AND MORE PIX TO TEMPT…

Today our tour starts – 10 – 5. These are pix of a few of my other artists – Wendo our felter (check out the grinning sheep!!!), Cindy our mosaic artist and Janet our weaver. Oh will I make it through the weekend without buying – hmmm not sure I will make it through the DAY!!!… Oh and just a little update on the mouse explosion – we drove the little mouse to Australia yesterday (well for him it probably was like going to the other end of the world) and!!! NO MOUSE THIS MORNING OR LAST NIGHT OR DURING THE NIGHT! sooooo that little guy was heading right back into the house everytime we let him(her) go! So hopefully this is the end – well at least for the week or 2 it takes for him to make it back…

SOME PIX TO TEMPT YOU…

I thought I would start posting pix of the artist’s who have already set up their work for the weekend. Here you can see some of the work of Debbie Gilmer our potter, Steve and Karen Henderson our salvage artists and my own work. Tomorrow I will post pix of the work of Cindy Laneville, Wendo Van Essen and Janet Whittam.

HOLY COW…

Can it really be almost a week since I last posted? But it has been a busy busy week!!! 2 day fun Red Trillium Studio Tour in Carp last weekend and then this week emptying the living room in anticipation of my 5 guest artists arriving, setting up my own rugs and cleaning (ugh!!!) the studio and house and reorganizing, dyeing wool, making up ordered kits and CHASING MICE!!!

Don’t mice realise that at this time of year they are much better off outside in the warm temperatures nibbling on my gardens rather than inside a trap surrounded by 4 cats!!!! I know there is a mouse in the trap when in the middle of the night my cat Peanut whines outside the bedroom door. Got up at 1 the other night and sure enough she ran right for the empty cupboard that houses the trap and there was the little mouse – off he went to the garden; 1 1/2 hour later rattle rattle rattle – another mouse in the trap – off to the garden! then at 4 a.m. rattle rattle rattle – ANOTHER MOUSE!  In 24 hours we caught 7 mice in the trap – ORRRR the same mouse 7 times! This mornings mouse is going walkabout! off to the end of the driveway – almost a km away – where hopefully he will not find his way back and maybe!!!! we will be mouse free. Although last night as I was responding to emails I heard scurrying in the ceiling of the basement and all 4 cats almost ended up with whiplash as their heads whipped from side to side and eyeballs rolled trying to track the noises in the ceiling!

So enough with the mice! Today my guest artists arrive for our 3 day studio tour – Saturday to Monday. I have amazing artists here – Steve and Karen Henderson who recycle old farm equipment into funky garden ornaments and furniture, Janet Whittam who is a master weaver of clothing and home dec items and baskets, Cindy Laneville who recycles old windows and tables etc. into beautiful mosaic glass pieces, Debbie Gilmer who makes wonderful celtic inspired pottery and new this year Wendo Van Essen with her fun felted items. Check out our tour at www.artatwork.ca/westport_studiotours for pictures of our work and info on the rest of our tour and how to get here. During the weekend I will try to post some pictures of everyones work.

Have not hooked much lately but last weekend I did finish off a pattern I have had for a few years. I hooked it up in mostly recycled wools and I think it looks very old and muted which is the look I was trying to achieve. Most of this week I have been trying to get the show binding finished on Apothecary Rose! and working on my project for my fish packing box/soon to be tray (found some recycled handles which I will try to either tarnish more (rust is good!) or paint black. Gord is very happy that as he says FINALLY THE JUNK IS BEING USED FOR SOMETHING! He actually loves the chicken rug on the egg box and hopes it does not sell!!!

ANOTHER ALANA RUG DONE…

but not by me!!!! by Alana. It is such fun!!!  Hmmm do I dare hook this one now?

So what have I been doing all week that prevented me from hooking – I DID attach my chicken legs rug to the egg crate and it worked wonderfully and looks so good! And I painted a chippy peely white shelf that I had bought for 15.00 at Ballycanoe (well maybe 20.00). Had seen a beautiful yellow one in the shop that was a bit more than I wanted to spend. Then Gord found this wonderful one out in the barn that was so inexpensive. But it was white – and hmmm I am not a lover of white – in my house! My walls are dark and I use a lot of dirty autumn colours in my decorating so white hmmmm. I do have a wonderful yellow hutch that is a repro but looks OLD and grungy – wanted to match the look of that so I painted the shelf YELLOW!!! but the trim along the top is a mix of green and red. Then I sanded it down and some of the chippy stuff flaked off to the white under the yellow. Antiqued it with some burnt something oil paint which just filled in some of the cracks and holes and dirtied things up just enough to make it look like it had been painted long ago and then attached 3 wonderful hooks that already had yellow paint on them. Even had some left over rusty painted screws (although 2 were a bit long so we  had to grind off the tips!) et voila! My wonderful yellow shelf! Over my Maud rug in the pantry. However, now I realise my Maud rug is just a tad too short in width so I am rehanging it on a rod with probably finials at the end to make it look wider – well maybe no finials but just the rod. Anyway I am soooo happy with my shelf I may use the same technique on the big architectural piece I bought at Ballycanoe last visit that will be hung above my quilt in the stairwell. But that will happen AFTER this weekends studio tour in Ottawa and next weekends studio tour here. So not a bit of hooking all week!!

