Over the years I’ve been asked to adapt and personalize already existing designs with university logos, family crests and all manner of emblems that mean something to the recipient.  Here are two examples of adapted designs that blend a bit of tradition with a personal touch. 

Katie Morrison graduated from Dalhousie University in Halifax, NS with a Bachelor of  Commerce in 2009.  The gift of this rug is such a great way to commemorate all her hard work and I'll bet it caught attention well before the framed degree on the wall. 

This pattern is one of my designs called Tip Toe Thru the Tulips, a play on words inspired of course by the choice of flower and Tiny Tim, a singer from the 50's until his death in 1996, who delightfully entertained us with a high falsetto and a soprano ukulele. 

This design was a great choice for an adaptation.  With permission of the University, we applied the crest in a central position and then added the wording just inside the  border.  The center circle was a perfect nest for the Dalhousie crest, leaving the intricate floral border intact.  The background is interesting with abrashed grey and charcoal squiggles and then black for the border.  This rug is striking.  Another great marriage of a rich blend of colour coupled with a very balanced design, makes me believe that if perfection did exist, this rug would be a candidate. 

This design was drawn to scale so it's a realistic portrayal of Mahone Bay's most iconic scene.   The gazebo placement was artistic license and added by request of Jean Morse who wished to present this rug to a dear friend who had helped organize Jean's husband's funeral.   

The receiver loved the three churches and was also a musician so Jean requested that the bandstand be worked into the design even though they don't all show from this angle.  It is too bad life can't imitate art because these structures play off one another beautifully.  

Unfortunately for you, the detail in the tree foliage is not clear enough to study closely because it was spectacular!  I remember the amazing way she hooked the various greens to show shadows and separations from one tree to the next, making them as lifelike as one can do with wool.   Her red maples were exquisite.  We custom dyed a spot formula for this piece and called it Red Maple.  She manipulated the darks and lights of the wool to make it highly effectual, placing each strip strategically to make the trees so lifelike it was stunning.  She placed the red maples in a triangle which also broke up the large expanse of greenery. 

Rosa Rugosa surrounds the gazebo and there are hits of pink for the flowers in bloom.  The rocks along the shore were done in various plaids but first outlined in a very thin darker line.  She kept the sky simple to further enhance the details in the remaining parts of the rug, drawing your eye to the center and bottom thirds to where the dense foliage, gazebo and stately buildings reside.   This rug was a spectacular gift to receive and is now a  memory from a dear departed friend. 

The above two examples of Mahone Bay's finest are more primitive, simplified drawings of the three churches.  Designed by Mary Doig, this little mat has been hooked and sold many times, enough that we could say it's her signature piece.  She's hooked it mostly with a fall colour palette but she also has done it with various greens representing spring.  Every time Mary hooks this piece and hangs it in the shop it sells, finding homes all across North America and as far away as England.  I also make both of these pieces into kits and tourists love the simplicity, happily taking away a piece of Mahone Bay to commemorate their stay here.  

This project can be hooked with wider cuts needing only a thin strip  to outline  the churches.    A lot of beginners have cut their teeth on this little mat.   The pattern adapted nicely into the tea cosy which Mary happily hooked up and loaned to the shop for display.  

This whimsical version of our churches was designed and hooked by Charlene Scott.  People love the fact that the churches, even though they are clearly the focal point,  do not command the entire stage.  There is something interesting happening in every third.  Boats are tacking back and forth in the harbour with a bit of white cap action to show movement  The churches, depicted with non traditional placement give the design a more folky aspect that many admire. 

The hills behind the church end with a row of pines that are silhouetted against a very whimsical, streaked sky of pinks, oranges and a blend of blues.   All in all this piece is the more artsy of the three designs, appealing to an audience who love the churches but want to separate slightly from the strong religious connotation.   

Warning:  Keep you rug hooking organized because someday your friends will offer to finish your last project as a gift to your beloved family.  Sad but true, none of us are going to make it out of this world alive and we can’t take our hooking with us!

The hooking flock is close and someone in our group or groups will volunteer to finish our last, uncompleted project, maybe several friends will share the lovely deed, pass it around so they all put their sentimental mark on the piece.  A fitting farewell and something to keep us occupied while we grieve for the loss of our dear friend.  We all feel helpless after the death of a loved one and this is the way we can contribute, feel like we are doing something to manage the helplessness while the work guarantees carrying on our friend’s legacy.  

