Leaping Hare  designed and Prodded by Jane Cook Cumbria  60cm x 90cm.

This rug is 10years old now and it came about after a frenzied natural dyeing spring. I came across a book called 'Traditional Scottish Dyes'  by Jean Fraser.
My first session was with Knapweed which grew in abundance on a nearby banking, it was easy and produced a lovely mellow yellow, I was hooked and went on to try Ragwort, Heather tops (very smelly) Nettle tops, young Fern Fonds, Larch Cones and lovely Blackberry and Elderberry.  I learnt by this time to put the leaves, roots, berries in old tights to keep all the bits off the wool blanket.  The mordant used is Alum and Cream of Tartar and some of the dye bath's can be pretty smelly so a sunny day with the kitchen door wide open is best.
Having got a reasonable stash of wool blanket now dyed I decided it had to be used all together in 1 rug and came up with this simple design.
It has faded over the years and I never place it where it would get strong sunlight.  
The rug is a reminder of all the hard work it involved, I was working full time then,so not for the faint hearted and I cant imagine I will ever repeat it!

Pink Passion

Pink Passion  is 30"x 20" It was deigned, made and is owned by myself Jan Newton. I made this rug in 2010 after attending a class run by Jenni Stuart-Anderson in the Midlands. This was my first piece and I used a loose weave hessian and remnants of cotton furnishing fabric. I started in the middle of the heart and worked out wards as I was not sure how far the darker red would go. Once I had achieved a shape I was happy with with I used random strips of the mixed cream and pink fabric. Although I made this rug for my guest bedroom it is often on display at Monkton Elm Garden Centre, in Taunton where I teach occasional classes. Since making this rug I have coveted other assorted rugs and wall hangings but using either the hooking technique or a mixture of both to gain different effects.

Cornwall Proddy

 

 

Proddy made from crimplene (yuk!) I guess in the 60's. It is 5'x3' and was given to me so I have no idea who made it. I can't imagine it would ever wear out and has been washed several times. Unfortunately it wasn't made properly..there are gaps between the clippings so they tend to work themselves out of the backing. I actually really like it because it is so colourful. Owned by Diane Cox, Cornwall.

In the eye of the Beholder

 

 Made, designed and owned by:Elaine Foster

 Size: approx 3’ x 2’ Made from: Wool fabric in 2008 made in North Yorkshire

My local rug group was in the final stages of planning an exhibition, and we were deciding on titles for our rugs. My rug, especially made for the exhibition, depicted ,I thought, two rams butting horns. I was struggling to think of an interesting title and turned to a friend for inspiration. She immediately came up with “Happy Elephants”.

 The rug never looked the same to me. Once the image of trumpeting elephants, albeit with somewhat skinny legs, had been implanted, it was always lurking in my mind. Some time after the exhibition I reworked the rug, changing the image to one of a single sheep

Blue Heart Mat

Made in Guernsey Size 18” x 24” Materials Used: Hand dyed and “as is” woollen material  Designer, Maker, Owner Alison Teed made in 2011

 

Red Hot Pokers

RED HOT POKERS

Size 30"x19"

Materials used: cottons, polyesters, leather and suede pieces

Maker:  Alison Teed

Owner’s Name: Alison Teed

Designer’s Name: Alison Teed
Made in 2000 in Guernsey
This rug was made after seeing a clump of Red Hot Pokers in my neighbour’s garden and thought how beautiful and elegant they were. I enjoy added leather or suede to my rugs for a bit of added texture.

Calgary Bay memory rug designed,made and owned by Jane Rushworth circa 2011. Size in inches 38" x21"  Materials used a mixture of woollen sources including blankets, tweeds and woollen jumpers. The rug was made in North Yorkshire

The story about the rug.  This rug is a memory rug of Calgary bay on the isle of Mull. I wanted to try using a wider range of colours and thicknesses of woolen fabrics to create more variety within the rug. It is also a memory rug including blanket from my Mother and material from friends and fellow rugmakers. It also reminds me of a fabulous place to be with beautiful blue sea and white beaches. The colours include pinks, greens, blues, purples, yellows, creams, black and grey all of which are as sourced. The thickesses are varied and the rug includes tweeds notably blue and purple ones.

 

Memories

Memories designed and made by Rosemary Beney in Derbyshire it is  20"x30" made with all wool, except for sparks of white leather in 2012-13

The story of the rug is the stripey Boden sweater that I begged the 'love of my life' to give me for the rag rug I wanted to make. He gave it to me and I used to say that I felt like Madame Desfarges as I worked on it, remembering the amazing times we've had together, always stolen, always passionate, exciting,  heavenly, happy, highlights of each year.

Blue Red Absract

Blue red abstract made and designed by Clare Hutchinson Skipton Nth Yorkshire.

I dreamed of a nice soft proddy rug to step onto when I got out of bed each morning. It needed to be the same colours as the velvet quilt which I hand dyed and quilted several years ago. So using an assortment of old blankets and various charity shop tweeds, I set to work with the dye pots. A 100% Merino wool Harrods blanket, a real find from a local Charity Shop and bright pink, took the dyes beautifully, even the blues.

