What's New..... (Updated with a p.s.)

What does this container of neutral worms.....

This blank linen.....

....well it's blank on one side but the other side was once a pattern I'd drawn of The Cousins now cut in half.  

and this scanned page from an old magazine issue have in common?

They all relate to my new project, a Cats Paw design you see on the table in the photo above.  After turning the page my eyes went straight to that rug  ~ no, there wasn't a pattern for it in the magazine so drew up my own.  After  seeing the cats paw design I knew it had to be next on my frame.

Windy Day isn't done yet but wanted to start a second project so I've something to show on my blog without being repetitive and boring.  Does anyone wish to join me?  It isn't difficult to draw circles and the more wonky the better.  So if you'd  like to join me pull out a piece of linen any size to hook a chair pad, small mat or more sizable rug.  Mine measures 15 x 24 using up half The Cousins pattern.

Those worms didn't need to be gathered as they were already sitting on my cutting table as they hadn't been separated and put away.

Hope this blog post catches each of you feeling well.  

Saundra

     p.s.  After publishing this post I received this email from Pat Cross:
                         "Cats Paw - the magazine that picture came from is OLD!!  It's the picture that gave me the idea for "Antique Pennies" that's in my first book.  I hooked my version 20+ years ago.  Can't wait to see yours!  Be safe....Pat"

The book Pat is referring to (she has 2 books) is Purely Primitive.  Here is a picture of the book in case you have it on your shelf or if you'd like to purchase one from Amazon.

Hope all is well with my friends, and happy hooking.

Saundra
www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

Cape May Rug Show #1

Went to take photos of the rugs in the show and my camera battery was dead.  I ran the battery down the night before walking thru the Chalfonte taking photos hoping to capture orbs.  So plugged in my battery for a quick charge and took photos of selected rugs to make good use of battery life.

 Above is a rug hooked and designed by my teacher Cammie Bruce named Americana Stars.  You should see the "wow" on the border in person.  

 Above is a rug named Askew which is a design by Pat Cross and hooked by Lois Hilliard.

My friend Deb hooked this Autumn Hook-Along using motifs offered by Lori Brechlin on the Facebook group Out of Hand Rughookers. 

Doesn't the above rug look like the ends of logs?  It should because it was hooked by using a photo my friend Char took with her camera behind an Adirondack logging truck.   Sadly I didn't snap a picture of her photograph which accompanied the rug.

Above left is a design by Lori Brechlin and offered by Spruce Ridge Studios called Do Goode, Be Nice hooked by me last year with Kris Miller.  On the right is a design by Karla Gerard called Bloomin' Sheep and hooked by Rebecca Erb.

Bessie and Tessie is an antique adaptation by Lucille Festa.

Birthday Lion, above was hooked by my friend Evelyn Lawrence and is a design by Bill Laraway.  I still  haven't finished mine yet but will get back to it soon.

The Christmas Tree Pickup is rather obliterated for the designer and hooker's name.  

 

Crow Song, above, is a design by American Country Rugs and was hooked by Wini Kinkele

 Alex Mathiasen hooked Dorset Flowers which is another design offered by American Country Rugs.

Kathy Graybill designed this Edward Hicks adaptation and was hooked by Joanne Gerwig.

This was the first class I've taken with Cammie and it was a delightful class.  I don't want to give all the secrets away but will mention the first class she gave showed different ways to bind rugs, some of which I was not familiar with.  Then there was the other class which still makes me smile as I reflect back on it.  If you have never had a class with Cammie you will surely enjoy the journey with her.

Tomorrow I will showcase more hooked rugs.  Happy wonderful fall day everyone.

Saundra

Hooked Items without a Birth Date

Sorry for the brief detours now I'm back to bore you with more rugs and other items I've hooked.  

There are two rugs where the date had been lost in time.  One is a kit purchased from ebay and a design by Pat Cross.  Not sure of the timeline but it must have been between 2002 and 2003 while still dipping my toes in the water of rug hooking and not having much wool stash.

The person had hooked a couple circles, started a star and hooked a little background.  Guess she decided rug hooking was not for her. Some great wide cut wool and a great design was received...me thinks it may have been a kit from  Pat Cross herself.  Although it is a basic two color rug I find it enjoyable to see when walking into the sewing room and wool room.  

This a pattern in one of Pat's books Called Purely Primitive.  Just pulled mine off the shelf and there is a host of wonderful designs to draw on your own and hook.  

The other rug in question NOW has a birth date.  I was determined to research to find out when this was hooked.  Knowing that I'd kept the wool from the kit thought that might lead me to the date. 

Here is the catalog from which the pattern was ordered.  AH HA!  2003.

So now I plan to enjoy and use those colors stashed for what reason??   Why not use them?  I've been guilty of saving favorite wool colors, aromatic soaps..for a special occasion?.  Will definitely use them NOW.

I'd planned much more for my blog post but got carried away with research.  PLUS cleaning the porch in this heat and humidity used up a lot of my time.  

Chat with ya tomorrow and hope you enjoy the post more than today.

