A Gallery of Rugs & Artful Projects 

Sharing inspiration and ideas.....

When you use woolens from The Merry Hooker in your project, please send me an image of the completed piece. I love to see my customers' work!

Star and Two Sheep

This is my adaptation of a delightful pattern from Star Rug Company. It measures 37.5" X 21.5" and is hooked primarily in #8 cut. The two sheep are hooked in four different shades of natural, undyed sheep's roving..... too much fun! I used one of my favorite hand dyed colors, Antique Cream, for the background.

This rug was hooked as part of a challenge for an online rug hooking group. Each participant contributed 5 'worms' per participant ( I received 200 strips of wool in 40 different colors & textures!) The challenge was to use all of the worms in the piece. I had a great time coming up with the hit & miss block that I added to the bottom of Maria's pattern.

Bittersweet Pumpkin

It was such fun hooking this Notforgotten Farm design..... I had to reach outside my usual box for these colors!

The pumpkin is a combination of Sweet Pea and Fig Tree, with Bittersweet for the face, Redware for the leaves and Saltbox Red for the berries......kind of a role reversal for many of these colors. The brilliant colors are nicely set-off by the muted tones of the background, Straw Gold. The border, which I love (thank you Lori!), is a combination of Fig Tree and Rich Background .

Family Hearts

I love the creative hit and miss background in this rug designed and hooked by my customer Lori K. for her mother. Lori used a wide variety of colors in this rug. To save time, she had me send all of the wools precut to #8 strips.

Her mom should have a Happy Valentines Day indeed!

3 Dimensional Hooked Santa

Can you believe the workmanship and detail on this Santa? I adore the face on the little polar bear!

My fellow Wine Country Rug Hookers guild member, Nancy B. of Middletown, CA. hooked this dimensional Santa using Pomegranate for the coat and Antique Black for the boots. She found a craft store boucle knitting yarn for the fur trim on the coat....the effect is perfect.

Nancy's hooked several of these in varying colorways (wouldn't you like to be on her gift list?) and she says that, to her surprise, each face has developed a unique character. She credits another guild member, Laura Pierce of Flying Dog Hookery, for helping her find this Jane McGown Flynn design.

Antique Santa and Reindeer

Do you ever have a rug that you enjoy hooking so much that, when it's completed, you're sad?

Santa's face is hooked with Skin Tones and his features are Shabby Pink & Chrysanthemum. His beard & hands are hooked with the always-useful Snowman Textures and his coat is a mix of a pair of my best reds, Old World Santa and Saltbox Red. All the greens are Olive Wash and the dark wool in the border is Mountain Cabin Plaid (cut on the cross-grain).

What really adds to the vintage look of this rug is the background, a mix of Tea Stained Textures and Tea Stained Red Windowpane .

This whimsical design, a reproduction of an antique rug, comes from the Star Rug Company.

Moose on the Loose

I adore living with this lively rug designed by Emma Lou Lais (I added the Big Dipper!). It's a nice medium size....49" wide X 29.5" high. When I completed this rug I felt I'd finally hooked something I loved. I'm sure the fact that I'd had a class in Phoenix with Emma Lou the year before made quite a difference!

Americana Home

This was such a great & easy rug to hook.... a good design (from The Red Saltbox) to perfect my hooking technique! I used Old Barn Red, Snowman Textures & Twilight for the flag, Antique Cream for the windows and Marigold for the star.

This rug now lives with my little sister in Moss Point, Mississippi. Moss Point is on the Gulf Coast & is one of the communities that were so devasted by Hurricaine Katrina.

Georgie's Floral

My very talented customer, Susan, of Port Townsend, Washington, hooked this lovely rug using Rich Background in an #8.5 cut as, you guessed it, the background.

Susan is a prolific hooker with a great sense of color... you're a lucky collector if you can pick up one of her beautifully hooked pieces occasionally on eBay. Her ID is 'puddleduckprimitives'

Winter Coat

Isn't this a great rug? A Deanne Fitzpatrick design, this evocative piece was hooked by my lovely customer, Nancy, of Erda, Utah.

Now here's the fun part.... this is Nancy's first rug!

Tombstone Sunflower

This delightful little piece (9" X 13"), was hooked by my internet friend, Sandi, of Old Crow Primitives from Missouri. Sandi used Marigold for the sunflower, Houndstooth with a Twist  for the flower center, Olive Green Plum for the greenery and Morning Glory for the pot. She came up with a great primitive background by adding a few strips of Tea Stained Textures and Houndstooth with a Twist to her main wool, the ever-popular Rich Background!

You can see more of Sandi's great primitive work on her website, www.oldecrowprimitivesmo.etsy.com.