JUST BACK…

from 3 lovely days in Vermont – and no, not skiing! If I fell I would surely break something so nope, not doing that anymore!

We usually go at this time of year because our favourite hotel, Green Mountain Suites, has a winter special. Plus, it is one of the few times I can get away for a few days. We hit all our favourite antique stores and usually the Shelburne Museum. Although not all the buildings are open at this time of year, there is usually an exhibition in the Pizzigalli Centre, that we go to see. This year it was Johnny Swing, a Vermont artist, and Harold Weston.  I was able to take some photos with permission to share, however, please do not post these to Pinterest or Instagram.

Johnny’s work is so funky.

If you zoom in you can see that these sculptures are made out of quarters, half dollars and nickels welded together. Each takes about a year to create!…

Yes, you were allowed to sit on the sculptures and yes, they were very comfortable…  the carpet was yikes, dollar bills.  With our really low Canadian dollar I wanted to roll this up and take it with me!… 

Harold Weston’s work took my breath away. The colours, the brush strokes – I could imagine these becoming inspiration for ultra wide cut hooked rugs…

So, if you are in the area, visit the Museum in Shelburne Vermont just south of Burlington. The Harold Weston exhibit runs to August of this year and is so well worth the visit. I am not sure how long the Johnny Swing exhibit runs – again a great exhibit to see, touch and sit on!

Oh, and did I get some good junk – you betcha! Although, again because our dollar is so low at almost 40% exchange! (not good for Canadians buying in the U.S but reallllly good if you are American and buying from Canada!) I had to compute on each item to see if it really fit my budget and YES I found a few. Some amazing old Eastman Kodak photographic glass frames that I will up cycle and use for punch needle frames. And a lovely old (ugh) skin stretcher!

OHCG ANNUAL RUG CONFERENCE…

Wellllll, I certainly dropped the ball on this last post. It might have been helpful if I had mentioned WHERE the conference/rugshow is taking place!!!!  🙂 As the kids would say, My Bad!

Best Western Lamplighter Inn & Conference Centre

591 Wellington Road

London, Ontario N6C 4R3

 

Canada

 

UPCOMING ONTARIO HOOKING CRAFT GUILD ANNUAL RUG SHOW…

Well,time is really zipping by. I cannot believe we are almost in April. Although Mother Nature does not seem to be aware of that fact! COLD AND SNOW!!!! and COLD AND SNOW!!!!

And of course, with April just around the corner, our OHCG Annual Rug Conference weekend (April 12 – 14) is quickly approaching. If you have already registered I hope to see you there. But remember, if you are not coming for the entire weekend, the rug show and vendors are open to the public on Sunday. The rugs and classes and vendors are always truly amazing. An opportunity to view and be inspired by beautiful rugs and stock up on patterns and wool for the next project(s!).

This year we have many vendors – in fact SO many that not all of us are located in the same venue. There will be vendors on the same floor as the rug show but there will also be vendors located one floor down in the Royal Palm Room. Please be sure to drop by and visit all the vendors – each has something unique to offer! Here are some details of where the second group of vendors are located:

 

ANOTHER FOX FINISHED…

This wonderful Lisa Ferguson Winter Fox was hooked by Roxanne – and the miniature punched version in the background was punched by Anne. I love seeing them together…

Tara send me a picture of her Group of 7 study – love all the texture and movement…

Linda is donating this fabulous piece to our Westport Summer Hookin as a door prize (well that is assuming it makes it from my house to the hookin 🙂 )…

and Wendy finished this piece that incorporates standing wool and many other fun techniques-I  tried  to  zoom  in  on  the  techniques  so  you  could  really  see  them  –  click  on  the  picture  for  a  close  up…

KITTY NEEDS A HOME…

I know this had ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH Rughooking but a few years ago I posted about a beautiful kitten we found in our woods and she was adopted by Pat – an amazing lovely rughooker who gave her a wonderful home.

