Blog Archives

How to make your frame work with backings that don't fit.

3/30/2020

How to manage a backing that is too small for the hoop or frame

Backing pulled tight on three sides instead of four will still hold very well. Just make sure you protect yourself from the exposed grippers!

Have you ever had a situation where the piece of backing was smaller than the top of your frame or hoop? It’s a common complaint, especially when pattern producers are chintzy on the excess border. In this case Gripper frames are less problematic because you can do a bit of maneuvering, but with a hoop there is no recourse but to sew material around the outer border.

As long as you have a flannel gripper cover or some means to protect your arms and hands while you hook, the pattern does not have to fit the frame perfectly. You can adjust the piece off to the side and pull it tight on the top bottom and one side, to hook away happily as in the picture above. Once, thinking I was finished a project, I trimmed off all the tiny frays, steamed pressed it, zig zagged around the edge leaving 1 ¼” border and cut out the rug before I realized I wasn’t happy with one of the colours on the border. So I slapped it on the one end of my frame and hooked the change easily.

Sewing strips of wool along an edge to extend it enough to put on a gripper frame or in a hoop works nicely but when sewing you should use a zig zag stitch because of the loose holes in the burlap or linen backing. Cotton Monk's Cloth is tighter holed so sewing with a straight stitch will work and rug warp is fairly tight as well.

Sewn on piece of wool. I find wool works best as it's fuzzy and grabs tight for less slipping.

Sewn edge to place backing in hoop.

Panty hose is a quick fix. Of course you won't be wearing them after the fact unless you're going for the shabby and not chic look. Just make a large hole in the backing with a primitive hook, fold the panty hose in two and pull the loop through. Then put the two ends through the loop, snug up and then the two tails will stretch over the grippers for a superman hold. The hose can be used over and over until they are picked to shreds.

Panty Hose, not just for legs anymore! Stretched over the grippers they hold tight and stay there.

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Something to make you smile!

3/26/2020

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I have a funny story associated with our “QUEEN OF THE SEA” pattern.  Funny in a sad, pathetic, kind of way. I have to wonder about some men.....

A while ago, I was in the studio just finishing up a new design, when a middle aged man comes in to browse the shop.   He saunters over to my work space and looks down at the drawing of a buxom mermaid, sitting on a rock with a baby mermaid in her arms.

I kid you not…his forehead broke out in tiny dots of perspiration. He kept staring at the mermaid’s over-endowed chest for an uncomfortable amount of time, mouth agape. The appeal was lost on me. First of all it was a drawing, thin marker lines on white paper and the breasts were very discreetly covered with starfish.

It was terribly awkward standing there so I did the only thing I could think of to do and asked him. “Do you think they’re big enough?”

I tell no lie…he replied, “Ooohhhhh yeessss”. It came out breathy, soft and slow, almost a whisper.

And then I just couldn’t resist and asked, “What do you think of the octopus?”   Referring to the big, two foot long octopus directly below the mermaid.

His reply? “What octopus?”

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The shop is closing until further notice.....

3/24/2020

22 Comments

To our loyal customers.

Shane, Deborah and I had a meeting today and with a heavy heart we feel it is best to shut down the shop for mail order. This means the last trip to the Post Office will be Friday March 27th. As the virus continues to spread, it is only a matter of time before we are forced to close as a nonessential business. Not that any rug hookers feel we are nonessential, our wool is pretty important to us but our health and welfare have to take precedence. For as much as I am saddened to close the shop, my loyalty is to all the people in my community, province and country. We all need to work together to conquer this scourge.

The Mahone Bay post office has been struggling with people returning from trips who refuse to self isolated for 14 days. The staff know who have been away because they’ve been stock piling their mail. Unfortunately, when they return from holiday, some are walking through the door to collect it, showing a blatant disregard for the guidelines in place to protect us. At this point no one can claim ignorance and there is absolutely no reason for them to be abusive to the staff for trying to enforce the rules and protect themselves, but some are. It’s people like this that endanger us all. For this reason, I can’t in good conscience, send Shane, my son, to the Post Office to mail parcels nor do I wish to go myself being in a high-risk category, so Friday will be the last day parcels go out.

