Max Rug . . . continued

With every rug I hook, I learn a little more. I have always liked the look of the primitive antique rugs that I see in books and magazines. They have an innocent charming appeal, some are whimsical and fun, others have intricate designs with wonderful colors, there are those that tell a story, and some are very utilitarian and plain. I love the whimsical and fun and so I chose to make our cat Max with a folk art look.

From what I have gathered from my hooking books, rugs were hooked for necessity and the fact that commercial rugs were not affordable to everyone. Hooked rugs were used, worn out, thrown out, and another was made to take it's place. Because of this, not very many hooked rugs survived. It is so wonderful to see the ones that did survive, and it makes me curious about the creative person who hooked them.

We can tell a lot from the antique rugs that have survived. What backings were used, if they used wool or cotton fabrics (or other things for that matter), the colors that were used, and how the rugs were bound. It is a look back into an era of what was available to the hooker at that time.

Most think that hookers of the past used dull and washed out colors of fabric, however the back side of antique rugs reveal that much brighter colors were hooked into the rugs. The color had faded from sunlight and wear, so a truer picture of the rug is seen from the back.

I liked the worn and faded look of the antique rug and I tried to make my project resemble that look. My first attempt at the Hit and Miss boarder was a little too bright, so I pulled out strips and re-hooked other colors. Here is a side by side before and after picture of the left side.


I continued around the rug with lambs tongues, squares and fans. The background is various white and cream wools, then I added an old date that I pick out of the blue.


The rug and Max . . . .


And now the true test, does the rug wear well . . .





I'm guessing this is what the rug would look like prodded.

My Max Rug

I am back to working on the Merit Program. Looking over the list of projects, I have decided to hook a Primitive rug with a Hit and Miss border. The Primitive rug is on the list of projects from the Garnet Award list and the Hit and Miss border is a project from the Ruby Award.

There are so many terrific rug hooking books that I have used to help with this project. I've just about worn each of them out looking at all the fabulous old rugs, reading about the back ground of each one, and learning how to hook and choose colors to make mine look as old and authentic. Here is a list of the books that I used (no particular order). They are all so wonderful and a great addition to any rug hooking library.









I chose Max as my subject for my rug. Max was our barn cat. I say 'was' because he once lived in our barn at our old house. He spooked a horse late one night and was kicked by it, breaking his hip. We brought him to the house and nursed him back to health. Max decided he liked our 'barn' better than his and became our house cat. He is still with us, ruling over us like a king.

Max is a tuxedo cat with markings on his face which makes him look like he is frowning. He isn't really, but it gives him the appearance of a disgruntled superior feline. I wanted to try to capture that in my folk art rug.

I will show more pictures as I progress.

Nancy Butts Thompson

My very dear friend and hooking leader has passed away to be with the Lord our Savior Jesus Christ. She was loved by so many and has left us with her legacy of her love of hooking. The Crescent Lane Rug Hookers all morn her loss, but the angels in heaven are getting a really good lesson in rug hooking about now. I will miss her so much. Here are only a very, very few of the wonderful rugs she hooked.