DYEING WORKSHOP - ITS STILL ALL ABOUT COLOR!

Last Friday I held my last workshop of the season. Naturally it was a day in the dye pots. Normally, I think that 6 attendees in my kitchen is a crowd but I accommodated 8 on this day since it was the end of the season.
I like to soak my material in bowls. Each dye lot in a different bowl for ease of handling,

The "tools" of the trade laid out and ready to be used. Note the jar of salt for cleaning measuring spoons. So important not to contaminate one dye with the residue of another dye.

Jill and Brenda at the dye pots. This was a part of the coat hanger dyeing. Jill wanted to see how it felt to "wiggle" the strips so that you don't get a line where the different dyes meet. She soon found out it was not as easy as it looked. Brenda is standing by to take over when jill's arms get tired.

Joan is braiding the wet strips of wool for the braided dyeing part of this session. Joan is an expert braider. She does a four strand braid that is exceptional.

Lunch break. Time for everyone to stand, stretch and get something to eat. This is always a time to exchange ideas and discuss what we have done so far and make suggestions for additional classes. A good question and answer time.

Everyone comes to lunch - here is the chief scrounger at her best. Looking for a "patsy."

Ah - Ha! I found a ham sandwich and a kind, kind lady to go along with me. Hope mom doesn't see me under this table! (I did, of course).

Now for the results of our dyeing session.

On the left is our "abrashed" piece. We dyed a half yard of natural wool with blue dye and when the water cleared we added a small quantity of bright green dye. We waited for the water to clear and then abrashed the piece with more of the green dye. On the right is the result of our braided dyeing. We used blue dye on one side of the braid and gold dye on the other. As a result we have blue, gold and green in one strip of wool.

We did two dye lots of coat hanger dyeing. On the left is a green formula dyed over 4 different colors of wool. This is an excellent way to dye if you are doing scrolls. On the right is three different dyes dyed over natural wool. A good method for doing leaves and flowers. We used bright green, rust and dark brown dye this time.

This is the rsult of our cassarole dyeing. I call this autumn leaves. A truly beautiful piece of wool with many uses.


An aside from Eloise - I knew the ladies were coming today so I made the bed. I thought I did a good job and I don't know why mom is so upset!

A girl gets so tired after a day in the dye pots!!!!!

Enough said! Until next time keep the dye pots boiling and the hook moving.

Doris

ATHA REGION THREE ANNUAL MEETING

The Mason-Dixon chapter of ATHA always hosts the Region Three meeting. Sarah Province, the Region Three coordinator is a member of this chapter and one of its past presidents, so it is fitting that the chapter acts as hostess to this event. We always have a speaker and a pot luck luncheon. This event took place on Tuesday in Ellicot City, Md. in a beautiful church which allows us to use their facilities for which we are most grateful.
As you can see, we had a very good turnout not only of chapter members but of regional representatives.

A table loaded with all sorts of good things to eat - I'm not showing the dessert table!!!!

The most popular line - the food line - as always -

Let me introduce you to Norma Batastini, our speaker for this event. Norma's topic of the day was backgrounds and how they effect the overall design of the hooked piece. She had a wonderful handout for us that showed a number of rugs all featuring different ideas about backgrounds. Very enlighting! More on this later.

Following are pictures of the items she brought to show us. I could not get pictures of all of the pieces because the lighting on the back of the stage, where the rugs were placed, after showing, was very dark and my camera said "no lady, not enough light!"

These are the tote bags that she has created. They are shown in the latest issue of Rug Hooker Magazine. Be sure to check them out in the mag as those pictures are much better.

A close up of one of the totes.

This picture shows the handle construction. So many of us have trouble with adding handles to the purses or totes we make. Norma said she found these in a knitting shop.

The sample materials in the upper left corner of the picture are pieces of the materials used in the background of this rug. Note that the border design is hooked of the same material as the leaves thus coordinating the color.

This is a very interesting piece. Some of the material is felted and applied to the design instead of being hooked giving a three dimensional effect.

In this piece note how the background becomes a large part of the design.

A two color background the lighter one denoting morning and the darker one denoting night and creating the feel of movement on the morning side.

