Wow! The Press Democrat put my little rug, ‘Golden Gate Sunset’, on the front page of their Sonoma Life section, naming their article ‘Fiber optics’! They snagged it from Sonoma Index-Tribune … https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/entertainment/rug-hookers-to-display-their-works-at-sonoma-valley-library/ Cover Girls; ‘Golden Gate Sunset’ hooked rug by Laura Pierce and Nancy Winn with hook in hand A couple of friends dropped off copies, which was so fun! I was planning to put my rug, Golden Gate Sunset, in the rug show at the Sonoma Valley Library in Sonoma, CA, but backed out at the last minu ..read more

5 round Chair Rugs with ‘bias-wool’ edging, made with plaids or textures. Since I’ve discovered the ways of making these beautiful edges, I use them for my round rugs. Monika Jones uses this method and enlightened me at one of our guild workshops! I used them for rectangular rugs with round corners first, and could see that bias-wool loves to curve! It’s a natural for round and oval rugs. If you want to give it a try, read on… Measuring my bias-cut wool to make sure there’s enough to go round I hope you know how to cut your wool on the bias: a 45 degree angle that you can cut with your rotary ..read more

‘Blue Columbine’ designed and hooked by Laura Pierce, 2018 Designed for ATHA Biennial 2019, Denver, my class was about blending wide cut wool to create this beautiful Colorado state flower. I painted the petal wool and dip-dyed the leaf wool. Outlined with my favorite gold texture, it creates a vibrant little rug. It’s only 16×16″, so really not a rug, more of a tapestry. I show my rugs at the county fairs, library shows, rug conventions, shops and art shows, so they are finished, labeled and ready to hang. ‘Barcelona Tile’ design by J. Flynn, hooked by Laura Pierce, 2019 Here’s another small ..read more

Autumn Leaves with painted wool 2012 by Laura Pierce Back in 2012, I created a couple of round chair rugs for a mini-class. It was a take-off of a class I’d taken from Helen Connolly, where she showed us how to paint wool. It’s a marvelous way to create meandering colour in various palettes, especially suitable for autumn leaves. My class also included designing the small chair rug, using templates; in this case, leaf templates I found at a craft store. Autumn Leaves II with painted wool, 2013 by Laura Pierce Originally, I whipped the edge of the second chair rug with a gold, that complimented ..read more

Fog on the water… Colour in the air… 1st morning of 2023 Little River Inn Rug Camp. Little River Inn is beautifully located… right above the coast road; Hwy 1 on the California coast. We all enjoy views of the ocean, which in October are particularly nice. We gather the last week of October for a Rug Camp each year and this would have been the 20th! … except for the pandemic. We’re back and are glad of it! Rug over the Mantel: ‘Christmas Trees’; plus abstract, bats, leaping dog, owl, cat, butterfly, Eskimo, snippet minders, oh my! My first task is to get the rug show up! Which rug will go over ..read more

‘Not So Fishy Stitches’ designed and hooked by Laurie Wiles During Covid, ATHA Chapter 11 offered a Zoom Rug class on Creative Stitches with Barb Powell; many of us signed up! Barb had designed a pattern with a fish to learn and try out several different ‘creative’ stitches. As Laurie is a very creative soul, she made up her own design and employed all the Creative Stitches that Barb introduced. Viola! A creative Celebration Finalist! Yes, Laurie’s seagull was selected for Celebrations 32! You can certainly see why; the various stitches seem perfect for each part of the bird in a fun way! Wave ..read more

Mt.Shasta in California, March 15, 2023, shadows in the snow illustrate the flow of the volcano. Flying out of ‘Snoopy’ Airport… or Sonoma County Airport… makes the trip a little less difficult. It’s a small airport in Santa Rosa, just a few miles north of Petaluma. I recognize many of the landscapes as we fly north along the same route as Hwy 5. Flying into Sea-Tac was exciting as we made a big circle over Seattle to approach the runway! Flying past downtown Seattle and starting our turn around Lots of water in Seattle, including the lake visible beyond downtown, where the ‘Boys in the Boat ..read more

‘We can do that!’ ‘Wedding Rug’ designed & hooked by Pat Merikallio Pat Merikallio was back! taking Nancy Miller Quigley’s class and brought this big wonderful ‘Wedding Rug’! Another story rug, about a wedding, with one of her fabulous borders! ‘Gypsy’ design by Laura Pierce, hooked by Cai King I love all the Mother Earth connections Cai King hooked into this little ‘Gypsy’ pattern; night and day, rainbows and earth lips! The tweed corners are delightful as they ‘use it up’! Cai and friends came up from southern California, along with their teacher, Sharon Saknit. It was great having Sharo ..read more

Barbara Benner suggested we should have our group photo in the garden… Yes! Folks came from near and far; Little River Inn Rug Camp was starting to get known. Nancy Miller Quigley is a popular teacher and helped me promote the new little camp. Ann Taylor taught my other class, but let me know it would be her last; “Give some other teachers a chance.”, she said. Rug Art Supplies was there as our store again, but with new owners; Shelley Flannery & Barbara Hanson. A small portion of the Rug Art Supply store at Little River Inn Rug Camp 2007 Shelley and Barbara put a lot of creative energy in ..read more

2006 Little River Inn Rug Camp campers! Bringing in teacher, Ann Taylor, from Calgary, Alberta, was a wonderful experience. A dedicated and talented teacher and I felt lucky to have her join our little camp. By this 3rd camp, I realized that a camp store is also desired, so I also asked Suzi Jones to come and bring her store; Rug Art Supplies. She brought her store and her mother, Pat Horn! Nancy Miller Quigley was back again to teach her class while Norman signed up for Ann’s class. Emma shares her rug braiding expertise with some of our campers, Little River Inn 2006. Emma gets a braid star ..read more