Deanne Fitzpatrick was raised in Freshwater, Placentia Bay, NF, the youngest of seven daughters. Both her grandmothers designed and hooked their own mats. "My mother tells stories of her mother taking a piece of charred wood from the fire and drawing a design on an old feed bag," she writes on her Web site (www.hookingrugs.com).

"As a child, I vaguely remember dull, grayed, and worn mats gracing the doorways of homes-their last stop before being thrown away as rubbish. No one will ever know the innovative patterns, historic designs, and personal treasures which were cast away, never to be recorded for future generations. As an adult, I have grown to love primitive rug hooking, and I am actively trying to preserve and revive the ancient folk art."

Deanne, who now lives just outside Amherst, NS, believes the character and beauty of hooked rugs is not only in the completed piece, but in the process itself.

"The wool cloth is gathered with a feel for texture and colour, from cast off pieces that have been worn by real people in real communities….Choosing the colours and hooking the finely cut strips, loop by loop, into the burlap approximates painting, but the palette is a personal collection of colour and cloth."

Deanne says hooking is a chance to escape "into a private world of colour, shape, and texture, where the only thing that matters is the beauty of the piece you are creating."

As a special treat, Deanne has created this new design especially for Saltscapes. At 10 inches by 10 inches, the finished mat features a rustic Atlantic Canadian home sitting on a hill overlooking water, could find its place in your home as a chair pad or wall hanging. Her easy to follow instructions on the following pages make this project a breeze, even for the novice.

Step One:

Enlarge pattern on a photocopier. Transfer onto burlap or draw freehand with a permanent marker.

Step Two:

Put your burlap on the embroidery or quilting hoop, pulling at the edges to make the burlap flat and tight.

Step Three:

Cut wool by folding it accordian style, then cutting into strips that are 1/8- to 1/4-inch thick.

Step Four:

Using a strip of white wool, begin outlining the house. Hold your hook in the same hand you would hold a pencil. Push the hook through a hole in the burlap. With your other hand, wrap the end of the strip of wool around the hook and pull it through the burlap, leaving the end on top. Keep pulling the wool up, loop by loop, through every second hole in the burlap, until you reach the end of the strip. Pull the end to the surface, clip end.

This process is continued with the various colours until the rug is completed.

Step Five:

When your rug is complete, cut away all the burlap except two inches. Fold these over the back edge and sew.

Step Six:

Using a hot iron and a wet cloth, press your rug on both sides. This will help to even out the loops and give your mat a finished look.

Materials Needed:

Wool:
You will need approximately 1/4 yard of each of the following coloured materials (approximately 1/2 a skirt if you are using old clothing):
black (outline and roof)
medium blue (water)
yellow or another bright colour (house)
dark green tweed (path, hill and inside windows)
light green (grass)

You will also need:
a small amount of white (house trim)
a small amount of gold (door)

Tips:

• It is a good idea to begin hooking by outlining something such as a house or straight line.
• Be careful not to cross the paths of your wool on the back of the rug. You can hook in straight or curved lines.
• As you hook your rug, clip the ends of the strips that you have brought to the surface.
• It is the packing of the loops together that keeps them from falling out. Try not to hook from left to right but to make sure your surface is covered.
• Don't hook too tightly or your mat will not lie flat.
• Keep the burlap tight on your frame to make hooking easier.