A few weeks ago I mentioned an upcoming punch needle rug hooking class with Fern’s School of Craft and I just had to share some pictures with you. I highly recommend checking out this technique if you get a chance!

I love the hands-on quality and portability for a project like this, and for someone like me who quilts by hand, it’s a pretty quick turn around (at least for something this size).

Fern showed us a bit about rug hooking the traditional way with a rug hook needle, but I really enjoyed using the punch needle. We used The Oxford Punch Needle #10 and I think it’s the perfect instrument for this.

With our monk’s cloth stretched on a wood frame we got to it. Fern had a variety of designs to choose from or we could draw something ourselves and after much deliberation I drew out this quilt square. I don’t know it’s name but my guess is it may be a variation of a shoofly? I would love to know if anyone has seen this before!

Table full of yarn, plus check out the cutest watermelon slice ever!

I’m definitely going to have to work on cleaning up my stitches and getting the density just right (they’re a bit close) but I look forward to getting more practice in on the next one. I finished up the background when I got home and voila!

The image on the left is traditionally the “back”, with the image on the right looking more rug-like. I like how clean the left version is though, so will probably make that my “front”. 🙂

I’m currently in the process of moving so have been busy packing up the apartment. The new house will have a dedicated office/studio space just for me, so I’m trying to decide if I want to turn this into a pillow or keep it as a piece to hang on the wall in my new studio. Either way I will probably turn the edges in and make a yarn stitched binding. Yay!