It's Up to Us

Before I even took the hooking class. I had one finished coaster. I saw a deal for a pattern. A pattern on linen, but not a kit. It was some percent off as part of a quarterly club Parris House Wool Works used to do. It said It's Up To Us, with 2017 in the center block. But the deal let you customize that center block. I guess that was my first real design decision. I asked for an open book. To represent history- both our past and the history we are writing each and every day. It had a dove, the earth, hearts and hands in other squares. And it seemed huge. 36 x 18 inches, I believe.

When it showed up and I saw how big 36 x 18 inches really was, I put it away. I couldn't handle that. I took my class. (Great class, btw). I took my design class. I hooked my sun. I designed my night sky. And I decided I needed a break before hooking a second memorial piece. So I pulled out "It's Up to Us," and ordered some wool. I hooked the dove. Learned a bit about outlining- when it's needed, and some options on how to do it without using black.

I ordered some dye. I had my first dye day. In two tries I had a beautiful peach. I was happy. A couple more dye days got me some beautiful blues for backgrounds. I had blue, green, and white from a set I had ordered. I hand dyed some pink. Oh, and the brown and tan for the hands. I was worried about them. But they turned out great, I think.

I signed up for a class in January on finishing techniques. So I had to finish hooking last year. And I just made my deadline. Got it in before the new year. Figured out my finishing technique in class. Then didn't actually do the finishing until September. Looking forward to hanging it in our guest room... as soon as I figure out how.