HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Merrie October 31st!  The pattern below is a design by Lori Brechlin that I hooked a few years ago.

It is a very warm Hallows Eve.  I rescued the vintage decoration below from a thrift shop years ago.  I had to tape the feet as they were bent so badly.  I've often thought about hooking an image of it or at least the face but so far that hasn't happened.

Today the temperature rose to record high for this time of year.  I even took a photo, poor that it be, to show the outside temps on my smart thermostat at 3:21 p.m.

While I can't imagine the inside temps will drop below 62 tonight, I've set the temperature just in case it does 👻.

The folks in my neighborhood who have dogs decided to take them on a Halloween stroll thru the neighborhood, anyone who wanted to participate could.  What a cool thing to do. Although I don't have a dog now wish I'd purchased some treats and turned on my house light so they would have stopped by to give each of them a treat.  Hope I remember next year to buy doggie treats for the neighborhood pups.  

There's one guy in the neighborhood who has a Great Dane and 3 rescued dogs.  Actually he and his wife are the ones who organized tonight's event.  His dogs are very well behaved and everyone here considers him a 'dog whisperer'.  That isn't or wasn't his job, it is just that he loves dogs.  Several folks in the development have taken their dogs to him to for an afternoon play time when he takes his dogs out for a walk hoping some training will rub off.  

Will share about my day today, my accomplishments, my failures and my to do's tomorrow or Saturday.  Gonna be another very warm day tomorrow again.  

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

OCTOBER LIKES AND DISLIKES

Today was a chilly opening of the day but warmed up nicely.  That's one thing I love about October.  Love the fall colors, tho with the drought not all the leaves had their natural slow change.  Seems they just dropped off as green leaves without water and turned yellow or brown once on the ground.  

Also enjoy the fall colors of plants I don't know.  This is a dainty sorta tree, if you really consider it a tree with its flimsy limbs.  Does anyone know what this volunteer tree is?  Love the colors of the seeds.

Closer view.

There's also a comfort of sleeping in a cool room with covers up to my chin which reminds me of when as a kid my younger brother and I would spend the night with our paternal grandfather.     

My dislikes of October.  Today, especially today, since I worked outside for almost 4 hours can say I HATE LEAVES.  I love living in the woods but hate leaves that I've had to deal with for 27 years.  Before lunch these were the leaves raked up just from the driveway behind the garage.  The pile facing us would be the first to be moved to the back of the yard toward the wooded area and fill in the low spots.  After all, they do decompose and become dirt. 

But first... the flat tire had to be inflated since it sat for a year in the shed.  

You can see the air pump near by.

It took 11 wheelbarrow loads to dispose of that first long pile in front and the smaller pile further back still remains.  But I'd had enough for today and will deal with the other pile another day.  Besides, there are more leaves on trees which will fall as well as the leaves on the roof above the garage!@#?&!@  BTW, the photo below was taken before that pile you see was taken to the back of the property.

So this is the result of my work today and the other pile still to deal with another day.  But am sure I'll sleep well tonight with the covers pulled up to my chin.

Wool has been gathered for another primitive black dye project.  This time I'll be heavier with the black dye.

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

DYE POT DAY

But it was a mini dye pot day.  I saw a couple pieces of wool that I decided should go in a pot for primitive darks/black.   Here is the before....

And the results.

Not quite as dark as I'd have liked but at least they are better and can always dye them again when I'm in need of something to blog about 😁.  

Now back to the project on my frame.

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

THE SEARCH GOES ON

Am always looking for lovely old rugs to share with readers who, like me, enjoy looking at them or maybe looking for their next project.  However this nice beaver rug won't be the one on my frame next although it is a lovely rug.  This is a Canadian rug hooked early 20th century and is cotton on burlap.   

A great weathervane horse rug but don't know date hooked so am scared to draw this not knowing if it is an actual antique.

A floral and scrolls hooked early 20th century.  

Another floral with scrolls plus hit and miss background, no date but think it is a legit antique.  Yet I've no desire to hook either of those beauties.

A kitten on oval mat measuring 19.5 x 36 and hooked early 20th century.

Here's a huge rug I've shown before but which I may adapt for my next project ... maybe, lol.  Listed as a Magdalena rug dated 1890 and a huge 45 x 115.  If I do hook it I'll eliminate the left side panel of the square, turtle and bird which will make it a tad shorter.

A yarn sewn runner circa 19th century 33.5" long.  Doing those type rugs must have been tedious sewing the yarn on vs. hooking with loops.  But guess it would require less yarn since the yarn would remain on top.

