Following the ATHA Conference in Long Beach, California, Judith and I travelled to Seattle to visit my family.
We were fortunate to have a day free to catch up with Michele Wise and husband Jay, who’d been in Australia for the TIGHR Conference in Oct 2012. Driving south and across the Tacoma Narrows Bridge onto the Olympic Peninsula, we traveled some considerable distance before taking a left turn at Bremerton towards the Hood Canal. Armed with an address which included a directional reference of “W” and a GPS which would only show an address with “NW” for that Road, we finally “reached our destination”.
What a treat it was. Those of you who have met Michele know of her creative rug work. Well, she has been equally creative with the decoration of the family home which is full of rugs and wonderful eclectic collections and like her studio has panoramic views of Hood Canal.
We toured house, studio and garden and lunched on sandwiches and salad made from vegetables fresh from the garden that morning.
We talked rug hooking, and rug hooking events, checked our Michele’s considerable wool supply and Jay’s workshop where he makes musical instruments. In a corner of the living room was a spinning wheel obviously in use. Jay is the spinner and had purchased the spinning wheel locally after taking lessons from Miriam Miller during their visit to her studio in New South Wales last October. Much of the talk this time was about the next international event in Victoria, on Vancouver Island, BC, Canada in 2015.
There is something special about making friends at rug hooking events and later traveling to visit them in their homes. Now that the Guild in Australia is growing, more members will have this opportunity – don’t pass it up! It is such fun, as it seems all rug hookers love to talk and share their knowledge. Happy Hooking …….. Jo
