A WEE BIT OF HEADWAY

As mentioned in the previous blog post, idea #1 was to hook just a witch shadow profile on a small rectangular piece of linen.  Which then developed into idea #2, hooking a flying witch in a moon and having just the circle of the moon and witch hanging on my door.

Found an old piece of Belgian linen in my stash measuring 13.5 x 15.5 which required sewing on cotton to extend the size to fit the frame.  And drew the witch and moon on the linen.

Hmmm...nice, but didn't seem complete, so idea #3 began to develop.  I plan to have just creepy looking dead tree limbs extending into the moon and tombstones extending across the bottom and into the bottom edge of the moon.  So the drawing isn't quite to my satisfaction.  Which means it may even change a little during the hooking process.

For the finish, will put a piece of interfacing to stabilize the hooked piece and completely cover the back with black craft felt from my stash.  As I have a covered front door and storm door for added protection won't have to worry about weather.

If interested in doing something small too and with little cost, remember to google 'royalty free images' for whatever motif you'd like as your muse.  Happy hooking.

In other rug hooking news ~ tomorrow during The Five the binding of Cathy's cat will be bound and labeled using up the last of the pre-made labels.  In the evenings this last week I was working on the final part of a Triptych ~ Crossed Flags in a heart.  Below is a photo of the original section I'm working on. 

Lower humidity this afternoon, thank goodness.

Saundra

WHAT I'M THINKING....

Since I just finished the small cat mat relatively fast, also have more small pieces of linen hanging around and with October (Halloween) just a couple months away, an idea was forming.  I'd like to have a small Halloween hooked design hanging on my front door instead of a fall wreath.  I do have a couple PDF patterns from Lori Brechlin, although they are a nice size they are too big and too detailed for what I want.

For you non-hookers and quilters, you could do an applique, for us rug hookers it would be a small and relatively fast piece to hook, even for Lauren whose life seems to always get in her way.  So I googled 'royalty free witch silhouettes' and there were numerous shadowy ideas.  There were pumpkins, cats, spooky houses, a witch with her crystal ball, flying witches and much more.  

Here are some free images I copied and saved.  My first thought was to hook just a profile silhouette to keep it simple and call it done.

But then wondered if I'd like a flying witch better.  

For those who like the image of a witch stirring her brew and love cats, there one for you too.  There are many more images than I've posted here so do that royalty free image search, take a gander at them yourself and perhaps you will be inclined to participate too.

Then wondered if I'd like a raven flying in front of a Halloween moon or a scared cat with a curled tail and hunched back.  So you can see there are many ideas rolling around in my cranium and still haven't decided.  

So, y'all think about it and when I decide will do a blog post about it.  All are welcome to join me and share photos with me.  Meanwhile do some googling, of free clip art of witch/Halloween images.

Saundra

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Princess Cathy's Cat

It's all hooked but am not happy the eyes don't match despite my ripping out and rehooking them a few times.  The face was hooked in #8 cut but the rest was mostly #8.5 cut except for the eyes.  So am calling it done ..but then there are a few more month's before Christmas to revisit the dang thing.

If you'd like to see the two photos of Cathy's cat previously posted, you can see them HERE.  I decided to use the cat's position in the box but use wool as close as I could find in my stash to match the sofa the kit-kat is resting on.  Not a perfect match but close enough so no dyeing was needed.

The finished dimensions are 14 x 15, so rather small.  To draw it any bigger would make the cat appear larger than a normal cat or if a bigger pattern the cat would get lost in the background.

So before you even ask, here is the answer ~  I don't have anything planned as my next project.  But am working out an idea in my head which some of you might be interested in, even you non-rug hookers.  More on that later.

Saundra

A TAD OF ENTERTAINMENT

 First thing I do in the morning with coffee is search for antique rugs but only save pics of those to my liking.  Of course there are pages of rugs yet many are very ornate florals and Orientals, neither of which I care to hook, also abstracts or modern day Claire Murray designs.  Occasionally I'll find a few that warrant sharing.  Sadly there's been none recently which float my boat enough to want to hook them.

This geo floral below was recently listed and still available.  No date or dimensions were offered, guess they want an inquiry from someone with interest to buy before they provide that info.  It is easy on the eyes but won't be on my list to hook.

Next one is weirdly interesting, however I do not intend to hook it either.  A crowned King circa 1900 measuring 18.5 x 24.  What, pray tell, is he holding in his hand???  Still offered for sale if anyone is interested in owning this piece.

  P.S.  I  think Robin knows what is in the King's hand, read what she said in the "comment" section.

Although a scrappy hooked piece I suspect Janice will like these two bunnies.  It measures 22 x 30 but auction house did not provide age.

This horse was promoted as a Canadian hooked rug but no other information was provided.

A cartoonish portrayal of a cat and dog, 19th century (19.5 x 32).

And finally, a cats paw rug with squiggly hit and miss border.

Well folks, here's my contribution to the rug hooking readership.  Gonna be a few days of extremely hot and humid weather.  I'll be staying inside and hope my A/C continues to work.