I’ve done it twice.  First for my dear friend Susan Leslie.  I lucked out on that project because there was only about one half hour worth of hooking and then the whipping.   It was a commission and the woman was greatly appreciative of having Susan’s last hooked rug completed.   Susan worked on one project at a time so there wasn’t a mountain of unfinished rugs to sort through.  And then she left a rug hooker’s will for us to converge on her house where we shared her stash, all walking away with a bag full of her precious wool.  A fitting farewell to a rug hooking friend.

On the other hand, when Jean Morse passed away she had a monster rug in progress and had only completed less than a quarter of it.  Her rug hooking group offered to finish her work but admitted they were currently working on another diseased friend’s rug so wouldn’t get at it for about six months to a year, so I happily intervened, considering I had colour planned and dyed the wool for her in the first place and it was one of my patterns.  There wasn’t enough material to complete the rug and I knew how to colour match the choices so I felt that I was the best hooker for the job.  I was told at the memorial service that the rug  would go to one of her sons, was given a phone number to call when I completed it and I said a tearful thank-you for the honour of the task.    
 
I actually loved Jean.  She was the gentlest person I’d ever met, with never a harsh word for anyone.   She  loved life and I think she had a fondness for me that made me feel special in her presence.  During the last years of her life she relied on me for the many custom designed patterns she hooked for her family and we colour planned and I dyed any wools that were needed to complete each project.  She had an enthusiasm that was unprecedented. She would hook a day or so and then drop  by the shop to show me her progress, bursting to share the excitement of the evolving rug.  It was always a pleasure to see her walk through the shop door, knowing my day was about to be uplifted with her visit.  
 
So when Jean passed away it was a terrible loss for me personally and I wanted to do something to honour her.  It was something I just had to do, as if finishing this rug would keep her spirit close to me because I wasn’t ready to let her go.  Her group had offered to do the rug but were happy to let me take over as it was a sizable piece that would take upwards of a year to complete. When people offer to finish a rug it means months of your life, putting their own projects on the backburner.  It is a great honour for someone to do this and it should be appreciated for the sacrifice.  Anyone who knows anything about rug hooking will understand how dedicating a year of your life to a rug that isn’t your style or maybe colour choice is a huge undertaking.  We all know hooking a design that we aren’t excited about is a tough pill to swallow, most who start projects that we aren’t emotionally invested  in tend to roll them up and store them in the closet unfinished.  Maybe you have to be a rug hooker to appreciate this kind of offer, know the time and effort it takes.  Jean hooked rugs for years so her family should have known what it meant, the time it would take, the materials and cost to finish.  Surely a thank-you could have been easily offered but in this case, not. 
 
Two of my hooking friends, Mary and Heather offered to help so the three of us contributed to the hooking and finishing of this sizable piece.  I did the bulk of the hooking and it took me several months to chew through to the finish and then Heather whipped it.  The pattern was a design from an antique rug I purchased at an auction.  Jean loved it so I drew up the design and dyed some wool to get her started.  It was a sweet pattern that looked like garden stepping stones (thence the name Stepping Stones) with  brick geometric intervals to separate them.   

I can truthfully say that hooking the rug brought me pleasure.  I was doing a good deed even though it was getting tiring toward the end. All those bricks!   Treasuring Jean’s friendship fueled me on, even when the enthusiasm waned, but I always felt good about the process, that I was helping to make sure this gift of Jean’s would go to her son.  As I hooked it I remembered all the time we spent together.  She liked to laugh and I’m a bit of a clown so we shared some fun times
that brought a smile to my lips, but also I shed tears knowing she was gone.   I can truthfully say my heart was in the right place.   

What left a strange taste in my mouth was her son. It wasn’t that I needed a slap on the back for my effort, a simple thank-you would have sufficed but when he and his wife drove to the shop to pick up the finished rug he couldn’t even be bothered to get out of the car, sending his wife in for a quick pick up. Later we received a card, once again from the wife, saying thank-you but it wasn’t the same as chatting with or hearing from a part of Jean.  No matter what might have been going on in his life, he could have taken one minute to show his face and say thank-you.  I just know that Jean would have been a bit embarrassed at the lack of thoughtlessness from her son, that wasn’t who she was at all.  I was a bit shocked for a moment, but I shook my head and felt proud in the fact of what we had done, I wouldn’t change a thing, but I will admit it took the shine off of offering to do it again.    I’m gonna have to love the bones of ya to offer to finish your rug!       
 
