Click below to access the 25 page September 2021 newsletter, with many upcoming events in September and October.
NOTE: The Newsletter was uploaded with “June 2021” in the banner. There is now a corrected version if you want to re-download for that correction.
The Executive Board met and decided to try to sell our plywood display panels — the cost of building materials being so high we might get a good price selling to someone who could use the plywood! The cost of storing the panels, the cost of the Vermont Expo building, and the declining volunteer base for assembling a big rug show led to this decision.
We’ve been asking for input on where you’d like to have a rug show, and we continue to look for appropriate venues and ideas. Please share your ideas with a board member. You’ll find all of our contact info on page 9 of the June Newsletter.
The Board met and came to the conclusion that there wasn’t time to plan a Hook In for July, and that many members were busy with vacation plans and finally getting to be with grand-children. We’ll look to schedule something in the fall.
We’re hoping your local groups are finding time and spaces to get together.
The Brattleboro Rug Social group was able to meet in our usual space for the first time last week. It was so good to be able to be in the same space together.
We still hope people are thinking about how to Hook in Public this summer, but the weather has been challenging! Maybe looking into the fall will be good for that too.
We’re not far in our 251 Challenge to Hook in Public in all 251 towns in Vermont. But please do let us know where you’ve been hooking or if you’re thinking about participating in a fair, Old Home Days, festival or other gathering. We want more people to SEE what we do and get interested in hooking or punching.
Quite a few of our members met at The Mad River Fiber Mill in Waitsfield on June 11th.
Are your local groups meeting – inside or out? Send us updates and pictures!
An edited version of our May workshop, via Zoom is available here for those who missed it. Thanks to Anne-Marie Littenberg for a great presentation and to Sharon O’Neill for facilitating, editing the recorded session and getting it up on our YouTube channel.
We have set two challenges for our members this year:
Brattleboro Rug Social will hook at the Brattleboro Commons on Tuesday, May 25th.
Mad River Hookers will hook at the Fiber Mill in Waitsfield, VT on June 11 (or 12th if it rains on the 11th)
Look at our events calendar and /or facebook page for details – On facebook these will just be posts, not “events”.
We met on Zoom and had fun sharing our recently completed and works in progress.
An email went out to all members on March 1, 2021 with links to the newsletter.
Members can access the newsletter here: https://gmrhg.org/members-only/gmrhg-newsletters-and-surveys/
NON-MEMBERS can access it here: https://gmrhg.org/newsletters-for-non-members by providing us your name and email address.
Faith Webster was our member – contributor for the March Newsletter. She will receive a selected bundle of Nancy Jewett donated wool. Congratulations, Faith!
You can be entered for the next newsletter drawing by contributing photos (with captions) or articles for our next newsletter. Deadline: May 15th. See suggestions.
We’ve posted minutes and copies of the “sticky notes” posted on “jamboards” during the meeting.
A jamboard is a collaborative tool that allowed many of the 30+ members in attendance at our Zoom meeting to respond to a few requests for input.
You’ll find the minutes and the jamboard notes linked on our About / Board Documents page.
The Board (including our FIVE new board members !) will meet via Zoom this Saturday to follow up on all the ideas generated at the January meeting. Bookmark this home page, and watch for new initiatives and projects.
GMRHG Challenge 2021:
hook a door:
· any size
· decorate it anyway you want – Christmas, spring, etc
· can be your door or a door you saw in a magazine, your mother’s door,etc.
· any color
· with or without a house/barn/shed etc.
· could be one you saw leaning on stuff at an outdoor flea market (like Brimfield)
· Use your imagination
Once you are finished, post a picture to the Green Mountain Rug Hooking Guild group on FaceBook. Let’s see how many doors we can get hooked in 2021.
We just launched this the end of January and already have over 100 people joining us on Facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/greenmountainrughookingguild/
Don’t “DO” Facebook? We’ve brought the most recent posts to you on this page of this site: Our Facebook Group
All content for Newsletters should be sent to Barb barb@irislines.com (with GMRHG in the subject line, please!)
Newsletters for 2021 will come out early March, June, September, and December.
Deadlines are the 15th of the month before: so…. February 15, May 15, August 15, and November 15.
For each newsletter, we’ll do a random drawing from the member contributors for a great “door prize”.
Please send a photo of your hooking/wool workspace, and in just one or two sentences, describe what you like about it and what you don’t, or what works and what you’d like to change about it!
OR….Send in a photo of you and your hooking, and the pets who “help” you! In just one or two sentences, tell us what you’re hooking and how your pet helps you!
