Happy New Year!

A very belated Happy New Year to everyone out there!

It's been a while since I posted on The Rookie Hooker, mainly because I haven't had much time for hooking!  We installed the rug hooking exhibit in the Quad Cities Airport in December, which was wonderful:

We filled many holiday orders for the Bee Line Townsend Cutting Machine and/or cassettes:

We shipped a number of our 14" Orbiting Floor Frames:

We announced our new prices for 2013, which brought a whole lot of orders in at the end of 2012, and we started implementing a name change.  Why are we changing our name, you might ask?  When we bought the rug hooking equipment line from Townsend Industries, we understood that rug hookers everywhere knew the product as "the Townsend Cutter".  Part of our long-term plan is to make the rug hooking part of the business fully integrated with the Bee Line Company, and to become a Bee Line product.

You'll start seeing us making the change to Bee Line Art Tools. It's the same product, different name, but it gives us the opportunity to perhaps start thinking about how we can serve other artists in the future.  Here is the new logo you'll see on our products and materials:

Now that the business stuff is getting caught up, it's time to hook! I have a date with my latest rug, "Grandma's Flower Garden", for the Oscars.  Hopefully that night will give me lots of hooking time, and I can kick start my new rug to keep the ball rolling.

Hope you are all finding time to work on your winter projects, and Happy New Year and Happy Hooking to you!

Julie

Price Increase in 2013

Hello Fiber Arts Friends!

As we all know, the cost of materials and production continues to climb, and therefore the cost of making our product has increased.  I'm posting this message to inform you of a price increase on our product starting January 1, 2013. 

The new prices will take effect starting January 1, 2013.  Any order placed before Dec. 31, 2012, will be charged current prices.  We are experiencing increased sales volume due to the holiday season, which means there will be times when we are temporarily out of stock on some items.  Complete orders will ship as we get product, and current prices will be honored on any orders placed before Dec. 31, 2012, regardless of ship date.  Check with yourlocal Bee Line distributor first, as many of our distributors have product on hand for shipping.

Below are the 2013 Prices.  Please let us know if you have any questions, and thank you for your continued support.

Cutter Body with one standard cassette will be $540
Cutter Body with one long cassette will be $609
Standard Cassettes will be $156
Long Cassettes will be $225
Tote Tables will be $190
Cutter Caddy will be $60
Dye Spoons will stay at $79
14” Orbiting Frame will stay at $795
Cassette Case will stay at $30

We’re approaching our second year in the rug hooking equipment business.  Part of our plan with Townsend Industries was to eventually drop the Townsend name, so you will start to see some changes in our materials to reflect our new name, Bee Line Art Tools.  This will be a gradual conversion, but we anticipate being fully switched over to Bee Line Art Tools in 2013.

Thanks, and Happy Holidays to you and yours!

Bee Line Art Tools

2700 62^nd St. Ct., P.O. Box 130 – Bettendorf, IA  52722 – (866)218-1590 – Fax (563)322-6517 –  www.beeline-townsend.com 

Rug Hooking Exhibit at the Airport

For the past month, I've been working with regional rug hookers and the Quad City Arts to put together an exhibit of rug hooking and wood turning.  We're fortunate in the Quad Cities to have a public space, at the Quad City Airport, that is managed by an art organization, Quad City Arts. A few months ago, I started collaborating with Dawn from QC Arts to discuss having a fiber arts show in the airport space. Dawn had also been in contact with the local organization of wood turners, and a partnership was born.

I was able to get some amazing rugs from regional rug hookers, including Sharon Townsend, Nola Heidbreder, Jan Pierce, Annette Boland, Lori Rokusek, Julia Bohl, Beth Anne Smiley, Ella Davison, and the lovely Katie Lane. 

Wool Kaleidoscope from Nola Heidbreder, hooked by Nola and designed by Cactus Needle.

Angel, hooked by Lori Rokusek, designed by DiFranza. Note the halo on the angel is repeated in the wood vessels.

Side view inside the glass enclosure, includes Beth Anne Smiley's "1885 Horses" at the top left, Julia Bohl's "Woodland Deer" in the middle, and Julia's "Ligonier Duo" on the floor.  All three of these rugs were designed by Barbara Carroll of the Woolley Fox.

Here is Jan Pierce's "Frog" pillow, designed by Cathy Morton Mulvaine - this photo doesn't do it any justice at all. The frog is bumpy, and multi-colored and multi-dimensional.  The wool in the dragonfly wings is metallic and gives the impression of iridescence. 

