Category Archives: General Information

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.

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:

HRMNA “Rug Hooking Artist of the Year 2014”

Hooked Rug Museum of North America is pleased to announce this year’s honorees for the “Rug Hooking Artist of the Year” for Canada and the United States. hrmna

This is the second year such an appointment is being made. The winners are chosen because of their special attributes and their contribution to the contemporary advancement of the art of rug hooking and its gradual transformation over three centuries of development in North America. Such provides us with an annual assessment of rug hooking in comparison to an early stage of hooking and offers an opportunity to learn more about the amazing talents that exist in the art.

Thanks to both artists for their generosity in sharing their art with us for the 2014 summer season.

Our Canadian “Rug Hooking Artist of the Year” is Trish Johnson from Toronto, Ontario. Trish has been hooking since 1988. She was self-taught for the first four rugs and then joined the Georgetown rug hooking group. She has taken many hooking workshops and belongs to the teacher’s branch of the Ontario Hooking Craft Guild, the Georgetown Rug Hooking Guild and the Upper Toronto Hooking Guild.

Trish hooks rugs about places that are important to her family history, trying to answer questions about what “home” means to her. Home is where the heart is and all of her rugs are about those things and events that are dear to her heart. She designs her own patterns, mostly from her own photographs; dyes most of her own wool (especially the skies) and likes to use some recycled wool from Goodwill. Trish has been featured in Rug Hooking magazine’s “A Celebration of Hand Hooked Rugs”.

Our American “Rug Hooking Artist of the Year” is Sibyl Osicka from Parma, Ohio. Sibyl’s introduction to rug hooking began in 1982 because she wanted to make a Victorian style rug for her living room. By 1985, she was sponsored for the Pearl McGown Teacher’s Workshop. Sibyl became accredited in 1989, and was asked to teach two different workshops that

year and has been teaching since. She has traveled throughout the USA and Canada teaching and displaying her work. She continues to study and expand her knowledge in all aspects of the art.

She currently is a member of the Pearl McGown guild, Emerald#5; ATHA; and Tighr; and completed her second accreditation in 2003 as a McGown instructor. Sibyl also mentors students and teachers, and has taught classes over the internet. For more information on Sibyl please visit her website: http://www.sibylosicka.com/

Loops of Love Project

Loops of Love for Newtown is a rug hooking project to support the teachers of the Sandy Hook Elementary school in Newtown, CT in the aftermath of the recent tragedy.imgres

Volunteers around the globe will be creating a mat or rug that will given to the educators and support staff to let them know that they are thought of and that their bravery and efforts are admired and respected. We do not need to remind them of the day of horror but want to give them a hug and remind them that the world has beauty. Additional mats donated by volunteers may be given to educators and support staff at the other schools in Newtown.

Volunteers should create a mat or rug that is a maximum of 9″ across. In order to open this to as many volunteers as possible you may be flexible on your size and can create a single or set of mug mats, or a larger mat. It can be square, round, rectangular or shape that is pleasing with the design. It can be hooked or punchneedle, wool strips or yarn, and should be a design that will make the recipient smile and feel like they have received a hug.

This is not the project to show your amazing skills with proddy or modern dimensional art but a time to create something the average teacher would want on their desk or in their living room every day. It is a gift, so should have a finished edge and label with your name and State/country at minimum (but you can donate it anonymously if you wish).

Your mats should be sent to the following address to arrive no later than January 18th. Seriously…January 18th!!!  Diane and Lauri will drive the mats to Connecticut the following week.

Loops of Love project ~
C/O Diane Tanerillo
600 West Main Street
P.O. Box 60 Denmark, Maine 04022

Feel free to include a card or other item with your mat but please attach it securely to your mat and do not wrap the mat! Your mats will be displayed so that the teachers can select the one that they want so do not wrap them. We will take some photos of your mats for the website. Please contact Lauri if you would like to participate.                 Should you have questions you can contact us via e-mail.

Thank you so much in advance!

Lauri Troutman ~ MizT(at)maine(dot)rr(dot)com
Diane Tanerillo ~ Deedeetan(at)fairpoint(dot)net

Raffle Rug News

The raffle rug is complete and looks beautiful (way better than this iPad photo shows). Thank you to all that lent their time and talents to it this year.

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There has been a change in the date of pulling the winning ticket. At our December meeting we were made aware of an issue with outstanding tickets. It was put to a vote of the attending membership on whether to precede to pull on the Dec. date as printed on the tickets or to wait until our January meeting. The group voted to wait……So the winning ticket will be pulled at the January meeting.

Finding My Creative Voice Through Rug Hooking with Peg Irish

Those in attendance at the May meeting enjoyed a presentation from Peg Irish  after thanking Cheri for all her work as past President, the work of the other officers whose terms were up, and excepting the new slate of officers presented. A big welcome to our new President Lauri Troutman.

Lots of creative work progressing within the group ~                       

~~~~~~~~~~~

Peg Irish has been hooking since 1980, when she began taking classes with teacher and Maine Tin Pedlar member Lois Dugal.  She was immediately captivated by the textures and colors possible in rug hooking, and quickly knew that she needed to create her own designs and dye her own fabrics.  She relies heavily on her own photography and basic geometric designs when creating new projects.   Peg’s work has been featured in numerous publications  and she is a juried member of the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen.  Her work has been exhibited in numerous juried and invitational shows. She has curated several fiber arts and hooked rug exhibits on Cape Cod.  Peg admits to being an “idea person”, always stimulated by anew creative challenge. 

Gripper Grabbing?

There are so many good rug hooking groups across social media today. Rug Hookers on Facebook had an interesting post that I was given permission to pass along.

A member  of the group – Starr Burgess had what seems like a clever idea to handle the issue of gripper frames grabbing you as you hook. She suggested to purchase low cost plumber foam sections that can be cut to length for covering your gripper strips. It comes slit, is easy to cut to length with regular scissors and covers really nicely with duct tape. With all the colorful tape available you can personalize the plain foam. Starr connected her sections at 3 corners, so it is easy to take on or off.