Caraway Rug School 2014

I returned home last night from my ninth year at Caraway Rug School. It was a great week......the best teacher....Jeanne Benjamin, good food, old and new friends, and wonderful inspiration. I am exhausted, but renewed.

Kathie, Diane, Laura and I left on Sunday morning, and despite running out of gas this far from the pumps.........

We finally arrived safely.

                                          Caraway Baptist Conference Center

Our class got lots done.  Following are photos (please excuse quality of photos)......

Sybile with her wide cut textured Persian.

Nancy's lovely primitive pattern by Sally Kallin.

Georgeanna's winter scene by New Earth Designs.

Nancy worked on Jeanne's Chimera pattern.....very challenging.

Avis had a really nice pattern that she had started previously. Sorry, I can't remember the designer.

Karen worked on Eric's interpretation of an antique scroll rug.

Anita's rug was a pattern by Primitive Grace. She had admired this rug in the Caraway rug show last year.

Phyllis worked on a five block version of American Fancies. Beautiful, soft colors.

Lucinda's Quilt, a Keeping the Past Alive pattern, was Barbara's choice.

Nada chose colors brighter than her normal palette for her Edyth O'Neill pattern.

Mary's soft, gorgeous Oliver Cromwell.

Diane with her winter village by New Earth Designs. Last year she hooked a similar Fall scene.

Linda's Persian, a smaller version of Sybile's Persian.

And this is my 15 block version of American Fancies. This rug was adapted from an antique rug by Eric Sandberg, originally for the late Nancy Thompson.  I stepped out of my box and did not use any textures in this rug, just gorgeous overdyes, mostly dyed by Jeanne, and collected over a period of several years. As you can see in the lower left block, the background will be antique black.  Jeanne got me started with the color planning and had me continue planning the rest of the blocks independently. I was thrilled to walk away with that experience and the confidence it instilled. That is another reason Jeanne is such a great teacher!

My goal is to finish this rug while the plan is still fresh in my mind.

In the next few days I will share some photos from the rug show.

GRATITUDES:

Good Samaritans.

Meeting new friends that seem like old friends.

Returning home.

Take care,

Jennie