COUNTY LIFE
Strickler brings trips of wool to life – Rug hooking, color dying passions for textile artist
This is the final story in a three-part summer feature series on unique Montague County artists.
By BARBARA GREEN
editor@bowienewsonline.com
Betsy Strickler wants the colors she creates to “sing” and the brighter the better.
While she shares her dyed fabrics through her company The Ringgold Kid Wool Fabric and Patterns, she also takes those colorful strands to create hook rug art. Her rural home is cozy with her artwork from geometric patterns to people, animals and landscapes.
Strickler, 56, and her husband Frank, both retired commercial airline pilots moved to the Ringgold area in 2012 from Decatur. They found themselves moving further away from the Metroplex so they could enjoy being in the country. Frank spends his time working around the property while his wife cultivates her growing business.
Her interest in rug hooking may have been stimulated by her mother who had been a quilter, and after she and her other daughter took an afternoon class on hook rugs they“got into it whole hog.”
“I picked up a hook and started it, but eight years ago I started my business selling fabrics and dying them. My sister also got me interested in dying and I read a lot of books to learn about it. Many dyers are proprietary about their recipe and others publish it all,” explains Strickler.
Read the full feature in the weekend Bowie News.
The Montague County Commissioner’s Court will meet at 9 a.m. on Oct. 12 in the County Courtroom at the Courthouse Annex in Montague.
Commissioners are scheduled to consider issuing a proclamation declaring October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month within Montague County.
The court also will consider accepting $850 in unanticipated revenue for the sheriff’s office generated during National Night Out activities, alongside interlocal cooperation contracts between the Texas Department of Public Safety and Justices of the Peace for Precincts 1 and 2.
An executive session is scheduled to discuss personnel matters pertaining to sewer/septic inspector for the county. Any action would be taken back in open session.
The Oct. 9-11 Art of the Song Music and Art Festival opens Friday night for three days of art and entertainment in downtown Nocona.
The festival opens on Oct. 9 with a Chisholm Trail Art Association Preview Party from 5 to 7 p.m. on Oct. 9 at the H.J. Justin Building.
Come see all the entries for the adult show, which formally opens at 10 a.m. on Oct. 10.
Live music will be played by Full Circle Band.
Also on Oct. 9 enjoy a Nocona Nights Street Dance from 7 to 9 p.m. with the Mark Murphey and Highway 82 Band. Cost is $10 per ticket and $200 for a table seating eight. Bring your lawn chairs.
Read the full schedule of events for the festival in your Thursday Bowie News.
These students are nominees for the 2026 homecoming court at Gold-Burg High School. Homecoming royals will be crowned in pre-game ceremonies before the Bears take on Throckmorton at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 9. Pictured are: Freshmen: Kenzley Foster and Jackson Allen, freshmen; Yareli Aguirre and Jojuan Grace, sophomores; Zara Andrade, junior and Brayden Odom, Kaylie Duncan, both seniors. Not pictured: Caleb Epperson, junior and Keelyn Case, senior.
-
NEWS3 years agoSuspect indicted, jailed in Tia Hutson murder
-
NEWS4 years agoWreck takes the life of BHS teen, 16
-
NEWS4 years ago2 hurt, 1 jailed after shooting incident north of Nocona
-
NEWS3 years agoMurder unsolved – 1 year later Tia Hutson’s family angry, frustrated with no arrest
-
NEWS3 years agoSO investigating possible murder/suicide
-
Show us something good9 years agoCountry music star children perform in Bowie
-
100th Birthday4 years agoLooking back at the 1958 Centennial edition of The Bowie News
-
NEWS3 years ago
Sheriff’s office called out to infant’s death