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Some history of PEI hooked rugs or mats as they are called

19 Oct

Not much has been written down about the ‘everyday work’ of women. We have found out what we know in bits and pieces over the years. Our desire to know more all started with my paper for a PEI arts course  at the University of Prince Edward Island way back in the nineties. I wrote the paper before I knew anything about the deep traditions of PEI and Maritime rug hooking.  But once Heather and I started finding out little bits and pieces about the women and their rugs, we wanted to know more. Luckily for us, Heather always took pictures. The pictures were a great way for us to talk to the people who had hooked the mats. They couldn’t believe we wanted to take pictures of ‘those old things’. There are a couple of places that have information on the history of hooked rugs. One is this article by Anne Nicholson of PEI whose short history of PEI mats is: http://www.gov.pe.ca/firsthand/index.php3?number=44601&lang=E

My paper on Rug Hooking is in the Island Collection at the UPEI library. One of these days I may get it retyped and on here for you to read directly.



Jack likes the vintage look, the Cavendish Mat




This is the new Cavendish by Heather

 You can read about our lives as rug hookers today at this site:
http://seaandbescene.com/2011/10/three-sisters-one-success-story-pastimes-pei/

We also had the Great Canadian Adventure guys visit us in September; they are getting their PEI stories on line. I am waiting with guarded anticipation for their story about Pastimes PEI and our collection of Barry’s machinery outside the studio.

Sheep Frolic is latest pattern to hook at Pastimes PEI

18 Sep

https://www.facebook.com/pastimespei

‘Little PEI Cottage’ Rughooking kit and the dust bath today

2 Sep
Also new at the shop..bette’s latest Island Scene, wool on Cotton Warp.                   

It’s always nice to put new things on the wall so the new Little PEI Cottage kit and the origional hooked piece fit nicely with Bette’s new work. She modelled it from a homestead she saw in orwell. prince Edward Island. it looks exactly like Orwell because, the houses are set back from the road on that drive to Eldon on the Trans Canada Highway, Route 1 on the way to the Wood Island’s ferry.

We have already sold a couple of the new little kits; we are always happy when people like them as much as we do. You can see that we are carrying a few select pieces of Brenda Watt’s Woodworking. the cutting boards and wine stoppers are very popular items as well as the acorn doorstoppers. .. easy to pack and bring back to friends as an unique souveneir of PEI.

Yesterday a really nice flower in the garden was damaged by some of the folks here; I’ll show you what I mean via this morning’s pictures in the garden:



The ‘people’ disturbing the flowers for their own pleasure..





and their friends joined in….



they are not that cute…..look at me, guys…

Cock of the Walk…



getting reaady for harvest…



first customer at Pastimes PEI today

14 Aug

 We get a variety of customers here at the shop: https://www.facebook.com/#!/pastimespei



buying anything??



Hooking Rugs on Prince Edward Island

12 Aug

We have plenty of rugs and small pieces hanging on our walls this summer. We have been busy creating new patterns and kits as well.

we stop and help people learn the best way to hook..some just need a little tip or two

And while we are in the shop we very often have to cut the burlap and linen for each pattern. jack is never far from the action as you see.


the lap of luxury…every time…he’s always snoozing somewhere



Today we had one of our most interesting local hookers show us her lupin mat. She dyed the leaves with koolaid.  In the past rughookers had to be ingenious…. Cindy is one of the modern ingenious hookers..always trying new things as she hooks.

August at Pastimes PEI – new hookers, new hooking frames, new wools

11 Aug

Barry made a couple of frames so we would have some for sale again; they go pretty fast sometimes. Emmalee had to walk through and sit on one as you can see. We have lots of new wool fabric in and lots of it will be dyed to make fantastic wool colors for hooking.



today Jack is helping us teach a couple of beginners

 Sometimes we teach one-on-one classes to people on an hourly rate/basis. We do not teach regular classes as a rule because we would be doing it all the time and never have time to hook. We do help out at local Community Schools – adult education evening classes in the fall. We all have teaching backgrounds: I worked in extension education with Women’s Institute, 4-H and other groups; Heather works in agriculture-related field, mainly in extension for many years, and Bette teaches Home Economics in High School. Just to let you know what we are all about.

I took this picture of the house the other day. Barry is forever working on the outside to keep it looking good. 

When you call on us, you can see the house and all our pets. Ducky is one.

We have a lovely flower garden too; no time to do anything but run the tiller through it.

