Author Archives: tinpedlar

About tinpedlar

The Tin Pedlar of Maine Chapter of ATHA (Association of Traditional Hooking Artists) shares a common purpose of promoting the art of rug hooking through education, sharing of ideas and group activities.

October Meeting & Auction

Introduction To Rug Hooking Classes!

A Letter From The President – 2026

Happy September Everyone! I hope all enjoyed a wonderful summer
and possibly got lots of hooking done! I will confess I did not!
Our first meeting for the season is Saturday, September 12th at Blue Point
Church, 236 Pine Point Road, Scarborough. The door will be open at
9:30 am. Please bring your coffee, lunch, your hooking and your fair
pieces. Let’s share our summer adventures, have a show and tell of what
you are working on and your fair rugs. Please bring your lunch and stay
until 1:30-2 hooking, laughing and enjoying being back together!
We will start off with a business meeting with updates from our board
and our fair committee. Our Board has lots of ideas to share! Please
remember that our dues are due this month. Please turn in a form and check or cash for your dues to the treasurer at your earliest convenience.

If you did cannot attend the meeting, reach out to our treasurer, Theresa Jack, or follow the link at the bottom of this letter.

Theresa’s address is 17 Heather Rd, South Portland ME. 04106

Remember to bring your fair pieces so that Emily and the Fair Team can
take them. The pieces will be returned at the October meeting. If you cannot make the meeting, reach out to Emily to coordinate.

Here is what is happening for the rest of this year!
October will be our Auction! If you have something fiber or craft
related, please bring it in October…and bring a friend, perhaps they
will join us on a regular basis after that!

Remember, the church can’t store ‘stuff’ for us, so if you bring something and it doesn’t sell, please take it back home with you!

November we will be treated to a visit by Diane Learmonth of
Lupine Cottage in Stockton Springs, Maine. She is a fiber artist
who loves using driftwood in her hooked creations. She will share
her work and explain her creativity.

December will be a potluck lunch, a simple craft, and perhaps some
fun and games to put us in the mood for whatever holiday you may
celebrate.

We look forward to hearing about 2027 soon. If you have ideas, please
share them with Rachel.
Hope to see you on September 12th!
Sara, President

Rachel John – Vice President/Programs
Theresa Jack – Treasurer
Alice Jack – Communications (including website)
Amy Kaplan & Pat Laska – Co-Librarians
Emily Williams – Chair, Cumberland Fair

ONLINE MEMBERSHIP FORM

A note from the communication director

Apologies for getting this letter on the website late, please reach out to the board if you did not receive this communication already by email, and we will make sure that we get you on our newsletter list.

Passing of long-time TP member

Norine Bucknell, who was an early and long-time member of Tin Pedlars passed away in May. Norine was both a prolific and talented hooker, especially with narrow cuts. She was an officer in a few different positions in Tin Pedlars until the early 1990’s. Tin Pedlar honored her as a featured member back in 2008 at the Portland rug show at Woodford’s Congregational Church. Norine was a great teacher of beginners in the Cornish area as well as very generous with her time to help anyone that needed it. She attended many rug schools from Sebago to as far away as Sauder, in Ohio. Her sense of humor was sneaky – you would not expect it from a petite, polite lady!

Norine was Rachel Johns and Marcia Gilpatrick mother. Our deepest sympathies are extended to them, and the complete family.

Join Us!

Anyone interested in learning about Traditional Rug hooking or looking to connect with other Rug Hookers, are welcome to join the Tin Pedlar of Maine Association of Traditional Hooking Artists. We meet on the 2nd Saturday of the month. Our program year runs Sept. to June.

The meeting space doors open at 9:30 AM. The planned meeting starts at 10 AM. Most formal meeting ends around 11:30 PM. The meeting space remains available for hooking and conversation following completion of the planned program until 1 pm.

We meet in the Fellowship Hall of the Blue Point Congregational Church, 236 Pine Point Rd, Scarborough, ME. **To access the meeting in the lower level of the church you have around 5 stairs to descend.

