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DESIGN #16 - JACOBEAN/GEOMETRIC TREE SKIRT

5/20/2023

I thought I would do something fun for the month of April creating a new pattern every day from Monday to Friday but life got in the way and on the last week I got overwhelmed and too busy and couldn’t produce. Then Henri passed away and grief held me prisoner, I’m still reeling and finding it difficult to to function normally. But, life goes on…..

This is the design I was working on before my life crumbled. I plan to launch the other four patterns that fulfills my promised commitment of 20 in the coming days.

Design #16 – Jacobean/Geometric Tree Skirt 54” wide from opposite points.

This may look fairly uncomplicated but it was a chore to design and draw on the linen so that everything lined up perfectly. The grid had to be symmetrical and I don’t know how many times I had to erase and start over until I got it right. The Jacobean part was easier and whipped up faster. I got the idea from a tree skirt I saw made out of men’s ties all sewn together. I thought it was clever and beautiful and the idea was born.

This pattern has eight points, a bit different from the typical round of a tree skirt. Four segments have a geometric pattern and then the other four segments sport a Jacobean pattern, two each with the same design. At first, I was working on four different Jacobean designs but a wise bird told me that it would be more complicated to colour plan with extra variations of Jacobean motifs and unless the skirt is viewable from all sides the two towards the back wouldn’t be seen as much so why not keep it simple. Besides, a tree skirt is a decorator item that isn’t usually shown for more than two weeks to a month so why make it more complicated when it’s not going to be viewed all year long. Trust me it is going to be spectacular. An heirloom in the making that will be passed down from generation to generation. For those of you that love Christmas so much that a decorated artificial tree is in your Livingroom twelve months of the year, it’ll being the wow factor time and again.

I would hook the grid of the geometric in a wide cut #6 or #7 so it has prominence and it would be a gold or a green in keeping with a Christmas colour theme. I was thinking red behind the grid just because there really isn’t a better colour for me or the season. I haven’t given much thought about the Jacobean segments, but they would have an alternating-coloured background from the red geometric segments, perhaps a green, or white? I don’t plan to hook this one myself so I will be thrilled to see what the rug hooker chooses to do who buys the pattern. Of course, if you should need help, I am here to lend a hand.

DESIGN #16 - JACOBEAN/GEOMETRIC TREE SKIRT 54" From point to opposite point
https://www.encompassingdesigns.com/new-designs.html

5 Comments

DESIGN #15 - GEOMETRIC MELANGE

4/25/2023

3 Comments

I thought I would do something fun for the month of April. The creative juices are flowing and I am working on twenty new patterns to add to our line of designs. I will be launching them all this month. Five patterns a week from Monday to Friday, starting today and winding down on Friday 28th. Some are smaller, some larger and all else in between. There are a few new Christmas designs, a bit of whimsy, a geometric, an interesting contemporary choice, etc. Let’s see what I can pull out of my hat.

Design #15 is called GEOMETRIC MELANGE

Although I really like this design, I question what I was thinking. Every line has to be straight on the grain so that means 95% of it had to be drawn by hand, not with a red dot but with a pencil in the grooves of the weave and then darkened in with a marker. Labour intensive to say the least. Maybe, just maybe this might be a one off, once sold it could be retired just because it wouldn’t be cost effective unless the price was reflected in the labour and materials. There is only so much of a ceiling to what I can charge for a pattern, but then again perhaps I’m wrong. The other day I saw a pattern that would take me five minutes to draw and was 11” x 14” and priced at $58.00. I’d call that was highway robbery with a side order of gouging but people are paying those prices while I have detailed patterns that take hours to draw that I’m told are too expensive.
My patterns are priced for size and detail. If you like my kind of designing and see the love I put into each one, you are greatly appreciated. I’m a diverse designer, never the same pattern twice with a full gamut of topics. I like to think there is something for everyone. And you know that whatever comes out of the studio is top quality, perfectly drawn designs that will stand the test of time. Every purchase of every pattern is a feel-good moment for me.

Something funny happened the other day when a long term customer dropped by for a chat. The person saw my sketch book on the desk featuring a new design I was playing with and said, “That’s nice”. Then added in a question form, “You can draw?” I chuckled inside but kept a straight face and said, “Who do you think draws all these patterns?” This person has hooked for a number of years and has completed many of my patterns so I’m not sure where it came from. Perhaps a bit of foot in mouth? Just in case others wonder as well, our designs don’t come from China and they don’t fall off the turnip truck, they are inhouse creations by myself, Deborah Sweet and others.

So this little gem is a geometric lovers dream. Once again, hubby named it, perhaps I need to put him on the payroll? The name is kind of perfect actually, like him.

Design #15 – Geometric Melange 20" x 31"
https://www.encompassingdesigns.com/new-designs.html

3 Comments

DESIGN #14 - LIFE'S A BEACH!

4/21/2023

2 Comments

DESIGN #13 - GINGERBREAD TREEATS

4/20/2023

0 Comments

DESIGN #12 - SANTA'S WISH; CHRISTMAS SNOW

4/19/2023

12 Comments

I thought I would do something fun for the month of April. The creative juices are flowing and I am working on twenty new patterns to add to our line of designs. I will be launching them all this month. Five patterns a week from Monday to Friday, starting today and winding down on Friday 28th. Some are smaller, some larger and all else in between. There are a few new Christmas designs, a bit of whimsy, a geometric, an interesting contemporary choice, etc. Let’s see what I can pull out of my hat.

DESIGN #12 – Santa’s Wish; Christmas Snow

This cutey depicts what everyone wants for Christmas, snow. Young or old we want it white during the holidays. Years ago, it was pretty much guaranteed, and those toboggans, sleds and ice skates Santa brought got a lot of use that very day. Nowadays, its not a given, and it can be more brown than white and because of it, I’m not sure if sleds and skates are still top priorities as gifts under the tree.

