For those new to virtual Exhibitions here are simple, illustrated notes, to access the
“Re-imagined” Exhibition until February 2019.
Click this link to read and print the Exhibition Guide.
Link & steps to navigate Gallery – Guide only
Author: RugCrafters australia
Its a Small World – for Rug Hookers
ISSN 2007-001X 3rd September 2018
Rug Hooking Week in Sauder Village, Archbold, Ohio, was the place to meet rug hooking friends old and new from across USA and Canada and a chance to put faces to contacts made on Social Media.
Speaking with Sharon Felton from Ohio, our first visitor to the “Re-imagined” Exhibit booth, I discovered we had a mutual friend …… Miriam Miller, Pres. Emeritus of the Australian Rugmakers Guild. When Sharon visited with her daughter who was living in Australia, she took a workshop from Miriam. On her return to the US they kept in touch and Miriam and Jacqui visited with Sharon on their way to a TIGHR Conference. Pictures of Sharon’s finished rugs have shown in Miriam’s newsletter – no wonder her name sounded familiar. Sharon is currently working on a design which she described as ……..
“started out as one of Sharon Smith’s patterns…then she went to the market ….. my little country bunny in progress I am having so much fun with all the dimension, she just keeps on growing …. lol”
Coincidently, Sharon Smith, of Off the Hook Wool Rugs with helper, Nada Ferris, had the booth next to our “Re-imagined” space. Hanging on the wall of Sharon Smith’s rug booth was a colourful image of a flower which I’d shared on the Guild’s Facebook page – it was good to meet these online contacts. Also, to know there’s a rug hooking group in the Bay Area East of San Francisco.
As we talked, Sharon Felton was joined by her friend Joyce Krueger from Wisconsin’s Cream City Rug Hooking Guild who I met at my first McGown Teachers Workshop in Eugene, Oregon. Joyce’s rug “King” is in Celebrations 28`It was an interesting start to the day!
Barbara Lukas who visited Australia for the TIGHR 2012 Conference had a booth at Rug Hooking Week, her business, Art in Textile focusses on translating Canadian art into textile forms, which lend themselves to passing on the beauty created by one generation to the next.
These forms include traditional rug hooking, punch needle hooking, embroidery, wool appliqué, quilting and felting. Maud Lewis is one artist and there will be more artists in the future.
Barbara owns several original Christmas Cards painted by Maud Lewis, a well-known Canadian folk artist from Nova Scotia. Copyright is owned by the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia and Barbara has been given license to produce and sell patterns of the Christmas card images.
About the Exhibit, Barbara said ………..
“Kathy Wright was the curator of the exhibit at Sauder. She put out a call on Facebook for finished rugs which could be featured in the exhibit. There were many rugs in the show besides mine and Doug Rankin’s. Kathy also led a session to describe Maud’s life to a pre-registered group, and invited Doug Rankin and me to be vendors. Art In Textile has different patterns than Highland Heart Hookery. Doug has quite a few and I have twelve. My license also extends to other textile forms, as spelled out above.”
Anne Neely Boissinot – another long-time TIGHR friend and one of the Judges for Celebrations 28, stopped by with Janine Broscious, whose
Dragonfly rug was featured on the “Re-imagined” Facebook page as a good example of embellished rug hooking.
On Facebook, we’re currently following Janine’s new rug design taken from a photo of her and husband Matt on a rocky shore in front of a lighthouse. The faces in the design with only a small amount of detail portray strong emotions. The sky shows realistic movement. It is interesting to follow her progress online and to see the growth of this hooked piece as she tackles the water, shoes and rocks. Janine and husband Matt were at this event in their motor home – here’s a picture of one of their rug hooking neighbours.
TIGHR members mentioned here are known to many members of the Australian Guild, but Aussie members are not as familiar with members of the Pearl K McGown Guild, even so, I will continue to “drop names”. What a surprize to see Charlotte Price walking towards me. In 2002 Charlotte was my sponsor to the McGown Teachers workshop in Eugene, Oregon. Over the five years I attended the annual workshops to complete my accreditation I met many rug hooking instructors from the USA and Canada.
Liz Marino of South Egremont, Massachusetts is the McGown webmaster, we had only connected online so I was pleased to meet face to face. Liz designed and hooked her 2018 Celebration’s piece (14.5 x 18inches) adapted from a painting by Giovanni Battista Salvia da Sassoferrato. 
Green Mountain Rugs – I sat in on a presentation by 3 members (2 generations) of women representing 5 generations of a rug hooking family. Mariah Krauss the youngest, her mother Stephanie Allen-Krauss and her aunt, Pam Kirk.
There’s more information on the family (time line) here
and some additional info about each of them,
At the presentation, they spoke of the family history – Mariah’s great-great-grandmother who at the tender age of 19 started a rug hooking business in an era when women were not involved in business.
