A Special Little Treasure

I have felt a little like a rug hooking "gypsy" this summer, for as much traveling and hauling of my wares that I have done!  Sadly, I have not kept up on my blogging of all the special places I've been.  So this blog post is dedicated to the workshop I recently taught for the Buckeye Rug Hooking Guild.

True Confession:  I forgot my camera and was not able to take pictures of my class or their rugs, but let me assure you that every rug was a winner!  I was team-teaching with Wendy Miller of The Red Saltbox and I always have a wonderful time when I am with Wendy!  She is an equally wonderful teacher and some of her color plans would blow you away!  Just to prove I was there, you can follow this link to Rhonda's blog and there is a picture of me and Wendy!  We were in a beautiful ballroom and I'll bet that we totally exceeded the legal limit for the amount of wool that is allowed at a workshop (wink, wink)!

Anyway, the highlight of the week-end for me was the auction that the Guild put on.  I spotted a humble little rug on the table and recognized it immediately...and I was NOT going home without it...

I won this little treasure of a rug that was made in The Gambia (Africa) at the GOVI School for the Blind.  It is a charity that is headed up by my friend Heather Ritchie, from Reeth, UK.  I follow her newsletters about the GOVI school and have really longed to own one of the student's rugs.  And I thought that ownership would be nearly impossible until I spied that little treasure at the auction.  So now it resides here with me, and I hope to have my husband frame it soon so I can display it properly in my studio.

 

 Here is the precious little tag that is attached to the rug by a piece of string.  The maker's name, Lamin Colley, and his/her fingerprint...a special autograph since the maker was blind.

You can check out Heather's charity here:  Rug Aid

The happiest part of the story?  The Buckeye Guild agreed to donate my winning bid entirely to Heather's charity.  It's a win/win situation with a happy ending!