As a child I had a lot of questions. How did Santa visit us when we didn’t have a fireplace with the customary chimney entrance, but apparently he had a magic key to unlock the front door, not a grand entrance but he got the job done. If it hadn’t snowed I kept an eye on the weather until bedtime, waiting for the snow to come fearful that Santa was not going to arrive in his sleigh with his eight tiny reindeer. Dad would make up a tale of horses and wagons, planes, trains and automobiles, whatever was necessary to reward all the good little girls and boys. Much to my delight, the old fella came no matter what and never disappointed. Truthfully, as a child in the 50’s and #60’s I don’t recall many Christmases that weren’t white, in December there would have been at least an older storm with snow still lingering. I remember those snowstorms of the past, snow ploughed almost up to the top of telephone poles, banks so high houses were lost from sight. We used to tunnel and make forts that we could stand up in, not that I was that tall back then but still, pretty impressive. We played outside until our mittens were soaked and our fingers were numb, we had red cheeks and nose candles. Those were the days.

Santa always preferred the reindeer and sleigh of course, he could land on roof tops and slip down the chimneys. He only ran into trouble if there wasn’t a chimney and had to land in the driveway. I don’t think anyone wanted snow on Christmas Eve more than Santa, I would imagine the view from his sleigh with the moon on the breast of the new fallen snow gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below. How brilliantly super.

DESIGN #12 – Santa’s Wish, Christmas Snow 25” x 32”
https://www.encompassingdesigns.com/new-designs.html

12 Comments

DESIGN #11 - GINGERBREAD HOUSE II

4/19/2023

2 Comments

I thought I would do something fun for the month of April. The creative juices are flowing and I am working on twenty new patterns to add to our line of designs. I will be launching them all this month. Five patterns a week from Monday to Friday, starting today and winding down on Friday 28th. Some are smaller, some larger and all else in between. There are a few new Christmas designs, a bit of whimsy, a geometric, an interesting contemporary choice, etc. Let’s see what I can pull out of my hat.

Design #11 is called GINGERBREAD HOUSE II

Once again life has gotten in the way of getting out the next design. I haven’t said much about my poodle Henri being ill unless you have visited the shop and it got brought up, so most don’t know what we’ve been going through. He started with a murmur and now his heart is so enlarged that it presses on his trachea making him cough and choke when excited or if he does the downward facing dog stretch or holds his head a certain way. I bring him to work with me because he would get so excited when I arrive home, he’d probably pass out. In his final weeks, months, possibly a year I want him with me 24/7. Covid has made this easy, hubby and I haven’t eaten out or had any kind of social life since the plague hit and if I go into the grocery store hubby is in the car with him.

Henri had an appointment at the vet college in PEI last October and we were told that by April of this year he would probably be in congestive heart failure but knock on wood, he has not progressed any further since that visit and his resting heart rate is anywhere between 14 and 18, down from 20 when he first saw the cardiologist. Fantastic proof that his lungs aren’t filling up with fluid as the water separates from the blood while pumping through the malfunctioning heart, signaling the end is nearing. I home feed him so he’s healthy so we are hoping things progress really slowly. He really wants to go sailing this summer, yup he told me, he loves the breeze in his hair, his ears flopping in the wind. He's my soulmate pup and I can’t think of what will come, of a life without my precious peanut, so we are both living in the moment.

Yesterday Henri had a bug of some kind and threw up his undigested breakfast around 3:00 PM in the shop followed by a splash of diarrhea so I left work early to bring him home and care for him, make sure his electrolytes were good and kept him hydrated. Today he is back to his normally jolly self so whatever that was passed. My pups come first in my life so the pattern was left on the desk waiting for the remaining darkening and photo today.

So here it is folks. My second gingerbread house. This one is a bit smaller and the front and back of the house is oriented differently. I plan to make another one, different once again, for a set of three and create a small village scene in the back room on the antique mantel.

Each one has different elements so they are exciting to hook. I haven’t assembled this one yet but I took a photo of the pieces already glued to their backings. I’ve designed and hooked two gingerbread trees with a third one in the making and there will be hooked suckers added to the village for splashes of candy colours to add to this sweet-toothed scene.

I loved designing and hooking these houses. They are better than the real thing without all the calories and messy, crumbling with age. Every year you can haul them out of storage looking as good as the day they were made. And if you are a Christmas kid at heart maybe you’ll leave them out to enjoy all year.

Gingerbread House II 10 ½” Tall at the peek
https://www.encompassingdesigns.com/new-designs.html

2 Comments

DESIGN #10 - AUTUMN PAISLEY

4/17/2023

11 Comments

I thought I would do something fun for the month of April. The creative juices are flowing and I am working on twenty new patterns to add to our line of designs. I will be launching them all this month. Five patterns a week from Monday to Friday, starting today and winding down on Friday 28th. Some are smaller, some larger and all else in between. There are a few new Christmas designs, a bit of whimsy, a geometric, an interesting contemporary choice, etc. Let’s see what I can pull out of my hat.

DESIGN #10 is AUTUMN PAISLEY

Well, I seem to be one pattern behind because today is supposed to be #11 but I will catch up this week. This project was probably more ambitious than I realized but I guarantee by the 28th of April I will have launched 20 new patterns, come heck or high water. I'm having a great deal of fun, and after what I've been through with Long Haul Covid, it's a breath of fresh air to be creating again. The smart thing would have been to design them all in advance and then launch them each day with ease, but when do I ever do anything easy or simple. I stopped beating myself up over the weekend end when I couldn’t make it to the shop to do up an extra one to fulfill the quota for last week.

It’s a big deal to draw a pattern on paper, work out the details and make sure it is hookable, create the red dot and then draw out the design on linen with a sharpie. The lines are always too light after the red dot is removed and they all need going over with a marker to darken them. It’s very labour intensive to be as neat as possible. Most of these new patterns, and most of our designs in general, are not simple with few lines and little detail. Most are crammed with creative elements; interesting borders and a lot are of decent size.

