NEW KARLA GERARD PATTERN AND CONTINUING SALE…

Rain rain rain – we had rain!!! finally. The drought has been so hard on the trees (well the drought and the darned gypsy moth caterpillars) and the gardens and just on our spirits. Who says there is no climate change! We experience it more and more every summer. We used to put the dock in the water in June and the water would be so high it would be lapping at the underside of the dock – now we put it in in May and yikes it is already a foot lower. Ground has cracks in it and we have to water everything from the lake. I used to fill buckets and schlepp them up the hill to the gardens – terrified of my well running dry. Last year we bit the bullet and put in a lake watering system and I can fill the pond up when it evaporates and water the gardens without worrying about the well turning to sludge. So when it does nothing but spit for 5 minutes every three weeks hmmmm. I did my happy dance again last night when the heavens opened and this morning when I got up it was still raining! How wonderful everything looks and smells and feels.

So here is a new pattern that celebrates water!!! Me in the kayak with … no actually someone else! I don’t have a dog or rooster but I love this pattern. It would be a fun new piece to hook. So, it and all the other Karla Gerard patterns are still on sale at 20% off the pattern and 10% off the wool dyed for the pattern. Email me if you have any questions…

And if you too got rain last night ENJOY the freshness while it lasts 🙂 .

SHOW AND TELL…

Some lovely pieces this week to share…

Margaret asked me if I could adapt my Porkalicious pattern – hmmm, why did she not want a porcupine :-)…

Never hesitate to ask if a pattern can be changed! If I can do it I am happy to make the pattern what you are looking for…

Nancy finished her Heavens to Betsy whale – love this pillow…

Louise punched this beautiful punched crocus piece based on photos she had taken out west…

Dolores finished her Butterflies (her third piece!)…

Linda finished her trawler – memories of trips to Ireland and Scotland…

Heather’s punched tiny landscape – Ontario style…

Helen had three lovely linen covered boxes and asked if we could adapt this Lisa Ferguson punch needle pattern to fit her box lids – we did and she punched these and they are gorgeous!!!!!…

Helen is punching Karla Gerard’s Gertrude and Elizabeth but adapted it to be her twin daughters. She found a spot for it but it needed to be bigger so she is now adding this fabulous border – another adaptation…

Edie’s lovely Hug Mug Rugs…

Judy sent a picture of her sweet Frog and Fishes hooked for her grandson – one of my Alana Kapell patterns…

and Mary sent a picture of her progress on Joyful Sunflower…

GARDENING ALMOST DONE…

Forests have been denuded of rocks – every morning Gord checks his list of jobs to see if that 4 letter word appears and when it does he groans and holds his back! I think we have dug up and schlepped a ton of rocks out of the forest (thank goodness we live on Canadian Shield and rocks are in abundance) and used them in gardens or to create gardens or to set up boundaries where I am not ALLOWED to garden!!!. But we are almost done – almost done cleaning out the Riverstone and almost done making new gardens and planting – now just weeding and enjoying as the butterflies and bees and hummingbirds zip through them.

So now I have time to hook and punch and dye and draw patterns again. So my next sale will be all Karla Gerard patterns – 20% off; and any custom dyed wool for Karla Gerard patterns 10% off. Send me your address by email along with your request and I can let you know the total with shipping in Canadian or U.S funds (although our Canadian dollar has picked up there is still about a 20+% savings on exchange to U.S.).

So off to sit on the porch and maybe start hooking my latest pattern Pig in Posies. She will be a dirty girl!

NEW SHOW AND TELL…

Lots to share this week…

Chris sent pictures of 3 completed pieces – all lovely…

Wendy sent pix of her completed pieces…

Inch mat completed during a class with Susan Sutherland…

Pattern by Olde Tattered Flag (free in rughooking magazine…)

Fine shaded piece started many years ago and finished during Covid…

and a great way of using up leftovers (wool that is not real leftovers!)!!!…

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Jane finished her beautiful Lisa Ferguson Barn Owl in Flight…

Bev finished her very first punch needle piece, Snowshoe Hare by Lisa Ferguson…

Wendy finished her beautiful rug for granddaughter Moira…

and is now working on a piece to cover this amazing footstool – I have footstool envy…

Debra finished her Floral Sheep – as I said to her – soooo different from my original dirty old colours but lovely and cheerful…

My little contribution – Cozy Fox (pattern by Northwest Folk Design ) in her new home with Mary Beth…

