Quiet Moments for Dyeing

It's a busy household with a new puppy.. when he's awake, it's a constant check to see what he is up to. Amazing how quickly they can get into mischief. I must say he does take puppy naps so during that time I get things done. This weekend I did some dyeing of colours I felt were lacking in my stash...
They are done on 5-6 different textures and all in the same bath. I like to vary it up a bit when I dye. Rarely do I dye yards of natural wool unless it is for the Island Cottage Needlearts end of the business. I like bits and pieces of variety.

I am going to be using the Robins Egg Blue for my background on this Honey Bee rug hooking pattern. I think I may offer it as a kit also on my website. The paper pattern is available there as are all these wools.

Sharon just e-mailed me with a new rug she designed. I love bunnies. This one is called Bunny Umbrella. Her rugs are so whimsical! This one will be available the end of May along with her other 3 new ones. She is so productive! Wish I could have just a quarter of her output...

Happy Hooking...

Two Loves

Sis and I made a jaunt to Champlain, NY to pick up a bolt of wool to overdye and some other as is wools from Rebecca (Wool Studios). Going to be spending the weekend dyeing up some beautiful colours. Liam also got a new organic dog bed - wish I had a bed like that to curl up in! Love Border Mail Services. So easy considering the company I ordered the bed from would not ship into Canada. I've used the service 3 times now and I save loads of $$$ shipping to NY rather than into Canada.

Some coral, a lovely green blue which I would not have chosen a couple of years ago, a plaid to tie them together and some green that I was lacking in my stash. Funny how your tastes change. I used to quilt for 20 years but left it when I discovered rug hooking. I could see the progression of my tastes in that medium where when I first started I loved the Hoffman florals and the batiks. I usually passed by the reproduction fabrics. Towards the end of my quilting I had completely flipped and was collecting all the reproduction fabrics - a good thing too as they fit in nicely with my passion for primitives, rug hooking and needlework smalls. 

A nice bolt of wool from Rebecca that I think will overdye beautifully. I love to have texture in my dyeing, because I am always scouring the shelves and throwing in at least 1/4 yard of 5-6 different wools besides a plain one. Off to the dye pots. Have a great weekend....

Meet Liam

This is Liam, our new sheltie fur baby. We brought him home on Friday. He is 3 months old and a bundle of fur. He has been really good on the outdoor training - has had an accident or two -Mommy was not paying attention to his frantic running in circles LOL... He follows me everywhere and sleeps through the night. He has been experiencing all kinds of new things, especially the meeting of two other four paws in the house - the elders of the cat world. They are tolerant of him and he, I am sure, would love to play with them - by all the tail wagging going on. A few sniffs and that's all they are willing to concede.


He loves his toys and is quite a playful fellow. It is so funny - puppies play with such exuberance and then the next minute they fall down and are out for the count. Right now he is sleeping under my feet as I work on the computer. It brings a smile to my face to have another pup in the house :) Have a great day... 

Pattern Sharing is Stealing - Do Not Copy!

Please buy your patterns from an authorized dealer or the designer. Do not buy from websites that share patterns. This is copyright infringement and is illegal. Beware of certain sellers on eBay and Etsy that copy the original patterns and sell them to you as new. The seller has no legal right to do this.


Designers work hard to produce a pattern - it is their livelihood. Please respect that! Please pass this on to your friends. This kind of outright thievery must be stopped if we want designers to continue to make available their patterns and have legitimate retail stores keep their doors open.


If you would like to read up more on this - please go see Lori of Notforgotten Farm's website. (She provided the badge that you see above) or to Kris Miller at Spruce Ridge Studios.


Thanks everyone and hopefully we can make this go away!
You are welcome to copy the badge and post it on your blog or website. .....Joni

Bounty of Fiber

Today I thought I would show you some of the fibers I am using in my rugs...I decided to explore  some other materials that are available to us as rug hookers. Today we have so much choice! I want to jump outside the box that I have been so comfortable in. I want challenges and I want to create beauty in a different way. So in my rugs you will find some art yarn, sari silk, fleece and roving besides the hand dyed fabrics. As a fiber artist I love everything about wool and natural fibers. I love the way it takes the dye. I love the combination of silk and wool that lends itself to such softness. I love the brilliance of silk. I love the naturalness of fleece. I love the silkiness of roving. I LOVE WOOL!!!

