Pride in the Land

Dimensions: 19 1/4" x 28 1/2"
Materials: #3-cut wool on burlap
Adapted from a pen-and-ink sketch by Carol Schwartz and designed and hooked by Bernice Howell, Beltsville, Maryland, 1992.
Featured in: Celebration IV

Bernice is constantly looking for new ideas for hooking, and she came across this one while reading the horticulture section of the Washington Post. Carol Schwartz's black-and-white sketch spoke to Bernice of "the labor and toil to produce grain to sustain the body but also the need for beautiful flowers to nourish the soul." She immediately decided to hook it.

Bernice devised her own color plan and hooked the wallhanging almost entirely from recycled wool. The standing grain, stubble and fields were hooked from a pair of Bernice's slacks that she overdyed with Rit Caramel dye. She used a small amount of dye for the backfields and increased the amount as she moved toward the foreground. The sky was hooked from a light blue tweed skirt, and two pairs of slacks provided material for the border.
- Bernice Howell, Celebration Hall of Fame 2018
(Note: This rug description was taken as an excerpt from the published Celebration entry.)