VINTAGE RUGS

Sit a while with a cup-o-tea, coffee or favorite libation and let's peruse some old rugs.  No date for this basket of flowers but it measures 20 x 36 and hooked with cotton knits on burlap.

This is the backside and the colors don't seem to have faded much but must have been in a heavily used area for the edges to get so frayed.  But burlap does get brittle and dry.

Three birds and girl in bonnet in back.   It is Canadian hooked mid 20th century, cotton on burlap.  It is from the Marty Osler collection and measures 22 x 36.

Here's the back side of the rug.  If anyone is interested it is still up for auction.

A cat sitting with a ball of yarn measures 23 x 31 and said to be hooked early 20th century.

I wonder if that was the inspiration for the hooked rug which used to hang on Barb Carroll's wall at her Ligonier estate?  And then maybe not.

I found this Barbara E. Merry rug of a farm with hay wagon in January but never posted it until now.  Dimensions are 32 x 39.5.

A view of part of the back.

Another Barbara Merry rug is this sap gathering rug.

Here's a quirky rug which,  had I not already designed and hooked a rug for my son's game room, this would have been fun to do for him.  Bears drinking said to be circa 1890 on the auction site.  Dimensions are 24 x 44.

In case you're wondering, here is what my son's rug looks like.  

An early PEI hooked rug with central floral and brick look background.  Measures 30 x 48.

A galloping rider-less horse dated late 19th to early 20th century.  Measures 29 x 52.

Hmmm, guess my post isn't complete unless there's a canine in the show too.  Two dogs hooked late 19th-early 20th century.  Has mixed fabrics and measures 18 x 35.  Sorry the rug and or photo is so poor.

Have a good evening and happy hooking.

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

 

RUG HOOKING 102

If you are pulling loops and have a comfortable rhythm, you have already graduated from rug hooking 101.  Many of the seasoned hookers will know this already but for you newbies here are a couple things you may not realize.  

There are no real hard/fast rules in rug hooking but rather guidelines like, pull loops up as high as the width of your wool strip, it is okay to use different size strips in the same rug but if you use #8.5 for most of the rug and use #4 for inside the flower, you need to pull that #4 strip up as high as the #8.  Other than that it is follow your heart.

Someone asked me if I would be offended should someone make changes to one of my patterns.   My answer was an honest "no I wouldn't be offended" as I've made my own creative changes to others' patterns.  There is a caveat with that choice tho ~ you still cannot claim it is your design even after making the changes.

Case in point, 2007 I hooked Kindred Spirits' Crow Sampler, her design shown below.

After buying the pattern and ready for my frame, I felt it needed a border framing all the way around.  It took a little time but I moved the border over and re-drew the pennies all the way around.  This is my hooked version and I cannot claim it my design, it is still an Ali Strebel design.

Another example is Bev Conway's whimsical pattern Speckled Hens.

Although her design is cute with huge eggs laid by the hens, I envisioned the design for them to be sitting on a straw nest, thus my finished rug  ~ it is still Bev Conway's design.

Yet another rug I made changes to is by Bill Laraway named Gossip.  This is his original pattern with some of my early redrawing of the design to suit me. 

And here is the finished rug.  Am so proud of the feathers and my birds.  When I posted the finished rug photo on Facebook I gave credit to Bill, of course, for the design and mentioned I took creative license.  He saw that post and gave me a 'like'.

Although I drew a modern day image of clock, added a cabin and chicks in the mat below, I cannot lay claim it is my original design.  For it was inspired from the antique quilt of Harriet Powers, therefore, you guessed it, it is an antique adaptation.  You can read a little about it HERE and see what I'm referring to.

Evelyn gave me a Nola Heidbreder pattern named Golden in the Garden.  Naturally it beckoned me to change that Golden into a Rottweiler. 

Perhaps one day I will take the rug off the wall and change Ben's head and nose as it doesn't look proportionate to the body.

This is how my boy Ben looked and I hooked it in mostly #8 and #8.5.

There have been a few other patterns I've had to change but won't go into the lengthy detail of the purchased botched antique adaptation of the Mary Comstock rug but you can read a segment about that HERE.

More for you newbies to know...and something I notice often even with rug teachers and people to sell patterns which irks me.  There are those folks who put their web site 'watermark' on antique rugs as if it is their brand.  An antique rug in public domain and dated 1927 or older is free for anyone to draw and cannot be copywritten.  Sometimes people put that watermark on a rug to make people believe they own the rights to draw it and only them.  

