Hella's chickadees on a sunflower

This lovely mat was a gift from Hella to her grandson Alex and new granddaughter [in-law], Jennie as a wedding gift. She did an exquisite job, carefully keeping the strips of painted wool for the sky in order, so that when worked in reverse hooking it would make a lovely background for the main motif. By hooking from the back and skipping several holes [4, I think, in this case], being very careful not to twist the 'worms', a flat basket weave effect is produced. Painstaking, but absolutely worth the effort!

It is a beautiful expression of love, something to treasure always. Jennie has now joined our group and is doing really well. Our circle grows and we have a lot of fun seeing what each other is working on.

Getting set for the Ross Museum open house

It is time again to be getting ready for St Andrews' winter festival, "A Season of Lights & Wonder'. The Quoddy Loopers decorate a room in the Ross Museum each year... with rugs, of course! Their open house is one of the highlights of the season, always the first weekend of December. Different individuals, groups and families take turns decorating each of the rooms of this exquisite small museum, which houses the furnishings and decorative arts collected by the Rosses many years ago. It is a delight.

This is their 25th anniversary year, so the theme is silver. Not a lot of silver in our mats, but Mary Jones made a lovely dolphin mat for one niece

and fairies for another! Both of these were designed to order by Deb Carr, so they are one of a kind. Mary works in mostly #3 cut wool on linen.

Also, quite a few of our group have done or are working on the "Fill in for Fall" challenge from Searsport - and we will have those on display, whether completed or not. Most of us take turns sitting and hooking in the room as well, so visitors can enjoy the demonstration of the art of hooking rugs.

Another successful day -- great turnout!

Sandra Palmer, one of our guests at the 2nd annual Hurricane Hook-in, kindly took this photo of our group. Great to see so many smiling faces - nearly all our group managed to be there on Saturday. We have added a couple of new members lately, and looks like one more from the hook-in, which is great. There were nearly 50 of us, altogether and it was a great day. Inspiring to see the mats & rugs that everyone else is working on, as well as some finished ones for show & tell.

The ladies' guild of the Church of St Andrew did a terrific job again on the lunch, which we are very grateful for. Sande Gunning's travelling 'River Gallery' shop was wonderful, as always. The positive energy was palpable, with rughookers chatting, hooking and admiring all around the room. Everyone left with a little gift, and the pleasure of meeting with like-minded rug buffs.

Hopefully we will have some photos of our guests to post soon.

All are invited to come next year, the first Saturday of November--same place, same time.