MY CAMP RUG

Lucille Festa was my teacher and don't know how she managed to have it 'all together' when she arrived.  She had just attended ATHA, then 400 miles away from home her vehicle broke down with transmission problems.  Yet she managed to eventually get home, restock her supply of wool, turn around and drive from Vermont to our class in Cape May, NJ.  Heck, I was feeling like a zombie after just 5 days of fun so she must be a superwoman.

What surprised me was the various wool Lucille chose for the dog from my stash ~ colors I'd never be brave enough to mix together, but she did and I like it.    Here's what the rug looks like and I'm quite happy. 

For those of you who read my blog, you saw this photo of odd and narrow pieces of wool pinned to a ring.  For the basket she picked that stripe piece which I think was a part of a poncho or some clothing I'd picked up somewhere.

The bottom plaid was another appearing in the dog which was surprising also since it has specks of shiny threads, also a piece of clothing which appears in the underbelly and part of a leg.  Below is another shot of the dog wool, basket and the ugly.  The other wool  missing in the photo is Rebecca Erb's Black Jack (Reversible Black).

And you will see a block of that 'ugly' wool (as I call it) with the green in it which I used in a tree HERE.  So when you attend a rug class don't be afraid to take those unusual pieces of wool, ya never know how it will look in your rug.  Lucille didn't recommend any of her wool for my project.  I had to just look and buy what appealed to me in order to bring home some of her lovely overdyed pieces.

As you can see from this photo below (the original antique), Lucille drew her own sections for me to hook since my chat with her was that I wanted to hook the rug how she envisioned it.  They aren't too far from the original lines tho.

I'd hoped to get this post published earlier in the day but I did a bit of reverse hooking on and around the basket.  Plus did a bit of yard work since that was neglected last week.  And now it's almost bed time.

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

Cape May Rug Show #3

There were so many wonderful rugs in the show and can't wait to share more in this post.  The one below is named Rusty Twigs and Posies hooked by Susan Foley.

My friend and roomie Deb Nees hooked Gettysburg, below, a Woolley Fox design.

An original design named "Buffalo Bill" is a collaboration between Rebecca Erb and her son-in-law as a gift to Rebecca's husband.  It is huge and wonderful!!!!!  Great job guys!!

Fun Flowers below was hooked by Nancy Weaver.

Diane Stoffel hooked this mat named "Halloween".

Brave Hunter is a design by Tonya Robey and was hooked by Sandy Bennington.  This is also on my 'to do' list.

Old Faithful was hooked by Susan Foley.

Oh my but the rug below brings back fond memories of Barb's Guest House when attending rug camps with her.  "Pigs at the Trough" is a Woolley Fox design and hooked by Cindy Harpring.

Look familiar?  It should as you've seen it before.  At camp there was at least one admirer who wanted to know where I got the design.  Shared it came from the Kopp book so look for her rendition next year somewhere.  Hope I'm  lucky enough to see how she hooked hers.  It is always fun to see the same designs hooked by others.

Blue Horse for Polly is a mat hooked by Evelyn Lawrence.  She seems to be going for the smaller pieces lately.

Brody Bunny hooked by Vickie Valenia.

Cats and Flowers below is hooked by Martha Buhler.  Think I'm losing track of what rugs have been posted and which haven't.  I apologize if you see the same rug more than once but hey....that's a good thing.

Darby is a design hooked by Martha Buhler.

My gal pal Deb hooked "Two Black Cats" pattern sold by Spruce Ridge Studios except she didn't hook them both black.  It was hooked in Cammie's class last year.  

Below is a beautiful rug hooked...I think ...by Weslee.  I've written to her asking for a better picture and confirmation on name of design.

Big Bird was hooked by Winnie Kinkelle.

Yeah, the small Magdalena Goat hooked by me.  Can't remember if I posted it previously or not but want to get this #3 camp show sent.

Nancy Weaver hooked Pennsylvania Dutch below.

This guy was so much fun to hook.  Last year in Cammie's class she said she planned to buy the original antique but didn't get home from running errands in time for the on-line antique purchase.  Evelyn Lawrence hooked it as did I.  But Evelyn couldn't find her rug to bring for the show.

Woodland Acorn below hooked by Carol McKey.

Still remaining are the Sheep at the Beach mats and the "throw Down".

