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Flicking dry dye powder over wet wool......

3/22/2017

7 Comments

 
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Last week, The Dye Guy was playing around in the studio kitchen, flicking dry dye powder over a piece of wet wool.  What came out of the oven is nothing short of spectacular.   Shane said he might like to frame this piece for his home and I fully agree.    It’s a one-of-a-kind keeper!  How would this piece hook?  I'm not sure but it would be interesting to see if it's as spectacular as it stands now, but somehow I think it will never be cut into strips if Shane has his way.

As a child I would lie on my back and stare up into the clouds.  That’s how I feel now, discovering something new every time I look at this masterpiece. Of course the colour speaks to me; anything blue catches my eye and this piece holds it like an outfielder’s glove.   It has provoked many thoughts as I search to describe its brilliance with words, but how do I settle on one narrative?

I see A Rorschach Test, not that I’ve ever had one.  The Rorschach Test is a psychological test in which subjects' perceptions of inkblots are recorded and then analyzed using psychological interpretation.  If I was asked to describe what I see there would be multiple answers, from a landscape to a seascape, at first glance I even see two of our three iconic churches with a backdrop of nighttime illumination. I see a string of trees on a rivers edge, their reflections mirrored perfectly.  I see the last stages of a sailor’s delight sunset with the anticipation of a sunrise to come.  Sorry Freud, I don’t see anything sexual, but I would imagine there are those that might dip into the horizontal mambo if turned on its side. 
  
I am reminded of Simon & Garfunkel’s song,

The Sound of Silence. 
 
Hello darkness, my old friend,
I’ve come to talk to you again,
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
and the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence
 
In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone
'Neath the halo of a street lamp
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence
 
And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence
 
 
There is a definitive depth to this piece of wool.  It’s like looking into an abyss and having it stare back.   I find it difficult to look away when there is so much to take in, I don’t want to miss a thing.
 
There is the magic of an Aurora Borealis to this piece; of lights dancing in the night sky. 
 
An X-ray of our inner soul.
 
Ethereal - extremely delicate and light in a way that seems too perfect for this world.
 
The Shroud of Turin, a heavenly image burnt on the memory of the weave. 
 
So many things come to mind, so many more to think about……what do you see? 



7 Comments

Our wool is beary nice!

3/21/2017

8 Comments

 
I received this email from Marion Sohlnauer and wanted to share her talent with you. She made this wonderful little bear out of our hand-dyed wool, it looks like our Burnished Autumn Spot or Fall Foliage Spot.  Her bears are wonderful!  I pulled a few off her website but there are many to see, each one totally different and spilling over with character.   Maybe we can help name this little darling.  
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Good day to you!
 
Last year I when visiting Mahone Bay I also stopped by your store. The variety of fabric is awesome, even though I don’t do rugs or patchwork, but teddy bears. I love experimenting with fabric and bought some dyed wool to make a bear of. I promised to send a picture once it is done. Well, here it is (see attached left). He is a one of a kind and the first bear made after this pattern. He is fully jointed (head, arms and legs) and very posable because of having steel shot in his hands and feet. He still lacks a name, though. I am looking for something Canadian, but haven’t really found something yet. Would you maybe have an idea? – In case you would like to have a glimpse at my bears, this is my website: www.yuschel-baeren.de It is available in English as well. Enjoy! Should you like to have a bear made of your fabric, just let me know. I’d be honored.

Have a nice day and best wishes from Germany. Marion Sohlnauer

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There is so much personality in these wonderful little faces!
8 Comments

WE ARE CANADIAN!!

3/17/2017

0 Comments

 
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The pattern "WE ARE CANADIAN!!" can be purchased in three ways.

1. Paper Pattern any size as long as it is square dimensions  $15.00       
(example 30" x 30" or 24" x 24")  You decide what size suits you best!  Paper pattern comes with coloured border attached. Dimensions are with the border included. 