What making rugs meant to each of them personally as well as building a working relationship with each other within a family business
and “that damn rug”, a 5ft x 23ft rug which Mariah’s grandmother, the matriarch of Green Mountain Hooked Rugs, was commissioned to hook. When design delays by the purchaser left only 6 months to complete, newspaper advertisements were placed to find additional rughookers so it could be finished within the time allowed.
This rug has been in place on Green Mountain’s studio floor for 10 years. Follow this link to read how that “Damn rug” came home.
We were introduced to Sibyl Osicka at the TIGHR Conference in Kentucky, USA in 2009. Sibyl has been a long-time officer of ATHA and has had many of her rugs published in Rug Hooking Magazine’s Celebrations.
Nadine Cloutier is another Facebook contact. Nadine’s rug (below) was featured in progress on the Aussie Rugmakers Guild Facebook as an interesting technique to be used. Nadine says “This rug is a study about creating a new design layer on top of a previously designed pattern.”
“Re-imagined” a Challenge with a Difference becomes
“Re-imagined” a virtual Exhibition
Have you wondered why and how we created the virtual Exhibition? To answer the many questions during the Challenge we decided to make a video explanation – here it is
“Textile Tessera“ – created as an example of embellished rug work by Jo Franco, Judi Tompkins and Peta Korb, exhibited at the “Re-imagined” booth – has now dispersed ;
No. 1 “Kimberly Colour” by Jo Franco – to Florida with Pam Kirk
No. 2 “Bungle Bungles” by Jo Franco – to Queensland
No. 3 “Lorikeet flock meets Road train – Flattened Fauna” by Judi Tompkins to Nova Scotia, with Meryl Cook
No. 4 “Tropicana” by Jo Franco – staying in Ohio, with June Reynolds
No. 5 “Fibre Oasis” by Judi Tompkins – going home with Jo to West Australia
No. 6 “Interactive Wearable Art” – by Judi Tompkins – went to Cami Smith in Seattle, Washington State
No. 7 “State of Mind:The Unbearable Lightness of Being” – by Judi Tompkins is also in Washington state; south of Seattle in Auburn with Judy Taylor
No. 8 “Citadel: The Political Divide” by Judi Tompkins – went home to West Virginia with Susan Feller
No. 9 “Assemblage: Recollections of Another Time” by Judi Tompkins – has gone to Walunt Creek, California, with Sharon Smith
No. 10 “Big timber to the sea” by Jo Franco – to Vermont with Kris McDermet
No. 11 “Apple Isle” by Jo Franco is now in Pennsylvania with Tracy
No. 12 “Coral – Beyond a pinkish shade of Orange” by Jo Franco went to Florida, with Pam Kirk.
Rug Hooking Magazine’s “Celebration 28” Exhibition
While there were many amazing rugs on exhibit – here are some of my favourites
Across from our booth “Glacier National Park” an original design hooked by Ken Hamlin of Adrian Michigan – was of special interest to me as my husband was born in this mountainous area of the United States.
On the same wall was “Café-Shadows” another original design – this one by Martha Rosenfeld, Kalamazoo, Michigan. My apologies to the artists if my photography doesn’t do their work justice.
Trish Johnson’s “Honest Eds” street scene. I just loved this hooked tapestry especially the reflections in the store windows of the cars out on the road.
“Aaron” by Russell Nichols
The use of light to bring out detail in this grayscale portrait was addressed by Susan Feller in the Gallery Talk – so it was interesting to see this artist’s use of bright colour in his animal pieces
YES!! an Australian entry in Celebrations 28
“Temple Fish“. by Gail Nichols (Braidwood, New South Wales)
Unfortunately Gail’s rug was not on display, however Gail is a finalist and there is still time to place a “Readers Choice” vote – click the link below and follow the prompts https://www.rughookingmagazine.com/voting/Readers-Choice
Val Flannigan, a McGown Guild member, pictured here with Janine Broscious who took many of the rug images shown in this blog. Two of Val’s rugs were on exhibit, “Elephant” and another of my favourites “Fiddler” – standing in front of the actual work, the fiddler was almost dancing off the wall.
Here are some more of my favourite rugs shown on the Celebrations 28 Readers Choice page :
During the day at Rug Hooking Week, contact with my “Re-imagined” Co-Convener was via Facebook messenger. Susan Feller and I spent the evenings updating our Facebook pages. We were surprised late one night when the screen on my laptop lit up and who should appear, calling me on Skype … Judi Tompkins she was a passenger in their car in Queensland, Australia, 14 hours into our tomorrow … cyberspace at its best! Judi’s comment; “Um …. I think Jo and Susan can hear me talking in their sleep”
Wrap Up – at the end of a wonderful week –
from Susan Feller:
“This is how neatly the show pieces are prepared for owners to pick up and check out at end of Rug Hooking Week at Sauder Village. There is no way names can be put on a list of thank yous, someone would be left off. Suffice to say the ENTIRE staff of Sauder Village knows how to make their guests feel part of a welcome community. A big thank you to Kathy Wright who loves spreadsheets and I believe has one programmed in her brain she is that organized, with a smile for all !