Not true.  Perhaps it would be a friendly thing to do, but that would be a monopoly with a lack of healthy competition.  Another thing I've noticed is where a pattern seller will make changes to an antique adaptation (changing a deer to a sheep), (changing a Magdalena animal into something else) and calling it their design.  

Nope, again not true, it is still an antique adaptation.  It would behoove them to change the wording to something like: inspired by Magdalena Briner Eby, or antique adaptation of Magdalena Briner Eby or if the designer is unknown, that word would do too ~ but it is still an antique adaptation.

Sorry if this was a boring blogpost or seems redundant, but I wanted to write about something and this subject popped in my head.  Happy weekend and happy hooking.

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

P.S.  Colleen, I cannot respond to you since you are a no-reply blogger.  Please introduce yourself thru the E MAIL ME section of my blog so I can add you to my contacts.

                                    

A HORSE IS A HORSE, OF COURSE...

.. even if it is only an outline.  Seems I spend more time thumbing thru worms and various cut wool in search of the appropriate color than I do pulling loops.  That is why this is all I have to show you on the new project.

I was unsure about the orange scroll color on to the top left that is why it isn't completely finished.  But wanted to hook a little just to compare with the original antique.  Now that I'm looking at the original antique below and comparing to my hooked section above, think I'm safe using that color since in person the color I chose does appear more orange than red.

Hmm, in the antique photo seems I need to pull my green worm bag out as some of the background has a green tint.  Oh my, more worms to search thru and add to the mix.  What is that date at the bottom?  My first my thought was 1917 but decided it was 1911 which is what I drew on the pattern.

Why oh why did I draw this pattern 32 x 35.5?  Believe me I've asked myself that many times.  The horse, from tail to nose measures 23.5, almost 2 feet.   So why?  I wanted another big rug to rotate in front of my fireplace.  Soon I'll be replacing the one which resides there.  This rug won't be ready but perhaps I'll show you my present rotation regimen for that spot on my next blog post.

Today was a very warm day as will be tomorrow.  So it is over and out here for sneezy/watery/blowy as the pollen heightens.  

Happy  hooking.

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

Rug Show

After two days since my last post you guys are getting antsy for another post from me.  First up is Gen. George Washington and Horse with his Mt. Vernon home and cherry tree at the bottom.

A sizeable undertaking for some rug hooker is this geometric on burlap;  and here I am regretting drawing my present project 32 x 35.5.  The geometric is said to be hooked between 1880-1920 it measure's 52 x 122.5.

The hunter and dog are immediately noticeable but the moose takes a few second to identify only after being mentioned.  Dimensions are 19.5 x 36.5 and hooked late 19th or early 20th century.   

For Janice's bunny fix is a Mennonite rug dated 1884 and being handled carefully with gloves.

A close up of the hit and miss detail.

This next one made me chuckle ~ a baby being pulled by a cat chasing a mouse.  Reported to be circa 1900 measuring 19 x 44.  Can't imagine a house cat being strong enough to pull a baby.  It was still up for auction last I looked.

Another idea for a de-worming project is this geometric squares pattern,  no age or size was mention on the auction.

A trotting horse with hit and miss circles border, no date or dimensions were provided.

Talk about camouflage, look at this cat and mouse rug, you have to stare at it to find the outline of the cat.  Dimensions are 20.5 x 31 and hooked late 19th century.  No picture of the back was provided to see if there was a lot of fading on the front.

I hooked an adaptation of that antique design back in 2004 and sold it for $600 as a divorce was eminent and figured I'd better sell it to save money.  Can't recall the dimensions and sorry the photo is so poor,  photo was taken in sunlight on the back deck.  I don't do sunlight anymore as none turned out well.  You can see my former initials of SS at the bottom.

Weather was rather chilly today but sunny.  Haven't listened to the forecast for tomorrow but it will still not feel like spring I'm sure.  Guess it is better than some of you folks are experiencing.  Hey, we'll all get there sooner or later but spring will happen.

Guess I'd better get back to my humongous (to me) pattern or I'll never  have an update for you.

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

MISC. CHIT CHAT

Have you received your new issue of ATHA magazine yet?   If so, what did you think of that wonderful free pattern design by Edyth O'Neill and hooked by Cynthia Norwood?   I love Cynthia's colors and plan to hook the pattern also ~ that is after I finish the newly started project.  If you aren't a member of ATHA you should be.  This is the current issue. 

Remember the Textile Challenge I hosted?  There was an article and pictures in a previous issue of ATHA about that too.  You can see the cover of that issue and read a little about it HERE.  The magazine is worth the cost of subscription since you would be reading about what subscribers are doing and contributing to the content.  At the back of the magazine is a schedule of what subjects for photo entries will be forthcoming so you can plan your projects and hook them in time to submit your own photo.  

