Our end of year breakup, which was not really a breakup

Well, as every else has an end of year breakup, we thought we would better have one as well, even though we will meet again in January. So technically it is the end of the year, but also technically it was not a breakup.
Anyhow...despite all that and that it was the hottest day in December and extreme bushfire weather, we still had a lovely day with just the four of us in Loch. Off course having air-conditioning  makes it all the more comfortable.
Anne, Joy and Leanne came over from the eastern suburbs, which was quite a drive on a hot day.

Being in between rugs-  her stair tread rugs, Joy brought along her lovely knitting. She is knitting a cobweb scarf from gorgeous lace knitting wool.
Anne was working on her Fowl Mood, chook rug and Chris continued with her oriental rug.
Leanne played around with her extreme colouring in book and was our official photographer for the day. 
After a most delicious lunch we did some sharing and Joy shared her lovely drawings, which included a Celtic Cross, which obviously lead her to teach us all how to draw Celtic knots. Well, this certainly had Anne and yours truly in knots. Joy assurde us that it was easy...well...maybe for you Joy, not for me. But really, after a while we got the hang of it and we all agreed that they would serve beautifully as a border in a rug

Because of the heat of the day and the danger of bushfires, we broke up a little earlier than usual.







We hope you will join us in January, and let's hook a rug together.


In the meantime have a happy and healthy New Year from the Yarra Valley Rug makers.

Next meeting of the Yarra Valley Rug makers

The next and last meeting for the year will be held on Saturday, 19th December at Loch.

Please bring a plate to share for our Christmas breakup. 

All welcome. 

Oh come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord

November meeting of the Yarra Valley rug Makers

As yours truly has sadly misplaced the photos on her tablet, the Blog is short and sweet this month, so I hope to have more information next month and yes we will be meeting just before Christmas, on 19th December in Loch.


Joy's worms for her staircase rugs and Chris hiding behind the staircase rug

Anne Marie starting a new geometric

Robyne in a thoughtful mood and Joy working on her rug

Next meeting of the Yarra Valley Rug Makers

HELLO FRIENDS OF THE YARRA VALLEY RUG MAKERS

OUR NEXT MEETING WILL BE HELD NEXT SATURDAY, 14TH NOVEMBER,

AT ANNE'S HOME IN WARRANDYTE.

ALL WELCOME

The Chaise Rug

The rug is 220 x 112cm. Backing fabric is nylon (I think). I 100% prefer to use linen, but couldn’t get it wide enough. I don’t really like working on this stuff as it splits a bit and it feels plasticky. The hooking is wool.

Much as I love hooking with silks etc., it’ll use tons of fabric and I don’t have it. I do, however, have heaps of old blankets and plenty of dye.
The drawing is roughly based on the Uzbekistan style of textile. I just love Central Asian textile designs, particularly Uzbeki, with their organic, hand-drawn, flowing motifs and pointiness. They are embroidered but lend themselves to hooking.
I made one already, which looked good in front of the beautiful old chaise (and rubbish in its intended position), so decided to do this new biggie and the first can go somewhere else. The chaise is covered in deep cerulean blue French (hand-woven) brocade, the absolute centre-piece in the house, so any rug needs to be a bit glowing and a bit subtle, hence the warm grey background. It deserves a major chunk of my time!
In the central, large polka-dot area, The big orangey-yellow dots are raised, Waldoboro style, which should look good as seen from an angle. That bit will be under the middle of the chaise.

Melbourne Stitches and Craft Show 2015

Phew, what a busy but fruitful few days it was.

Wednesday was setup day for Anne and myself [Chris]. Thankfully we were able to drive our cars in right next to the entrance, but as soon as we had everything inside, we needed to shift our cars into the parking lot to make room for the next round of people coming in. Having forgotten the compulsory iridescent coloured safety clothing we were able to borrow some from the administration desk. One size fits all obviously. :)
Every day was busy from morning to evening, with people in awe of this beautiful craft that they had never heard of, as they oohed and aahed at the rugs on display. However to some people it was a craft their grandmothers partook in as they- then children, had the job of cutting strips for the proggy rugs. At the time, the rugs were not appreciated, they were just practical, utilitarian items made of rags for the floor, not to be kept once their usefulness had passed.

Robyne's beautiful self designed new project

One lady shared that that her father made many hooky rugs which was taught to him while in the navy during their leisure time. It no doubt relaxed them as it took their minds off the dangerous situations they sometimes found themselves in. They pulled one loop after another, while at the same time stimulating their creative minds.
While another woman listened to this story, she shared that she had one of her father's unfinished rugs hidden in a cupboard for many years. She had taken it out periodically, only to put it back, not knowing what to do with it. The light bulb came on as she listened to our ladies explain and demonstrate to her the technique of rug hooking. She may just take it out one more time, this time to complete what her father started. What a treasure it would be for her, to have her father's rug hanging on her wall, started by him, finished by herself. It will become her 'Love Rug'.

