Late in the 1970’s my father saw a lady demonstrating rug hooking at the mall in Barrie. He thought it might be something I would enjoy and purchased the pattern, the cut pieces for the foreground, and a moshimer hook, and gave them to me as a gift. This rug is about 18″x 30″ and done in a 4 cut.  I had never heard of traditional  rug hooking, but he demonstrated how he had seen the loops pulled, so I jumped right in.  I did a lot of crewel work at the time, the design appealed to me, and I was fearless.  (looks like I’ve come full circle doesn’t it…quite a resemblance to my current  project)  However my enthusiasm faded, and it ended up on a shelf unfinished for about 13 years.

While I hadn’t pursued rughooking, I had been busy with machine knitting, crocheting, and crewel embroidery. My interest in these crafts was lagging and I wanted to try something  new. With the express purpose of finding an interesting new craft that appealed to me, my husband and I went to Creative Stitchery, the big yearly craft show in Toronto. As luck would have it, there was a beautiful display of hooked rugs, and Jeanne Field was there explaining and promoting the craft. I was smitten  (a second time). She gave me the name of a teacher in my home town, and I began hooking again. This rug however, remained unfinished. (I’ll talk about my second rug next time). It wasn’t until about 2004 that I hauled it out to complete. I finished the few unhooked flowers, and added the background.  By then my father had passed away, and this little rug he had given me had added meaning to it. I completed it and gave it to my sister for Christmas. I know she treasures it and the connection it has with our dad.