Monday, December 31, 2007
Sunday, December 30, 2007
An Appropriate Christmas Gift . . .
I am -- quite obviously -- fond of antique paisleys. My sister Barb found a lovely piece of paisley on ebay just before Christmas and look what she made out of it -- for me!
I love his carefully needle felted face and his little lantern with real glass and his beard (fleece from her friend Martha's sheep) not to mention the exquisite piece of paisley. I may have to keep him out all year long . . . Now if only I can get my studio clean enough to find a spot for him . . .
I love his carefully needle felted face and his little lantern with real glass and his beard (fleece from her friend Martha's sheep) not to mention the exquisite piece of paisley. I may have to keep him out all year long . . . Now if only I can get my studio clean enough to find a spot for him . . .
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Archive -- December 2007
HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!
December 24th, 2007 / News / No comments
This will be the last post before Christmas and probably the last post on Wordpress. I’ll be moving this baby over to blogspot, where I have another blog with my sister. Hopefully consolidation will lead to more frequent posts. I’ll archive all the posts here.
So have a fabulous holiday season. I’m planning to.
Sarah
December 24th, 2007 / News / No comments
This will be the last post before Christmas and probably the last post on Wordpress. I’ll be moving this baby over to blogspot, where I have another blog with my sister. Hopefully consolidation will lead to more frequent posts. I’ll archive all the posts here.
So have a fabulous holiday season. I’m planning to.
Sarah
Archive -- November 2007
LIGRA RUG SHOW, Melville, NY
November 6th, 2007 / News, Road Trips, Suppliers and Teachers / No comments
I didn’t have high hopes for this show, considering Hurricane Noel was supposed to pass over eastern Long Island midday on Saturday, but I was quite pleased with my sales by the end of the day! The church hall was on the small side, so space was tight for the vendors, but the rugs themselves didn’t take up too much space. They were hung on a wire grid system that made good use of the allotted area.
The show was dedicated to Helen Connelly Howe, whose stained glass rug graces the current issue of Rug Hooking Magazine. Helen is a fabulous colorist, and one of the sweetest, most gracious women I’ve ever met. Several of her rugs were on view.
I met a wonderful man named Vincent, a member of the guild that sponsored the show. He wanted to learn how to do punch needle, so I whipped out my supplies (I packed a project because I thought I’d be twiddling my thumbs all day because of the bad weather!) and showed him how t do it. He bought a needle, a pattern, some Medici wool and then proceeded to bring person after person over to watch me punch. I practically sold out of punch supplies! So, thank you, Vincent! And if you ever want to get rid of that beautiful wool suit coat, you know where to find me!
November 6th, 2007 / News, Road Trips, Suppliers and Teachers / No comments
I didn’t have high hopes for this show, considering Hurricane Noel was supposed to pass over eastern Long Island midday on Saturday, but I was quite pleased with my sales by the end of the day! The church hall was on the small side, so space was tight for the vendors, but the rugs themselves didn’t take up too much space. They were hung on a wire grid system that made good use of the allotted area.
The show was dedicated to Helen Connelly Howe, whose stained glass rug graces the current issue of Rug Hooking Magazine. Helen is a fabulous colorist, and one of the sweetest, most gracious women I’ve ever met. Several of her rugs were on view.
I met a wonderful man named Vincent, a member of the guild that sponsored the show. He wanted to learn how to do punch needle, so I whipped out my supplies (I packed a project because I thought I’d be twiddling my thumbs all day because of the bad weather!) and showed him how t do it. He bought a needle, a pattern, some Medici wool and then proceeded to bring person after person over to watch me punch. I practically sold out of punch supplies! So, thank you, Vincent! And if you ever want to get rid of that beautiful wool suit coat, you know where to find me!
Archive --September 2007
The First Day of Fall
September 23rd, 2007 / News, Road Trips, Suppliers and Teachers, Peconic Ruggers / No comments
What a glorious day — crystalline blue skies, warm temperatures, ocean breeze. I spent the whole day in my studio! I’m getting ready for a bunch of shoes this fall, including the Hallockville Fall Festival, coming up on Saturday and Sunday, September 29 & 30, at the Hallockville Museum Farm, Sound Avenue, Riverhead, NY, 10 AM to 5 PM. I’ll be there with my rug hooking guild, the Peconic Ruggers. We’ll have a booth this year, so members can sell hooking supplies and finished work.
Also look for my sister Barbara of Thimblefolk. She’ll be there with her little woolen whimsies.
