Done & Dusted!

 Well that was a blast, wasn’t it?  From all accounts, the 2025 Annual was a success - woohoo!  

The organizers of the 2025 OHCG Annual Conference, “Peace, Love & Rug’n Roll” would like to thank everyone who attended!  We hope you enjoyed the day.  We certainly enjoyed everyone’s enthusiasm, and excitement.  The colourful outfits were fantastic!  Here’s a video prepared by Heather Émond (Karen Kaiser’s daughter)….some great photos:

(Click the link on the menu bar above for Judged Items & Results to see all of the stuff submitted for display at the Art Gallery of Northumberland!  Turn your sound on, and get ready to groove…..)

We’d also like to thank the OHCG Executive, particularly Jayne Nevins, Annual Advisor, and Karen Kaiser, Vice President, for their unwavering assistance, advice and support.  

Jane Stewart of Peterborough deserves recognition for all of the beautiful calligraphy name tags - truly keepsakes!  

Wendie Scott Davis spearheaded and organized the OHCG’s first hook-along, featuring this year’s theme, along with Ti Seymour.  

All those flower power pins were wonderful, and hooked by Quinte Isle, Waterside Ruggers, Campbellford, Ajax and Northumberland branches - thank you!  

Olinda Casimiro, Executive Director of the Art Gallery of Northumberland and her team are to be commended for accommodating our exhibit of tradition rug hooking - something not normally seen in an art gallery.  

Valerie Carew presented some interesting items of her work….there was a great crowd of folks coming up to examine her work after her talk - so creative and innovative!

And the Featured Artist Panel - wow….such great work!  Moderated by Karen Kaiser and featuring Wendie Scott Davis, Wanda Elliot and Laurie McRae.

Thank you to the judges for their work assessing all those gorgeous rugs in the Art Gallery of Northumberland.  If you’ve got the time (20 minutes!), why not head to the link at the top of the page marked:  Judged Items & Results, to see the full shebang of all the entries.  Photography by Gwen Brice, video compiled by the Northumberland Rug Hookers.

Dianne Algera at the opening of the gallery exhibit, April 26.

Thank you’s also go to all of our vendors who brought in all that lovely hooking material, both yarn and fabric and patterns and notions and more!

Did you enjoy the hippie van parked out front?  We were loaned the use of the van by Dianne McCormick of Cobourg, and our Dianne (Algera) negotiated with the Town of Cobourg for permission to park it on the sidewalk! 

Did you also see the vintage rug display in the Old Bailey Court Room?  Lots of interesting items to see, and we held a rug registry, and got some stuff registered.  Thanks to Audrey Hanson, Judy Cross and Jan Hook for their work here.

Judy Cross, sewing on a registry label

We’d also like to thank the folks within our own group who put in hours of work to help us out in the limited time available to put this show on!  Special shout outs go to Deb Patton, caterer extraordinaire, and Joan Verkuyl, Tanya Stutt and Bev Lewskiw who created the fabulous hooked signs and table decor.  Gwen Brice took photos of all of the judged entries, the rug registry and photo’s throughout the day!  Many of our members did multiple jobs: helping with the vendors, organizing the food trays, making coffee & tea….and all the myriad of little things required to make the day a success! Spouses got in on the activity, too, delivering food to Victoria Hall. 

Thanks are also due to Christine Van Hees and Sandra Pettit for their work on the Silent Auction and Vendors.  Thank you also goes to the donors for the Silent Auction, and the bidders!

And a huge thank you and a hug to Dianne Algera for guiding us to the finish line - without her there would have been no 2025 Annual!

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….and now we’re looking forward to next year’s Annual in Oakville!

Are you READY???

 

The Northumberland Rug Hookers (with assistance from local branches) have been working flat out to bring you a wonderful Annual Conference.  We’re excited to welcome you to our small town!

May 10 is almost here….so there are a few points that attendees should be aware of.  Please read on!

• Have you got your parking sorted?  For those driving, you’ll need to read up on ways to pay for parking.  Here’s a link to info on the parking pass. 

• On May 10, head to our recommended parking lot on Covert Street.  If you’ve purchased a parking pass, simply park your car and walk thru the covered lane way to King Street.  Victoria Hall is located across the road.  If you prefer, the parking pass is valid at other municipal lots in the downtown core.  See the map below.

• If you get there early and have time to kill….the Cobourg Farmer’s Market will be on from 8-1 pm, just behind Victoria Hall.   It was established in 1839, and while it’s early in the season for local produce, there may be a few interesting booths on offer.  Alternatively, there are eleventy kajillion independent coffee shops in the downtown core where you can partake of a brew and a quick munch.  (See way down at the bottom of this post for a list with opening hours.)

