Bespectacled Lion

Have reached a point where my beloved Bespectacled Lion should rest and I'll evaluate what to do next.  The border needs to be decided since the antique had so many colors in it.  Am thinking of making those strips 8.5 v.s #8 which I've hooked.  That would fill in the already reduced space and reduce the number of colors.

Took photos with two different cameras and two different setting to try and get the true view of the rug.  Think the true color is somewhere between the two.

Desperately need to vacuum the wool dust and maybe the break will do me good.  Where will I go next?....finish the border on this one?

OR.....start the next project already drawn?  OH...you don't know what I've drawn????  Holy Moly Batman, just wait and see.

Saundra
www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com 

More Barbara E. Merry Discoveries

For those of you who haven't heard or know about Barbara E. Merry here is a little information on her.  She lived in Maine most of her life and her mother was a painter.  Barbara's mother told her she'd never make a painter because her perspective was off.  While it is known Barbara did dabble with painting she enjoyed hooking rugs where perspective didn't matter. 

Recently I found a couple more rugs by BEM and of all places on etsy.  Yes, on etsy and couldn't believe my eyes.  Two of her rugs were for sale.  One was this red roof house with a rainbow.

And a close up of the house.

Another rug  in the etsy listing was this chenille shirred rug.  Don't see her initials in it but guess it might be difficult to do initials with shirred rugs.

Of course I had to share the fun with my friend Evelyn so sent her an email with those pictures.  In turn she said she was sending me copies of an article about Barbara which appeared in a June 1986 issue of Country Home magazine.  A photo of the above shirred rug is in that article.  There are several other rugs in the article of which I don't have  photos.

Another found on a recent on-line search was this titled The Merry's which was said to have been hooked when she was married to John Merry.  Dimensions of the rug are 27 x 46.

In the article Evelyn sent me Barbara stated the reason rainbows appear in many of her rugs was to be a symbol of hope.

Another chenille shirred rug (below) looks like the initials are BEB not BEM.  Wonder if her maiden name started with a 'B'?

The end of March this year, a woman contacted me and said she owned 3 of Barbara's rugs and sent me photos of them.  Won't mention her name as I'm not sure she would like me to share that.  Here are the three rugs:

None of those were among the rugs depicted in the Country Home article so know there are more Barbara E. Merry rugs out there.  In a previous blog post I showed other BEM rugs and you can see them HERE.

Hope this post finds you happy and healthy.  And anyone reading this blog, if you know of other Barbara Merry rugs or know what her maiden name was I would love to know.  

Saundra
www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

July 4th Weekend

Since Independence Day is tomorrow I'm sure many workers have off today as a long July 4th holiday weekend.  Yet for me every day is a holiday since retiring from the 8-5 rat race.

A story about the Betsy Ross crochet flag above ~ around 1997 and driving to visit my mother I saw a yard sale and stopped.  Much to my surprise was this delightful item which the man's wife must have made.  Of course I snapped it up as it is a wonderful creative piece to be appreciated.  

The jointed mohair bear and it's clothing was made by me as was the patriotic hat.  In the vase are three purchased flags and one primitive one made by me.

At one venue in Lewes, Delaware there was a summer show and fall show.  For the summer show I always made sure to have a few differently dressed patriotic dolls.

Also made many Uncle Sam dolls during my dollmaking years.  After making a few found an easier way to make the Sam and hat a lot easier.  

GOD BLESS AMERICA.

I also made this Velveteen America Heart.  Hope you have a happy and safe Independence Day weekend.

Saundra
www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

A Lion by Any Other Name....

This is my accomplishment on the antique adaptation of a lion so far.  Not sure about the border yet so haven't continued to expand that.  Would like to see how the inside turns out and how bright or dull to make the border.  But did want to at least hook the holding lines.

Also might pull out a section in the middle left on the rug and replace, yeah a normal tweak.   

This is a rather smallish rug and drew mine 15 ½ X 24.   Each time I'd see this lion in my file always smiled and knew I had to hook him.  So now I need help with a name.  Two names I've thought about is "Gold Lion" another is "Bespectacled Lion" since he looks like he's wearing spectacles.  

In case you forgot what the original antique looked like, here it is.  The lion rug was hooked early 20th century and the original measured 26 x 40.5.  Wish my wool was as rich looking as the original but I'm "making do with what I have".  Remember that quote?  I  hooked a rug with that quote.

Wow, can't believe it is July 1st already.  Grass needed to be cut yesterday but it was so dry and crispy and knew there would be rain today so held off.  Thankfully there were a few pour downs so the grass weeds will be more resilient, not die and the dust not so bad.  

