Yesterday I taught a one day class in Martintown on Canolas (Canadiana Molas). Had a wonderful day with this enthusiastic and creative group of hookers topped off with a visit to their exhibit which was in its last day in Cornwall. Gord snapped and snapped (can you snap with an iPhone?) and took some great pix of the display – so here you go… Enjoy…
Monthly Archives: September 2017
SWIMMING WITH THE TURTLES AND OTHER FISHY STORIES!…
Years ago Gord and I went to Hawaii. We spent 2 weeks in Maui – every second day we would try a new activity that we had never done before – helicopter over the volcano (a dead volcano I should add so not tooooo scary), winding drive from Hana complete with what seemed like over 300 twists and turns in the road (neither the helicopter nor the drive back agreed with Gord so the videos he was taking were mostly of his feet and the floor!), horseback riding through the mountains (welllll I realized I was not too good at this when my butt went to sleep and I fell off the horse trying to disembark!), driving through the lava fields (found out afterwards that hmmm rental cars are NOT supposed to go there!), and kayaking on the ocean (where I flipped my kayak and got caught in coral and almost drowned). It was exciting to say the least! But the most fun was the day our lovely kayaking guides, to make up for having to cut short our ocean adventure, took us on a private kayak trip to their favourite spot where we got to cliff dive (wellll Gord, not me!!!) and swim with the sea turtles. These lovely, gentle and very curious creatures would swim to within a few feet of us and then tease us by veering away just at the last minute. It was amazing and magical to say the least.
Welllll, although we don’t have sea turtles on Wolfe Lake we do have snappers and painted and map turtles! and Saturday I swam with the turtles! I love driving the pontoon slowly and quietly along the shoreline looking for turtles sunning themselves on the rocks and logs – occasionally we have counted up to 9 turtles of various sizes and types! This time there was one turtle balancing on the point of a log and I quietly swam to within 10 feet before he realized I was there and desperately tried to leave his perch – legs scrabbling in the air. It was so hilarious and such fun. I soooo love turtles (and yup the chocolate ones too!). Then as Gord was clearing out the pond Sunday morning didn’t he discover a tiny 1.5 inch baby snapper in the pond. We had to keep him in a bucket while Gord disengaged the pump and removed half the bullrushes and then returned him to his home. Did I mention – I loveeeee turtles!
Here is the little baby in his margarine container…
Beth sent me a picture of her Fish Tych which she just finished off for the cottage – it turned out beautifully (see my online store for the pattern)…
And Kathy’s lovely version of Fish Tych – I love how each one becomes so unique…
and her sweet Meow Mix (one of the Briarwood Folk Art patterns I carry)…
This Saturday I will be at the Cataraqui Guild of Needlearts show at the Senior Centre on Francis St. in Kingston. A small but fun Fibre show with an exhibit by the needle artists that is always lovely to see. Hope too see some of you there!
WORKSHOPS…
Wendo and I will be hosting 2 more workshops in November. I will be teaching miniature punch needle and Wendo is doing her amazing needlefelted fish! What a great way to treat yourself and also make a wonderful Christmas gift. Please contact us if you are interested in joining us… 
WHOSE BEEN LIVING ON MY BOAT?…
Oh, what a wonderful fall we are having – love love loving these warm sunny days. Finally we are getting in some boat time and swimming – the lake is cold but after you have been in for a few minutes it feels much warmer – or is it just that numbness sets in! Last Thursday we decided to uncover the boat and lo and behold what did I find under the cover but 2 partial crayfish carcasses – dried out and half eaten. And yikes a pile of poo! After diligent searching on the internet I think it was either a mink or otter living on our boat eating seafood! what a life!
So the Kingston Fall Fair was fun – I cannot say it was a great selling experience but it was fun to be there, meet people, chat about REAL hooking as opposed to latch hooking 🙂 and generally make people aware of what we do. Had lovely neighbours beside me – the spinners and weavers who were showing me how to spin using a drop spindle and a young woman who knit and crocheted fun, funky stuff. We were located in with the veg and flower judging and I was so inspired by our lovely fall and the giant punkins and sunflowers on display that I finished this small rug on Saturday and had to rush home and make up something else to hook on Sunday. This is a cropped down version of a Karla Gerard pattern I sell – Pumpkin Patch. It is not my usual dirty colours but it makes me smile! It is now available as a kit 13 x 13 (easy to hook in a day or 2) for $100.00. All the pumpkins (except for the white ones) and the sunflowers were hooked with what I call upcycled swatches. I have a ton of swatches and these are not something I normally use in my rugs so I decided they needed a bit of reworking and I spot dyed them in the microwave in measuring cups and it gave me wonderful short spotty strips which worked so well in this piece. You can only hook about maximum 3 inches in a number 8 cut (I pull my loops pretty high) but for small areas they are fabulous. Sooooo if you see swatches for sale grab them – they are soooo much fun to upcycle.
KINGSTON FALL FAIR…
Years ago, when I lived south of Montreal, Gord and I would go to the Huntingdon Fair each year with our friends Art and Sandra. It was a true country fair with tractor pulls, cattle judging, judging of baked goods and an annual bed race amongst other activities! One year Gord and I were somehow talked into judging the bed race – it was a hard decision but such a hoot! I loved the fair and so when I was asked if I would demonstrate at the Kingston Fall Fair this year I jumped at the chance to be part of this event. I have never been to this fair but from what I can see on the website it should be similar. So yup, I will be demonstrating and vending this Saturday and Sunday at the Fair along with some other Heritage Crafts, in the Bennett Barn. The weather should be fabulous so hope to see some of you there. You can find more information at http://www.kingstonfair.com. Will there be a bed race through downtown Kingston – probably not 🙂 but there definitely will be cattle judging!
