The Rest of Green Mountain

Here are the rest of the photos of some of the amazing rugs I saw at the Shelburne Museum in Vermont.  There isn't enough room on my camera to get  all of them on here, so know that the pics below are just a representation of the rugs at the show.

This was part of a larger rug, hooked almost like a patchwork quilt.  I love this "patch", to Hans Jensen.  I believe her name is Dorothy Jensen, but I was so besotted by the love letter that I forgot to take a picture of her name!

I have such a thing for dogs, and then a friend has a Bernese Mountain Dog, so I love this rug.  This is called "Father and Son", hooked and designed by Barbie Beck-Wilczek.

This is called "Feather Hearth Rug", hooked and designed by Kathleen Harwood.  She says the design is inspired by the classic feather quilting pattern used on antique American quilts.

I thought this was a tranquil scene - don't you just want to be there?  This is hooked and designed by Chris Daley of Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

This rug is really interesting in that it has a sculpted element in the blackbird.  It's called "My Favorite Season" and was designed by Joe Luszcz, hooked by Diane Luszcz.   Diane noted that the felted acorns were made by her friend Lynn.

The name on this rug originally caught my eye because we had just sent an order to her the week before the show, but the rug is really outstanding.  It's called "Lincoln Commemorative", and was hooked and designed by Ivi Nelson Collier.  It was a 2009 People's Choice rug, and it's easy to see why.  Not only does it have excellent lettering, which I have tried and know to be tough, but it has that amazing picture of Lincoln hookedin almost as a watermark.  Ivi noted on her card that she likes how "Lincoln stands behind his words." 

More pictures on Friday! 

More From Green Mountain

The rugs at Green Mountain were amazing.  As a Rookie Hooker, I have to say that at times I am completely blown away by rugs, and at other times I can get a little intimidated.  As I tell my husband, rug hooking is like 3-D chess - the more you learn, the more you realize you need to learn, and a lot of thought goes into every move.  When Bee Line first acquired the Townsend line, we had a lot of lovely phone calls of encouragement from the rug hooking community.  One call in particular stands out to me yet today, and at the time I wrote down what the caller said and have it taped to my desk.  A woman named Claire called and was talking about our taking over the Townsend cutting equipment, and I said that we know we have big shoes to fill, and here is what Claire told me:

"Comparison is the theif of joy."

Isn't that so true?  And it applies to many things.  So when I feel intimidated by some of the amazing work out there and think, "I'll never be able to make something like that", I think of Claire and her simple but true statement.

With that in mind, here are some of the amazing sights I enjoyed at the Shelburne Museum.

Doesn't it look like Santa's beard?

LeAnn Hodgson of Camp Wool,

one of our terrific distributors, who had an

amazing booth right across from me.

Our booth - not nearly as pretty as LeAnn's!

Marion Brown, who coordinated the vendors and did a terrific job, accepting our thanks!

Double Paisley by Sharon Townsend - look at those cut-outs!

The view driving into the museum...a rug waiting to happen.

Walking around the front corner....

Lisbon Tiles by Cyney Passavant.

Espalier Pear, hooked by Kathleen Bonilla, designed by Beverly Conway.

I love this bluebird!

Lobster Fantasy, designed and hooked by Melina White.

Crocodile Mola by Norma Batastini - it was so colorful!

Runway Flowers, designed by Davey Degraff, hooked by Janice McKnight.

Since I don't want to crash anyone's computer with too many photos, I'll post the rest of them this week.

Green at Green Mountain

Hello all!

I'm lucky enough to be at "Hooked in the Mountains", the Green Mountian Rug Hooking Guild show in Shelburne, Vermont.  The show is in a stunningly beautiful round barn:

Vermont is beautiful, and lives up to all of the cliches about the Green Mountain State - quaint, bucolic, charming.  The barn has three floors, and this week the top and second floors are full of rugs, and the lowest level is full of vendors.  Here is the second floor before the rugs for the show were installed:

This is the basement before the vendors came in:

The only thing prettier than the scenery and the museum are the rugs inside.  The lovely Katie Lane opened the show for Bee Line - Townsend, and I arrived on Tuesday night after some...er...interesting air travel.  We've had a number of cutters adopted at the show, so more happy hookers in the world!

Tomorrow I'm going to get lots of pictures to post on the blog.  The barn is gorgeous and the people here are amazing!