So give me your thoughts on a name for the rug:
     ~Gold Lion
     ~Bespectacled Lion

Saundra
www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

Cape May 2015 Show Finale

Am glad you have enjoyed seeing rugs from the show so will post the others not previously displayed the last couple days.

Above is 1856 Basket antique adaptation by Lucille Festa.

Antique Hearts antique adaptation by Kris Miller.  The colors were much more rich in person but you know how photos don't always show the true colors.

In 2014 I did my own adaptation, the picture above was taken before making it into a pillow.  Kris' loops are always perfect ~ mine not so much, but then I do try to get an old look.  Oh, and I was using mostly hand torn.

There it is after making a BIG pillow.

Big Whale is a design by Lucille Festa.  

A Bev Conway design and another version of the Chalfonte Hotel was hooked by Ellen Savage.

Cherries and Candy Stripe is an antique adaptation drawn and hooked by moi'.

An antique adaptation and guess the dog's name was Chum or could it have been hooked by someone with that name?  And yes, the original antique had those spiked-looking feet.  I did this rug with Barb Carroll and asked how she would hook it as I'd drawn it with both a paw and the toes.  She said 'go for the toes'.

 A design by Betsy Reed is this crow which I hooked and made into a pillow.

Old Crow is a Lucille Festa design.

Daisy was hooked and sold by Kris Miller and love how she hooked the name at the bottom in a lighter value wool.

I believe The Tower, hooked by Michelle Micarelli, was part of a Tarot Card challenge.

 Kris Miller hooked Welcome Guests above.

Here is a Pearl McGowan design Willow Bank hooked by Cindy Painter.

 Windy Winter hooked by Vickie Lavigna.

Friend Deb hooked this Gustav Klimt design and named it "Apologies to Gustav".

You don't even need to look at the name of the designer or hooker on You Had me at Woof because you know it is a Cammie Bruce design.  I have always thought it was cute as the dickens.

Quite a glittery hooked piece by Alex Mathiasen and nice framing.

Midnight Clear, a Spruce Ridge Design, hooked by Kathy Mullaly.

Ah, the morning mess of a great previous day and evening of hooking.

Hope you are making progress in finishing up those UFOs which have been hidden for months/years or working on something new you've wanting to hook for a while.

Saundra
www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

More Cape May 2015 Fun

There were so many other photos to share that I thought there should be two posts.

 Top design is a runner designed and hooked by Kay Leisey ; the Patriotic Sampler is a design by Cammie Bruce and hooked by Marion Wilson.

 Sheep over the Moon designed by  Joan Gerwig and hooked by Nancy Tiffany.

Spanish Princes, another huge rug hooked by Cheri Reid, and she is a really fast hooker.

Spots designed and hooked by Cammie Bruce.

 Prairie Santa hooked by Betty Ann Brittingham.

 Pumpkin Trilogy.

Pumpkins and a black cat.

Judith Phillips designed and hooked this rug named Resistance.

 Trick or Treat and Smell my Feet are Lori Brechlin's designs drawn by Spruce Ridge Studios.  My pal Deb added her own colorful spin to the designs.

Above are two pieces designed and hooked by Cammie Bruce.

1846 Turkey at the top is a design by Anne Nichols which was in a old issue of Needl'Love.  Can't read the information on either so don't know who designed or hooked the sampler.

Above are two Magdalena designs I drew and hooked.

The striped cat is Hester, a design by Lori Brechlin which was in an issue of a magazine.

Top left is Hobo Joe, a design by Lucille Festa and was designed as a cut-out but I chose to make it a rectangular shaped piece.  The crow was my design hooked Magdalena style.

Sally Raub hooked the floral above.

Have seen the above antique rug numerous times and is on my 'to do' list but still haven't hooked it.  This one was hooked by Kay Leisey.

Pear Tree was hooked by Carol McKay and designed by Lori Brechlin.

I've told you how much fun we have at Cape May ~ actually all rug camps are fun.  But in the year 2015 at this camp I never laughed so hard.  Here are a bunch of us sitting on the front porch about an hour before dinner.

To the left is me, Cheri Reid, Amanda (Kris Miller's sister) and Judy Phillips who was the instigator of all the laughter.  We were enjoying a delicious frozen marguerita. 

To the right of Judy is Jill in the blue and white, and Mary Lou Bleakley (my first rug hooking teacher) howling with laughter.

And to the right of Mary Lou is Kris Miller and Elise (Mary Lou's daughter).

We were having so much fun and you can see the front porch is empty.  So Linda finally had to come out and see if we planned to eat dinner.  That was probably the first time I've EVER been late for a meal there 😄
My pal Deb is there somewhere I'm sure... maybe this side of Elise.

Believe it or not I still didn't get all the rug pictures posted on this blog post either.  Do you want me to do another post of rugs from this year or move on?

Saundra