Our local PAWS association – which feeds, captures and neuters feral cats – has an approximately 8 month old little beauty up for adoption. She has been inoculated and neutered and is ready to move to a new home. If anyone out there would like to give this little girl a place in their heart and home please let me know. I have 3!!! cats already. They are old and grumpy and probably would not adapt well to a new addition.They already  feel  shortchanged  because  of  all  the  attention  the  outside  critters  are  getting!!!!  So  if  you  are  close  and  need  someone  to  curl  up  beside  you  and  keep  you  warm give  me  a  shout.  Oh I do mean the kitten 🙂 .

FUN PUNCH NEEDLE CLASS YESTERDAY…

At Stitch by Stitch. I think we have 9 new punchers who have joined the exciting world of miniature masterpieces!  I will be teaching miniature punch needle again in Fenelon Falls at the Kawartha Yarn and Fibrefest show. Check out their website for all the workshops that will be taking place that day https://www.kyaff.ca/classes2019 .

And now, a few pictures to share…

Diane finished her Wynter adaptation off with a braided edge and hung it from a fabulous old harness part…

And Brenda finished off her version of Wynter…

and Lisa Ferguson Queen Bee…

and my Cardinal kit…

Joan sent me this picture of lambs born yesterday morning – look at those adorable little guys soon to be our suppliers!…(wool that is!!!)…

 

FUN TRIP TO PETERBOROUGH FIBRE ARTS FESTIVAL…

We had a lovely drive to Peterborough on Friday – stopped at the Hidden Gold Mine Bakery in Madoc for a delicious lunch in a very fun setting (the bakery/dining room is decorated with antiques so of course I was in my element!). Then we discovered a lovely new shop called Emporium just up the street from the bakery – beautiful Canadian made items and imports from Ireland and Scotland ALLLLLL IN A SETTING OF LOVELY ANTIQUES FOR SALE! I got a lovely purse/bag from Scotland with real Harris Tweed flap and a great old frame to house a punch needle piece. Then back on the road again – we discovered another shop just before we hit Peterborough where I managed to find, in between dodging drips from a leaky roof, two wonderful old lidded boxes with fabulous patina. I debated asking for a better deal because I had put my life at risk slipping into booths under dripping junction boxes and electrical fixtures! and trying to avoid water puddles and electrocution. But I figured they probably needed all the money they could get to fix that darned roof! Have I mentioned my addiction to antique boxes, benches and frames 🙂 . A little water and electricity was not going to stop me! And, note!, I didn’t even ask Gord to go in and retrieve the boxes for me!

Saturday’s show was crazzzzzzy busy. Poor Gord did not stop writing up receipts for the first few hours so thank you to everyone who visited our booth and patiently stood in lineups that wound their way out the booth!

So a few pictures to share of some of the vendors:

Needless to say, I did very little punching or hooking over the last few days – however, I did get to demonstrate and I think there may be a few new hookers (and punchers) out there! I love it when people get excited about our various fibre arts.

Diane, however, did almost finish her half punched/half hooked snowman. At our retreat in February she learned from two lovely certified Oxford punch needle teachers, Dawna Matthew and Ti Seymour, how to use the Oxford punch. Although she had done dozens of miniature punch needle pieces she had never used her Oxford punch needle. Well, that was about to change. Sunday morning Dawna and Ti kindly got her going and by the time we left after lunch she had completed almost half her snowman. We zipped back to her place and pulled apart her rather large stash in search of other yarns she could use to do the hat and carrot and there it was! perfect yarns that coordinated beautifully with the wool strips she was going to use to hook the background and border. Well, the punching and hooking are complete and now the braided edge is being worked on… I love how this all came together from an existing stash! The snowman is an adaptation of a wonderful pattern I carry called Wynter by Karen Thompson.

OFF TO PETERBOROUGH…

For a wonderful Fibrearts show at the Wellness Centre on Saturday. Even more exciting vendors this year. Hope some of you can make it.