Sweet rug of two rabbits sharing (?) one carrot.  No date was provided but it does have the appearance of an oldie.

The colorful rug below I saved on my flash drive back in 2016 but never posted it because of the colors.  Am wondering if this is the back because those look like repair patches on the right side. No date was provided yet think it is an antique.  If it isn't an antique someone sure did a great job making it look so. 

This owl rug I found in a July 1992 issue of Country Living magazine.  Description was it is an early 20th century rug.  Often I've thought of hooking it, but haven't done so yet.

A dog with a leaf in all corners, no other info provided in the auction.

Well kiddo's that's the show for today.  I wanted to get this posted yesterday but was too busy with washing curtains, washing windows and washing my latest purchases of wool (I must be crazy as I don't need more).  So didn't get a lot of hooking in either.  Today I plan to change that when I should be outside doing yard work while temps are still mild ~ oh well, oh hell, lol.

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

TRUE CONFESSIONS

Do you remember seeing True Confessions magazine on shelves at the shops and grocery stores?  I do, but if you don't you can read about it HERE for a little useless conversation piece.  But my confessions are about the rug I'm working on and an update to Giant Flower.

Just before Cape May I had nothing planned to fill my time with teacher Lucille to work on before the camp project.  Frankly nothing in my desperate searches for an antique interested me but the giant flower raised my smile meter more than the others so drew it out.  Will show you the update below then continue with my confessions.

Second confession ~ Getting ready for Cape May I had tunnel vision and didn't think ahead about how I'd bind this rug.  Even just last week realized I should have sewn on something as a binding.  The purchased cotton bindings I have were too dark, didn't have a suitable color wool yarn for whipping and wasn't sure there was even enough of my various colors of dyed blue wool to do a wool edge.

Sooo, the row of hooking closest to the edge had to be pulled out so I could sew the cotton fabric on in order to get it close to the last row.  Oy vey!  Had my head been right before camp I'd have thought of that earlier.  BUT, being in a hurry missed that planning step.

Third confession ~  I don't have a 'plus one'.  BTW, just to clarify how I came up with that term, ya know how when you're invited to a party and the invitation says you can bring a 'plus one'?  That's how that became a thing with me.  Figured this is my party and I'll bring another.  Anyhoo, I digress...

So that is why Do Goode Be Nice was changed after 8 years, I needed something else to work on other than the flower.  Still don't have a plus one and if it weren't for having this mess below and the mess on my drawing table to clean up I'd draw one. 

Those are all the various colors of cut wool worms I'm using for the floral rug.  The only wool I'm cutting now (after perusing the worms) is the blue background and the green for leaves.   The blue is a mixture of many previous dye jobs I did over the years but at a distance they all seem to work okay.

Thanks to those of you who recently 'followed' my blog.  Not sure what I posted that inspired you but hope I can continue to keep your interest.  Hope you will check in often to see what I'm working on.  If you have a question or want me to cover a certain topic, please email me.  If you don't want to put it in the 'comment' section there is a special "EMAIL ME" spot on the right hand side of my blog which comes directly into my email.

Nice mild temperatures today but we all know winter is in our forecast and dark getting earlier.  Enjoy it while we can.  Happy hooking, knitting, quilting, stitching or whatever floats your boat!

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

 

CHANGED AFTER 8 YEARS

Couldn't stand looking at it any longer until a change was made to the witch's eye.  This Lori Brechlin design (sold by Spruce Ridge) was hooked 2016 and this is what it looked like all those years until yesterday.

I know it is a whimsical design but the eye looked too awkward and bold.  It was too big for the face, the outline of the eye too dark, the eyebrow a tad too light and didn't like that 'hairy' mole on her chin as it looked it was a piece of wool there by accident.  So this is how the rug looks now.

The new softer version is much better me thinks.  I'd contemplated removing the entire eye and starting from scratch.  Then decided to try a simpler way by making the eye smaller from the top.  I trimmed the top loops of the entire eye (white, brown, black, brown then white at the right corner).  Then used a thinner piece of wool which wasn't quite as dark as that first to outline the top.  That meant there was room for a piece of green to hook above the eye adding to the face and reducing the bold eye.  I also changed the color of the eyebrow and added a couple loops to the forehead hair.  Oh, and surgically removed her hairy mole 😁.

I'm happier now and it took me 8 years to finally change it.  Oh, and what a difference a photo makes, the colors look better in this last shot too ~ a win win.

