Art and Noodles

What a great time we had this weekend in our ART AND NOODLES class with  Diana Geisinger of Ankeny Iowa.  Diana is a former art teacher and McGown certified rug hooking teacher.  She led us thru a terrific weekend of hooking small projects from our noodle bags mixed with honest to goodness art lessons.  We learned about color and value.  We studied shading and design.  We sketched and drew like we knew what we were doing.  Amazingly, Diana made us all feel like real artists and everyone walked away with a lot of confidence in their newly found art skills.

Diana told us that as she finished a rug, she takes her cut leftovers and hooks a 9x13 mat that can be given as a gift or traded among friends.  She has one of the most creative minds and gave us at least a hundred different ideas for our mats.  We tried geometrics and animals and lettering and borders and the list goes on and on.

We had a great group of rug hookers and I thank them one and all for attending.  We had many great laughs, as always and a few surprises.  Sunday morning we heard an explosion from the bathroom and ran in, opened the pop fridge and found a can of pop had frozen and exploded.  Thank you Erin and Colleen for dealing with that disaster.

 Here are a couple of mats to show what our projects looked like.  I will post a few more later in the week.  The stones to the right were done by Kathleen Salak, the circles were done by Erin Schultz.


More later,

Janice

Bucket List

I have never had a 'bucket list' and have never felt the need for one.  I have always felt that I have had all the life experiences needed by one person, and perhaps a few that I could have lived without.   All in all, my life has been full of wonderful people, interesting experiences and particularly fantastic animals.

Tonight, I added an experience that should have been on my 'bucket list'.    This is Timber, he is a 4 1/2 month old wolf hybrid.  From his DNA testing they believe he is 3/4 wolf.  Timber was given up at the Nebraska Humane Society by his owner.  Perhaps the raising and training of such a pup was going to be too much, who knows.  But at 8 weeks of age, Timber was taken on by the humane society staff to socialize.

Pictured with Timber, is Dawn Thrapp, an absolutely amazing woman who works for the Nebraska Humane Society here in Omaha.  Dawn is often assigned the most difficult, problem pooches.  Dawn believes in 'shaping', a dog training regime, that has no negative consequences.  The dog's behavior is shaped by a reward system, via treats and praise.  Behaviors are broken down into tiny increments.  Often the first step in training is to have the dog look at you.  His attention for even a second is rewarded with a word like 'nice' and a treat.  'Nice' or sometimes a click from a clicker, tells the dog, you have done the right thing, the treat reinforces that this is a good thing to do.  Everything is built on that reward and before you know it, you have a dog that is seeking your attention and approval and wonderful and amazing things can happen from that relationship between dog and trainer.

Most of you know about my Standard Poodle, Blue.  He is about 3 years old now and we have attended many training classes together.  Dawn taught me the benefit of shaping and I have used the technique to teach Blue hundreds of tricks, skills and behaviors.  I take class from Dawn when ever it is offered and
Blue and I have been attending a class taught by  Dawn at Companion Dog Club, here in Omaha.  We have also taken classes from her at Go Dogs, another great facility in Omaha.

Back to my undiscovered 'bucket list'.  Dawn had been telling us about a trainee that she has been working with.  She is fostering young Timber, preparing him for the opportunity to go to a wolf rescue.  They are searching for just the right spot for him.

Tonight Dawn brought Timber along to class, to give him a new experience and further his socialization.  She asked if we would like to meet Timber.  Of course, we all said YES.  Out came this beautiful young wolf, with the most haunting eyes you will ever see in a living thing.  He was very happy to see all the dogs, he is after all bred to thrive in a pack.  To people he was polite, but distant.

OK....here it comes.  I think that Dawn sensed that this was BIG for me and offered to let me touch him after class was over.  So here I am, almost 65 years old, and I just had one of the rarest, most moving experiences of my life.  I sat down on the floor and petted a WOLF!!!!!!!!

Timber, was every bit a gentleman and let me pet him and stroke his beautiful coat.  He let me touch his face and ears and indulged me with great patience.  I hope he finds a wonderful home where he can be in a pack, with people that understand that this animal must be handled with extra care and respect.

