www.littlehouserugs.com

                        Creating Heirlooms

Featured Rug of the Month--

June 2010

I purchased this rug in an antique shop in the charming little town of Aurora, Oregon several years ago.  I have always loved antiques and textiles, especially when they are combined, and when I saw the pretty pinks and the floral motif on this rug I snatched it up.  It is in excellent condition and was only $40.00, a real bargain.  I brought it home and put it by my bed, and often wondered how it was made.  I knew it was hooked, but it was several years before I was able to learn about and try rug hooking for myself.  I hooded my second project with yarn, inspired by this antique rug, since it is hooked with wool yarn.  From what I have seen of rug hooking patterns in books, my guess is that it dates to around 1920-1940.  I found a very similar rug in a book titled the Complete Guide to Collecting Hooked Rugs, Unrolling the Secrets, by Jessie Turbayne.  The elements of a dark border, scrolls or scallops, a lighter center with a spray of flowers are common in rugs from the 30's-40's. The even loops lead me to believe it was done with a punch needle.   Judging from the place I bought it, it was most likely a local find from an Oregon farm house.  Incidentally, the shop where I found the rug went up in flames a few years later, and all the antiques were lost in the fire.  Yikes!  Moral of the story-- get what you love and let it take you to new places.   I would not be rug hooking now if this rug had not called me to this art form.  My life with this rug, and with rug hooking, is so much better with than without!

Kerry MacPhail   Bellevue, WA

Do you have a rug you would like to see featured on this website?  E-mail me!  Whether it is an antique treasure that you've found, inherited, or made yourself, we love to hear all about them!  If your rug is featured, you will get your choice of a free half-yard of linen or our "I'm a HOOKER and PROUD of it" totebag!  To view the many rugs that have already been featured, go to the archive.

Antique Floral Rug, circa 1930? 24"x36"