Long Dry Spell

No, not the weather!  It's raining buckets and there's thunder and lightning.

It's the rughooking long dry spell of which I write.  I decided it's time to get back to the hooking whether I'm inspired or not.  I was laying in bed Friday night unable to sleep thinking of designs and not coming up with much.  Finally I decided on a primitive, very simple flower urn.  Something that could be done in an 8 cut and I won't have to think too much about color planning beforehand and just let it evolve.

I got up yesterday morning determined to get something on paper and maybe even on the backing.  It was the task of the day.

Of course I had much-needed help from my darling Deiter.  The minute I picked up the pencil, there he was, settling in on my paper.  At our house it is impolite to refuse a cat the attention he wants whenever he wants it.  So before I can continue my work, we have to talk and have a petting session.

A word of caution to those of you who do not have cats.  You may have heard that cats are independent, aloof, loners who would rather be by themselves.  NOT SO!  They are independent thinkers, you can't tell them what to do very often.  They can be aloof if they are offended or just don't want to talk at the moment.  They do need some alone time every day.  But most of them LOVE human companionship.  They NEED Mommy and Daddy time.  They will DEMAND it!

I was hoping a little bonk on the head with the pencil would move things along, but he stayed until he was good and ready to move.  Meantime I drank coffee and planned rug stuff.

Deet finally decided that Mom time was over and I finished my drawing.`

I do the enlarging at home on my computer because I'm impatient and it isn't always convenient to run to Staples.  I did all the appropriate math and the print setup and started the printer.  YIKES!!!  My design was coming out humongous!  I sized it down a bit and it was still HUGE!  What on earth???  I checked back through the cropping, math, and setup and discovered that somehow during the cropping of the excess around the edge of my design, the sizing had increased.  I'll have to check that more carefully in the future.  Meanwhile I wasted enough paper to make about a quarter of a tree.

All laid out and ready to put together.  Note that I have another 'little helper'!

OH NO!  No tape!!!

We were leaving shortly to meet Chuck and Willa to have dinner at the Pizza Grille in Carlisle.  We could get tape on the way, if it became possible to get out of the car without drowning.  The lightning was flashing, thunder booming, and the rain was falling in heavy curtains!  We saw small stream flooding everywhere.
We were lucky to make it home, but we did get the tape.  Hey, no food pictures this time!

This morning I got up early and transferred to my sheer fabric.  This is a drapery fabric that I get at a local fabric outlet that is stiff enough to make it easy to work with but finely woven enough that I can easily see through it and
get good detail in the transferring.  And it's inexpensive.

Now if only it were sticky like the 'crack stop' that so many hookers are using now.  It has to be pinned on.
Another thing I like about this fabric is that it doesn't suck up the marker ink like 'red dot'.

All the while I'm working, The Big One is close by.  Look at that wide behind!  I think we're both sitting around too much!

Finally finished!  I have no specific color plan.  I know I want the urn to look like yellow-ware and the leaves to be a sagey gray green.  Beyond that, it will just have to evolve.

It's so nice to be happy about working on a rug again!

While I'm trying to write this post, guess what!

He's Baaaack!!!

Not stomping on the keyboard, thank goodness.  But clawing the screen instead!

Have a great day!
May all your cats be Big Fat Lovey Ones!!!