Saturday hubby and I took the shop on the road to the Nicholsville RugRats annual Fall Fling at Kingston, NS. This year there was almost double the participants in that they opened up the other end of the hall to accommodate more attendance.
The hook-in itself is a draw but I wonder if they also come for the turkey dinner served for lunch? It’s pretty impressive, made by the Lion’s members that have the whole meal down to a science, cooking, serving and cleaning up. You’d think preparing food for 140 or so people would compromise the flavour, perhaps have watered down, flavourless gravy, but not these guys, it was plate licking delicious. The grain fed, free range turkeys were tender and juicy, barely needing teeth to chew it. Funny, the first thing I think about when I’m asked to be a vender is that meal, but then I’m pretty motivated by my stomach. Hubby was with me this time, did the driving and heavy lifting and helping me with sales and he was certainly impressed by the grub as well.
Oh, and I need to mention the dessert, get all the food chat over before I talk hooking. Strawberry shortcake, need I say more? But of course I will. There’s strawberry shortcake and then there’s strawberry shortcake. I judge all by my mother’s biscuits and these guys seemed to channel her finesse so every spoonful was a memory as well as a flavour sensation. The strawberries were crushed, not sliced, as mom always did and they weren’t over sweetened so the fruit part was perfect as well. I would have preferred vanilla ice-cream, as a child I didn’t know that whipped cream existed, but it would have melted and quite frankly their whipped cream was pretty delicious as well.
I took photos of most things but didn’t think about the food because I was too busy stuffing my face so you have to take my word for most of it and speaking of that I must mention the rolls. I try to stay away from bread as much as possible, the starch converts to sugar in my mouth and flows directly into my bloodstream so I limit it as much as possible, but those rolls looked homemade so I fell to temptation. The taste confirmed they were homemade. I chose a white roll even though there was a whole-wheat choice and I’m not sure if the Lion’s folk made them or if they were baked off site, but OMG they were a blast of my past. The butter spread on the warm roll like frosting on a cake. I would have gone back for more, my mind actually made the trip, but I was pretty full and one was certainly enough of a memory to last till next time.
So enough about the lunch, let’s talk hooking, after all that’s what the day is all about, what brings us all together. Smiling faces were wall to wall, the atmosphere was thick with enthusiasm; the aura in the spacious hall glowed with the love of our chosen craft. You could feel the energy radiating off each participant, they were here for a good time and weren’t disappointed.
I was one of two venders there to sell our wares. This year I was allowed to bring more than just patterns so we loaded up the car to full capacity, even adding a roof rack carrier to take as much as possible. We spread out along the far wall, patterns and wool and all else in between. Shane’s wool was like gold at the end of a rainbow. We’d dyed up a lot of yarn, the colours of autumn and the greens were grabbed up as folks were thinking about fall projects.
Deborah made sure we were stocked with pumpkin and sunflower patterns and they were a hit as well. Fall is in the air even if it officially hasn’t arrived yet, the nights are cooler for sleeping and the winds carry a bit of nip in the shade areas, making one button up in the daytime. It’s coming; we can’t fight its ascent, so we jump right in and work with the palettes of orange, golds, browns and greens. Shane dyed a lot of our standard seasonal spots, his art imitating life in the turning of the leaves and the bountiful harvest.
Towards the end of the day, when things quieted down for the shop, I was able to walk around the hall to see what everyone was working on and I must say my chest was sticking when I discovered a number of people were hooking Encompassing Designs patterns. And there were two finished rugs in the display, our Pussy Willows and Fancy Flounders, designed by Susan Leslie that we produce. There is no better feeling, than seeing a pattern I’ve designed making a connection to a rug hooker and then seeing how they lovingly make it into a personal heirloom.
The rug hookers congregated from all over, representing many hooking groups from around the province and farther afield, even one member from our Main Street Hookers crowd, yeah Christine! So many familiar faces and yet new ones as well, this burgeoning traditional art form continues to mushroom through new techniques, innovative designs, and the abundance of variant wool fibers.
Paul Depress did a fantastic job as always. A beautiful rug hooker as well as an organizer, he commanded the day in his usual congenial way. Everything ran smoothly and there were squeals of delight over the many prizes, 50/50 draw, gift bags and numerous draws kept the crowd excited. The entire day was like consuming unlimited candy without getting an upset tummy or a toothache.
Donna Gas gave a speech and had us in stitches with stories of her follies. If you see her, ask about her elevator story; although it was an excerpt from a very trying time in her life, she created lemonade from lemons and made it a stand-up routine. Her surname kind of describes her winning personality, she’s a gas, and to call her fun would be an understatement. It’s abundantly clear how much she loves this craft, dedicating her time teaching rug hooking and spreading the joy.
There was a NS Guild table selling wares. I bought two of the posters for the 40th Anniversary we will be celebrating next year and plan to have them dry mounted and hung in the shop. What an exciting monument for rug hooking. 1979 – 2019 of our Guild; forty years of talented rug hookers that have come and gone, that are still here blazing new trails and those that are newly emerging, an anniversary encompassing and rejoicing the love of rug hooking.
So now it’s down to photos. I took quite a few, mostly shots of the work in progress and then the finished rugs on display. It was so inspiring I wanted to run home and begin a new project. My frame has been empty for most of the summer while our boat took precedence but now the itch is back.
