"I have been hooking since Thanksgiving, 2002, when my cousin Marjorie Duizer, a certified Ontario Rug Hooking Teacher, introduced me to the craft when we were visiting.
On our return home to Thunder Bay, I designed a pictorial rug from my early years growing up on the farm, and included our 2 grandchildren in the rug, to represent the past and future. This rug was all hand-cut with a rotary cutter in 1/4" strips and hooked from March to June, 2003. The rug was published in the March/April/May 2006 Rug Hooking Magazine, in the First Rug section.
Our grandchildren loved watching that rug evolve and on its completion, they wanted me to do something special for their rooms.
Giving this some thought, I decided it would be fun to do something in each rug to depict their age at the time I hooked the rug, and they in turn would always know how old the rug was later in life.
The rug displayed above was done for our grandson, Samuel, who was 4 years old in 2003. His favorite colour was yellow at the time, and he had a love of all animals, but the yellow duckie in his bathroom is what gave the inspiration for the 4 ducks in a pond with a yellow smiling sun to depict Samuel's sunny disposition.
Because we don't have any local wool shops, it was necessary to plunge into the dyepots to create the magical colours for our pond, ducks, sky and sun. I was thrilled with the colors that evolved. I used a #4 cut for the wool and the picture took shape very quickly. I spent many hours hooking and enjoying this special project. It was a pleasure seeing Samuel's expression when he got to take it home to hang in his room and I will treasure that moment always."
Marie Kelly
Thunder Bay, Ontario
Be sure and check out Marie's farm rug in the March/Apr/May 2006 issue of Rug Hooking Magazine! It is really outstanding!
Do you have a rug that you would like to see featured on this website? Let me know!
If your rug is featured, you will get your choice of a copy of my book, "Hooking With Yarn" or a free yard of linen, so what are you waiting for?
