Little Blue Flowers in the Kitchen- A Design for Beginners

" Why don't you let me know when something needs fixed?! You never complain when something is not working right."  My husband had to use the shower I use. Months earlier, the faucet stopped working right. Irritating- yes, but by the time I hit the hallway each morning, I had forgotten all about it. When my husband said these words to me, it caused me the think on why half working things seldom phase me.

I am the oldest of fourteen children. Four daughters and ten sons. I grew up on 'learning to share', 'stretching dollars' and making it around the house 'one more time' with a vacuum held together with masking tape. Twenty six years into my marriage and I do think it is true that I continue to be a very 'low maintenance' sort of woman. Could this be a contributing factor in my love for the history and roots of rug hooking? As I think on days in the past when women would create rugs of necessity out of old garments, I see charm and whimsy. That also happens when my brothers and I muse of those days of  mom's sack lunches (Dad's payday always meant pickle loaf), hand-me-downs, and the old station-wagon that got the whole bunch of us around town.

I have had this little design in my drawing book for quite a long while. It has always grabbed my attention while flipping through pages- I've really liked it. So when I traced it onto my linen the other night, I decided I wanted the challenge of using exactly what I have. I have to laugh at myself as I admit that much of what I am using, those "leftovers" are those very precious woolens I have gotten from my friend, Christy, who does just about every stitch of wool I use. As I contemplated using a black background out of Pendleton wool skirts, my eyes fell on a fresh piece of 'Espresso' that I just received. Nix the black. What is that I spot- a bit of 'Moose' - not much, just a scrap - just enough for a dress. Sapphire- well, that's not very 'scrap' like but well...I'll use it. Then as I went looking around I found a piece of 'Stormy.' I draped it over the top of of my frame, and I loved the contrast. Little flowers. Blue little flowers.

I like this design because I think it is a design that I would have felt comfortable with as a beginner. What's more- I would have been eager to work through this as I could visualize it hanging on a wall to call my first rug. There will be rows of 'hit n miss' as well as a simple straightforward design that could be hooked with what you have. Of course, you could also find any of these colors in my friends on-line wool shop, doublemsheepandwool.com.

I do need to mention that Sunday the 15th is the day that Christy and I will do our drawing- one of us will be getting hold of the winner Sunday evening.