Michele is a retired high school teacher who has always had a hand in the arts and crafts.  She has been hooking since 2000 and teaching for the last 20 years both nationally and internationally.   As a life long learner she continues to take classes to hone her skills and experiences.  Her work reflects a wide variety of hooking styles and 3-d objects.  Hooked books, mixed media  and upholstery pieces are what she has been specializing in lately, but she continues with teaching classes in all aspects of using wool from quilts, dyeing, felting and rugs.

 

She is heavily involved in promoting rug hooking through her memberships in ATHA, TIGHR, GMRHG, McGown Guild, Aussie Rug Hookers and as director of the McGown Western Teacher’s Workshop, co-director of Puget Sound Rug School, and director of the Reiter Retreats. She also has been a judge for Celebrations an the Australian Southern Hemisphere Virual Exhibition, called "Re-Imagined".  This exhibit is online and was shown at Sauder in 2019.

 

Michele has written articles for the following:

 

Rug Hooking Magazine    

 N/D 2010 - Making dolls pg 36-39

 J/F  2016 -Making Slippers

O/N 2019 - Using Inks in Rug Hooking

Wool Street Journal           July 2010 pg 12

TIGHR newsletter

Aussie Guild newsletter

Rug Beat 2011 online magazine

ATHA newsletters

#177 J/J 2009

#183 J/J 2010

#191 O/N 2011

#205 F/M 2014

#206 A/M 2014

#208 A/S 2014

 

McGown Newsletter Winter 2016

 

 She has won awards for her rugs at Green Mountain Rug Show in Vermont, Kitsap County Fair and Washington State Fair, and Port Gamble Fiber Fest. 

 

 Her rugs have been published in these publications

Hooked Portraits  by Ann Marie Littenberg

Design Basics for Rug Hookers  by Susan Feller

Hooked Rugs Today by Amy Oxford

Celebrations XXII

Story Rugs

Bainbridge Art Museum - two hooked pieces are on permanent display after purchase from a patron.

 

CLASSES I TEACH

Hooked Books

A hooked journal is one primarily made of small, hooked pieces combined in various methods to be viewed as a book. Everyday we go on a journey and it does not always include faraway places. Hooked books can chronicle your dreams, achievements, observations, family, and travels . A visual journal allows us to portray our lives in color and texture. Get ideas you have for rugs floating around in your head down on foundation without making a commitment to a large piece. Practice hones our art so journals are a great way to experiment and problem solving.

Hooking a travel journal, for example, is a wonderful take-along project because it is portable, you can use your scraps, and they are small enough to take with you to guild/shows to share your art. Experiment with the many different ways to bind the pages together. Your hooked journals will document your time here in the present and be a record for your family to share. 

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Embellishments

Live by the phrase “what if” and find out over 30 ways to embellish your rug hooking or other projects.  I will take you on a trip where some things may be familiar and other techniques you probably did not know existed or had not thought of using in your hooking.  In class you will make a sampler of the techniques and receive handouts and presentations to use in your creative pursuits.  We will explore how to incorporate findings from a craft store to a hardware store.  There are endless possibilities for creativity in this class.I keep adding more ideas to the samples.

 

Upholstery in Rug Hooking

Learn the proper steps in getting your furniture ready for upholstery.  Deciding what designs will enhance your piece.  Design the pattern from the properly padded piece you have prepared.  Learn about the best color plan for your design.  My experience in this field is enhanced by my husband who is an upholster.  Together we have covered chairs, benches and stools. There will be step by step instructions as handouts as well as just plain fun in designing that special pattern for your piece.

Fine Shading

As a McGown certified teacher I have taught fine shading using swatches.  I also used shading in pictorials for realism.  I have experience in shading flowers, fingering, mock shading and pictorials.  I have also taught portraits of humans and animals.

 

Zentangles and Zendoddles

Learn about drawing zentangles and doodles to make up interesing backgrounds or designing an abstract piece.  They are fun to play with even if you never use them for hooking.  In this class we will learn how to draw these doddles; simplify the designs for the various sized cuts of wool, and then create the appropriate sized design for what you want to accomplish. No art ability is necessary as you find concentrating on one line at a time and filling in a space with a design creates a work of art. Learning how to color plan the piece is another lesson to be learned in this class.

Wool Applique Class - one day - needlecase

I taught this class at TIGHR. I made kits and most of the people finished their project in four hours of creatie fun, I have done many wool applique quilts and am working on new stitches all the time. I can design and teach a wool applique class for an extended time as well.

 

Zippered Pouch Class

I prepare a blank linen piece with a zipper and the students design the pattern. We color plan and hook the pouch and I teach them how to finish the projet with lining. It is a fun and different project.

3-D projects

I have made many stuffed projects as well as dolls.My MIL is a doll maker so it is hard to stay away from them. I have made sheep, standing crow, scarecrow and queen of hearts to name some of the more known ones.

 

Schedule:

 2015

Puget Sound Rug School - vending March 13-16

Western Teachers' Workshop  vending  June 21-16

Prairie Rose North Dakota Aug. 2-8

Prairie Harvest Canada Sept. 13-18

TIGHR October 4-7

Fall Rug Show Oct. 14

 

2016

Mesa, Arizona -  January 2016 three day course on zendoddles in texture

Vending - January 24-20 Reiter Retreat

Vending Puget Sound Rug School March, 2016

Vending  and teaching at Western Teachers' Workshop June, 2016

Teaching Open Class ATHA Chapter - September, 2016

Teaching Zen-inspired designs - Victoria, BC Canada Oct.

Vending Brightwater Center Rug Show October, 2016

Vending Goldbar Retreat - Oct. 

2017

Vending Reiter Retreat - January, 2017

Vending Puget Sound Rug School- March, 2017

Rockaway - Friends by the Sea - April, 2017eachin

Teaching at Western McGown Teachers Workshop June, 2017

Hooker Hill July16-20, 2017

Wine Country Guild Retreat - September 1-3, 2017

Praire Harvest Rug School, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada - Sept, 2017

Fiber Fest - San Juan, Friday Harbor - October. 2017

Vending Brightwater Center October, 2017

Vending Goldbar Retreat - October, 2017

 

2018

Vending at Reiter Retreat in January, 2018

Vending at Puget Sound Rug School - Federal Way- March 2018

Teaching at Friends by the Sea - April, 2018

Teaching at Western McGown Teachers' Workshop June, 2018

Teaching at Maple Ridge, Canada - August, 2018

Attending TIGHR International Conference in England, October 2018

 

2019

Reiter Retreat - January at Goldbar

Vending at Puget Sound Rug School- March-

 Teaching at Friends by the Sea- Rockaway- April

Vending at Western Teachers Workshop- June

Teaching at Prairie Harvest in Edmonton, Canada

Teaching at Redlands, California, guild retreat -October

Vending at Brightwater Rug Show- October

Vending At Reiter Retreat in October

 

2020

Reiter Retreat Goldbar, Washington- January

Teaching upholstery class with Jay at Puget Sound Rug School

Teaching at Rockaway, Oregon-Friends by the Sea - April

Teaching at Western McGown Teachers' Workshop - June

Teaching at Sauder Village - 3-d and birds - August

Teaching at Blue Heron, Victoria, BC upholstery - October

Vending at Brightwater - Hook-In

Retreat - Goldbar - October

Teaching at Little River Inn, California - October



Contact Me  for orders or teaching at

michele@wooletc.com - 360-830-4910

paypal name is jlgoggard@mac.com