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.