I would like to take this time to give thanks to the courageous folks on the front lines trying to keep the postal services flowing, as well as the grocery and drugstore cashiers who deserve our highest respect and gratitude for all they do. They are true heroes.

We will honour all of the orders we currently have on the board and we are all working together to make the kits, draw the patterns and dye the wool to fill them. If any new orders come in, we will check to see if the items are in stock and if they are, we will accommodate them, but we won’t be able to fill orders of custom kits or any dyed wool past Thursday.

For anyone desperately needing supplies for a project during this lengthy home stay, I can offer you a curbside pick-up service. I won’t be hanging around the shop each day but If you phone me at home or email, I will prepare the order and then you can pick it up, prepaid, on the door step at an arranged time. I’m sure once the pandemic hits our province hard, we will all be staying close to home but in the meantime as long as I am able, I will help in any way I can.

We are lucky to be able to connect on social media to share our thoughts and our projects and stay in touch for news in this tight community we’ve built as fiber artists. It will certainly help to stay the cabin fever as we are isolated in our homes.

I am certain the business will survive this trying time and we will be back at the helm as soon as possible. Like yourselves, I will be hooking at home to fill the days, maybe even finish that book I’ve been working on. While secluded at home, don’t worry about house work, no one will be coming by to see if you let things go. It's time to play and be in that happy place!

It’s time to create my friends, create!

May you, and all your loved ones be safe.

Christine

22 Comments

Be smart, do your part!

3/21/2020

1 Comment

I suppose it can be difficult to be optimistic in these difficult and scary times but we must keep our spirits up. We must smile and hope for the best. Someone said on Facebook that we shouldn’t worry about quarantine, stay home and work on our crafts, we’ve been training for this our whole lives!   A good chuckle when we need one.

The only certainly now is uncertainty, as we move forward blindly. We can do the basic to protect ourselves but there’s so many people willing to play Russian roulette with the virus but instead of a self-inflicted wound, it could impact all those around them. Pretty much all of the cases in Canada are the result of people returning from vacations, infecting those in near proximity in public places. I don’t want to make every blog I write about the pandemic, but I feel the need to warn and advise when I don’t see enough people adhering to the warnings and suggestions made by our Prime Minister and those in the know. Turn into CBC Radio One daily for updates around 12:30 pm. Another piece of good advice, don’t watch the news all day long, give yourselves a mental break from all the devastation. You need to be informed but not inundated!

I know of seven people who were traveling and came back to Mahone Bay and didn’t immediately self-isolate, made trips to the grocery store and at least one went to work before being told to stay home and I’m sure there are others. Just because we aren’t a hot spot for the virus doesn’t mean we can be complacent in our efforts to keep it at bay and out of the Bay!

Its disconcerting that very few people are wearing gloves in public in our town. I’m not sure why after so many warnings but I’m not sure they understand the ramifications. Sure, the gloves are to protect you, that goes without saying, BUT it also protects others if you are a carrier or sick and don’t know it yet. You are touching items in the stores, door knobs entering and leaving buildings. Expecting cashiers to wait on you in the post office and grocery stores. I was told of a case of a traveler had returned and went to the post office and was told they should be home in self isolation and the gentleman got angry with the person behind the counter.

Any time during the 14-day self-isolation after returning from a trip can present symptoms, just because you are good on day one to five, doesn’t mean it isn’t brewing. So many people have traveled and don’t self-isolate when they return home. They go to work and stock up on groceries in the stores. I can’t quite get my head around it but then I know not everyone is informed or listens to the right radio stations or television, some actually think it’s all Tom foolery. It’s going to be a hard lesson to learn when potential death comes knocking, and even if you are lucky enough to survive, what have you done to others you’ve been in contact with, to friends and loved ones? How can you be so callous with other’s people’s health and welfare?