Thank you Dawn and Timber.  It is an experience I will never forget.

Til next time.....

Janice

FINISH YOUR PROJECTS WEEKEND

What better way to spend a spring weekend than to have a FINISH YOUR PROJECTS weekend here at The Rug Hooking Store.  This weekend, April 21,22,23 bring any project you want to complete.  We will start at 9am  each  day and hook until 10pm on Fri and Sat and 4pm on Sunday.   You can come for the whole time, a day, an evening, an afternoon, just drop in and out as you can.  We will potluck lunches and order pizza or burgers out for dinner.  This will be a very laid back, easy going time.  If you need help with a rug, I am always available for problems or a color plan!  This weekend is FREE and all are welcome.

Gail from The Paisley Pansy in Lake City Iowa, will be here at 1pm on Saturday for anyone who has a framing project.  Gail, formerly of Leonardo's in Omaha, is the one who framed all my favorite rugs.  She and her sister, do a fabulous job and it always amazes me how reasonable the framing can be.  We have all noticed that framing sure beats binding a rug, especially if it is to be used as a wall hanging.  It really changes things from rug to ART!  Bring a project, print, needlework, anything you need framed at 1ish on Saturday.  Gail will bring lots of corners and help you pick the perfect combination,  and then take it with her to frame.  She will return our projects in about a month!

I am looking forward to seeing many of you this weekend.  Friends will be coming from all around, so if you have a few hours, or days, join us!  You will be amazed how much you can get done, without the phone or doorbell ringing, the laundry calling your name or the kids yelling "MOM".

See you soon,
Janice

Chalkware Deer

While looking thru some rug photos to find something fun to write about, I ran across this chalkware deer I did in the Pris Buttler class at last year's retreat.  I had finished my footstool design for this class and Pris said "Pick something else to do and we will color plan it."  I have always liked this pattern from Woolley Fox, it is an old Edythe O'Neill design.  I was thinking maybe some primitive browns and predictable colors when Pris said....let's do this up a little different.

So, she went to the lights on the shelf and picked four or five different pieces, a greenish grey, pinkish grey, brownish grey etc.  Those colors became the rug.  We went with a favorite red color of mine, called Buttermilk Paint Red for the background.  It made this simple, lovely rug that I can use at the holidays or any time of the year.

People sometimes ask me "Why should I take a class?  I already know how to rug hook."  Well....this is why.  A good teacher takes you out of your own box, often out of your comfort zone.  We can all color plan a rug with our favorite colors, but Pris helped me look beyond the direction I would normally have gone.  Teachers gently push and prod (sometimes not so gently, but that is OK too) to help us achieve our greatest levels of creativity.  And having a fabulous teacher standing over you for 3 days at a workshop is a great way to find your new confidence.

I am very proud of the top notch teachers I bring here to the store to teach workshops.  Pris Buttler comes twice a year, Diane Stoffel comes 3 times a year, Donna Hrkman comes every November.  Maggie Bonanomi is a regular for a 2 day rug hooking class and 1 day appliqué class every May.  Diana Geisinger teaches here regularly and will be back in June for a great 2 day class called "Art and Noodles".  Pat Shafer teaches a wonderful 'FACES' class in January.   And talk about being coerced....I teach a bang up HEIRLOOM RUG WORKSHOP.   You will be encouraged to make your own vintage look rug with the help of a book I wrote on the subject that offers 15 different techniques to use, to make your own family heirloom, a rug that looks a hundred years old upon completion.

You can visit my website at janicelee.biz, then go to the calendar page to see the dates that all these wonderful teachers will be here at the store.  Careful.....they might push you out of YOUR comfort zone!

Talk soon,
Janice

The Morning Drive

Not to disrespect the daffodil, but now we are TALKING!  I finished this rug, THE MORNING DRIVE when Diane Stoffel was here teaching class a couple of weeks ago.  The photo on top shows my rug, the one below is the original picture, taken by Heather DePra, of my son Will and his dog Pard, moving cattle a few years ago.

You can see Pard pretty well in the rug, he is just to the right off the rider.  You have to look really close in the original photo, Pard is so deep in the grass he is barely visible.

