The Afterglow of Edmonton

Back home in my studio, surrounded by piles of things that still need to be dealt with, I am chomping at the bit to share the amazing time I had. It will take a few posts to do it all.

Everything about the experience surpassed my expectations! It was a little scary going into a strange place to do two workshops back to back, and I must say I was a bit apprehensive. But once that snowball started rolling down the hill, it gathered speed and the two weeks passed much too quickly.

The people were so friendly - kind of like Western Maritimers lol. They entertained me on my break days and many came to support me at my Lecture at The Royal Albert Museum - another adventure to be sure.

The first workshop - Photo to Mat - was held in an unusual venue to say the least. We were in the Igloo Room at Commonwealth stadium. This is the club house of the Edmonton Eskimos. Big, bright with a window onto the field. After a few of the team helped carry our stuff down some stairs on day one, we got to watch them practice. Here are a few shots of the view:

Ahead of the class, all the students had sent me their photos that they wanted to work with. I used two of the programs that I would share in class to do two things. First I used befunky (my personal favourite photo editor) to create a painterly sketch of their image. Then I used Paintbrush to do a colour plan for each image.

Since both workshops were sponsored by Focus on Fibre Arts Alberta (FFAA), there were a number of fibre artists in the room for whom rug hooking was not their first discipline. There were others who are masterful hookers, certified teachers, and basically speed demons. Some finished more than two projects while in class - they were smoking!!

One student introduced me to Tambour stitchery, which I hadn't seen before. Here is the picture that she chose for the class.

And here is what her mat looked like by the time I left.  I am hoping to get a picture of the finally embellished piece. And I hope to try this technique in the near future.

Jean, the creator of this piece, is a major force behind the FFAA and the workshops. She is a wonderful, warm person who ferried me to class every day, made sure that my every need and want was looked after and someone who is talented in so many ways, it would be impossible to name them all. She does every fibre art, it seems, and incredibly well. Both her talent and her heart are HUGE.

Here are some other photos with the finished mats from class. Everyone has promised to share their finished pieces, so I will wait for the others before sharing.

Here is Fritz, Laurie's wonderful equine friend. I am showing the original photo and the finished piece (not yet blocked and whipped).

After she finished this piece, she did a picture of someone's cat (I think her niece).

Her sister Laurie who is an artist and an equally prolific rug hooker, chose this picture of her cat "Picatso" for her first piece.

And when he was done, she whipped up this crow/raven in a colourful palette.

This interesting image of icebergs was completed in three days by Janet, another speed demon.

Sheila, a rookie hooker, chose this flower picture to adapt. And she finished all the hooking in class.

this is the befunky image.

Cec adapatd a picture of her fun folk art deck (created by her husband), Jerry. Her palette, I quickly discovered, is bright and cheery - just like she is. We spent a fun day at West Edmonton Mall and she treated Jean and myself to a wonderful dinner.

Faye chose to do a painting instead of a photo for this first class. A very accurate adaptation of a card she received from a friend.

I will show the rest of the work when the students get finished, but they were all off to a great start and all promised to share photos when they are done.

I apologize for not being more vigilant in the picture taking because after taking initial ones to check values on the computer, I neglected to take pictures of the ones that weren't yet finished.

Posts to follow about non-hooking work that was shared plus the amazing Fibre Arts show I got to see. And the Impressionism class photos.

Turkey Dinner Done and Dusted

It was a great weekend with both kids and their partners plus Jackson. Weather cooperated enough for nice long walks on the road. I don't remember ever seeing so many other walkers on a Thanksgiving weekend.

Now the turkey leftovers are all gone and I am packing my bags for my big trek to Edmonton to teach two rug hooking workshops. I was contacted by the Focus on Fibre Arts Association In November 2012 to see if I would be interested in coming there to teach.  Our rug hooking community sure does plan in advance. After nearly two years in the making (lol) I will be heading there on Thursday to start the first class on Friday.

I am teaching my Photo to Mat class the first week and have received very interesting images from the students for this class. A lot of my pre-work is done, so we should be ready to get hooking right away, and I will teach all the little computer shortcuts I use during class.

The second class is Hooking in an Impressionist style and again, very different selections for their pieces. I was surprised to find that 10 of the students are taking both classes. I hope they aren't sick of me by the time it is all over.

It appears there are some very very talented hookers in my classes.  Here is a link to the entries in their 2014 juried Prairies Competition. Fortunately for me, the entire show will still be hanging while I am there and I will get to see it.