And one of the main reasons to self-isolate and self-distance is not to overwhelm the medical system. If we all get sick at once more people will die because there won’t be adequate equipment or hospital faculties to take care of the masses. In Italy right now they have announced that anyone over 80 will not receive help because they are so overwhelmed. How very, very sad. I feel for the doctors that make decisions on who lives or dies, how horrific! These brave souls are putting themselves in harms way to save others and to date, six doctors have died in Italy caring for the ill. How many nurses? Protect yourselves and stay home for the health care workers who are fighting and dying to keep us alive!

Another thing, pay attention, you’d be surprised how many times you touch your mouth, eyes and nose every day without thinking; COVID-19 enters your body through the orifices of the face. Don’t touch them if you’ve been in public! Stay at least 6 feet away from people so if they did cough or sneeze the virus will fall to the floor instead of torpedoing towards your face.

This is no time to be selfish or thoughtless. It might be early days but prevention needs to start now, not when the bodies are piling up. We need to help one another. We are in this together come hell or high water so act accordingly and do the right thing!

Gloves are only effective if you:

Put them on in the car before entering the grocery store/drugs store, etc.
Opening the store doors holding an antibacterial wipe.
Wear while in the store to select items, us to touch the cart.
Leave the gloves on to drive home, if you picked something up they and the bags you’ve carried are compromised.
Take the purchases into the house, wipe or wash everything immediately before putting away in the fridge or cupboards, with the gloves on.
Standing over the garbage can, now take off the gloves by pulling the wrist part down and off the hand and dispose.
Use wipes or a soapy rag to clean the cupboard door in front of the garbage can, knobs on the entrance door, INSIDE AND OUTSIDE and surrounding areas of your house both inside and out. Start keeping tract of things you touch to cut down on over sanitizing. Now they even say to wash shoes as they can walk on sneezed contagions and you can carry it home, put your feet up on the coffee table and there it goes!! Threat you body as if you are a detective at a murder as not to contaminate the scene of the crime!
Go back outside and wipe the car door handles, clean the steering wheel and anything you may have touched. And don’t forget to clean the car keys whether a remote starter or a key, they have been touched with those gloves.

People who say they keep hand sanitizer and wipes in their car after leaving a building don’t realized they may have already infected the car door handle and probably the wheel before they get the sanitizer on. Same as the sanitizer stations in the stores. Getting in and out of the building you have doors to deal with. Another thing, pay attention, you’d be surprised how many times you touch your mouth, eyes and nose daily.

And one more tidbit I feel I must pass on. This is something I discovered when I had environment sickness and did a lot of research into what knocks out the immune system. If you plan to go out in public, don’t drink alcohol or drink pop for up to 24 hours before. The darker colas and root beer etc., are very cloudy when produced and the clearing agent they put in it to make it clear suppresses the immune system for about 24 hours. Statistically, Pop drinkers tend to get more colds and flues than others because of this. Alcohol does the same. So, plan your sips; this is no time to be running around without the only natural defense we have. Stay safe all!

WASH YOUR HANDS AND CHANGE YOUR PLANS!!

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Same boat, new look!

3/18/2020

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When Gregg brought Catalyst II, Nonsuch 33 #22 home from Newfoundland in 2015, she needed a lot of work. I worked on all of the things you could see like the like cleaning, bright work and waxing while Gregg worked on the systems and all the other things you don’t see but are equally important.

She was almost 30 years old but I was determined to make her look like a shiny penny so I decided the stern name needed refreshing and a bit of a downsize. The letters were large and splashed across the transom making the boat look small by comparison. I knew it was only an illusion but if I was going to redo it, I wanted it to look balanced and not dominate the entire back end. The current decal had tears in it, small center pieces were nicked away showing the white gelcoat through the royal blue letters and there were various tears along the edges. So I scraped off the old name and ordered a new one from the local print shop.