Sheila sent me this picture of her latest gorgeous rug…inspired by Amy Genser’s quilled art and adapted with her permission. If you have not heard of paper quilling, Amy’s work is a giant step UP from traditional quilling and Sheila’s rug definitely does Amy’s artwork justice…

SHOW AND TELL…

Well the 5 tons of Riverstone are still being moved – slowly but surely I am working my way around the property. I must say, one of the things about digging riverstone out of the dirt, cleaning under them and replacing has made my fear of worms a thing of the past. I can now actually flip a stone and wow if there is a big wiggly worm underneath it, pick it up without becoming physically sick and toss him/her into the garden! Still have a horror of ants though so when I pick up a big rock that has a nest of ants under it, stomach starts to lurch and the rock gets dropped!!!! reallllllll fast. It amazes me sometimes, that I have such a fear of such tiny things – I can pick up a snake or a mouse no problem but ants – ugggggghhhhhhh.

I am working on a lovely little fox mat for Mary Beth. Having fun but only about half finished so no picture yet. But here are a few pictures of some lovely pieces finished by others…

Debra finished her flying horse – one of my patterns – in a totally different colour plan to mine and it is lovely…

JoAnne finished her Winter Town (one of my Karla Gerard patterns) – have always loved this pattern and JoAnne did a wonderful job…

And Jane finished her Winter Skate (one of my Shelly Atkinson patterns) – adding in some lovely yarns and texture…

Arlene finished her Lisa Ferguson Barn owl – many yarns mixed in with wool strips…

Rochelle finished punching Humpty Dumpty – one of my Lisa Ferguson patterns…

Sandi sent me a picture of a vintage rug she bought and restored…

I just completed restoring this late 1800 Quebec hooked rug. I bought it for $30. It took me well over 2 weeks to complete the restoration. There was so much needle work. The size is 28″ x 19″.  I had to make a 3″ wide binding in order to cover the badly frayed burlap sides. A lot of the loops were missing. I also repaired missing and frayed loops on the picture. It is very faded on the top side. I put a piece of wool on the entire back plus attached upholstery webbing to accommodate dowling on the top and bottom for straight hanging. The backing wool is hand tacked to the rug for stability.

Julie’s lovely mosaic from a class with Sue Perry…

And last but not least, Patsy finished hooking her Joyous Sunflower. So for those of you who bought the pattern/wool here is Patsy’s version…

Original Painting… and below it the hooked version…

SHOW AND TELL…

Alyson sent me pictures of her pieces – hooked rug (pattern from Marjorie Swift) and punch needle (her own design) blue bells…

A wonderful mosaic by Diana “Turtle Mosaic” based on pattern from Ingrid Hieronimus of Ragg Tyme Studio…

Lovely version of Spring 1811 – one of my Joni Black designs – hooked by Colette…

Denise got a kit of mixed fibres from Deanne Fitzpatrick and used them in the textured border of her rug and as the flowers…

Arlene’s lovely paisley rug (free pattern in RHM)…

A few of Michelle’s lovely finished pillows…

and framed pieces (Hudson’s Bay Canada Goos is one of my Lisa Ferguson patterns)…

In between working in the gardens and dyeing wool for Joyful Sunflower I have been working on a new Pig in Posies pattern. This was initially drawn up for Kelly who owns an 1830’s stone house and has horses and cattle and is hoping to be able to raise Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs and wanted a primitive rug with a G-Pig design. I had such fun drawing it up that I think I may have to hook it myself!!! and add the pattern to my list of designs…

OH MY ACHING BACK…

Did myself in today – my little obsessive brain decided allllll the riverstones around our pathways and gardens which were(well most still are) full of pine needles accumulated over many years of neglect needed to be moved, cleaned under and then repositioned artistically. So, in my billy boots and long sleeves (don’t want to tempt any possible ticks to climb aboard) I donned my goggles (first few days most of the crud flew into my eyes and almost blinded me) and babushka (scarf tied around head a la 1940’s washer woman to prevent all the crud from also landing in my hair) I have been out raking out stones and cleaning and putting back hmmm what has felt like tons of stones. I usually limit this ridiculous work to about 2 hours but today I had a goal to finish around the pond and time flew!!!! (not because this is fun work!!!) and 4.5 hours later I could barely move. Popping pills, applying Biofreeze and sleeping has not helped. My muscles and spine are screaming at me! NO MORE so thank goodness it is raining (hopefully) for the next few days anddddd I have my wonderful class with Len on yarn painting for the next 2 days. Because sadly, I am only about 1/3rd the way through allllll the stones! and once the work started I could not leave it half done so back better get better!!!!

