part five - yet more rugs in the display

Going Home - hooked by Fumiyo Heinig (Oakville Hooking Guild) and inspired by a greeting card
• Recipient of Wide Cut Award •

Children Skiing - hooked by Marilynn Davies (Grey Highlands Guild)
(Maude Lewis design, AGNS)

Jack Pine - Hooked by Edith Dunlop and adapted from Tom Thomson painting (Grey Highlands)

Puffins - hooked by Molly Gooding (Simply Hooked, London)
designed by Julie Schapman

Chaos Contained - designed and hooked by Gunda Gamble (Kitchener Waterloo Rug Hooking Guild)

part one - the booth

The Annual is over. The car is unpacked. I'm feeling too tired to move, but not yet tired enough to go to bed....so I decided to start posting about the weekend -- and hopefully begin retraining myself back into the habit of posting more regularly. This the first of several posts about the Annual.

Not only did I remember to bring my camera - I also remembered to take some pictures of my booth on Friday afternoon, before the fun began. Though not the greatest, they do show the basics (there were open double-doors right next to my booth on set-up day, so my camera had a difficult time coping with the sunlight streaming in...)




I was a little concerned that my booth (which ended up being slightly different dimensions than expected) looked a little sparse....but in the end, I was happy with how it all came together. As the weekend went along, we ended up moving things around quite a bit, to help out with the flow of traffic and bring some things out of hiding.

The little bags hanging right below each of the prototypes held patterns for that purse. This system seemed to work really well - and made sewing all of the bags worthwhile! ;-)


Overall, the response was overwhelming....and I could not have asked for a better first Annual as a vendor. It was a great time to visit with old friends, meet new rug hookers, and renew acquaintances -- talking about rug hooking is never boring with this crowd! I almost wish that I had a whole day to just sit and chat, and not worry about the next event or activity....especially since I only get to see some of these folks a couple of times a year - if I'm lucky!

In the car on the way home, my mum and Sandra and I brainstormed ideas of all of the things that we could and would do differently next time - and we even remembered to take notes! No doubt they will come in handy...

I'll be back soon with photos of some of the beautiful rugs that caught my eye...

another use for rug tape

The car is packed, my clothes are packed, and all that's left to be done are my toenails! Earlier this week I realized that in all of my preparations for this weekend, I'd forgotten something as important as a sign.

It's always been my idea to hook my logo (what could be more fitting?)....and I hope that I do get it done someday, but it always seems to get shoved aside for other projects. I also thought that I might be able to paint a sign (in a fraction of the time), but I just never felt like doing it. A quicker idea I had was to just get one made at my local print shop, but I didn't get around to doing this either. So what's a girl to do when your event is less than a week away -- and you've got plenty of other things that you need to be doing at the same time? Make a banner!

I knew that printing off the individual letters on card stock and making a banner of sorts would be an easy solution....but I needed something to string them all together. It didn't take too long for me to think of the rolls of rug tape I've got squirreled away...and once I actually got started, I'm sure that the whole thing (printing, trimming, sewing) took less than an hour!


I simply folded the tape in half and tucked the edge of the paper into the fold, before zig-zagging over top. Presto!




I'll try to remember to take lots of pictures this weekend, and I'll tell you all about it next week (when I'm really looking forward to getting back to me regular blogging ;-) ) ...

sparkly bits

Sunday night and much of Monday were spent preparing more things for the Annual. Do you ever find the longer you delay doing a task, the bigger and more complicated it becomes in your mind? This happens quite a bit to me when I procrastinate (which means it's been happening a lot lately! ;-) )

For the last few months, I've had this idea of putting together bags of sparkly bits for hooking. I don't know about you, but when I've needed a little bit of glitz to add to a rug I have trouble finding just the right stuff. As a result, I've slowly been assembling a little stash of metallics. This little stash has grown to be more than I will realistically use....and it was time to share.


But before I could share, I needed to prepare. Many different fabrics needed to be tested, cut and packaged...


Once again, I grossly underestimated the time it would take to assemble my baggies - and when cut into strips, the materials seemed to condense quite a bit. I'll only be bringing a dozen of these guys to the Annual....but I'll have some other uncut sparkly pieces, as well.

• • • • • • • • • •

I've also been working away on my wristlet pin cushions. The idea came from a craft book - but it was for making a cute quilted flower bobble bracelet pin cushion. When I'm sewing, I don't really like to use a traditional pin cushion - it takes too much time to poke the pins in, one at a time. Instead I use a magnetic pin cushion, which grabs all of the pins at a lightening-fast pace.

I've had a bag of chocolate moulds hanging around for a few years now, and it didn't take me too long to put two and two together. It did take me a while to figure out the perfect combination of magnets, though. My final prototype had a great test run this weekend, and production is in full swing now...


