Shania's Sunflower of Hope Fun Fair (6th year) - click here for more info - I'm off for a day of fun!

Back for another year... \we actually had  lineups for Snow Cones at 10:30am!
This has nothing to do with hooking or being creative just doing what I like to do, helping others... keeping busy :-) This is a great event that would not be a success without all the volunteers.  My friend Anji Sharp got me into this when she ran it 4 years ago and what an event at the Markham Fair Grounds - raising funds for Neuroblastoma, a terrible disease that took Shania from this earth all too soon!  Check it out and there is a link to donate too on the site. 

http://www.shaniasunflower.ca/


I'll be back to hooking more on Sun after hockey tryouts - on gate duty with Sheri who seems to have never ending energy galore :_)

We had a great time at Shania's fundraiser - her first event before passing at age 8, Shania made $88 selling bracelets.  Then the next year I was lucky to be part of the event at the fairgrounds and sadly the last one for Shania but... she had such a strong bearing on everyone she touched, in the last 6 years the event has raised well over $240,000! Amazing!!!

Trivets anyone - using up wool stained glass style

Great for a beginner to try out :-)

Using up wool for matching Primitive Rose mats

Original Design: Primitive Roses

When:  not sure around 2004-2005

Two versions of the same rose with similar backgrounds - One has been sitting in front of my hooking chair and the other in the same room just under the TV Stand (quite a big stand made by my hubby in black painted metal style).

T

The dark green is also used in pillows I made for the couch of flower close-ups (flowers again!)...

3 Hooked Houses we grew up in... Childhood, Ski Chalet, Teen years

Original Design:  Main St, Southampton

Ahhh the house we grew up in at 135 High St. in Southampton, the red colours are more vibrant in the photo than in the hooking.  Dad's Dr. Office was the side entrance and our main entrance was behind the house... if I recall someone (not me, another sibling) snuck out once through the bedroom window over top the porch too!  The living room windows have lead glass which I tried to show with embroidery thread.  This is now framed and has a parrot attached for the original owner who had a talking parrot I am told greeting people coming to his Dr's office).

Original Design:  Our Family Chalet in Kimberly, Ont. 

When:   1997  (size is 36" x 24")  Hangs in our front entranceway

I remember really disliking hooking the window under the front and the class instructor telling me to leave it and see, which I did and lo and behold it looks great!  See, wait and it may turn out versus ripping it out right away.  Just remembered it was Edit Dunlop that year who was so sage and understanding in her teaching me :-)  Patience is a virtue I am still learning how to deal with...

This was taken from a photo our our family getaway, an old farmhouse we used for skiing weekends at Beaver Valley when we were young children... Then into when Bill and I had our two boys and Mom/Dad extended the back of the house and we now have 2 bathrooms yay!  Jim and Laura spend a lot of time here now with their two children (Patrick and Caitlin), our boys went the hockey route taking time on all our weekends!  Skiing was sporatic for our family and now we make it up for day trips. 

Original Design:  Log House on Shore Rd, Southampton

When:  Hooked when we got married in 1991

Photo coming soon have to find it!



OK just had to get this one in ... NOT a rug but could be! Timing is everything - the royal kiss!

I went downstairs to renew my coffee and TV was on - grabbed my camera and tada :-)  No need to say more looks like we are right there with them :-) !!!

Swan - Original Design (Large) & Flower Pillows

Original Design - Coming in for a landing - Swan

(When:  Hooked at the Chantry school Oct 2008 - ok started then finished in 2009!  Birds - Ingrid H was class teacher)

Finished product - was at the Annual for 2010 

Closeup of the wings - sculpted - let me tell you that was work, hard on the hands for sure!

And today this is where I have the Swan for lack of any other place to put it!  Not sure how long it will rest here though.... Two abstract flower pillows on the couch match to the green and the green in the Primitive pair of roses (not shown here).

For my pillows I took a closeup of the folower and cut off the abstract type versus the good old whole flower!  Why not eh...   Must say they are well used and getting worn, may need to hook some new ones soon!

As I hooked the first pillow I wanted a matching colour pillow so I did a 'white' petal daffodil from a photo I cropped.  Sample Photo like I used is below... just change the colour of the yellow to white! Sort of...



Another Rittermere design completed - Victorian Garland (Flowers Barb's way)

Rittermere Design: Victorian Garland - Completed it but was a few years back and I was challenging myself to do flowers - completed the outside background in a swirled mixed gold-caramel and then inside is similar lighter values. (Looks like I did my own version for colour and taking out flowers I did not like!)

My favorite rugs I have hooked... to start off with

Original Design - Footprints - I soooo enjoyed doing this one of the Chantry Island.  It was one of my first real original designs - the wool was dyed or borrowed from Mom's stash.  I was told not to add the Seagull (sculpted it in) but i think it had a great effect! 
(When:  Oct 1999 from Chantry School)

Rittermere design - Centennial  - I hooked and loved doing as the small designs were all different, I did not have a photo of the original design so some of it will differ due to my interpretation or a flower I did not understand (I do not garden)... and then I had some green wool done in two shades which I used for hte circles with overlap and the background was done in a light green with various colours and swirls for hooking technique.   

