FUN FUN DAY…

Over a year ago my friend, Julie, asked me if I would teach a class on Molas. Sure, I said! and then afterwards thought hmmm what the heck was I thinking! There are so many wonderful designs for hooked Mola rugs and so many other wonderful teachers of traditional hooked Molas – so what could I teach these ladies that might be different? Well, yesterday I spent the day with 9 lovely ladies talking about and designing Canadiana Molas (or as my friend Elizabeth christened them – Can-olas!). And what fun we had!!!! Everyone designed wonderful Canadiana versions of a traditionally Panamanian or Caribbean art form. I was so very proud of what these ladies came up with that I asked if I could share their designs with you and they said YES. Thank you ladies for a fun day and for being so open to trying something so very different and for being willing to play!!!…

Nicole’s wonderful bear in the woods…  Sheila’s Beaver who had chowed down on a few trees…Gillian was doing a dancing loon and incorporating beading, quillies and dots…  Pat drew out this wonderful Heron… Julie actually started hooking her moose… 

Kit also started hooking her loon… Eleanor was adapting an amazing photo of a pileated woodpecker that I believe her son had taken… Candy’s wild porcupine… there’s a little tribute to my gnawed-on stairs up by that maple leaf!!!…a few of my Can-olas – geese and super moon (that super moon seems to be appearing in a lot of my rugs these days!)…
my Beaver Mola…and a few of my Molita purses…

and yup I have been hooking – finished this piece the other day as well…(hmmmm could that be another super moon?)
Candy also shared her Raven (one of the punch needle patterns by Wendy Tremblay that I carry)…

And now you KNOW I cannot let this post go by without a few animal stories from the wild woods!  Dear Gord bought me 2 bird feeders for my birthday – one was a lovely hand made chippy pealy tin and wood piece which I plan to use as a centrepiece filled with greenery and the other is one of those squirrel proof ones with a baffle on it. Guaranteed that squirrels cannot sit on the baffle and eat ALLLLLLLL THE EXPENSIVE SEEDS. But holy cow the morning after we hung it up we looked out what was that furry black thing sticking out of the side of the feeder? Well darn if that squirrel wasn’t INSIDE THE FEEDER – somehow he managed to lift the lid(roof) and climb inside – happy as a clam to be firmly housed in about 5 pounds of seeds!!!! SO SQUIRREL PROOF? – NOT WITH MY SQUIRRELS!!!!

Then this morning we put out the peanuts in a shell for the squirrels and blue jays! Well didn’t our little red squirrel hop up on the porch, grab a peanut and and run up the maple tree beside the house where he proceeded to bury that peanut in the snow trapped between the branch and trunk of the tree.  Down he hopped to run over to the pile for the next addition to his stash – and as he was loading up for the second time didn’t a bluejay dive into that pile of snow and grab the one he had just buried!! May be a longgggg and busy day for that little red squirrel with no joy at the end!

SALE…

I decided it was time to clean up my studio a bit – hmmmmm when was that last done? Judging by the dust bunnies and snippets of wool all over the place not in a longgggg time. I have a bunch of kits taking up space and am offering them at 10% off (15% off for 2 or more kits). These are the kits I have in stock. To see the size and original price please check my online store and if you are interested in one or more kits please send me an email with your full address and I will get it in the mail to you as soon as possible.

HOOKIN (OR PUNCHIN) AND NOOOOOO COOKIN…

You know that is my favourite way to spend a weekend – with good friends to add inspiration and motivation.  Seems all our lives have become so complex that we have less and less time for creativity.  But a weekend with the girls at camp brings it all back again.  We laughed (till we cried!), watched a wonderful DVD by Deanne Fitzpatrick, ate well (and not even too much this time), inspired each other, listened to horror stories about cars and bats and shared precious moments together.  Oh and yes we actually hooked (or punched) and finished or started new projects. How wonderful!!!

And now for a little show of what we worked on this weekend – okay so these pictures are not the greatest.  I took them with the iPad and hmmmmmm they are a tad fuzzy and not terribly clear. Could it be wool dust on my camera lens on the iPad 🙂 .