In the meantime – yeah, painting is finished (well, till next winter). We painted the stairwell yesterday! That always is such a daunting job but in the end it was one play of my Phantom of the Opera CD – which has become my new go to work CD! I can sing and paint at the same time! All the painting supplies are now put away – no more climbing ladders or getting down into awkward positions on the floor from which I have a hard time getting UP AGAIN!

So, what have I been doing – well dyeing a lot of wool and drawing a lot of patterns :-). Although today I may actually get some hooking or wool appliqué in!

In the meantime, my friends have all been very busy creating in various ways so some pictures to share:

Pix from our last guild meeting – now I was teaching a purse class so did not take the pictures and I don’t recognize all the pieces or hands – so I will try as much as possible to put in the name of the hooker and designer…

Helen with her lovely Cardinal… I believe this was also hooked by Janice… Not sure who hooked this but I believe the pattern is Killarney available from Willow Creek Rughooking… Jennifer attached her proddy sunflowers to some wonderful old barn wood…
Louise just finished this lovely adaptation of an antique rug… Jill was hooking my Primitive Chickens pattern… and Beth was hooking my Primitive Crewel pattern… Helen’s lovely Crock rug… Marjorie with her alternative techniques mat.. Allyson’s first piece – a Deanne Fitzpatrick owl… Maud Lewis Cats being hooked by Edie… Jennifer’s cottage rug… Helen was working on her chicken punch needle to go inside a huge antique ladle…
Teacosy  hooked by Kim – second project!… Dancing Rabbits (Briarwood Folkart pattern available through my online store) hooked by Nancy…Beautiful footstool hooked by the other Nancy – pattern available from Willow Creek Rughooking…

 

NEW LISA FERGUSON PATTERN…

Welllll busy but fun week! Helen came to visit and we spent the week hooking and punching and a little junking!  Oh my – do I really need more junk – hmmmmmm – yup!  It is my addiction – don’t drink, don’t smoke and although it is now legal don’t do grass – well I do grow a little cat grass 🙂 . So my $ (not $$$) go towards wonderful old pieces that I can repurpose.

I did finish off a rug for my friend Elizabeth who can no longer hook while Helen finished 2 punch needles and started a new one that she designed to fit into the bowl of a huge antique ladle.

Elizabeth’s rug finished…

Although this is not Helen’s (it belongs to my friend Diane) this is what Helen will do with the piece she is working on for her ladle…

And a few new finished pieces by Tara – I lovvvvvee the moose rug…

 

And last but not least, I will be listing this beautiful loon pattern for both miniature punch needle and rughooking this week:

PETERBOROUGH SHOW…

Welllll, what a week this has been. We decided to do a bit more painting on Wednesday – finished the hallway – now just the stair well which we were supposed to tackle on Thursday when lo and behold our furnace (during rather frigid temperatures) started making rather unhealthy noises. What is this! First Mac decided it was ill and suffering from black screen death – fixed that by hmmm, removing 8 years of accumulated cat hair and dust from the vents!!!! – who knew you had to clean the vents on a computer! Next the Tv decided it was going into black screen mode which seems to have been resolved by rebooting a few times and a bit of vacuuming of the air vents. Now the furnace. Boy that is 3!!! out of 3! and lets hope the end! Turns out it may just be the fan that blows the hot air through the ducts so now we wait for a new part to come in and hopefully!!!! we will have constant heat again by mid week. In the meantime, thankfully, the fan has a mind of its own and works for a while after being shut down for a few hours. Then it goes back into hibernation mode just long enough for the cold to creep in 😦 . Oh well, it has worked darned hard this winter – hey, maybe it needs a good vacuuming!!!!! 🙂 .

I thought I would post the info again for the Peterborough show coming up on March 16. This is a fun one day show with lots of great vendors in a beautiful sunny venue. Hope some of you can make it…

 

And a few pictures from our last guild meeting…