Today’s #10 is the largest so far in this project and I must be honest and admit that it was actually created several years ago so it isn't new to me but it is to you. It was forgotten in the heap of semi-finished designs, in various forms of completion, that are cluttering up my office. I truly forgot this one, being distracted by the business of running a shop. I’ve been digging around my office for various bits and bobs of ideas and notes and discovered it. I also unearthed a pattern I created back in 2000 that is the largest one to date, that I only made once, it sold and was hooked by a very talented rug hooker in Yarmouth in yarn and although I’ve not seen it finished, I heard it was spectacular. The poor pattern was then retired by a slip of memory. I was tickled pink to see it again and plan to make it up at a later time as it would take me all week to draw it out.

I used the center of Autumn Paisley as a free pattern in the Rug Hooking Guild of Nova Scotia newsletter The Loop back in 2016 so it’s been around awhile. I love the marriage of paisley and an October harvest of pumpkins, pomegranates, flowers, leaves and acorns. I even coloured it in at one point with these gorgeous autumnal colours and still managed to forgot about it. The initial drawing was small, 8” x 10” so I sent it out to be enlarged to 34” x 41 ½”, made the red dot and transferred it to linen today. For those that like hooking with wider cuts this pattern is perfect with the larger details and motifs, but for those that prefer the finer cuts, it would be perfect as well.

Autumn Paisley 34” x 41 ½”
https://www.encompassingdesigns.com/new-designs.html

Autumn Paisley coloured in using Photoshop.

11 Comments

DESIGN #9 - VANISHING POINT

4/15/2023

5 Comments

I thought I would do something fun for the month of April. The creative juices are flowing and I am working on twenty new patterns to add to our line of designs. I will be launching them all this month. Five patterns a week from Monday to Friday, starting today and winding down on Friday 28th. Some are smaller, some larger and all else in between. There are a few new Christmas designs, a bit of whimsy, a geometric, an interesting contemporary choice, etc. Let’s see what I can pull out of my hat.

Design #9 is called VANISHING POINT

Sorry I am two days late. I’m here in the shop on my own Thursday and Friday and it’s been busy. Then I bungled the first of this pattern and had to do it over. For all those that struggle drawing patterns I can relate. Although with 24 years experience drawing them on a large scale, I might be considered an expert at it but I still goof up occasionally. This morning I was distracted by hubby asking for assistance hanging a shelf in the dye kitchen for the big box of tin foil which I happily complied with, but when I started back at the pattern, I’d forgotten how the center went and put lines where they shouldn’t have been. The air was blue for a bit and my toe hurts from kicking the desk and when I couldn’t erase the marker lines, I resigned to the fact that it had to be done over and done right. A blood pressure meter would have come in handy to check to see if my head was about to explode but then again, maybe it's best not to know these things. I was under pressure to get it done for Thursday and now late, I wasn’t in the best form for taking it easy so my brain was rushing and the marker hand followed suit.

This one was a lot of hand drawn lines and the first pattern has to be perfect for the website photo. A photo will highlight a mistake as if a blinking neon arrow is pointing it out. The vanishing point comes out of each corner, criss-cross and then diminishes into a fine point in the middle of the rug, creating a diamond pattern in the center that houses squares within squares. I think they play well with the triangle's created in each quadrant by the vanishing points. Once again Hubby named it.

I love geometric design, anything ranging from traditional to contemporary. I once visited a home where the floors were covered in large hand-hooked rugs. They were the perfect complement to a step back in the past his home represented with all the wonderful antiques the owner, a past dealer, had accumulated. It struck me that even though the colours varied from rug to rug they were all perfectly cohesive. The common denominator was the geometric designs and they blended beautifully.

Vanishing Point 21 ½” x 36”
https://www.encompassingdesigns.com/new-designs.html

5 Comments

DESIGN #8 - HOO-TIFUL

4/13/2023

9 Comments

DESIGN #7 - DASHING ST. NICK

4/11/2023

3 Comments

DESIGN #6 - WORK BEFORE PLAY

4/11/2023

3 Comments

Design #5 - YOU GROW GIRL!

4/8/2023

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Design #4 - RANDOM RADII

4/6/2023

2 Comments

This was the cardboard insert that inspired this design. Sometimes the most insignificant thing can bring about creativity.

2 Comments

Design #3 - SNOWBROS

4/5/2023

1 Comment

Design #2 EWE IN DISGUISE

4/4/2023

15 Comments

Design #1 HAPPINESS IS.....

4/3/2023

6 Comments

The hook-in is back!

3/30/2023

0 Comments

Left-handed rug hooking....

3/20/2023

9 Comments

This blog is for all the people that think it is more of a hindrance than a help to use their left hand for crafts. I’ve written about this topic back in 2014 for International Left-Handed day, a special day reserved for roughly 10% of the population that are left-handed, and after last week’s comments from two customers browsing in the studio, I thought I’d revisit the topic at hand, pardon the pun.

I have this corny line I use on new visitors to the studio asking in a cajoling way “Are you hookers or lookers?”. A conversation always ensues. I am delighted when I hear, “Yes, I’m a hooker” and we chat enthusiastically about what is on our frame, but if they say “No, I’m not a rug hooker.”, I hear wistfully that, “I’ve always wanted to try.” or, “My grandmother did it.” or, “I admire rugs.” but sometimes I hear, “I’d love to learn but I’m left-handed so I can’t do it”.

Sadness and indignation well up in me. I’m so sorry for anyone that’s been led to believe that they can’t do something solely on their left-handedness. It’s not like we are attempting brain surgery, it is rug hooking. We are colouring with wool, following the precursor of colouring with crayons. How unkind to be told they are incapable because of the dominant hand they use. These statements start early in life stealing one’s confidence or failing to build it up in the first place. Being a left-handed person myself, I have never been told I have a useless appendage so I never thought twice about attempting new things. It is absolutely ludicrous that someone might struggle to complete a task because they use what is perceived as the wrong hand.