OR….Have you hung or placed a rug or hooked piece that is your favorite in your home decor? Send a photo with a quick description of the rug and how you found the perfect spot for it!
Also for June 2021: Did you do some letters for our Eye Chart we were going to display at the “real” show last fall — the theme was Vision 2020, If you did, please send photos of your letters and we’ll include a page of them in the newsletter.
Have you used unusual fabrics or materials in a rug or project? Netting, silk, ribbon, velvet? Send a photo of your project and just a few lines about what you tried, maybe why you tried it, and how it worked!
These Newsletter prompts were suggested by member Mary Jane Peabody. Send YOUR ideas for collaborative “articles” to barb@irislines.com.
Elect new board members! Hear reports about 2020 Raffle and Rug Show! Participate in discussion of Future Rug Shows and other activities of the guild.
Your participation is needed!
Details and Registration: https://gmrhg.org/events/
Our president has challenged all of us to get Rug Hooking into our local news papers.
Click here to see a recent posting featuring our member Lynn Soule and her RBG rug that is part of our virtual rug show.
This week’s Only in The Islands by You features the work of Champlain Islands Fiber Bee Lynn Soule of North Hero who hooked this incredible portrait of RBG in a mere three months from a painting by Florida artist Alicia Betancourt. Thank you Lynn for sharing with us all.
Ruth Bader Ginsberg
March 15, 1933 – Sept. 18, 2020
NORTH HERO – Champlain Islands Fiber Bee Lynn Soule hooked this remarkable portrait of RBG from a painting by Alicia Betancourt. Soule saw the painting at an art festival in Florida and immediately asked the artist for permission to recreate as hooked rug.
Granted permission, Soule began hooking the portrait in January of 2019. She told The Islander, “it took about three months to complete, which was quick because I was so into it.”
“It really took on a life of its own. The jewels in the crown are part of my aunt Lilyth Coates jewelry collection, sister of Joyce Chamberlain. The collar is from Jane Straiton’s grandmother and the earrings are actually lapel pins representing the Scales of Justice and Gender Equality.”
The piece will be featured in the November/December issue of Rug Hooking Magazine.
When asked what her plans are for the piece, Soule said “It is hanging in my dining room and will stay there.”
The Hooked in the Mountains 2020 online Show is available to view NOW!
Go to
https://rugshow2020.gmrhg.org/
and enjoy.
Doing an online Show is a new venture for the Green Mountain Rug Hooking Guild and we have a lot of content for you. There are videos, essays, featured artists’ work and of course the members’ rugs themselves.
There are 3 jurors’ awards and 3 honorable mentions. We hope to return to an in-person show but we also hope this format helps get our work out there and maybe make it available to more people than ever.
Please send out the link to everyone you can think of, and share via facebook, pinterest, twitter or the platform of your choice.
The Show will be up and available for about a year.
I’m a bit swamped building the Virtual Rug Show website, but we committed to newsletters in August (done!) and November, February, and May.
Instead of a newsletter in November, we’ve just launched a Virtual Show with over 150 rugs, videos, stories, and more.
Help me out for the February issue — send stories and photos to barb@irislines.com.
The board has planned a membership business meeting for mid-January via Zoom. (postponed from December)
We sent out an email about board position openings, and have had some responses. We’re excited to submit the names for your acceptance at the mid-January meeting.
93 rugs were submitted from 58 members.
Many rug photos were accompanied by photos depicting the rug in progress, the rug artist, or the source material: photos, watercolors, etc.
Our two featured artists, Sandra Grant and Grace Collette will be videotaped in their studios, so you’ll get a sneak peek into where and how their art is created.
If you’re interested in volunteering for website testing or proofreading, please email barb@irislines.com.
Participating artists will also get a pre-launch opportunity to review their pages.
The deadline for submitting additional information or photos via email to barb was October 10th.
The winners and (total # tickets submitted) for each prize are:
SRO Scrappy Rug One — Dawna M (262)
TES Tesselated Sheep — Beth M (257)
PPP Purple Rug and Pillow — Mary H (32)
PSG Pillow by Suzanne G — Darlene C (143)
VSN Vermont Starry Night — Elise R (156)
WHE White Egret — Gina S (69)
SWF Summer Wild Flowers — Joyce G (29)
FSP Framed Sheep Photo — Kim A (13)
PHF Puritan Hooking Frame — Joyce G (77)
ONS Hotel Stay — Deborah K (43)
Winners were notified by text.
