Exhibition of Hand Hooked and Prodded Rugs at Coal Creek, Korumburra

Robyne, colour planning her proggy

Robyne and Chris hard at the frames

We had a wonderful exhibition of our hand hooked and prodded rugs for two weeks at Coal Creek out in the beautiful countryside of South Eastern Victoria, which finished on Sunday.

A vintage car rally was held at the venue last Sunday, which brought a lot of wives- and some husbands into the gallery for a look see. "Ooh, what is this beautiful- vintage- craft that we have never seen before." Thus were the comments. Many stayed around to watch our ladies prod and hook away at their rugs. They were fascinated by the process and were confused by the difference in latchet 
hook and hooked rugs- as is often the case. Janet the Coal Creek resident wool spinning lady was so excited to see our rugs and had wanted to make one since she was six years old. She was so  happy to see the rugs and talked to Anne and Robyne for a long time. She wanted to make a start immediately so she came back the following day and bought a frame, hooks and Miriam’s book. I hope we get to see her at some of the meetings. Such a nice lady. Hopefully we have spread the news a little further this fortnight.

From left: Chris, Anne and Joy

A series of six portrait rugs of Chris' grandchildren

Anne, working on her red poppy proggy rug

Chris' rug Tehran, which she has been working on for the last 20 months. Not being happy with the thinnish line of motives running north south, she needed some help and Joy came to the party with very helpful suggestions. You know when you are working on a rug, or anything really, and you come to a halt, not really knowing where to turn next and nothing comes to mind? That's when it is helpful for others to step in. They can look at your rug with an unbiased view. The result is at the right. Instead of hooking the scrolls in the darker cream as I have done most of the scrolls, I have incorporated part of that scroll into the small motive that was there previously. I am much happier with this result.

My Neck and Back Are Sore, But....

I've spent the last two days (Thur/Fri) at the Melbourne Show, demonstrating mostly rug making (proddy). And the KIDS! They're gorgeous! I fell properly in love about a dozen times, with these little blossoms taking to proddy-rugging like earnest, determined, clever, darling little clever people... I know I said clever twice, but there it is. Usually their Mums were ready to go before they were and I nearly ran after one little petal with presents and adoption papers.
Could be I like orange, I notice...

We don't often go places with kiddies... the craft shows etc. are all grown-ups, pretty well. Now, I'm convinced it's the way to go and might look into something? Schools? Hmm... Steiner Schools? Waddya think? Any ideas?
I mean, I remembered how to knit because of childhood playing. And I remembered how to fix knitting, having never done it before, because of seeing Grandma do it and being fascinated, so... A new generation of rugmakers (since the adults are taking their time jumping on board) (Although, there were loads of interested people really and an invite to a CWA group down Werribee way)...

This is when I first set up, before people. When they arrived I didn't get away unless Ramona or Liz or Mandy or Annette came to boss me into a break (thanks for that guys, I didn't want to be impolite and found it hard to go). There were kids at the rug almost the whole time, and adults of course. People love to share their stories and I like to hear them. Win/win. 

Below is a nice story. I always buy one of these from the show. I have some oldies too, and so it was nice to see their history.

Thanks Ramona for inviting me. It gives me a real buzz to evangelize the crafts. I also got quite a bit done!

New style rug hooks from RugHooksForMissions on Etsy

RugHooksForMissions has two new styles of pencil hooks available for those who work with them.
You will find the details and price HERE
or HERE

 

Hi Everyone

Our next meeting will be held in the Coal Creek gallery at Korumburra, on Saturday 24th September.

We hope to see as many people as possible there. It is well worth a visit, to see the many beautiful rugs on display until Sunday. 

At the same time, if you haven't already, you get to meet the members of the Yarra Valley Rug Makers group.  See you there. :)