Marie Michel with her beautiful “Starry
Night” rug hooking project
Sally Coon
Marie Michel, a snowbird from Springfield, Ore., and her husband Mike moved to PebbleCreek in 2025. Marie has always been interested in making things by hand. Her mom always had projects she worked on—latch hooking, crewel, and embroidery work—and would buy projects for Marie and her sister to work on. In about third grade, Marie made one of her first attempts at sewing a dress. She cut out the shape of the front and back of a dress, tried sewing them together, but it didn’t work out too well. She did go on to sew her own clothes in high school. Her mom always encouraged her and her sister when they wanted to try something new.
Marie came to a Rug Hooking Club event that’s held every Monday afternoon in the Creative Arts Center at PebbleCreek and to her it felt like something she and her mom would do. She feels a connection with her mom by creating something and that means a lot to her.
Marie took to hooking right away. She completed the beginner project in a very short time and moved on to her next project, the rug in the picture. When I asked Marie what led her to do “Starry Night,” she said she has always liked Van Gogh’s painting style, and his “Starry Night” is her favorite. For Marie, to be able to draw it herself, transfer it to linen backing, select the colors, and interpret his style was the kind of challenge she likes. Everyone in our group was amazed with this beautiful hooking of hers. We hope you may be encouraged by this to visit us on a Monday, from noon to 3 p.m., in the Fiber Arts Room at the Creative Arts Center. We look forward to meeting you! You’ll find we are a very welcoming group.