You will not believe this. A woman who was born in this house in the thirties came here to see it again. and we had a stick of wood with her father’s name and address stenciled on it; they climbed up on the building and took it with them so that all four generations of the family visiting here to PEI can enjoy it as we did while it was here with us. Barry found it in the eaves of the house a few years ago.



all for the cause….



posing our in the yard at Pastimes PEI

they now have a piece of Millview history….

August on Prince Edward Island – the view from here at Pastimes PEI….

7 Aug

July and August bring out the best of PEI. The weather usually cooperates with all the events that take place outside but when it doesn’t, there is always a kitchen to sit in or a hall that is hosting a ceilidh, just a kitchen party with a few extras. Today Jack and I are home alone. I put out my new sign “OPEN” because Jack thinks it’s nice but not nice enough to pose with. He thinks it looks better from a distance. I’ll show it to you.. and Jack looking at it from a distance… we sit on the doorstep to contemplate life in general. And look at the gardens around us that include alot of Barry’s machinery, like the old plow down at he gate. Brenda Watts of Cattails and Brenda Watts Woodworking http://www.brendawattswoodwork.com/ made my ‘open’ sign to replace the tacky one we had. She does lovely woodworking and has a lot of really cool painted vintage-inspired signs to go with her acorns, cutting boards, rolling pins and and all manner of natural wooden products that she turns out in her shop.
Down here we have lots of birds to keep an eye on. Weare hoping formore ducklings before too long as only one baby survived this spring of the two that hatched alive.

Our Arts and Heritage sign finally has some lilies around it. Most of them are from http://www.redlanegardens.com/ just a few miles from here.

here’s Jack looking over his kingdom this morning.

And the window box that is finally getting some PEI sunshine.

These roosters are brothers that hatched last summer. Lets just say that they rool the roost even tho Jack thinks he does. have a great day, everyone.

My Friend’s Sunflower Hooked Rug from PEI

5 Jul

nice mat….did you do it yourself?
I have to be in every picture, you guys…
Cindy’s original Sunflower mat with some of our wool
I could have done that myself….

This morning bright and early my hooker friend and her son visited Jack and I. It was quite a job getting a picture of them with the mat as you can see. It is not finished as she came for more wool to finish it. Later on she’s coming back for more pieces from my rag bin. What we do not use does not go to waste, someone else can use it. That’s what they used to do in the past, when things were used not thrown out.

I have fresh new baskets of of rags that I sell for those who have to have just one more color. I also have a great selection of MacAusland’s PEI  http://www.macauslandswoollenmills.com/ wool yarn and Briggs and Little New Brunswick (http://www.briggsandlittle.com wool yarn in different plies for either knitting or hooking. We use this wool yarns for both hooking and for whipping around the edges of our mats. It’s an Island tradition to hook in both rags and yarn so we like to carry on with the traditional materials as much as possible.

It’s fun to learn to hook for yourself….

You may get to help us work on a mat if you drop by. There is usually a seat at the big mat frame. We have lots of new patterns that are hot-off-the-press too. Cheers, for today from Jack and Shirlee.

My Hummingbirds are Really Big

16 Jun
not you average hummer…

not your average baby…

Sweet Rocket in the back yard…

Our pets are not always like anyone else’s. The duck has two ducklings and one white chicken; the hummingbird feeder attracted some yellow birds this am. The dog is allowing mice in the porch but after they are in the trap dead, he goes after them. He’s supposed to be a terrier, a Jack Russell. I thought we would never see mice again but no, we still have to get out the old traps and do the job ourselves while Jack helps. He helps herd the ducks. In the wrong direction. He eats Gunter’s food from the cat dish even if I trick him and put his own food in there.

not your usual rooster, I guess…

I hooked this rooster in the winter and used a grey tweed wool yarn from MacAusland’s Woollen Mills on PEI for the background. The other wool is cut strips.

Dogs and Eagles and Babies and Flowers

4 Jun

I never get anything done around here. Too many projects and not enough time for them all. so I do what I feel like doing and works for me. Housework is not on my radar, not even close so when you visit, you’ll notice but I have good intentions, just not great intentions to waste my time slaving over dust.




I don’t know why she plants more flowers…

 


I can hook but she won’t let me…





Dar..n baby; they think she’s cute and cuddly…

 


And Barry is no Better…old things…



And the birds are just plain weird around here…

These pics tell you why…. i never get anything done in the line of a day….

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