Pretty pony with perilous princess

Shown above, is a rug I recently hooked at a Sharon Smith class.  Sharon was here at the store for 2 workshops, where everyone worked on one of her designs.  The designer's version of this rug was shown with a multi colored zebra with a cat riding it.  I have no connection to zebras or horseback riding felines, so I changed it to be ME riding my horse buddy, Hairy.  I am sure you will recognize me, I am shown wearing the hair-do I wore as a 5 year old, a princess hat, carrying a wand in one hand and flowers in the other.  Oh, yes, it is me alright.  We tried lots of different techniques in this class and this rug was full of Sharon's suggestions.  The Paint pony is hooked in a higgledy piggledy
fashion, with lots of overlaps on the bottom.  I cringed for the first several hours of that technique, but it has a nice effect.  For purists, it is not something you would want to do if the rug was going to go on the floor.  It would be far too easy for the overlapping loops to pull out, but for a wall hanging, it should be OK.  The arena the pony is in, has beading around the edge.  Hooked beading requires you to pull up 2 strips of different colors and alternate them as you pull them up.  You get this very cute checkered effect.  Sharon also encourages the use of yarn and sari silk, so I tried those too.  The collar and polka-dots on the little girl's dress are sari silk.  To achieve the 'party' background behind the little girl, a quilting template was used, to draw in the paisley design.  My favorite part of the rug is the red background.  I am a big user of leftovers and I dipped into the bin for anything that looked remotely red, purple, or black.  I loved the result.

If you have ever dreamed of taking a class from Sharon Smith, she will be teaching at The Nebraska Rug Hooking Retreat at the Lied Lodge, November 10-13, 2013.  Contact me for more information or check out RETREAT on my website at www.janicelee.biz

Enough fun for today.......see you soon,
Janice