Phineas by Barb Powell

I love the depth in this little rug by Barb Powell. Barb was working on a beautiful portrait in Lynne Powell’s class. She came down to my classroom every so often to buy ‘face’ wool from my store.

Morning Moon by Lynne Powell

The pleasure of getting up early and finding the moon still there in the sky is such a sweet feeling; how wonderful to have a little rug to remind you of this simple gift. Lynne created this rug in response to the ATHA Region XI Treemendous Challenge and was one of three winners. I totally agree!

Sister Kittys by Laurie Wiles

You can tell these kittys are family, i’m not sure they’re sisters. The affection for each other is apparent in this little portrait by Laurie Wiles.

Spring Basket Floral hooked by Tina Toney

Here’s a little rug by Tina Toney, designed by Maggie Bonanomi; simple and delightful.

Mt.Jefferson by Helen Goldsmith

Each year, Arlene honors a Rug Hooking Artist at the Rockaway Rug Show. This year it was Helen Goldsmith, definitely a Master Rug Artist! I recognized some of the rugs brought back for this special showing; they were interspersed in the show.

Card Tricks hooked by Helen Goldsmith

I was happy to see this rug again, designed by Nancy Quigley and hooked by Helen Goldsmith.

Rhapsody of Flowers hooked by Helen Goldsmith

Brigitta Phy was happy to see this design of her grandmother’s; ‘Rhapsody of Flowers’ designed by Jane Olson, hooked by Helen Goldsmith.

My Patch by Helen Goldsmith

‘My Patch’ looks like a great pattern for using up scraps and plaids.

November hooked by Helen Goldsmith

Finally, another beautiful version of ‘November’; design by Jane Flynn, hooked by Helen Goldsmith. Her teacher was Nancy Quigley and the colours remind me of Helen Connolly Howe’s technique. A veritable feast for the eyes!

Banjo Girl by Michele Wise

with a tilt of her head, she captured my heart. Michele changed the pattern a bit, making the ‘little girl with the muff’ a Banjo playing girl, instead.

Witchie Po by Carol Fegles

Carol’s Witch looks quite sweet too. i’d invite her home for tea and hope to hear some fun tales of tricks and magic potions.

Moiras Raven by Peg Kelly

a raven for Moira, Peg created a lively quilted background; a colourful balance for the black raven.

Oslo hooked by Helen Stewart

This is a fun pattern with it’s sweeping Swedish scrolls and simple roses. Suzi Jones was Helen’s teacher on this project… and it’s perfectly wonderful to my eye.

Twin Rocks on a stormy April afternoon

Laurie Wiles and Gail Becker came by after class on Tuesday to take me with them on their beach walk. there is a elevated crosswalk from Friends across Hwy 101, so you can get to the beach safely. They ditched their shoes as soon as we got to the beach… i was keeping my socks and shoes on! The beach at Rockaway is long and flat, a few creeks empty out to the ocean and some areas have piles of logs.

Oregon waves galloping into shore

On the drive up Hwy 101 to Rockaway, the stormy sea often resembled galloping horses. it’s an image you can’t hold onto for very long; you see it, then you don’t. Except if you hook a rug of galloping horse waves like Don Meidinger did.

Wave Crashing Galloping Horses - hooked by Don Meidinger

As usual, it was a great Rug Show and we were able to view it for 3 days. Sometimes, i can’t take in a whole rug show, so the time is much appreciated.

Twin Rocks on a Stormy Monday

Yes, i had fun, fun, fun at Rockaway Rug Camp… and after class too. Staying in a big house on the beach, Brigitta, Susan and I took a couple of walks on the beach and enjoyed the Oregon Coast views. We had to take advantage of the breaks in the weather, as it was unusually stormy. More rain was predicted, so we were glad to see at least 1 sunset.

collection of shells in the sand

I’m not sure if the shells were from a bird dinner or a gathering of treasures left behind.

Susan and Brigitta at Rockaway Beach

Mother and daughter, Susan and Brigitta, enjoyed taking Carol Kassera’s class at Rockaway Rug Camp. Brigitta has inherited Jane Olson’s Rug Hooking business and combined with her own Green Valley Rug Hooking, will run the Rockaway Rug Camp Store next year.

Brigitta, Twin Rocks and Susan

On our way back to the house, Susan leaves the sand on the beach.

Teaching at Rockaway was lots of fun! My class was full of interesting rug projects;  a rodeo, several portraits, leaves, a wiener dog, an abstract and pure whimsy… an interesting mix! 