curly lock yarn

British hand dyed fleece

Karen Kahle marbelized fabric

roving

roving

llama, sheep and silk roving

sheep and silk roving 

sari silk from India

Music for Thought

This was posted on a blog I go to (29 Black Street) and it was a wonderful reminder of what great songwriters Kate Bush and Peter Gabriel are. It seems like eons ago that we went to one of his concerts. Montreal was always on his tours and we used to go to all of the ones that we could. He put on such great concerts!
This is one of my favourite songs and I think so appropriate for the times we live in ... Don't Give Up...... Family,Friendship and Love

New Rugs to Hook

Oh boy, new patterns from Sharon Smith. I just love her style and wish I could hook them all but I must pick and choose. This lion is going to be one of them.. called Cat's Paws 25" x 40" (retail $68.00). I love the red, and the circles and the coloured mane..definitely on my To Do Bucket List.. maybe after Sweet Dreams which I am working on right now. I need to hook faster! Then I have Kathy's patterns from Briarwood Folk Art that I will be carrying and wanting to hook too. Especially eager to be on my frame is her Magdalena Menagerie. Those patterns will be available on site the end of May when I get back from my annual trip to Maine.

Here is another one called "The Readers" I love the puppy dog sitting beside the little boy. I think the book is great! This one would be so nice paired up with "Ride Em"... This pattern is 24" x 28" ($54.00 retail). All Sharon's new patterns are in transit so you can look for them on my website towards the end of next week.

Lastly, this wonky village nestles in the mountains. There is lots of movement and colour in this rug. This one is aptly named "Mountain Village" and is 27" x 30" ($63.00 retail).


There are so many great designs coming from some really gifted rug hooking artists and although I love to do my own designs I do enjoy hooking some one else's too. Gives my brain a vacation while I just plan colour and someone else has already done the ground work. 


Have a great evening... nite...Joni

Fur Baby Mommy

photo courtesy of  Mont Carmel Shetland

photo courtesy of  Mont Carmel Shetland

I just found out that my new puppy will be born on May 12th. This here is the Mom (Kelly). I am keeping my fingers crossed that it will be a healthy litter and that all goes well. The puppy will be a sable or tricolour. So not the same colours as Roby was but maybe that is a good thing. The new fur baby will not replace Roby but will certainly have a special place in my heart. You know what that means - puppy pics to come LOL.... Have a great day..Joni


PS.. yes I have been very neglectful of my blog. Lots of stuff on my plate.. but promise to post more even if it is just a line or two. I always think you have to have this whole big thing to say but I guess you really don't :)

Working on...

Peter took this one...

So we had a huge storm come through. Heavy, beautiful white snow stuck to everything! Then of course, the wind whipped itself up to a frenzy on Saturday. This was the day sis (new hooker) and I had decided to go down to Champlain NY to pick up the Betsy wool waiting for us. Driving on the 15 and then into NY is highway but unfortunately travels through large empty fields of shorn wheat and corn. With wind gusts and snow flurries this equals whiteouts and slow going. But we made it (a few tense moments) and picked up my stash of Betsy Wools. Way worth it! Got lots not shown to overdye and I'll get some bundles on the website. We then treated ourselves to going to Mainely Lobster for a yummy lunch of haddock nuggets, homemade fries (bad girl), stewed tomatoes and a shared piece of coconut cream pie (two bad girls). Nothing fancy but very satisfying for two gals who knuckle drove 50km of white out highways.

Some of my Betsy wool along with some wools I have been auditioning for a project. These are the wools covering all of my dining room table awaiting mass reorganization of the studio upstairs with new shelving units. Right now wool is spread over three rooms.. ahhhhhhhhhh. 

 So what am I working on right now is this scarf below but using the colours above. I am really enjoying these DROP patterns. There are a couple more I want to do. The wool is a good price and it can be found through Nordic Mart in the USA. They do ship to Canada.

Source: garnstudio.com via Joni on Pinterest

I am still working on my Coastal Girls, a pattern from Deanne Fitzpatrick. I changed up the sky and decided to add some paisleys (you can see my markings). Since the paisleys are all different textures of blues, I decided to keep the background surrounding the paisleys simple using two wools (a plaid and a herringbone) this would calm the sky down a bit. I also ripped out some of the hooking from the paisleys and hooked in some wool slub yarn. I used the same ones I sell on my website. 

