This week’s blog is all about the photo…of the dog. Because everyone seems to enjoy his weekly updates of the larger rug I’ve been working on since early January. Here’s this week’s:
Tynan is the new face of High on Hooking. Here he “relaxes” on the current rug. (T-shirts hooked into a traditional pattern gifted to the Adobe Wool Arts Guild here in Albuquerque.)
For those who are wondering, Tynan is an almost 9-year-old Welsh springer spaniel. (His birthday is next month.) Some of you might notice that he’s looking a lot less scruffy in this pic; he got a haircut just yesterday. He’s become fond of demonstrating how much dogs (and even cats) love hand-hooked rugs. In fact, he believes that every dog deserves his or her own rug. Fortunately, High on Hooking can help all you dog parents and grandparents with that. Finally, Tynan will do pretty much anything if he believes that food will be involved. Yes, he did get a treat after his photo shoot.
We’ve got another photo or two. This is a mug rug my niece requested after seeing other mug rug sets on my Facebook pages. In this case, she sent a pic of the mug for me to work from.
“Kendall’s Cupcake mug rug. (T-shirts, beads, pom-pom.)Niece Kendall with her mug and custom-hooked rug. Doesn’t the kid just slay you?
“Seize the day.” I decided that would be my rallying cry today after I listened to Ellis Paul’s song.
She comes to my bed like a whisper
Slips in the sheet like a ghost
Says in my ear “Hey mister,
You need to take this girl to the coast.
I need to kick my feet up in the ocean
Feel the taste of the salt sea spray
Baby let’s live in the moment
For it feels like life is taking the moment away”
Seize the day, Seize the day, Seize the day…
–Ellis Paul
The song goes on from there. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a video of him singing it. Sorry.
Frankly, it’s not been a great month. That it’s only January makes it all worse! My grandmother died early this morning. She was 95-ish, and it was expected. Hell, I’m 52; how great is it that I even had a grandparent still alive? One that would swim in Long Island Sound all the way through November into her 70s? Bike and drive into her 80s? Loved her husband to pieces and her cats and dogs as well? I need to be like that.
There are other family issues, other losses. Someone’s lost a job. Two friends have recently lost their dogs. Tynan had a dental emergency last week; suddenly nine (yes, nine!) teeth
Someone was under the weather the morning after his extractions.
had to go. Not sure why as he’d had a cleaning less than two years back. But at least he’s still among us, back to his old self, albeit without so much chewing.
Then there’s just the general tenor of the whole country lately, and this week specifically. We’re so divided in our…dissatisfaction. What about a collective attitude adjustment where we focus on the positive for a change? Maybe do something with it.
So, I’m seizing the day, my day. It’ll be a quiet one, and that’s okay. There’s writing this blog post, applying to this years Railyards Market, cleaning out some clutter and getting some laundry done. And I’ll continue hooking my rug, one of two that needs to be pretty much done come March 1. (That’s the cut-off date for entries in this year’s ALBUQUERQUE FIBER FIESTA if you’re interested in sharing some of your work.)
Seizing the day for me doesn’t have to be a big, bombastic event. All it means is that I’ll do what I set out to do, that I won’t bitch about other “stuff,” you know that crap you pretty much can’t do anything about anyway. It means that Tom and I will take Tynan for a little walk later during which we’ll notice the blue sky (oddly enough, it’s been raining the past few days here) and the birds overhead. We’ll revel in the 50-degree temperature, look at the snow on the nearby Sandia Mountains, and remind ourselves of how smart we were to move to New Mexico.
Are you seizing the day
or will you let all the negativity get you down?
If you can’t lighten up when you see these little dolls, you’re never going to! (Artist unknown; pic taken at Española Valley Fiber Arts Center.)
It’s officially fall, and the pumpkins are popping even here in New Mexico. Along with them come the roasting chiles, the mums, and Halloween costumes and candy in stores (we’re not even gonna talk about the Christmas shit stuff I saw in Walmart yesterday). While I love summer and warm weather, I won’t deny my affinity for most things autumn: cooler temperatures, pumpkins (of course!), candles, sweaters, fires (even if out here they’re usually gas-fueled rather than wood), exchanging flip-flops for my kick-ass, little booties, and so on.
“Little Pumpkin”; 10″x10″; all wool and even llama (not one t-shirt loop!)
Like New England, New Mexico holds off till fall to show its best self. In Albuquerque we may not get the range of foliage colors quite like we had in Massachusetts, but the yellows and golds of the cottonwoods and aspens stand out brilliantly against the almost daily blue-blue sky. And there’s little chance that a nasty, wind-driven rainstorm (worse, an ice storm!) will strip the leaves off the trees one night while we sleep.
This week I’m finishing up three mug rugs to sell Sunday at my final Rail Yards date for the year. (Until December 11’s Holiday Market, that is, but more on that later.) Two are autumnal in nature, one being a pumpkin. There are two other pumpkins in my inventory, and I’m hoping that at least a couple of them find new homes this coming weekend.
Okay, this little guy is all t-shirt too. I can’t help myself. He’s 6″x6″.
No blog next week; we’ve got my sister-in-law coming into town just in time for Albuquerque’s Balloon Fiesta. Tom and I are looking forward to going to a “Glow” one evening which is when they fire up some of the balloons after it gets dark. They don’t go anywhere (because flying in the dark would be a CRAZY thing to do), but they look pretty…glowing. Hopefully, pics will come out so that I can share them here.
