OHHH MY SEWING MACHINE…

Is back – but is it actually mine? I am not sure I recognize it – it is no longer fluffy! covered in wool, linen and burlap dust and WD40. It looks NEW – I may have to actually call Margaret at the store to see if accidentally she gave me someone else’s machine as mine has not looked (or sewn) like this in hmmm 20 years! It is so quiet it just purrs as I zigzag linen edges – now how long it will stay like this is questionable!!!…

Yesterday Gord and I went junkin’ in the States with friends Sandi and her hubby Bill. Got NO JUNK – not tempted by one piece – wellllll maybe tempted but did not buy! There was a beautiful hanging cupboard at Colonial Housefitters – it may have been a repro but if so it was an amazing repro – but hmmmm where to hang a blue cupboard in my house of no blue! Yeah – the colour saved me money!

So a few last pix from the rug show…

AND MOREEEE PIX…

Even though my camera kept telling me that the batteries were too low to take pix I continued to snap anyway – would turn off the camera and turn it back on and snap away so here are a few more…

Yesterday I dyed up some of that beautiful blue that I used in the sky of my Red Bird adaptation. Here is the formula:

8/16 of Cushings Turquoise Blue

1/16 of Cushings Silver Grey

1/16 of Magic Carpet Blue

I did this formula over 11 eighths of wool – natural, oatmeal and textures…

AND A FEW MORE…

Ahhhhhh my head is thumping! Roofers were here  yesterday – that’s right. Our 8 year old roof needed to be redone TWO YEARS AGO. So much for 35 year lifespan! Ours had 6! Actually, we tried to be green when we built the house – put in radiant floor heating and ICF foundation so that we would reduce energy bills and put organic shingles on our roof so that eventually in landfill they would break down quickly – never clicked that when a shingle decomposes in a landfill that means it can ALSO DECOMPOSE ON YOUR ROOF! So after a 2 year battle with the company that made the shingles and joining a class action suit we finally have the porch roofs redone. So a lot of thumping of bundles of shingles and banging of nailers went on yesterday… So today all is quiet again and I am enjoying my coffee and looking at the photos of the rugshow.

Here are a few more pix from the show…

THE RUGSHOW…

was wonderful! Lots of amazing rugs to inspire and motivate us to keep hooking and trying new things. Lots of great vendors to keep us in supplies! and LOTS OF PEOPLE! It boggles my mind when I meet people who have never seen a real hooked rug when there are sooooo many hookers out there! Sunday was wild – busy busy busy because that was the day the show and vendors were open to the public. There were a lot of people who had never picked up a hook in their lives who came to the show on Sunday – even met a woman who was from England and on a bus trip who got to come to the show for a few hours! NOW THAT’S WHAT I WOULD CALL WIDERANGE GOOD ADVERTISING! 🙂

Thanks to all the ladies who worked on organizing this show and coordinating and volunteering – you made it a great success!!! (oh and the funky centerpieces made out of recycled materials provided by so many people across Ontario were a hit apparently! – yeahhhhhh).

So Saturday I was at my nieces wedding which was wonderful. Good friends handled my booth while I was away but Sunday I got to be there to see old and new friends and also to see the rugs. I really do need a new camera – did I mention about the really bad rechargeable batteries that hold a charge for about 3 pictures! or the chip that broke into 2 pieces as I was removing it from the computer. Despite all of that I did rush through the show (and I mean rush!) and managed to take a few pix (yes yes I should have used I-Gords I-Pad but do you think I could pry it out of his I-Hands?). Here are a few of the pix – the rest I will share over the next few days…

I apologise for not knowing who the rughookers or designers of all the rugs were…

FLUTTERS…AND FINISHED COMMISSIONS…

well almost! Flutters because one mom is not in great shape again, setting up for the annual today and then driving 4 hours to visit my other mom and go to a wedding tomorrow, driving back 4 hours tomorrow night and going to the annual Sunday morning. All when I know Gord is probably wishing he could be with his mom. Ahhhh life!

So work therapy again – I finished the second celtic pillow – celtic eagle this time. Just needs some tweaking in a few places, cleaning up and then needs to be made into a pillow. But my trusty Pfaff broke down and is on its way to my wonderful quilt store in Kingston – Stitch by Stitch – where it will be cleaned of all its many year accumulation of wool and linen and burlap fluff (and oh don’t tell – WD40 instead of sewing machine oil) and have its little pressure foot repaired. I had fun doing these pieces – never let it be said the celtic cannot be done in a wide cut :-).

In addition, I was asked to hook 6 “placemats” based on theorems. Hmmmmm, can it be done in a wide cut without fine shading (cause we all KNOW it is not going to happen in a 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 or 8!). And YES it can – if it is kept simple and primitive!

So I knew it would happen one day – Gord would leave me. And yesterday he did – not for another woman! NOOOO – our local kids camp (Iawah – where we have our retreats 2 times a year) tempted him with – yup a man toy and food! He was asked to volunteer to cut the lawn with a lawn tractor – sit on! and drive fast – and with a homemade lunch afterwards! Real toy and real food! I have now become not only a golf widow but a tractor widow! Butttt that meant not one bit of cooking (toast does not qualify as cooking) and a lot of hooking!!! So hmmm once a week – sounds good to me!

