ISOMETRIC EXERCISE

My isometric exercises have been using my lopper.  On Friday there was nice weather, the trash container had been emptied of the previous load of Wisteria vine so was time to fill it up again.  Think this is my 6th container fill  and many more to go unfortunately.  Some twinned vine is too thick for me to cut up with the lopper and will ask a neighbor to cut those.  But first want to remove what I can manage so there's no need to ask him back again.

Was surprised at the thickness of the runners underground.  And wonder how many more runners there are which I don't see?

In the picture below I tried to pull the threadlike roots from the earth so this section of the main root could be cut out.  Didn't happen Friday so will try again.  Could have snipped the little roots off but they would have just propagated again.

These small trunks protruding from the ground are more wisteria.  

The wisteria didn't reside here before me.  It wasn't from a tree I purchased, but rather a small section I snapped off along the road somewhere because I thought the hanging blooms were beautiful.  

By the way, the photo below is not the clump of gorgeous blooms from my wisteria but one I found on line and what I saw along the road that inspired me to take a clipping.  My wisteria had a couple blooms over the years but it was the twinning vine that became more established.

That clipping would have easily fit in a 4" pot.  But look at the havoc it created for me in what seemed a short time yet it has been a very slow process trying to remove it.  Gardener Beware.

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

DEER UPDATE

It has been a few days since I posted an update on the deer rug which is  slowly making it's way toward the finish line.  Keeping me motivated to complete it, instead of setting it aside, is the eagle rug waiting in the wings.

Yesterday was my dental appointment but all the Dr. did was take photos and x-ray said tooth.  He was fully booked so scheduled the crown work to begin in 2 weeks.  Since the nerve is dead there is no pain.  But if I'm not careful that old tooth with a huge filling could crack more.

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

JUST A RUG SHOW

As I've mentioned, my next project is planned and drawn.  But my viewing of old rugs continues and I like to share.  Just discovered this morning is this beautiful rug and the wording tells the story.   Was hooked for Mrs. Aulenbach by Mrs. Hughes and hooked 1888.  According to the auction house some repairs had been made to preserve it and must say they did an outstanding job.  It measures 32 x 66.

Pembroke 1937 and 2 locations are hooked in the rug ~ the RR number 5, and their home on McGee Street.  If this jewel was hooked by my mother, aunt or other family member I'd still have it.  I think this is also a Canadian hooked rug and measures a whopping 58 x 64.

This primitive floral is definitely safe to copy as it is said to be hooked in the 1920's.  If the center is too boring you could always put something in the center, like your last name, Welcome, a bird or bees  just a thought.

Below is a Shaker rug.  Sadly the whole view wasn't available but I like it and could always just duplicate what is on the left to the right side.

Another Shaker rug but this has a horse and think it would be a fun 'plus one' in a couple months.  It was hooked around the 1840's according to the auction house.

Not a hooked rug but would make a very nice one, is this "Sunset" art work by Charles Pendergast made between 1914-1916.

Someone wanted a rug and drew a weathervane style horse, and with limited available colors hooked it in what she had.  Hooked 19th century and measures 28 x 42.

Weatherman said there might be frost on the windshields tomorrow morning for those who leave cars out.  But is supposed to get sunny later in the day.  Guess no tree work will be for me tomorrow as I've a dental appointment to have this cracked tooth looked at.  

AHHH, Lauren, that's what I meant about something else being cracked 😂.  Hope your binding tutorial went well today and you can cross another task off your to do list.

Happy hooking.

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

RAINY DAYS and MONDAYS

Back in the day when I had a day job it was bad enough when it was a Monday.  But when it was a rainy day and Monday that was the pits.  Now that I'm retired it is only a minor inconvenience.  Yet am sure the farmers are happy to have it right now and the flowers will too.

So this rainy morning I called my dentist and made an appointment for Thursday to take care of a cracked tooth that occurred Saturday night while crunching down on a  hard sourdough pretzel.  Which means there will be yet another crown in my mouth.  With all the crowns I have guess that makes me royalty 😄.

Also called my bank and requested they discontinue having taxes taken out of my IRA distribution.  Heck, I may as well have that money for months getting interest vs. the government using it.