ST. HUBERT CHICKEN IS DONE…

I guess you need to have lived in Quebec to know St. Hubert Barbecue Chicken! Well my Chicken Legs (as I call it), Hen as Alana calls it or St. Hubert as Sharman called it is done! It was such a fun and fast pattern to hook – now I need to attach it to my egg box. Gord had a super idea this morning of actually mounting the box on legs so it could serve as an end table!!!!! Now he was thinking recycled stair rails (in keeping with the recycled egg box) and I was thinking hmmmmmmm wrought iron chicken legs (we do have a blacksmith on our upcoming studio tour! soooooo will see how far we get with that idea! So here is my finished (hooked at least) chicken rug…

This weekend I am part of the Red Trillium Tour in the west end of Ottawa (well way west!). You can visit the website at www.redtrilliumst.com. So busy busy busy getting ready for that. I realised there are some realllly wonderful artists on this tour so I am planning on doing my shopping before the tour even starts!!!

The following (long) weekend is our own Dandelion Gardens Studio Tour. I am so lucky – I have 5 other wonderful artists joining me at my home and studio for the weekend. Wonder if I will get away without buying – ha! not likely. On our tour this year we have 4  new studios and many new artists. You can find out all about our tour by visiting our website at www.artatwork.ca/westport_studiotours/dandelions/index.htm

OLDE FORGE HOOKIN AND MORE NEW PATTERNS…

Whew what a day yesterday – up at 4:30, left at 7 to drive up to Ottawa, set up started at 8:30 and done by 9 and hookin excitement until 3 then home by 6. I was so exhausted when I got home and could not understand why until I realised I had not had anything to drink since 9 a.m.! So 3 bottles of water later I felt fine. Amazing the restorative powers of water!!! well and food! But what a fun day seeing old friends and meeting new hookers and ohhhhh the rug display at show and tell was fabulous. I have given up on my photographic (or lack thereof) skills and left that up to the official photographer Kathy. Photos of the hookin will be posted shortly on the Olde Forge website so check in in a few days to see the wonderful rugs that the over 70 hookers brought for show and tell.

So in addition to the Karla Gerard, Kapell, Karen Kahle, Woolen Memories, Not Forgotten Farm (and of course my own) patterns, I am now carrying a series by a wonderful designer from California – Kathy of Briarwood Folk Art. Kathy’s designs are inspired by antique rugs and those of Magdalena Briner Eby. These are the patterns I have in stock – please email me for size and price… (ooops numbers 2 and 4 are gone to a couple of ladies at the Olde Forge Hookin yesterday!):

ANDDDD for those of you who are in love with yarns hooked into your rugs Janie is having a big sale as show in the ad below:

STELLAR CELLAR YARN / YARD SALE SATURDAY MAY19  9AM to 4PMBIG NEWS:janie is discontinuing some great yarns,books, patterns & accessories to make way for new!Come early for great deals!

WENDY’S SIGN…

I mentioned I would post a picture of Wendy’s sign – well here it is!!!! So can you all see this above the door to your hooking room(sssss)… The price per letter is $15.00 but licence plates are limited so get your orders in fast!!! …

 

ALANA, WENDY, PAT …

Well this has been a busy week. In between catching up with the NEW MOUSE EXPLOSION (found a little mouse in the cold air return when I noticed all the cats sitting around the grill in the wall staring at it – looked closer and there was a little mouse tail sticking out in between the grill slats! then found 2 little mice corpses the next morning –  appears cats have figured out what to do with mice! – and ANOTHER one in the grill the following day!), trip to the states (when the border guard asked where we were going I almost blurted out “crackhouse antiques” but realised hmmm crack is not a word you say at the border!!!), guild yesterday (where I started and almost finished the chicken in my new Alana rug) and getting ready for the Olde Forge Hookin tomorrow I have not done any cooking or cleaning and hmmm have no intentions of doing either. However I thought I would share with you some wonderful finds, rug patterns, cards, signs!!!

