FROM ME TO YOU

In a previous blog post I shared some antique rugs with hearts in hopes of providing ideas for those of you who have no rug on your frame.  Also something to keep you occupied while inside during these frigid temperatures.  

Below is a heart butter mold pattern I hooked in 2020.  It is a design by Julie Zakrzewski of  Primitive Heartstrings.  

Would also like to give a silhouette of a Cupid for you to use as you wish.  Hook a heart with Cupid in the center, cut out a cardboard image of Cupid and put him in a wreath, or perhaps you'd like to do an applique piece of the image.  However you wish to use this cherub it is yours compliments of me. 

Baby it's cold outside.  I don't recall having temps this low for so many days in a row.  Hopefully we will get back to normal cold temps for this time of year for this area soon.

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

A RUG SHOW

On this Inauguration Day the rug show is insignificant in comparison.  But perhaps the rug show will spark an idea for your own future project.  Although this great dog rug was on an auction site they did not provide a date it may have been hooked.  But it does have the markings of an oldie with the blotchy border.  I like the colors.

A Hutchinson rug "Forget Me Not" pulled on someone's heart strings recently and hope Susan will share a photo of her rendition once it is hooked.

A landscape said to have been hooked late 19th century and measures 28 x 39.   

A white cat with flower pots in corners.  Again no date provided.

Waldoboro birds and flowers hooked 19th century.   In rug hooking the Waldoboro style is achieved by pulling loops up high then (sculpting) trimming them to achieve a shape, in this case the shape of the birds and flowers.

In sewing/quilting, that would be called Trapunto to stitch and stuff a motif, such as the flower petals in the pillow below.

Lovely old Waldoboro Historical Society hooked rugs in a case found on-line.

For the feline lovers is another cat, black one this time, hooked early 20th century I just found on Miller and Miller.  

Am sure I've posted the rug below of cat and dog before.  One day I'd like to hook it.  Those are scrolls on the top corners.  

A rooster measuring 20 x 32, found in Quebec and said to be hooked early 20th century.

Primitive dog with checker corners and half circles in border.

Ring around the roses dated between1910-19 with dimensions of 35 x 39.

Have a great evening.  Going to be COLD this week and I'm definitely looking forward to spring.  

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

WHAT YOU'VE BEEN WAITING FOR

Finally the reveal of the entire project I'm working on and the antique rug from which I drew the pattern.  As you can see there is a lot more for me to hook but it is still fun.  I named it "Animals Great and Small" and drew it out to appox. 20 x 45.  It isn't overwhelmingly big and can still mostly use #8.5 wool strips.

Haven't decided yet whether or not to pull out the cat wool or that between the legs and tail.  Jury is still out on at this point just want to move forward before taking steps backward.

Below is the antique rug which was difficult to get true shapes of the animals since there were rows of hooking in different colors around them.

On my rug I've chosen to hook a thinner and darker red row around the animals so it doesn't overpower the animal or make the rug too bright for my primitive taste.  When starting to hook the star I did an entire light outline around it before hooking the gold.  Didn't like that and ripped it out before going too far.  Perhaps my wool was too light but wasn't in the mood to dilly dally, lol.

Today was rather mild but still have iced snow in the shady areas.  Haven't listened to the weather this evening but yesterday this area was to get rain, change to snow and 1-3" more of that despicable white stuff with single digit temps next week.  Ain't winter lovely?  NOT.

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

ANIMALS 3, 4 & 5

Am gonna pick up a little steam now so perhaps the next update will show you all the area hooked and tell you what I've named the pattern.  Must admit I'm not happy with the colors chosen for this cat even tho I tried to get close to that in the antique.  

The original showed white in the space between the legs and above the tail.  But since I gave the cat a white chest thought that might not work.  So will pull that wool out and use the background color surrounding the cat to see if that works.  If it doesn't work,  the red outline would overpower that area.  Sure don't want to pull all the wool out of the kitty cat but will be forced to make some sort of change.

