Thinking out of the box....

What can we as rug hookers do to help others? In addition to the rug pattern business, I work in a prosecutor’s office in a local county building. Sadly, one of the gals in another office was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. It is customary in our building to have monthly or bi-monthly, "Take a Break" lunches. All the offices take turns and make lunch for everyone in the county building. People donate to eat lunch. The lunches support different causes like Christmas gifts for underprivileged or American Cancer Society. On Wednesday, our office with along with other people in the building had a fund raiser for this gal and in addition to the luncheon, we had a silent auction. Our office asked people to donate gently used items for the silent auction. I had donated a few items and really wanted to donate a rug but only received two days notice and did not have any ready that I could donate. So wanting to do something rug hooking related, I came up with another idea. I displayed a couple of rugs at the auction as examples (this sunflower rug was one of them)and auctioned rug hooking classes including pattern, wool, hook and instruction for 4 people. The auction was a success and 5 people are going to take the class. The 5 gals paid between $30 to $35 a piece to take the class and it generated close to $200. Collectively, the building raised over $2000.00 for this gal and her family in just three hours. Isn't that just the coolest thing!


We can all make a difference in small ways. If asked to donate a rug to a charity and I’m given notice, I’ll try to tailor a rug to the audience. People love to bid on rugs because they are a little different than what is normally in a charitable auction. I know that many of you do the same as I have read about it in rug hooking boards, blogs and magazines. But remember in addition to the rug, you can also donate your knowledge and talent to teach others to hook rugs as well.


Because it is still cold and wintry here in Northern Michigan, I'll post another spring rug to remind me that warmer days are just around the corner. This is a rug that I hooked last year which I sold on Ebay. Maria