The name Catalyst itself was of a decent size but the large roman numerals that accompanied it were unnecessarily large and I didn’t think they needed to be that prominent. I also changed the Font for a thinner letter and cleaner lines.

Under the old decal the gelcoat was fresh and whiter, protected from the sun baking down on it for years. Although I scrubbed and rubbed the entire transom, I couldn't blend the two shades so it will be there for life or until the sun blends the two. This is one thing to remember when changing the name of a boat, the ghost of a former name will still haunt you. Gregg say we have to work on the 20 foot theory, all boats look great at that distance and he's right because our stern looks fabulous with the new lettering, and I only notice the ghosting when I'm up close and personal when waxing in the spring.

So, we prepared the surface properly and installed the new decal. We took our time and did everything right but it’s not as easy as it looks even with the proper tools. We had a few bubbles here and there. The larger ones I pricked with a needle ever so gently to deflate them and the smaller ones shrunk in the sunlight by the end of a week all is flat.

I couldn’t be happier with the new look. The II is smaller and we did them in red just to be different. We painted a red stripe at the bottom of the boot stripe just before the bottom paint. I really liked the way it looked and it really stands out and we find its easier to tell how she is sitting in the water at the mooring from the road. We also painted the cove and the faded red stripe beneath it for a fresh look. I rolled on the paint and Gregg followed with a dry brush tipping. From twenty feet the boat looks like a shiny new penny and quite frankly an entirely different boat which makes her feel like she belongs to us now!

Catalyst in Newfoundland before the trip to NS, you can see how faded the red stripe is.

On the way home from Newfoundland. Gregg's brother Terry in the stern. The brothers said it was a trip and a thrill of a lifetime!

Taping off to paint the stripes. The red had faded to a dull pink, not good enough for our gal! The tape was a bit of a pain to remove after sitting there for two days.

All cleaned and ready.

There's a lot of rubbing but no genie.

The new decal is applied.

The beginning peel.

TA Dah! The smaller letters sure made her transom look bigger!

Looking good. That second red stripe is perfect! Last year I installed II over the cats tail.

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Attention to all our customers......

3/17/2020

5 Comments

In leu of what is happening in the world and on our doorsteps with COVID-19, I hope you are safely celebrating St. Paddy's day!

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We have been closely monitoring the situation surrounding COVID-19. At this time, we have made the decision to close the shop to public walk-ins until further notice. Hopefully, this is a temporary measure as we all do our part to keep the community, the province and the country safe.

Each of us has a critical role to play. Isolating ourselves not only helps to prevent personal infection but it will also slow down the spread so it doesn’t overwhelm the medical system all at once. We only need to read about the devastation in Italy to realize that if we don’t practice social distancing, we put everyone at increased risk and more people will succumb and face the danger of not having enough medical treatment facilities or equipment to save them.

It was a difficult decision but the right thing to do. We don’t know who will come through the door, where they’ve been or who they’ve been in contact with, so we need to protect ourselves as well as you, the customer.

Deborah, Shane and I have always worked tirelessly to provide the needs of the rug hooking community and are will remain committed to our valuable customers. We plan to offer mail order service for as long as the Post Office remains open and we remain healthy!

For locals, we can do up phone or email orders, have you pay by credit card and then you can pick them up at the door by arranging a time and we will set them on the outside step when we see you drive up. We can smile and wave to one other through the window!

We can be reached on our toll-free line 1-855-624-0370 or local 902-624-0370 and if there is no answer you can leave a message or phone me at home to place an order at 902-624-6411. Of course, we will be reachable anytime by email and through the contact form on the website for requesting PayPal invoices.

We are facing scary, uncertain times with this insidious contagion. We don’t know who it will affect, who will get sick and if there will be help if we need it. As we self isolate, we at least have the gift of our crafts to help us get through these trying times.