Alana’s Hen rug (I love to call it Chicken Legs) – if you read down to the previous post you will see Alana’s fun interpretation of her design. This is my version – not my usual old and dirty but fun fun fun to hook. My version was cropped a bit as I hope to attach it to the top of an egg box that I picked up at Millers in Rideau Ferry a few years ago – still have to figure out 100% how I will reattach the handle through the rug but I do have an idea:

On the way to guild yesterday we stopped to pick up Wendy and ohhhhhhh my sign made by Wendy’s husband Vince. I love this piece – licence plates made into a WOOL sign and attached to a barnboard frame. Vince is taking custom orders for signs so contact Wendy at wenvin@live.net. Wendy’s sign reads “lovetohook” – soooo many wonderful signs that could be made up. Will post a picture of Wendy’s sign later:

Pat Reid has given me some of her little sheep cards. These are not only amazing cards to send or give to VERY special people but also tucked inside a little frame make wonderful little pieces of art. I will have them for sale through the blog and at my upcoming shows and in the studio.

This is a picture of one of my finds at the antique store – this is becoming more of a destination every time I go. I found a ton of wonderful fun items but this one really made me smile. I think it would be wonderful incorporated into a “fish” rug (did one a few years ago that I hung from an antique fishing rod but this would have been a great addition) – my little vintage worm box! Does not come with smell of worms but hmmm there is some dirt in the bottom – may have to wash that out. I also think this would make a wonderful little container for hooks and pins etc. but I also have a carver friend!!!! (Donna are you reading this) who might be able to carve a wonderful funky fish to add to the top! ohhhh toooo many ideas!!!:

SPEEEEEEDDDYYYY HOOKER…

Alana dropped by today with more designs and one of her rugs finished! This is the same one that I want to hook – I think they will be very different. Alana has a wonderful style that is so beautiful. She uses a lot of wool that the rest of us would never even think to use – thick blankets, thready wools and mostly recycled! It gives her rugs an amazing folkart look:

Wendy emailed me a picture of her purse done using an adaptation of a Karla Gerard pattern. It is so bright and happy – much of it done in polar fleece yarns:

ALANA’S STORY…

At a hookin recently Alana talked about how she comes up with some of her whimsical designs. I asked if she would share this info with all our readers so here it is:

“In the early 90′s I read a book by an art therapist named Lucia Capacchione. The book was called “The Power of Your Other Hand” (http://www.luciac.com/). I had already become acquainted with the powerful technique of drawing with your non-dominant hand from Betty Edwards’ drawing ‘bible’ in art school. Capacchione carried the non-dominant hand techniques further into every day habitual patterns; for example, brushing your teeth and putting the cutlery away. Performing these ordinary tasks with my non-dominant hand placed me in the present moment. applying these techniques to my artwork forced me into being spontaneous and primitive in my imagery. Childhood memories and dreams surfaced.
At the same time I came across another book written by two lapsed Catholics, “Saints Preserve Us”. I found the book hilarious and inspiring. I started looking at my left handed cartoon characters as fitting into the roles of some of the patron saints. The frog and fishes was St. Anthony who is recorded as going to the riverbank and preaching to the fishes who stood on their tails in the water and listened. St. Venantius (my highwire Frog) is the patron saint invoked against danger from falling; my laundry line with bird and shorts is St. Veronica, the patroness of laundresses.
I made a series of magnetic greeting cards of the patron saints that I found humourous. Though most of the stories are actually tragic since most of the saints died martyrs’ deaths, somehow making their stories ‘over-the-top’ aided me in becoming a witness. I have frequently found people who deal with the dying in their profession often have a developed sense of humour to give them momentary relief from the tragedy. I could relate to this very deeply in my own story which emerged from my very first non-dominant hand painting which will explain why many of my paintings focused on vicious dogs.
When I was three I lived with a wonderful dalmation dog named Trixie who had a litter of puppies, one of which was pure white. My first painting depicted a dog in a cocoon in the earth, looking dead, with a grouping of puppies above her, one of which was a white puppy with fangs. I remembered the name of the dog as Trixie, which I had forgotten until then. I phoned my parents and asked them about the white puppy and they told me this tragic story: they had given the white puppy to their closest friends who had recently had a child. On a cool Saskatchewan day the mother had briefly gone into her home leaving the newborn in the baby carriage at the foot of a landing. The puppy jumped into the carriage for warmth supposedly and smothered the infant. My parents put down our dog, Trixie, so as not to be a reminder. As a child all I knew of this was that my dog was now gone.
I believe that I was able to look at these memories particularly because the images came out very primitively and cartoon-like. I encourage anyone to use this technique to explore their subconscious. It is a very healing tool and also a creative one.”

Here are some more of Alana’s designs soon to be translated into hooking patterns:

Boneyard

Meditation

4 and 20 Blackbirds

Chicken Soup

Highwire

Bird and Shorts

Beach Volleyball

Cat and Goldfish