I really should tell you Pardner's story, it is a good one for sure.  Pard is about 15 years old now, but he came into our lives when he was about a year old or younger.  One of Will's Dad's friends called one day and said someone had tied a young border collie to a tree in his yard, left a bag of dog food and had driven away.  This man had dogs, so the person abandoning the young dog must have figured a dog lover would take care of the poor castoff.  Will's Dad took the dog in and of course, the next thing we knew, Will had taken on "Pard" as he called him, as a project.  Pard lived with us for a few years until Will went off on his own and was never anything but the best dog.  He rode everywhere with Will in his truck, and worked his heart out helping Will with his cattle.  Will says the only thing you could fault Pard on was that he had a soft mouth and nature, and would not be as tough on the cattle as some of his counterparts would be.  He was after all a Border Collie, bred to work sheep, probably a little more gently than was required with cattle.

Last year Pard developed a tumor on his leg.  It grew fast and was huge.  I always explain it to be the size of a dead chicken, hanging down so far it almost touched the ground.  Will was trying to wait till the end of fly season to have it removed, cause Pard lives outside at the ranch and Will is gone so much he couldn't just put him in the house and just leave.  So......of course, I volunteered to take care of Pard after his surgery, keep him at my house and let him recover.   Since we know Pard is at least 15 we were a little concerned about how he would make it thru the surgery, but he bounced back like a young dog.  His crate is in the rug store, and he immediately made friends with all the ladies and Blue, the Poodle.  Biscuit, our old lab did not take to him right away, but they tolerate each other now.  After a few weeks of healing, it was probably time for Pard to go back to the ranch, but winter was coming on and he loved his crate in the store and following Carl around the barn here.  And I hated to think of him living the hard life again at his age, even tho the veterinarian here told me he was in incredible shape for an old dog, great heart, teeth, weight etc.  So much for poor Pard, that hard ranch life will keep him alive longer that us softies.

I do have to report that my son Will was wrong about Pard being the perfect dog.  A few months ago, I was racing out of the house and forgot to lock the door on his crate.  I came back 45 minutes later to find every trash can in the store and house dumped over and trash everywhere.  There was no question who the culprit was....Pard had taken the best trash back to his crate with him and was sitting there smiling at me when I returned.  When I mentioned this to Will he said, "Oh, yeah, he does like the trash."  That my friends, is an understatement.

Talk soon,....

Janice

Spring is here

I got a new computer and everything is working much better for me in the techno world, so I am back to blogging.  I promise to be a better blogger in the future.   Pictured is a rug I just finished a few minutes ago.  You may have noticed this is not my normal 'style'.  Well, let me explain how this came about.  Diane Stoffel was here teaching a class a few weeks ago.  We had a terrific three days, class was over and Diane was ready to fly home to get ready for her next class.  But....Mother Nature intervened and Diane got snowed out of home.  Lucky ME, I got to spend 3 more days with Diane Stoffel, rug hooking, eating and watching Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries on Netflix.  Wonderful!  However, I finished my project from class and was pondering what to tackle next.  Any of you who know Diane, know that she gets up at 4:30 every morning, makes coffee and starts hooking.  When I got up a 7am and walked into the store, she said "I planned a rug for you.  It will be good for you to do this, the color plan is a split compliment, you will be mock shading the flowers and leaves.   Well.......OK, I know better than to argue with Diane Stoffel, but I HATE YELLOW, especially bright orangey yellow AND did she have to pick one of the biggest patterns in the store?   No matter, I dove in and really enjoyed hooking the beautiful daffodils.  This is a lovely pattern, from Kathy Morton at Oak Ridge Cottage Rugs.  Kathy's patterns are always beautifully drawn.  Diane suggested drawing puzzle pieces to make the background more fun to hook and I really enjoyed the lattice work.  I think it is very pretty and certainly a sign of spring.  I have yet to steam it, but had to take the photo and blog about it just to rib Diane a little.  She taught me a valuable lesson, never leave Diane alone in the store while I sleep.  She comes up with great ideas for lessons for me to learn.   Later this week, I will show you the rug I did in class.  It is close to my heart and one of my favorite rugs ever.  I think you will know why, when you see it.

Thanks for listening,

Janice