Helen finished her lovely Poppies – Original miniature punch needle done in 100% hand dyed merino and alpaca yarns…
and just mounted her Fraktur to a lovely vintage box…
Wendy finished hooking her stunning version of Lisa Ferguson’s Winter Fox which her crafty husband Vince then framed for her…
Diane finished Oxford punching her fun December monthly rug … now on to January’s…
I finished punching Shiver 2 for Liz in slightly different colours from the original – such fun doing it a second time and seeing how different it can look…
and this fun pattern by Not Forgotten Farm which I think I am going to mount to a vintage grungy tin flour sifter – years ago my friend Donna gave me some booklets of patterns by Lori Brechlin – finally getting around to punching and hooking some of them…
and an adaptation of one of my NFF patterns…this time hooked…
and this tiny piece (only 1.5 inches wide) which I mounted to a rusty but lovely back saw (I think that is what Gord said it was). Get it – saw – tree in bucket? Looks rather like my Charlie Brown Christmas tree…
Gail hooked this lovely sunburst rug which is 36 inches wide and has decided that it needs to find a new home. Gail can be reached at the email address below and is in the Kingston Ontario area. She is asking 250.00 Canadian (shipping to be paid by purchaser). Please contact her directly if you are interested in this bright cheerful rug…
Finally, the huge rug that has been languishing in my basement for about a year is done! A friend brought this to me with the center done and a bit of the border. It took a long time – I have no idea how people hook room size rugs. I became a master contortionist – part on a card table in front of me, part on the couch beside me and part on the frame in my lap. Thank goodness it is primitive!!!! but I am happy with the way it turned out – and even happier that it is done!!!! and the owner can whip the edges herself!! cause I AM NOT WHIPPING THAT RUG. 🙂 .
Also finished another outdoor project – decided one side of the end of the driveway looked sooooo good – you should see the grass – despite the lack of rain I guess the nights were so cool after we put down seed 2 weeks ago that there was enough dew to make seed grow – it is about 5 inches high and in the rain the other day got knocked down so that it looks like a really bad combover BUT IS STILL GREEEEEN – that we decided to do the other side of the entrance. So cleaned it up, had the excavator in to dig out the drainage ditch (which in spring is a lovely froggy pond), build a retaining wall with free boulders from the granite ridge in the woods, levelled everything out and put down the sand fill. The rest will be done next year – yup, already planning the spring jobs 🙂 !
and now a bit of show and tell…
Diane finished Oxford punching her October mat – that turkey cannot decide – big acorn or BIGGER!!!! acorn…
Denise finished this sweet mixed media bird mat done during an online class with Jackie Alcock…
and an amazing rug and story from Elizabeth “a family rug that tells the story of my daughter’s family and our collective experiences in Ontario, Alberta , Australia and my British roots. It was a challenge getting everyone’s interests and experiences into a cohesive design, but I am quite pleased with the results. It graces my front foyer and is intended to be well used. A “welcome mat” that announces the love and cherished moments of GranE.
and two small pieces I finished – one hooked santa for a class on finishing – this one will have a braided edge and one mini punch needle mounted in a lovely cherry frame. Once again I struggled with sizing – drew it out exactly the size it needed to be to fit just inside the edge of the frame but by the time it was done it was a bit wonky so I added in a bit down half of one side and along the bottom just under the snowman. Then pressed and THANK GOODNESS I did not cut it as the steaming from the back shrank it and now I was missing 2 rows along the top!!! So back on the frame it went and punched in those two missing rows and PERFECT FIT!
Now on to a commissioned punch needle of Shiver (my penguin).
