Fun Fall Weekend

 Happy Fall ya'll! This is my most favorite time of year.  Yes, I love spring with all the new plants and blooms, summer with planting new flowers, starting veg gardens, and taking care of my bees, and winter, with the snow, cooking yummy cozy food, and staying home, but fall, *sigh*

My little backyard studio is all decorated for fall, and I'm loving it!  I may do a small wreath for the door, or wait and make one for Christmas. 

Aaron built this little arbor for me a few years ago, and, up until this spring, had grape vines growing over her.  Well, the grapes never really did anything but get some kind of weird leaf fungus, so I dug them out.  This coming spring, I'm going to put two vintage, ever blooming roses on each side, and cross my fingers!  But for now, a row of cute little pumpkins and a couple of mums.

As everyone knows, ALL fairs and festivals were cancelled.  Yes it's a bummer, but necessary until this pandemic is contained.  Well, my second to last scheduled show actually happened!  Roseland Cottage Fine Arts and Crafts was this past weekend, and the people that manage it are total rockstars!  They were able to figure out how to have the show and keep everybody safe.  All vendors were spaced 10-12 feet apart, and attendees had to buy tickets online so they could manage how many people were on the field at a time.  I almost didn't do it, mainly because of the pandemic, but needed a little financial boost going into winter.  (wool bills are real, my friends)!  

A little mat I finished the day before the show!  Didn't sell, so still available!

My booth all set up.  Good air flow with hand sanitizer at the ready.

Little hooked pillows and a few contemporary rug

See my little fall whale?!  Shes just the cutest bringing pumpkins and bittersweet to the celebration!

My awesome banner Aaron had made for me when I started my business.

My dyed wool supply is getting skimpy!  I see a few dye days in my future.

One of a set of screen doors repurposed as a rug display, courtesy of Aaron!

My Seasons rug was quite popular as a pattern last year.

The only finished piece that sold was this giant sunflower.  The woman that bought it was so thrilled!

Now that flower rug got so much attention!  I swear, she almost went home with a few different people, but nobody could figure out how to display it. 

This was the temp Sunday morning......quite chilly!  But it did warm up and we had two beautiful days

And last, saw a couple of hot air balloons take off, but only got a picture of one.  The other was green with an alien face, but was long gone by the time I found my phone.  

 

 

I'm now off to do a bit of housework, then clean up my workroom upstairs.  Next week is kit making week for my Etsy shop so stay tuned!

A Little Experiment This Weekend

 Hello everyone!  How was your weekend?  Weird times, huh?  Well, I decided to set up my booth at a local flea market just to see how things would go.  As I'm sure you all know, most all shows and festivals have been cancelled (sad, but understandable), so a bit part of my financial and social input was just gone.  I am definitely out of practice, but with Aaron's help, got it there and set up.  It was a beautiful, foggy then sunny New England day, so while not a waste of time, the rug hookers and fiber people just weren't there.  I did have some great conversations with patrons, and caught up with a couple of friends.  I had forgotten to grab breakfast before getting there, and one of my neighbors and her daughter came by, and save my life!  (if you're ever in Woodbury, CT, visit New Morning grocery store.  They have sandwiches that are divine)!

A little visitor that hung out with me, got a little drink of water from my bottle lid, and took off to do some shopping. 😄

 

This week will be a bit busy.  I've got a class this Sunday, October 11 at Maple View Farm in Orange CT.  It's from 10am to 1pm, and you'll get to learn a few basics of rug hooking and will take home a cute little fall pumpkin you can hang on your wall.  If you're interested in taking this class, contact Maple View Farm at 203-799-6495 and ask for Patti.  I think there's three or four places left.

 I've been lucky that one of my shows is actually happening! Roseland Cottage Fine Arts and Crafts Festival!  I vended there last year when I was lucky to be called up from the waiting list, and this year, I made it through the jury process and was invited back!  The artisans at this show are amazing, and the crew that put on this show are some of the hardest workers and nicest people I've met. 

 Roseland Cottage Fine Arts & Crafts - Saturday, 10/17   

Sunday, October 18th Tickets

They are doing things a little different, and all the details are at the above link. There's quite a bit of room on the field where the vendors are placed, and of course, don't forget your mask!! I'll be posting more about this show in the coming days, maybe give a little preview of what I'll be bringing! 

Merry Monday!

 

 My happy place

I love this picture of my backyard studio.  I am going to do a separate post on how she came here and her transformation from an unfinished shed to a magical little creativity space.  This is where our Wednesday group meets, and if you're in the area (Naugatuck, CT), and want to join us, drop me a message!  We're are always looking for more fiber peeps!

