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#Heartsforheroes

 

Hooked rug heart
This is NOT the heart that will go on my front door, but it is a taste of what we want to do. I hooked this one last night as part of the Ribbon Rug Journal. I called it “Hear Alert” then, but it’s really “#HEARTSFORHEROES.”

#heartsforheroes

So the country’s come to a standstill. Or so it seems as many of us sit at home making and walking our dogs and bingeing WestWorld and otherwise avoid contracting Covid-19. But we know that’s not true. There are still all kinds of folks out in the big, germy world. I don’t mean your fellow shoppers in Costco or Walmart. No, I’m talking the people who work in Costco and Walmart. Then there are the people driving the trucks bringing the groceries and the toilet paper to Costco and Walmart. And all the other stores and warehouses that are still open.

How about the people working in the post office, people bringing your Amazon packages? And the folks that deliver the news to our doors and televisions. There are the veterinarians and zoo keepers keeping our animals healthy. All those restaurant people making and delivering food to others who never learned how to boil water or to those of us just sick of our own cooking.

And then there are the people actually putting their lives on the line: first responders, nurses and doctors, cops, and firemen. Maybe you’re sewing masks for them in your house right now. Good for you! And thank you. They’re all busy and probably can’t stop to tell you themselves.

I know there are plenty of others out there working while you and I stay home trying to flatten the curve; I just can’t think of all the job categories. There’s not enough time, and it’s not important. What is important is to let them know how much we appreciate them all. In that vein, I’d like to propose a method for doing just that. Actually, friend and fellow hooker Cass from Tennessee suggested it. She’d seen something similar online and thought that the rug hooking community should embrace it.

What if we started a challenge of hooked hearts…design and size, etc., of your choice? They would hang on our doors or some visible place as an outward show of love and appreciation to all of the support personnel…medical, grocers, janitors, truck drivers, police and fire, postal, etc. …I’m envisioning something to represent love and thanks to these folks… Could we start here and post and spread? It seems that if the virus can spread worldwide, this could as well.
— Cass

Well, what do you think? Do you have a spare piece of monk’s cloth or linen? A pattern you’ll never do? Turn it over. Anyone can draw a heart and color it in with wool or t-shirt or whatever your leftover noodles are. It doesn’t have to be huge. Do you prefer punching? Do that, then hang it where folks will see it. Even if they don’t get the full significance, we all recognize the feelings and emotions behind a heart. Not a hooker? Feel free to branch out. Sew a heart, crochet a heart, mold a heart. It really doesn’t matter what they’re made of, just that we get them out there.

Rug Hooked heart celebrating #heartsforheroes
Another hooked heart! This one, a lavender sachet pillow, was done by Lauren Fuqua of Rugs and Pugs. I won it in one of her many give-aways. Maybe you already have a handmade heart? Put it up today!

The timing for this is absolutely perfect! Those of you who are Jewish just began your celebration of Passover which remembers the Hebrew Exodus after the tenth and most awful plague inflicted upon the ancient Egyptians. As a Christian, today I mark Holy Thursday, the start of the Easter season. Above all else, Holy Thursday is about humble service to others. Christ washed the apostles’ feet. Cass and I have daughters risking their own health to work as cashiers in the grocery stores where we all continue to shop.

By the way, your heart shouldn’t be limited to your front door or window. Nope, you’re going to post them on social media for everyone to find. And you’re gonna hashtag them: #heartsforheroes. Beth Miller of Parris House Wool Works has gotten us rug hookers used to hashtagging #greatinternationalhookin when we display the rugs we’re hooking during these pandemic days. We can do the same for our hearts.

Please hook a heart and help us to thank the heroes: Amy, Tina, Elisabeth, David, and all the others. And enjoy and appreciate what will be very different Easter and Passover holidays this year.

Please share. 

Love & Kisses

 

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The gospel of rug hooking successfully shared

EVFAC is located in Espanola, New Mexico, about a half-hour north of Santa Fe on the way to Taos.

My two-part class at the Española Valley Fiber Arts Center (EVFAC) finished up yesterday, and yes, peeps, we have welcomed at least one new acolyte to the fold. Woohoo! Felicity, who happens to also hail from Albuquerque, was already a fiberista first class: she knits, sews, weaves, dyes, and I don’t know what else. Except for rug hooking. She’s added that to her repertoire now. I suspect she’ll do some cool stuff with it all.

After an incredible drive up north that reminded me of why I moved to New Mexico – big, blue sky; purple mountains majesty; snow-covered peaks even in April… – I was unpacking and found that my other student had texted that she couldn’t make the class. (Fortunately, she lives near me too, so, hopefully, we can do a quick wrap-up here in ABQ.) When Felicity wasn’t there by 10:20, we got worried and called her. “Sorry! Be there soon!”  She’d gotten caught in some traffic. Whoo, I thought wiping the sweat away, I’d been worried I’d turned two people off the craft.

 

Rug hooking student, accepts the gospel of rug hooking.
Felicity has become a student of the gospel of rug hooking. Woohoo!

 

Imagine my concern then when Felicity informed me that she hadn’t finished hooking her t-shirt mat, In fact, she’d not worked on it at all! Damn, what the hell had I done or said last week? But wait! I had it all wrong. She pulls out her monks’ cloth and tells me that she started a new rug! (I’d given them enough to do just that but figured it would happen after the first one.) She has all kinds of wool yarn sitting

Felicity said she’d send me pics when she finishes her project. But I really can’t wait to see what she does with rug hooking, how she integrates it into her other artistic endeavors.

around her house and decided she wanted to try hooking that! So, there she was trying different directions and textures. I though that it was very inspired of her to go all rogue like that. Sure, she couldn’t go through the finishing process, but I had a few small rugs on me that needed to be finished up; we used them as demos. Felicity’s clearly a quick study, so she’ll get hers done up, no prob. Even better, she was able to score a Puritan frame for just $70. It had been sitting around the store for months and was in great condition.

 

 

Purtaon rug hooking frame
Pic of a Puritan frame. (Sorry, no longer available from iloverughooking.com).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Because there’d been some issues getting the class online for sign-up, I was lucky to get two students, the minimum needed for a class to run. The good thing is that where our tiny class was located required folks to walk by us and naturally stop to check out what we were up to. Several women mentioned being interested. “Would they be running the class again?” It’s up to them to bug request that EVFAC do just that. I’m up for it. And since I joined the Center as a member (which amongst other things lets you sell in the shop and outside sales they sponsor plus provides discounts for classes and items for sale), I’ll be stopping by any time I’m up in that area. And there’s a wicked sounding, one-day photography class with my name on it.

 

Photo of yarn.
EVFAC is filled with all things fiber. You certainly can’t get out without buying something. (Read: good stuff and reasonable prices.) Classrooms galore. During our class yesterday, there were workshops going on in felting and quilting. A new weaver was trying to warp a loom, and spinners were hanging around the couches…spinning. What else?

EVFAC’s an hour and a half ride for me, but worth it. Do you have a fiber “facility” that’s not all that near to your home, but that inspires you to drive? Extol its virtues here.

 

And to those celebrating this week, Happy Easter and Passover! Tom, Tynan, and I will  be taking some time off. It’s a good time to put away the social media for a bit and enjoy what we have.

 

 

 

 

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