I have been busy having fun and dyeing up new wool thread colours (in between dyeing wool for rughooking). Here are a few new colours available in fingering yarn good for your medium tip Ultrapunch…
First, a kit I put together for a customer for miniature punch needle – Karla Gerard Tree in Pot with all the hand dyed wool threads for Ultrapunch medium tip – email me if you are interested in this kit…
and I just finished punching my Loon (took one of my rughooking patterns and downsized it into a miniature punch needle piece) – in homage to our one and only loon baby on the lake this year – Moonbeam…Â (although I think this may be Moonbeam’s mom as Moonbeam is much lighter and more brown) Plan is to mount him on a piece of vintage barnwood…Moonbeam is available as a pattern or kit with my hand dyed yarns for Ultrapunch medium tip – email me…
and now for some fabulous pieces by Andrea and Edie who came for a visit the other day…
Diane made this vintage cheese box into a wall shelf by adding a piece of wood in the middle and a lovely Oxford punched piece above it…
and she just started her turkey rug for the month of October…
Lynn’s version of my Twin Horses rughooking pattern – beautifully hooked …
Karen’s lovely thistle rug …
Laura finished hooking my Lion pattern – so wonderfully primitive…
and has been busy felting beautiful mittens…
Friends, Bill and Diane, spent the weekend here – they helped us finish off the landscaping at the end of the driveway (nothing like inviting people for the weekend and making them work! 🙂 ) – this used to be nothing but weeds and moss so we had it cleared out and boulders placed and added mulch and a few hopefully deer proof plants and seed – and now if it would only rain!!! so our seed would germinate as the end of the driveway is half a km from the house and water source!!!!
and then we had a blast punching and hooking and making the boys play in the garage – here is what they worked on this weekend – converting old window frames into shelves…
I still have to wax my frame (and find a spot for it). Had thought about painting it as it was pretty chippy peely but you know I love that old, grungy look so I am just going to wax it…
and Diane chalk painted and antiqued hers…
She also started and finished another rug to hang under her living room shelf – just in time to hang it NOW… and we planned out the October mat and thought about all the other missing months!!!…
added a new hooker to the bunch…
I finished hooking a mat that friend Linda had started but despaired of ever finishing so I took on the job – now that this one is behind me and weather is chilly I will finish the huge rug that has been languishing in the tv room (too heavy to carry around during the summer)…
I punched this small piece which is mounted on a vintage gun powder can – plan is to make a white wool flower to pop into the top…
and mounted this one to a vintage oil can (pattern by Wild Cranberry Rughooking)…
and punched this one which will probably be attached to another box – this is a scaled down version of my hooked Primitive Chickens rug pattern and is now available as a punch needle (miniature) pattern or kit (hand dyed fingering yarns that fit your Ultrapunch medium tip)…
and finally got around to painting, distressing and antiquing the wall box that this little punch needle is now attached to (pattern by Margaret Shaw)…
Diane finished punching this fun new piece to hang underneath her shelf. When we designed it we remembered back to our childhood when our mittens were always attached to a cord that ran through our coats and down our sleeves so that we could NOT lose a mitten – hence the cord falling off the rug (this pattern is available). Diane has decided (with a little encouragement 🙂 from me) to hook a rug for every month of the year – 4 down 8 to go! but what fun… next one is pumpkins and gourds and fall leaves for October…
Chris finished triple whipping this lovely rug – pattern available from Isabelle Rollin…
Finally got around to attaching my Tom Thomson to the beautiful box with drawer…
and just finished a LISA FERGUSON punch needle pattern and attached it to a vintage tin file box… I think my rabbit has been rooting for carrots for a while as his nose is a little dirty – kind of like our little chipmunk who comes for peanuts every morning – his name switches from Alvin to Schmutznase(dirty nose) depending on whether he has been “planting” or not…
Today Helen decided that she loves punching but needs to find a new home for some of her finished pieces in order to justify punching MORE. So these stunning, original pieces all hand punched with either Valdani hand dyed cotton threads or hand dyed Merino yarns – are all for sale – please email her at radfordh920@gmail.com if you are interested. Prices are in Canadian dollars and shipping (extra charge) would be from Montreal within North America.
Summer Rudbeckia – 6.25 x 7 inches – $90.00 Cdn.