• Registration starts at 9 am, at the desk on your left as you enter the building.  Pick up your registration materials/goodie bag and head upstairs to the Concert Hall.  But first, stop by the vendors on the ground floor and also check out the Rug Registry and Vintage Rugs on display in the Old Bailey Court Room.

• On the 2nd floor you’ll find the beautifully restored Concert Hall where all of the speakers and presentations will take place.  Seating is “cabaret style” with tables for 6.  Adjacent to that space will be more vendors, and the silent auction goodies.  **Hint:  bring cash for the Silent Auction, and some of the vendors.  If you need more cash, there are 4 banks very near to Victoria Hall (noted as B on the map above).

• Chris Poole will be there doing his sharpening magic - he will be located outside, at the rear (south side) of the building.

• All registered attendees will receive a package that includes the program for the day.  Some highlights to be aware of:  AGM is at 10 am, Valerie Carew (Keynote Speaker) is at 11, and the Featured Artist Panel is at 1:30.

• The Art Gallery of Northumberland is located on the 3rd floor and it will be open at noon for your viewing pleasure.  (If you can’t make it to the Annual, you can visit it any day leading up to May 10.)

• Judged Rug winners will be announced as part of the AGM in the morning.  Theme winners and Silent Auction winners will be announced shortly after the Featured Artist Panel.

Bust of Queen Victoria located in the lobby of Victoria Hall.

• Bring along vintage rugs for registration and/or display in the Old Bailey Court Room.  Also, bring along those items you hooked as part of our Hook Along event earlier this year.

• We’ll be serving tea/coffee and yummy pastries in the morning, followed by a light lunch mid day.

• You’ll be able to pick up your displayed items from 4:30 - either the Art Gallery on the 3rd floor or the Old Bailey Court Room on the ground floor.

The Town of Cobourg’s Coat of Arms, on the lobby floor of Victoria Hall.

COFFEE SHOPS IN DOWNTOWN COBOURG (there may be more - they keep popping up - but this is what i could find as of May 1):

Open at 7 am:  Human Bean (80 King St W), Millstone Bread (55 Albert St beside the Farmer’s Market)

Open at 8 am:  Vdoma Cafe (255 Division St), Prep Food Company (7 King St W)

Open at 8:30 am:  Pink Cafe (205 3rd St), Fabled Bean (73 King St W), Black Cat (4 King St W), Rosarya Bakery (125 King St W)

There are 4 Timmie’s & 1 Starbucks in various locations outside of the downtown core.

How to Purchase your Online Parking Pass!

Parking is a BIG deal in Cobourg, and you’ll want to address your parking before you arrive here on the 10th!  Remember, it’s a $40 ticket if you don’t pay for parking!

We published some generic info here, and it sets out 3 possible ways to pay for parking:

• purchase a $12 pass ahead of time (recommended).  This can only be done online 7 days ahead of time.
• Use the Honk app.  You can download this any time now.  Parking cost is $2.60 per hour.
• Use pay & display on-street parking.  This is an option for those who don’t do online stuff, but you can only buy 3 hours at a time….so if you’re staying for our yummy lunch and the fantastic afternoon program, you’ll need to revisit the parking meter!

Here are the instructions on how to get your Daily Parking Pass online.  You can purchase a pass up to 1 week prior, meaning that the earliest you can get your pass for May 10 is May 3.  Mark your calendar NOW so you don’t forget!

(Note that your screen may look slightly different than what is shown below, depending on whether you are using a computer or tablet/phone - they both have the same info, however.)

1.  Go to this page on the Town of Cobourg website and click on the Green Button labeled: Online Parking Permit Purchases, as shown by the red arrow in the image below:

2.  Click on “Order Visitor Permits”:

3.  The Parking Terms of Service will pop up.  Click on the “I agree with the terms of service”.  Contrary to what it says, daily permits ARE allowed in all of the downtown municipal lots, tho we recommend that you park in the Covert Lot.

4.  Select Daily Downtown Permit.

5.  Click on the first date box, and a calendar will pop up.  Choose May 10.  It will populate both date fields for you.  Click on “Confirm”.

6.  Click on “Add Vehicle” and enter the info for the vehicle you’ll be driving on May 10.  Don’t switch cars at the last minute as the license plate of the vehicle you park that day must match the plate entered on this screen!  Click on “Add”.

7.  Even more terms of service appear!  Click on the checkbox “I have read and agree to the terms of service.”  Click on “Add Permit to Car.”

8.  Now you get to fill in your billing/credit card info.  Note: only Visa and MasterCard are accepted.  When you’ve entered all of the information, click on “Checkout”.

9.  Bingo bongo….your parking permit is now confirmed!  Phew!  You will get an email confirmation of the transaction.  There is no need to print this document, but do save it as proof of purchase.

