The design for Serendipity is based on an antique rug hooking pattern that a friend found and showed to me. I was very taken with the simplicity of the design; just a branch, with leaves, buds and a large flower in the middle. I did a rough sketch of the basic idea, then did some research to find just the right kind of flower to be my centerpiece.
The original pattern was called "Crimson King", which I learned is a breed of peony. I decided to go with a white peony, because I liked the idea of a white flower jumping out at the viewer from the rich red-brown background.
The flower, buds and leaves were all hooked with dip-dyed yarn. For the peonies, I used yarn that was dyed gray to white, and yarn dyed dark red to light red. For the leaves, I dip-dyed green yarn with ripe tomato. The background yarn is handspun wool, which was originally bright red, but I overdyed the yarn with evergreen dye, and ended up with a deep burgundy color, with lots of variegation.
If you would like more information on how to hook Serendipity, click here.
