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I am in awe....

6/11/2018

3 Comments

 
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I’ve been out in the gardens taking them back from the weeds, As I'm working the soil digging out the roots of the interlopers, I was thinking about all the life going on around me and became was so inspired I got up and went into the house to fire up the computer to  translate my thoughts into words. 

As I claim back my gardens, I’m sharing my space with busy bees; they buzz their presence so I know to avoid them. Bees are one of the most important creatures on this earth.  Without their diligence we would all die, starve to death.  Accidentally killing one is a crime against humanity so I give them a wide berth and of course I don’t want to be stung so it’s a win, win for us all.  I was thinking how lucky I am to be in tune with nature, I see things and hear things around me and I’m careful not to upset their lives.  I’m in their world, they aren’t in mine.

I am in awe of the garter snakes that call our yard home.  I marvel how they get along, curling with one another, three and four entangled, with heads touching.  I am in awe how they don’t move when I take the pups out to pee, how they gather around the steps and look at me, instinctively knowing that I am kind to them in a world where people kill them without thought.
 
One shed the other day and the complete skin was beside my Hosta.  I’ve never seen one whole, as it breaks down quickly in the elements, so it must have been recent.  The largest snake is just shy of a yard long with a pretty impressive girth.  He is also the prettiest, a golden boy with patterned skin that gleams as the sun dances over his length. I’ve counted eight snakes this year in various parts of the yard.  I can avoid everywhere they hang out but the steps, I need those to get to my car but we coexist nicely.   They blend so perfectly with the rock walls, sometimes I’m looking intently and still miss them.  One time I took a picture of one basking on a rock and when I looked at the photo there were two.  If I wasn’t paying attention they would exist around me but I'm happy to be aware, to be a small part of a greater picture.     
 
I am in awe how the family of chickadees work their parental magic taking turns feeding their babies.  One flies out of the nest in search of food while the other flies in with a beak full.   The babies don’t make a sound; I’ve not heard as much as a peep out of them, while downtown the other day I heard desperate callings and looked up and saw baby birds peeking out of a crack in a building soffit and they were hungry.  Their beaks were wide open and screeching.  There were four of them and I worried they would tumble out in their frantic need for food.  Momma robin, pigeon or crow must have been out gathering food. 

My chickadees are so quiet in their parenting.  I watch them for hours from the kitchen door, so fascinated by how they attend to their young.  I am in awe how they trust me now and fly in and out while I’m gardening and watering the baskets that hang below their home.  They are so beautiful and mesmerizing that a creature so ting can make such beautiful music.   It would be a privilege, a rare gift to witness the babies leave the nest.  Watch their parents assist them out the little hole they use as their door.   The babies must be unbelievably small considering the parents could almost live in an egg cup.

I see a vole at least once a day, usually at night when the pups go out for their last pee of the evening.  It scurries from rock to rock, dipping into dark cracks, noiselessly scurrying along.  I’m thinking the little area by our back step sure gets lots of action; imagine how much is going on throughout the entire yard.

There seems to be more monarch butterflies this year.   I am so in awe of their delicate beauty.  One followed me the other day, was never more than three feet away.  Once, I felt a soft breeze on my arm as it fluttered by.  I was so careful walking as it kept landing at my feet.  It was almost eerie, not in a bad sense, but as if it was some sort of sign, to which I have no clue what the meaning would be, but it was strange that’s all.  It followed me around the yard and then back to the step.  I went inside the house and watched it from the screen door.  It landed on the deck for a bit, and then flew away.   As I’m writing this I can see out the window and one is fluttering around my little side garden, perhaps waiting for me to come out…. 

I am in awe how a lone Dove pecks away at the driveway gravel finding bugs among the dirt.  All the other doves are in pairs, I’ve read they mate for life. Perhaps it is the same one as last year back again, still alone.  Its cry is mournful.  Sometimes it sits on the peak of our roof for hours declaring its grief to the world.  I can almost feel its pain as it resonates in that special place that holds my own losses in my heart.   