Saundra

1909 Horse Update

Am having lots of fun hooking this pattern even tho I've had to make some changes ~ but then I'm always changing something in my rugs.  During the hooking process noticed that, among other things, the left side border on Emma Lou's pattern only had 8 blocks instead of the antique rug's 9.  The right border had 9 blocks and the top and bottom blocks had  the correct 10.  Below you can see my progress so far as well as the red lines making the left side border with 9 squares.

Remember the other day when trying to tone down red wool?  One piece in the pot was Candy Apple Stripe from Rebecca Erb.  Below is a before and after.  The photo is way washed out.  But if you look back up at the rug progress you will notice the bottom two stars were hooked with this wool BEFORE the dye job.  

The red hooked in the bottom stars is a more true example of the wool off the bolt.  Rebecca still has some in stock if you wanted to order.  So now I've two values of the same wool in my stash.

This morning I am doing more Olde Patina dying and will share the results in a future post.  Have used a lot of what I had in the Primitive Horse rug previously hooked as well as this project.

Happy Hooking everyone.

Saundra

New Pattern from an Antique

This was a rug on my list 'to do' but hadn't intended to start it so soon.  It is a delightful rug photo found (I think) on Pinterest but it had no identifying information as to age, hooker, owner, etc. 

When I posted interest on my blog there was immediate response from people wanting to buy the pattern.  Normally I hook the pattern first and then post a picture on my web site so they can see it hooked by me.  This time I sold two patterns before it was even hooked and posted on my blog.  Well, guess it is about time I hook it.

Let me tell you it was troublesome to draw a pattern from the picture above and give credence to the original hooker since it is hard to detect images.  On the right and left in red I finally decided were birds.  But there are ghost images beside them and you can see red eyes ~ they are ever so faint since the picture is so distant and not very clear.  At one point I thought it may have been an owl on one side.  But, it was up to me to decide how to design the rug as I had two orders and hadn't even drawn for myself. 

Later a comment came from Newburyarts saying he/she knew the previous owners, but I was unable to correspond as the comment was from a NO-REPLY Blogger.  Therefore unable to ask for better pictures for accuracy or to obtain permission.

Thank you Lori of NotForgottenFarm for reminding me that I hadn't mentioned measurements. This pattern measures 30 x 30.  BTW, Lauren will be proud of you for keeping me on my toes about dimensions since she was away at camp.

Onto the rug design.....many antique rug motifs were hooked using red.  I don't know the answer as to why as I'd rather hook than research.  But if you look at enough antique rugs you will also see a variety of styles as there are also lots of antique rugs which are not outlined but blend in with the background.

Here is the reveal of my start.  Why oh why does the picture do this with the zebra stripes with linen photos?  Anyway, as you can see I've done the Pre-Binding stitching 1" all around since it is easier now than when the rug is hooked.  The outline of the cat was done with the red in #8 cut and think it was from Rebecca of The Wool Studio but not totally sure. 

The cat is hooked in #8, #8.5 and #9 using the center wool which is Mashed Potato from Heavens to Betsy (below).  I used different cuts because that is what I had in my worm basket.  Okay, so it was the #9 I cut later when the others ran out. 

Also used a few wool strips left over in near color which adds to the vintage look.  The wool to the right of that is also Mashed Potato which I used in that dye recipe a post or so ago.  It will also go in the rug and that was my plan. 

I named the pattern "Cat, Birds and Blooms"  which is a description....but sure wish I could come up with something more creative than my literal name.  Any ideas out there?  How's about you two gals who just purchased the pattern from me?  Any suggestions?  Write me personally at saundra125@comcast.net.

Hope you all have a great evening as our early summer weather is about ready to come to an end.

Saundra

Background Wool on Westmoreland Ponies

I've had a request from a blogger/hooker friend to see the wool I'm using for the background of Westmoreland Ponies.  But first, an update on the rug ~ not a whole lot more hooked but will bore you with another picture anyway.

Here is the background wool ~ First one is from a dye job I did on a texture using my favorite High Meadow Green recipe.  Second column on top is a grey/green I purchased from Kris Miller bottom wool is something I had from somewhere.  Third column are two wools purchased from Barb for the project but not enough to do the whole background because I figured I had additional here close enough to do the rest of the job....just wanted that as a 'go to' color.  And the fourth column is a wool that I purchased in 2010 from Rebecca Erb called either Tea Green or Green Tea. 

