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Bluestocking

The heatwave cooled a bit this past weekend, and it has been a positively balmy 82 F/28 C or so — cool enough to tackle the Fibber McGee closet in the front bedroom, our catchall-television room. Among a great many other things, I found this, and thought I’d share a last Project Spectrum purple —

Rug1

This rug was made by my grandmother — she dated it "1947" along one edge. She was an excellent seamstress — one of my greatest regrets is that I did not ask her to teach me the arts of dressmaking — and although I don’t think she ever knitted, she did a lot of other crafts, including of course rug-hooking.

Rug2

I love swirly acanthus-leaf-type decorations just about any time, but this delights me no end. I love the colors, the swirls, the beautifully-modulated flowers in the center, the subtle color variations from the stripes (?) in the fabric that makes the lighter purple, and of course most of all the fact that my grandmother made it. (Somewhere in the thousand or so Kodachrome slides I’ve got is a picture of this rug or one very much like it, at a long-ago holiday celebration, in front of the piano that I have now.)

Rug4

I’m not quite sure what to do with the rug — I hate to wrap it up again and put it away, but it is quite fragile around the edges. Perhaps I could sew a new backing on it….

Rug3

9 responses to “An Heirloom”

Christina

31st July 2006

I’d find a reputable rug-hooking group, on Live Journal or Yahoo, and ask them. Often the finishing edge, which is whip stitch, frays and becomes fragile. It is possible to take off this edging of wool and replace it with a wool of comparable color, weight and quality. Good luck!

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Marie

31st July 2006

What an absolutely beautiful rug! Your Grandmother was certainly amazingly talented. Is it small enought to make into a wall hanging once you have the fragile edges stabilized?

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sarina

1st August 2006

Stunning! If you can find a way to display it, you will not regret it.

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–Deb

1st August 2006

That rug is absolutely gorgeous!

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Mary Tess

1st August 2006

The rug is absolutely lovely. How fortunate you are to have something made by your grandmother. I hope you can find a way to display it in your home so you and your family can enjoy it daily.

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Elizabeth

1st August 2006

Beautiful rug. I’m sure you can have the edging repaired, it would be a shame to put it back in storage. Mmmm, rug hooking….

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Mom

1st August 2006

After talking with Jeanne on the phone last night, she asked me to add what I remember about my mother making that rug. Here goes . . .
Mother bought white wool fabric and dyed the colors herself. I can still smell the hot, wet wool in Mom’s biggest pot on the stove, with white vinegar added to set the dye. She would put in one piece of wool for a minute, take it out and add another for two minutes, until she had the number of shades she wanted. It took quite some time. I have no memories of how she dried the wool, but I certainly do remember helping to cut the finished colored material into 1/4 inch strips, being as careful as I could to keep the strip even. Mother set up a frame in the living room and spent months working on this particular rug. She had taken a class at the local adult education school to get started. She made a half circle rug to go inside the front door, and perhaps two other rugs about the size of this one that Jeanne has. I was allowed to work on the background until Mother thought my work was even enough to do some of the flowers, so my hand was in on this rug, too. However I didn’t care much for hunching over the rug frame and much preferred knitting.

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kelli ann

2nd August 2006

there is a montreal artist who does lovely traditional rugs, i’m sure judith would be happy to advise you on the care & keeping of your rug…
here’s the link to her mac.com space:
http://homepage.mac.com/judithdallegret/PhotoAlbum1.html
**** thank you both for sharing this but of your family history! the rug is breathtaking.

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Laura

24th August 2006

Oh, I hope you can do something to minimize, if not repair, the damage so you can bring the rug out again. How wonderful it would be to be able to see it and use it in your daily life. What a fabulous reminder of your dear grandmother.

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