She gives herself one day off then begins the plans for 2019 August 12-17 (put it on your calendar).”
I second Susan’s comments and look forward to returning to Rug Hooking Week ..…. one day. This “LONG” report, much of which has already been posted on Facebook, is shared here for those of you who don’t “do” Facebook. Visiting with rug hooking friends continues as I wend my way home to Perth.
Hope you enjoy reading about the event as much as I enjoyed being there – 
and … here is what prompted this trip –
The virtual “Re-imagined” Exhibition is what took me to Sauder Village this year – to see the online Gallery – Click this link to enter https://artspaces.kunstmatrix.com/en/exhibition/121832/re-imagined
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The Long Wait is Over
ISSN 2007-001X 26th August 2018
Rug Hooking Week 2018 at Sauder Village has come and gone.
After 2 long non-stop flights; Perth/Doha, Qatar, connecting to Miami, the easily recognizable suitcase and I arrived safely in 
the USA and spent the weekend with relatives in sunny and warm Florida.
Early morning, Monday 13th August, brought another non-stop flight, short this 
time, to Detroit where Susan Feller met me.
We collected those recognizable bags and after a 2hr drive through green corn and soy bean fields and neat-as-a-pin farm houses, we arrived at Sauder Village in Archbold, Ohio.
Welcome to Sauder Village – the sign was hard to miss and 
there was an Aussie Flag flying alongside the Stars & 
Stripes and Canadian Maple leaf.
At Sauder Village they think of all the little things – the Village is extremely well run, and the staff are helpful and friendly – a great destination if you ever find yourself in that part of the USA.
The hanging of the Exhibits was well underway when we arrived Monday afternoon and work went on late into the evening and through the next day – all complete by 5.0pm Tuesday – Kathy Wright is an amazing organizer.
Tuesday morning as we walked to the first of many meet & greet opportunities at Sauder Village, Susan and I met up with Meryl Cook. Shadows on the pavement in Ohio from Canada, Australia and West Virginia.
It was a busy day setting up for “Re-imagined”; unpacking and installing the Textile Tessera exhibit, demonstration materials for the information table, my laptop to be connected to the large screen TV and WiFi connection to be made.
That evening a reception was held, and Workshop Instructors, Authors and Special Exhibitors were introduced, your Editor took the prize for the one who’d travelled the furthest to attend. The reception was followed by a Private Preview in the Founders Hall, for Vendors, Retreat Students & Instructors and Exhibitors. Featured Exhibits included special Celebrations 28 & Celebration Hall of Fame rugs and the first public viewing of the virtual “Re-imagined” Gallery.
Click this link to enter the virtual “Re-imagined” Gallery
https://artspaces.kunstmatrix.com/en/exhibition/121832/re-imagined
The Rug Hooking Week Exhibition was amazing, hundreds of rugs so well curated. The rugs and Featured Exhibits were displayed by category on panels and easels in the centre of the Founders Hall Gallery. This image of the Gallery and many other images of rugs in this Blog taken by Janine Broscious, USA – thank you Janine for sharing.
What an amazing display – I’m afraid I’ll keep using that word as it truly was a spectacular event. Vendors booths lined the walls of the Gallery and spacious entry foyer. Tools; frames and hooks, fabrics; hand dyed wools, bolts of Dorr wool fabric, hand spun wool yarn, sari silk and novelty fabrics. Patterns, kits, and rug hooked bags, jewellery and home decor items …….. for a rug hooker it was like being a kid in a candy store. On Wednesday morning people were lined up across the parking lot waiting for the doors to open and then the serious shopping started.
Debra Smith, Editor – Rug Hooking Magazine was at the RHM booth to talk about Celebrations 28 and other RHM publications and Authors were on hand, ready to discuss and autograph their new editions also available for sale.
Meryl Cook author of “One Loop at a Time”, Meryl’s first book describes a devastating diagnosis, her journey to recovery, in the process discovering a new lease on life through art and rug hooking – was there with both of her books.
Meryl’s second book, “One Loop at a Time, The Creativity Workbook (November 2017)“, shares tools for beginning the process of reinvention through journaling and sketching. Learn more about Meryl, an author, speaker, contemporary rug hooking artist, teacher, and former homeopath here http://www.merylcook.ca/
Retreats & Workshops took place in spacious well-lit rooms of the beautifully appointed Heritage Inn adjacent to the Founders Hall Gallery. Many of the workshops incorporating Gallery Tours. Below, a Monochromatic Class with Donna Hrkman – another of the many photographs taken and shared by Janine Broscious.
Celebrations 2018 and Celebration Hall of Fame Honorees Deb Smith Editor of Rug Hooking Magazine presented the awards. Here are just some of Rug Hooking Magazines images.
