Photo Susan Lord Any day a bus rolls up and a dozen or more rug hookers get off it, well, that’s an amazing day! The fact that the women aboard have traveled all the way from Japan, well, that’s even more wonderful.
Chizuko, from Tokyo, brought 12 of her students on a Maritimes Tour. Tuesday, their day began at the North American Rug Hooking Museum in Hubbard’s where Chizuko Hayami received a very prestigious Rug Hooking Artist of the Year plaque from Suzanne Conrod. Then they stopped for lunch at the Inlet Café in Mahone Bay before rolling up at our front door for wool dessert!
It was fun to watch the women check out our shop. I asked Chizuko if there were any rug hooking supply studios in Japan and she said no. Some of the ladies didn’t speak English so there was a bit of a communication barrier but together we managed to speak the international language of wool; simple ooohs and aaahs were all that was needed to convey their supply needs.
Joke: How many Japanese rug hookers fit into our pattern room? Answer: All of them! My heart swelled listening to the excitement over the patterns on the racks. One time three heads were together, literally, the picture proves it, as they exchanged comments about a design. Often there would be an excited exclamation after uncovering a cute pattern followed by a chorus of many aawwws. The ladies seemed very interested in regional designs and focused on patterns from the county, the Lunenburg buildings and the iconic Mahone Bay Churches were favourites but they enjoyed the whimsical selection as well. We sold several of the Initially Yours patterns after they viewed my almost completed hooked set of the alphabet.
One very enthusiastic rug hooker brought her design of Mahone Bay Churches and harbour front. She had sewn a velvet frame around the beautiful rug that made it picture perfect. Her sky was done in reverse hooking and the sun also, but with a smaller cut. Thank-you to Chizuko for giving Sue and I a quick lesson on how to create this effect.
I’m sorry, I don’t know everyone’s name, there were too many to keep straight nor would I want to mix anyone up and insult, but Chizuko, who I have met before and is a Facebook friend, was lovely and as always, beautiful. I wanted to give her a present to thank her for making the shop part of their tour so I put together a small taste of the Atlantic provinces like Salt Water Taffy from Newfoundland, Maple Syrup from Maplewood, NS, Organic Dulse harvested off our coast, a Nova Scotia Tartan Tea Cosy handmade in NS, a glass ball ornament reverse painted through the small hole in the top of our Three Churches, although made in China will be very beautiful to hang on her tree this coming Christmas, a postcard of Mahone Bay’s Three churches and a felted wool Owl Bag to hold her hooking tools.
I hooked “Welcome” in Japanese characters and although I was a bit nervous that I was trusting the internet to translate the word properly, so I asked Chizuko to verify it was correct. At first I'd planned on printing off a banner to tape to the bulkhead but a sleepless night Sunday created a tornado of thoughts and I bolted up in bed like when the light bulb went off. Why not hook it?! So I checked the internet for the characters, selected a piece of red burlap, drew out the design and cut a fist full of white wool strips to start work on it in the shop while the demolition was going on and then finished it that evening before making the doughnuts. I took the colour plan from the Japanese flag with its red circle representing the sun and white background, I just reversed the colours. It took a bit longer than anticipated pulling the loops through very tight fitting holes but I was immensely pleased with the outcome because I really wanted to show my appreciation for their visit. I felt very special to be selected as part of their tour and wanted them to know it. I’ll hang it in the shop to welcome other tourists from Japan in the summer months.
I think the doughnuts were a hit, especially with the bus driver. Everyone had just eaten at a restaurant so there were quite a few left over but then again I made two large batches because my eyes are always bigger than my stomach and probably my subconscious wanted to make sure there would be enough left over to binge on. I was one a sugar high for the rest of the afternoon!
Thank-you for all the help so our visitors had a flawless time. Thank-you to Deborah for making up a pattern on the fly of the Mahone Bay Churches, Michelle and Deborah for working the sales counter, Hubby for taking pictures, Sue for helping out as always, and Charlene, who knows Chizuko popped in to say hello.
As for the remaining doughnuts, not a problem, Hubby and I delivered a few to friends on the way home. Everyone knows about my doughnuts so there were smiles and the very last two were absconded by hubby and hidden somewhere in his office so they were out of sight of my craving. I’d eaten way too many so my blood sugar took a hit, but I’ll recover, I don’t do this often! For me, I’m eating a memory of my grandmother. They take me back to when I was a child visiting for the summer. Her house always smelled of doughnuts and I would sneak them out of her pantry by crawling under the beaded curtain on my belly to get to the tin. She never said a word when they disappeared, just hauled out the ingredients to make more. If I wasn’t so immersed in rug hooking, I’ll hang a sign and open a café called Nana B’s Doughnuts so the rest of the world could know what a real, honest to goodness, home baked cake doughnut tastes like, not those franchised powdered mixes that you had water too, those greasy, overpriced edible oil products, that a housefly won’t land on….but I’d weigh a hundred pounds heavier and be on insulin so I think I’ll stay where I am! Sweet stuff is nice, but wool doesn’t rot your teeth!
So the day was wonderful. It started early with a good cleaning and rearranging the shop to make it look smart. With the reno going on the one side of the building is pretty ugly with its exposed bare studs and there was gyprock dust everywhere, covering every surface with a white powered grit. We positioned eye catching supplies to detract from the unfinished walls. I don’t think anyone really noticed and if they did, they probably didn’t care so my fretting was for my benefit, the old fuss budget I am.