And in case you didn’t know, the US Exchange Rate keeps rising. This morning it was 1.41, making this the perfect time for our American customers to place orders for substantial savings once the credit card company does the exchange from the low Canadian to the high US dollar. What a perk!

We hope to be able to ride out the Pandemic. Many businesses will close and not be able to reopen from the financial strain. We hope to be here when the dust settles so your continued patronage at this time, is greatly appreciated.

I will blog during the coming days, weeks and months, who knows how long this will go on. I thought perhaps it would be fun if you could send photos of our patterns that you have hooked that we might not have seen before, eye candy for all the rug hooking shut-ins that are waiting out the virus. Social Media is really going to help us communicate and sharing photos of rugs, might bring a smile to those that are feeling the stress, fear and boredom of being isolated. So please share with me and I will post them on Facebook and my blog.

To all of our wonderful fiber art, kindred spirits! Please be safe!

Christine, Deborah & Shane

“WASH YOUR HANDS AND CANCEL YOUR PLANS!”

5 Comments

Memories from the past revamped and anew

3/13/2020

5 Comments

Even as a child I loved neat things; interesting antiques and items crafted with character and charm.   If I saw something and became smitten, I’d hang on to it knowing someday, it would become useful in ways that weren’t clear at the time.   When I was ten and my family moved to the house on Cherry Lane, it was a trip back to the past with none of the modern conveniences of the sixties and seventies. My naivety was greatly affected by how people from the dark ages lived, no inside toilet? The house was definitely a fixer upper to bring it up to the current standards and dad picked away at the priorities to make it a cosy home.

Because the house had stayed untouched with plaster, lath and wood plank exterior walls, that was all that separated us from the cold outside making warmth and comfort the top of the list with winter coming. Dad had Burgoyne’s Heating install an oil furnace that would warm every room, ceiling ducts in the upstairs and floor registers on the main level. Up until then the only heat source the house had ever known was a small wood stove in the kitchen that surely had the previous occupants clad in thick sweaters and long johns in the other areas of the house. There was evidence that sheets had been hung in the doorways that led to the hall and back porch to keep the heat in the kitchen where they probably hung out during the day. Until the furnace came, only the kitchen offered comfort and we huddled there dreading going upstairs to our icy beds.

Although the little wood stove was small it churned out a lot of heat. It was so adorable with its ornate casting and craftsmanship that we no longer see today. Everywhere you looked there was a decorative swirl or detail on its curvaceous girth. There was an amazing ornate skirt that probably had a chrome plating and a domed finial top, now void of chrome and painted gold. The mica was still intact which was surprising from its age. I used to stare at the small silvery windows, mesmerized by the flickering flames that danced behind them.

Dad was going to chuck the old stove to the road side after the furnace was up and running but I begged him to let me have it. I don’t know why he indulged me, it was heavy and had to be lugged to the basement where it would only sit and rust in the dampness. I must have presented a pretty good argument because we stored it until I got older, moved out and took it with me. I dragged it around for years, in and out of a first marriage, various apartments and finally to my current abode with hubby number two. I never knew why, I just wanted it because it was unique, old and full of character.

So, when we renovated the building that my shop is in now, I bought an old mantel surround, painted it red and put the stove there, fashioning a fake pipe out of an aluminum vent and painted it flat black to match the stove so it looked like it was hooked up to a chimney outside. It was a sweet element of the past for the studio, fitting in nicely with the antiques I gathered for displays and the gorgeous antique staircase railing and newel post that we installed that had been harvested from an old house.

I could have sold that stove many times over the years as people noticed it and wanted the history. It was built in Sackville, New Brunswick at a place called Chas. Fawcett and some folks were very familiar with the foundry that made it. They all agreed it was a good call not to discard it.

One of the interesting features of the stove is a decorate crown that pivots to the side to expose a two-burner top for double duty as a cooker. Considering the lack of an electric range that had clearly never been installed in the kitchen I would imagine many a meal was heated on top of the old faithful wood stove. It had seen its day and wouldn't be wet certified now but with a bit of welding to replace the back plate and some new fire bricks it could be used, maybe outdoors with a stove pipe through a sheltering roof.