Check out the profiles of Hall of Famers here: https://www.rughookingmagazine.com/Celebration-Hall-of-Fame-Profiles
Gallery Talks – Susan Feller lead groups through the Celebrations 28 collection discussing the three components for a good piece: composition, materials and technique. Several makers of the works were in the audience of the talk I attended, and they shared their inspiration and talked about tools used.
A special braiding exhibition was curated by Kris McDermet and Christine Manges, seen here discussing the contemporary work and the history of braided picture rugs on loan from the museum.
Below, Delsie Hoyt describing her pictorial landscape BRAIDED rug, with the museum braided pictures of Jessie Kinsley in background alongside contemporary rugs.
Rug Money by Mary Anne Wise – With Susan Feller’s permission; comments on this book from her Facebook page ; “The gallery talks were powerful, informative and educational. Mary Anne Wise presented the story she is involved in empowering Mayan women in Guatemala through rughooking. The book, just released, titled RUG MONEY (play on the more common terminology drug money), tells how pulling loops has lead to self-esteem, value in family and community, and economic growth. published by Thrums Books and available at independent booksellers or online.”
Above a Special Exhibit of Mayan Rugs. A Gallery Talk “The Power of Mayan Women” was followed by a “Trunk Show” at the Heritage Inn where Mayan rugs and smaller hooked items were available for sale.
Google Earth Exhibit – At breakfast I was introduced to Linda Pietz by Susan Feller who had taken Linda’s Google map rug designs workshop. Following the workshop Linda put out a call to her students to submit their finished rugs to an Exhibition planned to be shown at Rug Hooking Week.
It was interesting to hear Linda talk of how she used Google maps to design her rugs. With some Challenge participants present at the talk there was an active question/answer session. Susan’s framed Google Earth fiber art piece “Mountaintop-Removal-Jewelry” shown on the right of the panel, was inspired by a site near Pax, WV viewed from space.
Political rugs curated by Liz Marino – Below, one of three panels of Political Rugs and clothing
Inspiring messages by all. Top, Deirdre Pinnock, below left Caryn Eeg Linn, flag below Karen Ostrom, right Kris McDermet, bottom left Laura Ponkos and on bottom right Dana Lee Psoinas` and standing – Susan Feller’s shirt and jeans.
From the Editor: There’s so much more to say about the many events which took place last week and were shared on Facebook. Please join me for the final instalment. Wish you all could have been there.
Happy Hooking
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IT’S IN THE BAG
ISSN 2007-001X August 2018
Textile Tessera, a collaborative hooked installation by Judi Tompkins, Peta Korb and myself, is packed in the suitcase ready to take and show at the Opening, at Sauder Village, Ohio, USA, of “Re-imagined” a Challenge with a Difference .
In this video produced by Kira Mead, Judi talks about how the challenge came to be.
This time next week I will be in Ohio setting up the installation and displays. As the online Exhibition will be viewed on a big screen, this collaborative installation was created so visitors could actually handle pieces made with different rug making techniques, fabrics and embellishments.
The “Re-imagined” exhibit, will include hands-on-demonstrations of various techniques. Images of works by Guild members and information about the Guild and its members will be on display.
Above is just one of 12 pages of different rugmaking techniques – click here to see them all.
The online “Re-imagined” Exhibition convened by Judi and me resulted from our Challenge to all textile artist in the Southern Hemisphere in order to promote the use of various rug making techniques in other disciplines and to encourage those already pulling and pushing fabrics through an open weave to create a hooked surface, to use embellishments and work outside their comfort zone.
While some of the Australian Rugmakers Guild members follow the North American traditions of rugmaking and use wool fabric strips or wool yarn – there is an increasing interest in the use of recycled fabric. The recycling aspect of the craft resonates with those who are following the “War on Waste” and who have become interested in the return to traditional “slow” crafts.
Generally speaking, rug making is not held in high esteem by other textile artists. Our aim was to show the craft of rug making can be effective in social, environmental and artistic pursuits.
We hope you enjoy this video of our collaborative entry and we look forward to 
showing you through our Gallery Exhibition.
Jo Franco and Judi Tompkins
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June and July, a time for travelling
ISSN 2007-001X August 2018
At the end of June, Miriam Miller from Milton and a group from the Narrawilly Proggy Rugmakers travelled to the Sydney Craft Fair at Darling Harbour and along with Martha Birch and Helen Orr of Sydney, talked rug hooking with fair goers at the Australian Rugmakers Guild stand organized by Martha.
In July, Miriam and Jacqui Thomson, drove even further north to visit family, friends and rug hookers. Their long road trip also being a trial run – “what to pack considering differing weather conditions” – in preparation for their overseas travels later in the year when they’ll attend the The International Guild of Handhooking Rugmakers (TIGHR) Conference in the UK in October and a knitting tour in Iceland in November. The temperatures on this trip ranged from 27C at Atherton to -7C in the mornings at Dubbo and Cowra.