Purchase the paper pattern, red dot (to do your transfer) and a sharpie marker for special price of $20.00

2. 22" x 22" on Linen $75.00
3. 28" x 28" on Linen  $100.00

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This pattern consists of the following motifs:
CANADA lettering
Maple leaf with 150 in the center
Lines fanning out to represent fireworks and the flag borders
Nickel - 5 Cent piece
Canoe
Haida Fish
Curling Rock
Rug Hook
Moose
Fluer-de-lis
Acorns
Canada Goose
Mountain Top
Inukshuk
Pine Trees
Paint Roller
Totem Pole
CN Tower
Loon
Basket Ball
Polar Bear or Black Bear
Hockey Stick and Puck
Border of Hudson's Bay Blanket

0 Comments

Update on my Honey....

3/13/2017

22 Comments

 
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I’ve been a bit of a no show.  Honey had a scary spell last week and I’ve been trying to keep her restful to prevent another episode.  I’ve never been more frightened. She passed out, her tongue turned purple and her gums pale. I really thought she died.  Moments before she was excited and jumped up and down for a pick-me-up when a friend popped by the shop.  By the time she was in her arms her blood pressure was dropping.  Her head slowly arced upwards, her nose pointing to the ceiling and she let out a howl that chilled me to the bone.   I took my baby from my friend as she went limp and all I could think was that I’m not ready to lose my girl. 

She was lifeless but then started coming around and all I could think to do was to give her water so I used a syringe to put it into her mouth.  She came around more and her tongue slowly turned to pink.  When I could feel that her limbs regained strength, I put her on the floor and she went to her water dish and drank it dry. 

Anyway, this was the second time this happened and I’m not sure how many chances are ahead or if the next one will be the last.  We’re living one day at a time she and I, sometimes on pins and needles, other times cuddling and floating on a cloud.  I’m not sure what’s going through her mind or if they know when they are dying, sometimes she looks at me with very sad, big eyes.  We can’t begin to understand how they think and you know what they say about assuming. 

I still plan to take her to work but she’s now up on the desk where she won’t jump up and down.  All that gets a workout is her tongue when she’s petted.  I researched it on the net and talked to the vet.  Even squatting for a poop and the light straining involved can bring one of these episodes on.  So I am trying to live in a stress free environment, no barking is allowed and no play.  I hope to keep things together until Thursday when daddy gets home and that is going to be a challenge.  The only thing more exciting for Honey than me and ball is daddy.  I’m going to have to squeeze her tight so she doesn’t jiggle and squirm into unconsciousness, hand her over without her feet  touching the ground and he’ll have to hold her tight until she settles.  She normally loses her mind when she first sees him, jumping, crying and licking frantically so it will be difficult to contain that kind of excitement.  I’ll bet he wishes I was that thrilled at his homecoming!  Seeing him after a few months away is more like sliding into a comfortable pair of slippers and having an ahhhh moment. 

I’ve been pent up in the house a lot and it’s been difficult. When it’s a forced confinement it wreaks havoc on my mind and I’m torn between trying to relax at home and feeling guilty for not being at the shop.  I taught a beginner class on Saturday and although I dreaded going to the shop it was the best medicine ever as the women were great and the class was seamless.  The night before had been difficult, up every hour with Honey and I cried a bunch so my eyes were swollen and sore. By the end of the class my eyes felt better and the dark cloud over my head dissipated.  Being home isn’t as comforting as it sounds when the air is filled with sadness and deepens with every breath.     

I’m just about to go outside and bring in firewood for the snowstorm coming tomorrow.  Every time it snows I always think this will be Honey’s last winter; her last time to play in the snow.  A friend suggested I start a journal on Honey, recording all the fun little things she does, her personality traits and my thoughts about her.  I had forgotten I did this for Louis shortly after he passed and it was a comfort to read later because it is so easy to forget those little things that make them so special to us.   
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So I have to get to work piling wood and cleaning the yard.  Now that most of the snow from the last storm is gone I can pick up all the clutter from a garbage bag that was ripped apart from the wind.  Then later this afternoon get at those piles of laundry that grow like bad weeds.  I need to show hubby, while in his absence, I was doing more than massaging my backside with the sofa cushions.  I’ll be so happy to see him.  Once he gets home we will share the ups and downs of Honey’s life and care and she and I will feel less alone....
22 Comments

We Are Canadian! 

