March Month End Meeting

We had a great gathering of folks for our latest month end meeting....but before we show more photos, here are a few timely reminders:

• You still have time to get your tickets for the Paula Laverty presentation on Grenfell Mats.  Her talk will take place Sunday April 28, at 2pm.  It’ll be at the William Academy (aka the former CDCI West) on King Street West.  For more info, you can read our blog post here, or head over to the Northumberland Learning Connection site here.  Her presentation is part of the program called Newfoundland: The Damnedest Hullabaloo.

• Also in April is the OHCG's Annual Conference in London, Ontario.  While the first few days are for OHCG members only, the displays and vendors are open to the general public on the Sunday, $10 admission.  It takes place April 12-14 - click here for more details.

• Registration is still open for our Hook-In and Regional East Workshops, scheduled for September 30.  You can opt to take one of 4 fantastic workshops, or simply attend the hook-in (or both!).  The theme is The Heat Is ON and will explore climate change as a theme.  There will be guest speakers, vendors, and even a scissor/blade sharpener (Chris Poole)!  For more information, check out our dedicated website.  Registration for the workshops closes June 28, 2019.

...and now back to the photos from Monday!

Check out Sheila's mat, using up worms - fantastic!

She also brought in a lovely pillow, with sculpted sections.

Martina has been working on a fantastic piece depicting blue jay feathers.

Check out Nancy M's chickens!  They were a big hit.

Here's Judy C's washday scene:

Here's Tanya's next project, ready to roll!

Joyce made an insert to go on to a lovely purse from Kirkpatrick's Leather in Port Hope.

Of course, it wouldn't be hooking without a dog or 2 on hand!  This is Xavier getting some much deserved love.

Here is Dianne's Mummer taking shape.  It's based on a painting by local artist David Blackwood (used with permission of the artist).

And last, but certainly not least, Francine brought in her northern lights rug.  It's going to be huge! We're using snippets of this rug in some of our promotions for The Heat Is ON.

Spring has Sprung!

Christine's Tulips

Yes!  According to the experts, spring arrived at 5:58 today! The weather was certainly typical of spring....so hopefully it will stick around!


Before we launch into our usual collection of "assorted" items, please head over to our "other" site, if you haven't already done so, to check out our upcoming gala event on September 30.  It's a combined Hook-In and Regional East Workshops, titled "The Heat Is ON".  

There are some fantastic workshops to choose from, including one from Susan Clarke that will focus on our theme of climate change.  She has chosen several patterns to feature in this class, including some patterns available from Willow Creek Rug Hooking.  

As it happens, one of our own, Nancy, has completed one of them, by artist Barbel Smith.  Nancy started this pattern well before our plans for the workshops had taken shape, and she's done a fantastic job.  See the other patterns for this class available here, or check out some of the other classes.  Remember that registration closes June 28.

Nancy's Barbel Smith pattern

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In the spirit of spring and renewal, our assortment today focuses on re-use and renewal.  As usual, I'm snaffling these links from a variety of sites - OHCG, and the Australian Rug Hooking Guild, among others.

• There's a talented artist who is using old books to make cups and other items.  Her name is Cecilia Levy and her website is available here.  Here's a link showing more of her work.  I love the things made with comic books!

• In keeping with the "tea" theme, there's another artist who is painting on used tea bags - really lovely works of art.  Her name is Ruby Silvious and her website is well worth a look.

• Check out this lovely "painting" below of a sheep, made from recycled textiles.  The artist, Barbara Shaw, has used wool locks, lace, organza and lots of other bits to make this piece.  Her site can be found here, where there are many other images of her creations.

If you're interested, she's posted several videos detailing how she created this work.  Here's the first one in the series.

• Here's an article and video about a company that is making bags and purses from discarded fire hoses - it's amazing to see what they've done with something that was considered trash!

• ...and finally, some rug hooking content!  Here's the newsletter of the Australian Rug Hooking Guild.  There are some great hooked items to ogle here.  We'll be talking more about them in our meeting on Monday.  Stay tuned!

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN!

Cobourg Hook-In & Regional East Workshops

September 30, 2019

hosted by the Northumberland Rug Hookers

This event is a Hook-In combined with Workshops. Registration for those workshops is now open, until June 28.   Head on over to the website we’ve set up with all the details:  

Cobourghookin.blogspot.ca

We’ll have our usual great hook-in that you’ve come to know, PLUS, we’re adding 4 fabulous workshops given by renowned teachers!  You can chose to attend the hook-in, take a workshop, or do both!  The choice is yours.

The theme for the event is THE HEAT IS ON which will explore climate change and weather patterns (as I type this we’re getting rain, sleet, snow across the province!).  There will be 2 guest speakers:  Alice Olsen Williams will present a selection of vibrant quilts depicting symbols and themes of her Anishinaabe culture, influenced by her European culture; Jennifer Wiber will talk about Temperature Tapestries, visualizing climate change thru rug hooking.


Here are the workshops to choose from:

• Rookie Hooking, with Tina Cole
• A Journey into the World of Primitive/Wide Cut, with Loretta Moore
• Tangle Art, with Janice Daniels
• The Heat is ON, with Susan Clarke

Registration is open from today until June 28.  Click here to read all the details!

It's going to be a wonderful day!

March Assortment

As usual, we have an eclectic assortment of things to report on.  Several of them have been snaffled from the facebook pages of the O.H.C.G., and the Wooly Mason Jar Rughooking.  Both are great groups to follow on facebook, with tons of interesting content.

First up, something that has nothing to do with rug hooking, but everything to do with one of our members:  Joyce Jones.  If you’re interested in history, WW1 in particular, check out this wonderful book:  “Major Finlay’s Diary“.  It’s the story of the Canadian Railway Troops in World War 1, and features many photos and the diary of Major Finlay, who was Joyce’s father!  She wrote the introduction to the book.  It’s by Claus Reuter, and is available here.


...and now onto things that are somewhat closer to rugs, etc....:


This is an interesting video about felted rug making in Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia.


Here’s a video about the history of woolmaking in Yorkshire.  It’s good look at the modern textile industry.  Who knew there are separate companies that do nothing but “finish” the fabric.  I don’t think the folks in this video w/b very happy to hear how we cut up wool fabric!


To contrast that, here’s an  article about medival fulling techniques.  check out the video with this one!

Have you ever seen Japanese paper cutting?  An amazing art.  See the video here.

And finally, CBC ran a story storyabout Maud Lewis, and how her story seems to have been altered  for the tourists.  Laura Kenney is a talented rug hooker involved in changing this.

Don’t forget to mark your calendars for our grand event taking place Sept 30.  Our marketing materials are getting ready.  stay tuned for an announcement later this month.