Category Archives: Exhibitions

2023 CUMBERLAND FAIR LEAF CHALLENGE

Calling all Tin Pedlar of Maine guild members! Your challenge is: to hook a leaf.

The following challenge is being made by the chapter, not the fair. Any items made for this challenge will be returned to the maker.

Here’s the challenge guidelines:

Size:  as small as 4” or as large as 8”

Pattern:  your choice!  Use pinterest (Leaf template – 5 leaves / 21 different printable pages – free – download), use RH Magazine free patterns, use a real leaf, have someone draw you a leaf, ask a friend! Tin Pedlars have this printed pattern (6″ Maple leaves) you can trace from.

Coloring:  Your choice!  Make it primitive or realistic.  But if you’d like an additional ‘challenge’, we saved some “poison” wool you can incorporate into your leaf.  It will be available to you at our monthly meetings.

Finishing:  Finish as an ornament. Cut it out as close to the leaf shape as possible (but doesn’t have to be exact). We do not want it finished as a square or circle with background. Ways to finish this edge are hand sew, whipping, crochet or glue up with a felt backing or heavy heat and bond fabric … your choice! You could even attempt a double-sided leaf! 

Label your work: Please make sure you have a simple label on your leaf with your name and the date and “leaf challenge”.

Due date:  no later than the May meeting, so that we can collect them and configure the display well in advance of the fair.

The goal:  Our President is challenging us to have at least 20-30 participants!

Does anyone remember the presentation on hooking a Maple leaf?

Please note the Tin Pedlar will still be looking for other finished hooked pieces to fill up our usually fair exhibit space.

2021 Chapter Challenge

Hello Tin Pedlar Members,

The Board would like to invite you to participate in a “Chapter Challenge” that will be displayed at the 2021 Cumberland Farm.

We are providing you with a pattern that can be adapted in any manner you please as long as the sheep is included in your design! Your sheep project can be any size between 8” x 6”  to 32” x 24”. It can be a rug, mat, pillow or stuffed sculpture. It needs to be done for the collection of Cumberland Fair rugs in August.

Here’s the pattern. It is sized for printing on standard sized copy paper – 10” x 8” without additional borders beyond the flowers.  We will have copies of the pattern at the June parking lot meeting.  Here’s the link to download.  

The pattern is drafted on 1” grid to help if anyone wants to resize the sheep alone or the whole pattern.

**Remember this challenge is about using the sheep design/shape found in this pattern. We included a border option as different Board members thought that might provide inspiration for members.

You can also take inspiration from this rug Donna completed as part of a workshop. 

Or check out the original hooked piece the workshop was from in Rug Hooking Magazine / Nov.-Dec. 2013:  Sheep in the Hills, 18″ x 12″, #8-cut wool on linen. Designed and hooked by Mary Johnson/Designs in Wool, Tujunga, California, 2013.

As always we hope many of you will participate. If you want help with transferring the pattern or getting your idea onto a foundation, please reach out. We have members that are happy to help with design and transferring, you just need the foundation material. We will be together in June at the parking lot meeting, or drop an email and we’ll connect with you to arrange a different time.

Tour the Bowdoin Exhibit

The Tin Pedlars just held a wonderful exhibit in a pretty unique location at Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME. The exhibit had wonderful reviews from students, visitors and group members that were able to attend the reception and/or the exhibit on their own.

For those that were not able to attend I thought it might be fun to be able to take a video tour, so iPad in hand I toured the exhibit. (Now a word of warning I am no video specialist. I did my best to keep steady and get some closer shots for detail.)

The first video starts at what I figure is the natural beginning. Rugs were hung in grouping to best show themes and techniques. After the hallway I will enter the plexiglass room.

IMG 1366 from Country Fun Child Care on Vimeo.

This second (short) video will start with a reshowing of a few rugs hoping for better clarity, then continuing through the plexiglass room.

IMG 1367 from Country Fun Child Care on Vimeo.

This next video is of the upper hallway.

IMG 1368 from Country Fun Child Care on Vimeo.

The last video is of what the committee referred to as the Jackye Hansen room. Here were exhibited pieces designed and hooked by Jackye and some of her students, especially around the traditional art of Waldoboro rug hooking.

IMG 1369 from Country Fun Child Care on Vimeo.

I hope you enjoyed the tour and have received a bit of inspiration.

Florals Side Bar

At our monthly meetings we have “Side Bars” as part of the presentation. These side bars are a chance to share hooked items with the membership. Some of these are composed of the presenter’s rugs. Some are exhibits of challenge mats. Or like this month’s they are all demonstrations of a theme.

This month’s theme was “Flowers”. Members were encouraged to bring in any hooked item that contained flowers. As usual we had wonderful variety representing the knowledge and variety of hooking styles of our members.

Pettengill Farm Days

The weather held.  In fact it was a beautiful Fall day.   Between exploring the event, doing some personal hooking  and sharing our art form with many interested individuals,  Kim D, Lauri and Debbie agreed they enjoyed the day.

With so many families attending the event we again had many children trying their hands at rug hooking.  They picked it up quick and totally enjoyed themselves. Think there will be some brownie troop projects and Christmas ornaments made in a few families this year.