And lets hope we have weather liike this next weekend, too!
Tumbleweed Tuesday
September 4th, 2007 / News / No comments
It’s Tumbleweed Tuesday here in Greenport. That’s what my neighbor Seth calls it — the day after Labor Day when all the tourists go home. This is my favorite time of year here in Greenport. The water is still warm enough for swimming, the kids are back in school and there are parking spaces at the post office and grocery store. Time to get back to hooking rugs . . .
October 11, 2007
Happy 50th Birthday to Me!
When I was speaking to my friend Jean in Kentucky about my birthday yesterday, she said, “Uh, oh – you’re going to get black balloons and black icing on the cake, and all that gloom and doom stuff!” And, I said, “No, I don’t think so. I’m going to make it sparkle.” And I told her this story.
About ten years ago, when my mother was dying from emphysema and lung cancer (yes, she was a heavy smoker, and yes, you need to quit RIGHT NOW if you smoke!), I was traveling back and forth to Connecticut from Long Island by ferry on a weekly basis. On one particularly sad trip home, when I was facing the fact that my mother was indeed going to die, I parked my car next to a fire engine red Volvo station wagon. It was driven by a gray-haired woman of about 50, wearing jeans and a beautiful Pendelton wool shirt (which I would have loved to have used in a hooked rug), and a gorgeous diamond bracelet. She was playing with 2 dogs that she obviously adored, and who adored her right back. She looked completely at ease in her life, and she looked completely happy. I decided right then – sitting in my car feeling sorry for myself – that I was going to be like her when I turned 50. I wanted a trusty dog by my side, a red Volvo wagon, and a diamond bracelet to wear with jeans. Of course, what I really wanted was to reach middle age happy and at ease in my life.
When I arrived home, I told my husband Peter about my decision. He smiled and listened with half an ear and went back to work. I told my dear friend Paula about it too, and she got it immediately. Of course – why should I be surprised? Paula really listens, and she is gracious, generous, smart, kind, and she lives her life with more integrity than anyone I know. She has dealt with more loss and adversity in the past several years than any woman should have to, but every day she faces the world with warmth and curiosity and makes it shine. When people ask me what I want to be when I grow up (no, I haven’t quite grown up yet), I always say, “A writer.” When people ask me who I’d like to be when I grow up, I always say, “Paula.” So, I fused the image of the woman on the ferry with Paula’s fine qualities and filed the picture away in the part of my brain that wasn’t still refusing to face the fact that I would someday reach the half-century mark.
And here I am. Fifty years old. Have I become the fictional woman I created 10 years ago?
I have a wonderful little Jack Russell named Cairo who makes me smile everyday – even when he has to go out at 3 in the morning.
[Photo]
I have a red Volvo wagon – garnet red, not fire engine, but it’s close enough. It’s a dream to drive and is about as safe a car as there is.
[Photo]
And, yes, while on vacation last spring, I bought myself a diamond bracelet. I couldn’t bring myself to buy a big fancy shmancy one – you could feed a third world country on what a tennis bracelet costs, but I did get a little bit of bling.
[Photo]
But this is all just stuff. It’s not what really matters, is it? This is what matters: I have a wonderful family -- my slightly eccentric, artistic, and handsome husband Peter, who works hard and plays hard and let me get the Volvo, my absolutely gorgeous, smart, kind-hearted daughter Clara who has made the sun come up everyday since she was born 19 ½ years ago, and my talented sister, friend and business partner Barby (I’m the only one allowed to call her that – you have to call her Barb or Barbara or watch out!) who can turn a piece of wool and a strand of thread into a cunning little creature that probably comes alive when no one is looking. I’m pleased to say that Paula has moved back home to Greenport after an exciting and adventurous year in Manhattan, so I can follow her wonderful example first hand again. And I have many friends in the actual world and the cyber world who inform and energize my life on not just a daily or hourly basis, but minute by minute. That’s what matters.
I’m going to wear my sparkly bracelet everyday from now on – or until I lose it (I have a history of losing good jewelry in weird ways – I lost a watch Pete gave me for our 5th anniversary in a porto-potty, and on a boat ride last year, Clara’s friend Lea lost her balance and accidentally ripped a beautiful earring (another gift from Pete) out of my ear and sent it overboard. I still have dreams about sitting in a beachfront restaurant in the Caribbean, ordering a whole grilled grouper and finding my earring inside . . .). I'm going to wear it not to show off, but because it is a symbol of how life can sparkle.