3/8/2017

6 Comments

 
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I’ve been working on a commemorative 150th year design to celebrate the upcoming event of Canada’s special birthday.  Of course there are many more historical events, inventions and items exclusive to our great country than I could ever fit on one pattern so I picked the ones I thought would be fun to hook.   
 
We are going to sell this design on paper as well as linen.  For me, I plan to hook it as a 21.5” x 21.5” pillow and I have purchased the down forms if anyone else would like to do the same. I think it makes a fabulous pillow and will adorn the shop for many years to come.  I am a very proud Canadian and will enjoy hooking this design. If you wish it made larger for a rug on the floor as long as it is square I can up-size it and send you the paper pattern, even as big as say 50” x 50”. 

The elements I chose are as follows.  Maple Leaf with 150 in the center.  Acorns, Canadian Goose, mountain tops, totem pole, loon, basketball, inuksuk, CN tower, polar bear or brown bear if you so choose, hockey stick and puck, canoe, Haida fish, curling rock, nickel, moose, fleur-de-lis, CANADA in bold letters across the top.  And I added a personal touch just because.  As rug hookers, our numbers are strong across this great land so I wanted us represented! We are Canadian rug hookers, as important as Canadian hockey players so there you go!  

The outer border is the Hudson’s Bay blanket stripe.  These coloured stripes are one of the most easily recognizable icons of Canada.   The background to all these iconic motifs is fanned out lines that begin at the bottom to represent the birthday fireworks and I intended it to be hooked with alternating reds and whites to represent the flag with the maple leaf sitting in the middle.    The one regret, I wished I could add the CBC symbol but I needed permission to use the logo.  Too bad as nothing represents Canada better than CBC television and radio, hubby and I are big fans.    

So I think I’ve represented Canada nicely and in the style of pattern I like to produce.  Feel free to leave in or take out whatever motifs you want and replace them with something that speaks to you personally about Canada.   It would be fabulous if a bunch of us hook it.  I would love to see all of the interpretations.   There’s lots of time before August so order it now and get started.  Show our country how much we love it.  And I know that you, our American friends, love us too, so this pattern is not exclusive to us, your northern neighbours.   Let’s all celebrate our country’s big day! EH?


6 Comments

My country music roots are deep.....

3/6/2017

3 Comments

 
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I've come a long way from the blue leotards and green vest. Thankfully my colour planning skills have improved! 
​It’s a bitter cold Sunday.  I’m home alone with the pups and a fire in the wood stove.  The Bose speakers are filling the air with the great sound of Classic Country Music; A trip down memory lane that never fails to bring smiles, and sometimes, with the right tune, a few tears.  My dad jammed with a group of musical friends pretty much every weekend during my childhood.  Nothing takes me back faster to the past than a bit of country, not a bad place to hang once and a while.  I love all genres of music, but the old tangy country has a special place in my heart, but to a point.   

I can’t do this often because with prolonged audience I become down and mildly depressed.  If the music doesn’t get me the words are mournful and the twangy guitar can whine with the feel of attending a funeral.  The old joke “What do you get if you play a country and western song backwards?”....”You get your wife back, your house back, your truck back and your dog”.   That’s about as hurtin as it gets.  Yup, small doses are all I can handle.   You’d think it would have a positive effect, make me appreciate all that I have and be happy in the knowledge that neither of us is living “Your Cheatin Heart”.  But no, all that negative misery of unrequited love and broken hearts slowly drags me down until I’m filled with sadness.  They say you are what you eat, well that can apply to what you listen too as well.  I could feel the energy draining from me, like it pulled the plug and all the happy rushed out. 

That about sums up how I feel right now. Sitting here with a bleeding heart glad there aren’t any guns or sleeping pills in the house.   Yes, I’m exaggerating to make a point but I’m mildly in the dumps.   The other evening I was listening to Country Classics on CBC radio and several songs lyrics in a row spoke of not being able to go on after lost love.  Hints of drowning in the bottle or no will to go on.  The last song before I was forced to turn it off was a guy threatening to jump out the upstairs window saying “there is no place to go but down”.   Geez,  I’m not a happy enough person to ride this out.  My ears started to hemorrhage after all that hurtin, I had to escape, go back to a little Bruno Mars, Uptown Funk for some upbeat energy.   
  
