Thursday Live : Colour creativity and rug hooking.

Mar 19, 2021
Angela Davis
Tags: colour planning in Hooked Rugs hooking rugs Inspiration

Thursday Live: A beautiful floral collection, lovely velvets and THE BIG REVEAL!!

Mar 04, 2021
Angela Davis
Tags: hooked rug hooking hooking rugs

Sunday letter... here is what I miss....

Good morning,

I stayed late on Friday night at the studio and hung my rugs up after we had some painting done. Being at the studio on my own reminds me of years ago when the studio was just me a good bit of the time. I knew there was a group of women visiting on Saturday from Halifax and I wanted to get the rugs up. Company was coming.

When I was a child and company was coming my mother would prepare raisin buns, lemon squares and date squares. She would also make sure she had ham and cheese for sandwiches. It was a simple preparation, the same every time. It was always special just the same. It marked a kind of change in the air. To a child it felt as if something magical was about to happen.

In Nova Scotia right now we can gather in small groups. We cannot cross the border to our neighbours in New Brunswick or Prince Edward Island. Our shops and restaurants are open, we are wearing masks, washing hands, and social distancing. Still most of us are staying home and being very careful. And we are missing each other. We are feeling the cold of the winter, the isolation, and we are carrying that around.

At the same time we know that so many people have suffered such great losses through this pandemic that the bit of loneliness we feel is nothing in comparison. I even feel sometimes a little ashamed of being tired of it all, for all my loved ones are good and safe.

Still we feel it. Still we carry this feeling, one that was previously unknown to us and we wait and we hope.

If this pandemic has taught me anything, it has taught me a lot about faith and hope. When things slip out of my control, as so many things do, this is where I turn.

I just want to tell you today that I miss you.

That I'm lonely too.

Yesterday when those women came from Halifax and laid out their projects and gathered wool for their new rugs they breathed some life into our studio. For one of them it was her first visit and when she walked in she happily said, "I made it !". When Cathy, who works with me told me this, I said, " That is why it is so important to be a place for people to go." We have missed being your place to go. We have missed offering people a cup of tea. We have missed our community.

Our oatcakes are wrapped to go. Hospitality is different.

Because of hope and faith I believe that you will get the chance to come to visit when this pandemic is under control. That we'll see our sisters, brothers, grandkids, and friends and share big meals and love each other in a real place. Hospitality will re-emege as something more vital and more important than it was before. We will know the real beauty of gathering people in our homes and sharing food with them. We will appreciate it.

We will know the importance of the word Gather, the beauty of coming together in kindness and love. Perhaps it is love for an art, a craft, an interest, or perhaps it is love for each other. Whatever it is, we will know the value of it.

For now though it is winter here, and as beautiful as it is, there is a frigidity to it that makes many of us long for bare feet in the grass.

It's ok to pine for something beautiful as long as you promise yourself to find the good in the day that is with you.

As long as you know that winter turns to spring, and that winter was made for the makers, and when you make, the world around you softens just a little.

So don't get tired of making because making feeds you and soothes you. There is so much comfort in it.

Thanks for being there,

Deanne

Jan 31, 2021
Angela Davis
Tags: gratitude hooked rug hooking hooking rugs novascotia rug hooking rughooking

Sunday letter..rug hooking offers focus in age of distraction

Hello,

This morning I googled the "age of distraction" and several books, talks and videos comes up. It seems we all know that we are living in a time when we are highly distractable.

Remember a few months ago I told you about my irritating habit of checking my email constantly. I checked it practically every time I saw my phone. It was a way of stepping out of the moment. It was a way of avoidance perhaps, though I am not sure what I was avoiding. Was it avoidance of being alone with myself for a minute or two with nothing to do? Was it avoidance of really listening to others?

Through the jigs and the reels of the last few months I have gotten into a healthier habit of checking my email and answering it 3 or 4 times a day. The thing that I have noticed is that I am much less distracted. And so now I much more aware of what is happening when I do get distracted.

Distraction, however we experience it, transports you from one place to another.

Sometimes we need this and set out to deliberately find it for ourselves. Some distractions are good ones, a friend texts you for a walk or your sister drops in. These are worth it. This for me is the good kind of distraction.

Other times it just pops up in front of us and takes us away from the thing we should or even want to be doing. When this happens to me I find that I sometimes cannot even remember what I was about to do.

Even with my new email rules I remain distractible. Because I made that change I have become more aware of what distraction does. I can observe myself being distracted. I can see it and I feel the results of it. It sometimes leads to stress and lost plans and ideas. Once I realize I was distracted by something, I often no longer remember what I was actually doing. I loose focus. My intentions are set off course.

Focus is probably one of the most important things we can offer our lives, our families, & our work. Certainly rug hooking itself requires deep focus and commitment. It takes time and love and understanding, just like most good things in life. When I put my attention there it makes me happy. It soothes me and leads me back to myself.

I get to choose where I put my attention. Sometimes I am led astray by a bit of glitter or a bump in the road and don't quite know how to get back on the path. When that happens all I have to do is pick up the hook and go to the frame and I'll find myself there waiting for me.

Rug hooking brings us into focus.That is one of the beautiful things it offers. In a time when we can so easily get lost in a sea of distraction, making things is like having a boat in a safe harbour.

I hope you get to make something today.

Thanks for reading,

Deanne

PS. If you want you can take the course only option for the winter online course. It is $99. I am going to add extra videos in the course about how to work from your stash to create the rug. I want to hook the pattern again in a different way anyway. I love the pattern. It is full of opportunity to be creative. So I am going to extend the sale on the course only option! It is a good choice if you have your own stash.