I'm hoping to get the last few of these finished up tonight. It's a lot easier with the new glue gun I bought on Sunday. [I must admit that I'm feeling a little late to the party, though - so if you also have a 10 year old glue gun and you're tired of always burning yourself, you should know that they now sell dual-temperature ones. The low setting is great for fabric - and fingers!]

• • • • • • • • • •

Life is still quite hectic, and I'm looking forward to a time when I can get back to regular posting. I think it's still a couple of weeks away, but I'll be back whenever I can until then....

zoom zoom!

The last week has sped by at the speed of light. I had all of the best intentions to post, but just lacked the time. Since I was short on time, I also had very little of interest to blog about. When I wasn't working (at my real job), I was recovering from the busy-ness of this time of year at work and from the five days I spent in the city with my Dad. [Thank you all for your emailed notes and inquiries....all is now well and the bad news we were expecting never came ;-)]

I'm really hoping for things to get back to normal around here, but I fear it might be another couple of weeks before it happens.

I have been doing a couple of simple hooking-related things in the last couple of days. I was out at Dollarama the other day, and found some more black storage bins. All of the cream coloured ones from my original installation have started disintegrating for some unknown reason. [It figures - the only reason I bought the cream-coloured ones in the first place was because they didn't have enough black ones....]


My stack of bins was imitating Pisa, and it was only a matter or time before disaster struck. I'd also quietly assembled quite a pile of clutter and other baskets in that area, so with a couple of extra bins and the help of a silver Sharpie.....it's a lot more pleasant to look in that direction.


I think one of the tricks with this storage method is to have full bins -- and over-flowing bins is even better (which is great news is you have lots of leftover cut strips).

For the rest of the weekend, I'll be busy putting the finishing touches on my preparation for the Annual....and keeping my fingers crossed that my surprise shipment arrives in time. If a few more days pass without a delivery notice, I might have to start crossing my toes, too!

still here

I've been in Toronto for the last few days, while my dad had surgery and is recovering afterwards. Everything went very well and we're expecting to bring him home tomorrow. While we have been spending a lot of time at the hospital, we've also had some extra time on our hands....and my sisters and mum and I have been having fun in the city. There have been many yummy meals out and a little shopping, too.

Yesterday we visited Anthropologie (which just opened a couple of weeks ago, in the new Shops at Don Mills). I've been admiring this store from afar for what seems like forever, but I'd never actually set foot inside a real store and had to content myself with catalouges, numerous blog mentions and their online shop. Needless to say, expectations were very high -- but I was not disappointed. [I also bought the most expensive t-shirt I've ever bought! ;-) ]

I hope to be back at rug hooking things this week, but in the meantime, here a couple of places you can visit to get inspired. I discovered these blogs a couple of weeks ago, and I've spent hours on them already, reading though the archives - and I'm not done yet.

Mimi Kirchner's blog, Doll

Geninne's Art Blog

Enjoy!

another done...

At the end of last week, I had my (Wendie is a) Jeanius bag at the stage where all of the remaining finishing could be done by hand. My plan was to bring it with me to R.U.G., where I could sit quietly and stitch. This plan was all well and good - until I realized that I'd forgotten (or lost) my spool of upholstery thread!

It's been said that "necessity is the mother of invention"....and it rang true again this weekend. After putting out my first call for thread of any kind, and receiving no response....I sat stewing for a few minutes. It wasn't long before my eyes fell upon my Mum's cone of whipping yarn - it was the perfect black-brown for my purse. Rather than whipping the whole outside edge, I kept with my original plan of rolling both the wool and linen seam allowance forward. Without thread to secure the jelly roll, I opted to secure it with blanket stitches (with yarn). Not only did this allow progress to continue, it also broke up the purple frame - without which I think the purple would have been too dominant.

I didn't get the whole thing finished at R.U.G., but it was all done before I headed to bed on Saturday night. I love it.


I'm still getting used to the size -- it's much smaller than the purse I've been toting around since last Fall -- and I don't have room for everything I've gotten in the habit of carrying. This isn't necessary a bad thing, though....just a sign that it's time to down-size to just the essentials. Like so many things in my life and society in general, there's just too much "stuff", and my purse is no exception.

A couple of my favourites....

Another busy day at RUG. I was foolishly thinking that not having to do all of the running around associated with doing the newsletter would make for a more relaxing day....but all of the attention and busy-ness was just transferred into being a vendor. By mid-afternoon, I'd maxed out and was feeling a little overwhelmed....so we snuck out a little early. In all of the craziness I took very few pictures -- which was better than the almost none, since I'd forgotten my camera and had to turn back early in the trip to go and fetch it.