I’m here to tell you, STOP THE NEGATIVE DIALOG IN YOUR HEAD, IT’S A BALD-FACED LIE.

Now, I will admit that both right- and left-handed people may struggle with a craft. I’ve taught enough students to know that rug hooking is not for everyone but the success or failure has never been dependent on the hand they use. It might be a lack of patience, a clumsiness in the hand eye coordination, arthritis, allergies to wool, some of the more common handicaps that thwart the efforts but, I’ve never failed to teach and not make an impact because of left handiness. Many of my students have been left-handed and astonishingly, I once taught ten beginners and the entire class was left-handed! No one failed that day and what they produced in class held promise for future projects. At this time, I would like to send out this promise to anyone thinking that they can’t rug hook because of their “southpaw” to come and see me and I will show you how utterly simple it is to excel. Little tricks about how to hold your hook can be all it takes to master the technique. I will encourage you and praise you, as we climb over the fence to the green grass on the left-hand side.

The personal anecdote I like to use to explain how negative comments can impact on how we think is my inability to swim. I can do a mean froggy dip in shallow water but I can’t seem to stay afloat in water over my head. I’ve almost drowned three times, once after foolishly jumping into the deep end of the town pool, it looked so easy what could go wrong? I was hauled to the side with a life ring while the little kiddies stood along the deck staring at me like I was from another planet.

I am physically fit. As a matter of fact, I have a lot of upper body strength from years of hard work, stirring and lifting dye pots to the sink, gardening and all the other labours that require those muscles. But, put me in the ocean and my limbs go rigid, taking me directly to the bottom like a downward torpedo. How can this be? Why can’t I at least float, especially in salt water? Why can’t I use my arms and legs to push my way to the surface? I’ll tell you why. FEAR. INSTILLED FEAR. Fear is what immobilizes me, telling me I can’t do it and turns my physical body into a sack of rocks on a one way trip to the bottom.

Interesting, one evening in my early twenties I drank a bottle of beer and not having done much elbow bending I was pretty tipsy. A bunch of us were hanging out at Clearland lake and someone said, lets swim to the raft. Inebriated I ran into the water and swam like a mermaid alongside my friends to the middle of the lake. The beer killed the part of my brain that told me I couldn’t do it, the fear melting away like ice in the sun. Even thru the alcohol haze I was amazed. Obviously, physical ability wasn’t holding me back, a mental road-block was. That evening provoked self analysis and a memory floated to the surface. I remembered, as a small child, how my family always went to the beach Sunday afternoons with a picnic lunch and Dad’s guitar and mouth organ. What a grand time we had building sandcastles, collecting seashells and dipping our toes in the surf with a backdrop of Dad’s country serenades. All was wonderful until we ventured further out in the water up to our calves. The music stopped, Dad was on his feet cupping his hands to his mouth to megaphone the warnings, “Don’t go out any farther, you’ll drown and I won’t be able to save you!”. Dad’s toes would cramp and curl in the cold water. He never had the fun of playing in the ocean and now he was killing our fun as well. To him the ocean depths meant death, drowning our fun without even getting our bathing suit wet. Even today from beyond the grave, Dad is still quelling my ability to swim as his warnings play on a loop in my subconscious.

So, it makes me wonder what happened to these left-handed women that think they can only sit on the sidelines and admire what others have done. I have lost count of the number of times this has been confessed to me. I’m shocked momentarily and then my mouth is in gear sharing the knowledge that I am left-handed and don’t really see any difference between the outcome of using either hand to complete tasks.   There is no difference, I’m proof of that and because we lefties draw literally and figuratively from the creative, right side of the brain we are apparently gifted. I launch into all the reasons this is an ugly rumour that needs to be relegated to the dust bin of history. These mental blocks start in childhood and stay insidiously with us into the present, perhaps with a little ill-placed discouragement from parents and teachers that didn’t understand how to help and encourage our abilities. Perhaps their righthandedness confused them when teaching a left-handed child for example, to knit or play guitar, perhaps they gave up leaving a lasting imprint on the child’s mind. Left handiness has had centuries of negative connotations, built on tales, not facts, but its time to bust that myth and show the world we also rule.

Another customer told me last week that in elementary school she was forced to keep her left hand behind her back as not to be confused while forcing the dominance of her right hand. The customer told me she became so distraught that at one point she wrote an assignment backwards, from right to left. I can’t even imagine what traumatic rewiring was created in her brain. What a horrible message she received, alienating a part of her body that was naturally dominant.

In my childhood tale of woe, my left-hand knuckles were whacked with a ruler as a sharp reminder to stop what I was doing naturally to conform to a certain way of holding a pencil in grade three. I was forced to position my left hand in a very uncomfortable and sometimes painful way but at least the misguided teacher allowed me to use my left hand. My dad, also a lefty, was punished by the same old spinster decades earlier to conform to her demands. He unfortunately did and his writing was a mess, other than his signature we couldn’t make out a word that he wrote. Being the secretary for the United Church, I’m sure all the minutes were illegible, basically on par with trying to read a foreign language.

Being singled out, my shy demeaner took a hit in front of the classroom and I was left stigmatized from the trauma. I felt like the freak of grade three and I never took a left-handed seat for the rest of my elementary years, hiding my difference in an uncomfortable right-handed seat. A century back, I might have been burned at the stake after being accused of dabbling in witchery. A complete contrast today from being slapped on the back for my right brained talents that flow from my left hand.