Malynn Moorhead with her Gypsy

Malynn was happy to complete ‘Gypsy’ and move onto her next project; ‘Little 3 Padulas’.  Both are my patterns; it was great fun to see Malynn develop them… her way! 

Bonnie Pelczar hooked a portrait of her Mum with noodles!

Bonnie rose to the Noodle Challenge in regards to this beautiful portrait of her Mum. She bought TOD swatch noodles from the Camp Store. No Face wool to save the day… just values in cool and warm noodles. Yaye Bonnie!!

Kay Carmichael with her portrait and Abstract

Kay worked on her new project; a copy of an Abstract painting by her daugher. eventually, she pulled out her Portrait rug from the Fiber Jam and tweaked it a bit, finished hooking her hair and worked on her outfit. They’re both looking great!

Lis Wallace and her Rodeo story rug

Campers from the other classes were coming by to see Lis Wallace’s bucking cow; all feet in the air! This project was not only exciting; it was very educational!

Norman Quigley with his portrait of Nancy

It was great fun having Norman and Nancy in class!

Pat Horm with her Santa

what an honour to have Pat Horn in class. Her Santa is so happy and handsome, it was great fun working with Pat on this project.

Peg Kelly with her portrait of a friend

Peg is new to Rug Hooking and very talented. her rugs in the show were impressive and her portrait rug worked out very well!

Pat Rees and her trio of sweeties

Pat worked on a very fun story rug of her son and grand children all having Ice-creams! It is a challenging project and Pat has more hooking to do, but is well on her way!

Janice McCluskey and her Gardener rug

it was great fun working with Janice; she had a fun cartoonish rug designed by Bev Conway. Her gardener had hot pink finger nails and earings!

Trish Meador and her leaves

Trish and I worked on making her leaves interesting and shapely. With rich reds and a variety of greens, her rug has a joyful feel.

Robin Haruna with Red Wiener Dog

It was lots of fun having Robin in class; especially when she decided to hook this rug! We both have Wiener dogs!
Robin lives in the beautiful little town of Bandon, OR and has her own marvelous blog… see my listing.

Dorothy Hagan with her Mother's Caring Hands

Everyone was touched by Dorothy’s personnal rug; a tribute to her mother. Dorothy was my ‘little sister’ at Western Teachers’ Workshop, several years ago and we enjoyed getting caught up.

 Diane DuBray was also in my class, working on her beautiful portrait of her mother.  Alas… i have no photo to share.  Perhaps she’ll send me an update photo. All in all, it was a great week!  it’s a relaxed and gregarious Rug Camp, with a wonderful 3-day rug show!   I met lots of folks and enjoyed connecting up with all my friends from the Pacific Northwest!  I’ve been asked back to teach next year… March 24-29, 2013.  

 

Haceta Lighthouse on the Oregon Coast

We’ll drive up Hwy101, Gail and I.  It’s going to rain all the way, but we’ll be yakking and the time will fly by.  I took this photo in 2004, when i attended Rockaway with my friend Margaret Beardsley.  we drove up and back on Hwy101… it’s our highway here in Sonoma Co.  by the time it gets to Oregon, it’s the Coast road… beautiful!  On the way home, you can pull over at about 2 or 3 spots after Haceta to get this view.  Down below are sea birds and sea lions… but this view is the best!

Floral rug by Anne Jeter

The Rug Show at Rockaway is always a treat!  Arlene Strutz has someone create all the rug name tags in calligraphy and the rug show is up for 3 days.  Anne Jeter has been finishing up alot of rugs these days; big rugs with floral centers.  She often uses left-over lights from many swatches to fill in her backgrounds.  I’m looking forward to seeing Anne and many other friends at Rockaway! 

 

could you, would you, come to Mendocino to Fiber Jam?  Come on a Monday and go home on a Saturday… February 18 – 23, 2013.  That’s what i’m looking at… Friday is such a bad traffic day in SF Bay Area… it will be novel to stay Friday and pack up and leave on Saturday.  It’s not for sure yet… I’m working with the folks at Little River Inn… and they’ll be happy to have us, twice a year!

