Archive | Orwell corner Historic Village RSS feed for this section

Pastimes PEI – thanks to our 2012 rug hooking customers and friends….

28 Dec
Pastimes PEI hooked art pieces

Rugs and wall hangings at Pastimes PEI

Demonstrating Rug Hooking at Orwell Corner Historic village

Demonstrating Rug Hooking at Orwell Corner Historic village

We’ve had a busy year here at Pastimes PEI and quite a change since summer because Heather retired from her real job and spent it at the rug hooking shop which is my (Shirlee) porch, actually. We do not have a big space but we ‘make do’.  The skill of “making due”  is part of our PEI heritage that we have re-invented in our rug hooking business. When you grow up making due, you never truly get away from it. Rug hooking began because people had to make do or not survive in PEI’s cold climate.

This fall we honored our culture by inviting people in to hook with us on out new mat. We designed a scrap mat just for the occasion.

we created a new pattern for a traditional scrap mat

we created a new pattern for a traditional scrap mat

We wanted our event for Culture PEI Days to be as authentic as possible so we did what they used to do in the olden days: they set a mat into the frames and called on their neighbors and friends to help them hook on it. When theirs was well underway, they went to their neighbor’s house and hooked on theirs; and so it went, a winter of hooking without actually staying home alone and hooking on one’s own mat. It was a social event mixed into the work.

You can see the slide show of our Culture PEI Days at on our Pastimes PEI facebook page under pictures. We have the finished mat hanging on our wall for all to see. It is made of almost all recycled clothing. We opted for new wool for the border so we would not run out.

Shirlee andJack getting the new mat in the frame

Shirlee andJack getting the new mat in the frame

Donald MacDonald was happy to meet and greet us

Donald MacDonald was happy to meet and greet us

Before Christmas we set up a display at the Belfast Mini Mills Christmas Fair with a very interesting group of fellow artisans. We were at the Belfast Historic Society’s Christmas Market the next Saturday.

Pastimes PEI Art Cards from out Hooked Pieces

Pastimes PEI Art Cards from out Hooked Pieces

We make Christmas cards as well as regular greeting cards from our hooked pieces. This year we had quite a few new cards to add to our collection. We have so many photographs from over the years…… many of our actual pieces are sold so it’s nice to remember them in cards and photos.

We had some time to actually hook this year, but not as much as we’d like. I’ve added a few pictures here of our work and, of course, nothing suits unless we add a few things from our yard…….

from our house to yours........

from our house to yours……..

Our Christmas Tree.... complete with chicken-little

May 2013 be just ducky for all of our family and rug hooking friends
wool and patterns and all things hooked at Pastimes PEI

wool and patterns and all things hooked at Pastimes PEI

Inspired to Hooked Rugs at Pastimes PEI

4 Aug

People often ask us how and where we get our patterns for rug hooking; there is a simple answer: we live on PEI. We simply take our cameras everywhere and voila ….. another bunch of ideas for rugs takes shape; they often remain ideas in our binders of “Ideas” for awhile.  Yesterday Barry and I made our way all the way up to the beautiful town of Souris, PEI. We stopped at the Lighthouse craft Shop and took this picture of the lighthouse that sits on top of the hill for all mariners to see. a light for mariners up east on PEI

one of the beacons of Souris PEI

If you spend any time in Souris, you will always find something to do; there were lots of people on the main beach on the way into the town. We chatted for awhile to Camella Cheverie at Naturally Yours Antiques and Collectables  just off Main Street.  We ate at Sheltered Harbour Restaurant overlooking the Magdalen Island Ferry and saw all the RVs coming to our Island.

Last Tuesday we demonstrated our hooking at the Artisan Day at nearby Orwell Corner Historic Village; some folks even tried their hand at hooking.

Demonstrating rug hooking at Orwell Corner

Bette shows a young girl how to hook

We had a chance to see the sights and sounds of the village ‘as it used to be’.

Historic Village has a water pump that works!

The old village pump is seldom idle when the kids arrive.

And back here at Pastimes PEI in my yard all the lilies are in bloom.PEI Lilieswe hook the flowers from our gardens

Our new pattern is called Waterside Tulips. It is named for the fields of Vanco Farms tulips that grow just down the road from here.  Yes, we are surrounded by the glorious beauty of PEI so all of our rug hooking creations are our way of “showing off” our home.

Tags: , , , , , ,

What a Great Day at Pastimes PEI and Orwell Corner Historic Village

17 Sep

Today was the second day of the annual PEI Studio Tour. We met some of the most interesting people today… like Joni Black of  http://fullywoolyprimitives.com/ . It’s always a great day when we get to meet people who love the wooly things that we do.



I have lots of laps to be a lap dog on….

 Some of our old friends visited and Jack helped pick out hand-dyed wool for Cindy.

ya need wool, Cindy?

we get all kinds of characters wanting to come inside…

Any hooked  hens in there?
No, we have a vintage Cavendish Mat display tho….

And at Orwell Corner Historic Village, we let people try their hand a rughooking, Prince Edward Island style; Pastimes PEI pattern of our house in Millview was getting started.



learning to hook is fun………..

Cindyis having fun and wants a ride on the wagon att the village



you guys are pretty big……or we are small……….

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….

Pastimes PEI and the Artifacts at Orwell Corner Historic Village

3 Aug

Because I sometimes work down the road at the Orwell Corner Historic Village, I meet a variety of people from all around the world. They come to see what PEI looked like in the olden daysand experience some of the things that would have gone on long ago. The blacksmithing shop is popular with people who realize the value of making implements and shoeing horses, for example. We had one in Vernon when I was growing up. We loved the place and Dinnie Docherty who could make anything for Dad while we waited and talked.

On Sunday at Orwell Corner, we joined a group of artisans who were showing people how to create many of the things that would have been made by hand in the olden days. They had lunch that was made from the garden vegetables with fresh biscuits from Anna’s Tea Room. Visitors got to try their hands at painting with Bette Wichers, bird-carving with Jim Jenkins, rug hooking with us and they learned how to make soap from ashes and lard from Cindy Rice as well as how flax is turned into linen by Brenda Whiteway. Bev Beaton and her family talked about her photography and the staff of Orwell Corner made candles and ice cream with help from visitors.

I am telling you all his to set the stage for showing you what we all look like in historic costumes because a friend who shall remain nameless, told my husband he saw an artifact – a beautiful artifact, he may have said, sitting on a bench at Orwell Corner.  I have been called many things in my life, but an artifact has not been mentioned before. Now I knpw why I fit in so well at the Village. I’m not a relic, I am an artifact, whick, I would say, would elevate me to a higher status, I should think. Anyway, here are a few artifacts and things from Orwell Corner’s “made in PEI” Day this past Sunday.


Ellen and Shirley filling the plates for folks…



The Beaton family enjoys lunch….

Heather shows how to hook a mat…

the cotton candy was great…. dessert….



Brenda Whiteway explaining how to work with flax…



wagon rides with Kevin drew a crowd…

Cindy and her soap artifacts….

the official artifact herself…

cotton candy ..did I say delicious?? ask Annie

Heather and I were relics with relics again on Monday..oops, artifacts….