SALE ON IN STOCK MINIAURE PUNCH NEEDLE KITS

STILL A FEW IN STOCK… MINIATURE PUNCH NEEDLE KITS 10% OFF AND MINIATURE PUNCH NEEDLE PATTERNS 20% OFF

Canadian Beavers – sold Barn Owl in Flight – sold Twin Horses – sold 

FINISHED…

Ahhhhh, fall!!! Love it, but don’t love all the leaves and when you live in the woods there are A LOT OF LEAVES. Thankfully, Gord has a man toy – a huge back pack gas powered leaf blower. This is a MUST when you live surrounded by hundreds of trees which shed leaves and pine needles for months – we have a thick carpet of both and that honking big blower makes short work of them. I don’t think either of us would be up to raking anymore especially since we only have a tiny plot of grass and a huge area of river and flagstones – raking river stones is not doable! Plus, I use my new excuse – trigger wrist! Used to just be trigger finger which then turned into 2 trigger fingers but now I have trigger wrist. I think lifting a few tons of flagstones and flipping them and regrouting them did in my wrist! But it becomes my new excuse for not lifting or pushing things. So far I can still punch and hook IF I pace myself and wear my copper infused glove. Well, drugs also help!!!

I just finished two punch needle pieces (now to actually do something with them 🙂 . The first, Poppy for Dad, was inspired when I bought a World War 1 (or 2) canteen at one of the flea markets recently. It is beautiful cobalt blue enamel and begged for a punch needle piece – and what would be more appropriate than a poppy. November 11, besides being Remembrance Day, is also my dad’s birthday and so my Poppy punch needle is in memory of my dad and all the soldiers who served and continue to serve.

The second was inspired by the artwork of good friends Jacques Lepage and Isabelle Rollin. Jacques and Isa are amazing artists, woodworkers, rughookers and two of the most lovely people you could ever have the pleasure of meeting. They make the best rughooking frames, beautiful rughooking patterns and the most adorable Christmas ornaments. They cut the wood, sand it till it is as smooth as glass and then Isabelle paints one of her lovely little scenes on it and then it is sealed. I have bought many which I have given as gifts. This one I kept for me as it is so evocative of bygone times. As children we lived in the woods (hmmm seems to be a recurring theme in my life). Every Christmas we would bake cookies for weeks on end (never got to taste them before Christmas UNLESS I discovered my mothers hiding places in which case we would sneak a few and rearrange the remaining cookies so it was not evident we had been into the box!). But the biggest thrill was going out tree hunting a few days before Christmas. My dad would hitch up the sled that came all the way from Germany in one of my Aunt’s famous Christmas Parcels – but not to a horse! rather to our German Shepherd who would promptly sit down and refuse to pull the sled. In the end, dog won and dad pulled the sled. Tree would be cut down and loaded on the sled and schlepped home. Now I know this ornament has no tree or sled or dog and I don’t have a brother (but my sister Betty was a bit of a tom boy) but it just has that wonderful feeling about it that brings back childhood memories. Soooo, it has been hanging on my wall for years and finally I decided to ask Isa for permission to punch it. And yeahhhh, she said yes. IN FACT, she is in the process of turning some of her childrens’ artwork into a new line of rughooking patterns. This morning I finished punching and pressing – now to decide which piece of Junk is deserving of my piece.

If you are looking for amazing, one of a kind ornaments you can contact Isabelle and Jacques at the following email address jacisa@live.ca. And ask Isabelle if she has any of her pieces featuring children drawn up as rughooking patterns yet. Or, if you need a fabulous frame!!!! They are located in Valleyfield Quebec.

SHOW AND TELL…

A few finished pieces (mini punch needle) by Alyson…

and a beautiful hooked piece by Debi…

Lori sent a picture of her completed Winter Hare (in grass – we used artistic licence 🙂 ) and it is lovely…

Karen’s lovely landscape…

Louise recently taught her sister Barbara how to punch (miniature) and she has gone wild – these mini pieces make perfect pins for hats, collars or scarves…

Alexandra finished her beautiful rug…check out the image in the bottom right corner – her dog appears in every pattern she hooks…

and this lovely piece by Beth – RIO – Adapted with permission from a calendar by artist Robbie Craig…

and mini landscape painting and hooked mat by Patsy…

Holly sent pix of two completed pieces – the first was inspired by a piece of fabric. The second is a miniature punch needle …

FRAMES FOR SALE…

These two beautiful rughooking frames are for sale by my friend Jill in Kingston. Please contact her directly for more info – the larger one is 20 inches and turns and the smaller one is 15 inches and does not turn. Both were about 400.00 new and Jill is asking 200.00. Preferably local purchaser to save on shipping costs.

Jill can be reached at jillmvandervelde@gmail.com…

SHOW AND TELL

Well, fall is here – I know because yesterday we had our last, beautiful boat ride and boat is coming out today. Always a sad time of year – I will miss mornings on the dock and afternoons on the lake. I do love fall, however, and always feel more creative when the temperatures drop and I am surrounded by blazing colours on the trees and funky white mushrooms popping out of my lawn! (well maybe not the mushrooms!!!! or the raccoons who have become delinquents and peel back sod every night!!!!). My friend, Diane, was here this past weekend and we even got the boys to be creative. We had them make two antique washboards into cabinets – they worked hard for a day and a morning and created wonderful little cabinets. Diane’s already had a punch needle piece attached but I need to paint my cabinet(not the board) and punch a small piece to go in the top. And another wonderful junkin’ find will be up cycled!. And yes we created! Diane finished Oxford punching a pillow for her grandson for Christmas and worked on her Twin Horses (enlarged to fit a small cupboard she got for 5.00 at the flea market) and I hooked a small piece (cannot show it yet as it is a free pattern in the winter edition of a magazine) and finished punching my Happy Holidays truck (pattern from The Coopers Cottage on etsy). I adapted the pattern and made it round to fit an antique metal plate that I found in the woods this spring – however!!! by the time I finished punching it it was oval! Beautifully oval! a perfect oval!!!! but NOT ROUND. So now the plan is to attach it to something else and use a braided border around it to finish off the edges.

Heather finished her Turkey rug (one of my Shelly Atkiinson patterns) – sooooooo much fun… and her Imari Pansies (from an old issue of Rughooker News and Views personalized with their initials)…

Marg’s first mini punch needle – Karla Gerard 3 Blooms (see my mini punch needle or rughooking patterns) – turned out beautifully…

Louise taught her sister how to do miniature punch needle and this is her first lovely piece – abstract Poppies…

Michelle finished hooking her Chipmunk in Trilliums (a Lisa Ferguson design)…

Helen is working her way through punching Merry Christmas, Eh…

Jill sent pix of her finished hooked rugs and mini punch needle version of Ann Hallett’s Who Called This Meeting…

and a picture of Bev’s punch needle completed and framed…