PLANNING AHEAD

While I'm presently still tolerating hooking the floral, I'm thinking ahead  to the next project.  This year is America's 250th Birthday and want to hook a rug commemorating that event.  Perhaps one of the following will entice you to hook your own Semi-quincentennial rug.

The 13 star eagle rug below was hooked in the 1800's.

Someone hooked the rug below to celebrate the Centennial birthday of America, but adding 8 more letters to say "Semi Quincentennial" would make for a larger rug, if this is your choice.

Not long ago the God Bless America rug is what I'd planned to hook, but not sure now as I'm looking thru my patriotic rug photos.

I have already hooked two of the three sections of this design below, so the crossed flags in the heart would be the next to hook one day.

A 13 star rug hooked in the 1800's shown below.

This heavenly Eagle is one I recently found.

I've long admired the following patriotic rug, but haven't hooked it yet.

And this Eagle rug below is gaining popularity with me.  

Believe it or not, the next two colorful rugs are antique; the eagle is said to have been hooked 1865 by the auction house.  Whew, those bright colors hurt my eyes.

This one has a hooked date of 1933.

For those of you who draw your own rugs, perhaps one of these strike your fancy.  If not, Polly Minick, Cathy Stephan and Maria Barton have some great patriotic rugs.

Don't know which I'll choose or even if the patriotic rug will begin immediately after the Shelburne Bouquet is done.  Do I want to start it this early or wait until maybe May to be closer to July 4th?  But first must finish the floral.

Happy hooking.

Saundra

www.facebook.com/woodlandjunctionhookedrugs

UPDATES on STUFF

 Am bewildered on how to continue on the rug.  In the beginning plans were to do the hit and miss background like the antique, but found it too time consuming with the trial and error of picking the right colors.  And, it never looked like the antique to me.

So thought I'd try another tactic.  The central flowers are still the focal point of the rug and with a less busy background.  Below you can see the hit and miss on the left and the green mixture on the right.  The right side is not nearly as dramatic as the left but seems softer on the eyes to me.  Besides, the border will provide plenty of interest and won't fight with the hit and miss background inside.

I can understand how people collect UFO's.  This one would certainly be on that pile right now.  Problem with those UFO's is once you lose interest and it's out of sight it is hard to go back and they never get finished.  That is why I fight so hard to finish what I start ~ even while gritting my teeth, lol.

After my yard work injury Maureen asked if my tetanus vaccine was up to date.  UH, I didn't know.  So yesterday I went thru my vaccination records and learned my last shot was August 2013.  They are recommended every 10 years so was overdue.  This morning I had a tetanus booster shot; thanks Maureen.

Decided to switch out my nighttime window screen to make it more spring like.  This is a quilt applique I made one year for my mom for Mother's Day.  There is a cup of coffee on the table, mother's all day beverage, and family photos.  The tallest photo is of mother's parents, others are her brothers, me and my brother.

That concludes the post.....Happy Easter everyone.

Saundra

YESTERDAY

Oh what a wonderfully warm and beautiful day it was upon waking up yesterday morning.  Plans were for me to get outside right after breakfast to do yard work, including picking up the numerous pinecones which had fallen over several weeks.  But other work was planned too before the temperature rose high in the afternoon.

Pinecones were the first order of the day and after picking up over 100 decided to stop bending for awhile and give my back a break.  Instead focused on removing a huge pine branch from the front yard which had snapped off with the recent high winds.  Was too heavy for me to lift so dragged it to the side wooded area where I started to push it further in.  Until....

That is the right side of my right leg.  As I was pulling the branch and trying to position it inside the wooded area the weight shifted and a sturdy nub of a branch penetrated my sweat pants into the leg.  Then as it moved it pulled flesh to expose raw meat.  It hurt like heck and don't know how deep it went into my leg as I didn't want to open the wound.

Left my yard tools there, came in the house to wash and medicate my wound.  Kept my leg elevated so the blood would coagulate.  Since it was getting close to lunchtime decided to eat and continue with my leg lifted.  Then it got too hot and came inside to hook.  This was the afternoon temps yesterday.

A cold front came thru last night which produced a thunderstorm and rain, so temperature is nowhere near that today and I'm wearing a sweatshirt.  Normally I keep my winter thermostat set at 63 but the previous day plus yesterday increased the inside temp to a very warm 68.

Sorry for the boring post and will try to make up for it next time.

Saundra

www.facebook.com/woodlandjunctionhookedrugs

RUG SHOW TIME

There are goodies, some funnies and perhaps some uglies.  But any rug show is a good show in my book.  Easter is very close and found this beautiful hooked rug on Pinterest but don't have a date, sorry.  Usually when finding things on Pinterest I try to backtrack to the original source which is usually an auction site for info, not this time.  Am sure Janice will love this one.

This whimsical duck rug (22 x 36.5) is from the collection of Drs Hill and George Waynick.  No date was provided but think it may be a Canadian hooked piece.

The rug below was said to be hooked in the 1900's but don't know if early or late.  It's sweet and would have made an adorable rug for a child's room.

Very primitive cat rug below looks old to me but have no date to confirm that.  Poor kitties look so forlorn and all I could think of, IF I was to give it a name, would be "Pete and Repete".

This one below is from Fiddlers Antiques which I found on Facebook.

What animal do you think this is shown below?  I think it has the body of a horse.  The auction house is advertising it as "standing dog eating a bone".  Was written to be hooked mid 20th century.  Doesn't look like any dog I've ever seen.

A floral found on Fiddler's Antique shop.

Two grey cats from the same Antique shop.