I was able to share with people my Mission Fundraiser, Rug Hooking Workshops, being held in Loch and there was quite some interest in my project, with a neighbourhood house asking whether I would come and do a workshop with them. Off course I said...'yes please' :)
One beautiful young fibre artist, cum spinner/ weaver came all the way from Bairnsdale. She had a go at pulling loops and was a natural. Maybe we will see one of her rugs right here on display at the Stitches and Craft Show.

Last day Sunday, packing up, until...who knows when.

Robyne's Proggy Rug No.1

Using the Kaitag Rug/Embroidery as inspiration, I've drawn this onto hessian for my clippy rug. I have to think it through a lot yet, as it takes an enormous amount of cloth to complete. I want to use Grandma's curtains, which are peacock blues and very precious. No wasting... once it's cut, it's no good for anything else.
Of course, the patterning is 'fuzzed' with clippy's, as opposed to hooked rugs, so there's no point having a lot of detail. Just broad patterning.
I intend to outline the pattern in taupe/creams and then use reds, deep pinks, turquoise/peacock's and oranges. Very rich colours.

The rug below is another example of the type. I like the little bits of red. It's conducive to the fact that you run out of colours and may need to add bits of whatever you have at hand.

October meeting of the Yarra Valley Rugmakers

Hi all would be rug makers and old time rug makers.

This is just to let you know that instead of the second Saturday of the month as per usual, our meeting will be held on the third Saturday- 17th October, 10AM at Anne's in Warrandyte.

We hope to hear all about Anne's adventures of the Triennual meeting of TIGHR conference in Victoria, Canada.

Also, just a gentle reminder that we all need to bring along our rugs, wool, and whatever you have for display at the Stitches and Craft show in Caulfield on October 22nd to 25th, from 10AM to 4.30 PM.

 Click HERE if you would like to have a little look.

The Yarra Valley Rugmakers will be representing the Australian Rug Makers Guild at the Stitches and Craft Show and promoting the craft of rug making in Victoria

You can find them HERE

September meeting of the Yarra Valley Rug Makers

Well, we certainly chose a most magnificent day to hold our meeting in Loch. It was sunny, with a light breeze and we were able to have the doors wide open in the rug room.

One of our biggest meetings yet, we had nine ladies present on the day, with three new ladies and Jenny's daugher who used the driving time to Loch to get her hours up in preparation for her driver's licence. It was lovely to have Esther with us.Welcome to the Yarra Valley Rug makers Jane, Anne Marie and Christine [not yours truly] and Esther. :)

With the Stitches and Craft show coming up at the Caulfield race course from 22nd to 25th October we had things to talk about; what to ring, volunteers to organize, rugs for display and so on. Click HERE if you want to find out more about the show

Our new member Anne Marie was working on a lovely proggy, while Jane started a small rug of a bird and Christine completing the autumn leaf started at the workshop with Chris.

These ladies certainly catch on quickly. :)
It was great to see Robyne again after some time being absent. She showed us her newest rug designed by herself, which she is hooking on a synthetic backing from Bec Anderson. It is going to be a real show stopper this rug.
 

Anne was working on her Gene Shepherd, Fowl Mood while Jen continued her Tightrope to the sun rug.

I, Chris seemed to be running around making coffees as we were a little limited in space for the nine of us and it was easier this way. I worked my her oriental rug for about half an hours out of the day I think. But that's OK :)
I also helped Jane get started on her first rug. Some of our women who had not been at the last meeting had a wonderful time going through our bags of woolen fabric donated by Judy from Strath Matters. We have decided that rather than divide it up, it will be there for anyone who needs wool for a particular project to take what they need.
Sandra is coming to the end of her first rug of Shaun the sheep. Looking great Sandra.

Sorry about the messy Blog today. It won't publish how I have arranged it in the draft. Hhhhh

September meeting of the Yarra Valley Rug Makers

Hi Folks

The next meeting of the Yarra Valley Rugmakers will be held at Chris' home in the beautiful town of Loch on Saturday 12th September. New members always welcome. 

If rug making interests you and you would like to have a go, you can contact us on contact form. 

Beautiful Rug Hooks and proggers made in Ireland.

I have available:
6mm short curved hooks with either ball or pear handle at $28.00 each
8mm short shank straight hooks for primitive hooking with ball or pear handles at $26.00 each
Wooden proggers at $11.00 each.
Postage added.

