Our Last Hike Rug

I discovered punchneedle on a vacation. After years as a maker of quilts, folk art painting, constructing willow interior and exterior home decor pieces, it was the craft of punching that sparked a passion inside me. My desire to share this craft with others has grown. I have always felt that we are all creative beings and only limited by our imaginations. So much of our creative confidence seems to fade as we grow older. I like to draw that creative being out of the students I teach. The jump from beginner to advanced punch artist is only a few projects away!

Our Last Hike Rug is a punchneedle rug inspired by one family hike. I wanted to change the background around the three subjects in the rug to represent more of what we saw during the hike. There is always interesting plant life to share with the kids when we go on our hikes. It was a beautiful sunny day and that needed to be represented in the rug, and what better place to display that then off in the distance of a never-ending trail ahead! The Trans Canada Trail has so many colours along the trail, so I needed to include that with different greens and specks of shades of reds, oranges, and yellows. I love to experiment with hand dying so I always have a stash of colours and various values and variegation of those colours.

Read more in our Issue 58.

Carol Gaylor
Oxford Punch Needle Instructor
Punching Rugs In Kawartha Lakes PRIKL STUDIO