My first punched chair pad.

Well, after doing absolutely no hooking all week, I punched for a couple of hours yesterday afternoon and finished this chair pad. And I must say, it turned out even better than expected. Why? Well, because after choosing yarns for it without a colour plan or forethought (simply pulling from my overly large stash), when I finished, I realized that it matches my studio chairs perfectly.  See what I mean....

Truth be told, with all the colours in this pad, it would probably match any chair, but I laughed when I placed it on the chair because it looked so great. I guess we instinctively choose our colours - we come with a pre-set palette. I know that I tend to use the same colours a lot. But there are certainly colours in this little mat that are not in the usual repertoire.

I took this picture before I covered the back of the pad, the perfect way to use some of my stash of blanket wool. But you know what the thing about chair pads is? Chairs come in multiples. So now I have 5 more to go.

Kudos again to Sandra who made the entire experience, from first punch to finishing, easy and fun.

My Punch Needle Adventure with Sandra

Saturday found me driving back to Toronto - second time in less than a week - for a punch needle course taught by Sandra Marshall at Barb D'Arcy's studio. This was a double whammy of fun for me, not just because of the course, but also the chance to spend the day with friends who I don't get to see as much anymore.

Sandra was super organized, as I knew she would be, and had all of the supplies that we needed and the knowledge to guide us along. And both she and Barb provided delicious snacks throughout the day - to keep up our energy (ha ha).

Although I thought I did good prep work ahead, my pattern turned out to be too large for the frame, so some off-the-cuff modifications were needed. When you look at the pattern that I ended up hooking with, it looks as if a very intoxicated bird wearing Sharpie markers staggered repeatedly across the monk's cloth.

But I finally settled on a chair pad pattern that would allow me to play with many of the yarns that I have in two or three large rubbermaid containers - the remnants of many projects from years past.

In case you don't know - in punch needle, the pattern faces you, but the hooked result is on the other side of the frame. So you can't really see what you are doing until you turn it over. And boy, what you see on the other side is a big surprise.

Here is the pattern side (with the bird markings). The strips of under pad protect you from the incredible sharp teeth on the frame, over which the monk's cloth is stretched. They are then stapled into place and removed when you are finished punching the project.

And here is the finished side. If you click on the image, you can see it much closer.

See what I mean?

What fun it was to "play" with colour here and see what happened. I began with a skein of yarn I purchased on its own many years ago to use as my background and just started picking colours that were hiding in the tweed.

And there were a bunch of tricks and tips that are best learned in person. Thanks Sandra for all of those.

It's amazing how fast punch needle hooking is!! I think it appeals to the instant gratification in all of us - this chair pad is the result of only a few hours' work - by a newbie. And I imagine I will only get speedier.

It is very different from traditional hooking and I think there will be a balance of both in my future. But for things like chair pads and gifts, this is amazing to know how to do.

And my yarn stash will be significantly reduced as I move forward on my 14 stair risers that I hope to do this way.

Stay tuned.

(If you didn't read my Ark post from this morning, please click on older post and see it as well.)

Noah's Ark was absolutely amazing!!

When something big happens in my rug hooking world, I'm thrilled to share it here on my blog. This week there were two big events that each deserve their own post, so I hope you read both.

The first was a trip to see Noah's Ark at the showing in Georgetown. I knew it was going to be incredible to see the ark in person, but the entire evening - in fact the entire journey - was magical.

To give you an idea of scale, here is a picture of the ark with a person standing next to it - albeit a bit fuzzy. That's the one thing that all the pictures I have seen have not been able to portray. It's massive!!

Here are a couple of other pictures that I took. The water on the hull was incredible and it was hooked by Mary Shepherd Burton. The animals that are on the ark were hooked by a group of rug hookers and were all quite amazing. 

My favourite animals - and that was hard to choose - were this gorilla and the cat next to it.

But I'm sure you could spend hours and hours looking at them all and picking other favourites.

The bonus part to the evening, which going on your own to see the display which is on until the 25th, was hearing Len Feenan talk about the 5-year journey in creating the ark with Mary He is a passionate and gifted story teller and I could have listened to him talk for a week. To be the one who gets to present this treasure to the hooking world is a real thrill for him, but he couldn't have been more humble.

