Rug Hooking! – Snowy Owl Rug Hooking Kit

It was love at first sight when I saw these rug hooked pillows at my friend’s house. And… It just so happens that her rug hooking momma made them, and they are beautiful! Just look at them…. I hope you are inspired by these rug hooked creatures as much as I was.

So, my friends awesome mom lent me her rug hooking frame so that I could create my first rug hooking project. (UPDATE: Here is the link to my DIY Rug Hooking Frame Tutorial).

To get started I ordered a rug hooking kit from Deanne Fitzpatrick’s studio. The kit came with everything I needed to create my first project, including the hook, the pattern, the backing, and all the wool. And with my friend’s mom’s hooking frame, I was able to start hooking right away! So exciting!

If you know me I kind of get obsessed with a project and spend all my free time working to complete it. I think I made this super cute snowy owl in 3 evenings (after the kiddos went to sleep)… Until I ran out of a few colours (sad face). Check out how far I got with the kit… and thank you Ivy for helping me photograph it! lol

I did slightly change the shape of the owls head. Like this…

You can see in this next photo the spots that I still needed to complete (fill and outline a couple of feathers, outline a couple more feathers, and fill in a bit at the bottom left corner).

The frame is just made out of 2 by 1 wood and a flat bottom. I believe my friend’s dad made this one. It’s super handy to use when rug hooking. You just tack down the backing to the frame and hook away.

The photo above shows one side of the rug hooking frame that I borrowed, and the next photo is a side shot of it. I went and bought the supplies to make my own rug hooking frame but I haven’t got around to making it yet. When I do, I’ll make a little post about it.

UPDATE: Here is my tutorial on how to make a rug hooking frame!

This is what the back of it looks like… if you were wondering.

So this is how I fixed my issue of not having enough wool to finish the project. I bought some yarn in colors close to the colors I was missing. The lighter blue grey colour that I bought didn’t quite match so I ended up pulling a bit of the wool out that I had already used and re-hooked it in just less packed. I do realize that I would have had enough wool strips if I had not packed each hook so close together. So I took a bit out and finished the areas off that were unfinished. Then I used a darker blue coloured yarn to finish the edging of the feathers. I also had some beige yarn in my yarn collection and just hooked some of that in to fill in the bottom of the owl.

When I hooked with the yarn I doubled up the strands to make them thinker. This was something my friends mom suggested doing and it worked!

Next on my list of things to do is to add a soft backing and fill it with some stuffing to create a pillow! These pillows are my inspiration. I’m thinking of backing them with a blue or white fleece or minky fabric. What do you think would look best?

UPDATE: Here is my How to Turn Your Rug Hooking Project into a  Pillow Tutorial. We love how he turned out!!

I hope you are inspired by this post to try a different creative craft like rug hooking! So many things can be made out of your rug hooking such as, rugs, wall hangings (art), chair mats, coasters, trivets, tops of stools, seasonal decorations, or accent pillows, as I’m going to make my snowy owl into. Until next time, enjoy trying a new craft and creating beautiful things!

XO JCL

P.S. Check out more of my Creative Crafts here!

P.P.S. Your can get rug hooking supplies through the links below (from Amazon), or if you order a kit from Deanna Fitzpatrick everything you need will come in a kit. I have linked wool yarn below but my snowy owl is made out of wool cloth cut into strips, and the fox and blue owl are made out of sexy jersey. I plan to make my next project out of yarn as it is much more accessible and so many fun colours!! You can use other things like t shirt material cut into strips as well! Get creative!!!

And if you fall in love with this craft, you might need this… lol