Night Sky

Inspired by those time lapse photos of the night sky where the stars show as a circular trail …



… and thats about it for my rugs for the time being. I have made 26 complete rugs in all – more if you count all the ones that were pulled apart during my process of finessing my technique.

I now need to concentrate on Christmas, embroidery in preparation for 2 classes in the new year and give my hands a rest. If you like my rugs and cushions and would like to purchase one, please contact me privately and I'm sure I could bear to part with some.

A Watermelon

Reminds me of a watermelon anyway ... sort of? very fresh looking

A long runner

A very long one for a kitchen

Warm Colours

This is nice in pink and green



and more warmth in orange and pink

Flannel Rugs

This one is smallish and chunky. I use an even bigger hook for the flannel rugs and they are so cosy underfoot



This one is bigger and just as gorgeous and chunky

Bathroom rug

I forgot, this pretty purple one is in the girl’s bathroom

My rugs in my house

I love my crocheted rugs and am using a lot of them in the house. This one is in the kitchen (where I chop and make sandwiches)



This is also in the kitchen (at the kitchen sink)



this one is in the laundry



and I didn’t forget the dogs – this is Amber's and Jasper's cushion just outside the kitchen - where they can sit and watch the proceedings

Its a star

blue & yellow star



and a lovely pink star

Cushions

I have discovered a new way to upload my photos – so easy. I have made some of my crocheted rugs into lovely big cushions – the inserts are made from recycled PET plastic bottles – lovely and soft.

and here is another selection

Sorbello sample

 ... and this one is Sorbello Stitch

Detatched Chain sample

I find it hard to practice embroidery - the discipline of making a neat sampler. So I have taken my needle to some of my epock's (electronic pockets) which were looking a bit plain.

Blue & white

Noosa beach in a rag rug

olive

oval

Olympic Spirit

... need I say more ...

cooling and warming

These two colour schemes show the difference between cool blue purples

and the warm red purples

purples again - with yellow and green

Popped in a bit of green as well as the yellow - this is the back

and here is the front finished - perhaps the green pops too much.



Revisiting red ...

My red rug is beginning life again. I am going for "subdued complexity" the shades and tints of  yellow and red (thankyou to Judy for this lovely term), and a pop of colour - the purple.

front & back

This is the front of a magenta and teal rug

and the back

I like the added texture and the stitch effect of the back

and here is the whole thing

purples

I’m working on this one at the moment. The rugs in the posts over the last few days have actually been created over a period of about 3 months. The biggest issues have been

. the extreme physical nature of crocheting rags
. keeping the edges nice and flat
. developing and implementing the colour schemes. I like colour, but I want these rugs to have subtle colour changes allowing colours to “pop”, depending on what they are surrounded by. I don’t want lots of colours clashing and competing due to similar intensity of colour.

This last one is a fun issue. I am using my stash of patchwork fabrics – collected over the last 10 or so years. Most of them I will never use for patchwork as I have given up patchwork for the time being (never say never). I’m sure if I go back to it I will want to use the latest designs and colours anyway.

This purple rug has muted lavenders, yellows and purples, with one or two quite clear lavender colours.

Rose Rug

I managed to make something in red & green & avoided it looking like a christmas decoration. This shows the single crochet stitch – makes a much tighter & firmer rug.

Aqua and Brown

Here is my Aqua rug. Love these colours. This is the very interesting back …



… and the front

Red Rag to a b….

Now this rug has been very troublesome. Its my second one, and I tried getting too clever for my own good. This is it’s third incarnation, and it is still going to be undone & crocheted again. I think I was trying to do everything I could think of quickly. What was that I said about perfecting the craft first ….

A close up showing the mix of fibres.

Rag Rug Star

This is my first rug – my very own star pattern. Done in double crochet – its a bit loose for a lot of wear & tear on the floor. I’ll try single crochet next time.

Craft and Art

I guess my favourite comment on the difference between craft & art describes a craft as specific technique. Practice your technique and apply your skill to create a piece of art. (or along those lines). So I have spent the last 3 months or so crocheting rag rugs. Huge amounts of time have been spent re-crocheting when the colours have been wrong, and even more time re-crocheting when the edges have not laid flat. This is not a craft for those with arthritic hands and wrists - it is very physical. I'll upload photos from tomorrow.

Meanwhile here is a section of the amazing midden on cockatoo island - teacups for the white settlers, and oyster shells for the indigenous people.

Paris Day 1

Place St Michel on Day 1 - I'll blame the jetlag for cutting off the top. We had an appartment in the Rue St Andre des Arts in the 6th, & this was at the end of our street. By the end of the 2 weeks we hardly even looked at it, & I didn't think to take another picture. The weather was cold (but not freezing) with constant drizzle - just enough to need an umbrella most of the time.

Starting again

The excitement of having time and calm to create again. My sketch habit isn't ingrained enough to be able to continue with it anywhere and everywhere. I happily packed pencils, sketchbook etc for a 2 week stay in Paris after Christmas - but I didn't touch them. I guess I thought I wouldn't do anything over there justice. I looked and absorbed instead.

Before Christmas I had become stumped with following Sian Martins sketchbook project - with a colour section. I have done some colour reading, and am now quite overwhelmed by the amount of information. I knew there was a colour wheel, but the way that pigments in different colours affect how they go on the paper? I certainly didn't know anything about that.

So, back to "Sketching on the right side of the Brain". Did a few hands to get back into the swing, & then worked a hand on a graphite coloured ground.

Fun. (and you can see where I rushed with my wrist in the bottom left corner)