Woody Island Rug Hooking Retreat

Sept 30 to Oct. 3, 16 hookers headed out to beautiful Woody Island. During the weekend we had to opportunity to enjoy the beautiful scenery with walks on the beach to collect beachglass for my jewelry(got a few great pieces), walk on some of the beautiful walking trails, and share rugs tips and stories with other rug hookers.

We stayed at the Oceanside lodge, which is to the right of the above picture. There was a great room with large windows along the wall overlooking the ocean where we set up our frames and projects. The large building to the left of Oceanside lodge was the main building where the dining room was housed, among other things.

There were all kinds a beautiful projects on the go. Diane was hooking this large rugs with only Harris Tweed jackets that she had recycled. Isn't it beautiful.

Here is Nicole's sketch of her rug and again hooking her rug 'Baba Yaga' I think the myth is that Baba Yaga was a very wise woman. You could ask her a question, but the question had to be a really good question and she could decide to answer it or not. Apparently if she answered your question, she would age a lot. That is why she only anwered really good questions. Nicole is an amazing artist in a variety of mediums and has a show scheduled at Devon House in St. John's, NL in June, 2012.

Margie is working on her Punch Needle project. This is part of a large panel that she is doing for a peaked ceiling.

Maureen is working on a mat for one of her children for a theatre style rec room.

Pat is working on her Holly mat

Sandra is doing a very bright fun rug, Love Grows. Don't you just love the bright happy colors.

                                        Patty is working on her ATC.

                                                               Here's Paula (Newfoundland Original Hooked Rugs) check out her blog link on my sidebar, Paula is working on a Mummer Tea Cosy. I love the bright colors that Paula always uses. Her work makes me smile.

                                                                 I was working on my seascape Needle Punch project, but forgot to get a picture.  Maybe Paula took one of me, lol.

So looking forward to the Rug Retreat next year. We shared more that rugs, we shared stories, laughter and tears. Hopefully next year, Anne will get to join us.  

Thrift store snags

Went to the thrift store yesterday looking for some old candelabras to display my hats for a trade show in October. Didn't find any. But I did manage to snag 2 bags of wool. This bag cost me a $1.50. Three balls of white Boucle and a few odd bits.

And this bag cost me a $1.00.

 So the trip wasn't a total lost cause, but I still need some candelabras............argh!

New Facebook Page

Hi all, if you click the link for my facebook page and then like my page you will be entered to win a Crocheted flower beanie at the end of September. Your choice of size and color.  See what I'm making on my page. Thanks.

We are having a gorgeous September day here. There is a little chill in the air, but it was a great morning for  a 5km walk.

I love harvest time.

Went berrypicking a few days ago and got these. (Didn't have much time, had to go to work.)

The next day they became this!!!!

If anyone would like the Blueberry crumble recipe, let me know.

There's smoke from them fingers!!

15 Crocheted Flower Beanies in 3 days. The crochet hook is getting hot. Seems like everyone is looking for these little hats for back to school. The weather has been really nice the last couple of days, so I have sat outside before or after work and created these. The colors are as cheerful as the weather :-)

In between this I managed to do two ATC's for trade and a Mug Rug for a friend

This one is gone to Norway, Maine. I incorporated some needle punch in this one.

This one has found a home in Ottawa, ON

And this Mug Rug is gone to Paradise, NL.  I hope everyone enjoys their little treasures. I had fun making them.

RHGNL Rug Camp

The Rug Hooking Guild of Newfoundland and Labrador held it's 16th. Rug Camp at beautiful Kildevil Anglican Camp, Lomond in Gros Morne, NL. Look at the spectacular view we had of the Lomond River and the mountains on the other side.

There were 96 rug hookers in attendance at the camp and we had a marvelous time mingling, hooking, laughing.......

On Friday night we held a Fashion show and the participants had to dress as they did when they turned 16. There were participants there who turned 16 in the 1940's right up to the 1980's. The oldest lady was 83 years old. I wore the dress that I made for my high school graduation. Sorry I don't have a picture, I didn't get to take any at the Fashion show.

I did a course at the Rug Camp in Needle Punch. It was very interesting because we used a lot of novelty yarns in the piece and it gave a nice effect to it. We used an eyelash yarn and it looked like grass.

This is my piece, you work from the top, but the back becomes the right side of your work. Needle Punch is a lot faster than hooking. Here are some of the ladies in the class working on their pieces.

In the background you can see some of our instructor's (Liz Young) finished rugs. Beautiful work. Here are a couple of pictures closer up.

The last picture is similar to the piece that we were working on for our course.

And finally, my certificate. I passed my course and had a wonderful time.

This was my very first Rug Camp, but it will not be my last. Wonderful people, wonderful food and wonderful memories.

Now I have to gear up for the Rug Retreat on beautiful Woody Island, NL from Sept. 30 to Oct. 2. Can't wait.

Avenue of Trees project

Sent off my square to Robyn today for the Avenue of Trees project in Cheongju, Korea.

Had it sent before I realized that I didn't take a picture. It was knit in a soft yellow wool with random leaves knit into it.  Robyn blogs at  http://myfairisle.blogspot.com/.