And the most fun part was reconnecting with an old friend from Cape May ...Linda Woodbury, who is on the left side.  She moved to NC and I wasn't sure of her email but tried her old email which was still valid.  Linda says she has joined lots of active groups in NC and no longer hooks but does wool applique and is quite happy living there.  Linda ran a good camp at Cape May and is sorely missed.

Well that and hooking a little filled my day and the rain was a good excuse to not work in the yard.  But the Wisteria vine in my trash dumpster will be picked up Wednesday morning and that task will start all over again.

Happy hooking, knitting, stitching or, appliqueing.

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

THE CRYSTAL BALL

If I was to look into my crystal ball at this very second, the center part of this antique triptych rug would be on my frame next.

In 2021 I hooked the Shield section of the rug to display during Patriotic holidays.  Hmm, me thinks that bold white definitely needs to be dirtied up a tad.

This time my sights are focused on the Eagle.  Perhaps since it is already drawn on linen it will really happen.  But then I've been known to change my mind even before wool is gathered.  However, I'm not quite halfway thru the deer rug so still days/weeks away from a finish.

In other boring personal news: 

Tuesday had my taxes done and I'm getting $700+ from the Feds and $300+ from the state.  Which means they've had that money for months when I could have had it.  So now I need to contact my bank and tell them to stop withholding taxes from my IRA distributions. 

Thursday was quite warm outside so whittled away at the Wisteria vines again.   So far I've filled the trash container 5 times and there's more vine left to dispose of.  Some vine is too thick for me to lop off so will eventually need to ask my neighbor if he can use his chain saw to cut those in sections for me.

Friday I had two new tires and front end alignment on my 2003 vehicle so all is good there after $415 spent.  But as that old saying goes ..."all dressed up and no place to go".

Sneezing anyone?  There must be a lot of pollen blowing around with these high winds as I've been sneezing constantly.  Did not realize the sinuses could create so much mucus.  Oh, is that TMI? 😑

Hope your weekend is wonderful and your rug hooking project makes you happy. 

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

TWO TORSOS UPDATE

This rug was started the first week of March and not quite halfway through.  Now that I've drawn a new pattern for my next project, I'm sorta anxious to finish this.  No, I won't be a wuss and put it away, I'll just suffer through 😞.

At least Ezra's Farm is available as a 'plus one' if I get really bored.  You're probably wondering ...'so why didn't you choose that other next rug to hook instead of this one?'  My answer ~ "because I'm fickle and at that time this one seemed appealing."  

This is a nice design; but perhaps Animals Great and Small was so much fun that this was a let-down.  So in that case, wonder if my next one will be a bummer too.  Or, maybe I've just lost my mojo.  

Hope you are happily hooking.

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

OLD RUG PARADE

Let's take a look at some old rugs and make plans for a future project.  

A primitive hooked pup with leaf corners for a quickie little mat.

Perhaps hooking a rug for a family of a WWII veteran who fought ~ this rug with V, obviously stands for Victory in 1944.  Dimensions of this old rug is 39 x 46.

A Waldoboro floral dated between 1840-50.   I won't be doing this one but there probably some fancy floral folks out there who would.

This isn't my cup of tea either, but it has everything...animals, birds, pots and flowers.  But thought I'd share this garden of chaos with you.

Am always looking for rugs that can benefit from our every growing collection of wooly worms.  Here's one that has a mellowed look to it and I find it more to my liking than the rug above.

While I have no date on this cats and floral rug you can see it is definitely an oldie.  Click on it to enlarge and enjoy it's beauty.

A lovely rug of an eagle with shield and 2 stars.  It has fringe around the perimeter.  I'm considering hooking another magnificent eagle rug but don't think this one will be it.  I've a few others in my files.

Maple sugaring in Vermont, no date or dimensions.  So glad that the white stuff falling on the ground date is behind me now.  Think spring really is close at hand. 

Sorry it is such a pitiful rug posting, and believe it or not I only save those rug photos which appeal to me slightly, lol.

Happy hooking and can't wait for Lauren (Rugs and Pugs) to get her butt home and do a post of her progress and rug show photos before she turns around and does it all over again.