Here are the rug hooking entries. Karen is not in the class. Her group exhibit is hanging  in the Niagara Pump House in Niagara-on-the-Lake until the end of November. But the rest are.

Heading West by Karen Miller

Moose by Janet McLean (Best of Category)

Prairie Landscape by Laurie Wiles (Best of Show)

Sunflowers by Laurie Wiles

Autumn Work by Faye Swenson

Blizzard by Lynn Roth

I have not been to Edmonton since I was 21 and on my way to the Yukon. I was flying stand by and got bumped there. Spent 3 days at the YWCA before getting my next flight out. Needless to say, that was "quite a few" years ago. This is a fun reason for a visit and through all the email preparations and correspondence, I feel like I already know this group.

Will try to post progress while I am there.

Holy September, Bat Man!

And not just the beginning of September, but past the middle!!
Let's just say it has been a blurry month so far. And after such a you-know-what summer, not a graceful transition.

Too much on my plate. Starting with the paying work which has me at the computer at least 7 hours a day lately. So my life is back to having "weekends" in it. My play time.

So what else have I been up to? Here are a few projects that have somehow managed to get done.
A cutie-pie "monster cardigan" with monster for Jackson.

He is so big now that my early fears it would be way too big may be for naught. Here he is at my Toronto office a couple of weeks ago. Check out that hair!!!

Back in the Quilting department, I needed to make a housewarming gift and discovered the world of the Jelly Roll Race. Amazing what you can learn to do on the internet. Anyway, based on a couple of paint chips of specific colours, this is the lap quilt that resulted.

And as to hooking? Not a lot taking place, but another sample for my second class in Edmonton. This little mat is done from a painting I did a few years ago. I like how it turned out. The colour of the painting is really off.

The rest of whatever time I have has been spent getting ready for the upcoming trek to the Focus on Fibre Art Festival in Alberta. First time I have ever tried to do two classes back to back, but there you go.  Many of the students have signed up for both. Man, will they be tired of me by the end.

And I haven't even visited a single blogger friend lately either. Will catch up soon, hopefully.

What happened to summer?

It is July 30th. I am in the studio wearing long pants and a wool sweater. The furnace was on when I woke up this morning. This has not been Mother Nature's finest summer, that's for sure. And after that winter, I thought she would take a little pity on us. Apparently not!!

On the good news side, the flora here is very happy. Here are some of the roadside plants where we walk each day. There are some thistle-style weeds that tower over my head and I am 5'8" (or at least I used to be).

Someone else who is growing like a weed is the grand baby. He is now 7 months old and seems so big already.  His poor mom has started back to work this week, but his dad is taking over for the other half of the leave. This was the picture that Kris posted of him on Day 2 of Daddy Care. (Note that he has his phone handy, in case he needs to call his mom lol.)

The other benefit of the cooler weather is that it is perfect for hooking. And I have been doing quite a bit in between my paying work. Getting things ready for my big trek out west.  I am doing a few small pieces for samples of hooking in a painterly style.

The moose is very small - just over 5 x 7. The fruit is about 7" square. I have a few more to do and they are very enjoyable and quite quick. I am learning lots as I interpret each one.

Who knows what August will bring, but hopefully a few warmer days. I have only been in the lake once this year and same with the stand up paddle board. If the weather is truly a month behind, maybe we will have July in August.

Critters Get a New Look

In my years of hooking, although the majority of my patterns are original, I have only ever sold TWO. This is the second one. It is the wide cut pattern that I designed to get my certification in the TTEC program (Teacher Training Education and Certification) in the Ontario Hooking Craft Guild.

I called it Critters and I hooked it originally as a square pattern. It has been beside my bed ever since.

It was one of my rugs that I brought to Trent and on visitors' day, someone asked if they could buy the pattern. Just one little change - they wanted a rectangle, not a square. I figured it was no problem - I would just shorten it a tad and add something to either side. And you can never have too many trees, right?

Here is where I netted out after sketching it onto some psuedo red dot.

And here it is on primitive linen, ready to be mailed.

Since I don't design with sales in mind - strictly for my own purposes - it is very flattering when someone asks if they can purchase something from me. And it is wonderful to see what someone else does with it. I guess that is the joy in designing patterns for sale too.

Hopefully, I will get to share the finished mat as well.

Lost a day - gained a background.

Well, somehow it isn't July 6, it's the 7th.  And that has been happening a lot lately. The long weekends in there make it worse, but I generally know the day - just not the date.

Since this morning's post, however, I did get the background done in my little portrait. And I am happy with it.