This piece hooked to honor her daughters doll collection. Note the background hooked to simulate wall paper.

These penguins are adorable! Please look carefully at the back ground. She has hooked a line of "shadow" penguins marching in the background.

I hope that you all will enjoy these pictures. I just wish all of you could have been at this event. If you ever have an opportunity to hear Norma give a talk or to work with her I hope you will take advantage of the opportunity. It was a truly great hooking experience.

As many of you know, I have experimented with color over a long period of years, in the dye pot, and on the hooked piece. I have created a one color rug (monochromatic) and a two color rug using only two dyes but many shades of those colors. I am now experimenting with a black and white rug. Something I have wanted to do for a long time. As often happens, I wasn't sure how to keep the figures from floating and was waiting for the rug to "speak" to me. Instead, I listened to Norma yesterday and all of a sudden my creative juices began to flow and I now know how to handle the background of this rug. Thank you Norma for giving me such inspiration!

Until next time, I remain a Happy Hooker!!!!!

Doris

THREE WONDERFUL DAYS!


On Friday, my friend Traci and I visited the Lurgan Nursery in Pennsylvania. Altho Traci had been to the nursery several times before she had missed the Coie pond. We were both fascinated by the fishes. The sizes and colors of them are spectacular. My picture does not do them justice. This was my first visit to the nursery and I loved the water gardens that are spread through out the grounds. The one below is my favorite.

Some day I hope to have such a water garden adjacent to the rear patio. I purchased several herbs since I like to cook with fresh herbs and a beautiful clementis vine, dark red. I just hope I have good luck with it since this will be my third try with clementis! On the way home we stopped for lunch at a very nice place and had a lovely meal.

When I think of summer in Maryland, I think of two things. STRAWBERRIES and CRABS!! Since the strawberries are the first to come to the state they come first on this blog. My friend and neighbor Margaret and I attended the strawberry festival in Rhorersville on Saturday. It was the first time either of us had attended so we didn't know quite what to expect.


Strawberries, of course! Lots of great food on the menu including fried oyster and ham sandwiches, fries, homemade soups, all kinds of drinks and of course, strawberry shortcake, strawberry sundaes and strawberry pies all homemade. I can attest that the oyster sandwich and the strawberry pie was delicious. Margaret also loved the oyster sandwich and bought a whole pie to take home.


This is a view of "vendors row", and attraction that neither of us had expected. Later in the day there was to be a tractor pull. We did not stay to see that but I could not help taking a picture of this John Deere tractor. It was a monster! Biggist tractor I have ever seen!!! And like the song I have fallen in love with the farmer's tractor.

There were many very large tractors on the grounds. As you know Margaret is recovering from a serious operation so we did not stay the whole day. We did have a great time and I surely recommend it to the folks that live in this area. We were also surprised by the attendance. The place was mobbed. The longest line was at the food tent of course.

Then came Sunday and the family crab feast. Believe me, all members of the family were in attendance. All of Sheri's family, and all of what little family I have. We all met at Richard's about 2 in the afternoon and did we have a wonderful time! Of course, I had to take a picture of the STAR of the day -

Beautiful Chesapeake Bay Blue Crabs!!!! How lucky we are to live in this area and enjoy the bounty of the bay. In addition to the crabs, the menu included, potato salad, coleslaw, pasta salad, corn, sausage on the grill along with shrimp on the "barbie" and other dishes to numerous to mention. Believe me if you left hungry it was your own fault. The weather was wonderful, just right for eating crabs at a picnic table.

One table of eaters! A messy job but OH! so good. I thought I would not bore you with lots of pictures of the family, but believe me when I say all had a good time. Lots of conversation, lots of laughs, lots of messy hands and faces, many suggestions of the best way to pick a crab and overall good fun.

And now it is Monday and time to get back to the real world and prepare for the week ahead. On Tuesday I plan to go to the ATHA Region Three Meeting in Ellicot City and on Friday I will be holding a dyeing workshop in my home - so a busy week ahead. I hope that all of you had as wonderful a week as I did and the coming one will be just as pleasant. Until next time -

Doris

IT'S ALL ABOUT COLOR!

