WESTPORT HOOKIN…

I would like to invite you to a new (and for me exciting) event to be held in June in Westport (Ontario that is!). Carol and I thought that since most guilds close down for the summer it might be nice to end the hooking year with a BIG hookin in our area. Hope you can come – please email Carol to RSVP as we do have limited seating. Bring along a piece for show and tell as we all love to be inspired…

Westport Hook-In June 24th, 2014

9:30- 3:00

Westport Lions Beach Club

63 Mountain Rd. Westport, Ont.

Hosted by Carol Shewan & Loretta Moore

Join us for a day of hooking, shopping and socializing.

We will have tea,coffee,snacks and door prizes.

Bring your lunch.

There will be tables and chairs inside but bring a lawn chair if you would like to hook by the lake or on the deck.

Cost $5.00

Vendors

Loretta Moore-Hooked on the Lake

Carol Shewan-Willow Creek Rug Supplies

Cathy Ivory- Baa Baa Bundles

Please RSVP to cshewan@kingston.net to reserve a spot.

*vendors accept cash or cheques

And now a few pix of what my friends have been working on…

This was an antique rug… That inspired this rug hooked by Anne… Anne also finished her fish rug (I believe this is a pattern by Christine Little) and it graces an antique dough box… and a wonderful quilt for granddaughter… Trish’s version of the Deanne Fitzpatrick Domestic Bliss pattern… Sheila’s Sunflower memorial rug for a dear friend… and Sandi’s Crows in an apple tree (made one evening last week with my sister Betty – crows carved by Donna)

WHAT A WEEK…

First a great class in hand torn half inch wide strips taught by Karen Kaiser; then a visit by three hookers from Montreal!!!, and then the Moira Matmakers hookin in Belleville this past Saturday. The photographer blew it! Took pix with digital zoom so I could get pix of rugs way across the room only to realize that this affects the quality so some photos I had to delete and many others are reallllly fuzzy. Or maybe that was just waves of heat from all the hot hookers! Here are some pix of show and tell:

 

 

WIIIDDDDDDDE CUTS…

Woke up yesterday to rain! and fog! and grey skies! but OHHHHHH the day ended up being inspiring, exciting and colourful. Our class with Karen Kaiser was such fun and we learned so much about working with extra wide (half inch and up) cuts and adding dimension to our pieces. So without further ado here are pix to add colour and inspiration to YOUR day…

So the first few pix are of Karen’s visual aides. I did try to stick a few of these under my jacket on the way out but darn – she noticed!… Unfortunately, although you can see the wide cuts you cannot see the depth in these rugs. Karen hooks many different heights into her wide cut rugs to add additional dimension and depth…

The walllllll of glorious wool – with Karen organizing before the hordes attacked…

Everyone getting ready… Elizabeth and the start to a huge adaptation of a Van Gogh… Alana working on one of her own patterns and using some wild fabrics – this was a cotton tablecloth!… Andrea surrounded by her Sari Silks and working on a Deanne Fitzpatrick rug which will go into an antique arched windowpane…

Linda working on an inch mat – which I believe changed into a hit and miss mat – which I believe changed… (Linda LOVES to rebook her rugs multiple times :-)) Cathy took the class last fall and came back to hook with us so NO she did not hook all of this yesterday although those wide cuts doooo hook up really quickly… Pat and her Inukshuk rug – background will be various fibres in bright colours…

Chris working on her Mola – the beautiful green was a mohair cardigan she felted and cut up… Hope working on a Hex sign…  Robyn’s rug is all done in POLAR FLEECE! it was amazingly soft… Betty and BAAAA…  Barb is working on a snowman and had knit and hooked the scarf into the linen – it was brilliant!… And my start on a sunflower. Obviously I cannot tell the size of a half inch wide strip – mine are somewhere between 3/4 and an inch wide! When Karen checked on my progress her comment was – I cannot wait to see the bright go in – whoops WHAT BRIGHT? That yellow is actually pretty toned down…Grayce working on her huge poppies…
Sandi’s Rabbit which will become a stuffed pillow hence no border!  So you can see what fun we had and these pix were taken about halfway through the class – by the end of class some people had done a huge amount on their rugs… If you get a chance to take this class with Karen jump at it!!! You won’t be disappointed…

WALNUTTING…

So I can imagine everyone scratching their heads – what can she possibly mean? Page back to September of last year when we were sooooo lucky to have Kathy Clark come from California to teach us how she makes her rugs look like they have been around for 100 years. One of the things we did was to age our wool with walnut stain. We “walnutted” the wool before we hooked it but also “walnutted” our rugs after they were hooked. Anne, one of our classmates, just sent me pix of her Briarwood Folkart pattern which she just finished hooking. The first picture is of the rug before it was stained with walnut juice; the second is after. You can see how the walnut stain tones down the brighter strips and ages them and as a result melds the colours. Anne sprayed her finished rug with water and let it sit for about 20 minutes. She then took a paintbrush and brushed the walnut stain over the rug redoing the areas that were in need of more. Then the rug was placed outside to dry.

