Penny Rug Workshop

Our Guild held a workshop on Saturday and learned how to make penny rugs. We met in a wonderful art studio In SLC that belongs to a gal who teaches decorative painting - it was just beautiful! Kits were provided for those who wanted them, and some chose to use their own wool and color selection. Pictures of the day are below.

Towards the end of our meeting, Miriam gave us a demonstration of how she finishes the edges of her rugs when she makes them into pillows - or Christmas stockings -

All in all - it was a great day of learning and visiting with like-minded friends!

Another Finished Stool

Here's a picture of another finished stool that was started at the recent Retreat. Nan used a family heirloom for her project - the stool is one that was used in her mother's home for years and years. Now it has been given a fresh new look and will be used and appreciated by future generations.

Such a cute dragonfly motif - after hooking the rug, Nan pulled a few strands of metallic thread through the wings to give it a bit of shimmer and sparkle.

Great paint treatment on the legs draws attention to the details.

Nancy's Project

At our recent rug hooking retreat, people were working on a fun project - they were supposed to bring a small footstool and learn different painting techniques for the wood. Then they were supposed to hook a little mat for the surface.

Nancy recently finished her project and the pictures are below. If you attended and have finished your project too, please email pictures of it to either Angela at angelach@burgoyne.com or Gayle at dyeing2hook@msn.com - we'd love to post them here on the blog for everyone to enjoy seeing!

Grand Prize Winner

Jennifer was our grand prize people's choice winner at our rug show at the retreat--she entered her cat rug at the 11th hour, just when she finished binding it!  It's a good thing, since everyone loved it. :)  She made it at the request of her mother in law, who has Alzheimer's, and since time was an issue, she completed it in less than 2 months--from design to whipping!  Congratulations!

URFG Spring Retreat

Our first official guild retreat was held this past weekend at Daniel's Summit Lodge.  Everyone had a wonderful time, and even the Easter Bunny came!  The stools looked beautiful when they were finished being painted, so beautiful in fact, some opted not to cover the tops with a hooked mat as planned. (And I agreed!)

When all was said and done, we had 18 attendees (including 4 mother/daughter pairs!), with 3 vendors of wonderful wool:  Pioneer Primitives, Wooly 4 Ewe, and Nancy's wool.  I hope we can double our attendance for next year--everyone is welcome--the cost was only $30 for guild members, plus room and food. Quite a deal, if you ask me!

Gearing Up for Our First URFG Retreat

We had our Prep Day last Saturday, where everyone primed their stools for the retreat.  It was fun to see the choices; everyone had a different type of stool, all the way from a bench to a high chair.  Londi is leading us step by step through the painting process, then we will all hook a top for our stools at the retreat.  The goal is for everyone to go home with a finished product by retreat's end, no UFOs here!

We have 21 people registered for the retreat at Daniel's Summit.  The board is planning so many fun things, we can't wait!

Karen Kahle

At our meeting on Saturday, Londi mentioned Karen Kahle several times in her class on color theory. She shared a couple photos that she had taken of Karen's rugs when she attended a class she took from her a few years ago. Here is a link to an online photo album showing close-ups of her work so you can see details and study her techniques for using color in her rugs. And you can see more pictures of Karen & what she makes here. Karen is one of the national teachers that we'd like to bring to Utah for a workshop!