The ark is en route to the Hooked Rug Museum of North America where it will reside permanently. Part of the evening was the dedication of the ark by Mary's grand daughter. It was very emotional indeed.

So on to the next great adventure!!

Another Special Occasion Mat

This is a little mat that I did for my friend Ann's 60th.

Ann was my second friend when I moved to Toronto from Fredericton. In my English class in Grade 13. So, if you do the math, that's a l-o-n-g time friendship. Unfortunately, she moved to BC a million years ago, so we don't get to see one another often - lucky if we do once in 5 years, but thanks to the internet, we do manage to keep in touch.

One of her passions is kayak tripping, so, when I started to develop my little series of cottage sketches, I decided to do the first kayaker for her. It arrived a couple of days late, but she loves it and I'm happy that she has a little piece of me in her home. And I think it does look like her - maybe I'm projecting that into it, but my sister said the same thing.

This piece is only 5 x 10, so it was quite quick to do and a lot of fun. I think I will work up a whole series of patterns now that I am feeling inspired. Since I'm running out of floor space, it's fun to have a new direction to create small works that go quickly.

To be able to give something like this to people on a special occasion is really rewarding - both to the hooker and the receiver.

Glad Plaid Bag is Done!

Thanks to Jennifer's detailed assembly instructions, the bag is finished. In fact, I took it out with me yesterday and I love the size.

Here are some pictures of the finished bag - with the glorious hardware - and the funky lining.

I love that, without the flap, a little of the lining peeks out. It makes me smile.

For some reason, it feels like a "back to school" bag, probably because of the many plaid kilts I owned as a kid. There's something very familiar about it and it feels old and comfy already.

I am now on a quest to find a plaid wallet to carry with it.

In hindsight, I should probably have hooked the outside solid parts a bit tighter. As is the case whenever you hook a dark colour on the rug warp backing, any kind of bending exposes the backing. Oh well, nothing that a little strategically located Sharpie won't fix.

I look forward to the conversations that this bag will invite. It will be hard pressed to rival my "faces" bag, but time will tell. 

Thanks again Jenn, for giving the inspiration and the tools I needed to create this wonderful bag. I'm sure I will be wearing it a lot.

Glad Plaid Bag all hooked.

Here is the bag all hooked. Despite the amazing weather the last few days, I managed to get in an hour each day and it went quickly. The second side was a breeze, since I followed the colour placement from the first side. And that was indeed the trickiest part.

I decided not to do the flap, which is one of the many options Jennifer gives you in the pattern -  have seen her bags with and without the flap, and since the buckle is very wide and keeps the bag well closed, I am happy without it.  So much easier to grab things from the bag without having to move the buckle and the flap out of the way first.

Now comes the assembly. I have put together two other bags, so this shouldn't be that much more challenging. And Jenn's instructions are very detailed to help me along.

I hope to keep up the momentum, but there will be an interruption this week - a little mat for a special celebration. But it shouldn't take long.

I will share progress on both next week.

A Happy Purse Beginning

This past weekend I celebrated my last birthday of a decade and, as my friend Elaine so eloquently said recently of her birthday, "I felt really loved."  Celebrations began with a lunch with my friend Jennifer at Tall Trees in Huntsville - yummmm. I met her at her office and she had a bag of goodies for me, including a pandora charm (a bit of tradition for us) and a twist of her amazing new silk - check out her post.  We followed lunch with a trip to her local quilting shop where I found lining for this wonderful new project.

I'm calling this my "Glad Plaid" bag, and it's from Jenn's Bala Bag pattern. I wanted a larger hooked bag so I bought this pattern plus the leather strap and buckle a L-O-N-G time ago.

When I finished my last project, I thought it was the perfect time to start this. And I decided to use all my "plaids". After only a couple of rows of squares, I could tell this was a good decision. I love it! It makes me happy. Doesn't it have a slight retro feel to it? And with all these colours, there's nothing it won't go with (bad grammar here - oops).

And wait till you see the lining I (we) picked - another post for that later.

Back to the birthday - the kids drove up from the city on Saturday morning to the rainiest day so far this summer. But we hung out, played Scrabble, enjoyed a birthday feast and had a good catch up visit. Sunday, out for lunch together and then we drove them back - I needed my car.

