Primitive Rug Hooking...

...a fine old tradition, that's as "old as the hills"~~but new to me! My buddy, Sherry Kristoff, can tell you that I've been longing to hook a primitive style rug for years now...several attempts didn't pan out~~wrong supplies, a possible wool allergy (not the case, thank goodness!!)...a little bit o' operator error...(sigh)

A little over a year ago my friends on the PRHG chat board were discussing Magdalena Briner...and it was diagnosable/official. I had been bit by the bug! I made this dollie~~"Maggie"~~who'd holding a Magdalena design...i needle punched the dollie's rug...

("Maggie" lives with Rochelle Fugate these days...be sure to check out her dollies! Rochelle is one of my favoritest doll artisans...she makes "the list" with the likes of Scott Radke & Akira Blount~~)

But, i digress....(maybe i'm feeling a bit dolly-making-ish???? hmmmmmmmmmm....)

Anywho. I am hooked. and whenever i come across something new (to me), i devour anything and everything i can find on the subject...books, sites, and other artist's knowledge...

My first completed rug is here, on the Primitive Rug Hooker's Group blog...a gift, for my husband, for father's day...a daddy robin with 2 little eggs. It is nice to have something in our home that i have made, myself (a rarity...). As some of you know, these past few weeks~~heck, even months!~~have been stressful, sad...it's a season, i know, and will pass in time...and i must tell you. Pulling strips of wool up through a linen burlap backing is the best therapy i have found thus far! Easy on the hands, lovely on the eyes...and Maggie, who is 4, is enchanted with the wool "worms". (which does not bode well for my stash, I can tell you!) She was at my side for most of this rugs creation (you may visit it on eBay June 15th-21st 6pm MST):

This rug is included in a pattern book that my daughter Chloe and i have created together~~i can tell you, her folk designs are MUCH better than mine. They are primitive and whimsical in the purest sense of both words...nothing contrived, everything honest. She's quite the little artist!! We both have little poems in the book, along with 16 charts to hook or punch...this poem is companion to the above hooked rug:

*Ain't a 'Fraidy Cat!*

I ain't afraid o' Halloween,
not skeered o' haint or witch~~
I ain't afraid o' Hallow's Eve,
it's just a merry stitch!!

I ain't afraid o' Halloween~~
I'll wrastle boo or bat!I ain't afraid o' twelve o'clock,
I ain't a 'fraidy cat!

Megan Wommack ©2008

Until next time~~

blessings,

Meg