November '21 Show and Tell

November 2021 brought a truly fun and inspiring meeting at Greenleaves.  Ten people showed up; most of us didn't leave until after 2 pm.  Between the rugs, the food (Lynda's killer cookies and the killer brownies brought by Elizabeth V.), I think we all gained ten pounds even though we were madly exercising our hooking arms the entire time.  Why don't hooking and eating balance each other out?  Life is just not fair.

And now here is the rug parade.  Prepare to drool.

The Twelve Days of Christmas by Deborah Tolland. I think she said this was a Honeybee Hive pattern. She did most of the dyeing and is trying to get it done for the holiday.

 New visitor--and perhaps upcoming member?--Deb T from Belchertown is hooking the above holiday-themed rug (she brought 2 Christmas rugs).  We hope she returns!  Here is her second one below, which she finished in the recent past.

I didn't catch who designed this pattern but it has been beautifully hooked by Deborah T.  You'll see it again later in this post.

We had two other new folks this time besides Deborah T--Marie S  from New Salem and Michelle L from Greenfield showed up and each brought wonderful things to show, as you'll see below.  Marie regularly exhibits her other work (painting) at the Shelburne Arts Cooperative, and Michelle is the owner of a day care business in Greenfield (and appears to be one of those folks who can pick up any craft and do it well immediately).

We really hope they  will keep coming back.

And now for a few more rugs.  We had quite a "throwdown" and discussion, hearing some history on all the rugs and ooh-ing and aahh-ing away.

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Lynda's rug is coming along beautifully--you can see her initial design from when she was just starting this rug in the August post.

Dream Hippo rug by Lynda Faye. I'm loving how she portrays herself here. She's thinking of doing a series of rugs based on her dreams. I'm also loving the border that's underway, inspired by some of Jule Marie Smith's border work.

Referring back to the holiday theme, here's a Santa rug hooked by Deborah Palmer.

Deborah reports that she wouldn't normally have chosen this to hook, but a friend of hers who's very "into" Christmas bought it and planned to make it and then decided that hooking isn't for her.  So Deborah kindly offered to make it for her and is just completing it in time for the holiday.

I'm not much of a holiday fan either but I love the stocking and the upper and lower borders (someone commented that the borders were truly Deborah's personal touch on this pattern).  I also love the background and the way she hooked the robe and face.  All in all, a cutie-pie Santa!

So to complete the holiday theme, here are both "vertical rugs" together below, done by the two Deborahs who were at the meeting yesterday:

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by D. Tolland

by D. Palmer

But wait, there's more!

Marie S is beginning this Sunflower Delight design from The Old Tattered Flag.  She plans to use a red background, which will be just gorgeous.  I didn't get to see this one up close but in addition to the wonderful finished flower I heard someone saying that the flower center is done beautifully in Waldeboro-style.  Marie plans to make this piece into a very large pillow once it's finished.

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Michelle brought a rug repair she is working on, below.  This sunny-looking charmer is probably between 80-100 years old (I'm talking about THE RUG, not Michelle), and doesn't it make you want to smile?  It's hooked--or punched?--with yarn.  Unfortunately it was done on burlap and as you can imagine, the edges are frayed and in need of repair.  Michelle found the red yarn she's using to fill in (after mending the edges first of course) in Oregon.  She saw the yarn without the rug, but thought "this looks about right," and it's a perfect match.  Who does that?  She nailed it.  The owner of the rug says it was hooked by her mother and she wants it back asap, so Michelle was on a mission to get this done.

You may remember Phyllis's rug, which she was just beginning when I last posted (August).  You can scroll back to see her mostly-unhooked design there.  Phyllis has been busy and has created this masterpiece to go with her other masterpieces.  We were all in awe.  She is just beginning to bind this rug.  See below:

Phyllis L's grandkids at the shore in Maine. Her own design.

And to round us out, here's Kathleen H's current piece, the wonderful and wildly creative rabbit rug below.  You may remember that Kathleen adores rabbits but also adores her garden, so her usual affection for bunnies was sorely tested when they "dined in" on her garden last summer.  To take her revenge, she has decided to do a series of rabbit rugs.  This is the first.  This is another rug that cannot help but bring a smile to your face.  We can't wait to see what she does next with it.

Design and hooking by Kathleen H. using a quote from Pete Seeger: "The truth is a rabbit in a bramble patch. All you can do is circle around and say it's somewhere in there."

We are taking December off and will start 2022 with a meeting the 2nd Saturday in January.