When I finish here, I am going to make a donation in Paula's name to OPLC (One Laptop per Child, (http://www.xogiving.org/) a group that provides laptops that only cost $100 to children in developing countries, enabling them to have access to a good education), to pay tribute to her, to the stranger on the ferry who inspired me, and to the many friends I have made online through my magical Macbook Pro (and to alleviate the guilt I feel for wearing diamonds that probably aren’t free trade). Then I am going to get back to work.
So what have I learned in 50 years? It’s not youth or jewelry that make life dazzling – it’s the way you choose to live it.
September 23rd, 2007 / News, Road Trips, Suppliers and Teachers, Peconic Ruggers / No comments
What a glorious day — crystalline blue skies, warm temperatures, ocean breeze. I spent the whole day in my studio! I’m getting ready for a bunch of shoes this fall, including the Hallockville Fall Festival, coming up on Saturday and Sunday, September 29 & 30, at the Hallockville Museum Farm, Sound Avenue, Riverhead, NY, 10 AM to 5 PM. I’ll be there with my rug hooking guild, the Peconic Ruggers. We’ll have a booth this year, so members can sell hooking supplies and finished work.
Also look for my sister Barbara of Thimblefolk. She’ll be there with her little woolen whimsies.
And lets hope we have weather liike this next weekend, too!
Tumbleweed Tuesday
September 4th, 2007 / News / No comments
It’s Tumbleweed Tuesday here in Greenport. That’s what my neighbor Seth calls it — the day after Labor Day when all the tourists go home. This is my favorite time of year here in Greenport. The water is still warm enough for swimming, the kids are back in school and there are parking spaces at the post office and grocery store. Time to get back to hooking rugs . . .
October 11, 2007
Happy 50th Birthday to Me!
When I was speaking to my friend Jean in Kentucky about my birthday yesterday, she said, “Uh, oh – you’re going to get black balloons and black icing on the cake, and all that gloom and doom stuff!” And, I said, “No, I don’t think so. I’m going to make it sparkle.” And I told her this story.
About ten years ago, when my mother was dying from emphysema and lung cancer (yes, she was a heavy smoker, and yes, you need to quit RIGHT NOW if you smoke!), I was traveling back and forth to Connecticut from Long Island by ferry on a weekly basis. On one particularly sad trip home, when I was facing the fact that my mother was indeed going to die, I parked my car next to a fire engine red Volvo station wagon. It was driven by a gray-haired woman of about 50, wearing jeans and a beautiful Pendelton wool shirt (which I would have loved to have used in a hooked rug), and a gorgeous diamond bracelet. She was playing with 2 dogs that she obviously adored, and who adored her right back. She looked completely at ease in her life, and she looked completely happy. I decided right then – sitting in my car feeling sorry for myself – that I was going to be like her when I turned 50. I wanted a trusty dog by my side, a red Volvo wagon, and a diamond bracelet to wear with jeans. Of course, what I really wanted was to reach middle age happy and at ease in my life.
When I arrived home, I told my husband Peter about my decision. He smiled and listened with half an ear and went back to work. I told my dear friend Paula about it too, and she got it immediately. Of course – why should I be surprised? Paula really listens, and she is gracious, generous, smart, kind, and she lives her life with more integrity than anyone I know. She has dealt with more loss and adversity in the past several years than any woman should have to, but every day she faces the world with warmth and curiosity and makes it shine. When people ask me what I want to be when I grow up (no, I haven’t quite grown up yet), I always say, “A writer.” When people ask me who I’d like to be when I grow up, I always say, “Paula.” So, I fused the image of the woman on the ferry with Paula’s fine qualities and filed the picture away in the part of my brain that wasn’t still refusing to face the fact that I would someday reach the half-century mark.
And here I am. Fifty years old. Have I become the fictional woman I created 10 years ago?
I have a wonderful little Jack Russell named Cairo who makes me smile everyday – even when he has to go out at 3 in the morning.
[Photo]
I have a red Volvo wagon – garnet red, not fire engine, but it’s close enough. It’s a dream to drive and is about as safe a car as there is.
[Photo]
And, yes, while on vacation last spring, I bought myself a diamond bracelet. I couldn’t bring myself to buy a big fancy shmancy one – you could feed a third world country on what a tennis bracelet costs, but I did get a little bit of bling.