The horse rug is a new addition to the on-line auction house offerings.  Hooked sometime in the 20th century and dimensions are 24 x 38.

The rubber ducky rug brings back memories of Barb Carroll's Koi pond filled with rubber ducks a bunch of us purchased.  Here is said rug:

Here is a photo of Barb's duck filled Koi pond:

Last but not least....a week or so ago I posted the photo of a cat the auction house named Racoon Cat.  Someone could have gotten a great deal because I watched the count down to seconds and the price remained at $50.  There were many watchers so maybe at the last second someone came in with a higher bid but photo removed before final price was posted.  Bet it was still a very good deal.  

Finally having my taxes done today.  Was waiting for a 1099 from my bank and after making calls the document finally arrived.

Happy hooking.

Saundra

Shelburne Bouquet Update

Plans were to try and replicate the original antique rug but my wool stash and the original's unusual hit and miss background didn't work too well for me.  This what has been accomplished so far.

And for comparison, below is the original antique.  You can see I tried to hook the top left corner in a similar fashion, and that is my second attempt.  The first try I had too much light, almost white wool. So will work on the inside around the flowers and bowl, then go to the rest of the background.  Maybe by then I'll have made my decision on how best to proceed to save the rug.

Today is probably Zach's 4th day of basic training and he probably thinks it's been a week of hell.  But he (nor I) truly know what Navy Seals endure during their Hell Week.  God Bless our military and God Bless America.

Now back to pulling loops, one loop at a time, and ripping out is achieved a lot faster than the hooking back in, lol.  Happy hooking everyone.

Saundra

www.facebook.com/woodlandjunctionhookedrugs

MISC. CHIT CHAT

It's official.  Zach, among others, were sworn into the NAVY.  Can't wait to get his FPO address so I can write him.  Am sure he will be happy to receive word from home.  Zach will be allowed internet and phone access sometime later but not sure how often.  But when he does he will surely use that time to talk to his parents.

The horse rug is bound and the label attached.  As I didn't want another row of color for the border other than what I hooked, my binding was cotton binding tape.  The label looks rather jaundiced compared to the hooked rug. 

Thought it was time to replace my privacy screen for night time rug hooking and decided to use the Out of Hand challenge rug designed by Kelley Belfast which I hooked 2016.  My sheep has a bell and decided to do proddy daffodils.

Remember the rain phenomenon I wrote about on March 17th?  Well it's still happening, and today noticed 3 spots today.  The one on the deck is still occurring but some days fewer droplets and smaller wet spot.  If you  look just above the deck you will see a circle where rain drops were beginning.  Yup, I need a new deck but recently had a new roof and in April will have my long driveway repaired and sealed.  So a new deck will just have to wait but will have it washed and sealed this spring after the green pollen has appeared and left.

At the bottom of the picture below I've circled the three areas were rain drops are occurring.  At a distance away you can see the the other two circled.

The Shelbourne Bouquet is getting frustrating so think a plus one is forthcoming.  But will try to forge thru a little longer.  Happy hooking.

Saundra

www.facebook.com/woodlandjunctionhookedrugs

RUG SHOW

I Have a few rugs to share with you.  Dog and Apple trees hooked late 19th century (43.5 x 45.5).

I've also some cat rugs which will make my friend Robin happy.  This one below was also from Fiddler's Antiques.

I thought this cow rug was a hoot and looks like it may have been drawn by a child.  Was dated between 1890-1899.

Floral hooked early 20th century measuring 32 x 73.

A Hutchinson design 'Oh Grandma, what big eyes you have".  It is still listed for sale and dimensions are 33 x 48.

A geometric with soft or faded colors, no date was provided.

Two geometrics backed with vintage sugar bags are up for auction if anyone is interested.

Here is a photo of the back of one rug.  

Here is the sweet dog rug friend Lauren sent me.  Isn't he sweet?  

Cats and rabbits, no date.

This antique rug below was also found at Fiddler's Antiques.

Cannot recall where I found the rug with two inquisitive travelling felines.  Looks like a mountain range in the background.

That's it for this show.  Going outside to pick up a few more limbs leftover from the blizzard and the ongoing March winds. Then inside to pull a few loops.  Happy hooking.

Saundra

www.facebook.com/woodlandjunctionhookedrugs

I've Only Just Begun

Well, it's a start and at least there's something on my frame now.   It measures 20 x 29.5.

As you know, sometimes I have a 'plus one' to work on when getting stumped or being bored.  A sweet friend sent me a photo of an antique  rug of a pup I've named Spot.  Spot just might make its debut here one of these days.

This afternoon the entire family had a celebration before my grandson Zach deploys to the Navy.  He has enlisted as an electrical aviation technician and will leave on the 25th, just 4 days away.  

He's quite excited to begin the next chapter of his life and we share that enthusiasm.  God speed Zach, God Bless our military and God Bless America.

  

Saundra

HOOKED (upated)

On a February 12th blog post I showed the first outlines of the now fully hooked horse below.  Am rather pleased with how it turned out except for that white strip in the bottom part of the background.  I'll replace it with a less noticeable off color.

Update:  Okay Lauren, for your information there were only 4 loops and 2 tails, lol.  Was driving me crazy so had to replace that light strip with something a little less 'in your face' but still give it a wonky look of the antique.

What I find interesting is the bottom right corner shows up as white.  But it is the very same wool as the other 3 corners.  Not sure if my position while taking the photo had something to do with the lighting or what happened.

Now it's time to bind and attach the label a little at a time.  At least I've made a decision on what will go on the frame next.  Happy hooking to the rest of you.

Saundra

www.facebook.com/woodlandjunctionhookedrugs