OUR NEXT CRUISE STOP ~ ~ ~

Halifax, Nova Scotia was our second cruise stop. It's a big city ~ very beautiful city!






We were picked up by bus and our first visit was to the Hooked Rug Museum of North America in Queensland, Nova Scotia. It was founded by Hugh and Suzanne Condron ~ definitely their labor if love







There are lots of vintage rugs and also contemporary rugs. It was suggested that I only take photos of the older ones.







This rug depicts the peddlar, E. S. Frost and his wagon.





These are templates and an old time printing machine that stamped out patterns. The templates are hand-carved ~ works of art on their own.






Two original stamped patterns ~ I would be happy to frame and hang them as they are. Several years ago, I was offered a stamped Frost pattern for $150!!!!! I passed on the opportunity.







The museum is temperature controlled and this is one of the rooms.







Very nice rug ~ they all are in very good condition and displayed perfectly.



















These three rugs are made from strands of twine hooked into feedback backing. They were very interesting and there were quite a few on display.

There were so many rugs that it was hard to take it all in. Would love to spend more time there. They were very gracious and had refreshments for us and there's a wonderful shopping area of rugs and mats to buy.

If you ever get the opportunity, you should go ~ a rug hookers dream!

If you double click the photos, they show much better! They're taken with my iPhone.

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LAST PORTLAND STOP ~ ~ ~

CAMP WOOL in Kennebunk, Maine! This was our third stop of the day. Bea will be thrilled to see this photo!








This shop was full to the brim with wool and supplies for every stitching craft you can imagine!








And this was our leader ~ Lauri
Trautman, of the Maine Tin Peddlars! Lauri and Gail Dufresne orchestrated this great day and it was such fun! Great to meet Lauri after being blog friends and Facebook friends for a lot of years!







This is our group of cruising rug hookers! I 'borrowed' this photo from Lauri's FB page ~ thank you, Lauri! It is the only group photo And we did have fun together!

I'm trying to keep posting about our cruise ~ takes me a long time, it seems! Hope you're warm and toasty ~ it's chilly and windy here on the Northcoast. Our lake weekends will be winding down so we're going to make the most of it!

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CUSHINGS ~ ~ ~

After our visit to Sarah Giuliani's, our next stop was Cushings ~ a long time supplier of patterns and dyes. It's a beautiful building chock full of wool and patterns and a very nice sales staff! I had a great photo of their sign but it doesn't want to post ~ sometimes Blogger and I dont get along!









This rug was on display, among many others. The beautifully soft color palette really caught my eye. It was hooked in a very narrow cut which contributes to the gorgeous shading.




This was a piece on display that had been framed ~ a very typical coastline scene.




These four fine gentlemen were very patient as they waited for us to finish our shopping! Look how happy they are! At least Sonny had some guys to hang out with!





Hope you're having a good weekend ~ we're up at our lake haven getting ready to go to Kelleys Island with our lake friends! This was our beautiful sunrise this morning! How lucky are we to start our day like this!

P.S. if you double click on the rug photos, they'll enlarge for a closer look!


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SARAH GIULIANI ~ ~ ~

One of our Portland, Maine excursion stops was Sarah Giuliani's home studio! Sarah is second from the left along with some of our fellow travelers.


Mary and Rogene are shopping in Sarah's filled-to-the-brim shop!


This is such a great rug! Hand-torn strips make this quite impressive! And Sarah is such a great personality ~ fun and vivacious ~ would love to spend more time with her! She had a great laugh and just the 'hint of an accent'!!!!


Another great rug on display in the kitchen, where Sarah had pastries and cider for us ~ and her cute husband was playing host!!

Sarah will be teaching at various places in Ohio next summer ~ I need to get signed up!!

Thanks for stopping by ~ I have lots more cruise stops to share!


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CRUISING AND HOOKING ~ ~ ~

This was our home last week while cruising to Nova Scotia!





This is my long-time blog and Facebook friend ~ Kim Jones!!! Finally, we meet!!! Kim took part if the day off to meet us at Deanne Fitzpatrick's shop in Amherst and to have lunch with us! She is a sweet girl, for sure and I loved our time together!! I'd love it if you would come visit Ohio!




Kim and Sonny bonding over the wool!



This is my hooking project ~ all finished into a pillow! It is definitely not primitive but I LOVE the creative license that a project like this allows! Lots of alternative fibers and techniques ~ quilling, trapunto, clipped loops and I added some shirring to the sunflower petals!





Gail Dufresne was our teacher and she hung out with Sonny and I a lot! Very fun and creative gal!







And this is my favorite traveling companion ~ we celebrated our 33rd anniversary the day we sailed from Boston!! We did have a spectacular week together!

Lots to share ~ stay tuned!


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