This wasn’t the first time I heard of this happening.  A friend, one of my Main Street Hooker rug pals, finished a rug for a dear friend (let’s call her Betty because I don’t have permission to use real names) who had passed and was later told by the husband,  “You’re no Betty”  meaning she hadn't hooked to the standard of his wife.  The woman was crushed.  Finishing that piece wasn’t done for any accolade, it was an offer given from her heart and considering the rug was all done in a painfull #3, fine shaded with finite detail she had gone well out of her way to do a wonderful deed.  Offerings of the heart really need no praise, but to be told the work didn’t quite meet the standard of his dead wife’s work, the comment was ungratefully mean.  
    
So my point is, make sure you are offering to finish someone’s work altruistically because you may walk away from the experience dismayed or disappointed.  Hopefully these two cases are rare, but knowing that a selfish, thoughtless and dark side of humanity exists, maybe there are other stories out there.  If it should ever happen to you, find solace in the fact that not all the world is warm and fuzzy, you did the right thing for the right reason and move on, being the wiser for the experience. 
 
I would like to take this time to say to the one who steps up to finish my last project, be assured you are a true friend and will be forever in my heart, so big sloppy kisses and hugs for your time and effort.  I just hope I’m not working on that room size rug I dream about starting! 

 

                   Jean Morse 1923 - 2007


Jean's organizational ability was demonstrated as president of the Nova Scotia Rug Hooking Guild (honorary lifetime member). Her rugs achieved public acclaims and are private family treasures as they depict the life stories of her family and love of the natural world.  She is remembered for her empathy, fierce devotion, spunk and determination. She never let an obstacle get in her way and as she said, always "got on with it." She was a firm friend who held many dear to her heart especially her rug hooking friends and her neighbours.

An exerpt taken from her obituary.

 

Ah…little girls and Christmas. I personally never had a daughter, but my hubby came with one and I spent a lot of summer’s pretending she was mine, spoiling her rotten and shopping for girly stuff. We only had the summer and then she was back in Calgary with her  mother.  It’s true, girls are filled with sugar and spice and all things nice, but they also change their clothes twenty times a day so maybe I’ve had a lucky escape. Laundry is not my thing.  Boys, on the other hand, would wear the same clothes for a month, not that I ever allowed that!  I had dreams about having a little girl way back when, but in the end, it worked out that I got the daughter without the labour pains and the stretchmark’s!   

Girly things are so much more interesting than boy things.  I’ve always loved frilly stuff.  Crinolines and dresses with ribbons and bows and English Smocking.  Velvet has always been a favorite.  A little Christmas dress in blue velvet with trims of white…little black patent shoes and white tights; blond ringlets and dimples to pinch; little dolls that walk and talk.  

I’ve designed a few Christmas stockings specifically for little girls but the big girls like them too. Christmas caters to the child in us all; except for Scrooge, I can’t imagine anyone not smiling over a stocking full of little treasures and candies.    

The first stocking is Holly Days, designed for and hooked by Sue Cunningham who loves mermaids.  Then comes Serenity hooked by Mary Schleck. The third and last pattern is the same design called Our Angel.  Vivien hooked five of our stocking designs for her grandchildren.   

I'm not that computer savy, spend little time searching the web, have a website and email (a business  necessity), so I'm not so computer literate that I am comfortable with all the new techy stuff.  But after only two days of going live with my new website and Facebook, I've already met several very interesting people and have already found two of my designs hooked on people's walls that I would never have seen otherwise.  As a designer, the most exciting part of the process is seeing the finished piece, how the patterns are interpreted by each artist.  My designs are like my children...how I love to see them grow up and become beautiful adults! 

This rug, Queen of the Sea was the second mermaid piece I had ever designed.   How wonderful it was to see it hooked on Debbie Kelley's Facebook page.  I heard myself saying WOW before I realized I said the word.    The rug was plied with ribbons, how great is that?  I don't know who's more proud, Debbie or me?  
 
In Debbie Kelley's words. 
I won a blue ribbon and purple 'best hooked rug' at the Deerfield Fair which is a
large agricultural family fair held here in my town, Deerfield, NH. This is only
my second rug and she took me forever to hook ( I am the slowest hooker in the
world) so I was mighty excited, extremely proud and wicked happy ! Yes, of course, you can
post the rug on your site. I tagged you in a couple of my photos so they should
already be showing up on your page. Thanks for making my day ! :)