....and more of Sandra's work. On the left, a Deb Carr design, and on the right, one of Deanne Fitzpatrick's [which, if you have a little time and want to see more of, visit http://www.hookingrugs.com/gallery]. Deanne has a unique style and her rugs are inspiring!

.......................

Thanks for stopping by!

Thank you to the people who took the time to visit our Two Countries One Bay Art Studio tour stop at Kingsbrae Garden over the weekend. The two days spent rughooking, along with Ray Peterson and her beautiful quilted creations, were a pleasure. We greeted about 65 people on Saturday and 50 or so, on Sunday.

The weather was lovely and the hours flew by. There were about 60 artists around the Passamaquoddy Bay, in Maine and New Brunswick, doing demos and displaying their wares. Some sales were made, many thoughtful questions were answered and hopefully our visitors enjoyed it as much as we did.

Door prizes were given to Betty Tucker and Nancy Carson.

We're back on track for Wednesday nights

Things have been resolved at the Church of St Andrew parish hall; the other group kindly moved to Tuesday nights, so Quoddy Loopers will continue to meet on Wednesday nights as usual. Come on over to 'our house'! Visitors are always welcome.

Here's another of Sandra Lewis' mats - a Patti Armstrong design. Sandra has fun with her rughooking and lively colours, as you can see. Cute kitty! Bottom left flowers are done in proddy, a 3-D effect, and the whole is done in #4 cut wool on linen.

Change of Quoddy Loopers' meeting night

Change of nights for Quoddy Loopers:
From September 24 to November 5th, the Church of St Andrew parish hall is booked for a church group. So, we will meet on Thursday night for those 7 weeks, still at 6:30 to 8:30.

Here's another view of a winter covered bridge, this time by Sandra Lewis [commercial design, designer unknown]. Sandra works in 4 cut on linen and binds traditionally with wool yarn.

Here's an update on Sandra's St Andrews Water Street mat in progress. It is to be one of a series designed by her sister, Heather Lewis, depicting the shops & historic buildings along the main business district of our little seaside town.

2nd annual hurricane hook-in

On November 1st, 2008, the Quoddy Loopers will hold our second annual hook-in, 9:30am to 4pm, in the Catholic Church of St Andrew in the town of St Andrews, New Brunswick. All are invited to attend, but we hope not to actually have hurricane weather that weekend. Last year, the weather was wild and woolly, somewhat appropriate for all us wool addicts. It did keep some people at home, unfortunately, so they missed the day of fun, a great lunch put on by the ladies' guild, prizes and a chance to purchase [or be lucky enough to win] some of Sande Gunning's River Gallery goodies.

PLEASE, if you are planning to come to our hook-in, let us know so we can be sure not to run out of FOOD!! thanks.

All rughookers are welcome, the newbies, the experienced and all those seriously 'hooked' on this great art form. Our group has recently added four new members, so it's growing in variety and colours, just like our ever-stretching stashes of yummy wools and yarns.

It's terrific to see everyone's work, so don't forget to bring some show-and-tell, if you have it.

Here is Louise McGrattan's charming covered bridge with birch trees, in winter. She is a relatively new rughooker, and is doing a great job.

This is another name mat — this time for the cherished adopted daughter of friends, with her 'Canadian' name, her Chinese name and some flowers for fun. Sadie will soon be three and is bright, lively, curious and indomitable. A tiny enchanting force of nature.

more on the St Andrews pictorial

We have made the first turn of the St Andrews pictorial at the Quoddy Loopers rughooking group. There are approximately two more turns to go, and I hope we will finish it by the end of the year. It is a very loose representation of the town, with the windmill representing Kingsbrae Garden, the Pendlebury Light house, and at the top, the bathhouse on Ministers Island. Churches and trees in the middle, and then more to come as we turn the work on the frame—the St Andrews Blockhouse and the historic Fairmont Algonquin Hotel, among other sights. This is my first try at a big rug, and it seems odd not to be able to see it all at once, but it is too big for the frame we have, which is one that Susan Waddy, one of our group, inherited from an aunt who was a rughooker. Rughookers are great people--sharing and caring!

Before that, I am participating in the Two Countries, One Bay art studio tour, Sept 20/21, so am doing more hooking for that than on the pictorial, lately. Ray Peterson will have her beautiful quilts and ingenious quilted wallhangings and small items and we will both be demonstrating all day Saturday and Sunday, 9am—6pm, at the Kingsbrae Garden Visitors Centre [no admission required for the show, but 1/2 price entry to the Garden is offered to all studio visitors!].

"Two Countries, One Bay Art Studio Tour is a great opportunity to see a variety of inspired art work, visit the studios of creative artists, and experience the international cultures of two distinct countries — eastern Maine, USA, and southern New Brunswick, Canada — while enjoying en-route the breath-taking coastal scenery of Passamaquoddy Bay."

more mats & rugs

Karen Eagles finished her beautiful job on Jane McGown Flynn's "Birdland Bed & Breakfast", by adding a faux wood border/frame and whipping the edges in the traditional manner with woollen yarn. Very generously, Karen is donating her great mat [approx 3 x 3.5 ft] to Wesley United Church, here in St Andrews, for its fall sale: Labours of Love. A wide variety of items from members and friends will be on silent auction for the last two weeks of August and the first week of September.

a work in progress

Art is Life -- Life is Art

At our weekly hooking sessions, we are working on a group project -- a St Andrews by-the-Sea pictorial. It's fairly large and we only work on it at the group [Wednesday nights, and only one or two of us at a time, so it's going to be quite awhile before it's finished]. I took a photo of it just before we turned to the next section, so I thought I'd share it. It is 3 1/2 ft by 4.75ft , I think, on primitive linen - mostly as-is wool, but I dyed some, too.

Hella Haun hooked the windmill [and she's only two years into her hooking!] and Jan Hunter did a masterful job on the lighthouse. I work in wide cuts, so most of the rest is mine, with a couple of people doing a tree or some rocks, here and there. This picture was taken just before we turned to the middle third 'panel', and it is coming along. I was particularly pleased with the wool I dyed for the church stained glass windows - it worked - though basic multi-colours, it gives the effect I was looking for.

We are going to do the lettering later and finish the sky when we have the main hooking done.

more mats and rugs

The group has been busy, and here are a few more mats we've made or are working on:

Water Street shops, in the National Historic District of St Andrews by-the-Sea, New Brunswick, as designed by Heather Lewis and hooked by Sandra Lewis [as yet unfinished].

.

Lighthouse by the Sea [hooked magnificently by Jan Hunter; 3 cut on linen] Jan generously donated this beautiful piece to the Green Point Light in Letete, NB.

......

....

Jumping Katie Cat.[Maureen McIlwain, original, 6, 7 & 8 cut on Verel]

...........

Mary Jones crafted this lovely made-to-order wedding mat for a friend; 3, 4 & 5 cut on linen. [it was designed to order by Deb Carr, including the wedding flowers of lilies, calla lilies and very green 'Kermit' mums!]

.................