Spring Tulips – 6.25 x 7.75 inches – $90.00 Cdn.
Blue Hydrangeas – 7.25 x 8.75 – $110.00 Cdn.
Sunflowers – 6.5 x 7.5 inches – $90.00 Cdn.
Winter Squirrel – 8.75 x 8.5 inches – $150.00 Cdn.
After finishing The Canoe I needed a mental break – something that would not be quite as challenging! So I resized one of my rughooking kits into a mini punch needle kit and finished it in two days. I dyed colours similar to the colours in my rughooking kit including one of my favourite primitive backgrounds, Dirty Tan (we know how much I love dirty colours!). This piece is in the process of being attached to a vintage original-red wooden cigar box with a fabric hinged lid (finished piece is for sale on my Items for Sale page) – so it becomes functional and decorative at the same time and allows me to upcycle a lovely old piece of hmm, junk!!!!
So I have listed the mini punch needle pattern and kit on my Mini Punch needle page and am adding Dirty Tan to my hand dyed threads for mini punch needle list.
This was the original hooked rug kit…
and the mini punched piece on the vintage box (not attached but in process)… oooops just realised I forgot to flip him!!!! oh well – they are roosters who cannot figure out where they are heading!….
I have also listed The Canoe as a pattern/kit for mini punch needle (kitted with hand dyed fingering yarns suitable for ultrapunch medium tip).
IS DONE. And I did not even have to take out the chain saw – just got in there and cleaned away some of the broken branches 🙂 . I cannot say it was a fun or easy piece to punch – it required so much concentration and such an array of threads that I had to organize and spread out on an Ikea tray so that once I had punched a few loops in one colour I could switch to the next value or colour and on and on. But I am happy with it (and even happier that it is done) and now need to figure out if I am going to mount it to a wonderful antique box or frame it. I like functional art so the box is really tempting… that way I can store some fun treasures inside the box and enjoy my Tom at the same time…
And now for some tales from the forest – or tails!!! We have been having a wonderful summer – yes hot and humid some days but living on the lake makes that bearable. On those miserable days we work hard on outdoor projects (which Gord is getting rather fed up with as every morning there is a new project added to his list!) and then rush down to the boat and out in the lake for a swim. We discovered a wonderful spot that noone else seems to know about – fern covered cliffs falling into really deep water so I can swim along the shoreline to my hearts content. Have spent a few wonderful days there with our company(ies). Anyway, I digress. One day as we were sitting on the dock momma mink and I think a more grown up baby (mom was black, the other was brown) came loping along the shoreline. Gord starts making this squeaky noise with his mouth and fingers and up pops momma in a frenzy looking around, trying to find the source of the squeaks which sounded very much like a baby mink. Gord continued to squeak and all of a sudden plunk – mom dives into the water and starts swimming towards the dock! Yikes – nothing like a frenzied mother mink who thinks her baby is in danger. I jump up and yell – Gord – she’s coming for us!!!! and run up the stairs leaving Gord on the dock to face the mom on his own. Well, once the squeaking stopped mom was no longer interested and headed back to her companion and on their way they went.
Another day, Diane and I were sitting on the porch punching away when I heard bang, bang, pause, bang, bang, bang. Thinking something was wrong with the boat, I headed to the top of the stairs – boat was fine but I heard Bang, bang again and looked down the stairs to the dock and holy cow – a turtle was banging her way down the stairs. She would reach a landing and the banging would stop and then back down the stairs – bang, bang. Welllllll, we have about 25 steps to the lake and all that banging could not be good for her body or brain so I yelled at her to STOP and ran down the stairs, picked her up and carried her to the water and let her go. Not sure how happy she was as she piddled on me – was that in gratitude – she has been up from the lake at least 6 times this summer digging holes in our driveway and living in our pond. Hopefully, she has not banged her way down the stairs every time she returned to the lake.
So the animals have been entertaining us again this summer. I am sure there will be more close encounters that will provide us with a chuckle.
Hooked On The Lake 