HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Enjoy all those ghosts and goblins who drop by tonight.  I remember as a kid there was a neighbor woman who used to make pop corn balls; my brother and I used to love them more than the purchased candy people gave out.

Here is the rug I recently designed which is called Mache' Jack-O-Lanterns and guess it will be replaced with something else tomorrow.

This is the Jack I hooked last year and was a free pattern insert in a 1998 Oct/Nov issue of Rug Hooking Magazine.  The design was by Barb Carroll of Woolley Fox.

As I was a lucky winner of a free kit from Maria Barton (Star Rug Company), I also hooked this cute Duluth Pumpkin.  Love those buttons Maria sent with the kit as eyes.

This small piece was designed and hooked by Tonya Robey (Mad Hen) and I've several of her designs that I've purchased on ebay in the past.

Another item made by Tonya and it hangs in my sewing room 24-7.

When I did shows the witch below was one that was quite popular.  I may still have one in my containers from the last of my shows.  I should probably list my dolls on ebay.  Heck, it is almost Christmas perhaps I need to take pictures of some of my things and post the prices on my blog.

Have a great weekend everyone.

 

Saundra

There's Something Abojut a Lion

The King of the jungle ~ the lion, in rug form that is, has always intrigued me.  Matter of fact I've hooked 4 different lion rugs which I'll show further down in the post.  Three were someone else's designs and one is my adaptation which I offer as a pattern.  But first I'll show you some antique lion rugs which interest me.  This one is gorgeous!

A gorgeous antique lion rug hooked in 1880.

A lion with delightful background; or at least I enjoy looking at this multi-colored style and hooking it is more fun too.

The following lion has a human-looking face.

This is a new lion rug I recently found on the internet, and while the photo isn't all that great what I see is still wonderful.

Here is a wool and cotton hooked lion which has a very nice body shape.

A very primitive lion and don't think I'd have realized it was a lion had the word not been spelled out.

Below, this lion rug is bound with denim, according to the info I obtained from an antique site.

I'm sure there are many more lion rugs I've saved in various flash drives or folders on my computer but think you are almost on lion overload for now and I'm not even done.  The very first lion I hooked was a design by Bev Conway called Rufus.  I really need to take another and better picture one day.

The second lion I hooked was a whimsical design by Tonya of Mad Hen.  And somewhere in my stash I've another one of her lions under a tree.

Then my friend Evelyn gave me a design she had in her stash which is an adaptation of an antique rug.  I hooked it in a Barb Carroll class.

This is the original antique rug from which the design was drawn.

So then I wanted to hook another lion adaptation and pulled the elements I liked best from two particular antique hooked rugs ~ this is my adaptation of Lion in the Woods.

Here is one of the two rugs from which I picked the elements.  The other was a picture in a book and don't have a pic of it on my computer.

Here are other versions of the same basic design some appear more recently hooked.

 

Have a great weekend everyone.

Saundra

Original Artist Pieces I Own

There are several rug hooking artists whom I admire.  One such person is Tonya Robey of Mad Hen.  I am fortunate enough to have purchased some of her original pieces on e-bay ~ well, before being divorced from and when I had more cash flow.  I cannot remember which one I purchased first so will just post pictures of the ones I have in my collection and which are displayed at all times in my  humble home.  This one is in the computer room in front of a chair which has the same color blue.

This hooked heart pillow and foot stool was also offered on e-bay by Tonya and snapped that up too.  This is also in the computer room.  And, in case you are wondering, the hooked face bag holds some rug hooking equipment (hooks, gripper cleaner, sharpie pen, etc.  Since I make dolls the other side has a black face hooked on it and has a zipper closure.  I made two and sold one.

And this one was offered before Halloween one year and wanted a little something to put out for the occasion.

In the same room and to my right is a painting done by Tonya, after my ex left me, moved out, and the tension was no longer there, this painting spoke volumes to me.  Don't know if you can see the words or not, but it says, "Free to be Me".  The picture is hanging straight on my wall, I just didn't take a very good picture.

This is a cute piece which is on the school marm's desk in my kitchen and just may have been the first piece I purchased.

