This is the rug in progress in my studio right now
Tips
For the winter have a look through your old scarves, the ones you no longer wear, check out your sweaters, the ones you feel frumpy in and see if you can find new life for them in a little rug. Go through your closet and weed it out for a gem
Quotes
“And do not try to be consistent, for what is true to you today may not be true at all tomorrow, because you see a better truth.” Brenda Ueland from her beautiful 1938 book, “If You Want to Write.”
Inspirata
Winter inspiration…whew…well there is snow, and winter days when you are snowed in and can hook all day. There is wood fires, and long boots, and stew. Winter is a settling time for me. A time to accept that the weather will dictate my plans, and that recipes with fresh tomatoes are best saved for summer. This winter I have planned two projects to get settled in to, a dvd, and a talking book workshop. I need to make sure that I have ideas to get lost in, new things to learn because I have found that with a busy mind in Febuary it is easier to have a light heart.
New Products
http://shop.hookingrugs.com/
Big news here….we have grown the shop on website
The shopping section of our website has been totally revamped and we have added twenty or more new products. Right now all of my new rugs have been posted as well as many new supplies. You can see better images, and it is simpler to navigate. It looks more like a fancy website but I can assure you that everything here is the same as ever and we are just at the end of our toll free line, 1 -800-328-7756 if you have any questions.
Workshops
Monday and Tuesday, April 26 and 27, 9am to 3pm, 2010
Recipes
Sharp Cheese Spread
Mc Clarens 250gr tub Sharp Cheddar
80z brick cream cheese
250gr tub cottage cheese
Blend together to create a sharp cheese spread for creackers and bread on New Years Eve.
http://www.hookingrugs.com/workshops.html
We have series of winter workshops listed on our site on our site
Hooking Houses Workshop
Wednesday January 13 11:30 to 1:30, $60 includes supplies. This workshop will focus on hooking a small row of houses. We will learn the best ways to trim houses, fill in windows, and make roofs look realistic.
Creativity and Design with Deanne Fitzpatrick,
Tuesday, January 26, 10am to 3pm $125 includes supplies
This workshop will be about tapping into your creative self through the art of rug hooking. We’ll have a play day, experimenting with the magic of ideas, creating designs for you to hook over the winter.
Introduction to Needle Felting
Tuesday, February 23, 6 to 9 pm, $60 includes supplies Brenda Clarke, will teach you an introductory class to needle felted wall hanging or table mat.
If you are coming from further away you might like to come to our Spring two workshop in April
Diary
Dear Diary, I have been hooking on my big red rug. I am guessing it is about six by eight. Sometimes I work on it so much that my arm tires. Norma, who works in the studio with me came in and dyed sopme extra reds as I was running out. It has been interesting to be set in one colour for so long. Every time I looked at other colours I thought , “no sense in looking at that wool, you will be working in red for another while yet.” It is a good exercise in focus, and I am learning some discipline from it. The room I am making it for will not work for it according to my daughter. She might be right. It is interesting how restrictions chalenge you to create with in a confined way. I make movement and shadows with the red, letting the wool flow. I am playing, just a month of play, and out of it will come a big carpet. It makes me want to want to make images again, to hook people, and scenes and flowers. I needed a break from images, now I am yearning for them. I guess I gave myself the right medicine.
As I move into winter I am doing an edit on the new book that I have coming out next October. I think it will be a lovely book. I cannot describe it to you yet as it is still changing. I am preparing to create a dvd and a talking book workshop cd for people who have either been to a workshop and want to remember it, or who can never come and want to feel a little piece of it. I am excited to see an idea urn into something. My studio is a playground, a big box of lego and in it I get to make stuff. Making stuff is an artists job, simple as that. So as the snow falls around me this winter I’ll be busy creating and planning for spring, waiting for you to come visit my studio.
www.hookingrugs.com 1-800-328-7756
You can visit the studio at 33 Church Street Amherst. We are now open Monday to Saturday, 10 to 3.
Deanne,
The red rug is beautiful….such motion and emotion in it! I love that you are adding pictures to your blog as I was having a hard time finding the pictures you spoke of in your gallery, but enjoyed perusing the gallery none the less
I love the idea of going through my “old” things and finding things to hook with….thanks for the spark.
~Tammy~
Deanne,
As always, I find your newsletters and dear diary entries, inspiring to say the least. I’m intrigued to know how you go about getting backing fabric big enough to do a project of this size? Do you need to use two pieces and somehow join them? Or do you happen to have backing fabric wide enough to do 6 ft in one direction?
Some day I’d love to do an area rug, and the question of having backing fabric big enough has kept me from starting to picture a design or an image for the rug.
Thank you for your non-conventional no-rules approach to rug hooking, which gives me the courage to not conform to others’ rules.