Gay Engensperger likes getting things finished and happy endings. She got both, thanks to some friends at the Schubert Crafters.
“All my life, I’ve liked to finish what I started. A few years ago, I started a gorgeous pure wool, hand-hooked rug, then one day when I was almost finished, my beloved cat clawed at the backing and I was discouraged and put it away on a shelf, knowing it would be a lot of work to finish it” she said.
Engensperger, a Life Member of The Schubert Centre who has lived in Vernon since 1964, had mastered many skills over the years, including pottery, photography, writing, furniture refinishing, gardening and crocheting, with many beautiful finished products to show for her work. About the same time the rug was ruined, she had other responsibilities in her life and knew there would not be time to finish the rug. She took the part she had done and the remaining wool and a couple of rug hooks to The Schubert Crafters, hoping that some of the ladies might be interested in finishing it. She didn’t hear any more until lately.
A few weeks ago, she was at a Schubert Centre Pancake Breakfast and Flea Market/Craft Sale displaying her baby “halfghans.” She looked across the auditorium and saw a beautiful quilt where the craft ladies had their items. Engensperger noticed another large item and went over to look at it. It was a red hooked rug, like the one she had donated, and she told the women the story of her hooked rug. “Yes, this is the one,” they told her.
“I was so thrilled and grateful that they had finished the rug. They had followed the pattern at the other end of the rug to get the floral pattern. It was an amazing coincidence that the same ladies who had been able to repair the backing and do the hooking were the same ladies at the craft table that day. It was a remarkably happy ending to the story of the rug,” she said.
The rug (4’x6’) will be one of the prizes in the Schubert Crafters’ Draw to take place at the Sept. 25 birthday lunch. The tickets, at $2 each or three for $5, are on sale at the centre now.