I wonder why I am so much more forgiving with things done in wool than with things done with paint - or even worse (shudder) a camera.  I guess this is why I like rug hooking as much as I do. And why I LOVE rendering photos into little "snippets". Capturing a moment without too much self criticism is so much better than the alternative.

Anyway, I am happy with this likeness.

July 6 already?

Where did the month go?

Well, a good part of it went to "granding" and "teaching". We had Jackson and his mom here for a full week before my teaching gig at Trent.

I do a bit of a morning shift with Jackson so his mom can head back to bed. I am up already, so it is a natural fit. We hang out and watch a little Treehouse and then the day begins. You do forget how much time and space these little creatures fill.

Then, my wonderful week at Trent. I had a mixed wide cut class called "Primitive or Wide Cut - its up to you". My students would tell you that I have a bit of a fixation about the confusion between the two and my new motto (which they all learned to chant in chorus) is: PRIMITIVE IS A STYLE!! WIDE IS A CUT!! and my class was the perfect example of the difference.

I had about half the class doing PRIMITIVE STYLE rugs, while others in the room were doing geometrics, photo to mat projects or just wide cut rugs - in any style they chose. We had a fabulous week of sharing, learning, watching great videos and they did great work. By the end of a week, it is amazing to see how much everyone has accomplished. They have all promised to share their finished projects, so I should have lots of bragging rights very soon (or at least once the summer is done).

Then, we had our first solo stint with Jackson. His parents went to NYC for a late honeymoon, so we had three days and nights to ourselves. Happy to report no dents, scratches or bruises. Very little sleep as well, since you are constantly listening - afraid he might wake and you won't hear him. No chance of that, I discovered. But here is a "future rug" pic that Rick took of us. Pretty sweet.

And this past weekend, he came with his folks for another visit. Check out the sun suit. Future surfer dude, for sure!!

In between all the "granding", I did manage to do a tiny bit of hooking. I am heading to Edmonton this fall for their Fiber Arts Festival and am teaching a couple of classes. They requested a bio picture and since I don't have one I like much, I decided to hook one. This is where I am at the moment. This is very small - only 5 x 6, so the person who said she would never hook in a 4 cut again, actually did.

Lots of tweaking to do still, but just to prove I have not given up hooking altogether. lol.

Some Bragging

In the little break between the OHCG Annual that just passed and my upcoming class at Trent School of Rug Hooking  I have time to do a quick "braggy" post about my students' work.

They may not be a big group, but they are determined and I enjoy having them here in my studio on Wednesday afternoons. And it is my pleasure to share a little bit of their recent work with you.

First up, a smaller version of my washer/dryer pattern, hooked lovingly and "perfectly" by Shania.
Her handy hubby created a great hanging mechanism and this piece is now displayed proudly at the landing in their beautiful home. at 20" wide by 40" long, it was not a quick hook, but I think that Shania is even impressed by her creation.

Next is a trio of Barb's work. She fell hook, line and sinker for the photo-to-mat techniques. In fact, I may have created a bit of a monster here. Just kidding - these are fantastic! She just has to figure out where to put them. I have suggested a grouping (just like photos) on a wall. They are all about 8 x 10 or smaller.

The only thing I have to share of my own is the sign that I did for the Annual "theme" display. The theme was texture, so this is what I made for the display. I remember doing this when I was a kid. Not this big, but the yarn and nails thing - it was really fun.

Mother and Baby Photo to Mat

Maybe it was influenced by Mothers' Day. This week I hooked this little sketch of my daughter Laura with Jackson. The picture was taken here at our place while they had a little nap on the sofa. I knew when I snapped it, it would become a sketch mat.

And here is the little hooked sketch - only 6 1/2 x 9 - using mostly 6 cut for the face and baby and 8 everywhere else. 

As usual, I played with the photo in befunky.com to simplify the image. This was the "pointillism" treatment, which was interesting. I even considered trying to do a proddy effect. But since I wanted to give this as a gift to Laura, I figured she would prefer this. I really liked the effects it created in the background. 

I also discovered a new online site called snapstouch, which is an even simpler program than befunky.

Here is the painting result from there.

Both of these tools create a simpler "painterly" image to hook from. I prefer the options in befunky for some images, but enjoy being able to try both.  So much simpler than photoshop for getting rid of some of the little details and creating a value sketch. 

Once I got the pattern on the backing, this was a pretty quick little project. And something I am sure she will love to have in the nursery. These are the moments that fly by too quickly and it's nice to save them this way.