The other item in that house that piqued my curiosity was a large oil cloth that covered the bare floor boards in the back-storage room. Every time I went in there to fetch a canned good for mom or steal a cookie out of the tin, I marveled at the colours and the Jacobean flowers printed on the cloth. The softness and blend of earth tones really filled my budding artist soul. After my parents both passed away and the house was cleared out to be sold, I took a number of photos and gathered up several large pieces as it was cracked and falling apart, thinking perhaps, well I really don’t know what I was thinking, it was long before my hooking days, I just knew that I wanted to preserve it somehow. Perhaps I would paint the image on a floor in a future home.   Over the years as I lugged it from pillar to post the pieces began to crumble so I threw them out. As long as I had the photos it would serve whatever purpose I would undertake.

So, when I opened the shop, I thought of that old oil cloth and I dug out the pictures and saw immediately what a handsome rug pattern it would make. Well over 100 years old, I wasn’t worried about copyright and I manipulated the pattern motifs to create an enclosed area so the outer area around them could potentially have a different colour to the interior field. Someone loved the pattern but wished it had a border, making it more traditional. No problem, I added a border using the elements in the center design and named it after the woman that requested it. The first version with just the center and an edge around it, was called Beatrice after my Springhill nana. I’d previously named a rug after my mom so her mother’s name was perfect. Beatrice is an old-fashioned moniker that suited perfectly the antique impression that the pattern relays, but now I think it should be renamed Cherry Lane and use Beatrice for another design.

Yesterday when I opened my email, low and behold there was a photo of Ruth Anne beautifully hooked and it just about blew me away. Excitement coursed through my body as memories flooded me of the old house on Cherry Lane where I spent most of my childhood. Thank-you Marten Doornekamp for sharing it with me. What a fantastic heirloom you've created. I love it!

The palette Marten chose was similar in feel and has that earthiness like the original cloth but different at the same time. The thing I love best about owning a shop is seeing how rug hookers interpret my designs and bring them to life with exquisite colour, often eliciting tears from this sentimental old fool.

Ruth Anne hooked beautifully by Marten Doornekamp
48" x 80"

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Introducing Emperors Gold by Guest Blogger Heather Gordon

3/12/2020

9 Comments

Emperor’s Gold is the latest addition to the amazing wall of colour at Encompassing Designs. The dye guy has outdone himself once again.

Last year I ran into a little roadblock when planning a design to celebrate my latest trip to China. After looking through about 1,500 photos of exotic landscapes and considering several possibilities, I realized that none of them would work. Instead of a street scene or landscape, I decided to celebrate the spirit of Chinese culture.

I was starting to pack for a move and did not really have time to create a new design or to do any dyeing. Fortunately, I had an old Michelle Micarelli pattern that I bought at a workshop at Encompassing Designs about 10 years ago and a huge stash of fabric. Inspired by the rich silks and embroidered textiles of the ancient Chinese emperor’s robes, I gathered a bundle of Terra cottas, blues and greens and looked for an elegant gold for the background because only the Emperor was allowed to wear gold and those old robes are magnificent. Nothing in my stash came close to the elusive colour in my mind. I couldn’t find it in my rings of dye samples or even among hundreds of choices on my collection of paint charts.

It was time to meet Shane to transform the colour that was in my head to an actual dye formula that was always just a little different from any of the shades available and of course, he accepted the challenge and produced a gorgeous new colour.

The mat is now on the floor of my new apartment where I can enjoy it every day and Emperor’s Gold is available for all of you to add an elegant touch to the design of your choice.

Heather Gordon
Pattern designed by Michelle Micarelli called Doily
Whipped with Shane’s dyed Briggs & Little and bound with Terra cotta

Close-up detail of the sculpted flowers and leaves.

Whipped with rug binding attached.

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