ANNUAL THIS WEEKEND…

Just wanted to remind everyone that our Ontario Hooking Craft Guild Annual Rug show is being held this weekend at the Ambassador Hotel in Kingston, Ontario. This promises to be a wonderful event – hundreds of inspiring rugs on display, exciting schedule of classes with great teachers and YEAHHHHHH 20 Vendors!!!! So if you are anywhere near Kingston try not to miss this event – next year it will be much further away (Toronto!). Take advantage of this show to be inspired and to enhance your stash! I will be a vendor (although on Saturday my booth will be handled by a wonderful group of friends as I will be attending the wedding of my niece – hmmm I guess I should have asked her to change the date!!) and will have – wool (as is and dyed), patterns by Alana Kapell(who will be teaching), Karla Gerard, Briarwood Folkart, Woollen Memories, Sharon Smith, Margaret Shaw, Carol Feeney, Fully Wooly Primitives and a few of my own. I will have some beginner kits, some lovely big fat Hartman Hooks. But there will also be a lot of other wonderful vendors  with wools, yarns, patterns, dyes, books etc.

The other day I mentioned I had been dyeing right from the package Cushings colours – 4 in particular – Aqua Green, Turquoise Green, Jade Green and Mint Green (oh and a little Chartreuse). The greens are listed on the Color Card beside each other and looked so lovely together that I thought I had to dye them all. So here they are over many different base colours and textures – don’t they look wonderful(well I have to admit there are a few others in there that I pulled off the shelf because they looked so good together!).

WHERE HAVE I BEEN…

Ohhhhh the last few days we spent down in the states. We had planned a short trip to the ocean months ago and since both moms at the moment seem to be reasonably okay we decided to take advantage and go away. I have not been to the ocean in about 2 years and oh my God I had forgotten how rejuvenating it can be – how the sound of waves and smell of seaweed restores the soul! So where did we go and what did we do – wellllll of course there HAD to be some rughooking and antiquing involved! We left home and headed for Burlington Vermont where the first shop we hit was 5 Corners Antiques in Essex Junction. I had been there 2 years ago and loved the upstairs which is a collection of primitives, small antiques and funky art. And YEAH the little footstool I had seen there 2 years ago was still there and hmmmm reduced greatly in price!

Was that a sign – you betcha! snapped that piece up real fast but ohhhhh there were a ton of smalls I was drooling over. But I knew I had a trip to Dorr Mill the next day and I KNEW Terry would talk me into adding to my order (it’s like going to McDonalds – how about a large fry with that!!! – hey Loretta come into the back and see what I have thats new!!!). But I was a good girl – I got ONLY what I had ordered (heck that brought me up almost to my limit for 48 hours!). Of course I was tempted to join the group of ladies taking a BRAIDED EDGE class – apparently this is held every Wednesday and had I known we would have been there on time for me to join in – they were doing butted ends and they looked fabulous! From Dorr we headed to Portsmouth which is such a beautiful old city. It has (unlike so many cities) a very vital, fun city center full of wonderful little artsy shops and great restaurants. I found a shop I had been in 2 years ago that carried wonderful quilted pieces by Chris Roberts-Antieau. These are soooooo funky but just a tad more (well make that a big TAD) than I can afford now that we are retired! But ohhhhhh so much fun… And I had for dinner the best seafood chowder in the world (or so they say on the sign outside the door) at hmmm River side Restaurant. On the way to Portsmouth though we drove down highway 4 – did I KNOW this was called ANTIQUE ALLEY!!!!! nooooooooo…. And did we stop at any of the shops – noooooooo….  As Gord whipped by all the antique stores (they claim there are 20 stores – 500 dealers along this stretch) my heart was breaking…. But the following day made up for it – drove up the coast to York Harbour, York Beach, Ogunquit, Perkins Cove, Wells and Kennebunkport. We walked on the beaches, dug our toes into the sand, frozeeeee our feet as we dashed in and out of the water, walked the Marginal Way in Perkins Cove and gloried in the sound and smell of OCEAN.

And of course on the way back to Portsmouth we stopped at hmmm Antique Store! (only one although there are a LOT in Wells). But I think we found the best one – again a nice mix of antique, retro, vintage and new shabby chic and ohhhhh some amazing folk art. So although I did not buy any antiques I found a wonderful folky sheep by an amazing artist. Her work was sewn painted muslin animals that were so funky. Name – hmmmm unknown! not marked on my sheep! Darn…

The next day we headed back to Burlington via – you guessed it – ANTIQUE ALLEY. I think by then Gord was thinking (but would not say it out loud) not another bloody antique store!!!! Saw lots of wonderful pieces – more firkins and little benches than I have ever seen – but hmmm by then over our limit for the weekend and still one final store to hit in Burlington (well and a few more on the drive home :-)))

While I was gone I did finish hooking Celtic Fish which will be made into a pillow for the now owner of the Celtic Ducks rug.

