IN LIKE A LAMB BUT DEFINITELY OUT LIKE A LION…

“That old adage still applies!!! Gord kept telling me a few weeks ago – gotta get my golf clubs out! I’ll be golfing by the end of March – haha I kept saying – you won’t! and… the rest is history…”.  Well, I started this post a week ago during a sleet storm and I guess Gord proved me wrong because here it is, March 30, and the snow is all gone, cars are clean (not for long on our roads though), and boots and winter coats are put away. One golf club has been sitting by the front desk for the last week and every so often as Gord walks by he takes a swing and looks longingly out the window! Soon, Gord, Soon!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter weekend – we had lots of fun company and Saturday went to the petting zoo with Di and mom – the tiny lambs were soooo adorable but no petting because momma was very protective and had them all huddled in the middle of the pen probably because someone mentioned hmmm mint sauce! Ate way tooooo many chocolate eggs and good food! Yup, it was a great weekend.

I have a few pix to share that people have sent me of their projects:

Cheryl is a new hooker who decided to take on one of the Shelly Atkinson patterns I carry in WILD colours – I am hoping to get a new picture with the chick in her lime green finery all finished … (check out that amazing eye!)

Jane sent pix of her sunflowers finished and potted!…

Pearl’s lovely Sleigh Ride…

and (oh I am so bad with names)a wonderful rug by a new hooker from Martintown…

Jane’s lighthouse…

and her version of my Otters rug…

and OHHHH Helen was punching her cat Butters this weekend – done from a photograph and soooooo real…

Susan finished my primitive cat and bird kit…

Heather finished one of the Karla Gerard patterns and her granddaughter just took up rughooking…

New to my inventory – Karla Gerard punch needle patterns – any of the large patterns I carry can be made into a punch needle pattern (5 x 7 seems to be a good size). Also, Wendy has designed a few wonderful punch needle patterns that I will be selling along with the lovely Valdani threads… will post pix of these later as right now they are all packed up for the Hookin this Saturday hosted by the Olde Forge in Ottawa.

Hope you all have a wonderful day…

 

 

PETERBOROUGH FIBRE ARTS SHOW…

was wonderful. We left Friday morning in sunshine and blue skies (always makes me much happier to be driving 3 hours if it is sunny out!). So with a smile on my face, money in my wallet and good intentions of going hmmm JUNKIN, on the way off we went. Problem was darn school break week! so one of my favourite locations was closed. And then Gord pulled a big upside down smile – he did not want to drive 67 km out of the way to go junkin!!! WHAT – is he nuts! 67 km is NOTHING. But I gave in and instead we drove right to Peterborough (secretly I kept hoping we would run into a few antique or good junk shops en route but Gord was flying down that highway so fast my eyes were watering!). Got to Peterborough in the middle of the afternoon – WHAT TO DO! Soooo, off we went to the Canoe Museum. Now I have to admit, I was not reallllly looking forward to looking at a bunch of canoes but Oh My God! it is wonderful! Amazing history of the canoe in Canada – from West Coast dugout canoes to stunning birch bark canoes from Ontario and Quebec to hide covered kayaks of the Inuit. This museum is sooooo well done, so informative and has beautiful displays of antique and modern canoes and kayaks. We spent a good few hours and I still missed a lot – Gord kept coming back to where I was dawdling to remind me that THEY WEREN’T OPEN TILL MIDNIGHT. So we took a FEW (well lets be honest – GORD took a LOT) of pix – a few of which I will share…

ahhh, the intrepid Voyageur paddling hard through “des rapides”…

and her lazy sidekick…

a beautiful birch bark canoe… and oh what is it I see in the background – a Hudson Bay blanket – of which I have two that must date back almost 80 years – NOT to be cut up for hooking!!!..

Inuit kayaks…

Saturday morning we headed over to the Fibre Arts show location – it was lovely – bright, well lit with perfect temperatures for hordes of shoppers!, great vendors and yummy food at the cafe. If I had brought my bathing suit I might even have been tempted to sneak in a few runs down the water slide!!! It was a fun day – met up with hookers I have not seen in YEARS! which was wonderful. And hmmm yup did manage to spend a few dollars!!! at the other vendors booths which made up for the lack of junkin spendin… So a few more pix to share…

Some of the beautiful rugs that were for sale and I believe that is John Boorman with one of his frames… 

and more lovely hooked rugs (and lovely hookers!)…

This vendor did absolutely beautiful wet felted scarves, hats and other pieces and I loved her booth setup – I wanted to move in (she made her wall out of 5 old doors and had antique tables etc. in her booth)… 

This vendor had curly locks (dyed and natural) that she was practically giving away – I FILLED A BAG!…

hmmm, don’t know who that was haha…

 

 

