Monthly Archives: September 2011

Set Up and Take Off

Posted on by
2

Thursday morning was spent at the Simcoe County Museum in Midhurst (just outside Barrie Ontario) helping to set up for the Quilt and Rug Fair. The quilters have by far the biggest display, and have a large room all to themselves. We share a smaller room with the weavers. While the show is actually on, I’ll be busy, so I took pictures after the set up was pretty well finished.

Here is the Draw table ….ready to go.

Dscf3424
Dscf3431

Some items are for display, and some for sale….wouldn’t you love to have Kathy’s wonderful piece hanging in your home? It’s a picture of her grandparent’s garage.

Dscf3427

The museum has installed picture rails (which we didn’t know until we arrived) so our set up plan went out the window, and an entirely different display style was used. Next year, we’ll know to have small dowels for the tops of the rugs so they don’t sag. The four seasons rug at the top was hooked by Hilda Hayes…our beloved 90+ years young blind  hooker (with finishing and assistance by Gail Mueller)….designed by and hooked for her granddaughter. The colour panel on the right…hooked by Linda Wilson…should really hang horizontally and is a depiction of the colours of the spectrum and sound waves for a particular fragment of song …an amazingly creative piece!

Dscf3428

Some of the rugs are done by the Barrie group, so I don’t know anything about them…but the middle one here…Margaret hooked for her husband…and used just outlines of local swamp critters and flowers. I think the monochromatic style is striking! The antique car belongs to the hooker’s husband.

Dscf3430

My hall rug, and beside it a large piece of weaving (which wasn’t up when I too this picture), are appropriately in ‘the hall’ to lure people to our areas.

Dscf3425Dscf3425
Dscf3426
Dscf3432
Dscf3429Dscf3429

Here are some of the items on the sales tables

Dscf3435
Dscf3433
Dscf3434

Our group’s featured items this year were proddy pins and patchwork cats.Apparently we have more than 60 brooches for sale…wow!

That’s the ‘Set Up’ portion of this blog…now for the take off…

On Tuesday Ray and I leave again for a fall camping trip (sure hope it warms up a bit) . We get home on September 27th, so I’ll see you then. 

A change is as good as a rest????

Posted on by
Reply

I have finished the background of Hygieia, and have only the neckpiece and bracelet to complete.

Dscf3422

But I haven’t pulled a loop on it all week. I learned on Monday that there was an area at the Quilt and Rug Fair this weekend that needed a large rug…So I decided to do the finishing on my large hall rug in a BIG hurry.

Dscf3423

It’s 45″ x 66″ and that was a LOT of whipping to do in 2 days…but Whew…I did it, and today I just have to sew the remaining tape edge down, and steam the edges.

It was actually a great thing to have this deadline…the hooking has been finished for nearly a year, but I needed this goal to do the ‘dreaded’ whipping . 

These are the pieces for our ‘draw’ at the Quilt and Rug Fair this weekend….

Dscf3415

The three items represent three very different styles of hooking.

Dscf3416

Luise Bishop hooked these adorable polar bears….fine shading done in a 3 cut.

Dscf3417

Cheri Hempseed designed and hooked this tea cosy  with hand cut mixed fibers

Dscf3418Dscf3418

Linda Wilson hooked this wonderful Santa and Christmas tree.

Here are  some of the items made for the sale table.

Dscf3414

There will also be lots of rugs on display…as well as quilts (always a huge number and breathtaking), weaving, embroidery, and other fiber arts that I’ve likely forgotten. If you’re in the area of Barrie Ontario this weekend…pop in to the Simcoe County Museum….you won’t be sorry!

and next…

Posted on by
4

While I’m finishing up the hooking on the background of Hygieia, I’ve been planning what I’ll do next. 

I have two projects planned. The first is an 8″x8″ piece for a yahookers swap. The theme is winter…I found this old Christmas card, and I think I’ll try to adapt the picture on it

Dscf3406
Dscf3407

I should be able to find plenty of scraps to do it……talk about going from the sublime to the ridiculous…sizewise!

The second is a pattern I fell in love with when I saw it…by Heidi Kramer. I’ve never done anything really whimsical before, and this pattern just ticked me to no end…

Dscf3399

.the fat cat sitting on a flower. I have a fat cat of my own…Akuma…a seal point siamese…and I’d love to hook at least a representation of him.

Dscf3396

My other cat Akira….is a lilac point…and his colours would make the project easier (pale cream and blue grey points) . Then a background would be simple….But the fact is he’s skinny as a rail, and I just can’t make him fat! 

So here I am again…haven’t even pulled a loop, and already I’m debating about backgrounds….what will I use against pale flowers and a leaves, and a sable cat. This time I’m going to settle it before I even begin.

For diversion from hooking the background of Hygieia….

Dscf3400

I hooked the bowl with a dip dye I had left over from my hall runner,

Dscf3401

and fiddled around with the choker…using an 8 value swatch

Dscf3402

….not sure if that technique/colours will stay….it looks a bit too Mexican for a greek goddess.

Finally..?????

Posted on by
6

My mind has been in a swirl about this background….making and discarding options both physically and mentally.

While I liked each choice on its own, I didn’t like the first two backgrounds when the piece was viewed as a whole…particularly against the gown. I didn’t like the blue against the red and yellow, and the green was too busy and competed with the dress.

Klimt’s backgrounds are usually one of his distinctive features, but in this case..in his Hygieia….the distinctive portions of the background were the tortured embodiments of disease and illness which presumably Hygieia (representing the field of medicine) would stave off.

Dscf3352

I chose not to include the background figures, so when I thought about it…my background serves no other purpose than enhancing the figure of Hygieia. I like the green against the red, so I decided to keep that basic colour, and altered it by eliminating all the pale  and variegated greens which stood out too much. Now the  background  is all the same value and quite muted, with just a few touches of a bit darker wool to give it some vitality. To me , it makes the reds look rich and somewhat antique-ee…and I like how it doesn’t fight for attention.

Dscf3379

With the flash, lighter strips show up which aren’t visible  in natural light.

I liked how the pale green popped the red in the ribbons around her head, and for awhile, contemplated either just leaving it, or creating a bit of an aura with the pale green extended around her headpiece which gradually would fade into the more muted colours.

Once again I decided it would be too distracting, and there wasn’t enough background space above her head to develop it properly, so I opted for the more muted alternative, and pulled out all the pale green. It’s a good thing that linen is forgiving…by now I’d hooked parts of that section 4 times. (and have a large bag of pale green cut strips)…..You would think that after four times…I’d finally have it right…..but no!

Dscf3388

When it was finished…it was just too blah…

Dscf3390

…and wasn’t a close enough match with the background.

I couldn’t forget how the light green gave it life

Dscf3387

….so….I took some of the light green strips I’d pulled out….cut them down the centre and hooked them just along the edge of the ribbons. That was a step in the right direction…..but those sections (being just up and down…since it was too small a space for the wiggly motif of the rest of the background)….meant that it just didn’t “go” with the rest of the background.

Dscf3389

My final solution, was to hook these spaces in the same curly motif and colours of the background, using a #6 cut rather than the #8 of the background, so that it was possible in the confined space. So out it came once again…and I’m rehooking it for the LAST time.  (6 times lucky)

Dscf3391

The left side (as you look at it) is finished.  WHew…..now I’m satisfied with it. I’m not going to think about it or alter it any more…at least until it’s finished. OK out comes the right side…ever onward and upward.