Rug hooking craft

During this time women were begging me to stamp designs upon scraps of their own burlap, for they had found that hooking kept their minds off the tragedies of war. They sent me every type of burlap, even laundered grain bags.

I also bought grain bags myself. We utilized coarse linen (many of the old rugs were hooked on homespun linen) and monk's cloth (when I could find it — though it was scarce as the proverbial "hen's teeth").

How we ever managed to keep everybody's grain bag separate and get it back to the right person is beyond me now, and of course occasionally we didn't. I would never repeat that experience again!

By 1945 and the end of the war, the craft took on a new impetus. Established teachers, gaining new inspiration from each annual Exhibit, were now showing increased progress, and each year new teachers were added to our group.

This meant more visitors to my home, and since I was still employed at business full time, sister May was bearing the brunt of this increased activity.