They covered 6,600.03 kilometres (yes, they clocked it down the last fraction of a kilometre). Their route taking them from Milton on the south coast of New South Wales, over the mountains and up the inland route through the outback of New South Wales and Queensland to Atherton on the Atherton Tablelands near Cairns in the far north of Australia. Their travel journal is detailed in Miriam’s newsletter “Connecting Us” July/August issue, archived on the Guild website.
This map shows (roughly) the stops they made along the way; Blayney, Mudgee, Lightning Ridge, Surat, Emerald, Charters Towers, Atherton, Bowen, Gladstone Coolum Beach, Landsborough, Brisbane, Murwillumbah, Byron Bay, Texas, (yes there is a Texas in Australia) Warialda, Dubbo and Cowra.
After leaving Lightning Ridge – famous for mining of black opals, they drove 75ks East to Surat and stayed at the Myall Park Botanical gardens at Glenmorgan, for two nights, and … “enjoyed the walks, short and long, examining the Australian flora all named and described. This whole area is maintained by volunteers. On the property gifted by Dorothy Gordon are the three grevilleas the Gordon’s bred, named after their three daughters – ”Robyn Gordon” is the best known (The Grevillia walk would be spectacular in the spring).”
On the return trip they drove the coastal route and in Coolum Beach, met up with Annette White a former Narrawilly Proggy Rugmaker now a member of the Sunshine Coast RugCrafters
and visited the groups leader, Judi Tompkins in her new home in Landsborough.
and three more members of the Sunshine Coast RugCrafters.
The next stop was Murwillumbah, where they visited the Art Gallery and the Margaret Olley Exhibition. This was followed by two nights in Byron Bay visiting a former member of the Narrawilly Proggy Rugmakers who, when she lived in Milton, was famous for keeping the fabric shelves tidy in Miriam’s Rug Room. Her rug below would remind anyone who has been in Miriam’s studio of the colourful of wall fabric.
Then it was off to Texas on the QLD-NSW border to visit the Rabbit Museum, which the travellers said is most interesting and worth a visit. Those new to Australia might not know of the rabbit problem – The battle of the Bunny – and the steps taken to overcome the scourge, i.e. the introduction of the disease Myxomatosis and the rabbit-proof fences – like the one that separated Western Australia from the rest of the country. As a child I remember driving from Perth to the East Coast with my parents, and being the one designated to get out and open and shut the gate.
Their final stop was Cowra where their accommodations really made an impression on them – “a fully self-contained cottage in a vineyard surrounded on three sides by grape vines with a creek in front. There was wine, biscuits, cheese and chocolates on arrival – 7 kinds of fruit and food for a very substantial breakfast! Lovely heating, interesting books galore, DVD’s, comfortable furniture and beds, all washing facilities, washing machine & dryer. Big picture windows looking out over the vineyard.”
So impressed were the travellers they provided details: Tinnies, Back Creek Vineyard, Chiverton Road, Cowra. Hosts Bob & Meg Clark. http://www.tinniesatbackcreekvineyard.com.au/
This trip was no mean feat, it was a serious driving holiday, with many sections involving 4.5 – 5.5 hours on outback roads and extremely winding roads through the Great Dividing Range.
Good going Miriam and Jacqui!
In a few days it’ll be my turn to travel – flying not driving, to Rug Hooking Week at Sauder Village, Ohio, USA for the Opening of our “Re-imagined” Exhibition, which I hope to share with you on this page on 17th August.
Until then – Happy Hooking – Jo Franco, Editor
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You’re Invited
ISSN 2007-001X May 2018
Consider yourself invited to the
Opening of Gail Nichol’s
exhibition of ceramics and textiles
at the Drill Hall Gallery ANU, Canberra.
The Official launch of
“In Transit” is Friday 8th June 2018 the Exhibition runs until 29th July, 2018.
This has been an exciting year for Gail, her tapestry “Temple Fish” will feature as a finalist in Rug Hooking Magazine’s “Celebrations 2018”.
Here is another interesting tapestry, notice the irregular shape and the fringe. This tapestry was inspired by a study of banana leaves and landscape, during a visit by Gail to Bali in 2016.
“Three Friends”, is a new approach to drawing and textiles for Gail who is currently working in mixed media with machine stitch drawing.
You can see more of Gail’s creations on Gail Nichols Textiles
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Challenges of Collaboration
ISSN 2007-001X April 2018
“TEXTILE TESSERA” is an installation by Judi Tompkins (Queensland) and Jo Franco (Western Australia),
Conveners of
“Re-imagined” a Challenge with a Difference –
a virtual mixed media Exhibition.
As participants in the “Re-imagined” Challenge finish entries, take photographs and write Artist Statements, the conveners have just started their textile installation to be displayed at the Opening of “Re-imagined” at Rug Hooking Week at Sauder Village, Ohio, USA.