(When:  No date but I think it was about 13 or 14 years ago as I finished it when we were in Richmond Hill which was over 10 years now. - size is about 35" by 50")

Original Design - Birds of Ontario

I grew up with a bird feeder out our kitchen window and now feed many of these birds from my feeder here in Aurora.  We have blue jays (noisy), a couple of cardinals (male and female - boy the colour on her was hard I must have re-hooked it 3 times), yellow Orielles, a wood pecker, red-winged black birds, sparrows, chicadees, a few robins (now with the spring),  and finally the Canada Goose (I remember I disliked the feet on that fella!)  This hangs on our wall in the stairway going from 1st to 2nd floor.

(When:  2002 - started at Chantry maybe in a class with Ingrid Hieronimus - size is 36" x 52")

A picture I took and used for the Canada Goose is below but the feet were covered... so again the ugh on the feet!



2011 Easter Weekend with my parents - feeling creative

Easter weekend 2011 - Cooper and I had a lovely long weekend with my parents in Southampton!

We were both very very well fed by some great home cooking by both Dad and Mom; and now thanks to Mom I have my creative juices flowing again too!  (Pun on juices to tie into the well fed stream...).

I so enjoyed learning from Jennifer's course on hooked coin purses, I use mine with the owl but found I needed it a little bit longer to accomodate all my cards.  I often just grab it over my little shoulder bag to run into a store and it fits perfectly into my coat pockets.  So this weekend, Mom made her Russian punch needle coin purse and I opted to make a Black one since most of my clothes are black variations :-)

Finished and we are calling it 'Gasper'  as the freehand version on the one side turned out to look like a mad ghost compared with friendly Casper.  I made the purse about 1.5 " longer on both sides.

You can see inside I did a pocket with flap - so I can enclose my license and health cards for the family with a snap and then the other cards go in the 'open' pocket for easy access (hopefully I don't need to have easy access to my license or health cards so using the snap...)!   Cash and coins and interac go in the main pocket too.   

Note to Jen:  I am on to another one to add some flourish with some wool/yarn from Mom's stash too plan to finish this week when I have time... sigh.  Barb!

Emily Carr tribute - Kits Packaged by Rittermere

Having hooked since the early 1980s with my Mom, I can say I have done many many rugs but have many more to do... I like to try new things, design my own for the most part but like to do 'out of hte box' too. 

A few years back I wanted to try something different without having to design but to challenge me on re-producing Art and colours.  Well... did I pick a tough one!  Jeanne Fields had some licensed kits for Emily Carr which I was drawn to. 

I chose the first one and it ended up being my last one to finish I was so put off by the sunlight beams... Joan Cumins had done a version at Chantry which spurred me on.  In the meantime as you can see, I bought 2 more and extended the height to be the same as the totem pole so I could hang in my living room.  As a result when I was done, I had to re-paint and just about re-decorate our living room to suit the 3 Emily Carrs.  :-)  Why not?

This was a photo to show before we had them framed - Mom (Sybil) has a phenomenal (sp?) lady in Port Elgin (Debbie) who does an excellent job on artwork. 

As you can see by the next photo taken of the 3 Emily's framed (Thanks Mom) hanging in our newly re-decorated living room!  :-)   Size is 19" x 24" on two ends pieces and 14.5" x 24 on middle piece

Each hooked Emily Carr follows, these are truly 3 of my favorites!   See what you think...

"Painters and Painting"

"Sombreness Sunlit"

"Kitwanger Pole"

Check out the many more kits that Jeanne and Andrea have at the store. 

Lets Hook Rugs - Rittermere

The version of "Sombreness Sunlit" from Joan Cumins is below:

Work in progress...

Finished:

Great job Joan!

Brennan's pilow - project #2 for Wendy

OK next project for Wendy was a pillow for Brennan for Dec 2010.  Again from the family crest...

I have to say the hardest part of the pillow wasn't the dragon detail so much as keeping the circles round!  :-)  On to the next one... it is a surprise for Devon on his 16th birthday in July 2011 (falls on the same date as our Michael, our eldest son).

My latest Hooking project - Wendy's Family Crest pillows

Wendy wanted a surprise for Ryan (Husband) so I started out with a pillow reinvented after a needlework pillow which belonged to Ryan's Aunt I believe and was part of the family crest. 

Wendy provided me with a rather large cardboard mounted copy of the family crest (very detailed) that helped with colours of all the other parts to the crest. 

Zoom'd in on the top of the above crest...

Basis of two of the pillows to be done.

I borrowed the needlepoint pillow on the sly so that Ryan did not know we were doing this little project and did a rug-hooked version of the same pillow.  I finished it off with black piping, button enclosed back so it can be removed and Wendy had some fabric she wanted to use on the back in a charcoal colouring.  Turned out very nice and what a lovely surprise for Ryan in 2009. 

Size is 18"x18"  Pillow insert was from Fabricland about $8 each. 

Photo was taken from my blackberry phone so not very good bit fuzzy.

Stay tuned for the next pillow 2010 for Brennan and then surprise for Devon 2011... and Wendy isn't done yet... :-)  I am having so much fun doing these pillows!

Starting a blog

Not sure how this will work but I am in the spring mood and thought what a great time to post a blog.  I have this photo sitting on my desk and it just makes me smile every day so wanted to share! 
Laura Hills Walker is my groom and we are still the bestest of friends even as Laura heads into the 50 year and I am the younger bride at 49 :-)