[Photo]
But this is all just stuff. It’s not what really matters, is it? This is what matters: I have a wonderful family -- my slightly eccentric, artistic, and handsome husband Peter, who works hard and plays hard and let me get the Volvo, my absolutely gorgeous, smart, kind-hearted daughter Clara who has made the sun come up everyday since she was born 19 ½ years ago, and my talented sister, friend and business partner Barby (I’m the only one allowed to call her that – you have to call her Barb or Barbara or watch out!) who can turn a piece of wool and a strand of thread into a cunning little creature that probably comes alive when no one is looking. I’m pleased to say that Paula has moved back home to Greenport after an exciting and adventurous year in Manhattan, so I can follow her wonderful example first hand again. And I have many friends in the actual world and the cyber world who inform and energize my life on not just a daily or hourly basis, but minute by minute. That’s what matters.
I’m going to wear my sparkly bracelet everyday from now on – or until I lose it (I have a history of losing good jewelry in weird ways – I lost a watch Pete gave me for our 5th anniversary in a porto-potty, and on a boat ride last year, Clara’s friend Lea lost her balance and accidentally ripped a beautiful earring (another gift from Pete) out of my ear and sent it overboard. I still have dreams about sitting in a beachfront restaurant in the Caribbean, ordering a whole grilled grouper and finding my earring inside . . .). I'm going to wear it not to show off, but because it is a symbol of how life can sparkle.
When I finish here, I am going to make a donation in Paula's name to OPLC (One Laptop per Child, (http://www.xogiving.org/) a group that provides laptops that only cost $100 to children in developing countries, enabling them to have access to a good education), to pay tribute to her, to the stranger on the ferry who inspired me, and to the many friends I have made online through my magical Macbook Pro (and to alleviate the guilt I feel for wearing diamonds that probably aren’t free trade). Then I am going to get back to work.
So what have I learned in 50 years? It’s not youth or jewelry that make life dazzling – it’s the way you choose to live it.
Archive --July 2007
The Quiet Corner Show
July 6th, 2007 / News, Road Trips / No comments
We had a great day at the Quiet Corner Show — which was much improved from the last time we did it. We were greeted by a Bob Payne (yes, a male rug hooker!) and his son Kevin who unloaded our cars for us. That alone is enough to get us to pledge to do every show they ever have . . . plus, the woman who ran it last time — the most overbearing, offensive person you can imagine with a bullhorn permanently affixed to her fist — was nowhere to be seen. We had a terrific spot, right in front of the door and right across from Jeannine of Two Old Crows, who had a beautiful booth.
My friends Barbara of Basket Garden Farm and Judy of 3 Bags Full were there, too, with beautiful baskets and lots of recycled wool.
The actual rugs in the show were varied, but they did that thing pinning big pieces of paper with the rug’s info onto the rug. It absolutely drives me crazy — it distracts from the rug and just looks cheesey. I’d seen many of the rugs befre, in other shows. The Quiet Corner Guild has decided to do the shw every other year, giving members time to hook up a storm.
July 6th, 2007 / News, Road Trips / No comments
We had a great day at the Quiet Corner Show — which was much improved from the last time we did it. We were greeted by a Bob Payne (yes, a male rug hooker!) and his son Kevin who unloaded our cars for us. That alone is enough to get us to pledge to do every show they ever have . . . plus, the woman who ran it last time — the most overbearing, offensive person you can imagine with a bullhorn permanently affixed to her fist — was nowhere to be seen. We had a terrific spot, right in front of the door and right across from Jeannine of Two Old Crows, who had a beautiful booth.
My friends Barbara of Basket Garden Farm and Judy of 3 Bags Full were there, too, with beautiful baskets and lots of recycled wool.
The actual rugs in the show were varied, but they did that thing pinning big pieces of paper with the rug’s info onto the rug. It absolutely drives me crazy — it distracts from the rug and just looks cheesey. I’d seen many of the rugs befre, in other shows. The Quiet Corner Guild has decided to do the shw every other year, giving members time to hook up a storm.
Archive --June 2007
Quiet Corner Rug Show, Woodstock, CT, Saturday, June 23, 2007
June 21st, 2007 / News, Road Trips, Suppliers and Teachers / No comments
Quiet Corner Rug Hookers Rug Show
June 23, 2007
Event
Woodstock Fairgrounds
Rte. 169
Woodstock, CT 06281
Current Weather
User Submitted 2007
Many wool hooked rugs will be on exhibit. Vendors, demonstrations, food and raffles. Linda Repasky, teacher of punch needle work, will be lecturing and demonstrating her work. 9 a.m. - 3 p.m.; $5. Parking on-site; free.