Now all you have to do is roll up on Saturday May 10 - ideally to the Covert Street Lot, park your car and toddle over the road to Victoria Hall!  Easy peasy…..

Hook Along’s Maiden Voyage!

This year, as part of the lead up to the Annual Conference in Cobourg, we held a “hook along”.  This was an event where a group of folks brought their own interpretations to a common pattern, and revelled in the creativity that this synergy generated.

It was the brainchild of our own Wendie Scott Davis, and while we’ve experienced these events in knitting/crochet circles, they are rare in rug hooking.  We didn’t quite know what to expect….but we were blown away by the response to this, our “maiden voyage”!  We had over 70 folks register for the bi-weekly zoom sessions - joining in from all across Ontario, the Maritimes and the US!  

The pattern chosen was the hippie van which is the logo for the Annual Conference (“Peace, Love & Rug’n Roll”).  Two versions were available - simple vs more complex with a lot of latitude for creative experimentation.  

As a starting point we had the original version hooked by Susan Hartwell - she incorporated lots of bright colours and Proddy into a fantastic piece!  It’s on the cover of the Spring Newsletter.

The pattern itself is available on the Annual Blog (click here) - and so far, it has been viewed almost 900 times!  No two hookers have done the same thing - which is wonderful!  We’ve seen:

• Amazing colour choices
• Big projects (20” or more) vs small projects (as small as 8”)
• Wool strips, yarn, polar fleece, sari silk, eyelash yarn
• Stashbusters and newly purchased materials
• Beads, buttons, zippers, pompoms, badges for bling
• Pillows, bags, tea cozy’s or embellishment for clothing - jackets, aprons and more.

There have also been some great design choices:

• Hooked and punched projects
• More/different/no flowers/symbols
• Just part of a van (or was that a teeny tiny clown car-size van)!
• Passengers added - human & canine!
• Backgrounds - rays à la Peter Max from the 60’s, or a night sky, or a landscape scene, or reverse hooking
• Fine shading, wide cut, you name it!

These choices weren’t just made in isolation:  often one person would mention an idea in conversation, and it would take off like wildfire, with other folks adopting a similar (but always different) approach.  This is the whole thing about the synergy of a group like this:  something that starts off seemingly quite small gains momentum.

Wendie, and her co-host Ti Seymour, moved the discussion along, with tons of creative suggestions.  Wendie showed us lots of examples from Peter Max, and her project used his rays in black & white to bring together her bright green van. 

Ti showed us other examples of how to portray the van, as well as alternate fibres and wild colours.

We also talked about things from the 60’s - especially fashion.  Look for some spectacular wardrobe choices at the Annual!  There were also some discussions of technical/how-to matters…..so we were learning, even tho it didn’t feel like it!

We met 4 times over 8 weeks and everyone worked at their own pace.  Some finished lickety split while others have been watching closely and mulling the best way to interpret the pattern.  

We are hoping to hold a show’n tell or parade of finished works at the Annual Conference in Cobourg - so if you hooked the hippie van, please bring your pieces with you (or wear them)!

We’ll also post photos online so you can check out a few more of these vans.  If you have hooked the pattern (regardless of whether you registered for the hook along), please send your photos to questions4annual@gmail.com.  If you’re posting them to social media, include the hashtag #ohcghookalong in the text somewhere.

Here are a few of the photos received so far:

Roseanne Perron

Stella Trainor

Wendie Scott Davis

Debbie Kijowski

Marylou Justason

Jayne Nevins

Julie Brais

Christine Van Hees

Jennifer Wiber

….and a late addition from Marion Remen - lovely!

Entertainment

 

(Yes….in case you missed it, tickets for the 2025 Annual Conference in Cobourg are sold out!  Thank you!)

There are a couple of evening entertainment options that might appeal to anyone staying over for the Annual.  Click on any of the descriptions below for more info and to purchase tickets. 

• The Great Canadian Comedy Caravan is coming to Victoria Hall* on May 9, featuring Canadian comedy writers, actors and Just for Laughs veterans.

• On May 11, the day after the Annual, there’s Sweet Water Country Music with Jamie Oliver, at 2 pm in Victoria Hall*. 

• On May 9 and 10, the Northumberland Players are doing dinner theatre at the Best Western, a comedy called Enchanted April. From the poster below…it looks like if you can get 23 of your friends together, you could get a 10% discount!

Seating for all 3 events is limited so you’ll want to get in quickly! Also, if you’re thinking of doing dinner in the area, make your reservations now!

We’ll keep an eye out on other entertainment that is added last minute and will let you know. 

*yes..,.the very same Victoria Hall where the Annual will be held on May 10!