LEVEL:
Intermediate – students must have basic rug hooking and hand sewing knowledge and experience.
STUDENTS NEED TO BRING:
Basic hooking supplies: a frame, scissors, cutter, cutter blades #5-8, hook, neutral colored buttonhole thread, #22 chenille needle, and an empty 9.25” tall Pringles chip container. Optional: Bring any wool, fabrics, embellishments, or other media you may wish to use in this project.
BIO:
Twenty-two years ago Michele was learning to quilt and in her favorite quilt store she spotted a hooked pillow. The shop offered a traditional rug hooking class to make that pillow, so she signed up. As a result of that class, many of Michele’s quilted tops have been sitting unfinished and aging for 22 years.
Michele had a 30 year career as a high school teacher and is a life-long learner. In order to learn all there is to rug hooking she attends many workshops and became a McGown certified teacher. She feels that hooking is a great outlet for creativity and as a teacher she believes in sharing all she knows through demonstrations, visuals and examples. Michele likes to problem solve and her interests in rug hooking vary from small to large cuts and various styles. Her students develop their own style through encouragement, humor and fun. She believes that the whole process, from designing to hooking, should be enjoyable.
Michele has taught nationally and internationally as well as in her studio in Washington State. She believes in promoting rug hooking through her memberships in TIGHR, ATHA, McGown, and Australian Rug Guild. Michele likes to use different materials and teaches many classes on using embellishments. Other classes and interests are 3-D, upholstery, hooked books, portraits, purses, room sized rugs, primitives, pet portraits, landscapes, indigenous patterns, zentangles as well as non-objective art. She also teachers needle felting, wool applique and dyeing.
Michele is a former director of Western McGown Teachers Workshop, current co-director of Puget Sound Rug School, director of the Reiter Retreats, and former treasurer of ATHA Region 11. She has written many articles for Rug Hooking Magazine, Rug Beat, ATHA, Australian Guild, TIGHR, Wool Street Journal, and the McGown Guild newsletter. She has been a judge for Celebrations and the Virtual Re-imaged Tour. Her rugs have been featured in Celebrations and many published books. She has won awards at Hooked in the Mountains, local and state fairs, fiber events and two of her hooked books are on permanent display at Bainbridge Art Museum.