“Educator” and spinster, Miss Ernst was a breaker of children’s spirits. If she couldn’t strap the boys into submission, it wasn’t from a lack of trying. I saw that leather strap come out more in grade three than all others grades combined. Spare the rod and spoil the child seemed to be her mantra that she practiced often. No one would allow a brute like that in the school system today. Any teacher that can empty a child’s bladder with a piercing stare shouldn’t be in charge of their young, impressionable mind. The shaking that initiated from the fear I felt as I opened my report card at the end of that long year to see if I graded out of her class, could have been mistaken for a palsy. How many children did she crush with her cruel, archaic ways? Miss Ernst tried her darndest to break me, but I was able to secretively rebel, not because I was strong willed, because it physically hurt to use my right hand and what came off the end of my pencil was hen scratch at best. Some will ask, did a teacher ever change your life? Well, yes, they did, although in a very negative way, but luckily it had a positive outcome for me. Others haven’t fared as well. It’s ironic, all these years later we now have a special day to commemorate our left handedness.

So, I get a little perturbed when I hear the stories of others that received the same fate with varying outcomes. I feel so sad for those that feel they are incapable of rug hooking or knitting or any of the fiber crafts that bring us immense pleasure. I send out this pledge to anyone that feels they are limited by their left hand. Come to see me and I will do my best to stop this negative dialog and show you that the left hand can fulfill your will and erase all the negative aspects of why you feel challenged. Unless you have a physical impediment, if you can brush your teeth, write your name and put a fork up to your mouth you should be able to push a hook down through a hole and bring up a loop. Let me show you how.

9 Comments

Iron irony....

3/20/2023

1 Comment

As I perused the store shelves for a new iron, it struck me that I seem to be doing this often, perhaps every two years? How many irons have I owned since I realized the merit of being neatly pressed? It seems they have a limited lifespan, either wearing out or falling to a shattering death. Of all the appliances I've used, the iron is a constant fatality for me. This new one should be afraid, yes, very afraid.

The last time I was in need of a replacement, Covid was raging so I sent hubby out to do the shopping. They all seemed to do different things and confused the poor guy but I said I wasn’t fussy, the only function necessary, besides steam, was an automatic shutoff. There is nothing more anxiety inducing than coming home after work to find the iron has been left plugged in and hot as hades all day.

So, I had to splurge for yet another iron. This one replaces the huge, heavy one hubby bought me the last time. He figured bigger was better in his attempt to please me. I said nothing, after all I gave him the go ahead to make the decision, it just isn’t fair to criticize after the fact. Unfortunately, I couldn't see how much water was in the tank. There was a line drawn that said Max Fill but I couldn't see the water level through the opaque plastic and unless I shook it, I couldn’t tell if it had water in it or not.

And, the stream function button was on the right side of the two buttons on the top, one for spray and the other for burst of stream. The previous iron had the steam button on the left which worked well, my thumb lined up perfectly. It’s a small nit-picky thing that plays with my ‘I hate change personality’. Quite frankly, it was an iron for a man, big and heavy and awkward, the reason it fell off. Top heavy and tippy, it fell to its demise from a light jiggle to the board as my hip brushed against it. I picked up its shattered bones and wiped up the spilled water bleeding all over the floor.

Irons aren't cheap. They range from a low bells and whistles price tag in the high twenties to over one hundred dollars. The less expensive ones had little heft similar to a plastic toy and the higher end one was heavy in the box. I don't need anything fancy, just a steam and shut off function so I chose one in the medium price range of forty something. The bottom has a shiny and smooth coppery metal plate. An iron for a crow like me, blingy and awesome, fits in my hand like a glove, the buttons are all in the right place and I can see the water in the tank. I used it and had a fabulous experience. We were made for each other and I’m in love with yet another inanimate object. If all goes well, this could be the iron I end my life with. Hopefully it lasts longer than two years!

Thinking back, I don't remember my mother ever needing a new iron and after she passed, her old faithful was still ready for service. It landed in a yard sale and is probably still accommodating the new owner. At the time, I didn’t realize the struggles I would have with irons or I would have snapped it up for me. Everything was made better back then and sadly, today’s appliances are all throw away, used for a short period and then into the land fill they go.

1 Comment

Hook-ins starting up February 8th!

2/1/2023

0 Comments

Deborah Sweet has left the buildng.........retired that is.

1/31/2023

35 Comments

How quickly eight years has sped by. It seems like only yesterday Deborah Sweet applied for a job at the studio and this past Friday, her last day of work at Encompassing Designs, retirement spirited her away.

Deborah is one of a kind. She is talented, intelligent, hardworking, conscientious, honest to a fault and a quality maker of all things. It was a privilege to be in her company and work alongside her. She was a strong asset to the studio and has left big shoes to fill. She turned 71 this month, hung up her apron and is well deserving of the next chapter of her life.

I could fill pages with her many attributes but I’ll try to keep it terse. A thousand words would never be enough to encompass the many aspects of Deborah anyway, for she is a shining star. She was the consummate employee of the week for the entire eight years she graced us with her presence. Customers loved her and I received many accolades as they raved about how helpful and talented she is, how lucky I am to have her, they called her a gem, and said how lovely she is to deal with. With her artistic background, she knew colour like a second language and created a wonderful line of patterns for the delight of our customers.

I never worried about leaving the studio in her capable hands. I depended on her even more in 2022 as Covid, and then Long Covid, stole my enthusiasm and physical health. If not for Deborah, the shop would have been closed for good and I appreciate her staying the course in my absence. Deborah, Shane and I were like a well-oiled machine, a team working together to offer the top-quality products our customers rely on.

I walked into the shop Monday morning and it felt cold and foreign. No, it was not the temperature as I shuddered and clutched my fake fur around me. The air was tinged with a palpable sadness that chilled me to the bone. Deborah really was gone and I gently mourned her loss to the studio. I teared up as she drove away Friday afternoon, her last day with us but there was always a hidden hope it wasn’t true but Monday morning’s reality hit hard. One half of me is happy for the new adventure she is embarking on, the other half of me, the selfish part, wonders how I can go on without her.