On Saturday I attended the meeting of the local chapter of ATHA. I am always amazed at the youth represented by this chapter. The enthusiasm of this group is remarkable. With the exception of only 2 or 3 members all hook primatively and don't seem to be at all interested in fine hooking. I keep wondering what Pearl McGown and Joan Moshimer would say about that - however, times have changed. Everyone seems in such a hurry! Here are Maryanne, Traci and Ruth hard at work.

Ron, Caroline (president of the group) and Mary (secretary to the group) hard at work.

Nada brought her Santa rug for all of us to see. She had been working on it at the last few meetings. So glad to see it finished.

Joan, Nada, Gerry and Maryanne. Please note the stack of purple wool in the foreground. I'm getting to that!

Joan brought this rug for show and tell. I think the name is pumpkin man but I'm not sure. It has a beautiful background that she dyed.

This topsy-turvy rug is also Joan's. Its always great to see the finished products of this group.

Now to get to COLOR. Beth is known as the purple hooker, always wears purple, owns a purple car, her house is decorated in purple, you name it and its purple! She was asked by the president to show us how she uses purple in her rugs since several people wanted to use purple but were reluctant to try. In the foreground of the last "people" picture you will notice a stack of purple wool. Beth had brought this to show the different types of wool available for use. She also brought a wide selection of her rugs and wall hangings all of which had purple in a main element. I only took a few pictures - these are my favorites of the ones she showed - I hope that you enjoy them as did I.

A Santa of the woods instead of the usual red, blue or green Santa. Very innovative.

A leafy scroll with a lovely lavender background.

A patriotic barn with interesting purple trees and many purples used in the foreground. Love the foreground - its like a quilt!

All in all, a good show! Beth was most generous with her time and knowledge. She suggested that we do a swap which most of the group seemed to think was a good idea. The swap is to be a piece 6 x 18 using purple ( altho other colors can be incorporated) depicting something in the autumn. Swaps to be presented at the September meeting. Sounds like a fun project for the summer.

Remember no meeting in July because the library will be closed on the 4th of July.

I can't believe that I have done all of this - transfered pictures from the camera and written this whole blog on only one cup of coffee! My daughter is free today so we will be spending this Sunday together. As all of you know family is the most important thing to me and I am looking forward to a great day.

The quote for this blog is as follows:

Growing old is inevitable - growing up is optional.

Unknown author

RANDOM THOUGHTS -



Ruth and Debbie come to me on Saturday's for lessons. Debbie is a first time hooker - has had no teacher until now and has been struggling with just getting the loops up. We have had about 4 lessons and she has accomplished this morning glory. I publish this picture of her accomplishment because I think that she has done a great job of capturing the depth and looks of the flower. We are starting to work on leaves and will work on a large rose in the center of the piece next.

This piece is Ruth's. Ruth has attended Buckeystown camp several times and has some self confidence issues when it comes to hooking. She is a really capable hooker just needs to be more sure of herself. The piece above, that she is hooking, is really charming. It is a fence, with flowers and bird houses. We have talked about what she will accomplish over the summer. Only one more lesson before we recess for the summer. Summer seems to be a time to rest and renew our spirits before starting a new season in September.

It is my habit to let Eloise go out through the back kitchen door into her play yard. I have done this for so long that I have the bad habit of not looking first. Several Friday's ago I simply opened the door and out she flew as she sighted a young raccoon in the yard. THE CHASE WAS ON! Els is very fast but fortunately the raccoon was faster in this instance and managed to get over the fence and into a tree before Els could catch him. The very next day (Saturday) Richard and Danyel came to mow the lawn and in the process Richard scared up a snake. THE CHASE WAS ON! Richard with the rake and Els wagging, barking, and running. Poor snake (just the garden variety) managed to find a hole to hide in. Poor Eloise, so tired she had to get a belly rub and words of consolation.