Barb and I will be there with bells on fingers, etc. We have lots of new patterns and newly hand-dyed wool for sale. So don’t miss it!
The Great Cover Up at the American Folk Art Museum
June 21st, 2007 / News / No comments
THE GREAT COVER-UP: AMERICAN RUGS ON BEDS, TABLES, AND FLOORS
June 5–September 9, 2007
Lee Kogan, curator
Coordinated by Stacy C. Hollander, senior curator and director of exhibitions
The impulse to cover interior surfaces has historically been both utilitarian and decorative. Early American rugs were yarn sewn, shirred, appliquéd, and embroidered. As many surviving rugs attest, the best examples transcend function through the graphic power of their color and design. “The Great Cover-up: American Rugs on Beds, Tables, and Floors” will feature approximately 65 rugs that span the end of the 18th through the mid-20th centuries, including several monumental masterworks, such as the museum’s stunning 13-foot Appliquéd Carpet (c. 1860) and the magnificent Embroidered Carpet (1832–35) by Zeruah H. Guernsey Caswell from the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Other treasures from the museum’s collection include the rare and striking Knitted Rug attributed to Elvira Hulett, a member of the Hancock Shaker community, whose design is a technical tour de force, and the graphic Pictorial Table Rug, which powerfully illustrates the strong link between church and home. Originally, hand-sewn and
-hooked rugs were enjoyed only within the intimate confines of the home. Today, their public appreciation provides a fascinating glimpse into the private spaces of American life.
Although the museum regularly includes rugs in its exhibitions, “The Great Cover-up” will be the first presentation devoted to a wide range of American rug traditions since 1974, when Kate and Joel Kopp organized the seminal show “American Hooked and Sewn Rugs: Folk Art Underfoot.”
Museum exhibitions are sponsored in part by the Gerard C. Wertkin Exhibition Fund and the Leir Charitable Foundations in memory of Henry J. & Erna D. Leir.
June 21st, 2007 / News, Road Trips, Suppliers and Teachers / No comments
Quiet Corner Rug Hookers Rug Show
June 23, 2007
Event
Woodstock Fairgrounds
Rte. 169
Woodstock, CT 06281
Current Weather
User Submitted 2007
Many wool hooked rugs will be on exhibit. Vendors, demonstrations, food and raffles. Linda Repasky, teacher of punch needle work, will be lecturing and demonstrating her work. 9 a.m. - 3 p.m.; $5. Parking on-site; free.
Barb and I will be there with bells on fingers, etc. We have lots of new patterns and newly hand-dyed wool for sale. So don’t miss it!
The Great Cover Up at the American Folk Art Museum
June 21st, 2007 / News / No comments
THE GREAT COVER-UP: AMERICAN RUGS ON BEDS, TABLES, AND FLOORS
June 5–September 9, 2007
Lee Kogan, curator
Coordinated by Stacy C. Hollander, senior curator and director of exhibitions
The impulse to cover interior surfaces has historically been both utilitarian and decorative. Early American rugs were yarn sewn, shirred, appliquéd, and embroidered. As many surviving rugs attest, the best examples transcend function through the graphic power of their color and design. “The Great Cover-up: American Rugs on Beds, Tables, and Floors” will feature approximately 65 rugs that span the end of the 18th through the mid-20th centuries, including several monumental masterworks, such as the museum’s stunning 13-foot Appliquéd Carpet (c. 1860) and the magnificent Embroidered Carpet (1832–35) by Zeruah H. Guernsey Caswell from the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Other treasures from the museum’s collection include the rare and striking Knitted Rug attributed to Elvira Hulett, a member of the Hancock Shaker community, whose design is a technical tour de force, and the graphic Pictorial Table Rug, which powerfully illustrates the strong link between church and home. Originally, hand-sewn and
-hooked rugs were enjoyed only within the intimate confines of the home. Today, their public appreciation provides a fascinating glimpse into the private spaces of American life.
Although the museum regularly includes rugs in its exhibitions, “The Great Cover-up” will be the first presentation devoted to a wide range of American rug traditions since 1974, when Kate and Joel Kopp organized the seminal show “American Hooked and Sewn Rugs: Folk Art Underfoot.”
Museum exhibitions are sponsored in part by the Gerard C. Wertkin Exhibition Fund and the Leir Charitable Foundations in memory of Henry J. & Erna D. Leir.
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