Sharon Townsend's "Joy: A Puzzle in 15 Pieces" - too much window glare from the glass again, but this is truly a rug hooked in 15 pieces, and jigsawed together.  The colors are fantastic.

Ella Davison's "Birds and Berries", designed by Bea Brock, along with a piece I received as a gift from a customer in Canada.

"Santa Fe Crossing", hooked by Beth Anne Smiley of Wheaten Woolens, designed by Barb Carroll of the Woolley Fox.  This rug is HUGE, and is serving as a focal point of sorts for the show.

Here is a table by the wood turners, with a Bee Line cutter on it.  There is a tiny sheep by Lori Rokusek, designed by Diane Kelly, on the table, and my Iowa rug is on the wall (designed by Cactus Needle), and then Lori Rokusek has another piece, "Down on the Farm", designed by Sue Hamer of House of Price, on the floor. Jan Pierce kindly let us use her work-in-progess, which is a gorgeous fox, designed by Jon Ciemiewicz.  It's nice for people who are unfamiliar with hooking to see the pattern drawn on the linen, and then the actual fox popping off of the piece.  The eyes are fantastic.

Another piece by Jan Pierce, called "Starry Harvest", hooked and designed by Jan.  This piece is full of stories - my favorite is about a third of the way up on the left side, only half of Little Miss Muffet shows, with her tuffet and her curds and whey spilled and a big spider hanging out of the tree.  Such a fun rug, and this one is big too.

Katie Lane's "Trout", designed by Keith Kemmer. He looks like he's fresh from the stream!  I was at a couple of shows with Katie while she was hooking this guy, and am so thrilled her husband Ralph gave it up for a couple of months for the show.


On Wednesday, I'll post more photos from the show, including more wood turned pieces.  They dovetailed with the rugs beautifully.

Enjoy!

A Corny Experiment

I finally steamed my Iowa Vintage Postcard Rug, and was all set to start my Grannie's Flower Garden, and then....distraction.

I love how my letters in the Iowa rug look like corn kernels. They are a little uneven, with different hues, but in rows.  I thought a little bit more about that corn, and decided to try an experiment.

(Sorry for the darkness of this photo, my phone doesn't have a flash.)

I have a wool that is a maize color with a light charcoal gray box print in it, so it's a nearly perfect corn color, and the gray gives it that little bit of texture. My plan is to hook a rectangle of this in a Bee Line #4 or #5 width strip, and then turn it into an ear of corn to make an ornament for all of my Iowa friends.  I bought a nice dark green piece of velvet and some pipe cleaners, and I'm going to try to make some corn husks peeling back from the ear, and put a loop in the top from some small gold cord.

This is my first hooking experiment without using a pattern, so I'm freestyling here.  I figure if it doesn't end well, at least I haven't used much wool or linen. We'll see how it goes!

New Rug: Grannie's Flower Garden

What a busy crazy month it's been at Bee Line - Townsend!  We've shipped out EIGHT Trunk Shows in the past three weeks, chock full of wool cutters, cassettes, tote tables, and our new frames, so things are really hopping out there in the hooking world!  That said, it has left me no time to hook. Boo!

Since my Iowa Vintage Postcard rug is done (yay!) and is awaiting steaming, I bought a new pattern from Nola Heidbreder at Sauder Village Rug Hooking Week to start.  It's called Grannie's Flower Garden, a Cactus Needle pattern, and is 19 1/2 x 27.  It's just a charming little pattern, full of bright colors and happy shapes, that is do-able in a shortish period of time so I can feel an enormous sense of accomplishment. 

Once again,  I wish I had a color planner in the office!  The background in the picture seems to be some variations on a dark brown/tobacco color.  I used a beautiful chocolate wool on my Magdelena purse, which I would love to use again, but ran out and I can't remember where I bought it.

Having a blank, unhooked pattern is a bit like having a new crayon box at the beginning of the school year - it's a blank sheet of paper, full of possibilities. 

I looked at the colors on the photo above, and then looked in my wool basket, and started pulling a few things out to see what works.  I'm trying to mime what I see....a punchy color in the  middle to center the piece.  Like colors somewhat equidistant from each other, or anchoring either side.  The same wool in the center of every flower for some consistency.

Hmm.  I like how this has started, but I think I want it to be a little more fun.  Maybe a bright red pomegranate background? I think I'll start hooking the middles in that lovely Dorr green plaid, and the non-red flowers, and see where it takes me.

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!

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