MARCH 2026
TIP OF THE MONTH
HOOKING BACKGROUNDS
Jennifer Grahovac was our presenter in March and she wanted to share how she hooks her backgrounds. Jennifer likes to think outside of the box...instead of hooking a typical landscape with a sky and ground, she hooks a little twist by taking a design element from her pattern and replicating that motif for her backgrounds. Jennifer selected a single hue (color) along with tints (lighter version of the color) and shades (darker version of the color) to elicit a cohesive, fun background that does not take attention away from her main objective. Aren't these two quilt pattern backgrounds just fabulous?! "Cabot Cow" looks like she's enjoying the warmth of the sun on a bright, sunny day. As for the sheep in the "Quilt Show" they are grazing in a lush, green pasture.​
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Here you see Jennifer's "Lady Liberty" rug. This design idea was adapted from an antique postcard, but she put her own flare to the background once again. The original photo is a bit confusing as to what the boat and lattice work have to do with the lady waving the American flag so Jennifer decided to use the stars from the flag as her inspiration for her clouds in the sky. Thank you so much for sharing this spectacular idea! ​
Check out another great tip from Jennifer...she sews a fabric sleeve at the top of the rugs in order to hang them on the wall. Just look how neatly she's hooked her loops...the back of her rugs are as flat and smooth as the front. No twisted loops here :)
Jennifer left us with one final tip...she purchases canvas drop cloths from Lowes, washes, bleaches and dyes them to use as a background for a pillow and even sewing rug hooking aprons. What a clever idea! I'm sure one can use this material for multiple uses other than a drop cloth for painting. What would you use it for?