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                        Creating Heirlooms

Featured Rug of the Month--

October 2009

Ruben's Noah's Ark Rug, 24"x18"

Designed and hooked by Maureen McIlwain

I am totally enamoured with rug hooking, having found it late in my art and crafting life-- about 5 years ago.  I have always loved fibre and many ways of working with it--knitting, crochet, quilting, sewing all sorts of things, but hooking eluded me until a few years ago.  At first I resisted the siren call and thought, "I can't start another thing..."  (Having many, many UFOs in my life)  but the beautiful rugs that were being created all around me sealed my fate.  Now, rug hooking is a huge passion and I can't see it ever going away.

I started with a Deanne Fitzpatrick chair pad and that was finished quickly, made me happy and eager to hook more.  So, a few name mats for nieces and nephews made nice gifts, and a couple of half-moon hit-or-miss rugs for the floor came next.  Then I designed a few mats, all the while building my wool stash.  Dyeing naturally followed, with a wealth of colour play and experimentation.  Heaven!  There is no shortage of inspiration for rugs, here on Canada's eastern coast.

Along came another passion, our first grandchild, Ruben.  Noah's Ark seemed like the right theme for his rug, and it took a little drawing and re-drawing, but once I was happy with the design, it hooked up fairly quickly.  It's about 24"x18", as-is and hand-dyed wools on cotton monk's cloth.  It sits in his room in front of the comfy chair for curling up and reading a book in.  If only I could be there more often, reading with him!  It does make me happy to know that a bit of me is there with him.

To view more of my projects, go to http://quoddyloopers.blogspot.com.

Maureen McIlwain, St. Andrews by-the-Sea, New Brunswick, Canada

Do you have a rug you would like to see featured on this website?  E-mail me!  Every rug has a story, and we love to hear about them all!  If your rug gets featured, you will get your choice of our "I'm a HOOKER and PROUD of it" totebag, or a free half-yard of linen, so what are you waiting for!  To view the many rugs that have already been featured, go to our archive.