• • • • • • • • •

It's always fun to see other people's versions of my patterns and designs. There were a couple in attendance yesterday...

Here are Beulah Hamilton's Christmas stockings....


And Gail LaBerge has her Cornflowers purse panel all hooked and she's ready to start assembly....


Erika Johnston got her Crows and Pumpkins pattern from The Wool Street Journal.....and I just love the splashes of purple and gold in the border - yum! I'm pretty sure she used mostly recycled wool to hook this piece.


This final rug was my favourite of the day...

Walk in Medonte Woods was designed and hooked by Margaret Kennedy from Orillia. It's just bee-oo-tiful...and I love it.

R.U.G. tomorrow!

I always love going to RUG, and in the almost 10 years that I've been hooking....I think I've only missed one. [It was held on the same the day that I was the (old) Maid of Honour at my friend's wedding.] Not only is it a great chance to catch up with friends, there are always lots of beautiful rugs to admire. Seeing other people's work - especially when there is so much in one place - always inspires me to pick up my hook and start creating.

Tomorrow's program is going to be provided by the area teachers, and the format of the afternoon will be like an 'open class'. If you're coming to RUG, please bring something to hook on in the afternoon - and if you have something that you want some help with, that's even better! As always, don't forget to bring something for show and share, a mug, and a nut-free lunch.


Since I'm going to be a vendor this time around, I'm not sure how much time I'll have to spare, but I wanted to bring something to keep my hands busy. I've been hooking away on my (Wendie is a) Jeanius bag, and it's sure a speedy project -- you could easily hook one of these panels in an evening.

It's all prepped up and ready to be sewn together....all of the remaining finishing will be done by hand, so it's a pretty portable. I'll be back soon with pictures of the finished bag -- and some of the pretty things that catch my eye at R.U.G.

Hope to see you there!

racing against the sun

You don't have to hang around here for very long to realize that Wendie and I are card-carrying members of a mutual admiration society. When my shipment of handles arrived last week, including some new narrow straps, I immediately thought of her (Wendie is a) Jeanius bags, and I just knew that there would be one in my near future.

Because there is no such thing as "too many" purses...I soon started digging around in my pile of clothes and other odd bits waiting to go to the Sally Ann, looking for a pair of old jeans. All of those I found are some sort of boot cut, so I won't be dealing with perfectly straight sides, but I think it will be okay (I cut a ways up from the bottom, where there's a little less flare).

I was anxious to get started and though I could have rushed it last night.... I convinced myself to just wait and take my time. I was really hoping to get started right after work today, but I got preoccupied with tidying, dinner, e-mail, etc. By the time I got around to cutting my jeans, determining the size of my flap, drawing my design (even though it's small, it still takes me some time)...time was ticking. By the time I'd finalized my drawing, the sun was fast setting.

Rather than dig out my lightbox, for such a small piece, I did it my old way: the window method. I don't recommend this approach for anything big, since the backing can drape in awkward ways and it can be a challenge to accurately transfer your design. For a piece this small, it's easy to just wing it - and so much faster, too. Just tape your picture to the window and then tape your backing on top. It's much easier to line things up if you draw your outline on the backing first (before you hang it on the window).


When the backing is held back against the drawing, it's a lot easier to see the lines than it appears in the picture.

While the sun had almost disappeared, there was still enough light to transfer the pattern. Now that this job is done, I'm anxious to get started on the hooking. I'm off to do that right now....

weekend recap and a surprise find

The springlike weather I was anticipating this weekend didn't end up arriving until today. Luckily, I had a few blooms indoors to help me pretend over the weekend....


And the poor weather meant for a little bit of hibernating inside and working on getting ready. "Getting ready" is starting to seem like a never-ending activity around here. Everytime I start feeling like I'm almost at the end, I remember other things that need to be added to the list or encounter some sort of obstacle. With some other everyday life commitments (work, family, etc.) taking place between now and the Annual, I am trying to be ready well ahead of schedule....just in case I get any rude surprises.

I keep reminding myself that any progress is good... And there continues to be progress, which is even better! ;-)

++++++++++

I have a couple of sets of keys. I don't like to keep everything on the same ring - not only because it would be too bulky and heavy...but because if ever I lost it, I would be completely screwed. One of my keychains holds my work keys, amongst others that I don't use daily. Because I don't use them every day, it sometimes gets misplaced. The lack of a fob wasn't really helping.

In the process of looking for something to attach to the ring on the weekend, I happened upon the pendant that Wendie gave me last Fall. Perfect!


Now some of you might think that this is an insulting use for this gift....but I don't see it that way at all. I will be able to see and treasure it all of the time - much more often than if it continued its life as a pendant.