If I had found out about this project sooner, I would have done some more squares. Hopefully she will meet her goal of 1500 squares.

Tomato plants

I have 9 tomato plants growing in my sunroom. They would not survive outside in our weather for sure. The poor things would need knitted sweaters to keep out the damp chill, and a raincoat to boot!! Now that would be a pretty picture.

Here are some closeups. The first is a large variety tomato.

The next one is the cherry variety. One plant has 28 tomatoes on it so far.

And.................TADA!!!!!! my first harvested tomato. It was so sweet. I am super pumped that my tomatoes are doing so well.

Been real busy

Just finished up some little girl's crocheted beanies for my Etsy site. http://www.etsy.com/shop/lambem

Also, started on my pumpkin hats to get them ready for the fall.

Destashing some of my rug wool. Listed a lot of that on Etsy as well. Here is a sneak peak.

Take a look, there just may be something that you like.

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer so far.

Yeah, summer is here

Summer finally arrived to us this weekend in all her glory......... and it's about b____y time too. Spent a wonderful weekend at the cabin. Friday night, three of my sisters arrived to spend the night with me. Mom's birthday was earlier in the week and they had come out to celebrate with her.

She turned 83 on the 21st. We had a birthday cake and other treats at the long

term facility and invited the staff and the other residents to drop by. It was a nice afternoon.  Here are two of my sisters on the left side, mom in the center and me on the right side.

These are my sisters beachcombing. This is the beach where I find most of the seaglass that I use in my jewelry.

And here are my socks drying on a rock. I always manage to get caught by a rogue wave that fills my rubbers with sea water. That's half the fun of it.

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer so far.                                                                

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all my blogger friends. I hope you spent a lovely day surrounded by all the wonderful people in your lives.

I spent part of my day visiting my Mother, she was in great spirits yesterday.
My two children called with Mother's Day greetings. Had supper with my husband and then my best friend came by last night for a visit. I know I had a lovely day.    

Here is the progress on my latest rug - Our Family Home. Basically, all that is left is the house itself, the sky and the border. Haven't done a lot of hooking lately, too much going on with other activities.

Freaky Friday

I had a day Friday like Kim's Mondays. http://milliesmats.blogspot.com/ I left home at 7 A.M. to go to Grand Bank for  Census 2011 training. Yes, I got the job. I had a little over a quarter of a tank (which was lots for a 69 km drive) and figured I would get gas on the way back this afternoon. About 15 kms into my drive my gashand dropped down really fast. I stopped my Sportage and got out thinking my gas tank had to be leaking.... No, everything was fine there. When I got to Lamaline, which was about another 8 - 10 kms. away, I pulled into the gas station thinking they were open because there was an SUV parked close to the pump.

No such luck. So I continued on driving through Lamaline. I noticed a man walking along the left side of the road and all of a sudden a little Beagle cross ran up over the right side of the road in front of me.

I slammed on the brakes so hard I know the back of the Sportage must have come up off the pavement. Luckily the dog was unscathed, I think that I gave myself whiplash and an almost heart attack.   Finally I reached Fortune and pulled into the gas station and FILLED UP my tank.

After my training session, I took a little side trip to the local thrift store and snagged this red and black houndstooth jacket

On the way home I stopped in to see Anne   http://annesoriginalhookedrugs.blogspot.com/    to drop off some fodge I had for her. We had a lovely visit and a cup of tea and I went home with this

A dozen delicious farm fresh eggs. Thanks Anne.

Wonderful Weekend

Friday started off the weekend with a lovely supper of Fishcakes not complete  without a side of Million Dollar Pickles. Two of my sisters came home to spend some time with Mom. We cooked a marvelous meal of Baked Ham, Roasted Russet potatoes, Roasted Sweet Potatoes, Broccoli and Corn, followed by Bakeapple Cheesecake, Lemon Meringue Pie and Cheesecake Brownies... Can you say too full. We took the meal into the hospital and set up in  the Therapeutic Room so Mom could join us. (It's just too hard to bring her out because she is not mobile at all now. We had a marvelous time.

Then on Sunday we had a great feed of lobster cooked in salt water from the ocean ( the best way to cook them).

And here are my ducks. They come up to my deck every day now to get some bread scraps.

My sisters went back today, glad to have spent some time with Mom. A wonderful weekend

Duck Pond

You know you have had a lot of rain when.... you look out into your yard and there are ponds of water everywhere and two ducks decided to take over one of them. Didn't get to take a picture, but it was pretty funny.  I bought out some bread  and gave them a little treat.

They are tame ducks and I think they are looking for a place to build their nest.

Got Roped into it!!!!

We held a meeting last night to form a cabinowners association for the purpose of raising funds to repair and maintain the old road to our cabins in Roundabout and Lance aux Barques. Before I left the house, I told my husband that I was not going to take the Chairman position... but yeah, you guessed it, I got roped into it. I don't know how to say the word NO.

My mind is working overtime today trying to think of some good and different fundraisers that we could use.

If anyone has any ideas, I would love to hear them.

Toodles,

Melaine