Here are two more for you cat lovers.  OOPS, I see some loops have been pulled out around the the dark cat so will have to remedy that when put back on the frame.  And remember, I'm not trying to make this look like a newly produced rug, so am using some of my overdyed dirtied up stuff.

Am so SICK of snow which has been hanging around for over a week.  It is frozen humps in areas of the yard which doesn't see sun.  My back deck is piled high with the frozen stuff that can't be shoveled as it's like a humongous block of ice.  Hopefully the warm up, slight warm up, in the next couple days will rid me of this mess.

Haven't gone out to see how much propane is left in the tank from the delivery with two weeks of constant propane use.  However, it sure is a warmer heat.

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

VALENTINE RUG IDEAS

Do you have a hankering to hook a valentine rug?  There's one month until Valentine's Day so here are a few photos for inspiration.  Over the years I've posted many rugs with hearts but didn't post all of them here tonight.  You could always type heart rugs in my search engine at the top and perhaps others not shown here will appear.

First up is the 8 point star with hearts and diamonds.  If you think the border is 'too in your face' you could make the border more narrow or eliminate that border all together.  Auction house said it was hooked 19th century and measures 38.5 x 50.

Red central hearts with hit and miss heart border and background.  Me thinks all that hit and miss is a little overkill so you could take some creative license with that heart border.  No date was provided.

This is an antique antique rug measuring 32 x 52 and said to be hooked between 1880-1910.  I drew a pattern and hooked it as I loved the blotchy background.

Dated March 6, 1931 is a huge heart with chickens, rabbit and dog.

A familiar rug with hearts is this 1875 design.  Original measures 41 x 34.  I've always considered hooking it but haven't yet.

This geometric with hearts and star was on display at Sauder I think in 2023.  I hooked it, not this one but an adaptation of this antique.

Horses and hearts rug was hooked late 19th century.

Hearts and 8 point stars with the date 1911.

Just found this blue heart rug on FB but not impressed.

If you like applique, this one has hearts, pennies, hands and deer.  I'm personally not a fan of applique ~ tried it, sold one that was the end of that.  Date unknown.

Alternative ideas would be the two leather pincushions made in 19th century.

Or you could hook a heart pillow, several little hearts and place them in a basket.  Over the years I've posted numerous other antique rugs with hearts as the theme.  Here is a heart freebie once offered by Shirley Hudson in an old blog.  You can check out her most recent blog HERE. 

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

ANIMAL NUMBER TWO

Unlike Noah's Ark my animals are entering one at a time, not two by two.  Not to worry though, you'll eventually see the whole rug and the antique from which I've drawn the design.  So stay tuned.

I'm sick of this snow which has stayed around far too long.  It has not been a good week and won't get better until sometime next week.  There is a problem with my garage door as it won't open electronically.  At first it was an intermittent problem and I'd use the manual pull cord to open then once returned home would push the door up until it connected.  Next time it would open but perhaps not close.  Now there is no sensor light on one side and I'm stuck in the garage.

Of course I could use the cord again but the last time I exhausted myself trying to get the door to connect at the top and had to call my loyal neighbor.  I was frightened of having a stroke due to frustration and over-exertion and don't want to take a chance again.

I called the the company and left a message but don't know when they can get here to fix it.  God forbid there's an emergency where I need to leave immediately.

If that isn't inconvenience enough, my septic tank needs to be emptied and cannot flush the toilets; or rather they won't flush out.  So that causes yet another major inconvenience and make-do situation.  The septic tank was emptied 1 year 2 months ago, way too early to require another empty with just one resident.  Usually a family of 4 would only need to have the tank emptied every 2-3 years.

And, of course can't do laundry.  I do take showers and wash dishes by hand as those don't require a machine full of water going thru the pipes.  Have also called the septic removal company and they can't come until next Friday the 17th.  Unless the snow melts by then they will have to go thru the snow before getting to the tank lid.  So another annoyance with humiliating conditions will last several more days.  