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

FINALLY BOUND

Dog with Basket finally got bound.  It was color planned by Lucille Festa at Rugs by the Sea in Cape May this past September.

In other news...an acquaintance asked me if I would repair an old rug her grandmother hooked.  Told her I'd have to see the rug first to see how big the repair was and see the type foundation.  Explained that with age burlap gets very brittle and any manipulation of the rug could cause more damage so wouldn't get involved in that.

Tuesday she came over with said rug.  Turns out it was hooked with wool yarn on what appeared to be rug warp.  You can see the areas needing repair in the photo below at the top and to the lower right.  I explained that I use wool fabric and she said she didn't care if it was fabric or yarn, she just wanted to save the rug.

In the photo below you can see I repaired some at the top but the very edge was too fragile to deal with and she said that section was placed under the bed anyway.  Still have to deal with the little empty spot on the lower right.

Seems I successfully repaired that spot using the hanging wool yarn below the rug.  And told her not to pass the word around that I repaired her grandmother's rug as I don't want more offers, lol.

Yesterday I was forced to turn on the heat as it was too cold in the house.  Tomorrow it is supposed to be a normal temp of close to 70 so will turn off the heat and open the windows.  But that too will be short-lived as winter is inevitable. 

Now back to hooking on the Giant Flower.  What is on your frame?

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

CALIFORNIA FLASHBACK

As you know my husband and I were from the east coast before he was transferred to the 'left' coast.  While there I worked for Sunset Designs, a needlearts company started by Tom Cundith in the garage of his home.  It developed into a thriving profitable company by the time I moved to San Ramon.  The company was eventually sold but you can still find stitchery kits on eBay today.

In all the years I worked never did we dress up for Halloween during the work day until California.   Driving to work could easily have been a scene equal to that of the Cantina scene of Star Wars. Imagine seeing this elephant behind the wheel.  Californians go bonkers during Halloween and I saw many an odd character driving on the freeway.

Here is one of the Sunset employees dressed as a character from the Carole Burnett show, but can't recall the character's name.

A secretary dressed as a flapper.

A nurse, Geisha and not sure of what the other two were.

Something was quite funny to these gals and I was probably laughing along with them but can't recall why.

This witch must have had a cold as that's a really red nose.

Employees gathering around a cubicle and probably typical of the whole day.

A couple more characters below.  

Lunchtime where we all brought in food to share.

This is me below and guess I went as Hiawatha.

Unidentifiable character to me, but phones need answering when you're at work even during having fun.

Tinkerbell sitting on my boss's lap.  Mike Lacy was the Sales Manager and I was his secretary.

Photo below looks like it was taken in the customer service department.  There were more employees in that department.

Many of the employees used the day as a normal 'casual Friday' attire vs. wild costumes.

A photo of Tom Cundith, the company's founder, having a meeting outside with the employees on a nice day.

Sunset Designs was a wonderful company to work for; they introduced me to 'flex time' where one could take a 2 hour lunch if you worked an hour beyond their work schedule or came in early.  When Gary became really ill, they let me do my secretarial work at home and I'd deliver the work the next day.  That way I was able to be around Gary near the end of his life and still have an income.

Yet am thankful I took it upon myself to move our son and me back to the east coast.  California was fun and entertaining for a while and am so glad not to live there now, just doesn't seem the same from the news I see on TV.  Happy Haunting.

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

OLD RUGS

Here are a few rugs you may not have seen.  Actually it is the first time I ever heard of a "ravel rug".  A Shaker ravel rug is done by sewing knitted sections on a foundation then unravelling the unsewn parts.  This one measures 33 x 37, was found in Canterbury, NH but no date provided.

Petite flowers  and leaves mid 20th century so not really considered an antique yet, I don't think.  

A lion hooked late 19th to early 20th century measuring 16 x 28.

An oval floral dated 1900's.

A geometric from the Robert L. Pfannebecker collection.

A horse rug listed on Bidsquare and have no date or dimensions.

Apparently a family rug with everyone's initials and a date of 1893.  Dimensions of rug is 35.5 x 36.5.

I know someone who reads my blog isn't fond of ducks, so sorry about the following rug.  Said to be hooked early 20th century. 

A naïve landscape with dog, no date provided.  Reminds me of a child's drawing.

Sorry there isn't anything breathtaking here for you to see and am hoping there will be more for me to find on the internet for future shows.  Meanwhile, make your own beauty with your hands and wool ~ happy hooking.

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com