FIBREFEST… and more… much more…

THIS YEARS FIBREFEST WAS THE BEST IT HAS EVER BEEN. A lot of new vendors with lovely work or great supplies for sale. It was busy, busy on Saturday and hmmmm dare I say a TAD warm. But despite the heat people came in droves to see and buy from the various vendors.

Coming up are a few more fall shows that hopefully some of you will be able to come to:

CGNA show in Kingston coming up October 1 …

The Cataraqui Guild of Needle Arts
Presents
2016 Needle Arts Fair
Saturday October 1st, 2016 10:00am – 3:00pm
Kingston Seniors Centre
56 Francis St. Kingston, ON
Admission: $5 Lunch available
Merchants’ Mall with more than 20 vendors from Ontario and Quebec
Exhibitions: Guild members’ work with featured artist Linda Burke
Purses and Bags from the collection of the Embroidery Association of Canada
Special display of felted sculptures by Gesina Laird-Buchanan
Demonstrations Silent Auction Door Prizes
For more information please contact Theresa at needleartsfair@gmail.co

 

and Fleece Festival in Woodstock, October 15 …

and if you have not yet had an opportunity to see The Barn Raising Project here are just a few pix to tempt you to take a little trip to the Brockville Museum to see this wonderful display of rugs commemorating a part of our heritage that is fast disappearing from our landscape. Check http://www.brockvillemuseum.com for more info – the show runs from September 19 to October 16 and should not be missed…

Preserving the Memory by Cheryl Hempseed…

The Holman Barn by Val Galvin…

Our Farm by Grace Tanfara…

The Madill’s Farm by Donna Ireland

Coming Home by Cheryl Bridger…

Man Maketh, Nature Taketh by Karen Kaiser

There is a wonderful book with photos of each of the 40 rugs along with the story behind each that is available for purchase at the museum as a wonderful reminder of this lovely exhibit.

and now for a picture of Fish Bones – hooked by Beth …

And lastly, unfortunately due to insufficient signups my class at the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum in Almonte that was scheduled for October 5 is being postponed to a later date.  If you were interested in this class please contact me for more details…

 

 

FIBREFEST WEEKEND…

Yes – it is here. Saturday from 10 – 5 and Sunday from 10 – 4 at the arena and Mississippi Valley Textile Museum in Almonte.  Apparently there will be about 100 vendors!!!! That is the most we have ever had I believe.  So hope you can make it to this great show!

In the meantime, I discovered a rug for my little maple syrup strainer that I bought months ago at the junk man. I was going to do a sugaring off scene in punch needle and then hmmmmmm didn’t I pick up a wonderful little mat hooked in tiny strips of nylon that I bought at our guild auction a few years ago and OH MY if fits PERFECTLY!  Don’t you love it when that happens! It was MADE for the strainer! So now I don’t have to punch a piece after all and I have found the perfect home for my sweet little hooked mat. 

Ruby sent me a picture of her wonderful wide cut primitive piece done in Laura Bozormeny’s class this summer:

and Sharman sent me a picture of her first punch needle piece (I think she may be hooked – or is that punched?):

 

 

 

CUTTER FOR SALE…

Louise has a cutter for sale – a Fraser 500 with a number 3 and 4 cutter head. I have tried the cutter with the number 4 blade and it works just fine but like all used cutters it probably could do with a cleaning. So as is the cutter is 125.00 firm – if you are interested please let me know and I will put you in touch with Louise. I could bring the cutter to Fibrefest next weekend (wow is it that close already!). Off to Lake Huron and some fun on the beach – will take my woolies with me (to wear! not hook!)… Hope you all have a wonderful long weekend…

 

RUGS BY OTHERS…

Spent a wonderful day hooking with friends on Tuesday. I played with hand torn strips and so love it – amazing how quickly a piece can hook up… This is a pattern I bought from Betsy Reed – Foxette. I got allllll of this done in about hmmm 3 1/2 hours! with a big fat hook! and strips torn about 3/8 to half an inch wide. What fun this was – now to decide – do I finish her off as a little shaped pillow or do I hook a fun background around her and make her more square (which would definitely be easier to finish and lots of fun! There was a wonderful article in the most recent ATHA magazine by Betsy on how to do a patchwork backing on a pillow and I may play with this…