I do have some lovely pieces to share from people who are smart enough to NOT ATTEMPT to move the mountain!

I punched this little spring flower and attached it to an antique butter paddle – it is on its way to Europe to my cousin who will want to learn how to punch!!!… might be an expensive proposition because she will have to come here so I can teach her how…

Cathy punched this lovely piece from Olde Tattered Flag but changed out the colours…

Sandra finished hooking her Lion from Primitive Spirit (Karen Kahle) – he is soooooo wonderfully primitive…

Shelagh punched my Twin Horses pattern but totally changed up the colours and I love her sweet version…

Paula’s gorgeous version of Ann Hallett’s Northern sign of Spring pattern available through me. I should mention all the Ann Hallett patterns are currently 20% off with 10% off the custom dyed wool – check out my rughooking patterns page…

Rochelle attached her Rocking Horse punch needle to a board… Now that all her pieces are finished off back to punching!!!…

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Saw on Facebook Pen’s beautiful version of one of my Karla Gerard patterns Seaside City…

And another punched piece I just finished – drew this one out a few years ago to attach to hmmm, something!!! and finally this week I decided to rip out what I had punched because I did not like the colours and to go totally different… It is called Blue Moon, Blue Punkin and will be available for miniature punch needle… Of course, in the meantime, I don’t remember what I had planned to attach it to!!! so will have to go through my collection of junk to find something that it fits on…

A NEW PATTERN…

I would like to share a new pattern by a new designer – Patricia Siwanowicz. Patsy has asked me to dye wool for a number of her designs over the years based on her paintings. I have shared many of them and they have been enjoyed by all. When Patsy asked me to dye the wool for her latest – Joyful Sunflower – I fell in love with the painting and asked if she would consider allowing me to add it to my collection of designs – so here it is!!!

To do it justice, we decided it needed to be a bit bigger, so the pattern itself is 28 x 19 and here are the wools I just dyed for it – add in some wonderful textured yarns and I think this would be a glorious piece with colour that would bring a smile to anyone’s face…

SHOW AND TELL…

A lovely fun piece for Easter hooked by Yvonne (pattern The Egg Hunt by Wild Cranberry Hooked Rugs)…

Barb finished her Folky Cat kit – just binding left to do…

and Rochelle sent pictures of some of her pieces mounted – I always love to see the different ways people mount their projects…

Len sent this picture “Oh what joy to work on Deborah Lyall’s “Rabbit”! And just in time for Easter too! This is punch needle with 2 ply yarn using a # 14 Oxford needle and the inside of ears is 3 ply with a size # 10.”

and one of his wonderful yarn painting pieces …”This next piece is yarn painting on 5 wooden panels! I love textile designs so this me having fun with them! My own design!”

Meredith finished her fat fish pattern drawn by Jane Steele…

and Margaret finished her River Otters rug…

and Susan’s version of River Otters – beaverized!… Suzanne asked if I could change the Otter to a Beaver and so we did!…

SHOW AND TELL …

I love to share rugs and punch needle pieces made by others – and I know people love to see them. Here are a few more for inspiration…

Another vintage version of the sugaring off sent by Meredith… “Here’s another version of the Sugaring Off hooking pattern. Notice two horses and three people. Also very old, backed with cardboard and the burlap held together in the back with strands of burlap. I have treasured it for several years since I bought it at a yard sale for a pitifully small amount of money.”

Dolores finished her second piece, Blooming Birches kit, by hanging it from an antique chair dowel…

Deborah finished Mr. Wiener – again such a different colour plan to my rug and wonderful!!!…

Linda’s lovely Flying Horse..

I hooked a small scrappy runner. During my life as a quilter I loved doing Log Cabin quilts – there is something so homey about the pattern and it translates so well into hooked rugs and a great way of using up bits and pieces. This one was made for a new friend Mary Beth…

Linda hooked this lovely little piece and attached it to a vintage purse handle…

Arlene finished her Lisa Ferguson Christmas Fox – lots of different lovely textural yarns used in this piece…

Louise finished her punch needle as an Easter egg shaped pillow for her Grandson – pattern from “Prim in the Country” Melissa Bowman…

And Karen finished her Maud cat – her very first hooked piece!!!…