'Handiwork'

I have sold out of the 'Handiwork' kits that I had available and I have more floss on the way for more kits. I have more punch needle designs coming. The next one involves a French Flower Market. Last night my husband came home and had a suggestion for a certain board for it to be mounted on and I was floored at his genius. I think you will be very pleasantly surprised.

While I wait for the floss to arrive, if you are interested in a kit, please let me know and I will reserve one for you. I have been surprised at how fast these sold and I hope to have enough for 15 more kits.

Feel free to contact me at yvonne@vintageheartprimitives.com or hooknwool@gmail.com.

Thank you so much!
~Yvonne

Punch Needle Embroidery Patterns

Stoneware Kitchen

During my life, I think I have tried my hand at countless arts and crafts. Calligraphy, ceramics, paper mache, all sorts of painting, knitting........of course, rug hooking............pottery, punch needle using yarn and the Amy Oxford punch-needle. I have done quite a bit and really enjoyed each one.

Then there is this punch needle embroidery. Hmmmm..............

I have been asked so many times about converting some of my rug hooking designs into punch needle. The thought of such tiny work has seemed very unappealing to me. All I could envision is wads of tangled floss and knots and forgetting to write down floss numbers. It just has sounded so tedious!! Not to mention how difficult it is on my eyes looking at such fine detail.

Well, where there is a will, there is a way. I have come up with two punch needle designs for you and I am half way liking them. The turning point was when my best friend introduced me to her reading glasses. 'Ohhhhh....so is this the key?? Ha!'


I have two patterns that I have done. 'Stoneware Kitchen' and 'Handiwork.' Both will have in the weeks to come complimentary rug hooking designs.

'Handiwork' is mounted on a board that I thought up- I love scalloped edges on anything and so why not? I would sure be glad to make you one if it is something you are interested in.

Handiwork

I am working on having two rug hooking patterns to compliment these punch needle designs. I really looking forward to doing them.

Here is a link to my Etsy Shop:

My Etsy Shop

I hope you have had a great three day Memorial weekend!

~Yvonne

'Morning Light'

"The path of the righteous is like the morning sun, shining brighter till the full light of day" Proverbs 4;18


I have to say that recently I saw a quote shared on Facebook that helped me to understand myself a bit better. The quote simply said that great art starts (or involves) emotion. So many times, I have wondered to myself why that most every design I do has to have a woman. I really do TRY to think of other things. I mean, my 'Lamb and Crocks' is one of my top selling patterns. But, try as I might, late at night after the day has settled and the house is quiet, I listen to my music and my heart begins to stir. And I start to draw what I am feeling- so maybe- just maybe, each of my 'ladies' represents a piece of my mind and heart.

I have not made a pattern for so long and I have known that I am due. So, I wanted this one to be hooked with easier cuts and a fairly simple design. It's pretty simple- yes  indeed!

Many of the colors that I offer in my Etsy shop were used in this design- Peony Pink, Midnight Blue, Charcoal, Run Through A Meadow, Vanilla Bean and shades of Overcast Sky. Look at this little sheep!

This design is available in my Etsy shop:

 https://www.etsy.com/shop/VintageHeartPrims?ref=hdr_shop_menu

I bought the most beautiful yarn from an Etsy shop I love. Eager to use it, one of the little skeins ( the middle pictured below) became fleece for these little sheep. If you look carefully, you will see bits of lace- isn't it sweet? The name of the Etsy shop is 'Autumn Rose' 

I have so much on list to do in the coming warm months- a better website that I have been working on using Weebly, a couple more beginner kits, possibly some punch-needle designs, and the next pattern has already been hanging where I can look at it through-out the day planning my colors. It is very sweet.

On a completely different note, below you can see a little house my husband, Neil, has been making me. Things have gotten a little out of hand at my house- my living room is the hooking room as well as always having two easels with current and future work brewing- baskets and baskets of strips everywhere! My kitchen has dye pots and plastic wash basins of soaking wool- the island top full of baskets of dyes. Now the kitchen table has piles of folded wool and lists and labels and orders. If you were to go into my 'work room' which would be used in any other house as a family room, you would find my cutters and tracing table and patterns and piles and piles of wool- bolts of linen and wool and kits in the process of being assembled. Rug Hooking has taken over my home and I LOVE every bit of it! This little house outside will have water and electricity - I will be able to move all the dyeing out here as well as having a little 'nook' for friends that visit. I am thinking of doing the inside in creams and pinks and old blues. I can hardly wait!

Seeking, Striving With All My Heart!

'I am seeking. I am striving. I am in it with all my heart.' 

Vincent Van Gogh

'Louisa' is finished. I have learned so very much from doing this rug. I am here in Idaho and what I have learned has been on my own. A lot of studying and observation and things I learned when I used to paint. Who would have guessed back then how someday I would glean lessons learned painting and use them as I 'paint with wool.'

The collar bone area down to the scoop of her neck went in and it just looked wrong. Then I thought to trace my own collarbone area with my fingers and create the shape with the direction of my loops.

The background. Ha! I was convinced that once I had Louisa finished, the back-ground would be easy. Wrong. The background that I had dreamed of simply competed with her beautiful skirt. As I cut the area down and started pulling more and more lavender out, I saw that less was more. Suggestions of flowers over the ground was all that was needed. 

