" for my drawing and painting, which I have decided to get back into. She had to have certain qualifications--I needed her to be very posable, and able to hold those poses--I didn't want some "cover girl", I wanted her to be slightly "other worldly", maybe a bit Goth, have a certain haunting quality to her looks--not be necessarily beautiful, so much as interesting.
So, yes, all of this is a tall order, and not easy to find. But find her I did! Meet Ember, who came all the way from Russia to be my model.
One corner left to do! Hopefully will be ready for the binding/finishing on Sunday, it is so big and heavy, I need Wade to help hold it while I am machine sewing the binding to the edges.
While I am planning "phase 2", I am in no rush to draw it and start working--supposed to get super hot, and I need a break, so I will work on something else.