This is not the end of course, like she joked every time I moaned over her leaving telling me “It’s not like I’m dead!” We are friends and most likely she will stop in occasionally when she is out’n about, we are both avid readers and will continue to swap books, perhaps she’ll hook with us on Wednesdays, perhaps one day go for coffee and a tea when I finally take off my mask in the outside world. Like all stages of life, things will change and take on a different form. She is, after all, only down the road a bit……

Oh well, time to get out those big girl panties and pull them up to my armpits. No more being spoiled with time off, come hell or high water it’s back to working six days a week until the new gals can be left on their own. In the meantime I will concentrate on getting my mojo back now that I am almost fully recovered from the ravishes of this awful virus.

All the best Deborah in anything and everything you do. I’m sure there is a bit of an adjustment to be had on your end as well. I hope you do all the things that bring you bliss and best of all you can now sleep-in when needed, how glorious is that? And remember, the door is always open if you’d like to come back in any capacity. Of course, that’s wishful thinking on my part. If I wasn’t such an old dog, I could accept change. I’ll be fine, I really just want you to know the impact you made on Shane and on me and how much you’ll be missed!

My therapy during this transition period is to madly hook my revamped Funky Fish designs. I’ve added to the two older ones from 2001 for some new patterns and kits for the shop. Who doesn’t love a fun, funky fish? They are the last patterns Deb drew before she left last week so I want to do them justice. There is nothing better than hooking to soothe a sad soul and inspire hope of new things to come. Colour can do that. It’s like a hug from a rainbow.

The fish are bright and happy and the borders are an exercise in shapes. Each one sports a different colour plan but the Poseidon hand dyed wool is throughout the rugs to bring continuity to the project. The rectangle was first, giving birth to the idea of an aquatic collection, then came the circle followed by the oval. There will be a fourth, a square with a fish looking front on and perhaps a fifth, a hexagon border rounding out the geometric shapes.   I’ll arrange the collection artistically on the shop wall to create a fitting “splash” of colour and a “swimmingly” fun display. Stay tuned for updates and photos as I progress with this project.

Deborah, thank you for all your remarkable years of service and all the very best from Shane, Rasa, Judi, Gregg, Henri, Fiz, Jake and me.

35 Comments

Changes.....

1/9/2023

11 Comments

I am a sentimental old fool. I hold on to the past with both hands, cradling the link to save it from the ravishes of time. Letting go of items from the past is outside my comfort zone and add that to my attachment feelings for inanimate objects, well it prevents me from embracing change.    This is my defense……

Years ago, when I opened my studio, I needed a zig zag sewing machine to sew the edges of the patterns to keep them from fraying. Mom had her mother-in-law’s Singer in storage since Nana became a resident of a nursing home. Remarkably the Singer and I shared the same age so of course we bonded. It was a workhorse that would sew through pretty much anything you could throw at it, was as heavy as a large sack of potatoes and amazingly, still in immaculate shape. But what made it even more special than condition and family history was the carved initials of M. Bird on the metal base representing Marguerite Bird, my father’s mother. In my heart, I was forging a connection with my grandmother through a tangible piece of her past by using it in my present. It was a feel-good association filled with love and pride……until it wasn’t.

Like any appliance or gadget from the past, things were built to last, perhaps spanning the purchaser’s lifetime with its metal parts and gears. Now under my care, I fully hoped the machine would last my tenancy in the studio, sending it out to the Singer repair guy for a yearly overhaul to ensure it.

Throughout 23 years in business, we used it every day and from time to time it had to have minor repairs. In 2022 it came to a decisive halt and needed a new heart, I mean motor, but after one was installed, it seemed to suffer rejection and was the catalyst for all manner of things going wrong. Sadly, that was the end of its former glory.

It certainly tested one’s patience and dear Deborah suffered through breaking thread that fell victim to the wearing out tensions and adjustments, pressing the thread so it would not move along the route and break. At our age, threading a needle requires a magnifying glass, nimble fingers, and murmuring under the breath. But we endured and no matter what the machine threw at us, I had it resuscitated when probably it should have been given last rights back in 2017.
We now have two new employees who have not worked on a machine of this vintage and trying to get around the four sides of a pattern probably seemed like an on-the-job training test of one’s patience. They both handled it far better than me and my four-letter expletives but Friday was the last straw. After the thread snapped on five separate occasions on one pattern, I pulled the plug and the old machine seemed to sigh, or perhaps I did, as we both let go.

The online buy and sell sites offered up plenty of second-hand choices and affordable pricing. I did not need lots of bells and whistles or dozens of fancy stitches, just a straight and a zig zag function. How to decide from the dozens of machines listed and of course, Covid sat in the back of my mind. I really did not want to drive all over the county, go into strangers’ homes to test their machines and risk another infection. That, and I worried about inheriting problems prompting the sale in the first place. So, I opted for a new one and turned my attention elsewhere. Canadian Tire offered a couple of heavy-duty Singer machines that looked promising. After work on Saturday, hubby and I made the trek to Bridgewater to pick up the one that best suited our needs. By 5:30 PM it was unpacked, set up, I had wound several bobbins, something the old machine balked on, and I was zipping around a pattern as clean and smooth as a knife through butter.

Guilt set in while I enjoyed the delightful fruits of my purchase. Poor Deborah had been wrestling with the old beast for years. If not for the cherished carved initials and lineage of the machine, it would have been put out to pasture. Sorry Deb, tradition sucks, eh? To make it up to her I bought the one that has a quick needle threader, so no more squinting and holding that darn magnifying glass. Also, it runs with lightening speed, not limping on its last leg like an old mare, clipping around the edge of the pattern like a thoroughbred in the Kentucky Derby.