I am in awe how the male cardinal scolds us as we get too close to their hidden nest in the Weigela bush.  It flies high up in the birch trees and squawks at us loudly, offering himself up as bait to lead us away from the nest with its scolding.  I try to respect their space and hustle the pups to the opposite part of the driveway and only then does the cardinal grow quiet.  Out of the corner of my eye I see him sneak back into the bush when he feels the coast is clear. 
 
On the opposite side of the drive there is a squirrel that doesn’t like us getting close to its hole in the ground and boy can that one screech.  Honey was the one that loved the squirrels and one would sit on the steps outside and jabbers on and on and it drove her crazy as she waited by the door begging to go outside.  I swear it did it on purpose so I’d let her out to chase it, knowing full well it could scamper away with the speed of lightening.

I weed with acute awareness, looking close as not to disturb a nest before ramming in my spade.  The dense growth is thick and protective, the perfect place to build a temporary home.  Other years I’ve had to wait to clean out the garden while eggs hatched and then the babies grew enough to leave the nest.  I’ve been watching to see if any birds fly in and out of the tall weeds and generally if you venture too close to a nest there’s a momma or a papa bird giving you heck from a nearby bush.

I love that our yard is teaming with little creatures; it means our soil is clean and our bushes are free of pesticides.  It is a place to forage for food and have babies in a healthy, natural environment.   I’m proud that we are doing our part to help keep the environment safe for the little creatures that call it home.  
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One can see so much with open eyes.  If you look past the obvious, the wonders of nature reveal themselves.  It’s a beautiful thing…..  

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3 Comments

Seas The Day designed by Susan Leslie

6/8/2018

2 Comments

 
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I receive some rather sad news last week.  Megan Leslie phoned to let me know that her father, Allan Leslie had passed away a week after having heart surgery.  He was only 65.  Megan’s mom was the Late Susan Leslie, who we all know and love for her wonderful designs and contribution to the art of rug hooking.  Susan brought many beginners into the hooking fold;  sharing her time, knowledge and her wool.   It’s so hard to believe that she has been gone nine years. I still miss her....she was a true friend, talented and a good person, we've all been cheated by her early demise. 

After clearing out the house, we met up last Sunday and Megan brought all the remaining patterns that Susan had in her collection.  Amongst them was the last design Susan had talked about hooking.  She so loved anything around or in the sea and she bubbled over talking about the elements she planned to showcase.  Seadragons, seahorses and starfish.  We talked about it at length and after she finished the commission she was working on she was going to have this new and exciting piece on her frame but unfortunately she died before it came to fruition.  I believe her friend Wendy drew it off and hooked it but don’t quote me on that but if she did and reads this I would love to see it. 

Anyway, Deborah put it on linen this morning.  We had to come up with a name so we’re calling it “Seas The Day” a fun, nautical play on words and something we all need to do considering tomorrow is not promised to any of us.  I'm sure Susan would approve. 

A funny little story came to mind.  A few years back a woman approached me at a community hook-in and asked if Susan Leslie had any new designs.  She told me that she loved Susan’s patterns, and hooked them exclusively for a while, even told me she wasn’t interested in any of mine.  She knew that Susan had passed years before so it was a confusing question.   My knee jerk reaction was to smile but that would have made me a jerk, so I said in a joking manner, no sorry, she’s not like Elvis with songs waiting in the vault to be released.  We both had a little chuckle.  

But now, we DO HAVE NEW, at least new to us, Susan Leslie designs and we will post them over the next few weeks as we make them up.  She loved nautical, so many sport whales and lighthouses etc.   An extra little bit of this and that to remember her by.   I’m sure she’s smiling…..

2 Comments

Pimping our ride....

6/4/2018

6 Comments

 
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I’m feverishly hooking again.  I attack things with a running start and then cross the finish line with a steady walk. This isn't a large rug so I'm giving myself a two week deadline and hope to stay on course. 

One of the drawbacks of owning a shop is being immersed in all things hooking, 6 days a week all day long, so sometimes I don’t feel much like picking up my frame in the evenings, sometimes going weeks or months without pulling a single loop.  Of course it is dependent on what project I’m doing. Sometimes I bubble over with excitement and work like a machine for weeks until I run out of fuel and then take a bit of time off to recharge the batteries. 