Yesterday at Stitch By Stitch was fun – did many people show up – nope! In fact, Linda and I spent most of our morning punching away at our projects and talking about gardens and colour! We did have a couple of people drop in for a short visit. I will be back!!! October 10.
FIBREFEST …
Is over for another year – what a wonderful show. I have been doing Fibrefest as a vendor for many years – in fact since the days it was in the Agricultural Centre and hosted about 10 vendors. Now we have tons of vendors and take up the entire arena and every year more and more new vendors with wonderful products join the show. There is always a wonderful exhibit at the Textile Museum running concurrent with the vending show and this year for the first time workshops were added on Friday(and during the weekend). I am sooooo happy to be part of this show and if you are anywhere close enough to attend I encourage you to come next year. Some people came back 3 DAYS IN A ROW! and I am sure left with bags full every time. I know I BOUGHT some wonderful things (when I could steal away from my booth and leave Gord in charge). So a few pictures to share with you. Of course we could not get alllll the booths (I believe there were over 40 vendors) and some pix were a little hmmm fuzzy (good in fibre – not good in pix!)… I do know who some of the vendors were in our pix but sorry – not all…
Carol of Willow Creek Rughooking…
Deborah Lyall of Lyalls Art and Design.ca…
My students with their almost finished Quillie trees…
oh yup that would be my booth…
John makes wonderful wood turned tools for knitting…
Linda Prior Hobbs with her beautiful wool appliqué…
Cathy of Baa Baa Bundles booth…
Oh and a strange pair we spied on our way in on Sunday – bald eagle and crow (I think they were both after the poor dead little critter on the highway!)…
Elaine shared her wonderful rug – Tiger -Tiger Lily designed by Judy Kielczewski for her course at Trent Rug Hooking School in Peterborough…
Weather these days is wonderful for those of us way up north – I soooo feel for all those dealing with horrific hurricanes, earthquakes, tornados and forest fires – you are in our thoughts and prayers folks and hopefully this will all end soon.
FAT LIP AND OTHER FUN THINGS…
WELL, my day is off to a fabulous start! Woke up at 3:30 unable to sleep so tried to read myself back to sleep – that did not work. Went down to the dock, coffee cup in hand, to be greeted by fog and cold and wet! Did that wake me up – nope! But banging a cabinet door into my lip and creating a hole on the outside and inside sure did!!!!! How could that happen you ask – well not enough sleep or caffeine and not paying attention to where my face was as I opened the bottom door of my cabinet and a nice sharp corner smacked me in the face. Once I saw the hole and blood and the swelling lip (no collagen or botox required) I rushed to the freezer to find an icepack – NOTHING SMALL IN THE FREEZER. Did not feel like slapping a roast on my lip so the smallest item in the freezer was a package of bacon. Slapped that on the lip and now hopefully at least it won’t be too swollen or black and blue for Fibrefest! Although I do love colour! 🙂
On the other hand, what a wonderful surprise in my in basket. Wendo bought a set of fishbones from me and did this amazing fish – love love love it… could that be a class you ask!!!!…
Next week I will be back at Stitch by Stitch – Tuesday from 10 – 12. Hope to see some of you there or at Fibrefest…
MORE RUG PICTURES TO SHARE…
Sue sent me pictures of her rug based on an antique ships figurehead – as Sue says “I loved the energy between the hands, like two magnets about to pull each other together.”
She turned out wonderfully aged and was approved by her kitty…
Sandi’s lovely mosaic glass piece and her Canadiana rug – a compilation of memories of childhood spent on the lake and the tall ships sailing past her home recently…
And although I am not a big, big floral rug hooker I LOVE this antique rug which my sister bought recently for peanuts. I don’t know the exact era of the rug but she also got the hand drawn pattern on paper and I am thinking it would be exciting to offer this as a pattern. Size is big! about 7 x 4 feet. I can easily imagine this rug in hand torn wide strips – the original has old stockings and long johns and various non wool fabrics hooked into it. Needs a few repairs but is still a beautiful rug which I think deserves to be continued. The hand drawn paper pattern (pieced together and revised many times) is amazing!!! How exciting to get not only the original rug but the pattern as well.
RUGS TO SHARE… AND FIBREFEST!!!…
Fibrefest is coming up next weekend – Friday is the day set aside for workshops so check out the site and sign up for something new and wonderful!… Just google Almonte Fibrefest and the website will come up for 2017 and click on workshops. There is a wide variety of workshops to take – something to suit everyones fancy… The actual show takes place Saturday 10 – 5 and Sunday from 10 – 4.
And now a few rugs to share:
Danyelle finished her amazing Fox rug – love love this piece all done in yarn (hooked not punched)…
Heidi finished her Seagull (one of my kits) and added in a few additional strips which worked beautifully… 
and Elizabeth W. sent pix of her finished punch needle pieces – the True North is one of my Wendy Tremblay patterns and the others are 2 of my Karla Gerard patterns – look at those amazing frames!!!!!… 
and a wonderful, funky birdbath made by Vince who is as creative as his wife Wendy… (yes you can order from Vince – birdhouses, frames etc.)…
Hooked On The Lake 