Members of our guild who attended the Searsport Hookin in Punta Gorda, Florida on February 25th and 26th had a great time.  According to Julie from Searsport 261 hookers were in attendance. As Biffie said, “Have you ever seen so many hookers in one place?”   Some were sitting at tables in the middle of the room with their projects on their lap or floor stand just hooking away. Others were wondering around to see all the displays set up by the vendors selling their wares.

We all had our goals to obtain certain items from these many vendor booths. Judi Overly was on a mission to replace a beloved hook that she had lost. The Searsport booth had just the right one for her. Check out all the selections in the picture above.  I do not know how she could just chose one?

My goal was to have my “Happiness” pattern designed by Lib Calloway color planned. That was accomplished by using my free color planning coupon in my welcome bag with Carol Feney.  See my earlier post regarding that experience. Awesome colors!

Doreen was hoping she would find her next rug hooking project.  After looking at all the patterns available at the vendor booths, nothing really got her excited. Sometimes that happens and you have to wait just for the right pattern to speak to you.  However, she did find some beautiful wool from “Heaven to Betsy’s” to add to her stash. Well, I think we all did!

“Heavens to Betsy” was an interesting booth. Judi Overly and I fell in love with the Rabbit and Cat pillow patterns on display. Of Course, we then had to purchase the wool and Lavender Potpourri to stuff them with.

Next we moved on around the room and "Pelican Pete" caught mine and Judi's eye. This beautiful hooked piece was at Capri Boyle Jones booth. She only had one pattern remaining and after Judi decided it wasn't what she was looking for I grabbed it. I fell in love with it at first sight! Capri was so helpful in helping me choose the wool I would need to finish it. 

As we walked around we noticed the door prize table. So many vendors and teachers had donated so many items to be giving away by a silent auction. Everyone attending received one ticket in their welcome bag to bid by ticket on any items they wanted to take a chance on. Additional tickets could be purchased for $1.00 each if you wanted to take more chances.  All the door prize ticket money and 20% of the money raised in the yard sale booth went to the Semper Fi Fund. This fund uses 95% of donations to directly provide Financial, emotional, and tiered support for injured/ill service members and their families. . The final total raised in two days was a whopping $4300.00. .

Polly Minick donated two finished rugs all mounted and signed to be in the silent auction. Our very own Lynn Soule won one of these beautiful rugs. Lucky Dog!!  Searsport Rug Hooking Facebook Page posted the picture above and said ““She ran up whooping and screaming!! We all laughed so!!! All anyone heard for the next hour? Did you know I won a Polly Minick!?!?!? I understand she was carpooling home.... A couple of hour drive.... Lol I bet it was not a quiet ride!!!!!” Okay ladies looking forward to hearing all about the ride home. 

I was starting to feel guilty that maybe I had stolen "Pelican Pete" from Judi because at the end of the day she still had not found the pattern she was looking for. However, the next day she saw a pattern called "Sea Horse" designed by DeEtta Beebe and knew that was the one. Mission accomplished! She plans to take that pattern to Manistee Rug School at Onekama Michigan in June to get it color planned.

This was an amazing two days! I hope you enjoy some of the pictures taking by our Gator group members. I know I’m looking forward to going back next year! 

Happy Hooking!
Peggy Weimer

What a great time this was. This was my first visit to one of these events and I must say I was very impressed. As I walked into the ballroom I was amazed to see all the "hookers". Some were sitting at tables in the middle of the room with there projects on their lap or floor stand just hooking away. Others were wondering around to see all the displays set up by the vendors selling their wares. 

I loved roaming around the perimeter of the room visiting all the vendor booths. The beautiful wool, patterns, and other rug hooking supplies available were fantastic.

My plan was to have someone help me color plan a pattern that I had purchased from one of our local group members. It is called 'Happiness" 27" x 40" designed by Lib Calloway. It was just my luck that in our welcome packet - Carol Feney - http://www.rugsbycarol.com had placed a coupon for a free color plan if you purchased the wool from her booth. After seeing the beautiful rugs she had on her display I knew she would do a good job for me. Her rugs were so colorful and unique, using not only wool but other mediums in them, such as Sari Ribbon and yarn. 

Well, I had no idea how long it takes to color plan a rug. Carol and I spent several hours on the floor pulling colors I liked and then deciding where to place them in the pattern. Her assistant labeled each color with a number and created a list of where they would be hooked on the pattern. After we were finished, I had a pattern with all the numbers marked in the spot to hook them. It reminded me of the "paint by number" kits I used to do as a kid.

Now the final part was to decide how much wool I needed of each color. Carols rule of thumb is about 4 times more wool than the size to be hooked. This will also depend on the size cut you will be using. She recommended a size 6 and 4 cut for the main design, and a size 7 or 8 cut for the background. Carol stated that she likes to over estimate by at least 10% to make sure I would have enough of each color of wool.

Okay, so far it has been a great experience. I feel not only do I have a professional color planned rug, but, I have learned so much from Carol about certain tips in color planning that I can use in my future rug hooking projects. However, when I saw all that wool and Sari Ribbon I got nervous! How much is this going to cost me? I was very surprised at how reasonable the final cost was. Could not wait to get back home and start this project. I believe it is coming along very nicely! 

Coming soon - I will have more about the Searsport Hookin from some of our other members that attended.

Happy Hooking!