Mala Jones, Pumpkin with Crow

I taught a class at Pat VanArsdale’s last fall. Mala wanted a sunset/sunrise background behind the pumpkin and crow. I got busy in the dye pot. One way to dye a sky for a rug like this is to dye it all in one piece, but that will limit your control. I decided to dye the wool in separate pieces. I used a spot dye method even though some of the wool is just one color. I mingled some of the adjacent color into part of the wool to make the transitions easier. Mala did a great job with the hooking. We used one of my favorite techniques for night skies and that is to outline everything with a lighter color. In this case, we used the color from the bottom of the sky, yellow.  It gives a wonderful glow around the objects and helped us to define the crow.  We added a horizon line just to anchor the design, hooking the ground in a dull color.

Pattern: Old Orchard, “Pumpkin Harvest”, by C.B.K., 2001.

When I asked Mala if I could post her photograph, here’s what she said:

Yes! I would be happy for you to share the picture of my rug. As far a info goes it is an Old Orchard Primitives pattern I forgot what the name of it was. I called the lady I bought it from and she didn’t have any info either. She thinks she got this pattern from Nancy Blair with some other patterns at some point in time. It is 21×25. This is the 2nd time I have been able to attend a workshop at Pats, she is a well organized hostess and try’s to anticipate students needs. Cindi you are a great teacher and very willing to share your knowledge. One of the things I really enjoyed about your teaching method was that you drew a picture of what you were trying to tell us to hook, that made it better than just telling us. I have started going to Nola’s in StLouis and I would take this rug to work on at her hook-ins and the women there really liked the color plan. Who knows you may get one of them as a student some day because of my rug. Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Mala

[student]