The hook-in itself is a draw but I wonder if they also come for the turkey dinner served for lunch? It’s pretty impressive, made by the Lion’s members that have the whole meal down to a science, cooking, serving and cleaning up. You’d think preparing food for 140 or so people would compromise the flavour, perhaps have watered down, flavourless gravy, but not these guys, it was plate licking delicious. The grain fed, free range turkeys were tender and juicy, barely needing teeth to chew it. Funny, the first thing I think about when I’m asked to be a vender is that meal, but then I’m pretty motivated by my stomach. Hubby was with me this time, did the driving and heavy lifting and helping me with sales and he was certainly impressed by the grub as well.
Oh, and I need to mention the dessert, get all the food chat over before I talk hooking. Strawberry shortcake, need I say more? But of course I will. There’s strawberry shortcake and then there’s strawberry shortcake. I judge all by my mother’s biscuits and these guys seemed to channel her finesse so every spoonful was a memory as well as a flavour sensation. The strawberries were crushed, not sliced, as mom always did and they weren’t over sweetened so the fruit part was perfect as well. I would have preferred vanilla ice-cream, as a child I didn’t know that whipped cream existed, but it would have melted and quite frankly their whipped cream was pretty delicious as well.
I took photos of most things but didn’t think about the food because I was too busy stuffing my face so you have to take my word for most of it and speaking of that I must mention the rolls. I try to stay away from bread as much as possible, the starch converts to sugar in my mouth and flows directly into my bloodstream so I limit it as much as possible, but those rolls looked homemade so I fell to temptation. The taste confirmed they were homemade. I chose a white roll even though there was a whole-wheat choice and I’m not sure if the Lion’s folk made them or if they were baked off site, but OMG they were a blast of my past. The butter spread on the warm roll like frosting on a cake. I would have gone back for more, my mind actually made the trip, but I was pretty full and one was certainly enough of a memory to last till next time.
So enough about the lunch, let’s talk hooking, after all that’s what the day is all about, what brings us all together. Smiling faces were wall to wall, the atmosphere was thick with enthusiasm; the aura in the spacious hall glowed with the love of our chosen craft. You could feel the energy radiating off each participant, they were here for a good time and weren’t disappointed.
I was one of two venders there to sell our wares. This year I was allowed to bring more than just patterns so we loaded up the car to full capacity, even adding a roof rack carrier to take as much as possible. We spread out along the far wall, patterns and wool and all else in between. Shane’s wool was like gold at the end of a rainbow. We’d dyed up a lot of yarn, the colours of autumn and the greens were grabbed up as folks were thinking about fall projects.
Deborah made sure we were stocked with pumpkin and sunflower patterns and they were a hit as well. Fall is in the air even if it officially hasn’t arrived yet, the nights are cooler for sleeping and the winds carry a bit of nip in the shade areas, making one button up in the daytime. It’s coming; we can’t fight its ascent, so we jump right in and work with the palettes of orange, golds, browns and greens. Shane dyed a lot of our standard seasonal spots, his art imitating life in the turning of the leaves and the bountiful harvest.
Towards the end of the day, when things quieted down for the shop, I was able to walk around the hall to see what everyone was working on and I must say my chest was sticking when I discovered a number of people were hooking Encompassing Designs patterns. And there were two finished rugs in the display, our Pussy Willows and Fancy Flounders, designed by Susan Leslie that we produce. There is no better feeling, than seeing a pattern I’ve designed making a connection to a rug hooker and then seeing how they lovingly make it into a personal heirloom.
The rug hookers congregated from all over, representing many hooking groups from around the province and farther afield, even one member from our Main Street Hookers crowd, yeah Christine! So many familiar faces and yet new ones as well, this burgeoning traditional art form continues to mushroom through new techniques, innovative designs, and the abundance of variant wool fibers.
Paul Depress did a fantastic job as always. A beautiful rug hooker as well as an organizer, he commanded the day in his usual congenial way. Everything ran smoothly and there were squeals of delight over the many prizes, 50/50 draw, gift bags and numerous draws kept the crowd excited. The entire day was like consuming unlimited candy without getting an upset tummy or a toothache.
Donna Gas gave a speech and had us in stitches with stories of her follies. If you see her, ask about her elevator story; although it was an excerpt from a very trying time in her life, she created lemonade from lemons and made it a stand-up routine. Her surname kind of describes her winning personality, she’s a gas, and to call her fun would be an understatement. It’s abundantly clear how much she loves this craft, dedicating her time teaching rug hooking and spreading the joy.
There was a NS Guild table selling wares. I bought two of the posters for the 40th Anniversary we will be celebrating next year and plan to have them dry mounted and hung in the shop. What an exciting monument for rug hooking. 1979 – 2019 of our Guild; forty years of talented rug hookers that have come and gone, that are still here blazing new trails and those that are newly emerging, an anniversary encompassing and rejoicing the love of rug hooking.
So now it’s down to photos. I took quite a few, mostly shots of the work in progress and then the finished rugs on display. It was so inspiring I wanted to run home and begin a new project. My frame has been empty for most of the summer while our boat took precedence but now the itch is back.
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Janet Boates took second favourite with her incredible lifelike portrait of a child.....and the sunflower was pretty cool as well.
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Toni Gallagher won viewers choice after the votes were tabulated on the rug display for her lighthouse on the left. On the right is the one she is working on now. Perhaps we will see it in the show next year!
 Anne Jones presenting the poster for the Guild's 40th Anniversary coming in 2019. I'm having mine dry mounted for the studio. |  Paul Despres, one of the many who make this Fall Fling such a well attended and fabulous event! |
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