Board Members who donated the prizes will be in touch to arrange delivery of the prizes in the next few days.
We cleared just over $4000 in this raffle.
THANKS to all who participated!
Rug Registration is open until September 15.
Additional documents, images to be emailed to Barb@Irislines.com by October 10.
You’ll find the registration form here.
August 30 update: We’ve already collected $2500 from 69 individuals who have purchased 639 tickets. The raffle remains open until October 7.
Tell your friends — include the address in emails, facebook posts, etc.
Below are links to a one-sheet with all the prizes, ticket package prices etc., order slips for selling to your friends, and an ad which you can download and then send in emails to your friends.
You can also collect cash / checks from friends – but we’ll need full info from each of them. Then send slips and checks payable to GMRHG to Barb Ackemann, 101 Washington Street, Brattleboro, VT 05301 — be sure it will reach me by October 1!
raffle slips (4 to a page for cash sales to your friends)
A link to the 21-page August 2020 Newsletter was sent out to members on August 5. Check your email!
Or…. Members can log on to this site and find the link to newsletters in the Members Only menu.
Non-members can click here to see our newsletter. We’ll just ask for your email address.
The Board has decided to move forward with a different kind of Rug Show for 2020 — A virtual show that will allow us to share our recent projects, stories, and even videos about those projects.
Members only can submit one or two rugs for this virtual show. No rugs that have previously been displayed in HitM shows may be submitted, BUT rugs submitted for the virtual show MAY be re-submitted for our Physical show in 2022.
(cash awards)
We have two gracious jurors in Susan Feller and Karen Miller. Each is a well known and fantastic fiber artist in her own right. Each has also judged for Rug Hooking Magazine’s “Celebrations”. Because they will not see your rugs in person they do need good photos to properly judge them. Do your best with that!
We are asking them to choose their 3 favorite pieces in the Show. They will not judge by category but choose their overall favorites regardless of category. I imagine agreeing on 3 will be a challenge. We have asked them to write a bit about why they chose them. That will be interesting and educational for us.
And as a first for us we will award $150 to each of the 3 winners. So send in your best and good luck!
Not a member? Join!
Membership lapsed? If you need help getting renewed, please email barb@irislines.com. Janice McKnight has stepped down from Membership Chair, and in the meantime, Barb can work with the membership database.\
Rug Registration will be via an online form OPEN August 24 – September 15 — the usual questions — but with added ability to submit your main photo AND other photos of details, or the rug “in situ”, or yourself working on the rug. You’ll also be able to submit a .txt or .doc file with a longer story about your rug. You can even record a short video about the rug, or you working on the rug.
Our virtual show will be an introduction to rug hooking for some viewers — as the physical show often is. We have the opportunity to celebrate, demonstrate, and inspire a much larger audience — since no one will have to travel to Vermont, or get a hotel room, in order to see our show. Help us make it a great show!
Barb Ackemann, our Communications chair, agreed to put together the website for this Virtual Show — but only on the condition that we have great photos to work with.
The board has decided to hire Anne-Marie Littenberg to do three days of photography for our members and to ensure that we have great photos needed for the online show.
Members will be able to request this photography service (provided free of charge by the guild) by emailing Jennifer Davey. A letter to all members went out Thursday July 23 — with all the details. Not a member? Join!
We are collecting names and home towns from members interested, and will schedule three Saturdays in August or September in three locations: northern, central and southern Vermont locations.
Here are the locations and dates:
South Royalton – Saturday August 22 9:30 – 2:00
Brattleboro – Saturday August 29 10 – 2:30
South Burlington – Saturday September 12 10 – 2:30
You need to email Jennifer Davey to sign up for one of these photo shoots.
Flat work only and no larger than 4×7 feet. (Limitations are for the free photo shoot, not for the show. You’re welcome to submit excellent photos of 3-d projects and larger rugs.)
Members will be encouraged to arrange “rug-pooling” — designating a driver from a local hook in group to bring rugs in the morning and perhaps a different “designated driver” to pick up rugs at the end of the shoot.
Anne-Marie likes to photograph rugs outdoors, so we’ve chosen venues with good parking, some shade, and an indoor alternative in case of rainy weather.
Here’s a link to an excerpt of an article from June-July-August 2019 on Photographing Your Rugs: https://www.rughookingmagazine.com/Rug-Hooking-Articles/How-to-Photograph-Your-Rugs-Part-1
Part 2 was in the September-October 2019 issue.
Maybe someone in your local group has this issue with the full article?
