Harriet Shapiro's Shelf Mats

Westward Ho, 34" x 12", #4-cut wool on monk’s cloth. Designed and hooked by Harriet Shapiro, Rockville, Maryland, 2009.

Four years ago, my husband and I moved to a retirement home. Outside the door of each apartment is a shelf 34 inches long and 12 inches wide with a triangular bite taken out of the front corner. Ours has become an ideal site for my hooked pieces, and it now dictates the size of my current works—large enough to work out interesting designs, yet small enough to maintain my interest through to completion. The triangular bite poses something of a design problem, which, delightfully, has turned out to be a further stimulus to creativity.

Even after hooking all the rugs shown in this article, my shelf continues to call me to imagine further projects—and the possibilities are endless!

This article is from the November/December 2013 issue. For more information on our issues, check out our issues page.