Appreciating the Past

It's no secret I've an affection for antique rugs and prefer to hook replications with their faded and worn state vs. what the colors were by looking at the back of the rug.  Enjoy the show.

This One Room School house and auction house said was hooked late 19th century.  Am guessing the initials at the bottom are that of the hooker.

Below is a Three Home pictorial with the date of 1892.  I had to look twice when reading the description on the auction site because it looked almost like 1822 at first.

A hit and miss background below with birds, duck and cat was hooked late 19th century early 20th.

The rug below was called Dog Twins Facing Off and comes from New Hampshire with no date provided.

Another dog rug from Pook and Pook was documented as being hooked 1900.  I find this rather interesting after studying it for a while.  The four corners are hooked in triangles with use of color in the middle of each end.  Yet my attention goes to the left side with the dog's head.  Perhaps it is because of the dark pointed lines facing to the far left which indicates direction the dog is walking.  Oh, and I love that dirty muddy and blotchy center background around the dog.

Would love to spend time with the elder hookers and chat about what inspired them and what went thru their minds when drawing the designs.

Another hit and miss background with an almost hidden elephant due to fading.  This was hooked 19th century and located in New Hampshire.

Isn't this Curled Kitten on an oval rug adorable?  Sorry, no provenance but you can tell it is old from the wear.... you're welcome Kelley.

Received my propane yesterday, removed the space heaters, cranked up the thermostat and slept like a baby last night without worry.  Hope you living in the cold are staying warm and for those in California I'm sad.  First the fires, then the rain and mud slides.  

I lived in Northern California (east of San Francisco) for 3 years and thank goodness all we encountered were the earthquakes, which I HATED.  After my first husband died couldn't wait to get my son and myself back to the east coast where we only contend with hurricanes, blizzards, nor-easters, tornados....oh, and occasional earthquake,😒. 

Happy hooking, needle punching and quilting to all my blog buddies.

Saundra