Rug Challenge 2025: Braided Water
Bobbi Mahler of Maine created a fascinating wall hanging for her braided water entry. She wasn't certain how to approach the topic of Braided Water, so she talked to her husband about it, and he used AI to generate an image of braided water! See the image, below, that AI came up with. She made a likeness with braids, coiled wool roving, wrapped roving, and edged it with braided eyelash yarn. Cool!
Yvonne Iten-Scott made this gorgeous wavy strip rug with hand-dyed wool and felted fish. Inspired by an online class with Christine Manges on dyeing three transitioning colors and lacing the curves into straight braids. Yvonne chose green, turquoise, and purple dyes, and felted puffy orange fish onto the rug. It is beautiful!
Sherry Chilcutt of Washington made this very complex piece of a whale with its 3D tail wired and emerging from the water. The mouth is a twisted center. The water is hand-dyed turquoises. The clouds are a fringed shag fabric that Sherry found on a visit to Tennessee with braiding friends. Getting the braids to conform to a rectangle while outlining the whale and clouds is a big challenge, and Sherry did it beautifully. What an accomplishment!
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Jenn Kiarsis of New Hampshire braided this strip mat called, "Morning Has Broken." The rug is an interpretation of the photo, far left, by Stephen Rideout. The rug is made of velvet strands as well as wool, and decorated with shells. Color changes are made within the braids to create the morning light on the water.
Kris McDermet of Vermont made this hooked, braided, and felted rug called, “Niagara from Both Sides” with hand-dyed wool. It shows a bird native to the Niagara Falls area: Bonaparte’s Gull. Felted fish are hand-stitched in place: see below.
Cathy Winship of Maine made this amazing wall piece, called "Rise Up," which she says is not quite finished. The piece shows a girl in the rising water as the glacier melts. The glacier is hand-dyed wool. The water, sweater, and hat are beautifully braided. The water is actually a "flip-flop" braid. Not shown is a polar bear, felted on. The glacier is quilted with geometric ice shapes. Wow!
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Janice Lyle of Pennsylvania says the water near her is not blue, but murky green and brown in creeks. She made the basket with fish pins in the colors of creek water. The felted flowers add a nice touch!
Patsy Simon of Washington made this hooked and braided chair pad, "Beside Still Waters." Note the double-double border. The soft blues and greens of the hooking and braiding convey the idea of quiet waters. Patsy donated the chair pad to the Tea Cup Auction after it was shown in the Braided Water Challenge.
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Rose Robertson-Smith of Tennessee braided these two chair pads showing Braided Waters. Both are continuous, with a second braid introduced as a colorful border, and corners to make cresting wave shapes. The fish are felted wool.
Peggyann Watts of New York braided this lovely chair pad in the colors of water. This picot-edged chair pad is called, “Sand Bar,” and it has wonderful aqua and blue tones to make it look like water, with white sparkles of sunlight on the waves.
Carol Rizzo of New York braided this strip rug of flowing waters from of used jeans. She arranged the dark and light denims to give a feeling of movement. The edges were enclosed with a binding of more jeans. This is a large and long rug and represents a lot of work, taking apart jeans and cutting them into strips, then braiding and lacing!
Cheryl Hanline of Pennsylvania made this gorgeous and heavily patterned rug out of a turquoise, white, and gray. Cheryl is known for her beautiful patterns. The rug is all-butted, with arrowhead and double-double braid designs, and a multistrand braid followed by a lacy picot edge.
Judy Fahnestock of Maine combined two of her arts: she is a sock knitter, and she cranked out gorgeous sock wools into I-cord (tiny but long knit tubes) and braided with them. The lighter colors at the top are the sun's rays reaching into the water, and the darker colors at the bottom represent the dark depths. Not shown well in this photo are the curves of the braids. This rug is incredibly soft! And pretty.
Diane Fagergren of New York made this beautiful strip rug. The dot patterns are perfect, and the colors just say Beach. She had the ends professionally sewn, then she pressed the fringe into its restrained folds. Diane used an ombré fabric to create the shimmering wave colors. Very nice.
Gail Davidson of Alaska made this rug, Tanana Braids. Started during a class with Kris McDermet on combining rug hooking and braiding, the rug shows a topographic map of the Tanana River and its many branches near where she lives. Since Gail and her rug couldn't make it to the conferenence, this is a large print of the rug for all to see.
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Christine Manges of Pennsylvania followed her long-standing tradition of not quite finishing her challenge rug in time for the conference. This rug was made during a class she taught on dyeing 3 colors in transition and then straight braiding and curve-lacing. She made the braids start and end with swirling eddies of water.