Donna’s rug – her own design – finally show bound and ready for the table in the new 3 season room… 

Karen’s snowman – pattern from Lucille Festa of American Country Rugs…

Donna also finished this pillow off… 

Helen was punching up a storm (of snow flakes and snow men – picture is pretty bad because of the glare from alll that wonderful sun streaming in the windows)…

And a rabbit punch needle pattern by Teresa Kogut…

Diane was punching as well and finished 2 pieces… (O Glorious Day by Not Forgotten Farm) and Snowman pattern by Brenda Gervais (I believe!!!)…

Sandi finished her little thatched cottage…   and Betty hooked a Christmas Goose pattern by Olde Tattered Flag?..

Aha, Louise let me take pix even though her huge beautiful rug is not completed – her own design…

Sheila inspired us with her beautiful textured landscapes…

And Andrea is just finishing the embellishment of her Peggy’s Cove rug…

Chris punched (Oxford) her Inukshuk and is just waiting for the right wool for the sun…

Andrea made over 90 prodded flowers for her daughters centrepieces and bouquets – these are now being stitched to backing and will have hooking added around them and then framed in an antique mirror… 

Wendy almost finished her Polly Minick Santa… 

and finished her Old Tattered Flag punched Santa… 

Jill was binding her Karla Gerard Blue Sea rug (pattern available on my online store)…

and brought her punch needle piece along for show and tell…(another Brenda Gervais pattern)…Linda’s hooked homage to the fires in Alberta…

and I finished my Karla Gerard Crescent Moon rug (pattern available on my online store)… 

So you can see we actually DID work and had a blast – cannot wait till next Iawah weekend)!

BADEN HOOKIN…

Got home this afternoon from vending at the K-W Rughooking guild’s annual hookin in Baden yesterday. It was a fun day with lots of hookers in attendance and I believe 10!!! amazing vendors! And of course, although I was a vendor, I DID manage to slip off every so often to pick up a few things I had to have!!!!

So, Gord took a few pix of the lovely show and tell. He tried as much as possible to include the actual rughooker in the photo – unfortunately I don’t know the names of everyone who showed a rug or the designers of all of the rugs… But I am sure you will enjoy them…. and if you have realllllllly good eyes you  might even be able to make out the designer’s name on the rugs in progress…

This one I do know as it is one of my Karla Gerard patterns entitled 3 Blooms – beautifully hooked!!!…

I know this is a Sharon Smith pattern being hooked by Trish…

I believe this piece was started a week earlier in a class with Carol Shewan in London… (pattern is available from Carol)

And another of the Karla Gerard patterns I sell entitled Abstract Village…

What a fun fun rug…

A lot of mixed media going on in this rug…

This piece was based on a stained glass window and was first punched (miniature to the right) and then hooked (on the left)…

I am so sorry that this rug is blurry – it was truly amazing…

Look closely – verrrrrry closely – and you can see HOPE spelled out in this rug (start at the upper left green H, gold O, blue P and red E!  Soooooo interesting…

This lovely rug is going on the floor in a museum and is done entirely(well almost) in recycled wools by various children and adults…

A lovely Maud Lewis rug…

The three rugs here are again from the Weathervane class taught by Pam…

Now the story behind this is really interesting.  Tracy is hooking one rug for each year of her grandmother’s life each based on an event from her life (gosh I hope I got that right)… Made me start thinking of doing something as a memory rug of my parents’ journey from Europe to the wilds of western Canada where they shared their home (well miners shack really) with bears and snakes; where they had to chop the ice off the pond to get water to wash and cook and drink; where mom accidentally burned the shack down – yup, all in the 1950’s not 1850’s!!!

and another version of Abstract Village (available through my online store 🙂 …

VENDOR DAY WAS A BLAST…

Tons of hookers in attendance. I am sure everyone had a fun day and stocked up on supplies as we had 8 vendors of everything from wool and patterns to fibres and wonderful finished pieces. Thank you to everyone who was able to join us for our annual vendor day!

Barb sent me this picture of her witch (another wonderful fun Star Rug Company pattern). May have to hook this one!!! Isn’t she sweet? and I have the perfect hand made broom to hang her from!…

I will be back at Stitch By Stitch in Kingston this coming Tuesday, November 8 from 10 – 12. Join me if you can and bring along your rugs for show and tell…