Hopefully this new machine lasts until I retire without giving us any grief. I am not a fan of all the plastic parts, knobs and accessories in appliances purchased today; they lack character and form and are not built to last in a disposable world. All I ask is “Dear, lovely machine, please give us a good ten years or until I retire, whatever comes first.” In the meantime, it is a new machine and a new year, fresh starts for all

The old Singer. Sad to see it go but I'll ask the Singer repair guy if he would like it for parts. I'm sure other machines need donor organs, I mean parts, so it can live on.

The new Singer. building new memories.......

11 Comments

Update on the shop and covid

7/8/2022

18 Comments

I thought maybe it was time to update everyone about the studio and how we feel and continue to deal with Covid.

We are still wearing masks to protect ourselves and ask that our customers do the same. I am not here to preach about our beliefs versus yours, whether you agree or disagree with our policy. We need to do what is best for us, live within our comfort zone, and do risk management from the information that is provided by the experts. We continue to listen to the scientists and medical professionals and it seems that the course we are on is right for us at this time. We hope in future we can begin to relax, but right now with a more virulent, highly contagious, BA5 on our doorsteps, now isn’t the time.

I do have to say with some disenchantment that I am disappointed in the reactions of others with our policy. Most of the customers that cross our threshold tell us thank-you for protecting them and ourselves, that we have to do whatever keeps us safe. Being in retail people talk to us so we hear who has had Covid, along with their families and friends, some who have passed, it is all around us and touched pretty much everyone in one way or another.

But and there is always that infuriating but, some feel it necessary to bully, to shame, to holler at us for our stupidity in thinking that a plague even exists. I’m going to call it a plague instead of a pandemic because the latter is too friendly a word to describe what the world is experiencing. It sounds more like the Olympic Games, something fun. A plague conjures up thoughts of the black death hunting us down, and according to WHO, the true global death toll from this Covid plague is almost 15 million.

A woman yesterday hollered into the shop, “You come highly recommended but I’m not wearing a mask and I won’t be spending my money here!”

I was hooking one beautiful summer Saturday with the door open. I could hear the comments of the passersby as they read my notice. They mumbled and shook their heads, sometimes saying I was nuts. Looking in at me in my mask as if I was someone to pity. At one point a woman walked by with a young child no more than 6 and she stopped to read my sign and then hollered in “That’s ridiculous!” and continued walking. Then sent her child back to climb up on our step and scream in the door, “That’s ridiculous!” He laughed at me and ran back to his mom. I was flabbergasted, thinking how a mother could do that to a child, what kind of message will ferment in his young, impressionable mind? No child is born to hate, their parents teach them all they need to know.

How many times have I heard comments about the studio being Fort Knox? One guy said that because we’ve vaccinated and have had boosters, we are the ones spreading Covid around. He said he hasn’t had any vaccinations so he will be safe.

One gal said, “I don’t have a mask so I won’t be coming in. I’ll come back when you take that sign down!” She huffed away before I could tell her we sell masks for $2.00. I somehow don’t think that would have been appreciated and until the plague starts petering out, the sign is here to stay.

What do I say to all of this? Well, what can I say? First of all, I am shocked speechless every single time because it knocks my brain offline. In my wildest imagination I can’t figure it all out. By the time I’m collecting my wits, the person is gone. Maybe I need to prefabricate replies, have them ready but I’d probably still have trouble with the spontaneity of it all. I’m not a scrapper but I do admit that after the fact, comments come easy and are clever, then my hubby chimes in with even better retorts but that’s like locking the barn after the cow ran away.

For now, the masks will stay on. I live for the day when I can feel safe removing it, pluck my chin, whiten my teeth and get out that coveted lipstick, but while we’re still in the middle of this plague, I’ll continue to get my boosters and hope when it finally finds me, with my compromised immune system, I’ll be strong enough to withstand its blow and continue to keep Encompassing Designs going. So, bear with us please. If you don’t support our decision that is your right and we respect it, but maybe you could keep your comments in check and respect ours.

18 Comments

Angels among us.....

3/25/2022

6 Comments

Most of you know that I was incapacitated over the holidays, and all of January, with a severe case of sciatica. I am now back to work thanks to the new osteopath in Mahone Bay that I am affectionately calling Thomas, The Welsh Healing God. He not only set my sciatica straight, but we are working on an old injury from 2007 that causes pain and the occasionally limp. He suggested various stretches and 20 minutes every second day on an exercise bike to repair a meniscus problem in my knee and low and behold, I am now able to go up and down the stairs using both legs instead of leading with my left and hauling up the gimpy one after me. My future has become a whole lot brighter.

During my stay at home, when I was able to sit in a chair comfortably, I logged into the computer and opened my work emails to check what I was missing. One day I found an email with a photo of our pattern ANGEL, magnificently hooked by Leisa Hillman. I am sure most people who choose one of my patterns don’t realize how seeing them so beautifully hooked lifts my spirits to higher levels and creates a warm and fuzzy feeling in my heart. Her writing was even more heartwarming, here is our correspondence.

Dear Christine,

I am a rug hooker from the Omaha, Nebraska area and purchased your "Angel" pattern a few years ago. I searched for the perfect pattern and this was the most beautiful angel design I found. My mom loves angels so I hooked it as a surprise for her. I gave the angel red hair like Mom and made her robe the color of my mom's best dress when I was growing up. I started it in a Diane Stoffel class and finished on my own. Diane was great at helping to color plan my rug - as she always is! Once I completed it, I had it framed. Mom lives about 500 miles away in Oklahoma so I only get to see her a few times per year. My son and I drove down unannounced and surprised her with her rug this past spring. She loved it! (After she got over the shock of us just showing up at her door. :)) She hung it on a wall protecting it from sunlight but where people can see it. She said it made her move many other pieces of furniture and wall hangings so she was one powerful angel!

I had entered this rug in the Celebration contest and got word this morning that it received Honorable Mention. I'm very excited and proud! I've been hooking for about 4 years and this is my second time to enter Celebration and my second time being selected. Your pattern is just lovely and one of my favorite commercial patterns I have seen. So, thank you for creating a beautiful pattern! It was a pleasure to hook. When you create a design, I'm sure you have no idea what it can mean to someone and so I thought I would tell you how this one touched my life. I am enclosing a picture of my completed project. All my best, Leisa.