The original abstract design, a representation of the puzzle of a fibre diaspora was Judi’s. Jo being more literal, immediately saw it as a map of Australia, suggesting it seemed appropriate with the Exhibition featuring work from the Southern Hemisphere.
Thus, Judi’s tongue in check reference to this particular piece of the installation as :-
“My multi-coloured piece with the glass sparkly bits and bits of metal are indeed representational of Australian outback (drawing on my taxidermy-ness)…
as if a road train has driven at speed through a flock of Lorikeets and scattered the feathers and shattered windscreen across the landscape!! Oh….maybe that is too vivid?
Was thinking of calling this piece…Flattened Fauna…. Maybe that’s too strong?
Judi goes on to describes the process so far;
At first glance, Jo and my decision to collaborate on a piece for “Re-imagined”: a Challenge with a Difference seemed pretty straightforward. After all, we have a pretty good understanding and respect for each other’s opinions and approach to rughooking and fibre/textile art; we communicate well and offer support and criticism in a constructive way; agreed on our common goal; are willing to compromise; are reliable and reasonable time-mangers; and Jo is pretty tolerant!
So, could we have overlooked anything in our simple plan to share the work on a common project and bring it smoothly together at the end?
You bet! (Keeping in mind that your experience will differ from ours.)
Life Like all of you, we both have incredibly busy lives on a “good” day with the usual appointments, chores, family “stuff”, frustrations and things that require 
attention and get in the way. I however managed to add selling a house, moving and building a house and studio into the middle of this; and the building process became quite awful just about the time I was due to work on our mutual project and served to redefine and clarify the concept of “challenge” for me!
Logistics Naturally if you build a new house and don’t have family to live with (sponge off?) then you need find someplace to rent and keep your “stuff” – most of which you are convinced you won’t need because the build will, “only take about four months”. Hah!
Just to keep things interesting and adrenaline-filled, I initially kept only a few boxes of rughooking and fibre supplies, frames, fabrics and fibres in a small room at my rental unit – supposedly my “studio” but used by my dog as her “office”.
“I’ll just keep the necessary things because I can easily get anything I need from one of the two large shipping containers at the building site”.
Hah! (again)
I realised too late that access to these containers would be “delicate” because of the construction toilet and the sheer volume of stacked building materials. Oh well…surely, I can get what I need from Spotlight.
Wrong.
Gradually I unloaded more and more from the storage units into my rental “studio” and into the back bedroom,
ensuring I can’t find anything in any location.
(“but…I know I have it somewhere”)
Timing
The realization that I need to get my “bit” done well in advance of my shifting house; preparation for a workshop/demo early in July and Jo’s leaving for the US when she takes our collaborative piece to the launch of the “Re-imagined” Challenge at Sauder Village, made the next obstacle an extra challenge indeed!
Tabula Rasa
Yes. The dreaded blank slate indeed! In spite of all the communication via email, Skype, photos and Facebook with Jo…I just couldn’t start hooking!
Didn’t know what to do (I thought I did at first…but I didn’t!); didn’t know where to start; didn’t know what fabric and colours to use; didn’t like what I did start; convinced I just couldn’t do it; thought it was probably a dumb idea anyway (whose was it? Surely I was innocent in all this!).
Nearly suggested that Jo should “just do it”. I didn’t.
I’m sure there are and will be other hassles and frustrations with getting this collaboration done but it has been worth the aggravation. It is indeed a challenge and had really pushed me (nearly over the edge…but not quite…yet!)
I need to think faster; keep the goal and vision in mind and
just “do it”!
I will.
I am.
I will be OK in the end…everything is frustrating at the halfway point.”
From Jo …………
To brighten my day and tie our works together Judi sent me some of this yummy coloured silk yarn purchased from Clare at Feltfine.com.au
My section of the project is also underway, however in a more “restrained” style.
If you haven’t collaborated on a textile art work, you really should give it a try, it’s amazing what you learn and it is fun!
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Australian Rug Hooking Events
ISSN 2007-001X March 2018
2018 – off to a good start – locations of the growing number of Rugmaking Groups around Australia were updated and are now detailed on the Current Events page.
At the Winter Craft Festival June/July 2018 to be held at the Kingaroy Art Gallery, Judy Brook from the Red Earth Rugmakers and Judi Tompkins from the Sunshine Coast RugCrafters will demonstrate rug hooking and Judi T will give a “Waldoboro” rug hooking workshop.
Waldoboro is used to describe rugs hooked in a sculptured or 3-dimensional style. It’s a traditional technique named for the town of Waldoboro, Maine, on the north-east coast of the USA where rugs hooked in this sculptured technique (usually with floral designs) date back to the 1870-80s. Using the same technique and different materials, Judi has used this 3-D effect on many of her rug hooking projects depicting animals.
News from the Sunshine Coast RugCrafters …. Claudia from Brisbane recently visited a Sunshine Coast Group meeting at the Beerwah Library, seen here showing Stella her Emma Lou Lais pattern hooked on Monks cloth, and a “Memory Rug”.