Today I am working on the Celtic Eagle and at the same time dyeing some wonderful teals, greens, blues, aqua’s – inspired by all the wonderful art I saw in the shops along the ocean.These colours are as is Cushings colours – jade, aqua, turquoise, mint(with a touch of yellow) over a varied selection of wools…and mixed in with some chartreuse for a little zing!

HOOKIN …

Saturday was the my first hookin of the summer and ohhhh the inspiration… and ohhhhhh the goodies! Ahhhh hooking and eating – 2 of the best things in life especially if you share them with amazingly creative friends. That and the garage sale in the driveway (Wendy decided to clean out Vince’s garage – of course the guys went off junkin so that almost negated the selling off of excess!). So pix of course of the wonderful rugs etc. that people were working on…

Elizabeth’s Karla Gerard Red Bird rug – love that eye!…

Linda with her Karen Kahle inspired bag…

Linda’s button tree…

Cathy’s Holly Hill goat rug…

Cathy finished her Sharon Smith Bunny rug…

Wendy’s lost and found punch needle (lost in the aisles of Walmart and discovered in the garbage in the lost and found!)…

Wendy’s Sugaring Off rug – many recycled wools in this give it a wonderfully aged look…

Wendy’s beautiful sunflowers… 

Lydia’s Notforgotten Farm rug…

Donna’s rug for her graduating son…

Sue with her first hooked piece…

Shauna’s 3 Wise Men in all its glorious colour!…

Linda’s Sharon Smith rug…(getting those houses wonky is tough!)…

Alana fondling her stash…

Alana’s next project…

Alana with her current finished project (no doubt hooked in about 2 hours!) – a lot of recycled fabrics in this piece…

Peri with her Pine Islands Primitives eagle…

Marilyn and her deer…

Linda (the other Linda) as usual had something totally amazing going on – felted rocks apparently hooked with roving and then needle felted onto the backing…. 

ANDREA’S AUDUBON RUG…

On Monday Andrea came to visit. She had just finished a Sharon Smith pattern – Audubon – totally done in yarns and sari silks. It is lovely. So interesting to see how different rugs can look when you hook them in alternative fibers. When I was in England 2 years ago the rughookers I met were using no wool at all – they were hooking with all recycled “stuff” and wow some of the rugs were amazing. Very colourful and fun. Good to expand our horizons on a regular basis and see what can happen. Here is Andrea’s piece (Sharon I hope you see this). This will become a beautiful big pillow with the perfect wool fabric for the sashing…

Yesterday as I was packing up for my morning at Stitch by Stitch I had suitcases of wool sitting on the front porch. One of the suitcases was stuffed so full that a few pieces of wool were escaping and I had to bungy cord the suitcase closed – leaving a bit of wool sticking out of the top. WELLLLL, didn’t a sweet little chickadee land on the suitcase and start picking at the wool – looking for nice warm colourful nesting material no doubt. Of course I HAD to help him(probably a her!) out – left a pile of snippets and threads out on the table for easy pickings.

Just a quick note for anyone who will be at the Quilt show in Ottawa this weekend – I will not be attending. With everything that has been going on I did not want to commit to a 3 day show not knowing if I might have to leave unexpectedly to take care of moms. I hate cancelling out of shows but… So instead – hookin here! on Saturday. Should be a lovely day – not too warm hopefully. And hopefully those hummingbird sized blackflies with the huge fangs will be gone by then – well probably not but we will be indoors!

RED BIRD IS DONE…

Well weather was toooooo nice this weekend! I would not have minded some rain – am I crazy you are wondering. NO. First of all we neeeeed rain! I am nervous that we are going to have another one of those hot dry summers like last year – I panicked a bit and stopped taking showers (well not really – but a good swim in the lake every day did replace a few). I was worried our well would run dry and hmmm sinking a new well is a costly proposition. So dishwater was used to water pots (well as long as there were no little floaty things in the water) and showers got cut reallllly short! So yes this year I would not mind a bit more rain. Our road is gravel and holy cow the dust is dense as you drive in and out – our black car is grey! But second reason for wishing it had rained is that I was part of a studio tour and when weather is tooooo nice people have other things to do – gardening, raking, kayaking, getting the boat in! So the show was a bit quieter than we had hoped but still fun. Met some former hookers, some existing hookers and hmmmmm some prospective hookers! So I had a fun weekend and  I ACTUALLY FINISHED A RUG! The Red Bird pattern of Karla Gerard that I adapted. So my red bird is actually a red-winged black bird (my harbinger of spring!). I added some hills and deleted some leaves and had such fun hooking this bright little rug. Now unfortunately back to reality and gardens – Gord cleaned up but he does not know the difference between a weed and a flower so I have to go out and decide.

On Wednesday I will be at Stitch by Stitch from 10 – 12 – hope you can visit if you are in the Kingston area…