Monday, September 10, 2012

Sauder Village, Part 2

Here is the rest of my belated photos from Rug Hooking Week at Sauder Village last month.  I wish I had pictures of all of the rugs, they were so diverse and interesting.


Since Bee Line is located in the Quad Cities, home of John Deere Corporate Headquarters, I had to get a picture of this lovely rug. I also enjoyed the description of the rug, hooked by Elizabeth Marino.


There was a definite animal presence at Sauder this year, with Eye See You, and rugs like this majestic "Jonathan the Lion", designed and hooked by April deConick:


Even though I got a terrible picture of it, this rug made me laugh.  Sadly, I didn't get the name of the designer or hooker:

This was a really interesting piece - it was a face hooked on a tree trunk.  Here is the whole piece:


And here is a close-up of the face:



Another piece that I enjoyed the accompanying card:



This was really interesting, and the photo does not do the colors justice at all.  It's another piece by April deConick, called "Palette Constellation Rug".


Here is a close-up of a few of the blocks:



 Here are two very different woman - "Geisha With Lantern", designed by Marty Noble and hooked by Betty Stanley:


And the "Victorian Girl", a freestanding piece, designed and hooked by Barbara Branch:



I'm a big fan of Marimekko fabrics and prints, which usually have large patterns in big colors, so all of these rugs appealed to me on that level - the first three are by Maddy Fraioli:

And this last one is called "Spring Has Sprung", hooked by Elizabeth Costa and designed by Bea Brock.

Last, but not least, is "Lady Liberty Takes Gold" by April deConick:



Lots of variety, lots of color, and loads of inspiration!  This is what makes Rug Hooking Week at Sauder so great!

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Sauder Village Recap

I'm finally caught up with the paperwork from Sauder Village, so now it's time to post pictures of the rugs.  And Oh, were there a lot of terrific rugs!  Let's get to it!

First, let me say that the amazing Katie Lane from Townsend was unable to make it to Sauder this year, there were some family commitments she had to meet.  I missed you Katie!  Ruth, our Purchasing Manager at Bee Line, came with me instead.  Of course, she left as a hooker.  Ruth bought a kit from Tomorrow's Heirlooms and started hooking.  I warned her it would happen.

Hi Ruth!

I always love being able to meet customers at Sauder - it's great to be able to put a face with a name, and I have a LOT of names.  Shari and I talk to all kinds of people during the year, so when I meet people at the show it's usually a hug-fest.


Aww!  It's Linda Keller from Grant Street Woolworks!  One of our terrific distributors.

And then, there were rugs.  Lots and lots of rugs.


Sometimes I just love the cards with the stories behind the rug on them, like the one for this fox:



Here's another favorite, hooked by Susan Feller of Ruckman Mill Farm - another one of our distributors.




This dog. "Buddy" was hooked by Leslie Cuthbertson and designed by Jon Ciemiwicz from a picture Leslie gave him.


I loved the colors of this beautiful sampler-style piece. called "Heartland Samper".  It was designed by Cactus Needle and hooked by Susan Rand.

This whimsical fortune teller, called "Future Not in the Stars", was designed and hooked by Kathleen R. Helland-Carini.


A whole series of Hippos throughout the year, here is the information:




And of course, the amazing "Eye See You 2", The Big 'Un.  This is from the original rug designed and hooked by Judy Carter, and drawn by the amazing artist, Lenny Feenan (www.theburningartist.com), but then each square was individually hooked by different instructors to make it four times the size of the original.  Love the whole thing, from the concept to the hooking.  What an accomplishment for everyone involved!

My photo feature won't let me download any more pictures, so I'll put the rest of them up this week.

Happy Hooking!
Julie