Hubby shot pictures throughout the visit so I had plenty to go through. Here are some of the favourites.
Chizuko, from Tokyo, brought 12 of her students on a Maritimes Tour. Tuesday, their day began at the North American Rug Hooking Museum in Hubbard’s where Chizuko Hayami received a very prestigious Rug Hooking Artist of the Year plaque from Suzanne Conrod. Then they stopped for lunch at the Inlet Café in Mahone Bay before rolling up at our front door for wool dessert!
It was fun to watch the women check out our shop. I asked Chizuko if there were any rug hooking supply studios in Japan and she said no. Some of the ladies didn’t speak English so there was a bit of a communication barrier but together we managed to speak the international language of wool; simple ooohs and aaahs were all that was needed to convey their supply needs.
Joke: How many Japanese rug hookers fit into our pattern room? Answer: All of them! My heart swelled listening to the excitement over the patterns on the racks. One time three heads were together, literally, the picture proves it, as they exchanged comments about a design. Often there would be an excited exclamation after uncovering a cute pattern followed by a chorus of many aawwws. The ladies seemed very interested in regional designs and focused on patterns from the county, the Lunenburg buildings and the iconic Mahone Bay Churches were favourites but they enjoyed the whimsical selection as well. We sold several of the Initially Yours patterns after they viewed my almost completed hooked set of the alphabet.
One very enthusiastic rug hooker brought her design of Mahone Bay Churches and harbour front. She had sewn a velvet frame around the beautiful rug that made it picture perfect. Her sky was done in reverse hooking and the sun also, but with a smaller cut. Thank-you to Chizuko for giving Sue and I a quick lesson on how to create this effect.
I’m sorry, I don’t know everyone’s name, there were too many to keep straight nor would I want to mix anyone up and insult, but Chizuko, who I have met before and is a Facebook friend, was lovely and as always, beautiful. I wanted to give her a present to thank her for making the shop part of their tour so I put together a small taste of the Atlantic provinces like Salt Water Taffy from Newfoundland, Maple Syrup from Maplewood, NS, Organic Dulse harvested off our coast, a Nova Scotia Tartan Tea Cosy handmade in NS, a glass ball ornament reverse painted through the small hole in the top of our Three Churches, although made in China will be very beautiful to hang on her tree this coming Christmas, a postcard of Mahone Bay’s Three churches and a felted wool Owl Bag to hold her hooking tools.
I hooked “Welcome” in Japanese characters and although I was a bit nervous that I was trusting the internet to translate the word properly, so I asked Chizuko to verify it was correct. At first I'd planned on printing off a banner to tape to the bulkhead but a sleepless night Sunday created a tornado of thoughts and I bolted up in bed like when the light bulb went off. Why not hook it?! So I checked the internet for the characters, selected a piece of red burlap, drew out the design and cut a fist full of white wool strips to start work on it in the shop while the demolition was going on and then finished it that evening before making the doughnuts. I took the colour plan from the Japanese flag with its red circle representing the sun and white background, I just reversed the colours. It took a bit longer than anticipated pulling the loops through very tight fitting holes but I was immensely pleased with the outcome because I really wanted to show my appreciation for their visit. I felt very special to be selected as part of their tour and wanted them to know it. I’ll hang it in the shop to welcome other tourists from Japan in the summer months.
I think the doughnuts were a hit, especially with the bus driver. Everyone had just eaten at a restaurant so there were quite a few left over but then again I made two large batches because my eyes are always bigger than my stomach and probably my subconscious wanted to make sure there would be enough left over to binge on. I was one a sugar high for the rest of the afternoon!
Thank-you for all the help so our visitors had a flawless time. Thank-you to Deborah for making up a pattern on the fly of the Mahone Bay Churches, Michelle and Deborah for working the sales counter, Hubby for taking pictures, Sue for helping out as always, and Charlene, who knows Chizuko popped in to say hello.
As for the remaining doughnuts, not a problem, Hubby and I delivered a few to friends on the way home. Everyone knows about my doughnuts so there were smiles and the very last two were absconded by hubby and hidden somewhere in his office so they were out of sight of my craving. I’d eaten way too many so my blood sugar took a hit, but I’ll recover, I don’t do this often! For me, I’m eating a memory of my grandmother. They take me back to when I was a child visiting for the summer. Her house always smelled of doughnuts and I would sneak them out of her pantry by crawling under the beaded curtain on my belly to get to the tin. She never said a word when they disappeared, just hauled out the ingredients to make more. If I wasn’t so immersed in rug hooking, I’ll hang a sign and open a café called Nana B’s Doughnuts so the rest of the world could know what a real, honest to goodness, home baked cake doughnut tastes like, not those franchised powdered mixes that you had water too, those greasy, overpriced edible oil products, that a housefly won’t land on….but I’d weigh a hundred pounds heavier and be on insulin so I think I’ll stay where I am! Sweet stuff is nice, but wool doesn’t rot your teeth!
So the day was wonderful. It started early with a good cleaning and rearranging the shop to make it look smart. With the reno going on the one side of the building is pretty ugly with its exposed bare studs and there was gyprock dust everywhere, covering every surface with a white powered grit. We positioned eye catching supplies to detract from the unfinished walls. I don’t think anyone really noticed and if they did, they probably didn’t care so my fretting was for my benefit, the old fuss budget I am.
Hubby shot pictures throughout the visit so I had plenty to go through. Here are some of the favourites.
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Below are two pieces of Chizuko's large body of work. In her case, these pictures are definitely worth a thousand words!
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