West Virginia - Southern McGown Teacher Training, Day 4

 Thursday, Day 4, is the last day of hooking. On Friday we  pay our bills, get our Workshop reports (the write ups from every course offered during the week) and there is usually an educational presentation. This time it was a presentation on a hooked footstool and another on how to teach on Zoom. Then Jennifer and I got on the road for our return drive. 

Back to Thursday

I took this pattern that was designed to be a bench pad.

It was taught by Jessica Ford

and from her array of wool

I chose to hook the central motif as a Purple Coneflower. It was to be done in a wide cut and this is in a #7. I usually use my bent fine cut hook for every cut but this linen was quite a tight weave and I was struggling. Luckily Jennifer had a wide shank hook that opened the holes nicely, that I was able to use.

 More Fairy Tale Rugs:

Whirlwind the Whistler Carries Away Golden Tress, 1916. Illustrator Frank Cheyne Pape. Hooked by Pam Finnegan.

The Tortoise and the Hare, 1912. Illustrator Arthur Rackham. Hooked by Susan Nash

Rapunzel, 1914. Illustrator Florence Harrison. Hooked by Judy Carter.

 

Marienkind, 1904, Illustrators Heinrich Lefler and Joseph Urban. Hooked by Susan Clarke.

 

Princess Minon Minette rides out to meet Prince Souci, 1913. Illustrator Kay Neilson. Hooked by Karen Cormier.

Rick was visiting Paris (via high spreed train from Brussels) and sent tons of photos of his day there. I told him that Heather and Don were also there and he claimed to have seen them biking past.

Most of these need no identifying caption. He said the lineup to get tickets was too long so he didn't even walk up it.

Military Museum. I have never visited this but Jason said it was very good.

Makes me sad to be reminded of that terrible fire but it will be interesting to see after the rebuild.

Rick said the Egyptian Obelisk was his favorite sight in Paris

but he was also taken by this medieval door.

On ~the other side of the world, Mike, Aimee and the kids are celebrating River's first birthday with Aimee's relatives in Vancouver.

Sunset at the pier where Avery saw "sea monsters". Turned out they were Harbour Seals.

All ready for the party.

West Virginia - Southern McGown Teacher Training, Day 3

 Some of our evenings are full with auctions, a skit, meetings and some are "free" and we can socialize and hook. Personally I am "peopled out" by the end of the day and just like to hook in my room on those free evenings.

Over the covid years some renovations and upgrades were completed. The Assembly Hall is now bigger and the accommodations have had small refrigerators and coffee makers added to each room. Unfortunately that makes the facility more expensive too.

Dead trees

get carved.

Steve Naftal was to teach this class but he tested positive for covid so another teacher stepped in.

Steve is a master dyer and as usual his wool selection was beautiful

It was very difficult to resist but because of the size of my stash I was restrained in my purchases.

After a day of hooking I just have to decide on a background, border and finishing.

 

More of the Fairy Tale Rugs:

The rugs that were completed by hookers in Japan were not sent, but, instead, were professionally photographed and mounted on canvas. Hansel and Gretel Cottage, 1922. Illustrator Kay Nielson. Hooked by Kyoko Nokamura.

The Shipwrecked Man and the Sea 1913. Illustrator Arthur Rackham. Hooked by Michele Wise.

The Russian Princess 1915. Illustrator Charles Robinson. Hooked by Susan Jankowski.

Queen of Hearts 1866. Illustrator Sir John Tenniel. Hooked by Suzie Phipps.

The Frost could not help Admiring Her 1917, Illustrator Arthur A. Dixon. Hooked by Connie Bradley.

And from Europe:

Could be Amsterdam??

West Virginia - Southern McGown Teacher Training, Day 2

 

Cold nights lead to misty mornings

but it burns off by the time we are heading to classes and we have had lovely sunny, fall days.

As I taught yesterday, I had first choice of the classes today and took a Zentangle which had been hooked by Holly Garman but she couldn't make it so the class was taught by Jen Kleinhenz.

