End of Edmonton trip and rug hookers weekend

During the second week in Edmonton the wind came from the North and bought the smoke from the forest fires. This photo was taken at 11am. A very dark, slightly yellow sky and the air smelled of smoke.

By 3pm it had settled like a fog on the city and you could taste the wood smoke in the air. We closed all the windows and ran the air conditioning. Avery's soccer game was cancelled and we just holed up in the house for 2 days. Then the wind shifted and everything was normal again.

On my last night we had dinner at Match, the restaurant that Mike manages.

It was good food, we watched the Raptors on multiple screens and the kids feel perfectly at home there, spoiled by all the waitresses.

This last weekend was the annual spring rug hooking weekend. Peggy wasn't able to make it but Pat, Pam, Britt, Sue, Heather and Lynn all did.

Lynn, Heather and Britt were there on Friday. We are so bad at selfies! The others arrived on Saturday.

I discovered that my camera has a "sunset" setting. This is what it took.

This is what it actually looked like.

Britt was working on a set of comic book words for her son,

a water and sky scene

and knitting socks.

Pam was knitting sheep, once she managed to get the pattern to download (it was touch and go - lots of touching and not much go)

Sue was working on her 50th Anniversary piece, a stained glass window

from the Royal Hotel in Paris, which has now been demolished to make room for condos.

Heather was making mug mats for Christmas in Paris. Pat was knitting a delicate scarf and Lynn was hooking a geometric. I didn't get pictures of either.

They gave me a studio sign which I have since hung over the chair where I usually hook.

I worked on a piece that I just designed for the Sheep Tricks workshop I am teaching in September. Tentative title is Rug Hookers Daydream.

Pat had been doing some spring cleaning of her hooking stash and, among other things, bought down some of Nancy Beaton's unfinished pieces.

I hung them out on the line to try and get rid of the musty smell that old burlap gets.

I am really pushing to get Rug Hookers Daydream finished.