We will hold a business meeting via Zoom on Sunday evening July 19th from 6-8:00 pm.
Members will get an email with a link to sign up for the meeting. The reply to your R.S.V.P. will include the link to the Zoom meeting.
Our Spring Hook-In, scheduled for April 25, 2020 is also cancelled, but REPLACED by a Virtual Hook In and Show and Tell using the web conferencing platform Zoom.
At 10:00 on Saturday April 25, members will be able to log into a Zoom meeting, sit in the comfort of their own homes, and see other members as they share recently finished projects, or their current project. Sharon O’Neill will moderate the session and call on members to share one at a time.
See Guild Events to RSVP. You’ll then get a letter with all the details for logging into the Zoom meeting.
Here’s a screen shot from our recent board meeting, to give you an idea of how this might work. There were only ten of us, so we could all fit on the screen. For the April 25 event, you’ll see one person at a time sharing their projects. And it can really be a hook in, because you can hook while you watch! Just be ready when it’s your turn to to share!
The Board of the Guild met April 15 via Zoom, and came to the decision that we should postpone Hooked in the Mountains XX to next year.
We will need to assess the status of the pandemic, and look into possibilities for 2021. We promise to keep you posted right here as decisions can be made.
When we met in June, we concluded, that to avoid competition with ATHA and TIGHR we’d postpone to late fall of 2022.
We are still looking into possibilities for other events in 2021.
UPDATE:
We will be doing an online raffle with multiple prizes, including a rug, a rug frame, and many more….
That raffle will open July 1, 2020 and winners will be picked in October.
A large group of hookers enjoyed the two-day Fall Hook in at the Stoweflake Inn in Stowe. The room was packed with enthusiasm. People from near and far shared the camaraderie of hooking. Several vendors were set up around the outside of the room. The colorful displays drew many a hooker over for a few more “must have” pieces of wool or accessories. Besides a Guild meeting run by our leader Gina and our very capable Board, we heard from two speakers and did some group sharing.
Judith Hotchkiss
http://www.judithhotchkiss.com/
Judith Hotchkiss spoke to the group on Saturday afternoon. Judith has turned to punch rug hooking and punch needle embroidery and is currently most interested in combining punch and traditional rug hooking. She is an Oxford Certified Punch Needle Instructor as well as McGown certified to teach traditional rug hooking. She dyes all her own yarns and wool yardage and occasionally includes her own handspun wool. Judith lives and works in Deer Isle, Maine where she is constantly inspired by the colors and beauty of Downeast Maine.
Sunday before lunch: Loretta Scena
https://www.facebook.com/LorettaScenaDesigns/
Loretta Scena gave a presentation on Sunday. She shared the story of her rug hooking journey and displayed many of her creative rugs. Loretta is a McGown certified Traditional rug hooking Teacher from Long Island New York. She is a self-taught fiber artist who loves to create embellishments and ornaments using beads, yarns and scraps of fabric. She is a member of ATHA, TIGHR, and the Pearl McGown National Guild, as well as several east coast guilds. She is the past president of the Long Island Guild of rug crafting artists. She has had her work published a few themed rug hooking Books, as well as Rug Hooking Magazine. She is the curator along with Michele Micarelli of the Exploring the Tarot Rug Exhibit.
Read about the event and the speakers by clicking the link to Continue Reading
A big thank you to our new Program Chair, Sharon O’Neill for researching venues and making all the arrangements.
Click here for a video preview: http://mrvtv.com/450790-2/
The show ran through April 27. More Details.
Sandra Grant has sent me photos from the show which I’ve included in the May newsletter!
About 50 of us met April 27, 2019 at the Capital City Grange in Berlin, VT, from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm.
Our presenter, Kathy Giroux, is a fiber artist who specializes in needle felting. Kathy gave a brief history of needle felting, and then focused on the process using many examples of how she uses needle felting in her art. We got a good overview of what Kathy means when she says, “I paint with fiber.”
We had two vendors for the spring hook-in in Barre/Montpelier:
The newsletter went out this week with a list of Local Hook ins. We did indeed scare up another that hasn’t been on our website:
First Saturday of the month, October to June 1:00-5:00.
Free and open to all. Tea, coffee & snacks. For more information, contact Stephanie Allen-Krauss, 802-223-1333
Please send any additions / corrections to barb@irislines.com and she’ll get them in the calendar, and in this update.
Sharon was one of four artists interviewed on the radio for a show called The Upside VT Art Hop.