The final picture is an exercise I did for the Deanne Fitzgerald on-line course I am taking. It was to randomly draw some stars (I chose hearts and stars) on canvas and hook them without much thought. Just hook! I picked these colours and just randomly hooked lines and did not follow the shape of the heart or star. It is a more painterly approach to hooking. I then backed them with glue/ black wool and they will hang in a window or door. 


Oh one more thing - I have to show you the cutest sheep I just bought from Colins Creatures on Etsy. I just love his sheep! Another addition to my sheep collection. I am sure it won't be the last!

Now I am off to do some more fun assignments for the class. Enjoy your Sunday afternoon...thanks for stopping by... Joni

Music and Creativity

Hi
I came across this on one of my facebook postings and thought it was worth sharing. I am taking an on line rug hooking course with Deanne, which you all know from previous posts. So been having lots of creative exercises and thoughts twirling around in my brain.
I thought that this video made with 12,000 pieces of papers for a new song by Josh Ritter was so well done. I could not stop watching it! Talk about creative.. Enjoy!



Josh Ritter - Love Is Making Its Way Back Home from Josh Ritter on Vimeo.

Hearts

Haven't had much time to post lately as I have been busy taking an on line rug hooking class with Deanne Fitzpatrick. She is offering it again in April - it is so worthwhile and fun. Has me going in different directions. I'll post some of the hookings I have done in the next couple of days.


In the meantime, since it is Valentine's Day - not such a big thing for me - but I do love hearts! so just some photos of pics I have across on the net and pinned.

Source: facebook.com via Emanuela on Pinterest

Source: etsy.com via Koren on Pinterest

Source: bailiwickdesigns.typepad.com via Helena on Pinterest

Source: flickr.com via Aunt on Pinterest

Source: attic24.typepad.com via Katie on Pinterest

Source: bing.com via Rose on Pinterest

Source: flickr.com via Ana on Pinterest

Source: tumblr.com via Tatiana on Pinterest

Source: flickr.com via Sassa on Pinterest

Source: annies-eats.net via Brianna on Pinterest

Source: flickr.com via Karen on Pinterest

Source: littlebirdiesecrets.blogspot.com via Sherry on Pinterest

Source: gracieswainson.tumblr.com via Rita on Pinterest

Creative Musings!

This book was recommended by someone on another blog. I ordered it and it is a fabulous book on American Folk Art. I have been looking through it and it has given me lots of creative thoughts. This week I have been spending time just mulling and cooking in my mind. Looking at things around me with a different eye. I have been madly pinning to my pinterest board, which to me is a great tool for inspiration. It can be a colour, a design element, the line of something in a photograph or a feeling from a photograph. It is a whole lot of everything that gets melded down to one or two thoughts of what I would like to put on paper and then hopefully a rug. It's been a week of dyeing fabric and cutting it into little rectangles. It allows me to let my mind wander....freely....

The second book of the collection, which I have not received yet, but if it is anywhere as good as the first it will be worth the price.

This was another book recommended on a blog. I have always wanted to add a braided border to a rug and this book has loads of information and is beautifully put together!

... and this is what I have been up to - dyeing yards and yards of wool to cut up in these little rectangles. I also learned something new about photography from one of my pins on pinterest.. white balance - now who knew about that - not me. I am terrible about not reading manuals that come with things. Let alone finding them after the fact. So the wool above was taken with white balance - and how true is that to the colour - pretty true I can say. The next picture.. hmmmm.. not so good..before white balance trick. You'd think it was a different wool. I have a really nice camera - I should use it more instead of my quick and easy iphone LOL...lesson learned. Important if you want to sell your stuff - good pictures will make or break a sale...

Oh - and exciting news for today - February 1st...this is THE DAY when I start my on line course with Deanne Fitzpatrick. Can I say on top of the world - buzzing with creative thoughts.. hook ready to wiggle across my linen. So the last couple of nights I have been reading her book "Inspired" - wow! A wealth of information and talk about a confidence builder. Loved it....and I can see I will be going back to it often. I don't know where this course will take me. I want to revel in the feel of the wool and be free of constraints. So maybe my loops won't be oh so perfect and maybe they will squiggle, wiggle here and there and maybe there will be a tuck of sparkly yarn hidden among the wool loops but if I love it and think it is a thing of beauty then that is ok. I have to hook for myself and maybe that is a whole new path I am taking... we'll see. Have a great day.. Joni