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This is your home for North American rug hooking, fiber art and craft, and the modern practice of heritage skills.

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Recently in Our Blog

LifeIsShort

Fifteen Things Life’s Too Short to Compromise On

By parrishouse | November 19, 2019

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Don’t Play Small

By parrishouse | October 15, 2019

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June 2019 Trip to Nova Scotia, Canada’s Rug Hooking Playground

By parrishouse | June 20, 2019

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Poetry as Prayer in West Paris, Maine: A Local Visit from Stuart Kestenbaum

By parrishouse | April 29, 2019

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Contemplating Sustainability, in Its Many Contexts

By parrishouse | February 11, 2019

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2018 at the Parris House – A Visual Year in Review and a Pondering of Gratitude

By parrishouse | December 31, 2018

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A New Book Coming…and I’m Writing It! What It’s About and How to Pre-Order

By parrishouse | October 24, 2018

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Hooking & Heritage Skills Lessons, On Your Terms

By parrishouse | October 20, 2018

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Learning to Trust the Journey – Four Days on the Schooner J&E Riggin

By parrishouse | September 22, 2018

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Blondie, MassMoCA, the Susan B. Anthony Birthplace, Shaker Museums, Dogs, and the Impossibility of Failure – Part 2

By parrishouse | August 11, 2018

Parris House Wool Works on Facebook

Parris House Wool Works

14 hours ago

Sneak peek at today's project, guest room #3. @californiapaints are champs at covering in one coat normally, but this light peach is no match for the deep blue my son painted this room almost twenty years ago. Two coats it will be. I'll post the "after" pics once it's all done, including furnishings, rug, curtains. #interiorpainting #neverendingpainting ... See MoreSee Less

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Parris House Wool Works

17 hours ago

New newsletter up!

Holiday shipping deadlines - Stocking stuffer soaps - Cedar Waxwing kit - Your favorite holiday songs - mailchi.mp/8fec73cd8339/holiday-shipping-deadlines-stocking-stuffer-soaps-cedar-waxwing-kit-your-... ... See MoreSee Less

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Parris House Wool Works

1 day ago

For the record, Tesla is expert at chilling out. #catsofinstagram #seasonsattheparrishouse #christmascatsofinstagram ... See MoreSee Less

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Parris House Wool Works on Instagram

parrishouse

Life, art, and homesteading at the historic Parris House.
Artist • Maker • Author • Teacher
Publishing w/#downeastbooks in 2020

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Sneak peek at today's project, guest room #3. @californiapaints are champs at covering in one coat normally, but this light peach is no match for the deep blue my son painted this room almost twenty years ago. Two coats it will be. I'll post the "after" pics once it's all done, including furnishings, rug, curtains. #interiorpainting #neverendingpainting

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For the record, Tesla is expert at chilling out. #catsofinstagram #seasonsattheparrishouse #christmascatsofinstagram

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Stocking stuffers right here. These big, chunky handcrafted soaps in two delicious dessert scents are available in extremely limited quantities for pickup at the Maine studio or can be shipped. They're between 6 and 7 ounces each and are $6 per bar. Long lasting, super lathering, and skin softening. Contact us if you'd like some! #parrishousesoapworks #handcraftedsoap #stockingstuffers #coldprocesssoap #pumpkinspice #applecinnamon #seasonsattheparrishouse

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Good morning from the mess that is our sleeping loft. When Wyeth is curled up like this he looks a bit like a giant fox, but also like the guru of napping. Everything's up off the floors and out of place all over the house because Bill steam cleaned the carpets and furniture last night. Having +/- 500 people through your home will do a number on the carpets. But this loft is often a mess, steam cleaning or no. It's where we land at the end of every day, having long ago given up the huge master bedroom suite below to Parris House Wool Works as its primary work area. I'm posting this because social media too often shows highlights only and I want to normalize imperfection, especially for those working toward big goals. Of course artists, makers, writers, business owners, et al want to show their best and prettiest images. That's just much nicer and beneficial to what we do. And we don't want to sound or look like we're whining by showing too much of the grit and messiness behind the scenes of wrestling an enterprise to its feet. But the truth is, ask any small business owner if they're tired, if part of their house is a mess, if they feel overwhelmed, or if they need a vacation but can't quite get one, and you'll hear similar answers. I just had this conversation with a local restaurant owner I love last night. We're in the process of getting the Parris House spiffed up working from the upstairs front to the back. The next bedroom is getting done this coming weekend. Our loft area, on the other hand, is aaalll the way back over the garage and is unlikely to be renovated until summer at best. Before then we'll have had at least one of our retreat weekends housing guests in the newly renovated bedrooms and baths as we embark on this new hospitality aspect of what Parris House Wool Works offers. Just don't peek in to the innkeeper's quarters quite yet.

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That moment when your book is showing up as the #1 new release in the Folkcrafts genre on Amazon. That statistic is updated hourly so this could be a passing thing, but wow, it's a strange feeling to see it. Now available for pre-order on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and directly from my publisher, @rowmanandlittlefield #seasonsattheparrishouse #homesteading #gardening #maine #mainebooks #rughooking #fiberart #recipes #soapmaking #antiquehomes #parismaine #parishillhistoricdistrict

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Many of you told me how much you loved the Cedar Waxwing pillow I designed and hooked for @makingzine No 8/Forest. Now you can get the kit at makingzine.com! This would be a sweet little gift for yourself or a fiber artist you love. #makingmagazine #makingzine #rughookingkit #rughooking #rughookersofinstagram #cedarwaxwing #hookedpillows #balsam #mainebalsam #fiberartistsofinstagram #fiberart

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Another room freshly painted at the Parris House, the laundry/bath upstairs. Like the other rooms we've recently redone, it still needs accessories and wall art, but we're getting there. #redecorating #interiorpainting #antiquehomes #neverendingpainting

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Day two of the #parishillholidayhousetour starts now and goes until 4 pm. Come on out! Tickets at the Paris Hill Academy building. #holidayhousetours #antiquehomes #holidaydecor

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So...many of our house tour guests today fell hard in love with this painting, just as I had years ago. This painting takes my breath away every time I walk in to my living room, still, several years in to having it in my home. I wanted this painting for a very long time, also fell in love with it on first sight, and, was finally able to purchase it years after that first view. In the interim, I'd dreaded it being sold to someone else, but was resigned that if it was, it was not meant to come live with me. I only steward this painting now because the artist was generous with his terms of payment, something I am forever grateful for.

For anyone who was on the house tour today and may not have caught my explanation of the artist, it is @wilderoakes in Spruce Head, Maine. I would encourage you to go to his website at http://www.wilderoakes.com/. Charlie's life story and his art are inextricably tied to our Maine coast and it is impossible not to feel that in the paintings. I use the word "feel" because these are not just pieces to be casually seen. They speak and are felt.
I regard art like this the way I regard my antique home. You can't own these things. They are timeless and have lives of their own. We just steward them while we're here and hope they will live on in caring stewardship after we're gone.

I am the lucky steward of three of Charlie's paintings. Two are minis, this one is large. If you happen to be on the house tour tomorrow, ask me to show you this one and the other two. #maineartists #art #fineart #timeless #mainecoast

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We've got the simmering potpourri on for the #parishillholidayhousetour ! Join us! Believe it or not we're also still shipping this morning. Heather's coming over early to package the first batch of orders out to our Darn Good Yarn customers. Busy day! But good. Hope to see some of you out for the tour. Potpourri recipe will be in our next newsletter. #simmeringpotpourri #housetours #holidaydecor #seasonsattheparrishouse

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