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!