Speaking of “special rugs”
Gail Nichols from New South Wales has had EXCITING NEWS …. notification from Rug Hooking Magazine that her rug, ‘Temple Fish‘ was selected as a finalist and will be published in Celebrations 2018. See more of Gail’s amazing tapestries here
Also from New South Wales; Maxine’s group in Bellingen was featured in Miriam Miller’s recent newsletter, “Connecting Us”.
Closer to home …………………… Miriam reports the Milton Show was held on 2nd & 3rd March – The Theme this year was “Milk and Meat”.
Janet and Elke, were stewards in the Proggy and Hooky Rug Section and arranged a roster of Rugmakers to demonstrate rug making and talk to the public during the two days of the Show.
Sheila Capel, Christine Alexander, Judy Thurecht, Bev Latta, Elaine Kitchner, Ilka Landahl and Jacqueline Thomson were all awarded prizes in the various rug hooking categories.
All issues of “Connecting Us” can be found on the Guild website
Also, in New South Wales;
Margaret hooked images of her two Granddaughters from photographs of the girls. Margaret said …….
“FINALLY FINNISHED! these are my beautiful granddaughters. I have included the photos which inspired me to hook these pieces. I hope my work shows how beautiful the girls are, both inside and out – I love them very much.”
BIG rugs seem to be all the rage in New South Wales – in Braidwood Maggie Hickey finished hooking this large rug (2metres x 2.2 metres) comprised of eight separate pieces sewn together. The rug was designed and commissioned by artist Alison Alder, to fit her living room. Alison requested it be made in wool for durability.
Maggie said: “I planned it in 6 pieces but subsequently we decided it was going to be too short for the space. It was decided to add strips of lime green to either end. I used some wool yarn and some strips of wool blanket, dyed to obtain the required colours”
ACT – Canberra: Maggie Whyte, Australian Rugmakers Guild Vice Pres & Secretary, will be one of a group of Aussie Rugmakers traveling to Reeth, UK, to attend The International Guild of Handhooking Rugmakers’ (TIGHR) 2018 Triennial in the Yorkshire Dales village of Reeth, home of well known rug hooker Heather Ritchie, current President of TIGHR. 
Maggie, a felter as well as a rug maker, 
is interested in many textile techniques.
Examples of her creations using a “Chunky Rugmaker” are shown with Maggie’s permission in the Technique pages of “Re-imagined” a Challenge with a Difference.
All 12 rug making techniques can be seen here. (Images are shown with permission of artists and photographers.)
Swap n Sell – this website page has been re-arranged so it’s easier to compare items. If you’re looking for wool fabric to hook with, a new member from Victoria has a huge stash which she’d like to sell. See more of the wool fabric available on this link.
Victorian Guild member, Marcia King, and rug hooking instructor, will be 
demonstrating rug making on the 28th April at the Off the Grid Living Festival
in Eldorado, a town in the foot hills of the Alpine Ranges, between Wangaratta and Beechworth, just 3 hours from Melbourne and a little more from Canberra.
Also in Victoria, the Yarra Valley Rugmakers continue to meet in each other’s homes and hook rugs even on the hottest days of this past summer.
Chris said …. “Joy finished her third Psalm 23 stair tread ‘In the Valley’ and started whipping her rugs, being 3/4 finished on one rug by the end of the day. It’s amazing what you can achieve in a day.” You can read more about this group and contact them through their Blog 
Tasmania: The Happy Hookers have been posting some interesting latch hooked rugs on their Facebook page The group has a new meeting place; ART AS MANIA on Emu Bay Road, Deloraine
We’ve also been following artist Alyson-Jean’s progress creating a large latch-hooked rug of her own design – shown here with the artists permission.
“Magic Carpet” Click this link to see Alyson-Jean’s video.
South Australia; the Stationmaster’s Red Hen is the new home of the 
StrathMatters rug group in Strathalbyn. The Red hen is a renovated train carriage sitting on the tracks next to the Stationmaster’s Art gallery housed in an historic railway building.
The Rug Group meets on the 1st & 3rd Friday of the month. All look very comfortable in their new home – you can see more of their rug work on their blog
Currently showing in the Stationmaster’s Art Gallery, is “Threads” – a fabric exhibition which includes furniture, wall hangings, AND rugs – this one designed and hooked by Judith Stephens, Guild President.
Gail shared a successful mending project ….. her rug made of polar fleece strips
on latch hook backing had been damaged by a chair leg. A new piece of backing was spot glued onto the back and rehooked, mainly with the old strips. Gail was disappointed she couldn’t use recycled polar fleece but wanted specific simple colours; the blue/green – throws from Ikea and the yellow bought by the metre from Spotlight. All sliced with a rotary cutter.