A few weeks ago when I had my car repaired, while I waited, I sat next to a lady who also had to wait for repairs. We engaged in conversation and discovered that neither of us had someone to take us back and forth while the car was being worked on. I am an old lady but this lady was apparently somewhat older. She told me that when she was a child that something happened in 1918 but she couldn't remember what. Also that she graduated from highschool in 1932. Mentally I started to figure her age and decided that something must be wrong with my math. She also remarked that something also happened in the 1940's and again in the 1980's. She was delightful to talk to. What was so remarkable about the whole incident was the gallentry that was shown by the very young mechanix as he escorted her to her car and saw that she was properly ensconsed, seat belt fastened, and ready to drive home. It made me smile to see a young person care so much - ah, youth, gallentry is not dead!

This darn machine is determined to beat me when it comes to choosing type faces. Hope you don't mind the change. Enough musings for this posting. I will be going to the ATHA guild meeting on Saturday and will post its happenings.

Until then, have a wonderful week. Don't forget to tell your family that you love them -

HAPPY HOOKING.

Doris

A WONDERFUL WEDNESDAY -

In addition to being a member of ATHA, I am a member of the Cattail River Chapter (Chapter49) of the National Guild of Pearl K. McGown Rug Hookcrafters. I have belonged to this group for a number of years and the ladies in this group are my oldest and dearest hooking friends. We meet twice a month in the homes of members and every June we have a pot luck luncheon at which time we share with each other some of the hooking that we have done during the year. All of the ladies in this group produce prize winning rugs and several of them have had rugs in Celebrations, not just once, but one member 9 times!

The other thing that this group does is eat! Good cooking, rug braiding and quilting seem to go hand in hand with rug hooking. Here are two pictures of us at the luncheon table. Enough good food for a army.

The desserts consisted of a blueberry tart with chocolate, cookies filled with fruit that had been soaked in bourbon! and assorted other goodies.

This is Angie holding the newest member of the group. Her name is Nellie and she lives with Margaret R. whose home we were in.

And now for SHOW AND TELL - Ginny brought two rugs - this first oriental is just completed and really is a beautiful color plan. My picture seens a little washed out.

Ginny's second rug is just underway and is a beauty. She started this with Jane Hallowell Green who gave classes for the Mason-Dixon Chapter of ATHA.

This Iris rug is a Pearl McGown Design.

This next rug was hooked by Margaret B. It depicts Margaret and her two daughters and was done with a teacher that visited the Mason-Dixon ATHA from the West Coast.

This next rug is so long that I couldn't get the whole thing in the picture. It is almost finished and is being hooked by Margaret R. She has very high ceilings in her home and she is planning to hang it on a high, long wall. It will look great there.

The next rug was hooked by Lina. This is a really beautiful rug. All of the material was coathanger or dip dyed ( depending on which term you like best). The strands were so long that the young lady that did the dyeing had to stand on a chair in order to handle the wool. The rug is more vivid than shown here - I think some of the pictures washed out because of the light in the room.

This next rug is being hooked by Meg. She is a specialist in orientals. Note the beauty of the color plan. The blue is marvelous. The floors in her entire home are covered with the orientals she has created. A truly talented hooker.

This next rug is being hooked by Denise. She is new to our group having only attended 2 meetings - also a new hooker. She designed this piece to depict some of the things on the farm where she lives.

And finally we come to Barbara's rug. This is her "bug" rug in progress. We have kidded her about this rug for some months now. It is really curious and very cute. She is making it for a grandchild.

Angie, Carol and Violet did not bring anything to share with us. Angie and Violet are both working on big rugs probably to heavy to cart around. Carol just returned the day before the luncheon, from a months vacation - two weeks in Hawaii and two weeks in New Zealand. Still a bit jet lagged I suspect.

The final pictures show members of the group as we sat and watched a video of the McGown National Rug Show. Of course, there were many comments about the quality of workmanship and the color plans shown in the video.

All in all, a great time was had by all. For my part, it is always a joy to get together with good friends and break bread. I consider it a pleasure and an honor to be a member of this group.

I hope that each of you who are intersted in hooking can find a group that is as loving and sharing as this group. If you do, your hooking will have many rewards other than rugs and the bonus of friendship cannot be beat.

Hope to all of at the Boonsboro Library for the June meeting of ATHA. Until then HAPPY HOOKING.