A few pix of rugs sent to me…

Susan who is sooooo prolific sent me these pix of a few finished pieces…

A Briarwood Folkart Pattern I carry…

and Denise sent me a picture of her beautiful rug (a Rittermere pattern)…

and Jennifer’s wonderful Value village find – transformed with a bit of paint and a lovely rug…

As a side note – I have more critters! Tons of little baby frogs – well not babies of course as they have morphed – but I looked in my pond the other day and on almost every leaf of the lily pads there was a lovely little green and yellow frog – all the same size so probably all from the same batch of eggs. Dozens and dozens – which makes me happy as for the last few years we have had very few frogs. Not sure what happened to change things this year but A  HOPPY Pond is a HEALTHY Pond …🙂 (looked up these frogs and oh my I think they may be bull frogs! I did see bull frog pollywogs in the pond a few months ago – had not seen one of those in YEARS)…

 

PLAYING…

Yesterday Linda, Elizabeth and Sandi came for a play day! Elizabeth taught us how to hook little art mats around objects we gathered in the woods, on the beach etc. What fun this was – we glued objects onto our linen(of course I glued my fingers and not my objects – glue guns and I do not have a friendly relationship) and then hooked a little landscape around them. We used acorns, pinecones, lichen, stones etc. Once the pieces are finished they can be framed in a shadow box or applied to an antique or vintage object or just hung up as is. I took a few pix to share of everyone hard at work…

Linda got right into the fun – she had bags and bags and baskets of wonderful stuff…

See that lovely piece of lichen…

Our teacher, Elizabeth…

and her lovely piece in progress…Hmmmmm could it be my little acorn caps are lost – yes! will replace them with full acorns… This is supposed to replicate our shore line – stormy water, driftwood, stones covered with lichen and some dead birches on the hill…

Sandi was making sunflowers…

Elizabeth also finished hooking Mr. Squirrel – ahhhhhhh love all those fall colours – can it truly be almost fall already…

I will be doing a beginner class at the Textile Museum in Almonte on October 5. If you are interested or know of any wannabe rughookers (we will be working with wide cut kits) please let me know.

TWIST WAS AMAZING…

Crowds were crazy on Saturday (thankfully a little less so on Sunday) but of course there were sooooo many wonderful vendors that people came from far and wide. I think I saw some ladies who came three days in a row to take various workshops! and to buy fibre…

So Gord and his trusty iPhone took a few pix to share … well actually he took a lot more but hmmm I edited🙂 …

On Friday I taught a primitive beginner class.  The class was located on a farm outside of St. Andre Avelin – during the day these little guys walked around and I was happy to see them eating plants as we all know what voracious appetites goats have and how omnivorous they are!  A little wool and linen or a rug might have been a tasty little treat!… So a rustic setting for a primitive class – how apropos!

Another little visitor who seemed to be very interested in what was going on…

Yup – class was outside in the barn! What a hoot – these are my students – all of them did an amazing job…

Ahhhhhh the fibre… Gord tried to get signage into the photographs so that you would know who the vendor was…

Of course, there were MANY MANY more vendors… and yes I did manage to spend a few dollars on goodies…

Jenny brought along her little sheep rug done in yarns and silks and recycled fabrics…

TWIST … here we come…

Off to TWIST this afternoon. Tomorrow I am teaching a beginner primitive class and then Saturday and Sunday is the show. This is always a wonderful event with lots of great fibre vendors (so I can spend more money🙂 ) and beautiful finished pieces for sale by various fibre artists. Should be a fun weekend.

In the meantime, however, Helen and I worked on finishing the edge of her Angel rug. We had 4 long strips of wool in different colours picked out from the rug and the original intention was to do an appliqué edge with one colour on each of the 4 sides. However, as we were pondering over how to best do this, all of a sudden inspiration hit – why not cut up the 4 colours into 3 1/2 inch rectangles, piece them together into a longgggggg colourful strip and show bind the rug with that – and so we did! What fun – here is the finished product. This rug was originally started a few years ago and was meant for Helen’s twin girls when they were still tiny but since they are now in their mid 20’s it may end up becoming a grandchild’s rug – NOT THAT THERE ARE ANY IN THE IMMEDIATE FUTURE but someday!!!!…