AND..... by the way, there is also a feature called "First Rug Last Page" where newbies can submit their proud works and I always look forward to that since I was a newbie once too.  Hope to see more of my friends and followers in the magazine.

My new project is another large one (for me that is) which means there is a large area to cover and I've few loops pulled.  Here is a photo of wool I'm working from.  Other colors are in the rug but am not ready to use those yet so those worms or cut wool aren't included in this potpourri of woolie worms.         

My project is my favorite large animal to hook, a horse of course.  When younger and had my own horse, a classmate and I would pack a lunch and ride thru the woods near her family farm.   That was the time when kids respected parents, teachers, police, and there were morals not seen in a lot of kids today; hell, in some adults as well.  Okay, enough of that and moving right along...

I've had watery eyes, sneezing, runny and red nose from rubbing and blowing... yup, must be pollen time again.  My nose is so sore that I've been applying Blistex to help relieve the discomfort, yet it stings when applying the healer.

Happy Friday and happy hooking.

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com 

STARS and WIND

Today I pulled the last loops on the STARS rug and it was so fun there was no need for a plus one to keep me entertained.  My bags of worms of various colors were beside me but the background wool was all freshly cut and showed that wool on a previous post HERE.

Now it needs steaming and binding but that can wait (I HATE binding).  I've already added the pattern to my web site, the link below my name at the bottom.

It was a horribly windy day today and a couple years ago one March I saw Cushing's pattern by that name "Windy Day" which I knew I MUST hook and put out each March.  You can find her pattern HERE.

With the wind today a dead tree fell but thankfully not doing any damage but will need my neighbor to cut the top off so I can cut grass eventually.  I tried to lift it out of the grass cutting area but just don't have the muscles any longer.

This morning there were even snow flurries for maybe an hour but that didn't last long, thankfully, and no accumulation.  But this area isn't out of the woods just yet.

Happy hooking and be safe out in those winds.

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

Vintage Rugs to Enjoy

Found several rugs up for auction the last few days; seems it's either feast or famine.  Up for auction once again is Magdalena's Black Dog circa 1885.  Size is 35.5 x 45.5 with the starting price at $1,500.  So if you are wanting to replicate the rug, here are the colors which are probably faded.  No view of the back was provided since it is on a frame.  

A beautiful floral yarn sewn shirred rug measuring 29.5 x 62.   

For the feline folks here is a cat with hit and miss border.  Said to be made 1900 and measuring 48 x 58.

I really really like this geometric, again from 1900.  The design and colors appeal to me, it measures 18 x 36.5.   I think would be a suitable hook along idea at some point.  Should go quick with hand torn or real wide cut using selvage edges, worms.

I haven't figured out this rabbit and forest rug yet.  Obviously the rabbit is on snow.  But it looks strange to me... so is this to be a view from a porch or from inside the house thru a window?  Why not have the snow as the ground and eliminate those rectangles on each end?  It measures 28 x 44.

Look at this gorgeous yarn stitched Horse rug.  Said to be made early 20th century and measures 22 x 39.

Just look at this detail, my fingers hurt just imagining the delicate work  done to make  it.  Give me a Hartman hook and wide cut wool anytime; but it is a beauty.

It's difficult to define the shape of the deer but I like this. No date or dimensions.

Peacocks are beautiful birds but I've never had the urge to hook a rug with that image.  Unless of course it was a grungy primitive and not this prissy style.  But for those of you who like tidy, clean and crisp  ~ not there's anything wrong with that, its just not me.  Double Peacocks measuring 29 x 46.

I have to post this wonderful antique rug Kimm (Sheep Under Feet) wrote about on one of her blog posts.  She had the pleasure and honor of seeing some antique rugs up close.  This one intrigued me as she said the cream color was hooked with corn husks.  CORN HUSKS!   Unbelievable and guess that proves back in the day they did have to make do.  I'll bet it crunched under the weight of a foot tho.

I do understand the concept of using corn husks because I've done basket weaving, put the reeds in water to soften and make them pliable for bending.  But have never had the pleasure to see a rug like that.  Thank you Kimm for the post.

My sleep and eating pattern will be a little off for a few days since the setting clocks forward an hour.  I went to bed a little later than normal hoping to make the adjustment easier.  Oh well, you'd think after all these years I'd have figured it all out.  Even when I had my boy Ben, he still wanted to go to bed and wake me up same time mind/body time for a few weeks after the changes.

Happy hooking.

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com