Saundra

WHAT'S NEXT YOU ASK

I still hadn't decided what to hook next, someone else decided that for me.  You're probably thinking..."that someone certainly must have a lot of clout".  Yes indeed.  Never should have bestowed the moniker of Princess or that she is the daughter I never had.  You guessed it, the person with clout is the spoiled Princess DIL Cathy.  During her recent visit she made a comment that "she still hasn't gotten her cat rug".  Huh, I just hooked a Snowman rug for her 7 months ago as a Christmas gift, lol.

Many months ago I took a couple photos of her Siamese cat just in case I was to hook a rug for her.  And Cathy cashed in on that comment.  So, since there was nothing of interest I'd chosen to put on my frame, I decided to start her Christmas gift early.

The two photos I have aren't photographer winning photos nor are they a rug hooker's delight to draw and hook.  But here they are.

Briefly considered googling Siamese cat photos on the internet but since Cathy knew I had photos of her fur baby thought it wrong to use a random picture.

The cat in a box was cute and typical cat playing in a box instead of with purchased toys.  But hooking the box and cat with similar colors, the cat would get lost.  However, I like the cat's position and colors show up better in the second photo.  So will use the cat shape but do a sofa color background.  This is what I've accomplished so far.

It sorta looks like an animal version of a movie called Phantom of the Opera at the moment.  

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

Saundra 

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HORSE with SIDE SCROLLS

It's all hooked and am working on the binding part.   It is a recognizable antique which I adapted and since I didn't have enough orangey red like the original, decided to go with this. Well, actually, if you've been following me you know I reverse hooked the first color hooked in and chose this more brownish color.  Not my favorite horse rug I've hooked but finally got this one crossed off my 'to hook' list.

Felt like a change on the rug at the entrance to the kitchen so removed the two white chickens and replaced it with this geo floral.  Oh my but I did enjoy hooking this in 2025 and am enjoying it even more on the floor vs. rolled up and stored.  

Last evening for about an hour I kept glued to the local weather while they monitored many nearby areas where there were rotations of potential and eventually realized tornados.  Thankfully, they bypassed Seaford.  Humidity is better today and no tornado threats.  Hope your evening is as comforting.

Saundra

JUST CHIT CHAT

Just stuff to write about ...  Remember my new but useless range I purchased?  I've had several visits by technicians hired by Lowes and 3 items replaced so far.  Next week the technician I trust most is coming to replace the electrical system.  He said that since nothing else has worked this must be the problem.  So he ordered the factory part and was delivered here.  Yeah, we'll see if this is the answer, and I hope so.  If still not working I'll ask him to request a new range.

I've continued to eat my Mon-Wed-Fri green salads with no problems whatsoever.  The lettuce or salad isn't "deadly", the reporting has indicated some areas where people have had bouts of diarrhea.  

In the next couple weeks a tree service will be here to remove a gum tree and do other work.  Presently he is doing work for the areas nearby who were devastated with a tornado and/or straight-line high winds.  His company was here in 2022 and the work scheduled cost over $2,000 but he did much more than I'd even requested.  So know he will do a good job this time.  Haven't received my estimate yet but I'm anticipating around $4-$5,000 with all I need done.  I do live in the woods ya know, lol.  Seemed like such a great idea 28 years ago.  

The gum tree is just outside my front window and it is a pain to walk to fill the birdbath and tears up the yard when cutting grass the the gum balls catch everything.  While I don't have nice grass or even great green weeds to cut, at least the moss is green until it is ripped up.  Here is just a small section of gum balls.

Here's the seemingly innocent gum tree ~ looks can be deceiving. 

In anticipation of the removal of this tree, I've plucked up the brick trimming, many of which were sunken into the earth after several years and will move them before the tree folks come.  

Sadly I've still not decided on my next rug project.  I have, however, drawn out something in case of an emergency fix, lol.  But would rather have something to work on which makes my heart skip a beat.  Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Saundra

Antique and Vintage Rugs to Share

I'm struggling to find the enthusiasm for blogging that I once had.  Of course I still search the internet for something of interest for me hook, that hasn't diminished.   But so many others have stopped or slowed down to a near stop that I find myself wanting to quit too.

A golden pup hooked early 20th century measuring 27 x 42.

 

Just waking up with this rug every morning surely would give one a Good Day.  Said to to be hooked between 1920-40 (18 x 37).

Horse and rider in the city.  Such a strange rug makes me wonder if it was part of a parade and why the horse was sitting.  The rug was hooked early 20th century and is from the collection of Harley Trice. 

Not a rug, but rather a stitchery I felt was worth sharing.  The sampler was done by Agness Wallace, age 8, in 1848.  It measures 12 x 17 and I think it is very endearing. 

Now to get back to my rug on the frame.

Saundra

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HORSE RUG UPDATE

I just couldn't stand it any longer.  Every time I worked on the rug and looked at the horse it bothered me.  So...pulled out all the horse wool  and used another.  Mama's happier with the steed now, lol.