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

BOUND and LABELED

As you have probably noticed, I don't have a permanent style of binding my rugs.  Each seems to be different and show me what it wants.  Actually, the purpose of binding a rug was intended to protect the edge of the foundation from fraying.  Animals Great and Small appeared to need a whipped edge.  The wool yarn chosen was one by Ali Strebel which had all similar colors that appeared in the rug.  Ali will special dye wool for you if you send a photo of your rug or colors to be in your rug.

It is nice to display the rug in my living room where I can see it every day.  It will be on the floor as there is no more room on my walls in there right now unless something else comes down.  But it is nice to see it completed and visible every day.

As you can see I cannot get a straight photo, ever, and it is always the right side that droops.  Guess it drops when using the right hand to push the button.

Below is a photo of the label, which has a photo of the original antique rug.  You can also see the colors of the wool better in this photo.  Notice too, the back of the rug and spacing between rows.  In a previous post I mentioned hooking 4 holes away from the previous row.  Depending on other variables it could be 3 spaces.

Although the purpose of binding a rug is to protect the edge from fraying, some folks choose to add a cotton binding just above the whipped edge too.  Why?  Heck, I hate binding to begin with so why would I overkill the protection and the task?  Anyway, just my thoughts on that topic.

Happy hooking and back to the Deer rug I'm working on.

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

RUG HOOKING UPDATES

The Deer Torsos rug has a few more loops than last posted.  Perhaps I should have used the other camera as this is showing up too dark and not what it looks like in person.   Yet the other camera showed it as lighter in person so why bother?

Thankfully today's binding during The Five completed the binding part so now it needs the label sewn on and steamed again.  Then I will show you the finished piece before it finds it's home in my living room.

Also have decided what my next rug will be and even enlarged the pattern.  I would have put it on linen in the afternoon but didn't have a pre-cut and serged piece of linen to fit.  Probably a good thing since I'm so fickle and in reality could still change my mind before it gets drawn.

Happy hooking.

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

RUG SHOW

 A soiled but sweet primitive cat, 38 x 38.

This brown horse rug doesn't have a date either but you can see by the way it is worn it has some age.  Dimensions are 25 x 41.

A geometric with central star and scallops.  Some may refer to those shapes a tongues, shell or maybe even swag shapes.

An oval in rectangle given a date of 1930.

This floral below is dated between 1860-1870 and measures 32 x 53.

Sadly there's no information to share about this double baskets of flowers rug.

Black horse (19.5 x 25.5) hooked early 20th century.

This rug with blocks of animals was hooked early 20th century and I like it.  Size is 36 x 40.5.

More cats cats said to be hooked between 1870-1890.  You've probably seen it before somewhere.  Dimensions are 33.5 x 53.5.

I'm not so crazy about this next rug but it was hooked late 19th century with cotton and rags.  Puts a different spin on hit and miss and using up left over textiles tho.

And the final rug photo which I wish had been taken straight on vs. at an angle.   I like this deer and house rug which was dated between 1880-1910.  If it was a straighter photo I might be interested in hooking it but this would be a nightmare to draw out because of the angle.

Back to pulling loops on my own deer rug now y'all.  Happy hooking.

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

QUESTIONS FROM A FOLLOWER

Those questions were: what size cut of wool and what size hook do I use?  The other was, do I skip every other hole and row?  Thank you, Colleen, for the questions and hope to satisfactorily answer them for you.

My go to cut is #8.5 but any given pattern I’ll mix sizes when and where needed.  That said I have also hooked a couple narrow cut mats in #3 cut but don't plan to do another as that cut is not for me.  I have used wider cuts and even hand torn, but you'd usually find me using #8.5.

The Hartman thick shank is my favorite hook and the one I use most and have a few in case one goes missing.  Occasionally when doing a narrow cut outline I'll use a more narrow shank with a less sharp point, and you can see I still have my very first hook, a Moshimer.   

As for spacing of holes there are a lot of variables.  I hook on primitive linen which accommodates wide strips.  Spacing is also determined by thickness and size of wool strip and whether hooking straight down the row hooking or curvature.  When I hook in a straight line I usually skip two holes from the last loop then pull a loop.  

In this photo below I'm about to go around the curve so you can see I pushed my shank in a hole to open it up if I was to hook straight.  Since I'm working around a curve I would count two holes and the third count would be to the left of that hole making it closer to the motif and more rounded.  OR, perhaps it would be more eye appealing if the count was diagonal spaces toward the curvature instead of the 1, 2, shift on the 3rd.