Dear Leisa,

Congratulations on being selected for Celebration Magazine with ANGEL! So exciting for you, the talented rug hooker that brought the design to life and me, for inspiring you with the design. The rug is a masterpiece and the sentiment attached makes it even more fantastic.

This pattern was always special to me. Many, many, gosh 30+ years ago, I drew two of these angels, each one was 4' x 8' on pieces of Masonite that were for a Christmas concert in one of the local churches. They hung facing each other, high up on the arch over the pulpit, facing one another and appeared to be in flight. I wish I had a picture of them and I believe the actual angels are long gone. Many years later when I opened the studio, I thought the angel would make a beautiful pattern and I added a majestic border to frame her. You've captured her perfectly with a beautiful colour plan and your hooking is divine. I couldn't be more pleased.

Dear Christine,

Thank you so much for your kind words. I'm glad you think I did your beautiful pattern justice. Thank you for telling me the back story of your design. I love it. That gives her even more meaning. My mom will enjoy hearing about her origin too. How lucky your church was to have your talents!

Angel 48" x 30 1/2"

6 Comments

How to finish our 3D Gingerbread House

2/10/2022

5 Comments

My apologies for the delay posting these assembly instructions. The day after we mailed out the first load of patterns, I had the most excruciating sciatica flareup and I wasn’t able to sit at the computer to write the post. After a very long month of discomfort, I am finally back to work.

I hope you enjoyed hooking this little gingerbread house as much as I did. this is the first one of a trilogy I plan to design and hook to make a sweet little gingerbread house village. I am already half way through hooking the next house. Stay tuned!

I used our beautiful Walnut wool dyed by Shane. It was the perfect Gingerbread colour and contrasted perfectly with the White for the icing and all of the splashes of colour for the candies.

First hook all of your sides and roof. Steam press to flatten. Zig-zag around each piece or you can forego this step because of gluing the edge to the core board backing so fraying won't occur.   I left an excess of linen about 1 ¼” around each piece.

The supplies you will need to construct the house are a ruler, fast drying tacky glue, coffee stir sticks or a piece of plastic cut from an ice cream container to spread the glue, stapler, carpet knife, foam core board or other thin backing and some sort of continuous roving to hide to seams.

Next cut out a rigid backing for each panel. I used a foam core board that was about 1/8” thick. You could use a thinner backing but I wouldn’t go any thicker than the 1/8” or your side seams will be wider apart and need more twisted roving to fill them.

Use the hooked pieces as a template and cut out each backing shape with carpet knife or other type of blade. Once you have the backing piece cut to fit, put glue all over one side and attached the backside of the rug to it. Make sure that it is firmly adhered to the board so it won’t begin to sag over time. I used a fast-drying tacky glue that I bought from a fabric store. It dried fast and clear.

Once the core board is glued to the rug front, apply glue to the backside of the cord board where the excess linen will be stuck on. I did one side at a time and put a staple in the middle of each side to hold it from moving until the glue was dry. (Don’t use the full stapler (you don’t want the staple to go through the rug), just hold the top part of the stapler over the area you wish to affix and then press down.)

Then miter or fold over the corners, add glue keeping them as flat as possible. I also popped a staple into each corner to hold it down.

After all sides are glued, pressed down with your hands to make sure it was well stuck to the foam core board and as flat as possible.

After all the pieces were glued to a solid backing, I placed the sides of the building together in order (short side, then high side, short side, then high side) all together with the finished rug side down. With all backsides together I used a needle and thread to sew them all together. My first intention was to hot glue gun them together and without an assistant or means to hold them together it was awkward. So, I sewed them together, all but the last join that had to be sewn from the outside edge. I liked how rigid it felt so I then hand sewed the outside corners, placed the roof pieces and then sewed them as well from the outside. This held it very rigid so I didn’t need the hot glue gun or the burnt fingers that would have ensued.

I squeezed glue along the outside edges of each seam and used the thin coffee sticks to smear it into the linen and cover the crack well. Work on the peak of the roof and the two sides of the roof that come down over the shorter two sides of the house first. I used two strands of the merino roving and twisted it gently as I went, running it along those glued seams and patting it down into the groove for a good hold.

Then I did the front and back, adding the glue first, smearing it in and then starting at the bottom, tucking the end of the roving inside, (I put a bit of glue in there to hold it), then ran it up the one side, over the roof peak, twisting the roving as I went until I reached the other side bottom, putting some glue inside that corner as well to hold the end of the roving. Sorry I was so intent and excited doing this part I forgot to take a photo.

5 Comments

<<Previous

DESIGN #16 - JACOBEAN/GEOMETRIC TREE SKIRT

DESIGN #15 - GEOMETRIC MELANGE

DESIGN #14 - LIFE'S A BEACH!

DESIGN #13 - GINGERBREAD TREEATS

DESIGN #12 - SANTA'S WISH; CHRISTMAS SNOW

DESIGN #11 - GINGERBREAD HOUSE II

DESIGN #10 - AUTUMN PAISLEY

DESIGN #9 - VANISHING POINT

DESIGN #8 - HOO-TIFUL

DESIGN #7 - DASHING ST. NICK

DESIGN #6 - WORK BEFORE PLAY

Design #5 - YOU GROW GIRL!

Design #4 - RANDOM RADII

Design #3 - SNOWBROS

Design #2 EWE IN DISGUISE

Design #1 HAPPINESS IS.....

The hook-in is back!

Left-handed rug hooking....

Iron irony....

Hook-ins starting up February 8th!

Deborah Sweet has left the buildng.........retired that is.

Changes.....

Update on the shop and covid

Angels among us.....

How to finish our 3D Gingerbread House

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