A Different Finish

You might already know I don't like finishing my rugs very much right now.

I call it my no finishing era and frankly you don't know when an era is finished until 10 years later. Who knows when it will end?

As you can tell I'm very patient with my ins and outs on the creative path.

Remember my 2010 challenge rug? I'm proud to say against all odds I finished it.

And due to circumstances I did it a very unusual way for me.

I donated it to auction to raise money to provide an astronomical observatory at the IOEES where Man works. The river depicted in the picture is used as part of the program for canoeing and I thought it a good fit.

Sometimes I get an idea and this time it was a strong one. I remembered Margo White telling me about museum mounts for rugs. How she wraps a frame in wool and sews her rug to it. I wanted to mount this hooking on a thick wooden board.

I don't have board. I don't like glue. How was this going to happen?

Remember Patti ? my skiing partner and great friend ( if she ever asks- don't wii tennis with her, just a friendly warning) said she might have a board at her business Clearlite Windows and Doors

After some dumpster diving, we found the perfect piece. BTW we were not too successful at that- both too short. Thank goodness for good friends with good wood!

It needed some trimming which Man did and sealing off course because the acids in the wood will eventually eat away at the wool.

Next I made a sleeve out of black polar fleece that was slightly smaller than the wood.

Then I slipped the sleeve onto the wood ( it was like dressing a book case in a ball gown)

and neatly sewed the ends up.

So there I had it, a block of wood completely encased in polar fleece, I let the seam run up the middle of the back.

Next I folded back the foundation and positioned the rug at the corner and began to stitch it to the polar fleece with thread. When I was done I steamed it, though you might wish for that step first if you don't enjoy doing things bass ackward.

And now the confession: I had to colour the very edge of the backing with black sharpie to make it disappear, no matter how I tried I could not make that tiny edge invisible.

I love how the finished product looks and it can just set on a shelf or table top and I think it is interesting to see hooking in this sort of format. Although I thought I would put a hanger on it for the wall I decided against it.

I've been working on my Vogue rug and will post a picture here soon.

“If I'd had some set idea of a finish line, don't you think I would have crossed it years ago?”

Bill Gates quotes