Ancient Cloth: March 2014

Monday, March 31, 2014

Rug hooking punch needle

I spent 2 hours at my favorite rug hooking and yarn shop. The shop is set up in a barn on a farm.
When you walk in the door and look across the room there is a wood stove in the corner with chairs
surrounding it. Beside it is a big table and chairs. The owner created this spot for anyone who shops there. You can go and just sit by the cozy fire and stitch, crochet, rug hook or punch needle and enjoy
a cup of tea and great conversation free! :)

On my day off I decided to try my hand at baking some oatmeal chocolate chip cranberry coconut cookies using only honey as a sweetener. Next time I will omit the chocolate chips. I love chocolate but the cookies just did not need any more "sweet". I borrowed this recipe and made substitutions:

http://www.marthastewart.com/338993/oatmeal-cookies

1 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 cups rolled oats
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup wheat germ
12 ounces good-quality chocolate, chopped into chunks, or 1 1/2 cups golden raisins, or 10 ounces toffee pieces
Directions
1. Step 1
  
  Heat oven to 350 degrees. Combine the brown sugar, granulated sugar, and butter in an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Starting with the mixer on low speed and increasing until it is on medium, beat until the mixture is creamy and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs and the vanilla extract, then scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula, and mix to combine.
2. Step 2
  
  Combine the rolled oats, flour, baking soda, baking powder, and wheat germ in a large bowl, and stir to combine. Add the dry mixture to the butter mixture, then mix on low speed just to combine, 10 to 15 seconds. Remove the bowl from mixer stand, and stir in your choice of chocolate chunks, golden raisins, or toffee pieces.
3. Step 3
  
  Line the baking pans with parchment paper. Use a large (2 1/2 ounce) or small (1 1/4 ounce) ice-cream scoop to form balls of dough. Place the balls of dough about 4 inches apart on baking pans. Bake until golden and just set, about 18 minutes for large cookies and 14 minutes for small cookies. Remove from oven; let cool on pan 4 to 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
  
  Happy Week!
  
  <3

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Punch Needle Rug Hooking

Remember this Rug hooking piece I found at a thrift store??? Well, I took it to my favorite
punch needle and rug hooking store and found out that it is old, but she was not sure how old.
Burlap used to be used for rug hooking but it has been found that over time it disintegrates.
Normally it is recommended that you transfer the pattern from an old cloth onto the new monks cloth or linen, but since the person who started this round chair cushion had already done a fair amount of rug hooking I decided to carry on with what they began. Also, they were using wool strips, which can be expensive. I am not a rug hooker, but punch needle is something I really am enjoying. I purchased this old find because I had heard that punch needle could be done on rugs.

The birth of the punch needle for rug hooking can be found here:

http://www.amyoxford.com/punch_needles.html

It was really very recent 1995!!! Not so long ago.

Since the piece was begun as a rug hooking project I would need to reverse the pattern to the opposite side for punch needle.

I had to out line the piece with a sharpie ...

I was given this "sheer dot" interfacing type stuff to put over the pattern and trace it.

I lay this sheer dot interfacing over the lined drawing I had just done and again

I traced the pattern.

Lastly, I flipped the canvas over and lay the sheer dot interfacing on the canvas and carefully pinned and began drawing on the sheer dot interfacing the pattern from the canvas. Now this is the magic...

The sheer interfacing allows the sharpie pin to go through onto the canvas and wah la! You have the pattern drawn on the canvas. I did go over it again just so I will be able to see the lines clearly.

As I said who ever chose to begin this project was using wool strips, which are very lovely, but I do not wish to cut stripes of expensive wool. So a better option for me was to purchase a bit of wool yarn. I am also going to use a bit of acrylic wool combo (dont' cringe...I know...I would prefer to be a purist) but, mind you I only paid $1 for the canvas! I will let you know how it goes...

Happy Week!

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Robin and snow

I just began a new punch needle and I am thinking "Spring" :)

but Mother Nature is still thinking "Winter."

I have seen several robins so far and I often wondered how they survive the below zero cold and then it occurred to me that they survive because no one told them they could not!