Lady in Water by Betsy Archer
When longtime New England rug hooker Harriett Laird died at the age of 74, she was hooking a rug based on the well-known painting of dogs playing poker. That was 37 years ago. The unfinished rug—and its unfinished poker game—has been sitting in a suitcase for all these many years.
But as gambler’s luck would have it, Laird’s son Bill, now 79 years old himself, found a talented hooker living near his home in Franklin, Tennessee, who was willing to take on the task of finishing his mother’s rug. It’s a daunting undertaking for any hooker, but particularly so for Penny Ward, a primitive hooker whose idea of a rug involves #8 and 9 cuts—not #3. Needless to say, Penny was nervous when Bill opened the suitcase to reveal his mother’s burlap-backed rug.
To read more about where to start when finishing anothers rug , please see the January/February 2012 issue of Rug Hooking magazine. To purchase a copy of this issue, please click here or to subscribe to Rug Hooking, click subscribe.