Below is the before.  Unfortunately I like the eye in 'before' better but can't seem to get it right in the new version.  AND, since I'm critiquing my own rug, am not happy with the plaid green at the top and down part of the left side.  Perhaps if I'd hooked it higgley piggley it would have made a difference.  But I ain't 'bout to rip all that wool out.

Summer is back again ~ the nicer, cooler, less humid weather party is over.  But at least it isn't snow, lol.

For some reason I'm unable to post pictures on my FB selling site.  Actually, every time I go to FB the screen goes grey/ghost like until I tap the mouse.  While I can scroll down to view postings and make comments or 'like', I'm unable to post photos on my selling site.  I've tried to investigate and fix the problem but so far no luck.  So am contemplating trying to start another selling site.  Not sure that's the answer or if I'll have the same issue.

Saundra

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RECENT RUG FIND

Yes, I've been perusing auction houses again looking for old rugs.  This one surprised me, not that I want to hook it.  At first thought perhaps it was a printed pattern sold by a tin peddler and hooked by a professional. Partly due to the fringe at the bottom and also the creative design.  Fringes are easy to do and sturdy when using a good linen foundation. 

It looked to me like a period piece by the appearance of the woman, riding her horse thru the woods.  The rug measures 24 x 32 and was hooked on a burlap sack.  Yup.  That woman had artistic talent as for sure I couldn't draw this design freehand on burlap.

Here is a view of the back where you can see the printing of the 100 pound sack used.  Looking at the fringe here I'm thinking perhaps it was a fringe added and not made from the burlap itself.  Either way, this rug was an awesome find.

That said, I googled "vintage burlap horse feed sacks" thinking it may have been a design printed on the sack which the hooker then used as her pattern.  Nothing this artistic showed up.  Here are a couple I found...

Short post I know, but it kept you entertained for a couple minutes.  Now you can get back to pulling loops.

Thunderstorms predicted for today and humidity back but thankfully slightly lower temps.  It's the humidity that bothers me most.  Hope you have a lovely day.

Saundra

WHICH ONE DID I CHOOSE?

In the words of Lauren, Eenie won.  I thought color planning would be a breeze since I'd be following the original antique colors somewhat.  Didn't want the horse pink but wanted it to have an appearance of perhaps poke berry dyed wool, which this isn't either.  But in person under the OTT light it started looking too garish to me.  Yet here in the photo it looks okay.

Decided to hook a tad more around the horse before pulling out any loops and being sorry.  This is what it looks like now.

On top of what had already been hooked on the horse I placed slightly more brownish wool strips to see if that would be better.  Not sure that made any difference.  Placed some wool at the scroll, pre-testing before hooking.  Perhaps I should just keep hooking more background and a scroll before ripping out anything.  Afterall, there is still plenty of area to hook and keep me entertained.

Thunderstorm came thru so am hoping the extreme heat and humidity will be a thing of the past.  Oh, today I received an order for my Mache' Jacks pattern.  Me thinks that young lady is hoping it will invite cooler temperatures her way sooner than later.  Glad she didn't order a snowman pattern, lol.

Have a great evening.

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

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EENIE MEENIE MINEY MOE

Seems I keep a revolving and evolving 'to hook' list.  Some have gotten hooked and removed from the list and new ones added.  This first one has been on and off that list for many years.  But am now considering it again.

The original antique of this next one has a border.  But if I hook it will remove the busy border and hook just this part.

Here's the whole rug, so you can see what I mean about removing the border.  There is plenty to look at without it.

This red horse rug was recently found so went on the list.  Janice liked it too.

More red horses to consider and love that background.  There are many old horse rugs using red.  Perhaps because the use of worn out long johns were available plus the natural dyeing using poke berries.

I love this antique Blue Nose pattern.  Look at the wild eye.  Like a mustang stallion warning the other stallions to stay away from his harem.

Even tho there isn't a horse in the rug below I'm still enamored with this design.

If I choose the rug below I'd move the end borders closer to the inside and perhaps even make the horse larger.  Or maybe it would be too much  trouble so would choose another horse design, lol.

The last couple days have been hot as hades. This is a pic of the thermostat on Thursday.  When I snapped the photo it was 108 but don't know  if it went higher after that.

I forgot to take a photo of the thermostat yesterday although it was another hot day.  But did get a photo of the even higher temps today July 4th.  You  can see that it reached a high of 113 and it was humid as being in a steam room.  And yeah, I turned down the AC one degree to help save on electricity.

Happy Birthday America!  

Saundra

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HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY

Happy Birthday America.  I love my country and proud to say I'm American.   Our freedom has definitely come at a cost tho, with those brave souls who have fought to keep us free.  I'm also proud of our military and all first responders.

Now for some patriotic photos from my house to yours.

This guy below and I wish everyone a safe and happy July 4th.

Don't forget to use your sunscreen and hydrate.  GOD Bless America, land that I love.

Saundra

www.facebook.com/woodlandjunctionhookedrugs