Back to In Person!

 Yes, indeedy….we held our first-in-a-long-while in-person gathering at Grace Church this morning.  We had a good collection of folks doing all manner of hooking, knitting, sewing….and yakking…..and Deb spoiled us with home made butter tarts!

We’ll continue to meet weekly on Thursday’s….and hope to re-institute the Monday Monthly Meeting soon (no firm date for that yet).  Come out to join us if you can.

Check out a few photos of works in progress:

Dolores’ steam punk steam engine for the hubby!

Martina’s tree/forest scene underway.

Lynda’s sheep family - legs, etc to be added!

Dianne’s faces & Ukraine Sunflowers

Also, Dolores brought along some fabric with great animal images on them, and she thought folks might like to use them as a basis for a hooking project (or 4). 

Hooked on Art: Northumberland Art Gallery

 

Here’s a great opportunity for the Northumberland Rug Hookers! The Northumberland Arts – Gallery and Shop (located by the Capitol Theatre in Port Hope) has invited us to exhibit and sell hooked items as well as to provide a teaching opportunity for visitors to the shop. The theme is Hooked on Art – Selected Works by the Northumberland Rug Hookers; the opening is scheduled for Thursday, March 3 and will run until April 3.

Drop on by to see the exhibit!

Greetings from Florida

 On what is a cold snowy day in Ontario, here are some photos to brighten your day: from Christine in Florida!  These are projects by members of her hooking group there.

Two Tributes

 2021 saw the passing of two of our members.  Here is a brief tribute to both of them:

Pat Turl, a former member of Northumberland’s Monday monthly hooking group passed away on November 5, 2021.

Pat began rughooking when she lived in Markham in the early 1980’s & won an award of Honourable Mention for a first time hooker in 1983.  

She continued to rughook after they moved to Brighton in 1998 & was a member of Quinte Isle, the Brighton kitchen group & the Cobourg Monthly Monday group for several years.    Ill health for several years reduced her time hooking over the years, but she continued to be a part of the Brighton kitchen group until the Pandemic hit.    

Her kindness to all & her beautiful & spontaneous laugh & smile will long be remembered by all of us.    

Here is her first piece which won an award & her favourite made from sheep’s wool she purchased while on a trip to New Zealand.   She will be missed.    

(See below for MORE)

(Contributed by Nancy Crapper)

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Pat Gilchrist, a member of the Northumberland Rug Hookers passed away May 29, 2021.  

Pat began rug hooking after moving out of Toronto to retire to the rural Cobourg area where she and her husband operated a standard-bred horse business for many years. She thoroughly enjoyed rug hooking, appreciated the fine work by others, and especially loved her rug hooking friends. Pat’s ready smile and sunny outlook (always) will be sorely missed.

(Contributed by Fran Patton & Dianne Algera)

+@+@+@+@+@+@+@+@

This just in from Nancy Crapper:

“ I will just add that Pat had a pattern in her materials that was old.  Backing was burlap, & old burlap at that.  She had only done the border & there was nothing on the pattern to indicate whose pattern it was or where it came from.  I brought it home, & just using wools I had I have completed for our first great grandson, who we expect to arrive any day.   If you know the origin of this pattern, I would love to know also.   It is still in need of a good pressing, but here it is.”

The Season is upon us!

 

Christine’s rug, with lights installed!

Yes!  It’s a time for celebrating and feasting!  A few folks gathered at Grace Church for our usual Thursday thing, and there was lots of chat, and a few goodies, too!

Here is a sampling of a few of the projects on display.

Lynda’s punch project in a frame

Dora and her fabulous paper pieced quilt

Joyce’s latest - her infamous flower pattern

Jennifer’s blanket behemoth

And finally, here’s the centennial rug our group is working on.  Everyone is choosing a motif to complete.  If you see one you want to do (and that doesn’t already have a name on it) - let us know!  The finished project will be donated to Sifton Cook, i think?

Encouragement

 Today’s blog post comes to us courtesy of our own Brenda:

Hello rugger friends, I thought I would send out some encouragement to you! 

I have never considered myself able to draw, design or cordindate my thoughts enough to do an original rug. The pandemic lingered and so did my cares. I thought, well, I may as well try stepping out of my box. That box opened, closed, opened again and finally it broke. 

What has resulted for me was a sense of accomplishment, trust in my own abilities and the desire to try again. I realize that not all art forms, colours, shapes, and cut sizes don’t sing to all people the same. I am ok with that and have learned that there are just as many people who are thrilled with your art! 

But…. Here’s the true kicker…. It truly doesn’t matter!! Make your art and let it make YOU sing! Keep on creating my friends and encourage one another.  Feeling acceptable Brenda 

Yarn Painting

****new addition, Nov 3!  Check out this yarn painting from Mary Lou!

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We were fortunate to have Len de Graaf join us via zoom for a 2 session workshop on yarn painting - it was a lot of fun!

Here are some of the photos of finished & almost-finished projects.  If you were part of Len’s classes, send us your photos and we’ll update this post with more!

Jayne Nevins

Bonnie Young

Judy Lam

Len de Graaf (he worked on this during our class!)

Christine Van Hees

Jennifer Wiber

Dianne Algera

Sandra Pettit (in progress!)

More on our 2021 Visit to Lang

 Here is a GUEST POST by our very own Laurie Deviney and Brenda Ashton:

On Sunday October 3rd  the Northumberland rug Hookers set up a display and demonstration at apple fest at Lang Pioneer village north of Keene Ontario. The village is a gathering of buildings, equipment and displays showcasing the life in Ontario in the early to mid 19th century set in a idyllic setting by a river in the rolling hills of Peterborough County. 

The rug Hookers, Diane, Brenda, Laurie , and Judy first visited the costuming  room where they had great fun donning traditional dresses, shawls and bonnets. The shawls were expertly knitted.  Brenda fashioned a hairstyle and outfit that would be the envy of every 19th century school marm.    

 

The hooking display was set up in the Jacquard loom room which houses one of only two Jacquard looms in Canada. It is a working loom and there were some fantastic samples of 19th century woven blankets. The hooking display showcased many samples of rugs as well as a purse, trivet and some small creations. There was a cheticamp  frame and a few hoops with burlap as the rug Hookers took every chance to talk to the visitors at this living museum. 

Some of the most persistent and interested visitors were children and adolescents. They jumped right in and kept at it to pull their first loops. Then they continued  sometime for 20 minutes to try out different colours and textures. 

There were two young boys, Braden and Zander who came back after their first 15 minute session to spend another 20 minutes pulling loops and chatting about the history of hooking rugs. The demonstration went on fro 10-400 pm and a great time was had by all. 

The Northumberland rug Hookers thank Lang Pioneer Village and all the visitors for a great day of hooking. 

(You, too, can do a guest post on a topic of interest to NRH:  Just supply us with the words and maybe a photo (or a few), and we’ll take care of the rest!)

Ladies are at Lang

 Check out these photos from Brenda…..they were at Lang Pioneer Village for a day of demonstrating hooking!

From left: Judy, Laurie, Dianne and Brenda

FALL IS IN THE AIR

 Stepping outside this morning in my bare feet was a bit chilly and wet and I guess that means "Fall is in the Air"

I don't know about you but I'm feeling like, sweaters and all things wool and cozy warm.

Here is a photo of Rosemary with another one of her beautiful ponchos, sure to be a hit wherever it goes.

                                                 Think she's done a bit of modelling??????

                       Stay tuned for further updates on in-person meeting changes and keep safe!