As to how many holes away from the last row ~ usually four rows .  BUT, again that is dependent on whether the wool is a thin flimsy wool, fulled wool, narrow cut, etc.  Could be that only 3 spaces away would work better in that scenario. 

I remember an early class Bev Conway telling us that the top of the loop should look rounded, not squished flat, so the light can pick up the color.  And you should see an opening in the loop.  This photo below is a very poor shot and hard to see an opening on the dark wool.  But just inside you can see the rounded loops of the lighter colored wool (an #8 cut) for the vine lines.  If you click on the photo it will enlarge.

FYI, that #8 wool strip was hooked skipping the same amount of holes as the #8.5.  Sometimes when pulling up a loop it may not look just right so reduce the number of holes or move over another hole.  Direction hooking, composition of the wool and size all influence how it looks.  Your eye will decide....hook on and have fun.

Hopefully I've answer your questions but if anyone has something they'd like my input on please reach out in the EMAIL ME section on my blog.  

Happy hooking.  

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

AH! MORNING SHOWER and COFFEE

Oh boy this morning shower was wonderful after not getting one yesterday with no electricity.  And a treat to have coffee this morning while doing my thing on the computer.  Already looks like it's going to be a delightful day.

Now to my accomplishments ... make that lack of, or at least a snail's pace when it comes to binding Animals Great and Small.  Hooking this rug was a joy with every loop pulled.  Binding is another matter and in order to completely finish the rug am only willing to allot an hour a day (during The Five TV news show) to work on that task.  So basically only two sides are done ~ one long side and a short side.  Will bind again today during The Five with a glass of wine to ease the drudgery. 

The new rug on my frame might endure set-back but will wait and see.  This first photo shows the flowers too dark and not how it looks in person.  

Another photo taken from a different camera, again not what the dang rug looks like in person.  But at least you can see there are flowers and buds.

This is the wool used and a piece I'd considered ugly before, but thought it might do the job for the big flowers and the buds.  Once again not depicting the true colors.  Will hook a little more and finally decide the fate of the flowers.

Yesterday the wind was still howling and local news said the sustained winds were 45mph.  While I did get most of the mess cleaned up around my deck, it was scary being outside with strong winds with me under and around trees.  Couldn't wait to get back safely inside.

Saundra
www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

WHAT A WAY TO START A DAY

Yesterday brought heavy hard rain and forceful winds all day up to 50mph with higher gusts.  While hooking I heard a THUMP so knew a limb had fallen onto my deck.  And thankfully power was still on when I went to bed.

But at dark O'clock when I woke to go to the bathroom it was pitch black and had to feel my way there.  Had no idea what time it was.  Then daylight came and still didn't know what time it was as there was no working clock and my iPad was in the kitchen.

Got out of bed, checked the iPad and it was 6:40 am.  Couldn't take a shower, no hot water.  Couldn't make coffee, no water and no electric.  The house was getting chilly but it usually is when I wake up until the heat is increased.  Finally about 9 am the power came on and could eat my oatmeal but missed my morning coffee in tandem with the internet fix.  In checking the thermostat the temp in the house was 59* so turned up the heat.

And my task today is to remove these limbs and those others around the yard.

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com 

WHAT I'M WORKING ON

Some of you may wonder which rug was chosen as my next project.  This choice may shock you, as it did two of my gal pals.  I decided to do something a little different than another horse rug, although they are my favorite animal to hook.  Deer Torsos was my pick ~ below is the antique and will show you my progress in a couple days.

Before drawing the deer pattern on linen I did start my 'plus one' since I couldn't decide what to hook.  It happens to be the same design Lauren (Rugs and Pugs) is working on.  And this is all that was accomplished on Ezra's Farm before making that decision on the deer ~ yup, a horse.

Today I'll resume my slow binding of AG&S during The Five news show. I took the weekend off from binding, hey, don't want to overdo it 😁.   Friend Robin (Cranky Crow) and I have shared long distance bind-a-longs at that time and as you can see I've still quite a lot more to do.  Perhaps if Lauren gets Ezra's Farm completely hooked today she will join us.

Happy hooking ~ or happy binding.

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com