Meet Deana
Can you picture ribbon candy? It's all curly and colorful and each loop stands against the one before it like dominoes. The striping and festive feel it gives me to look at it reminds me of a giant box on a 1950s hat box in an old movie. When a person rug hooks, they are pulling fabric loops up through a woven backing and, as the loops accrue, you get something colorful and delicious that is akin to ribbon candy.
I started the brand on January 1 of 2020. It was a New Year's resolution to try to start a business doing what I loved best after having given up my career a few years back when I had kids. I was working as a tour guide then, living out of a suitcase, and traveling constantly. I brought people from all over the world through all over the U.S and Canada, through the National Parks, and most often through my favorite, New England. I ended up marrying a Dutchman and having my two kids, Teddy and Jocelyn, in Amsterdam where we lived for years. I love Europe, and I lived in London for years the decade earlier when I worked in the theater. But somehow, after you have kids, you long to give them the same thing you had yourself. I had a happy childhood, and I loved the places we vacationed, the holidays, and the traditions that were rooted in New England. Sometimes in life you have to hammer a square peg into a circle hole, and that's what had to occur for the family to come to the U.S.
One of the patterns you'll find on this site is 'Alphabet Soup'. I hooked it for one of the Friday Night Cocktail nights about alphabets in Rug Hooking, and I encouraged everyone to, instead of randomly dropping letters into the soup, to drop in your 6-word memoir. My soup reads 'ALWAYS USED TO WAIT FOR SIGNS'. And I did. If the traffic light turns green before the clock in the car changes minutes, I'll make that phone call or I'll write a query letter, or I'll buy that dress. At a certain point, you either become impatient enough, reckless enough, or worried enough that life is passing you by - that you find a hammer and start whacking in all the square pegs.
On January 1, 2020, I started a facebook page (Rug Hooking & Punch Needle Club), started putting out patterns, kits, wools, yarns....and I started a daily live show called 'Coffee Time'.
YOU are invited to Coffee Time, and Cocktail Time (on Friday nights) always and every time. We talk about the history of Rug Hooking, ideas, people, books, and we encourage each other to keep going. You are welcome to participate in the community, or to just shop and enjoy. My kids are 7 and 9 now and life has been busy with homeschooling through these challenging times, but nonetheless I put out several new patterns a month and produce on average a show a day for the Ribbon Candy Hooking Channel.
I don't believe you can give your work 100% technical thought and 100% creative thought at the same time; thus I am VERY creative heavy. I can tell you already - the height of your loops is great, you're doing great - keep going!