I decided to try and hook it in the three Primary Colours - Red, Yellow and Blue. But we will see if I stick with that plan as it progresses. It was a thoroughly enjoyable class and, as usual, everyone interpreted the pattern differently.

 

Mine after the class and an evening of hooking.

Here's a few more of the Fairy Tale rugs:

Cinderella runs from the Ball. Illustrator John Austin 1922, Hooked by Ingrid Hieronimus.

The Princess and the Bear. Illustrator John Bauer 1913, Hooked by Sally Kitchen

The Pomegranate, the Apple Tree and the Bramble. Illustrator E.J. Detmold. Hooked by Jane McGown Flynn.

The meeting of Oberon and Titania , Illustrator Arthur Rackham 1908, Hooked by Juliana Kapusta.

Prince Sobur, 1912. Illustrator Warwick Goble, Hooked by Celeste Bessette.

And from the European traveler:

He's been doing day trips, by train, from Brussels, and I have to admit that I have lost track of where the pictures are from. Could be Ghent, could be Bruges.

Yep, same, one or the other.

I suspect that there may be a fair bit of beer tasting happening.

West Virginia - Southern McGown Teacher Training. Day 1

 Jennifer and I booted down to Ripley in one day. We usually take 2 but she picked me up in Fort Erie at 9am and after one quick stop for lunch and gas we were checking in at 5pm. Up to the dining hall for dinner, back to the room to take in our luggage then back to the assembly hall for a meeting. I was assigned to provide inspirational quotes and had totally forgotten. Luckily I had emailed a copy to the organizers 3 years ago so was still able to read them out. Then Jennifer and I set up my classroom for the next day.

We always eat breakfast in our room, then over to the assembly hall and I read another of the quotes then headed into my classroom to await students.

I was teaching this little pictorial, Summer Bell Pull, and had been instructed to hook and teach about Cumulus Clouds.

7 students was a lovely size. I had some wool that they could buy, that I had bought from Ingrid. They could take pieces from my stash and from Brit's for free and I had also given each student a Walnut Dyed swatch.

On each students table there was a magazine with a pictorial marked. I asked them to consider them and comment on what was done well, what didn't work and to formulate a tip for hooking pictorials from those observations. It was a very interesting discussion with some of the students so "into it" that they critiqued more than one example.

This resulted in a list of tips to add to the handout I had prepared for them.

During the course of the day we talked about the use of textures, sari, pantyhose, velvet, denim and fleece. We talked about different cloud formulations and that observation was key. We talked about Black Walnut dying and this lead to a discussion of other natural dyes that people had tried.

A question about water and reflections resulted in me doing some quick sketches on the white board to illustrate the effect of different wave conditions on reflections and how to use directional hooking to depict them.

Along the way, as usual, I learned some stuff I didn't know.....ripping out hooking from behind, not from the front. Dulling a colour by tea dying it and

Who knew?

I think the class went well, everyone seemed happy and I had enjoyed it. Exhausted however with a full day on my feet and engaged.

The "Fairy Tale Rugs" are being shown here. This was a covid project in which various McGown teachers hooked rugs from the "Golden Age of Illustration" (1850 to 1925) that depicted fairy tales. Most of them are now complete and being shown all over the U.S. I did not take pictures of all of them but will post a few in each blog.

Jack Climbs the Beanstalk, 1911, Illustrator Jessie Wilcox Smith, hooked by friends of Norma Batastini.

Fairy Tale Cottage, 1912, Illustrator F.H Ernsrt Shneidler, hooked by Karen Healey.

The Princess and the Pea, 1906, Illustrator Edmund Duluc, hooked by Sue Minorini.

Alas Falada, that you should hang there, 1907, Illustrator Henry Justice Ford, hooked by Sibyl Osicka.

Cinderella and the birds, 1910, Illustrator Hermann Vogel, hooked by Linda Powell.

Meanwhile in Brussels......

Rick is

sending me

so many

beautiful pictures.

We have been asked not to send out any photos of the week until after it is over so I am creating a blog post each day but will not publish them until the week is over.