Tuesday was the year end get together for the Sunshine Rughookers….a day of hooking…a yummy pot luck…friends to visit…..hooking projects to see….and all at a wonderful lakeside location. 

Mary Lou had a slide show and many wonderful stories from the opening of The Rug Hooking Museum of North America in Nova Scotia. (we had two representatives there…Mary Lou, and Linda Wilson)

It was a perfect day…but oh so hot! I had no swimsuit, but not to be dissuaded by such a tiny detail…I stripped off my t-shirt…and swam in my clothes. Cold water never felt sooooo good. Spending the rest of the day in wet pants and underwear was a small price to pay for being cool.  (no alcohol was involved in this incident)

That speck in the water is me ….perfectly decent with only my head showing. (Gayle couldn’t believe I’d do such a thing., and grabbed my camera to take the picture)

Later in the day we watched a loon swimming by and a great blue heron flying past…..all this within the city limits.

Cynthia and Helen had just returned from taking a course in Cornwall England, and shared their wonderful adventure with us..  Helen, brought her work and told us all about how they came up with their designs…fascinating!  All based on de-constructing and re-creating. Everything was hooked with “as is” found fabrics picked up at used clothing stores….and chosen solely for the colours and effects they could provide. T shirts, skirts, dresses, shawls…anything at all was used.

Helen’s piece…a tribute to her mother….is based on her mother’s Tomato Butter, a family favourite. Helen transferred the actual recipe to cloth and hooked it into the bottom right of the piece. The rest shows the various components or the Tomato butter. What a special memento this will be!

Cheri and Gail have just returned from a trip to the states, where they spent a day with fibre artist Rea Harrell. This was not their first visit to her studio, and they were drawn back again by her wonderful and innovative work.

This amazing “container” made by Rea, was first crocheted, then the hooking was done into the crocheting, with a variety of other techniques, like the coiled wool, yarn and beads etc

Lucky Cheri and Gayle, had a day’s workshop with her and this is Gail’s piece.

….and Cheri’s

Both Gail and Cheri are talented innovative artists in their own right, and used to hooking in the “freeform” style with purposely uneven heights, so the biggest change for them was keeping the loops once again even and uniform in these pieces. They practiced the designing by drawing with their eyes closed.

Jean brought another interesting rug. Here’s the story behind it.

A number of years ago, a gentleman gave her this large, nearly finished rug. It had been hooked by his wife, who had passed away, and he didn’t want it. It didn’t come with any wool, and wondering how best to finish it, Jean rolled it up, put it in a closet and forgot about it.

She doesn’t want the rug, and so once again the Sunshine hookers are debating about how best to finish it and put it to good use.

I took photos of many people’s work, but I know I missed some as well…so here’s a sampling ….and any details I can remember about the pieces…

Isabel’s moose from Wendie’s photo mat workshop is finished. She’s debating on the colour to use for binding it.

This is a stool cover, being hooked by Jeanne.

Barb says her butterfly piece keeps growing and growing.

This landscape is nearly finished.

The edge of this piece is being crocheted with wool dyed in coffee….never tried that…but what a great colour.

The extra “spark ” of colour was added at the request of the hooker’s son.

This lighthouse was on a table, unattended, so I have no information on it.

We have a sister group of hookers in Gravenhurst, a town about 25 miles north, and they joined us for the day. Here is some of their work.

Wow!

This hooker is making a rug for her dog, who has recently been ill.

This wonderful “muskoka” pine is being hooked from the photo.

…and I saved the best till last…

…our wonderful Hilda…90 plus years young, and unable to see…she still hooks up a storm, and enjoys a day’s outing with friends.

What a great way to start the summer!