Sometimes we treasure things so much that we never really use and appreciate them. Saving things for "good" just means they're destined to be another dust collector... What things do you have hanging around that can be re-purposed and put back into circulation?

more goodies

There was more in one of the boxes that was delivered mid-week, and in my excitement, I forgot to take pictures of everything. I also ordered a few skeins of spun silk thrums and spun ribbons....and then repackaged them into smaller amounts...


It's so colourful, yet rarely too bright. I think it will be a lot of fun playing around with this stuff...


The playing will have to wait a while longer, though. I still have quite a few little jobs to cross off my list first. Today I'm going to be tackling the final stocking kit assembly - and before I can do that, I need to pull out the dye pots and do a little tweaking.

Hope it's the beautiful day they've been promising...

the Easter Bunny arrived late

What's just as good as candy and chocolate? The two parcels I picked up at the post office yesterday. They were filled to brimming with this:


and all of this:


which (although it's hard to tell), is this:


With these new arrivals, I'm starting to feel quite ready for what I hope will be a very busy Annual at the end of May. I'm just waiting for one more shipment of stuff -- and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it arrives in time.

spring sorting

At this time of year, it's common to do a bit of tidying and cleaning. I spent much of the day yesterday doing just that and I finally saw the bottom of my "basket". Do you have one of those? A place when you place important papers and other interesting things while waiting to be filed, paid, or otherwise dealt with.... Sometimes it gets so full that I have to start a second one - but I never let it get so bad as to need a third! ;-)

Near the bottom of my basket, I found a pile of clippings that were all ready to be added to one of my journals. These journals began as homework for a class I took with Mary Anne Wise a couple of years ago. I found them to be such a useful source of inspiration, that I've kept the practice up since.




After I'd pasted all of the clippings from the basket into my books, I wanted to keep on going....and this was a perfect time to tackle my magazine mountain. I love magazines and although I really try to limit buying them (such a waste of paper!)....I can't seem to resist. Although I keep Rug Hooking and Selvedge, I don't usually hang onto too many others. Instead, I rip out any articles of interest, great sounding recipes, and inspiring pictures. I'm more than half-way through my magazines, and I have quite a pile of new images waiting to be pasted inside my books...

Moira Mat Makers Hook-In

What a great time in Belleville! The Hook-In was a lot of fun, and although I rambled through my talk, it went well. Apart from the lively conversation, the very yummy treats and beautiful projects at the actual hook-in, one of the highlights took place on Friday evening. Glenn, my hostess with the mostess, invited some of the members of her group over for a delicious dinner. It was a great opportunity to meet people and get to know some of the ladies a little bit better.

Their group has been working on a messenger bag project for the last while, and many of the finished bags were on display at the hook-in. I hope they don't mind my showing them here....and I also hope that someone will fill me in on the missing names (thanks Christine! ;-) )

Flo Woods

Wendy Nickerson

Christine Walker-Bird

Mary Anne Keast

Glenn Ryley Cotton

Gloria Jonkman

Glennyce Sinclair

Joan Foster

Maribeth Bateman

This final purse just needs to be sewn together, but it gives you an idea of how they are all constructed.

Even though I have made over 20 hooked purses, I don't know everything....and I love to get new ideas. The best tip I picked up over the weekend was to wax upholstery thread before hand-sewing. Blocks of wax for this purpose are available at Fabricland. By running your thread through the wax prior to sewing, it not only makes it slide a little more easily, it also helps to preserve the thread and make it waterproof. Thanks ladies, I am going to try this...

• • • • • • •

The Grayson e. handles were very popular and although I was thrilled by the frenzy, I was also feeling a little anxious about having so few left to bring with me to a couple of events next month. In case you're wondering why this would be a problem....apparently the lady who makes the handles received a defective batch of leather and this pushed her production back. Some items won't be available for two or three months. Luckily, I've been able to order a few more items that are in stock and they will soon be on their way...in lots of time for RUG and the Annual. Included in this shipment will be a number of narrow straps, just like those the ladies used on their messenger bags (above).

the drive home

I decided to drive home from Belleville the shorter, winding road way...rather than taking the longer, boring highway. Both trips take about the same amount of time, it's just the distance that's different.

Several times during the trip I kept telling myself that I should stop, get my camera, and snap a few pictures. Afraid that I would only regret these delays later, I kept on driving. By the time I got to the Park (Algonquin), I could no longer restrain myself and had to start clicking. (It helped that I was feeling pretty good, and knew that I could be home in about an hour ;-) ) Sadly, I think that I missed out on some of the best shots from earlier in the drive, but here are some of the ones I did get...










This part of Spring is so underrated....sometimes we just need to open up our eyes to what is around us...