A bird in the hand

Sheila Millendorf proudly displays her first project.

Sheila Millendorf proudly displays her first project.

Dee-Dee Patrick

Rug hookers come from rather diverse backgrounds and bring a wide array of different experiences to our club. Such a member is Sheila Millendorf. She is one of our newer members, having joined about one year ago. What first attracted her to our club was the sound of laughter emanating from the Diamondback Room which she described as a “gaggle of geese.” Being greeted by smiling faces and encouraged to hang around as individuals worked on their projects and explained the art made Sheila feel right at home.

The rug she is holding in the photo is her first completed project. She bid on the canvas at our Hook-In last March. The designer, Monika Jones, and her cousin who does water colors helped her select the background palette for the rug. Sheila made it clear from the start that she wanted a blue bird and not the typical black crow that is usually depicted. Sheila describes rug hooking like “painting with wool” and enjoys the instant gratification that the craft affords. She perceives each hook of wool as a dot of paint on a canvas.

She describes herself as “crafty,” enjoying working with her hands on anything that is three-dimensional. Some of the previous media she has worked with include beading, crocheting, sewing and miniatures. Shelia is a published miniaturist having had her miniature room with step-by-step directions published in a refereed publication. In her previous professional career, Sheila specialized in developing recycling and management of waste material programs. Currently, she does many of the alterations for ShowTime here at PebbleCreek and has designed and sewn some of the props for some productions.

Stop in and see what the PC Rug Hookers are working on. The Rug Hookers meet every Monday afternoon from noon to 4:00 p.m. in the Diamondback Room of the Creative Arts Center. For further information, contact our current club President Dee-Dee Patrick at [email protected] or phone her at 708-494-0008.