From a tiny studio beside her 1880s Graton farmhouse Brigitta Phy paints pictures with fabric, hook by hook by hook, painstakingly keeping alive a fading art that dates back at least to Colonial times ...

At first, primitive rug hooking was practiced mainly by the poorer classes, but it grew into an art form prized by all, Smiley explains. People used established patterns as well as those of their own ...