But the thing is, I work at a pace that I’m good at, fast forward to hyper, all that short order cooking experience back in the day at the Red Buoy Take-Out Restaurant set my dial to Top Speed.  Best thing I ever did was work there at thirteen, it molded me like clay and I can put dinner on the table in five minutes, or finish any chore in record breaking time. And, there isn't any rule about how quickly one has to hook to finish a project but because I'm so busy I need to get it done  quickly before I'm distracted and speed helps get it done. 

There's no shame in not finishing a rug when predicted, if that were the case my face would be covered in egg. Rug hooking waits for you patiently until you get back in the mood or find the time.  Someone told me the other day they lost their mojo and I get that, but like riding a bike, it waits to be hopped on and off we go again.  I hook for pleasure, not pressure, so I work when I’m inclined and that keeps me in a perpetual happy place.   

I have two passions in life, rug hooking and Catalyst II, and marrying them together is absolutely thrilling; creating a union that serves me well, in function as well as beauty.  Its a wool meets water sort of love affair and designing and hooking rugs for our boat...excuse me yacht...is about as exciting as it gets.

Catalyst’s cabin floor is teak and holly that I’ve varnished to a mirror finish.  It’s glorious bare, but I want to protect that shine from shoe scrapes and pups toenails as much as possible.  And the truth of the matter is, our pups don’t like jumping down from the settees or off the beds to the slippery surface so the rugs provide a padded landing.  

There is only so much decorating you can do on a boat without glue or screws to keep it down so throw cushions and cute little curtains are about the extent of personalizing and cozying up the cabin.  Because of the rocking and rolling aspect of sailing you can’t display knickknacks or they become airborne projectiles, so things like soft pillows are the way to go.  

My hooked rugs will not only save the finish on the floors but provide much need colour. The boat came with red vinyl upholstered cushions, not exactly what I would have chosen but they are fairly new and well done and will serve us for years until they wear out.  In the meantime I love red, blue and gold so that colour scheme is perfect and I’ve been building on it to make our floating cottage charming and comfortable.   It’s like a home away from home that needs to be appointed with comfy things.  Remember I Dream Of Jeannie and her bottle?   Inside was the most beautiful sofas with the most beautiful cushions...I'm not that over-the-top but that's the feel I'm going for.  Comfy with a capital C.  I call it pimping our ride.    

The previous rug I designed was a compass rose with sea serpents and rope on the borders.  As long as this new one sports a common motif and colours they will blend and lay well next to each other.  This one is for the bottom of the companionway steps, providing a soft landing and a virtual feast for the entrance to the cabin.  The plaid idea came to me while hooking my Nova Scotia Treasures rug when I tried to create NS Tartan but then I found out it's copyrighted (so it’s a good thing mine version didn’t look much like the real thing), so I thought I would design and hook a my own plaid for the studio.  This is the result, drum roll please, the Encompassing Designs Tartan. I’m not of Scottish descent but we are a company with 18 years history and why the heck not honour it with a plaid of its very own?

This plaid was fun to create.  I had no idea when I began, no initial drawings or thoughts about it in my head. I started by laying down the gold and red crosses and then counting rows around them, moving out from there building blocks of colour.  Once I had the first segment done it was so easy to keep duplicating and then the pattern began to  come to life.  It’s so easy to do and all about the count and colour.  I’m so happy with the vibrant blues and shots of red, and even though green is not one of my favourites, the small punches of two tone green really set it all off and even add to the overall nautical flavour I was hoping for.  The rope is of course standard and I hooked it a bit larger than the previous rug to surround and help tone down the plaid that is quite dominating.   

I have one more rug to complete before August for the International Nonsuch Association Rendezvous in Halifax.  The count now is 20 Nonsuch boats registered and growing daily. I can't wait to see all those beautiful boats lining the finger wharves and perhaps being invited on board to see how others renovate their cottages on the water to make them their own.  I can't wait to share all our hard work and the one-of-a-kind hand hooked rug appointments that will make Catalyst II unique.        

After this one, the forward berth needs a mat as well.  I’m pondering that design as I hook this current one.   Perhaps a mermaid with a sassy tail?   I would also like to hook the nautical flag pillow I designed a month or so back that spells love, which sums up my feelings about our beautiful boat.  Be still my heart....
 

6 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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