Once upon a time, in the land of the east coast of Nova Scotia, a hurricane named Lee, was to visit on the weekend. He was to appear as a hurricane for some Atlantic provinces and for other provinces, a tropical storm. Whichever coat he wore, he out stayed his welcome, stayed for supper, the night, and breakfast! Most provinces fared better than expected. Always can be so much worse.
The Northport Loopers have postponed their hook-in from tomorrow, September 18th to Monday, September 25th, 2023. Hope to see you all there, I will be bringing my shop, let me know if there is anything specific you are looking for me to bring.
This summer, a young lady by the name of Elise, visited the Northport Loopers to learn all she could about rug hooking. Elise took her vacation and traveled from Montreal by herself and had been told by friends to ensure she visits the Northport Loopers as they are a wonderful group to visit.
Below is the email Elise wrote to the Northport Loopers. I especially enjoyed reading about her chance meeting on the beach.
Hi Della!
Elise here, the 20 something year old who came to visit the Northport loopers back in July! I'm sending a little email your way because I hoped to send an update to the loopers, tell you about the rest of my trip, and show you what I finally made! If you could share this email with the other loopers, that would be amazing :)
Well, I have to start by saying the northport loopers were definitely the highlight of my trip! You were the best group to start with, wow did you ever help me get started! I'm still figuring out how to cut my fabric well, the ladies in Wallace showed me I was not cutting well and my strips were breaking apart! But I'm getting there.
After my visit to the loopers, I went to Cheticamp, of course! There, I saw the beauty of the Cheticamp style, wow! The rugs are so precise and delicate, I was also amazed by Elizabeth Leforts work at the museum there, wow! I splurged and got myself a beautiful rug of a clothesline. I got some rugs for friends and family as well.
The day I arrived, I went to the beach to have my dinner, and I got to work on the rug that you all helped me start. While I was there, an older man saw me hooking and came to see me. He asked me if I was visiting and if I had been hooking for long, and I told him no, I'm traveling through Nova Scotia to learn! He gave me a hook that he had carved himself and carried around in his jacket. It is my favorite hook now.
I also went to visit a quilt studio (King Ross Quilt Studio) in the center of Cape Breton, I highly recommend visiting if ever you go that way. Finally, I met with a local rug hooker, Yvette Muise, who showed me some of her work and showed me how to hook the cheticamp style, but I was not very good with the smaller yarn, it falls out too easily! I also went hiking and camped out at Pollets Cove (I believe Lynne was very interesting in my hiking adventures), it was beautiful! I visited the park as well for a couple days. I'm including some photos from the hikes.
After 6 days in Cheticamp visiting and hiking, I drove down to Petite Riviere, hoping to visit the River House rug hooking meet up, but finally I had the wrong day of the week. I visited La Have, Lunenburg and Mahone Bay, visited Encompassing designs, had a lengthy chat with the owner, and got myself two patterns. I'm sending you a picture of my first finished rug, I got the pattern at Encompassing designs. I visited Heidi Wulfrats shop, and some little craft stops.
Then, I had the joy of visiting the museum!! I was sooo excited to go to Hubbards and see all the rugs, it was overwhelmingly beautiful. I got a lot of inspiration at the museum for future projects.
I think that sums up my trip pretty well. I've been home for over a month now, finished my first rug, and now I'm back on to my quilts. I'm just finishing a baby quilt for some friends having a baby next month. One issue I'm having in Montreal is finding access to the strip cutter! It's harder to find groups than I thought, there is only 1 group far in the suburbs. Hopefully I'll be able to visit them one day, or come back to Northport...
I hope you all had a wonderful summer and were not too affected by the floods. Are you all preparing your fall show? I'd love to see photos! Have the Springhill ladies gone back to Springhill, are you a smaller group now?
Thank you all so much for your warm welcome. I remember my visit with you all so fondly, it warms my heart to remember that day. You are such loving people, how lucky I am to have met you all!
Wishing you all the best
Thanks Elise for allowing me to share your letter on my blog! Below is a picture of Elise's first rug completed! Well done!
I have a bit more done on my Santa rug from the Ruth Downing course I had taken, see below.
In the studio once again are the Holiday bundles! I made them to be a 4, 1/8 yard pieces instead of 8.
In the mail this week; Susan Walsh shared her recent finished Bunnies rug, pattern by Simone V-Red Maple Ruggery. Good job Susan!
Have a great week everyone!
What a lovely letter.Now my curiousity is peaked,why did he carry a hook in his pocket? was it a lost love’s hook?Does he hook? I collect hooks and my imagination flies as I handle the old and well- used rugs.