Before:

After:

I have used a product called Distress It to achieve a similar effect but for an entire rug the walnutting works beautifully. Anne used scraps to hook this rug so you can see the much brighter light strips in the top rug and how in the bottom rug they are now toned down and do not jump out anymore!

 

GUILD AUCTION AN OVERWHELMING…

SUCCESS…  Thank you to everyone who attended our auction – our auctioneer, Elizabeth, and her handy helpers raised an amazing amount of money which has been earmarked for donations to 3 charitable organizations. We had wonderful donations for the auction – a Rigby Model D cutter in excellent condition with cutter heads that were like new, heads for Fraser cutters and Rigbys, hooking hoops, a ton of great hooking related and other magazines and books, boxes of dyes, dye spoons and pots, finished rugs by one of our former guild members, patterns and of course TONS of wool! new, recycled, pre cut… It all went! and we are all a little bit lighter (well SOME of us are a little bit heavier after the auction and went home with more than we brought!!!). It was a wonderful day so thanks again to everyone who donated, worked and bought!

On Tuesday I am taking part in a class we organized with Karen Kaiser hooking half inch wide strips. I am so excited – missed the class last fall but am definitely making it this year – well I have to – teacher is staying with me! 🙂 Yup that means I glean! on Monday evening!!!!

I thought before closing I would quickly mention a few classes I have coming up – Hawksbury May 3 beginner primitive hooking class and Perth May 25 beginner primitive hooking class. The dye class on April 30 is full but I do have one or 2 openings for the second one on May 7 – email me if you might be interested.

In closing, before I head off to hook HAPPY EASTER. May your weekend be blessed with good friends and family (and of course lots of chocolate!)… Hmmm does that mean I don’t have to suck up those dust bunnies – cannot vacuum up a dust bunny at Easter!

 

And I finished my rug – it is a door topper Four Seasons using primarily my scraps. Unfortunately, or is that fortunately, I have MANY scraps left – does that mean more scrappy rugs?

 

MORE RUGS BY OTHERS…

Got the following pix from…

Barb who did a HUGE version of Alana’s fish pattern…

Meryl who just finished hooking Karla Gerards’s 3 Owl pattern…

and Lisa who picked up wool late last week and finished hooking her sheep rug in a couple of days…(this is Lisa’s second rug! and includes a scarf and felted sweater- the orange)…

and this by Meg – an adaptation of a painting by her husband – and I believe her first real hooked piece!!!

SADLY, ANOTHER IAWAH WEEKEND GONE…

Stayed  up wayyyyy past my bedtime because I ate wayyyyy too much sugar and drank wayyyyyyy too much caffeine and was so over stimulated by all the hooking, felting, wire working, appliquéing going on around me that I am exhausted – but sooooo happy. We had a wonderful wonderful weekend at Camp Iawah. As summed up by Linda:

Iawah Spring Retreat 2014

It was grand, marvel-mouse, loads of fun
Laughter, food, a rubber mattress when day was done.

Rugs-in-progress, Show and Tell galore
Challenge pieces and so much more.

Creative hands felted bags both big and small
To hold worldly treasures, snippets and goodness knows what else all.

With wire and buttons a tree did make
Even wire fish bones, for goodness sake.

Ideas shared, classes, workshops were discussed, too
Plans for next year made, when friendships again we will renew.

All too quickly our retreat has come and gone
But in our hearts the memories shall linger on.

And now for pix of some of our endeavours…

Helen’s version of a Karla Gerard pattern all in soft, muted tones (a very Jane Hester colour plan)…

Wendy’s Crow and Sunflowers rug… A Foul Fowl challenge piece by Liz – love the rubber boots… Donna’s antique inspired rug (which was finished by the end of the weekend)… Donna’s Fowl challenge piece…

Betty’s version of the latest Deanne Fitzpatrich pattern of the month…Elizabeth’s Fowl quilt…

and her almost finished huge beautiful rug from Camp Wool…Karen’s wool applique (is that a toilet seat cover?)…(okay so you had to be there!)…
and her interchangeable pillow covers…  So ingenious as she can change them out by just buttoning on the new seasonal piece… Louise’s Fowl – those beady things are actually zippers!!!! The challenge was to name the rug – Unzipped? He’s come undone?… and her long scrappy geometric table runner – I’m thinkin’ that’s a longgggg table… Linda made a sewing kit out of a recycled tin…and this was the outside of the tin and was her Fowl challenge… and her rug for her grand daughter… and her simplify rug,.. and I believe (my memory of the weekend may be a bit skewed – must be all that sugar! and lack of sleep!!!) a luggage bag pull… Andrea’s hooked Deanne Fitzpatrick Owl… and her Domestic Bliss (another DF pattern) framed by  Wendy’s Vince!!! who claims he is good in the garage and in the kitchen… and we ALL agree…
Andrea’s foul challenge number 1…number 2…(you could say she is a little addicted!)…Wendy’s cute little Fowl challenge piece…
and her wool appliqué which will be framed in a wonderful Tramp Art frame… and her woolen strawberries (okay so do these girls every work?)… Yup another wool appliqué by Wendy… Laura modelling her felted scarf… Laura’s start on her primitive  horses… and her punch needle Fowl (this I believe came from a book by Margaret Shaw but I may be wrong – all that sugar)… Sandi’s fun Fowl challenge rug… (and it’s an egg not a pineapple!) Chris’s Santa – the red is beautiful… and her Karla Gerard Pumpkin patch rug… check the whipped edge as it changes colours to match the hooking… and her Pear runner… Helen’s angel – getting there! I think Helen may be enjoying those wider cuts too much…And typical camp attire!!!! (that would be anything with a loose stretchy waistband!!!)…

