N&B

Happy Halloween Hook-In   October 30, 2023, marked our action-packed Halloween Hook-In. Nothing beats getting dressed up for the occasion! Our traditional group photo! Donations collected over the past months were shared with the members at our paper bag auction. Ti and Emmy / Photo courtesy of Claire. Claire brought ghoulish but delicious Halloween treats and a yummy carrot cake to celebrate October birthdays.  The treat table. Happy Halloween Hookers. Members moved ahead with their hooking projects while enjoying the fun atmosphere. Dawna shows her new fish with beadwork project.  Juliet and Fay continue to work on their projects /  Photo courtesy of Claire . Six enthusiastic new members! / Photo courtesy of Liz. Many thanks to Claire, for all her hard work, contributing to today’s success! Thanks also to Dawna, Kitt (who unfortunately couldn’t join us today) and Chris, for your amazing help.  Guess who? / Photo courtesy of Claire.

An Energetic Start to our New Hooking Season    Our new hooking season began September 11 with renewed excitement in the air! We are an enthusiastic group: many long-time members, plus many new faces too! Dawna Matthew’s beginners’ classes have welcomed 6 new members to our Guild. Furthermore, our April 2023 Rug Exhibition attracted several new members, as did meeting with the Beaconsfield Newcomers Club and participating in the September 23, 2023, Artisans’ Fair. A total of 14 new members! Six enthusiastic students in Dawna’s Beginners class. Claire, Laura, Isabelle, and Ti are preparing for the September 23 rd    Artisans’ Fair. September 25, we had a special visit from Judith Lilley, a talented rug hooker from Kamouraska, QC. Judy and Emmy have been emailing each other since 2017 but had never met in person. Judith brought numerous rugs to show, all original and stunning, and explained the stories behind their creations. She showed us Karen D. Miller’s “Eyes Open to the World” b

Beaconsfield Artisans’ Fair     Saturday, September 23, 2023 For the second year in a row, our guild participated in the popular Beaconsfield Artisans’ Fair. We had 2 booths – one provided by the City to promote our craft, and another provided by our guild to sell our members’ crafts to the public. Our booths were ideally located alongside our Centennial Park Poster Rug Exhibit, giving us the opportunity to encourage visitors to further tour our talented artists’ work.  Many thanks to Isabelle, Jacques, Claire, Chris, Leslie, Karen, and Harold for setting up, taking on the big task of vendor, for welcoming and providing information to the public, and for finally disassembling everything at the end of the day. Thank you also to our members and friends who contributed their beautiful crafts to fill the sales tables, and to those who dropped by to visit.  There were more than 50 booths to visit. Our two BHCG booths. Jacques and Laura wave hello! BHCG Artisans’ craft booth, with our promot

The Pinehill Woolgathering 2023    September 10, 2023 The Pinehill Woolgathering was a popular event this weekend with a constant flow of visitors, despite Sunday’s rain. There were more vendors than last year and something to interest everyone, as there was a full range of artisans’ booths, and even an animal rescue booth which successfully found new homes for some of their rescues. Food was available on-site and we enjoyed Greg’s delicious Raw Food vegan Pad Thai for lunch. It was lovely to meet our many rug hooking friends from the Beaconsfield, Martintown, and Ormstown guilds. The llamas and sheep were curious to see the public. (Photo courtesy of Laura). Set up under a canopy of trees, each booth presented unique and beautiful crafts done by local artists. Isabelle and Jacques’ booth was very popular. Jane and Mary, from Martintown, once again had their booth “A Crow’s Life”, displaying their many wool crafts. Laura participated in Lilyanne’s spinning workshop. Poster.

 Beginner's Class    Beginner's Class Flyer 2023. BHCG Beginner's Class Fall 2023 We will be offering a beginner's class  to get you started on your rug hooking journey.  Students will work on a sampler that will cover all the basic skills. The course will run over 4 weeks: Sept. 18, Oct. 2, 16 & Nov. 6. For more information, please contact Dawna Matthew at dawnamatthew123 @ gmail.com

Outdoor Poster Exhibit    July 22, the City of Beaconsfield’s “Happy Hour by the Water” event marked the official opening of our outdoor poster exhibit. Almost 900 people showed up for the concert and also viewed the poster display. Julie Poirier-Monette, co-ordinator for Beaconsfield’s cultural life, announced the poster exhibit to the public and read out a heartfelt message from our Guild thanking the City for creating this beautiful poster display of our work and inviting those drawn to our craft to visit our website and Facebook page and join us in September for Monday meetings.   Panels 1 and 2. Photos courtesy of Emmy Maten. As one tours the exhibit, the first poster describes our Guild and its history, and shows our Centennial Hall Tile rug, which is currently hanging in the Beaconsfield Library. The posters which follow display some of our members’ rugs (chosen by the photographer) and various rug hooking techniques. Panels 3, 4, 5, 6. Photo courtesy of the City of Beaconsfield

Juliet Davies Featured in OHCG Newsletter       OHCG Newsletter / Summer 2023 Ontario Hooking Craft Guild Our member Juliet Davies entered her original rug titled “Into the Woods in Sutton” into the 2023 Annual Theme Category. It is shown on page 23 of the summer issue, photo number 5. Fabulous, Juliet! OHCG Newsletter. 2023. Issue 2,  Summer. Cover. OHCG Newsletter. 2023. Issue 2,  Summer, page 22. OHCG Newsletter. 2023. Issue 2,  Summer, page 23.

Fête nationale 2023      In Beaconsfield, the Fête nationale is usually celebrated outdoors in Centennial Park. Despite a long stretch of beautiful sunny weather, June 24th happened on a rainy day, so festivities were moved inside to the Beaconsfield Recreation Centre. Attendance was certainly not dampened! The centre was packed with a steady stream of visitors throughout the afternoon and the city provided live music and mime entertainment. All set-up to greet the public (Chris and Debbie). Member of Parliament for Lac St. Louis, Francis Scarpelaggia, stopped by to visit our booth. (sitting: Emmy and Debbie). Our booth was set up beside the Quilters’ and Artists’ booths. To the other side was the live reptiles and small mammals exhibition! While the children were thrilled to hold the snakes, we were drawn to the adorable little hedgehog which periodically came out of hiding. Cute little hedgehog. Several visitors stopped to sit at our booth and try rug hooking. One visitor signed u