Well, here it is!  Finally finished!  The background took about a yard and a half of that beautiful, gold sparkly indigo blue, but totally worth it!  Lesson learned from this design....you don't have to stick with your original idea, and get the big pack of sharpies in different colors.  😉

I've officially closed my website, so here and my Etsy shop, www.etsy.com/shop/ravensgateprims

is where you can find me, my rugs, patterns, hand dyed wool, and kits.  If you're looking for a custom rug, kit, or dyed wool, let me know!

Happy Tuesday!

 Ya'll, this weather is just heavenly!  I am a southern gal by birth, but I've lived in Connecticut for over 30 years and have fallen in love with fall.  It's so cool at night, I have to turn off the window fans, and even brought out the hoodies to walk Jackson in the morning!  

Yesterday and today has been about "office work".  That has a whole new meaning when you own your own business!  I would prefer to just be able to create all day, hooking rugs, making feather trees, whatever, but that's not possible.  Mind you, I'm definitely not whining, I'm happy and content being able to do what I love, but I just don't "love" the office work as much.  😉  I've listed some gorgeous spot dyes in my Etsy shop, and did some updates on Facebook. 

Ok, enough of that.....a couple of Sundays ago, Aaron and I went to a very cool place in Bridgeport called Mongers Market.  It's a huge warehouse owned by a couple that have an architectural salvage business, and it is full of just stuff!  It takes a few hours to walk through the entire thing, and in the back, they have some pretty cool vendors.  One of these vendors sells oriental rugs as well as has a cleaning service for the same kind of rugs.  As I walked past his booth, I noticed a bag of what looked like twine with some interesting colors, and had to look!

I think they are cotton twine waste from making rugs, maybe the warp on a loom, or leftover fringe waste.  Anyway, it was $20 for the whole bag, so I'll figure out what to use it for, and if you all have any suggestions, let me know!

In hooking news, I've been working on a Christmas rug that I'm honestly struggling a bit with.  In my head, the vibe was 40's atomic, space rocket but with Rudolph!  So Rudolph came out really well, and the letters, Rudolph Aviation, look pretty cool.  Then I started on the sleigh.....lol

Looks a little like a shark.  Honestly, I can't stop seeing a shark.

Yep, shark....with a weird fin.

As you can tell with the multiple sharpie colors, I was quite undecided on the sleigh.  I put it away for a couple of days, just so I don't make a wrong decision, but I think I'll pull it back out tonight, take out the existing shark/rocket, and reconfigure.  Wish me luck!

Have your best day!

 

Naomi

Everything Old is New Again!

 Well, if I never hear the word "unprecedented" again, my life will be whole.  😉  Almost two years ago, I left Blogger and opened a new website.  It was a lot of hard work, some fun, and quite the feeling of accomplishment since I'm nowhere near a computer person.  Like most everybody else, 2020 has been a challenging year, and from the perspective of a self-employed artist, it's kind of sucked.  All craft and art show, and fiber festivals were cancelled, and the pivot to all online selling has been a struggle.  I've supported a stand-alone website as well as my Etsy site, and my Etsy site has done well while my website just isn't generating any income.  With that being said, I've decided to shut down my website and just go with my blog here as well as my Etsy site.  If you are visiting from my website, I've brought over my mailing list and added a sign up form so my newsletter will still be sent out and my class and show schedule will be here as well.

I will do my very best to be better at posting here on my blog, and there will be more rug hooking and feather tree posts here as well as on Facebook and Instagram.  Time to pivot folks!!  (another word I'll be happy to stop using soon....lol).  

Now, onto to some fun stuff.  Last year, I was really looking into opening a brick and mortar store (thank goodness that didn't happen)!  Then Aaron and I went to the CT Garden show and walked through the Kloter Farms display and I fell in love!  After a few months, this beauty came home to us!  Then, Aaron went to work!  He ran electricity, insulated, installed a heater, put up shiplap, and put in some beautiful flooring.  Voila, here is my backyard studio.  She's been called a barn and shed, but I call her my creativity space.  I was able to have a couple of classes, and we hook every Wednesday right outside under a tent butted up against the side.  I love her!

This studio is such a blessing, and I will be scheduling many more classes when we can all get together again.

Here's a couple of pictures of our Wednesday hooking (and knitting) group as well as one of the classes I held last year.  I do miss getting together with all the fiber peeps!

We had two shy classmates in our sunflower class.  Everybody did such a great job and brought home a a couple of beautiful sunflowers to display in their homes.

So, that's a little update.  I'll be closing my website in the next couple of days, so if you're interested in purchasing any hand dyed wool, patterns, kits, or finished rugs, please visit my Etsy shop, Raven's Gate Primitives 

or drop me an email.

 

Have a great day!