Here’s the link to the radio show. Sharon’s segment is right at the top of the show at about 3:42
Note: You can click on any image to open it in a larger format.
The juror was Katie Kirschoff, a curator at the Shelburne Museum.
Marty Liptak – “Nevertheless She Persisted”
Kathy O’Donnell – “Sweeny’s Hardware” (both Jurors and Viewer’s awards)
Barb Ackemann – “Eleanor”
Sandy Ducharme – “Snow Leopard”
Sue Gault – “Cross Words”
Suzanne Girouard – “Asparagus Spring”
Gail Lapierre – “Domestic Zoo”
Amy Lindsay – “Graba’s on Vail Pass Bike Trail”
Trisha Miller – “Winter Roost”
Kathy O’Donnell – “Sweeny’s Hardware” (both Jurors and Viewer’s awards)
Ed O’Keeffe – “Graffiti II”
Dayle Wheeler-Young – “Ruler of the Roost”
See our president, Gina Steen’s Television Interview: https://bit.ly/2LNHwiv
Putting on the show is a labor of love — but it costs money, too! Click to make an Online Donation. GMRHG is a non-profit 501c3 organization.
Jennifer Davey remembered and then found the video made at the show in 2011. See it here!
I’m sure there are wonderful Sunsets to be viewed from this room, but for us the Sunlit Ballroom would be a better name!
From Kris McDermet:
The Hook In last weekend was wonderful and fun and colorful with beautiful views and vendors and friends. What could be better! Thank you for all of your work and organization, Jane and Gail especially, and to the board for making it such a nice time.
The space for the Hook In was great – with good lighting for all – except when we wished we could have darkness for our presenters’ slide shows!
Barbara Lukas won the table, designed and hooked by Patty Yoder.
The Shelburne Museum currently has an exhibiton of Patty Yoder’s work at the Pizzagalli Art and Education Building. Many of you knew Patty, but many new hookers may not know about her. She was one of our guild Presidents and very instrumental in bringing the Hooked in the Mountain Show to the Shelburne Museum. She is much missed.
Here is what the museum says about Patty’s work “Bringing together the artist’s first and last works alongside preparatory sketches and other ephemera, Hooked on Patty Yoder surveys the 13 -year career of American rug hooker Patty Yoder (1943-2005). Best known for her beguiling Alphabet of Sheep (2003), Yoder conceived of her designs as “paintings with wool to be hung and enjoyed as art.” Exacting attention to color, composition, and technique, paired with Patty’s penchant for high visual standards and whimsical designs, truly sets her work as a new standard within the field of American textile arts.”
Museum admission is $10. The show opened September 30 and comes down January 21. Many guild members took advantage of being close by and fit in a trip to the museum while in the area for the Hook In. If you couldn’t make it, there is still time!
This is the raffle rug for the Green Mountain Rug Hooking Guild’s Hooked in the Mountains XVIII Rug Show at the Champlain Valley Expo Center in Essex, Vermont, October 19-23, 2016.
The following rug hooking artists made the 8 rectangles and many thanks to them for creating such imaginative designs. They donated their pieces to the guild several years ago. The 8 rectangles had been part of the Circus Train Exhibit at the Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, VT.
Joanne Millen
John Woodard
Susan Gingas
Anne Marie Littenberg
Polly Alexander
Debra Boudrieau
Kim Dubay
Judith Osler Phillips
Each rectangle has been surrounded with braid, then joined together with a hooked border on the top and bottom and finished off with 2-3 more rows of braid.
The overall size is approximately 3 feet 10 inches by 6 feet 11 inches.
I am the person who won the Circus Train hooked rug at the Rug Show last year.
It was too big to display properly in my little ranch house, so I reached out through some friends, and eventually donated it to the Cobleigh Library in Lyndonville. They have it displayed on the wall in their Children’s Room
If anyone in the Guild has time, it would be neat if someone could contact the Library and give them background on the people who hooked the various squares, and maybe some basics on caring for a hooked rug. And of course if you have members over in that area, they might enjoy visiting the rug on display.
Their webpage is http://cobleighlibrary.org/main/
It is nice to know that many people will have the chance to see and enjoy the rug. We’ll be providing the library a copy of the book that was made about the Circus Train Exhibit at the Shelburne Museum. The eight panels in this rug were part of that exhibit several years ago.
Hundreds of rugs and 3-D fiber art pieces were on display at the XVIII Hooked in the Mountains Rug Show and Fiber Arts Exhibition. After all the votes were counted, the following winners for Viewer’s Choice were announced (in no particular order). Continue Reading
