~Merrye Summer Thyme Has Finally Arrived~

Merry Day To You.  Tis a glorious one here in Vermont as the birds flutter about, the winds gust merrily from tree to tree and a flutter of merrye young birds dance to and fro.  Goodness, what a glorious and beautiful time of year.

I do so hope this greeting finds you well and enjoying these first few, lovely days of summer to the fullest.  Life is, as ever, busy here in Vermont as we tend & plant, gather & create in our usual Spring & Summer fashion.  I've been busy in the studio improving my rug hooking and am delighted to tell you that I have two new designs finished and made into patterns.  The first is my Olde New England Hen design that you will see in the column to your right.  I am SO pleased with how she turned out. You will also see in the column to the right, two other new design that are now available on my website.  :~).

....My second hooked design is shown in the photo at the top of this post entitled Olde New England Keepsake Box.  It will be available as a RUG HOOKING Workshop & Gathering, here in our home, on October 5th, 2019.  Registration is now open and there are only SIX spots available, so if you are interested, please sign up as soon as you can.  The workshop will run in the same manner as my Punch Needle workshops have always run...goode food, goode friends, a GOODE time :).    I originally did not plan on holding workshops this year, however, in the end, I just could not stick with that plan!  The workshops are a lot of work, but I adore holding them and hosting all of you, here in our home.  Especially during such a wonderful time of year.  I am also excited to have my deare friend, and experienced rug hooker, Connie Fletcher of Seven Gables Designs joining me for this workshop.  She will be here just in case you have any questions, regarding rug hooking, that may be out of my depth as a newbie to this glorious art.  And, of course, my sister-in-law, helper extraordinaire and deare friend Stephanie, will also be here.

...I will also be holding a punch needle workshop this year as well.  I will have photos of the design asap.  The workshop will be held on Saturday, November 9th, 2019 and will also run in our usual manner.  I am very excited about this project!   It will be in conjunction with my punch needle online video course :).  Details soon!!!

...Let's see....what else. Oh, I am still in the process of listing my designs under my rug hooking category on my website. I know it seems like it is taking me forever, however, size is very important when it comes to creating a  rug hooking design, therefore, I want to make sure I test sizes, etc. before I commit to them, which takes time.  Slowly, but surely, I am getting it done.

...I have several punch needle designs, from past magazine submissions and books, that I am getting ready to list on my website.  I am hoping I can start that today if time allows.  Goodness, that is a bombshell of a statement..if time allows..IMAGINE :~).  Anyway..IT IS ON my ever growing TO DO/MUST DO list!!!

Okay, I do believe that is all the news and information I wanted to pass on to you today.  Thank you all so much for allowing me to pop in and visit with you for a few minutes today.  If you have any questions, just shoot me a message.

Until next time ~ wishing you JOY, Doreen

The Struggle......IS OVER

Goode day my lovely friends.  I hope this message finds you well and seeing some lovely signs of Spring in the place you call home.  Though we are waking to a fresh inch of snow on the ground, Spring is gracefully making herself known.  The Robins have returned & are hopping around the yard, dodging the snow & singing despite it.  My woodchuck friend has come out of hibernation and, just yesterday, I saw her on the edge of the lawn munching on tender roots.  When I stepped out, onto the deck, she scurried to her home, which is under a large boulder in our stone wall, just to the right of the apple tree.  I left her a fresh Pink Lady Apple for a treat :).  I will confess, I just love her and leave her treats from Spring till early Winter, when she retires to hibernation. Last year she had two babies and it seems as though they have made their home on the other end of the stone wall!!!

Anyway, enough about my tenderness toward the wild creatures that call this place home...I popped in today to chat about Rug Hooking and my STRUGGLE which has finally come to an end :)

FOR THE LONGEST time.....I could not manage to feel comfortable with myself AS a rug hooker.  I have TRIED to hook, for a couple of years now, and never could seem to make it "click".   Then, last year in Belfast Maine, when I was invited to speak & vend at the 207 Creative event, I met my kindred spirit...Connie Fletcher of Seven Gables Designs.  Connie and I just clicked!!!  I will share with you that when I decided to accept their invitation to Maine, something I struggled with because the possibility of speaking in front of 100 people IS NOT my idea of a good time,  I told my sister-in-law Stephanie, "As scary as I find this, I know I have to go because The Universe is telling me... these are my people"  AND...you know what, they were/are!!!  We all had such a great time in Belfast, dinners out, sightseeing, hooking and chatting.  It was like Connie, Roberta, Steph and I had been friends for years!!!  Since that trip Connie and I have grown even closer and share a wonderful friendship. 

 Two weeks ago, Stephanie and I headed out, insanely as it turns out,  as it was in the middle of a pretty bad Spring snow storm.  Silly us, we actually thought we would drive out of it!!! NO SUCH LUCK as, the further we went, the worse it got!

 Have you ever driven in the white mountains of New Hampshire during a snow storm??? I don't recommend it! Poor Connie drove alone, from Maine, in that storm and wasn't able to drive over 35 mph the entire trip!!!  But alas..we all made it and found ourselves at Roberta's beautiful snowy log cabin by 5:30 where we promptly unloaded the cars and got into our comfy pj's and enjoyed a very YUMMY Chicken stew & crusty bread!!!

Oh what a wonderfully perfect weekend we all had....goode food, goode friends, LOT OF LAUGHS and all the ins & outs of rug hooking!!!  

We dyed wool, we transferred patterns, we HOOKED!!

AND ….I came away from it finally feeling like a REAL RUG HOOKER.  I am FINALLY comfortable with it!  THOUGH I still throw questions out to Connie every couple of days....it's the little things and I feel like I can move on from here and...DO WELL :).   Oh the gift of goode friends!!!   I can't wait for August, when we get together again for another weekend of Hooking Merriment :).

NOW....I am moving toward having all my patterns, on linen, and available ON MY WEBSITE just as soon as I possibly can.  

Be patient with me ~ If there's a pattern you would like before I have it listed on the website, just shoot me an email; Doreen@vermontharvestfolkart.com :)

Until next time ~ Wishing you JoY, Doreen