So many birthday singers and calls and emails. And great gifts - I did feel very "loved". Thanks to all.

Underpainting Done

Well, here it is - finished.

I must confess that I am happy with the results and would definitely consider incorporating that into many sketches going forward.

As simple as this little mat was, getting all the elements to separate in values was a bit of a challenge and I hooked the water a few times to get to something that didn't blend into the trees.
This picture doesn't really show the separation.

But, I do like the underpainting part. So, I think tis exploration gave me the results I wanted.

The Four Pillows

Here is a picture of all four "Amazing Matrix" pillows finished! Don't they look amazing? Thanks to Jennifer Manuell for her fresh take on the inch mat, these four beauties are complete and look wonderful on our leather sofa and love seat.

I don't keep all four on one piece - this was purely for the photograph. There are two for each piece and they sit against the arms versus the back.

As usual, the finishing was the true test of endurance.  As it was so warm for so long, it was hard to even think of holding layers of hooked wool and ultra suede on my lap. But a cool, rainy day presented itself and it was the perfect opportunity to finish the final two.

Of the many hooked pieces around the house, these pillows seem to attract the most attention.
Everyone wants me to make them one.  There may be a couple of gifts looming in the fall.

But a couple of other projects in the queue to finish first.

Underpainting - can you hook it?

I have always been a fan of art with an underpainting. I think that it makes everything look better, and I think that is why I love so many of the Canadian paintings that my husband and I have collected over the years. Nothing makes a sky and water look better than a touch of orange showing through.

In doing a little on-line research into underpainting, it turns out that it isn't a painting style that is restricted to impressionist work, although that's where I love it, but to still life painting, and portraits - virtually every kind of art. Virtually every medium as well, including pastels and pencil crayons. And several of the software programs for use with photography also have an "underpainting" tool to help give a painterly quality to a photo.

I was reminded of how much I like it a couple of weeks ago at the Muskoka Arts and Crafts Show in Bracebridge. I met a new artist whose work I really enjoyed. Here is one of his paintings.

In addition to doing an underpainting, he told me that he paints on plywood because he loves the texture that it gives. And he also discovered some art markers that let him outline his shapes before painting them.

When I got home, I took out a little Martina Lesar mat that I have been working on and decided to see if I could simulate an underpainting on it. As you can see from the subject matter, it's the perfect little piece on which to experiment.

I am introducing a burnt orange yarn into the already-hooked shapes as well as the to-be-hooked shapes. And I think it will create the effect that I am going for. And it's a good exercise to try something about which I have been curious to see if it will emulate the underpaintings of the artists I so admire.

I'll share photos as this progresses, but thought there was enough here to demonstrate where I'm headed.

Another Celebration Mat

I have another little mat to share that I couldn't post last week, since my friend Jane (for whom it was created along with her husband Peter) reads this blog.  I didn't want to ruin the surprise. The mat was received this week, so now I am free to share it.

Jane was my very first friend when I moved to Toronto a million years ago. She has been living in the Peterborough area for the past 20+ years, so we don't see one another that often.
However, like all good friends, we seem to pick up the minute we see one another - as if the last time were the day before.

Jane has recently taken up rug hooking, so we have yet another thing in common. She has a group in Peterborough with whom she hooks and is very enthusiastic about it. She even did her first year at Trent this summer in Bea Grant's class, and loved every minute of it.

Jane and Peter and Rick and I share another thing in common. Our Anniversary date - August 1st. They have an 11 year head start on us, however, so this year is their 40th!!! Wow! And they are off on a European River Cruise to celebrate, which is why I sent the mat a little early.

When the four of us got together  at our new home a couple of weeks ago, they shared stories and pictures of a Barbadian holiday this past winter. They had a great, warm February and March, and from the pics I found one to use and create a small celebration mat.

Here is the picture:

And here is the little mat

Thanks to Robert Browning for the words. I have always loved them and finally got a chance to use them here.

This was another fun "featureless faces" project, which I think captures the essence of the picture. I learned it is quite a bit tougher to do facial hair. However, I enjoyed doing it and think of it more as a large card than a mat.

With so few people these days making it to a big number like "40", it's definitely worth the celebration.

Happy 40th - again- Jane and Peter. Have a wonderful time on the cruise.