Louisa hung on my easel for over a week as I felt increasingly annoyed. I do that. I will feel such aggravation when I cannot solve a problem with whatever I am working on. As I looked through one of my favorite books of art by Alphonse Mucha, I noticed all the arches he used to frame all his ladies. A stone arch came to mind- stone, so that color-wise it would tie in with the soft  folds of her blouse. Lovely!

Currently, I am actually working on an up-coming new pattern. I have not done one of those in quite some time. I am taking some of the things I have learned from other rugs and bringing it into this new design. Similar in style to my 'Marie, the Rose of France' pattern, this one has a beautiful woman  and a sheep and a floral border. I have color swatches laid out and am in one of my very favorite stages of any rug design- the dreaming and building of inspiration. 

I have been working on many, many rug hooking kits this last few months. Currently my work room has neat piles broken down per kit and customer. I am getting them put together and I am visiting my Post Office daily. I have been receiving messages asking me if I do kits for my designs and the answer is absolutely 'yes!' Contact me through my Etsy shop or at hooknwool@gmail.com for information. And please come visit me on my Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/vintageheartprimitives?ref=hl

Louisa

This is my design that I am currently working on. It is called 'Louisa' -named after my best friend, Louise. Louise is a personal 'life coach', comedian, and entertainer all in one. She has been my best friend for 20 plus years.

This actually started when I saw a blouse that I thought was beautiful. I created the whole rug off that blouse. I saw it back in maybe early January and as the weeks went by I was so busy and had no time to devote to the lady that I was creating in my mind. But, I kept thinking about her- her hair, the style dress, the colors. I also kept thinking of her face. I was intentionally observed people's faces and how the light fell over cheeks and noses that I studied in conversation or my own in the mirror.

I was quite sure that once I had the hard part done, 'Louisa' herself, that the rest would be easy. Wrong! Her skirt came out so beautiful but it seemed that the background bothered me terribly. So, it has hung in my living room as I looked at it in irritation wondering what to do. I decided that what was bothering me was that the background looked too busy and competed with her beautiful skirt.

Looking through a book I have of one of my favorite artists, Alphonse Mucha, I was inspired by his arches that so many of his pieces have. I wondered if limiting the view of the background by having Louisa stand in an arch would fix the problem. After some thought, an old stone arch came to mind.

Not only did it solve a problem, but I really love it!

The stone arch is made from one of my favorite colors that I have available in my Etsy store. it is called, 'French Urn.' It's a blend of gray and brown which always looks so 'stony' to me and pleasing to my eye. 

Speaking of wool, I am finally working bit by bit at getting colors that I either use all the time or just love moved into my Etsy store. Raspberry Jam, Blue Lavender, Run Through A Meadow, Overcast Skies, Pumpkin Pecan Pie, French Roses and Midnight Blue. There are others and I have many more coming...if I could just tear myself away from Louisa for a while.

Color that Inspires!

So, I have really been having fun dyeing my own colors. One of my favorite discoveries is how fun it is to have 'fun' cooking in an extra pot as I dye wool for my rugs and for the kits I do. Above are some of my 'Color Doodles.' Some I can do over and over- others, are one of a kind, like a bundle I sold today, 'Grandma's Pansies.' (Pictured- last three on the right)

I get into trouble with color. One color in the most unsuspecting place is enough to start my brain thinking of how I could use that color- which often leads to a bit of frustration because I would need ten lifetimes to do every idea that comes to mind. So, which one to choose?

I love shades of smokey blues and pinks and purples. What colors inspire you? And what are your favorite ways of using them? Do you have colors on your shelf that you can't bear to use until you find something so special and so worthy of such a delicious color?

This is a bundle that I call 'Mountain Rain.' These colors make me think of a the smells of a mountain after a rain. Wet pine, a stormy sky and raindrops. I have one of these left in my Etsy store. 

Now, this was a FUN piece to do. It is available also in my Etsy shop. It reminds me of a bed of Iris and that's why I call it 'Maggie's Iris Bed.' Raspberry, Gold and a rich deep Rose. 

What colors inspire you? Do they evoke memories or make you hungry even? 

Simplicity

'Simplicity' That's the name of my new pattern and also has been the theme of my last few weeks. This pattern is available in my Etsy shop- on linen. I can make a kit for you as well.

I am almost so close to finishing my ballerina rug, 'Tutu's.' I have been so busy with filling orders this last six weeks that I have had no time to even really look at it, however, I will let you see where I am at!

A pattern you can find in the January 2015 issue of Wool Street Journal.

The other news is that in January 2015 I was in Primitive Quilts Magazine and Wool Street Journal. I adore both publications. In the Wool Street Journal, you will see how I took scrap vintage pieces of fabric and hooked them into a small rug to give tribute to women through history who enjoy and earn a living with fiber arts. There is a pattern in that issue for you to hook or use in a punch-needle design. In Primitive Quilts January 2015, you also get a free pattern that I designed. It is my adaptation of a vintage chair-pad that was found in an old Kentucky cabin. It is one of my very favorite primitive designs I have done.

This is the chair-pad that I adapted for Primitive Quilts Magazine, January 2015 issue.