These beautiful hooks are hand made in Ireland from brass, with a beautiful satin finish yew wood handle, for a lovely smooth feel.
For orders, you can contact Chris via the contact form on this Blog.
If you are receiving this blog by email HERE is the link to the Victorian Rugmakers Blog.

August meeting of the Yarra Valley Rug makers

What a wonderful day we had on Saturday. Even though there were only three of the original group present, we enjoyed the presence of three new ladies, ready to learn all there is to know about the addictive art of Rug Making.

Joy, explaining the use of colour to eager Jane

Anne Marie, comes from a spinning background and was more than happy to show Chris how to use her borrowed from Joy spinning wheel.
Jane joined us from Mooroolbark and came 
along with Joy, who picked her up along the way. Slow and steady was Jane but this woman is persistent to say the least and we expect her to be up and hooking her kit which she plans to purchase before the next meeting.

Kerry  came all the way from Mornington on the peninsula. Kerry met some of our ladies at the Westernport Craft Fair and had been wanting to join us for some time. She was already working on a proggy rug of her own and doing very well too.
With three new students to teach Anne and I seemed to be running around most of the time and didn't get much time for hooking. Joy seemed to be able to fit in both teaching and hooking, like the clever woman she is. Time is short for a lot of our ladies and hooking time precious.
One of the highlights was unpacking all the gorgeous wool which finally made it's way from Strathalbyn to the YVRMs. What a feast this was. We are all indeed very grateful to Judy for thinking of us ladies. The wool will certainly be put to good use. A great big thank you to Judy from each of us.

As from next month [provided they have arrived all the way from Ireland by then] Chris will be selling hooks of all kinds. Straight short hooks, curved hooks, 6mm and 8mm, ball handles and pear shaped handles as well as wooden proggers. You can contact me via the contact form on the Victorian Rugmakers Blog HERE
Photos will be added to this post as soon as the hooks have arrived.
Anne still found a few minutes to work on her 'Fowl Mood' rug, which has been hiding away for a while. Well, we had a busy but thoroughly enjoyable day once again. We hope to have more ladies join us next month at Chris' home in Loch. Cheers for now. :)

August meeting of the Yarra Valley Rug Makers

THE NEXT MEETING OF THE YARRA VALLEY RUG MAKERS WILL BE HELD ON SATURDAY 15TH AUGUST  AT ANNE'S HOME IN WARRANDYTE

ALL WELCOME. :)

.

My last grandchild portrait

Phew, my last grandchild portrait, Milly is finished apart from a little tweaking and binding. It will be nice to continue on my oriental rug and that one will only take me a couple of years to finish!!!

Hooking for Missions

 Learn how to make beautiful, unique rugs, from recycled fabrics, while supporting missionaries and children in Southern Asia and Uganda?

100% of proceeds donated to missions.

Book into a half or full day workshop with Chris at Loch in beautiful Sth Gippsland. No prior skills required but fun and fellowship guaranteed.

Half day and full day workshops offered.

Tools available to borrow for the day, or purchase.

Please show your interest by using the contact form on the right of the Victorianrugmakers Blog page, click  HERE to be directed if you are receiving this blog by email..

A bitterly cold day in Warrandyte

Brrrr it was cold and wet, but cosy and warm was the temperature and fellowship in Anne's home in Warrandyte. 

There were five of us yesterday as we met to hook rugs, chat, eat, drink hot drinks and just catch up with news.
But we miss one of our original members, Robyne. We miss your jolly company Robyne. Just know that we love you and we hope you come back soon. However her family must come first. 
Rug hooking is quality time for most of us as we relax and do what we love to do. The world is a busy place and taking time out to meet with like-minded people is a treat. For some of us, this is the only time we get to work on our rugs, but that's OK, that's what makes it special. This is the time to smell the roses in our busy lives.
Anne's santa rug is now ready to hang on the wall this Christmas. Her santa is a beautiful contrast with her choice of antique black for the background. She is now on a run to finish all those unfinished items she has sitting in the cupboard, which were forgotten for a time. 
Jen's rug is also a picture of contrasting colours, her beautiful yellow/golden sun in a brilliant blue sky. Joy continued work on the first tread of her five step staircase. Will she put it to use as soon as the first one is finished or will she wait until all are completed? 
Sandra, was busy finishing off Shaun the Sheep with a gorgeous brilliant orange border. It sets little Shaun off beautifully Sandra.

 












 
 I- Chris, am now working on the background of my portrait rug, grandchild number six- Milly. I will be glad when they have all been completed. I am looking for a change.
As usual, the day went too quick, but we lasted till 4PM, when we dragged ourselves away from our rugs and each other, satisfied and ready to return to our daily toil. Cheers.

Anne's magnificent rooster- 'Fowl Mood'

The back of Anne's punch hook rug