Unusual Rug Making Hooks

I recently had contact with a delightful lady called Peggy from the USA who is a rug hooker and collector of beautiful hooks that she gathers along the way and also has specially made for her.

I asked her if I could see them and she generously emailed them to me. They are so beautiful that I thought others who are passionate about rug hooking and collecting beautiful things would love to see them as well. She allowed me to post the photos and quote her words on both the Yarra Valley Rug Makers Blog and my ‘Rug Making Hooks’ facebook page, which you will find HERE.

Peggy said about her hooks:

“I'm as much a collector of hooks as I am a "user" of hooks. I had Tom Ingalls from Missouri, USA to make several hooks for me using some gorgeous burls that I bought directly from a man who lives in Australia and harvests them from old gold fields near his home. Tom does such beautiful work. I had so much fun gathering all of my materials and designing my hooks with Tom. He was amazing to work with. Such gorgeous exotic woods. In designing my hooks, Tom used antique figural silver and picture buttons on them that I had collected from England, Ireland and Scotland. He hand-turned the Australian burls on a lathe to make the handles. I take them out often just to look at them. I love to share them with others and I think that Tom's artistry deserves to be appreciated.

The first two photos above show the Australian burls with buttons and silver that I sent Tom.

 This last picture shows the five finished hooks that he made for me. 

I love my hooks, but I do get a bit carried away with my collecting.” 

Thanks for sharing them with the rug hooking world Peggy, especially here is Australia, your hooks are truly a work of art. Credit to you and Tom.

Robyne's Newest Proggy Rug Is Ready To Go

The linen, ready to go. I'd been struggling over whether to do it as another proggy/peggy/clippy rug, or hook it, with my exotic fabrics... silks and the like... but I'm getting low on some silks and decided to use my many and sometimes hand-dyed woollen blankets. Plus, proggy suits a bedside setting, for your morning toes. Done!
The whole point is to use up my stash, too, and wool I got plenty!

It's around 74 x 140cm, maybe a smidge smaller.

Here is the inspiration (Peruvian wall hanging), although I'm not using these types of colours. I was thinking more along the lines of this amazing Kimono.

Meeting of the Yarra Valley Rug Makers

With only three of us present we nonetheless had a great time together. The first couple of hours were spent discussing our upcoming Hand Hooked Rug Exhibition of our work at Coal Creek, Korumburra, Vic.
As you can see [on left] our graphic designer, Joy,  did a fantastic job of designing a poster for the event and as yours truly- Chris, lives close to the venue it will be my job to place them around the district to give the exhibition as much exposure as we can.
We hope you will come and support us by attending this very first exhibition of the Yarra Valley Rug Makers.
After lunch Joy and Anne got stuck into their rugs while I caught up with some work that needed doing.
 If you would like more information about our exhibition, please do not hesitate to leave a comment.

Joy's stair tread

Next meeting of the Yarra Valley Rug Makers

The next meeting of the Yarra Valley Rug Makers will be held this Saturday 13th August at Chris' home in Loch.

Don't forget to bring all your lovely rugs in readiness for our Rug Exhibition on 12th September at Coal Creek, Korumburra. The exhibition runs for two weeks and we will hold our next meeting at the Coal Creek venue on the 17th September.

Please come and support our small group with your presence. 

All welcome.