During the dyeing process I used a variety of shades or red, orange, blue and turquoise, some of which I 'spotty dyed' as per Cilla's instructions. Even though I used acid dyes for the rug and reactive dyes for the quilt, the colours were much the same and I was thrilled with the result.

As I find pushing pieces of fabric through from the back of the hessian rather hard on my hands, I used my 'Bodger' (spring-hook tool) to make the rug. I am very pleased with the result and it is such a welcome sight when I get out of bed each morning!

Mum's Rug

This rug was made by my mother Esther (Tess) Mabe, nee Lupton.  She made it in the mid 1980s at the request of my sister Jan for her thatched cottage in Kent.  It now resides in my kitchen in York.  Mum was born in 1917 in the village of Little Crosby in Lancashire where she grew up, but spent all her married life in Kent. She died in 2007.  When I was growing up I remember proddy rugs that she had made in front of our open fire:  they were always of a geometric design with a black border.  But as we grew up and money became a bit more plentiful she stopped making them – I believe this rug was the first she had made for about 30 years. 

I took up rag-rugging and joined Ebor Ruggers in 2009.  My father then gave me her “prodder” which he had kept.  It was made, I would guess in the 1930s or early 1940s, by my mother’s Uncle Ned (born in 1881) of wood from a holly tree and simply shaped into a point.   I use it all the time for making proddy mats.  I wish I had asked Mum more about this craft and its history and practice within her family while she was alive, but I am pleased to think that I am carrying on a family tradition going back now for several generations.

The mat is 51”x 23” (130cm x 60cm) and made out of various textiles which my mother got mainly from the local charity shop where she volunteered.  It is backed with hessian.

Cotswold Proddy

Cotswold Rug 27” x 26” designed, made and owned by Jan Haines.  The rug was made in the summer of 2006 in the county of Kent in the South East of England.

During a visit to the Cotswolds for our summer holiday, we called in at the Cotswold Woollen Weavers at Filkins, Gloucestershire.  Whilst looking around at the machines and looms etc., I came upon a large bin on wheels that was full of small offcuts of the woollen fabrics, there were bags nearby which you could use to fill with the offcuts and I paid around a £1.00 a bag.  Needless to say I collected quite a few of these bags, bought them home and proceeded to make my rug.  Once I had sorted them out I realised that there was only two colourways in the pieces, hence the design was born.  A sort of cross through the middle with the lighter colour and the darker around the edge.  There was no rhyme or reason really, just prod them in and make a mat.  It has been in constant use since it was made and is the first thing you step on when you enter my home.  It wears well and a good shake every now and then keeps it looking good.

Pink Daisy

                                     

2 Pink Daisy Mats 22” x25” Designed, made and owned by Jan Haines in December 2010 in the county of Kent in South East England.

I had decided to start a rugmaking group and decided that I would cover most styles of rugmaking. I then made samples of proddy, locker, latch, hooked, plaited which resulted in five new rugs for my home.  I had been making rugs for a good number of years and had collected a selection of woollen blankets.  With the new group starting in January 2011 I did not have much time for dyeing fabrics, so I gathered together the green, white and pink  pure wool blankets and cut the 1/2” strips and then down to 3” lengths.  I drew the design on freehand and went to work.  Once the group was under way I thought I would make a second rug as I had enough blanket left, so I drew a similar design to the first one and they now live either side of the bed.  Both rugs have a strong calico backing sewn over the hessian backing that I worked into.  They were very simply made and a pleasure to step out of bed onto on cold winter mornings.

Margo's Evil Eye

 Margo's Evil Eye Designed, prodded and owned by Margo Winning. Made with a mix of jumpers, scarves and skirts, some of which are hand-dyed, in Scotland in 2010. This was a test piece, made as a sample for working with groups of people interested in learning the technique in traditional pattern, but using bright, vibrant colours. This traditional ‘evil eye’ pattern is supposed to ward off unwelcome visitors and evil spirits, as told to me by my rag rug mentor, Mary Dayton. It lives happily in the doorway of my conservatory and provides a welcoming step in.

Waves

Waves 22"x16" designed prodded and owned by Cilla Cameron in 2011 in Nottinghamshire. The mat was prodded from the back with a wooden prodder using recycled hand dyed and as is wool material cut 2"long x 1/2" wide. My friend Miriam Miller's grandson David made a cushion with lovely block colours in a wavy pattern I loved the movement and so design the rug below. You can see the cushion on page 49 in Miriams book Proggy and Hooky Rugs. Actually this is the third one I have made the two previous ones are now sold.

Yorkshire Barn



Yorkshire Barn 44"x29" designed prodded and owned by Cilla Cameron. Made with recycled hand dyed and as is wool material eg blanket, skirts jackets and jumpers cutting the pieces 2"long x 1/2" wide. Made approx. eight years ago in Nottinghamshire. I took the photograph of this barn in Grisedale above Hawes in Nth Yorks and thought it would make a nice proddy mat. I enlarged the photograph and transferred it to a hessian backing adding the stone wall border. The sky on the photograph was very dull so I studied skies and chose a brighter blue. I prodded it from the back with a wooden prodder.