I’ve always loved my middle name Faith and have wondered why I like it.  When I began rug hooking, I learned quickly that a good dose of faith is very important to the creative process.  You can read and worry over the rules of rug hooking, or you can have faith in yourself and your creativity.  My  mother was the artist in the family.  I thought I couldn’t draw or color plan.  Someone had to do it for me.  When I took up hooking on the island of Maui, I realized that there was no one to help me.  Necessity forced me to have faith and try. The process continues to unfold.   I am amazed at the form creativity takes.

My work in progress is a work of faith.  It started out with a pile of dirty, smelly fleece laying on my counter. After much reading and procrastinating I plunged in and washed it all. Clogged my washer. Washed the rest by hand. 6 hours and a lot of faith later, there was a gloriously fluffy pile of downy  fleece in a basket, ready to be hooked.

The rug I am working on is  7.5′ x 4.5′ and designed for my  church children to sit upon during their sermon.  I had DECIDED upon a sheep motif with a variety of naturally colored sheep sitting in a meadow beside the still water - the 23rd Psalm.  That was how I had planned it!  Then creativity and faith stepped in.  I thought of all the little ones who would sit upon this rug and how they would feel about the rug.  I wanted the mat to be a joy for them and a joy for me to make. I tried hooking a naturally colored sheep and then looked at all the other sheep and thought, ” How dull this will be.” A leap of faith immediately took me into a color palette I had not used before - pastels. First a blue mama sheep appeared. Then a mauve/blue & a pink lamb peeked out from behind her. All had long eye lashes. I was having fun and I knew the children would love them too.   

As  I looked over the rest of this large project, planning more delightful colors, I realized there was going to be a lot of grass, water and sky to hook. Hmm?. I had wanted from the beginning to include angels, but my critical mind said there were no angels in the 23rd Psalm, so I couldn’t put them in the rug. A dear friend, Margaret Hertz had sent me her drawings of angels shortly before she passed away from cancer.  I wanted to put those playful angels in a rug.  She loved & taught little children.  They were perfect for the rug. So another leap of faith and an angel is turning a somersault in the meadow and an other will make a flip into the sky. The children will love them and I am loving the  process. 

And so another journey of faith and creativity begins for me.  This rug will take several months to complete, and it will be a joyful experience.  

Have faith in yourself & never give up.

Sharon Faith