Western Australia; Learning a new technique at the Wanneroo Rugmakers 
group – Melissa who’d lived in Japan for many years showed how to make Kanzashi (folded fabric) flowers, Margaret, the crafty gardener, caught on quickly (shown here) similar flowers are to be added to a “Re-imagined” Challenge creation.
Robin Inkpen, visiting from Donnybrook in the South West of WA, demonstrated how to make coiled mats and vessels and displayed some of her creations. She also gave the group a punch needle hooking lesson on the newly constructed large punch needle frame with “plastic teeth” – both a #9 and #10 Oxford Punch needle were successfully used. It was thought that maybe the frame is too large? Amy Oxford has provided us with some helpful information which you can see on her FAQs page.
Sharon introduced the Wanneroo Group to the Uthando doll project 
supported by knitting and sewing groups across Australia and showed a basket of dolls made by a group of teenage girls she supervises – helping others helps the girls. These images posted on the Guild Facebook page have created interest from as far away as Mexico.
“Re-imagined” a Challenge with a Difference update …… 30 April 2018 is the deadline for submission of images of completed entries. Participants will be emailed a link through which they can upload their large images or videos, rather than send as email attachments ……… please make sure your email address is on file with rugcraftingaustralia@gmail.com to receive further emailed information.
There have been many inspirational posts on the “Re-imagined” Facebook page including images of examples by guild members, of the different rug making techniques listed on the Call for Entries.
A question asked recently “what techniques can be used in this Challenge?” the following answer was posted on the Facebook page ….
“Your entry can be created using whatever textile technique you desire, however, it must in some small way, include; have attached to; sit on or hang from; one of the rug making techniques listed in the Call for Entries.”
To refresh participants memory all 12 pages featuring examples of; braiding, quillies, coils, toothbrush and chunky rugmaking, proddy, stick weaving, traditional, punch needle, latch and locker hooking and tufting were shown together and can be seen on this link.
From the Editor: Because of increased rug making activity across the country, this report was lengthy – I do hope you took the time to scroll to the end. In the future, Blogs will be shorter about specific groups or events. It’s hard to not mention all the groups rug making activities and gratifying to see where this traditional craft is taking members. Keep on sharing your creativity.
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Seasons Greetings from the Australian Rugmakers Guild
ISSN 2007-001X December 2017
Greetings to you all
I’m sending you my best wishes for a happy and healthy Festive Season.
It is a time to share with family and friends, but hopefully you will be able to find a little time for some creative moments which you can share with all of us through this blog.
Happy rugmaking!
Judith Stephens, SA, President
&
Member of StrathMatters
Best Wishes also from the ARG Committee & State Representatives
Maggie Whyte, ACT, Vice President & Secretary, member Narrawilly Proggy Rugmakers
Tricia Thacker, WA, Treasurer, member of the Wanneroo Rugmakers
Judi Tompkins, QLD, Communications Chair & Webmaster. Member of the Sunshine Coast RugCrafters and Co-convener of “Re-imagined” a Challenge with a Difference.
Miriam Miller, NSW, President Emeritus, Member of the Narrawilly Proggy Rugmakers
Anne Schafer & Christine Noorbergen, VIC, members of the Yarra Valley Rugmakers
Joanne Wild, TAS, member of the Happy Hookers
Best Wishes for a Happy, Healthy and Creative New Year
Jo Franco, WA, Editor & Membership Chair Member of the Wanneroo Rugmakers and Co-convener of “Re-imagined“ a Challenge with a Difference.
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Footprints in the sand at Christmas
ISSN 2007-001X 15th December, 2017
An Update on the Footprint Project
Enlargements [2m (6ft) long], of my footprints are being hooked using single-use plastic bags, by the Wanneroo Rugmakers group as part of a research project by Sue Girak, PhD, Visual Arts Specialist, City Beach PS, Perth, West Australia.
The “right” footprint is complete and has found a temporary home (until Christmas) in the library in a marquee advertising “Summer Wonderland” – workshops for children of all ages to learn how to make Christmas decorations.
The finished footprints will be delivered to Sue after the holidays when school starts again in February.
Textile artist and author Susan Feller (USA) included this Australian research project in a presentation she made on “Educating about Craft” at the 2017 Association of Traditional Hooking Artists Biennial Conference in Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
Read more about the project in the report sent to Susan Feller by Sue Girak
Remember when one only spoke in a whisper in the library? Well things have changed …. this library encourages and supports activities for many different age groups. Fortunately the library space is laid out such that enthusiastic members of one group don’t interrupt others.
This is one project we were pleased to see come to an end! Working with the plastic bags was hard on the hands, and the work just didn’t feel good in the hand, nevermind it’s dubious artistic quality 🙂 However, it has provided an opportunity for discussion regarding “waste” and what we can all do on a personal level to try to help solve the problem. Needless to say, the group is looking forward to their next project in the New Year.
Seasons Greetings and Best Wishes for the New Year from the Wanneroo Rugmakers Group – Jo Franco, Editor
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