All Seasons Squirrel

I designed All Seasons Squirrel a couple of years ago, and finally started hooking on it this past summer. I didn't realize it would take me almost ALL of the Seasons to finish, once I started hooking!

The inspiration for the design came about as I was wondering why folks seem to decorate all sorts of squirrel related decor in the autumn, but not other times of the year. I can tell you one thing for sure, I have squirrels busy in my yard all seasons, not just one.

Yes, yes, in the fall they are especially busy hiding acorns. But they are also visiting my garden daily throughout the year. During winter, they seem even more adept at finding ways to raid the bird feeders. I have watched them straddle rose bushes to pick rose hips to nibble on. I gotta admit they look cute when they do that. In the spring, I have caught them picking the buds on my beloved magnolia tree and taking bites out of them. In the summer months, they are busy eating fruit or helping themselves to yet unripe filberts.

Color planning for this rug was easy, or so I thought!

I knew I wanted the squirrels to be a gray tone. I had just figured out a dye formula that had a gray-green cast to it. I liked how soft the color was, and what a chameleon it could be. If placed with taupe or light brown it looked gray, if used next to greens it looked greenish.

I wanted the background light in value, with different directional hooking techniques, and just a hint of medium value strips here and there to suggest movement, but not to overtake the background.

The mosaic pathway that flows across the rug represents all of the squirrel's different food choices in my garden and the many colors of the seasons. I knew that the background inside the little mosaic-like shapes that run across the pattern, would need to be a medium value. (It was important to make the background within the mosaics a different value, than the main background, because otherwise, your eyes could get confused about where to focus.) I know medium backgrounds can make it more challenging to figure out how to make the motifs show up. I was fine with the idea of using a pop-out line, around those motifs to make them stand out.

I am so pleased to finally have this finished mat on my dining room table rather than on my hooking frame. Real life squirrels are such characters, and this rug catches their fun-loving spirit perfectly! I smile every time I look at it.

All Seasons Squirrel and other hooking related items can be found on my ETSY.

Happy Hooking!