What do you look forward to most when cold weather and fall finally come calling? Share your pumpkins on High on Hooking’s Facebook page.
It took a year, but our first visitors finally arrived here at our new house in New Mexico. My parents took the honor, arriving last Tuesday. They departed early yesterday morning, just as the sun came up from behind Albuquerque’s Sandia Mountains.
Mom always says, “Wine tastes best on top of a mountain.” In this case we were celebrating the view from Sandia Crest after arriving via the Tramway.
I have to admit that Tom and I were rather depressed after we dropped them at the Sunport (that’s what they call the airport here). More specifically, we were homesick, something that really hasn’t been a problem for us other than at the holidays. Which are coming up… Still, we had a good time: saw lots of sites, shopped lots of shops, ate lots of food, drank lots of wine. (My beverage proclivities are clearly genetic.) New friends – also from New England – joined us for Tom’s home-smoked ribs and football Sunday. And since you asked, yes, the Patriots did beat those Arizona Cardinals, even without Tom Brady. Woohoo!
Interestingly, I took few pictures, mostly because we were always visiting places I’ve already got photographs of. Guess I better ask my father to share his pics.
But vacation’s over (and it was a vacation for me, especially not dealing much with social media, to be perfectly honest), our visitors are gone, and now I’ve got work to do. There are two weekends of the Rail Yard Market left for me. Mug rugs have been selling, so they have to be replenished. I steamed two today; tomorrow I’ll finish them up. I’m in the midst of finishing a table runner too. And starting a brand new rug, a big round one. I drew it up yesterday. Later today I’ll finish sewing on the twill tape and start cutting strips. (If you’re new to High on Hooking, I sew the tape on first, before I start to hook. It’s just how I was taught.)
The reception I’ve had at the Rail Yard has been so positive that I’ve decided to participate in December’s special holiday market. It’ll be cold standing outside all day (the building we’re in is really just a shell), but I’m hoping that it’ll be worth the effort. And that there will be a LOT of hot tea available. So, I need to get ready for that, come up with some new ideas. More on that later.
Balloon Fiesta: what fall is all about in Albuquerque. Think our visitors will like this?
So, it’s time to get moving and to prepare for…more visitors! Tom’s sister and some of her family will be here in…two weeks! Just in time for Balloon Fiesta to start. Fall is a busy time here in the Salamy household and at High on Hooking. Thank goodness we like it that way.
Memory Lane can take you to the best places. In this case, New Hampshire’s Story Land around 1970.
Memory Lane’s got me in her grip, but I managed to come up for air for a few moments. For one thing, this post is due tomorrow. As long as I can get a draft done today…
I’ve been going through hundreds of old family photos that my brother and his wife generously uploaded to Shutterfly from slides my father’s been taking for decades. It’s a huge undertaking and the job’s not done yet. But at least family history – the good and bad of it – won’t be lost, and the collection of pics doesn’t have to be split between the four of us kids.
Why am I going through photos today? And not just my father’s but my own family’s as well? It actually has to do with rug hooking. Really! In less than a month Cheryl Bollenbach is paying a visit to Albuquerque, specifically to the Adobe Wool Arts guild, to facilitate an open class with us. I know, it’s exciting. It’s open, so we’re choosing our own projects. Cheryl will be informed ahead of time, so that she’ll know what we’re looking to learn and what we need help with, then she can prepare accordingly. Actually, she’s waiting to hear from us, um, me right now. I received her email Friday. Still haven’t responded.
Dancing with Grandpa. Maybe I was 13-ish.
See, between creating hopefully saleable small mats and working on the bed-sheet rug (which presented a not-so-small backing challenge this past week) in order to have enough inventory for the Rail Yards Market come June 5, I haven’t been thinking too much about the class. Sure, now and again – usually at 2:00 a.m. in bed – I’d agonize a little over it and what I wanted to accomplish with Cheryl, but I’d comfort myself with “Hey, it’s not till May. You’ve got plenty of time.” This week I realized that May 4th is RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER!
Deep breath. More thought. One goal I’ve had for 2016 is to hook a sefie. Not something particularly realistic, but one of those whimsical, full-of-color mats I’ve seen some of you put up on Facebook and Pinterest. What fun! I’ll do that. But then I got to thinking, I haven’t done
Tynan, family dog extraordinaire. (We all say that about our dogs, I know.) Love his color, but not interested in hooking that much Welsh springer spaniel red and white.
Tynan. He’s our dog who simply must be immortalized in wool or t-shirt or something. Again, not looking to make him realistic either. Did that with another dog and really didn’t enjoy it. Ripped out a LOT of loops. Hooking’s supposed to be my happy place. And what I want to do in one of these rugs is show that and the joy that Tynan and/or I get from life. That means bright colors, people.
So, I’m looking at pics, and I see my beloved grandmother. And my brother who passed away from cancer at 14. I could hook them! Or pictures my dad took of Nova Scotia during our camping trips! What about the mountains of New Mexico that I’ve fallen in love with? Or my daughter behind a feathered Mardi Gras mask circa 5th grade? Now I’m out of control. Really, I’ve never mined my photographs for ideas given my love of abstract. I guess it’s time.
I know that many of you do use your pics to hook. I’m looking for some advice regarding Photoshop. Looks like it can definitely be a great tool. Thoughts? Ease of use? (I’m Windows based, not Mac.) Happy to hear from everyone. And I’ll let you know sometime soon who’s getting a portrait done.