TODAY I MACGYVERED…

A light table. How many of you are old enough to remember the TV show MacGyver? “The series revolved around MacGyver, whose main asset is his practical application of scientific knowledge and inventive use of common items—along with his ever-present Swiss Army knife.” right from Wikipedia! In any event, Swiss Army knives or sharp implements of any type are not allowed near me! Clutziness runs in my family – my dad cut off most of his fingers. Finally, the plastic surgeon told him NO MORE POWER TOOLS! I always wondered how they would fingerprint him! given he had very few tips left! I digress!  Today I decided to break down and transfer an old pattern from burlap which was full of holes to linen. Welllllll not an easy task! It was a quite intricate pattern so I decided to draw my outside borders and then place the old pattern which was stamped and very uniform underneath the linen! Yeah like that was going to work!!!! In the end I free hand drew a good portion of the pattern but there was one final area that I could not see at all – even lifting, looking, replacing and drawing on the linen! Tried taping to the windows but it is so grey outside today that I still could see nothing. Finally the light went on in more ways than one – I needed a light box. Wellll, first I looked at some of my plastic storage containers – but unfortunately under the many layers of dust they were ripply – not good for drawing on! Then I thought hmmm, maybe a cardboard box with a light in it but holy cow what do I use to lay the pattern on. Looked and looked (and emptied out one of the plastic containers to go into recycling at least) until finally I spied an old footstool that I had bought many years ago. I had removed the top in anticipation of one day hooking a top for the stool (one day! being the operative phrase). Yup that would work – put the Ott light underneath it – great! Now I still need either glass or plexiglass on top of the footstool – and that I do not have! However!!!!! I do have 2 six inch wide 24 inch quilting rulers! and side by side they gave me 12 inches of working space! and YEAHHHHH that darned pattern is done! And what did that make me realize – that I NEED A REAL LIGHT TABLE! So!!! Gord get cracking!

FUN DAY…

Had a fun, fun day yesterday.  A few of the girls came over to meet carver Linda (so many Lindas now in my life that they have to be defined – Linda, the other Linda, carver Linda etc.). Linda came a long way to spend the day with us hooking (hmmm not tooooo much of that got done), punching, eating, yacking, showing and telling (rugs, punch needle and hand carved primitive pieces), eating, yacking (oh did I say that already :-). Resident photographer Gord and his trusty iPhone recorded the day…

Karen was working on her Olde Tattered Flag pattern in wonderful soft antique tones…

Carver Linda showing her Crows (design by Wendo Van Essen)… as Linda crochets (not sure if that is a cap or a basket 🙂 …  

Everyone admiring my (oops I mean carver Linda’s rug) (design by Deanne Fitzpatrick)…

Andrea working on a few of the prodded flowers she is making for her daughter’s wedding – thank goodness the wedding is not till this fall as there are a LOT of flowers to still be made…

Dale, a new hooker, getting introduced to the girls…

Hmmm, so not sure who was talking but it looks serious… or intriguing!…

Carver Linda’s DF rug – soooo beautiful… 

Just a few additional notes – next date at Stitch by Stitch will be April 6.

This coming weekend I am vending at a new show – well new for me! – in Peterborough. The Peterborough Handweavers and Spinners Guild’s Fibre Arts Festival & Sale being held Saturday March 19 from 10 – 4 at the Peterborough Sports & Wellness Centre.  If you are in the area, drop in. For more temptation check out the website at http://www.ptbo-hwsg.com/events/fibrefest-2016/…

 

 

THE GIRLS…

Had a wonderful time teaching at L’Ourse qui Danse in Godmanchester Quebec this past weekend. Gord managed to take some fun photos to share…

The girls (not the girls in the class 🙂 although I would have loved to have them join us…)…

What a face!!! 

Johanne’s shop, studio, classroom…

Filled with wonderful items to inspire (and yes THAT WAS one of the girls from the class)…

and more inspiration and wonderful things to buy…

One day was spent with beginners who by the end of the class were well on their way with their pieces and the other day was spent adding texture to rugs through the use of alternative fibres (yarns, sari silks, velvets, pantyhose, sweaters etc.) and alternative hooking techniques. The weather was beautiful and all in all it was a fun weekend.

Susan also sent a picture of her huge rug using up all (well perhaps not ALL) of her scraps…

Wednesday morning I will be at Stitch by Stitch – drop in if you are in the area!…

HUNKERING DOWN FOR ANOTHER SNOWSTORM…

Soooo, a winter that started off mild has turned fierce. Between ice storms last week and tonight’s predicted snow storm yikes – lots of hooking going on! So a few wonderful rugs and punch needle pieces to share:

At our last guild meeting Marie shared her samples and knowledge of Cheticamp rugs…

Linda’s lovely Lake Erie Freighter…and her Coastal Girls (design by Deanne Fitzpatrick)…the OTHER Linda’s wonderful punch needle (design by Brenda Gervais) on a repurposed box…
Winter Town hooked by Yvonne (one of the Karla Gerard patterns I carry)…and yes even I have been hooking a bit – Karen Kahle (Primitive Spirit) design hooked and punched…

Hopefully the snow will not be as bad as predicted – would mean Gord would have to drive that tractor for hours again. After the last major snowfall he spent 9 – YES NINE! – hours ploughing – he was a very happy man! 🙂 Out on his man toy with his I phone! However, Thursday we head for Quebec as I am teaching in Godmanchester at the Alpaca farm (L’Ourse qui Danse)! Ohhhh the alpacas are sooooo sweet and provide the most wonderful yarns! So hopefully the snow will blow by us!!!

So, hunker down, make sure you have lots of supplies and have a great hooking week!!!..