Rugs Labelled and Ready to Go

I went to a quilting group today and sewed labels on the four rugs I've finished since last October. I'm going to take all of them to the SE Michigan Hook-in tomorrow. I guess I'm excited about going tomorrow - I'm all ready today. I steamed the rugs two days ago, ran roller tape over them yesterday to get rid of the dog hair, and labelled them today.

I even designed a new rug to work on at the hook-in. The rug I've been working on is too big to work on with all of those crowded tables. The one I'm going to start will fit on top of a little bench I've had waiting for months. I drew a row of horses out in the pasture - all facing away from the viewer. All well-built Quarter Horses. A row of big rumps. Makes me think of the Republican Senators who voted against the Health Care bill.

Grasshopper Rug Done!

The Grasshopper Rug is finally done, all whipped and ready to steam - after I go over the back and adjust some loops that seem to have been pulled loose while I was carting the rug around to do the whipping.

The whipping is done over two folds of linen, folded upward. I keep thinking I should try Gene Shepherd's whipping technique, but my way goes so much faster - once I whip, I'm done, no sewing to do. The first rug I finished this way has been a dog rug for about two years now, requiring frequent vacuuming, and there's no problem at all with the edge.

Whipping Started

I started whipping my Grasshopper rug tonight. I cut off the extra linen, leaving an inch and a half to fold toward the top of the rug in a double fold, then I whip over that folded linen. I'm using a bulky wool yarn, so I'm whipping with only one strand. Usually I use black yarn, but this time I'm using a kind of fuzzy gray color that matches some of the "antique black" in the border. The whipping goes fairly fast with the bulky yarn, but I stopped after whipping one of the short ends - that took about an hour. Maybe I'll use the same kind of dark gray/antique black for the background on my double-cross rug.

I had a nice drive through some very rural countryside today, as part of a funeral procession (see my http://gibbydogblog.blogspot.com). We drove through country where I used to ride horses and used to travel around with my vet - it hasn't changed much at all in the last forty years. Nice old houses - houses that might be deserted like houses all over Michigan, but they don't look any more deserted than they've always looked. I may go back soon and take some photos for future rug plans. There's an especially nice Queen Anne style house with some unusual gingerbread that I'd like to put into a rug. I saw a nice little herd of Texas long-horn cattle, pretty unusual in Michigan, and heard about one of the calves being stolen and sold to someone right down the road. Long-horn cattle are unique enough around here that the whole community spotted the lost cow right away. Turns out the cattle rustler was the son and grandson of the owners. I guess a black sheep stole the cow.