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Fruit Sweet Fruit, 11 1/4″ x 11 3/4″, #4- and 6-cut wool on monk’s cloth. Designed and hooked by Susan White, Orofino, Idaho, 2003.
TEXT AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY SUSAN WHITE
I think my very first rug-hooking attempt was a small blue bird (less than four inches) on a gray linen backing that came as a thank-you for subscribing to Rug Hooking Magazine sometime in the 1990s. Next, I discovered a little 7-by-10-inch kit in a quilting fabric catalog. It included precut wool strips and a pattern featuring a rabbit jumping a garden fence. After completing that and reading many issues of Rug Hooking, I decided I wanted to create my own design and learn to dye wool. I consider this rug to be my first rug.
Not one to keep things simple, I wanted to try several methods of dyeing that I found in the September/October 1998 issue of Rug Hooking. Sandra L. Brown’s “A Cornucopia of Color” and Maryanne Lincoln’s “Leafy Greens” got me started. Wanda Kerr has also been an influence for dyeing, and I came across an article by her on marbleizing wool. For my rug, I gradation dyed some of the wool for the outer border, the twigs, and the blue table. The wool for the pears was casserole dyed in the oven. For the apple, I marbleized pieces of recycled red, natural, and purple wool skirts. The whip-stitched border was made with marbleized wool yarn.
The lettering and the top section around the fruit were left as natural-colored wool. I decided to try hooking the large natural area in a checkerboard pattern and like the way it turned out. The lettering went well, although I had to bump the date up by a year once I finally finished it!
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