And so we anxiously await the next Iawah retreat weekend. But the hooking, stitching, carving, felting can begin as the Challenge has already been set for next spring’s retreat AS WELL AS the following year’s!

IAWAH HERE WE COME…

This weekend is Iawah retreat weekend – a weekend of hooking (well sometimes we get a bit done), inspiring, schmoozing, pinteresting, eating (maybe too much of this 🙂 ) in the company of likeminded hooking friends. ONE MORE SLEEP!… I HOPE to take many pix of wonderful rugs etc. to share with you next week.

In the meantime, though, here are a couple of rugs done by my dear friend Ruby who is just toooo prolific.

Ruby’s version of my Loon kit(cannot wait till the ice goes out on our lake and our loons are back)…and her version of the second Deanne Fitzpatrick pattern of the  month – with her usual fun adaptations!…

Next week I will be at Stitch by Stitch on Wednesday from 10 – 12 with new patterns and wool. Alana Kapell, designer of rughooking patterns, will be joining us for a bit of show and tell. Stitch by Stitch will be moving beginning of May to a new location (not far from the old one) so this will be our last meeting at the old location. Come May we will be at the new location at 550 Days Road at Golden Mile Road.

ALSO if you are in the area, our Rideau Valley Boots and Baskets guild has their auction next Thursday from 11 – 2. Join us – we welcome everyone – and bring your $$$ (well probably only $$ as we usually sell off for really good prices) and go home with some new additions to your hooking stash. We are located in Burrits Rapids at the community centre.

OOOOPS…

I missed one picture of 2 beautiful rugs – done by Pat and Pam…

Plus I would like to share a new site with you – Linda in Montreal has amazing sari silks on her Etsy site. If you have never worked with sari silk ribbon you hook them the same way as your regular strips – maybe a tad higher. They add beautiful texture and that silky glint to your rug. Nice to find a Canadian site that sells these…  So check out Linda’s shop at https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/SilkDivine.

OLDE FORGE HOOKIN…

Yesterday I spent the day with a bunch of hookers (now that REALLLLLLY needs to be read in context!). The Olde Forge Branch in Ottawa held their annual hookin and I was invited to be one of the vendors. It was a wonderful day (even though that white stuff started falling again in the middle of the day). Spirits were not dampened! We hooked (well some of us did! – not me!), we bought, we ate (of course that always happens at any gathering of hookers) and we were inspired by beautiful rugs and wonderful wool. The vendors included Christine Gibson who does some of the prettiest spot dyes, Cathy Ivory of Baa Baa bundles recycled wool fame and me. Hookers came from Montreal, Renfrew, Deep River, Merickville, almost Kingston etc. and I actually got a few photos of some of the rugs. Unfortunately Hookers move really quickly when they show off their rugs – or I just move too slowly! And although it was a little grizzly outside and snowing there was glare from the many windows (haha I’m just looking for excuses), so I didn’t get photos of every rug and some of the ones I did get are a tad fuzzy but you will get the general idea that there were some amazing rugs. It was a wonderful day of reconnecting and schmoozing with friends I see so rarely. Today back to reality – cleaning and cutting the final cabinet for the hydro room (Gord decided to measure 5 times before cutting!). So without further ado – a few rugs to get your creative juices flowing:

Linda’s adaptation of Alana Kapell’s Frog pattern – WONDERFUL…

Shawna’s 3 Kings – almost finished… So what is Andre thinking – hmmm is that a number 2 cut?…

The other Linda’s beautiful anniversary rug…

Hooker hidden but isn’t this background fabulous…
Fun Prodded Sunflowers…  Ti’s trees are sooooo interesting (and the squirrel is adorable!)… I think this was a FIRST RUG!!!…

Just the sunny kind of rug we need right now… Karen’s beautiful version of Karla Gerard’s 3 Blooms – wish you could see and feel all the texture in this rug… Whoops – I was too slow…Love the reflections in this rug… Another rug to make you smile… Yup too slow again… Ahhh – gameboards – great idea… Lyn’s “Fraktur???” and Lyn’s shadow… I think this was Sigrid’s rug – love gold, red and green… Barb’s Maud Lewis – small rug done in a wide cut… Another first rug!!!… Beautiful spring tulips…

Nancy’s mystical dragon rug – now if only we could figure out what the letters (in dragonish!) spell out… and a reallllly fuzzy photo which normally I would not have put in because it would embarrass the photographer 🙂 but this was all done in nylons – so recycle all those pantyhose you never wear anymore and hook them up…