The Tree

I’m 71 and have been crafting in one way or another for as long as I can remember. I don’t think I ever go into my studio to create without using scissors. Whether it’s cutting wool for rug hooking or applique, cutting thread or ribbon for embroidery, cutting paper to cover handmade boxes or books, or cutting cotton for making primitive dolls – scissors do it! Right now I have about 18 pairs – a good many of which are Fiskars. I like them because the handles are always comfortable. I made and gave away 450 face masks during covid so comfort was really important. I also can’t resist a vintage pair of scissors if I see them in an antique store.

I’m kind of an “out there” type of creator – I can hear a saying or phrase and a project will jump into my head. I even saw a billboard once with a funny Southern name and a couple of primitive dolls were made the next week. All of my primitive dolls had a story to go with them. And because the dolls were all one-of-a-kind – every story was also one-of-a-kind. Except for my Flat Betties – they were a series. I had been showing my granddaughter how to make a small and simple primitive doll and we forgot to stuff her body. So rather than take her apart, we called her Flat Betty. I ended up making about eight of them – all flat, all basically the same body, arms, legs, head, and bad hairdo – but each was dressed uniquely and had their own story.

A friend taught me how to rug hook at a retreat and I just didn’t think it was for me – I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how to do it correctly without the wool worm twisting. I went to visit her and she actually sat under the hooking frame and watch me and then corrected me. Once I had hooked that first “rug” (which turned out to be a doll’s head – although until I created the doll it kind of looked like a very strange owl’s head), there was no turning back. I’ve been a hooker for about 20 years now and just hooked a beautiful rug for my first great-granddaughter for her first birthday. I started by buying some patterns – which are drawn on linen – but then just made my own designs. I’ve hooked dolls, a turtle shell, a crown, and many other things besides the traditional rugs. For me it’s like painting a picture but you “paint” in wool. I’ve always been lucky in that somehow the colors I choose to use coordinate nicely even though I’ve had no formal art training.

I think my favorite thing though – at least now – is wool applique/embroidery. Whether I applique wool-on-wool or wool on another fabric or combine other fabrics and wool into an art piece, it’s a very calming and painterly art form. The picture that I’m posting is my latest and probably the largest one I’ve done. A friend gave me a beautiful piece of upholstery remnant when she was visiting a few years ago. It was more ornate than I usually use but the colors were fabulous. After a couple of years, I suddenly thought that the flowers could be at the ends of tree branches and it just flowed from there. This piece was done on a cotton toweling type cloth and I used watercolor pencils on it to give it a little background color. The saying is embroidered on wool pieces and is the same one I stenciled around my work table in my studio: For lo the winter is past, the rain is over and gone, the flowers appear on the earth, the singing of the birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in the land…from the Song of Solomon. Originally I made this piece to sell but I just can’t let it go – so it’s on the wall in my dining room. The sunflower is made of wool with a beaded middle, there is a wool-wrapped swing with hand-dyed silk ribbon braided rope and a wool bird on the swing seat. A tiny turtle below as well as a tiny snail. The green cloth at the bottom was already folded but I added hundreds of French knots. The aqua stream off the bottom right side is chiffon with sequins and has three wonderful fish buttons jumping over it. The feather in the top left corner is made of wool and other fibers but has a real bird feather rachis/quill sewn down in the middle. All of the other flowers around the edges are a combination of wool, cotton, beads, and buttons. I have to say that other than the tree with the flowers at the ends of the branches, there was absolutely no planning on this piece. It just kept evolving – my favorite kind of project!