Saundra

Checking Out the Border

Thought that before any more of the gold border is hooked I should see what it looks like on my monitor.  The last couple times showing Ned may have neglected to say it was a pattern by Woolley Fox.

Think I'll set Ned aside for the evening and hook some background on my grandson's rug while I look at Ned.  There are a few areas which are bothering me; well, maybe those areas would be those triangles on each end.

My initial thought was to have the middle on each side the same and have the four corners different.  So I chose the blue for the right bottom to balance the blue strips representing Ned's mane.  Then top righ used the grey faint stripe of the butterfly and flower.  

Hmm, BUT... if I put the grey faint stripe on the left bottom corner it is too close to the butterfly and flower and not sure if I'd like that color on the top left directly across from the other corner color.

Am pondering putting the blue in the four corners and keeping the green/purple plaid in the middle.  Or put blue in all 6 triangle shapes.

Me thinks working on my grandson's rug for the evening is a good thing.

OH!!!!!!!  In yesterday's mail I received the fall issue of Primitive Quilts and Projects.  And this beautiful crow is one of the patterns, a design by Pat Cross.  Well you know it will soon be on my frame since it is a crow. And Walter is a mighty handsome specimen indeed.

Accomplished a lot today doing things not enjoyable:  pulling weeds, cutting grass with push mower and riding mower, trimming limbs and bushes (still LOTS more to do), cleaning out fish pond filters, filling bird feeders.  But hey, as an adult and homeowner it isn't always cake and ice cream is it?

But tomorrow I can have a free day to do as I please.  Hope you enjoy your evening and hope tomorrow is a happy one for each of you.

Saundra

Narrow Cut? OR Wide Cut?

Which cut are you?  I'm definitely a wide cut as that is what inspired me to learn to hook rugs.  While perusing the issues of Country Living magazine or Early American Life would see those wonderful primitive wide cut rugs on harvest tables, in front of the hearth, on the floor and chests and knew I wanted one.  Knowing I'd not be able to afford  an antique rug decided to learn to hook myself.

Boy what a can of worms I opened then.  Had no stash of wool, no cutter or frame or any of the other tools and now think I own enough to open up my own shop.   Anyway.....

My very first project at home was a hooked mitten in a book by Kindred Spirits and it was horrible.  Sure wish I still had it but gave it away to someone who was just learning and we were to swap our first projects. Ha!  She got mine and I didn't get hers.

So the next project hooked at home before a class was this design by Pat Cross called Penny Crow in her Purely Primitive book.  The minimally hooked rug kit was sold on ebay and since the #8 cut wool strips came with it I purchased it.

Then my journey to rug camps started but my love of wide cut has always remained so continued hooking in #8 (now my go to strip is #8.5).  

After some healing time, decided to hook a profile of my two departed Rottweilers Shumba and Panzer.  Luckily Jon Ciemiewicz was teaching a class nearby and enrolled with the intent of hooking my Rotties.  As Jon is a narrow cut hooker decided to buck up and give it a try.  

They were hooked in #3 and the background I refused to do any more narrow than #5.  Naturally there was much more to hook when I came home and I got lazy with the narrow cut.  

Yes, it looks like they are painted and can see the yellow in the teeth, the change of color in the gums, shine on the nose, etc.  AND....If you look carefully at my boy Panzer in the back you will see my laziness and didn't follow the flow of his coat just under Shadow's chin.  I hooked that area straight up and down to get the job done and to hell with the curve of the body.  That I regret as my boy deserved better.  But learned that narrow cut is not for me.  

Here is the photo from which this piece was designed.

One thing I am proud of with this hooked piece is their own hair which I had spun onto a thin wool piece is hooked into each of their necks.  A very special friend Lesley Covney (now departed) spun each of their hair onto a thin core of roving.  You can see the dark brown fuzz between the black and tan of the neck.  That is the hair of my dogs.

SOOOOO, just as soon as this rug was hung on my wall decided to draw out another rug and hook my departed pets in a wide cut just to see that it can be done.  Okey dokey.  So here are two whole dogs only 12" tall hooked in #8.  So don't tell me that you can't get detail in a wide cut.  Oh, and yes, my boy Panzer sat like a girl, just like my Ben boy does.  

So when my girl Shadow and I would take walks we (I) would discuss how she was a wide cut girl.  And so she was.  Shadow is hooked in #8.

Here is a photo of her when she was twisting her head when I'd talk to her.  

OMG she would make me laugh out lof course you know that Ben will be hooked in ....most likely #8.5. Hey, he is a MANLY boy ~ okay, so he sits like a girl.  By not you must know that I will hook my boy in a wide cut and hopefully before he leaves me.  So that is a rug in my near future so he and I can discuss it, lol.

At least I know my comfort zone with strip size and realize that I am and always have been a wide cut hooker.  So experiment, and do want makes you happy.  There is no shame in being a wide cut hooker ~ yup, know that now.

Tomorrow my boy Ben goes to have a spot removed from his belly.  I'll probably have a sleepless night as if it was me having that done to myself.  Yet am hopeful for the results based on what the vet told me last week.  

Have a great evening everyone one.  

Saundra