Seems to me that I recall Tonya saying the two crows piece was designed as a beginner kit for a class she was teaching.  Notice how she must have dyed the wool which is used to bind the piece as the colors blend in so nicely.

Was lucky to be able to get this one too, this piece resides in the office on top of a credenza, the office was my ex's office but is now mine.  And hanging on the wall is a design of Mad Hen's called Fat Dog, which I have shown you previously in another post at some point.

Almost forgot about this next one, this one is in the living room beside the love seat.  Dang, not only did the flash wash out the nice colors, but I see there is a piece of my wool on it.

Not only do I have these originals hooked by Tonya, but I was one of the lucky people who was given a design of hers to hook for one of her Inspirations, booklets.  Boy that was wonderful to be given her design for free, she provided the wool, I sent it back to be photographed for her book and she sent it back to me to keep.  Definitely a WIN WIN situation there for sure.  She didn't have any restrictions on color choices except she did say she wanted the dark for the sky.

Tonya presently has one of her originals on e-bay for sale and wish that I could afford to buy yet another original.  And guess it is foolish of me to advertise it to everyone who reads my blog because now it will surely be unaffordable for me to purchase it.  


OOPS, I am editing my post because while walking thru the house noticed one that I'd forgotten to  mention and show a picture of...... also got lucky buying this one on e-bay.  Love this rug a LOT.  

I have one of her kits still to hook (A Day in the Country) and with having the wool all ready don't know why I haven't pulled it out to hook it up ~ no muss, no fuss, but it is still waiting for me.  And, I still have several of her patterns on hairless linen to hook one day.  Too many rugs and not enough time.

Thanks for stopping by.

Little Bella's Update

Bella has been here 9 days now.  I wanted to give you an update 4 days ago on Monday but have had to jump a lot of hurdles since then, including finally shipping one of the two Edward Tulane rabbits I had orders for (again).  So have been to the shippers and one is on its way to Illinois.

Oh but it has been a challenge this week with a new pup and the A/C going off during a weekend and I refused to pay the exorbitant cost for an emergency call.  So I turned on all the ceiling fans in the house and brought the oscillating fan down from the attic.  But night time sleeping was a little uncomfortable but thank gawd this past weekend temps weren't the ones in the 3 digits as we'd experienced the week prior.

Since Bella was new and wanting to crate train her she had been sleeping in the crate all night until Sunday night.  Since it was to be really really warm in the room I turned on the ceiling fan, and had the oscillating fan mostly directed in the direction of her crate and two (yes, 2) beds outside the crate.  Hey, my girl must have her choice of memory foam or fluff.  And decided to let her sleep outside the crate so she could go in if she wanted (door remained open) and at least she would have access to water in case she wanted to hydrate herself.

Well she was a perfect roommate, no accidents or other incidents and she has been sleeping outside the crate since.  I'm happy she is getting more freedom.  Of course I don't totally trust her for 1-2 hours alone while I run errands yet for fear of the separation anxiety.

So we did get the A/C back in operation on Monday afternoon and it was like heaven in the house later. 

When Terry of Majesty Rottweiler Rescue was here she suggested I elevate the bowls to ensure her stomach didn't flip by too much water, too much food, too much play, which I guess with any combination of the 3 could or has caused the problem.  I've never had a dog with that situation but didn't want to start now either.  So I went out and found something suitable to elevate her bowls.

You can see that my little girl still needs to put on weight and you can readily see the eye which had the entropian surgery as she is sleeping by my side in the computer room.  I'm hoping that with time the hair will grow back and eye will take shape again.  Naturally I will love her even if it doesn't, but you know how we girls are sensitive about our appearance.

Lovin' my little girl and think she and I will embark on the trek to the mail box to retrieve mail since it is relatively  mild outside albeit somewhat humid.  I'll carry some water with me in case she gets panting.

Oh, in the picture above to the left is a stool with a hooked top which I purchased from Mad Hen (Tonya Robey) and the stool to the right is an antique one but the hooked design was the design which came with the dye recipe box and samples.  I figured that since I keep my dyes out of sight I may as well enjoy the design where I can see it every day.