My soul is open today, bared to memories and emotions.  There have been smiles and tears as the songs seesaw back and forth different moments of those earlier years.   I usually keep myself closed up and safe, but today I am as open as a book with pages blowing in the wind.  I’m remembering  dad playing the guitar and the mouth organ simultaneously, playing honky tonk piano or rosining up the bow to play the fiddle.  Mom singing or dancing, sometimes both together.  Austin’s Hawaiian guitar twanging out those mournful but beautiful tones.  An Accordion with the oscillating motion of a bellows, a squeeze box, sounding to me like a big harmonica.  How I loved to watch and hear it played.   

“Please Help Me I’m Falling In Love With You” by Hank Locklin just played and it brought so many memories flooding in.  That was one of the many songs dad taught me to play on the guitar I got for Christmas in my 12th year.  Pretty much all the songs I played used three chords, G, D and A7.  The first song I ever learned was Eddie Arnold’s Bouquet of Roses.  Willie Nelson said that “All country songs are the truth and three chords” and he’s right!    Remembering my parents and hearing all those tunes today is bittersweet; the fun of my childhood and then the loss of my parents along with the sadness of some of the music of that time.    

Ernist Tubb touches me the most.  Dad played his album until the vinyl wore thin and the needle slipped across the surface.  His deep voice is as recognizable as any of the greats.   I love them all. Both Hanks, Williams and Snow, Conway Twitty and George Jones, Tammy and Loretta, Tom T. Hall’s stories, Willie and Brenda Lee to name a few.  Sometimes the hurtin is so overpowering tears flow but they aren’t because I’m unhappy, they just touch me in a soft, malleable place, reconnect me to a memory associated with the song.   What I wouldn’t give to go back as a fly on the wall for just one day to sit in on a jam session.  What I wouldn’t give to see my parents one more time when they were at their happiest.....  

But that can’t happen so I use this musical link to the past so I can almost feel them, use my imagination to almost see them.  Music was such a big part of my childhood, it seemed to ooze out of the woodwork. How many times did I ask dad to play Moonlight Bay and Glow Worm on the piano and I’d sit on the bench with him watching his fingers pound up and down in honky tonk fashion over the keys in wide-eyed wonderment.   I looked Glow Worm up on YouTube but I’m not sophisticated enough to add a video to this blog so those that  have forgotten the tune or would like to hear it for the first time it sure is worth the listen.....it’s upbeat and happy.   It’s by the Mills Brothers from back in 1957.  Bette Midler did a version of it with the Mills Brothers in 1975. 
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Yup, I do love the old style of Country Music, but I can’t listen to it every day or I’d be down in the dumps, divorced, tipping the bottle at the local bar and chasing after married men.  So every six months or so I tune in and get my fill of nostalgia, then go to the upbeat stations to keep my sanity.  
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Click this link to hear the Mills Brothers 1957,  Glow Worm  
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www.youtube.com/watch?v=8myK93FqbYc
3 Comments

Noddy piece...

3/3/2017

8 Comments

 
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Christine I thought you might like this little story.  A friend of mine that lives in Toronto was over in France and found this charming rug on the floor of her B&B.  She loved the rug, and the characters were a part of her childhood memory.  She knows I hook and asked me if I would copy and hook it.  I had no interest in copying the entire rug and the colours were faded. so I put that thought aside and forgot about it.  However when at rug school last year another gal there thought she recognized it and did some sleuthing.  In the end it seems it is an illustration of several characters out of the Noddy Books by English writer Enid Blyton.

Further internet sleuthing came up with a picture of something called Noddy's ring game.  So I guess the characters have rings not hula hoops as I first thought.


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So long story short, I am going to Toronto soon to visit my friend so I decided to just take one character element from the rug and hook it 10" x 12". I used various cuts and most of it was hooked out of my worm stash. I am estimating that the rug was hooked in the 50's.  That's my guess. It was so small I just fabric glued a piece of unhookable wool to the back to finish.

Thanks Louise


8 Comments
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    Christine Little has been ranked #5​ out of the 60 top rug hooking bloggers by Rug Hooking Magazine!

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    Max Anderson, Australia, recipient of my Nova Scotia Treasures rug.  An award of excellence for promoting Canada through his writing.  
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