To keep my calm I say to myself "this too shall pass".  And think of this nuisance as how my paternal grandparents lived so certainly I can survive a week or more. 

Time for me to settle back and pull a few more loops so there will be more animals to share in my next post.

Saundra

NEW YEAR NEW OLD RUG SHOW

The first antique rug show of 2025 and will start off with a tree shaped flower in a pot.  Hooked 19th century and measures 35 x 42.

An owl on a limb with what seems to be initials in the flowers in the four corners.  No date was provided.

A basket of flowers dated 19th century, 30 x 46.5.

I love this rug with carriage horses but have no other info sadly.

An oval shaggy rug with tongues.

The backside of that rug.

Roosters and tulips, no date but it measures 18 x 36.

A soiled but attractive dog and cat rug.  Don't have a date but it measures 25 x 57.  I'd really rather have a date, lol.

Sure wish I had access to dates rugs are hooked to ensure they are in public domain to reproduce.  I like this horse rug below with the geometric corner.   It appears the hooker was going for a duplicate of the right side but ran out of sky color so used what was available to finish the job.

Birds, deer and lollipop flower center with busy hit and miss background.

Just can't end with the busy rug so here is a 1910 horse hooked with what I think is crochet.  

Take a look at the view below and see if it is crochet which was used to hook it.  See the dainty scalloped edge?  Sure looks like crochet to me.

Received my bolt of linen yesterday so will get busy drawing a pattern for someone and get it in the mail today before new snow arrives this evening on top of what is already STILL here.

Saundra

I'VE ONLY JUST BEGUN

In full disclosure, my new project is another long one so I will be showing only one motif.  Don't want to give the entire pattern away right off the bat as it is more interesting anticipating what is next.  It is another antique adaptation and am as excited to work on this one as I was Animal Parade. 

Temperatures remain below freezing so my backup propane heat has been working overtime to keep the house warm.  Last Friday I called for a tank refill and the company's delivery in Seaford is Tuesdays.  By 4 p.m. yesterday the truck hadn't arrived so I called to inquire.  Due to the weather (understandable) the truck will refill my tank sometime today.

Also, a UPS delivery has been delayed and am sure my bolt of linen will succumb to the same situation.  Saturday's upcoming storm isn't looking good for this area either.  But at least we're not seeing the devastating wild fires California is experiencing right now.  God bless them and keep them out of harm's way.

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

www.facebook.com/woodlandjunctionHookedRugs

WINTER SNOW

That predicted white stuff is here.  At 10:30 this morning the local news said Seaford had 5" accumulation.  It is still snowing and said to not stop until after midnight tonight.  

There has been another weather update with increased snow levels expected.  Notice I am now in the 7-14" area and already the local radio station says Seaford already has 5".  That from the state highway spokesperson.  Wouldn't be surprised at all if there is another update later today.

Here are a few snapshots I took this morning around 8 a.m.  You can see the collection of snow on top of my birdbath on the left side.  Saturday I went out to place my orange yard markers along the driveway and along the road out front.  Tomorrow I'm supposed to get a delivery of propane and will assist the driver to see where my driveway is.  And, for those who may be kind enough to clear my driveway will be a guide for them.

Should have thought ahead and put out all my bird feeders as I'll probably have to trek thru the snow to put up more food for my feathered friends.

During freezing rain or snowfall, I place a stick along one corner of my recycle and trash containers so they won't freeze shut.

I did venture out to put up an additional birdfeeder and refill one already there.  The snow I walked thru was up to mid-calf and still snowing.  When I returned inside noticed a very kind neighbor was snow blowing my driveway. 

Am planning to hunker down and pull some loops on my next wonderful primitive project.  Nothing to show here now but will in a day or two.  Stay home, stay warm and cuddle up to enjoy whatever craft or book you enjoy.

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

www.facebook.com/WoodlandJunctionHookedRugs