We (as in the board members of Green Mountain Hooked Rugs) are so excited that both Stephanie’s and Mariah’s hooked pieces have been accepted for publication in the 2015 “Celebration.”   “Celebration” is the annual juried publication from Rug Hooking magazine. 

Stephanie submitted the large oriental “Persian Palm” which she had completed for Nancy Aldridge Beech.  The rug was less than 1/3 hooked and Stephanie needed to dye wool to match as well as duplicate Nancy’s hooking style.   The rug received the Peoples’ Choice Award at the Green Mountain Guild Exhibition “Hooked in the Mountains” in October 2014.   Mariah submitted a portrait she designed and hooked in black, white and grey tones of her grandmother, Anne Ashworth.  Mariah had completed it to have available for viewing by those attending the last Green Mountain Rug School to be  held at Vermont Technical College in June 2014.   All the pieces selected for the 2015 “Celebration” will be on exhibit at the 19th annual Sauder Village Hooking Week in August.

Stephanie is an accomplished rug hooker in all genres of hooking; producing gorgeously shaded floral, fruit and scrolls; wonderfully creative geometrics; handsomely colored orientals and inspiring landscapes. She is also a colorist and fabric dyer extraordinaire following in our mother’s footsteps.  Famous also for her ability to repair and finish rugs seamlessly in style of the original, that art of rug hooking keeps her busy.  Stephanie runs the Green Mountain Hooked Rug Shop where she also holds classes and hook-ins.  She is also in demand as a teacher.

Mariah’s bent in hooking seems to be toward her original portrait designs and using wool cut on #2 and #3. Her first project “Aries Woman” was also published in “Celebration”, so it seems natural that her other portrait piece should also find a place in “Celebration”.  Though Mariah has been hooking for only a few years, she is also becoming known for her original designs and her dyeing skills.  She is quite a master at using swatches made up of 28 and 32 values and moving from the lightest of one color through to the darkest of another.  She is also becoming quite skilled in spot and multi-dyed pieces which can be found in the Green Mountain Hooked Rug shop.

I think it is just wonderful that my sister and my niece (mother and daughter) will have pieces published in the same issue of “Celebration.”  A fantastic accomplishment; I know our mother Anne would be so proud of her daughter and granddaughter.

 'Ahmie' 10"x13" designed and hooked by Mariah Krauss

'Persian Palm' 70"x105" designed by Pearl McGown, hooked by Stephanie Allen-Krauss