Sunset at Little River Inn last November -photo by Emma Logan

It is kind of nice being the only event happening… when it comes to accomodations.  Little River Inn has many beautiful rooms, a restaurant, bar, golf course, tennis courts and a day spa, but only 1 meeting room, which happens to be perfect for about 25 Fiber Artists doing their own thing.   My little rug camps at Asilomar Conference Center on the other hand, are such ‘small fry’, i just can’t get much respect.  It’s not much fun when a huge crowd comes in… the logistics get very difficult.  This past Fiber Jam, things went quite well, we only got crowded once with a long line for dinner.   We all love being at Asilomar, it is a beautiful place and we had wonderful accomodations this past February.    Personally, i have a hard time dealing with the contracts, the rules, the indifference, the lack of contact… it all gives me a stomach ache.  so… i’m going where they know my name… they’re happy to have us… they stop by and see us.

yes, my husband cooks… the yummy stuff.  i cook the everyday stuff… that gets you by… and re-heats several times… ha!  The silver lining of the down turn in the economy; since we can’t afford to go out and eat… my husband, Kirby, has learned to cook!  He was always great at reading the menu and figuring out the most tasty thing to order… i was always envious of his food.  ha!  but now he reads the recipes and cooks for us… Yaye!

Tonight it was a rendition of Chicken and Broccoli Stir-Fry… ( I make the brown rice! )… except it was Pork and Asparagus w/Broccoli Stir-Fry.  We have pork loin chops in the freezer at all times… and have discovered that sliced and diced, they stir-fry real well!  It is Asparagus season… the big ones… yummm!

Pork and Asparagus w/Broccoli Stir-Fry

Marinate 2 pork loin chops, sliced and cut into 1″ pieces while you prepare the rest of the ingredients, (see below)

2 scallions, sliced round white and green parts,

2 cloves garlic, minced

1-inch piece peeled fresh ginger, minced

1 T soy sauce

2 T sugar

1 T + 1 t cornstarch

1 1/4 t salt

1 T sherry

1 T dark sesame oil

about 2 T water

3 T peanut oil

2 C broccoli florets and tender stalk portions

1 lb Asparagus, snapped and cut into 1 1/4″ sections

3/4 to 1 t chili flakes, optional

1 T hoisin sauce

garnish: toasted sesame seeds, optional

cooked rice

Directions:

In a medium bowl, toss the pork with the scallions, about half the garlic and ginger, the soy sauce, sugar, 1 t of the cornstarch, 1 t of the salt, the sherry, and the sesame oil.  Marinate at room temperature for 15 minutes.  Mix the remaining cornstarch with 1/3 C water.

Heat a large wok over hight heat.  Add 1 T oil and heat. Add the vegetables and stir-fry for 30 seconds.  Add the remaining garlic, ginger, 2 T water and season with 1/4 t salt and pepper.  Sitr-fry until the vegetables are bright green but still crisp, about 2 minutes.  Transfer to a plate.

Get the skillet good and hot again, and then heat 2 more T oil.  Add the pork and chili flakes if using.  Sitr-fry until the pork loses its raw colour and gets a little brown, about 3 minutes.  Add the hoisin sauce, return the vegetables to the pan and toss to  heat through.  Sitr in the reserved cornstarch mixture and bring to a boil to thicken.  Add more water if needed to thin the sauce.  Taste and season with salt and pepper, if you like.  Mound the stir-fry on a serving platter or divide amoung 4 plates and garnish with sesame seeds, serve with rice.

ok… mmmm – yumm.  it’s good to eat well… at home!

SF Pissarro rug in progress

This rug was designed in response to the Monterey Fiber Jam ‘Pissarro’ challenge.  Since i didn’t get it finished in time for the Jam, i just brought it unfinished.  After watching Sara Judith teach the Oxford Punch hooking technique, i realized i could punch hook the bay waters!  Because punch hooking is done from the reverse side, i knew i needed to finish all my traditional Loop pulling, then mount the rug on a craft frame.  I visited Knitterly, a fabulous knit shop in Petaluma, and found some beautiful hand-painted merino yarn that looked good with the hooking already in place and looks like water.  I stapled the rug to the craft frame and learned how to punch hook.  My daughter Emma was with me for this beginning and reminded me of Sara’s suggestions: creating a loose pile of yarn to create the perfect tension for the loops.  Sara also suggests that your first punch hook piece should be a sampler, not a masterpiece… ha!  that’s because you get better as you go.  I started at the line next to the city, and it’s a little uneven.  i’m wondering if i should press it or cut some of the high loops.  

uneven loops

it’s a little hard to show, but you can see some of the punched loops are higher than others.

SF Pissarro punched and pulled loops

 Now that the hooking is completed, i am ready to take it off the craft frame and see if it lays flat.  i’m wondering if i should hook another Beauty line around it in a dark value to ‘Frame’ it.  i can see that the punch hooked area is not as wide as the pulled loop area… hmmmm.  we are pretty happy with it and are enjoying the view!