A Rug and It's History

This hooked rug is one of the first rugs I started, but its progress was interrupted by several years of frustration with color, size and life events! The background color started off much lighter, an uninteresting beige color. It just didn't "speak to me", so I set the rug aside for at least two years. When I finally did pick it up to try again, I used the mottled brown that you see in the picture. The tree suddenly came alive for me and just seemed to be satisfied with the color I'd chosen. Since this rug is 28" x36", it took a while to complete but was worth all the effort. This hangs in my kitchen above our snack bar, the table where we sit for most of our meals. I truly enjoy seeing this every day and am so happy that I didn't give up on it years ago. Its story started with my first ever flying experience...

About 12 years ago, my sister Pat and I took a girls' trip to upstate New York to visit our sister Janice. It was in March, and it involved my first flight. I was a little apprehensive, having never flown and not knowing exactly what to expect. I live near Peoria, IL, and we took a shuttle flight from Peoria to Chicago for the flight to Albany, NY. The shuttle plane seemed so small as I looked out the airport window, and I had serious second thoughts about the trip! My brother-in-law, who had driven us to the airport, peered out the same window and said, "Oh good, you're taking the big one! Big one???
We boarded the plane and took off (take-off was great fun!!). The flight only took about 40 min., but the airplane smelled like burning electrical wires all the way to Chicago. I had a raging headache after about 15 minutes of that smell. Fortunately, the flight from Chicago to Albany was much less "smelly" and I thoroughly enjoyed flying-which surprised me. Anyway, at a small shop in Connecticut while visiting my sister, I saw this rug kit. I fell in love with hooked rugs and really wanted to buy the kit, but it was nearly $200! Too much for my budget! I remembered that pattern, though, and two years later bought the burlap pattern online and supplied the wool myself. The design is by Lib Calloway. That trip involved several firsts for me; my first flight, my first exposure to hooked rugs, and my first time to see the ocean. It was a thoroughly enjoyable trip. We decided a few weeks ago that we need to take another "girls' trip" soon--maybe to Savannah! Perhaps I will start a rug when we do, and it will be intertwined with memories of the trip...just as is the Shaker Tree of Life.