Prairie Rose Rug Show

One of my favorite things about going to Prairie Rose Rug School is seeing the amazing work of other rug hookers. Just looking at other rugs a person can learn so much about backgrounds, borders, shading, or even the beauty of a very primitive piece.
Our teacher Joanie Reckwerdt took us on a tour of the rug show to discuss different sky techniques. Lessons in art are all around us if we take the time to look. When you look at the sky do you pay attention to how it flows, how the clouds look, or what colors you see? When you look at a tree do you see how the branches grow, or whether you see leaves or just color? The lessons are there if we take the time to see them.

 Sue Cunningham designed Chief Black Hawk. He is a very large rug and the only way I can describe Sue's work is insane OCD. She is as meticulous as they come. She also designed the purple geometric below. This is the rug she was working on last year at Prairie Rose.

 The owl is a rug that Catherine Vance hooked as part of her McGown certification. Notice how she hooked the background up and down with the dip-dyed wool instead of across. Beautiful.

 This little guy wasn't in the show but I had to get a picture of it anyway. JoHanna Hergenrider hooked the Blue Gill and she was finishing it at Prairie Rose.

One of the teacher at Prairie Rose, Sharon Saknit, designed and hooked this outstanding colorplay rug called Geometric Squares. Perfection is the only way to describe this rug.

Terryl Ostmo hooked this 1790 bed rug adaptation called Norwich. This is such a dramatic rug and beautifully hooked.

 Doodle Dala is a Jane McGown Flynn pattern beautifully hooked by Bonnie Pelczar. 

The Carpet Bag designed by Karen Kahle was hooked by Darlene Buckner. You can see part of Carol Messerlie's floral rug in the background to the right.

 Darlene Buckner also hooked this beautiful Primitive Squares. Darlene is as much fun as she is talented.

 Valerie Begeman designed and hooked this stunning sunflower design.  Beautiful design Valerie!

 The Day Lily Pillow is designed and hooked by Caroline Godfread. All of Caroline's work is original designs. Anne Bonney hooked the floral rug in the foreground on the right. Stunning work ladies!

 Caroline Godfread wanted to try her hand at a wide cut so she designed and hooked Karen's Rocket. You can just feel the movement in this rug.

This concludes the rug show for today. I need to find better picture for the rest of the show before I try posting them. We all know my photography skills are lacking.

Prairie Rose Rug School, 2014

Assumption Abbey in Richardton, North Dakota is the perfect setting for a successful rug school. You can't ask for better hosts than the Monks who call the Abbey home.

Patty Tyrrell , Barb and Craig Pearson, and I, along with another Wyoming rug hooker Sue Cunningham, from Laramie, Wyoming, all shared Joan Reckwerdt as our teacher. On our first day of class Joan told stories that were so funny my stomach hurt from laughing so hard. Besides her ability to tell a great story, she is an outstanding teacher.

 Joan is the teacher behind Barb Pearson's crewel rug. Barb has taken classes from Joan at Friends, in Oregon as well as at Prairie Rose. Joan has been the teacher throughout this outstanding rug.

Below is the rug Craig Pearson was working on and below it is a pictorial he got a little help with also. The pictorial is mind blowing. He also did another pictorial that is in the rug show but my picture turned out very blurry. Maybe Patty took one that turned out better. If so, I will show it later on.

Joan color planned and dyed the wool for Patty Tyrrell's Lacy Heart by Bea Brock. It has a stained glass feel to it. I can't wait to see it finished. We made the comment that Patty seems to like burgundy since her last rug had burgundy also. 

I know the angle of this photo is upside down but I wanted to show the pattern right side up. On the left is my Sheep and Sunflower rug. My other two sunflowers will both be red. I learned one major lesson on this rug. Never draw on your pattern with colored Sharpie. It will bleed on to your wool when you steam it! Since I will be adding a dark background to the rug, I will be hooking a white face on my sheep. I changed her face with the red sharpie so I spend the first night of rug camp washing the red out of my face.

The rug s next to mine are done by Katie Knoelke. She was in Ingrid Hieronimus's class and I was so impressed with the backgrounds she used at Ingrid's suggestion. One stripe went horizontally and one went vertically with a red line and the background extending out from it. Ingrid has a plethora of background and border ideas as well as being a fabulous teacher.

Carol Messerli, our other Wyoming rug hooker's elk came to life in Ingrid's class. Carol learned so much from Ingrid and I can't wait to see how this rug looks when it's finished.

Our other Wyoming gal Sue Cunningham, who has been going to Prairie Rose for years, was working on a beautiful Poppy design that Joan was helping her with. Sue's work is meticulous and I will show more rugs from her and others in another post.

The week went so quickly. The company was wonderful, the food amazing, and the teachers were all top notch. Suzy Jones did a fabulous job as our Director and we can't wait until next year.

Post written by Sylvia Gauthie