Directions: Take Exit 42 off Maine Turnpike.
Turn right onto Payne Road at the lights after the tolls.
When meeting up with Rt 1 go south and get immediately into left lane.
Turn left onto Rt 9 – Pine Point Rd. Follow 2.1 miles.
The church is on the left – its a brick church building. The parking lot is just to the right side of the church.

Tin Pedlar of Maine Story in Fiber Folio

If you haven’t seen it yet, check out this story in the Fiber Folio which as posted April ’22.

The story starts: “Maine Tin Pedlars has been meeting for over 40 years in and around Southern Maine. The Chapter is a member of the national group—Association of Traditional Hooking Artists. Back in 1980, one of the very first meetings of the group was held at the home of Jackye Hansen, who promptly set out to organize an exhibit of hooked rugs.“

and continues with story and rugs shared by some of our members at the April’22 meeting of the Tin Pedlars.

Yes, We Gathered Together!

For years members of the Tin Pedlars have looked forward to the September meeting which signifies the start of a new program year for our association. While COVID-19 has impacted how we are able to gather inside at this time the Board decided to see about holding an outside meeting. We thank all who responded to our survey about staying connected and informed. The many positive responses to an outdoor gathering in the church’s park lot allowed us to go forward with that. The weather while cool allowed for a Sept. gathering with facial coverings and social distancing.

A view of the group as we first gathered. We ended with about 20 members joining us.

While we all missed being able to hold our normal meeting, for those present the outdoor meeting was a positive experience. If only we had warmer weather ahead we’d do it again for sure.

The Presidents didn’t hold a traditional business meeting, but they shared that the church isn’t open for inside meetings yet, so we are moving forward with using Zoom for the future. Our Vice Presidents have been working hard to provide opportunities to future our learning using technology that is available to us at this time again using responses from the survey. We will be sending out email reminders, as well as, keeping this website and Facebook updated on the monthly programs.

Those present shared what has been happening in their lives since last we met. Then those that had brought projects with them shared what they have completed and/or been working on. The membership of the Tin Pedlars is definitely a creative group and that creativity extends beyond rug hooking. Please enjoy some images of what was shared:

CHALLENGE! The Worm Returns

It’s time to have another CHALLENGE for Tin Pedlars members and the 2019 Cumberland Fair provides the perfect opportunity. We plan to hang the finished challenge pieces on the back wall.

The CHALLENGE! ……..

You must hook a piece with the worms you have on hand. No cutting new ones. You can trade with others, but only use current worms.

The rug can be any size that will accommodate your stash or gathered collection of worms. Another reminder that worms are not just for geometric style rugs. Picture this free pattern done with worms……

Here’s some inspiration from finished challenge pieces: (check back as we’ll update as others share what they’ve done!)

Your challenge piece needs to be completed by the September 2019 meeting, so it can be hung by the Cumberland Fair committee for showing during the fair.

We have established a “community worms box” that will be available at the upcoming meetings while the challenge is active. So, if you need some, take some. If you have some to share, please do so. And yes, you can just grab a handful or two, or you can sort through for those special colors.

Members have also offered to help design rugs that will hook up well with worms. Just ask.

If you have time, you can submit multiple pieces to the challenge.

This challenge was originally designed by the Ozark Mountain Rug Hookers Guild.

Celebrate 40 years for ATHA

ATHA has invited all chapters to hook a Birthday cake to celebrate them reaching their 40th year. The celebration will be in Denver at the 2019 Biennial Rug show.

We will be celebrating together enjoying carrot cake and joining our hooking skills to complete this birthday cake (designed by a member).

The group hooking of this 16” x 16” mat will start at the Dec. meeting. Please feel free to bring a variety of bright, colorful, sparkly materials to add to the donated fabrics for this mat.

Free Patterns to Share

At the Oct. meeting the following 3 patterns were shared with the group. These patterns are free to use. If you are looking to print any of these patterns off you can find them in the Tin Pedlar Google Drive: Free Pattern Folder.

Anyone can access this folder using this link.

Free