All of these wools are close enough in the grey/green color to work well together, yet give a little variance and indicate movement in the background.  I think I've got a wool for the crown or dome over the horses.  However, my Oh Deer must get out of my face and my living space so plan to finish binding it tonight.  That would leave one more rug to be bound which hasn't even been steamed..... Henny Penny.

Can you believe it is July?  Already?  And I'm so SICK of rain I could spit.  There is a pond behind my yard and into the woods and the mosquito's are multiplying faster than rabbits but Mosquito Control can't come spray because it has rained every day for the last week and will continue thru this week. 

Have a great evening everyone.  Now to make a salad to go with my homemade lima bean soup and finish binding Oh Deer.

Saundra

Cape May Getaway coming soon

So far I haven't gotten to the frenzied child stage of anticipation of Santa (a/k/a Cape May) so that is still yet to come as it usually does for every rug camp. As old as I am and for as many rug camps I've attended you'd think I'd have outgrown that by now.  Perhaps it is because I haven't attended nearly as many rug camps as some hookers I know, but even if I had truly doubt that frenzy would have dissipated by now.

It is now less than two weeks away until camp and I'm slowly making progress.  The wool pulling for the rug to be hooked has begun but will do another inventory closer to departure date and will probably add more wool rather than remove.

Okay, okay, I know you've been biting your nails wondering what I'm hooking in Bev's class.  It is a design that stopped my heart oh so many years ago when first infatuated with rug hooking.  It is a design by Vermont Folk Art and this is the rug which was posted on their web site at that time.  It was hooked by Rebecca Erb (I'm sure you hookers know who that woman is) but this is the only picture I've ever seen hooked.  SO..... IF any of you have pictures or know of someone who has hooked this design I surely would love to see other people's adaptations of it.  The design name is Wee Folk.

When attending Barb's at Woolley Fox in May I had a new system that I tried out.  Instead of carrying 3 full totes of wool down to the basement I carried wool samples on rings as my 'offering' and had more of each of the wools in totes in the van.  That way, when she viewed my wool to make color planning choices I could retrieve the larger pieces from my van that she had chosen for the rug.  This way there is also less hauling totes from the classroom back to the van when leaving.  So on one ring I have wool of the brighter colors, background and border offerings, on the other I'm trying to limit that to just the critter colors.  But depending on how heavy one ring gets I just might move the background and border colors to the other ring.  And, it appears the one ring will be heaveier so the move seems eminent.

Here is a bunch of wool that I dyed using various textures and with different quantities of the same color in different pots to get a variety of options for background and usage of the same color in other parts of the rug.  Must add here that the colors of the wool is very washed out with the flash.

And this is the second tote I'll take but isn't completely packed.  However, there are some colors on the ring which may only take that which is pinned to the ring since the shirt, pants, etc. of the critters is small.  You can see one of the critters on the pattern to the right of this post.  

My plans were for me to post a current picture of the Duck's Egg Nest here but think I'll make you wait until tomorrow.  

So now not only am I challenged with getting ready for rug camp but also have to clean my house before my house and Ben sitter comes.  My house is full of rug snippets and probably cob webs since they are getting ready for autumn.

Thanks for stopping by and maybe I'll have an update on my Duck's and Egg Nest tomorrow.

Saundra

A Ducky Hookin' Situation

  Yes, I'm still in love with this antique rug which was believed to be hooked between 1875 and 1925 in Canada.  However, I did want to take a little creative license with the nest by hooking in different directions with different values and colors.  The original was what I loved but the hooker back then didn't have the wool options we have today and the very dark in the nest and the very dark in the wing/feather shape on the ducks is a little harsh considering the softness and subtle colors of the leaves and eggs.

Not knowing which way I wanted to hook my wings ended up trying two different wools.  The one on the right is using the honeycomb wool (from Rebecca Erb many moons ago) and the one on the left is a plaid texture that I had in my stash from who knows where.

So for now I'm just going to live with both ways, look at each often and think about it as I continue to hook the leaves and background.  But as a review, this is what the original rug looked like.

I have put a spot on this blog for you to choose an option for the duck wing of choice.

    
   NOTE:  Anyone who has a "NOREPLY-comment" blogger address cannot post messages to appear on my blog.  In the beginning they could but then I started receiving spam from a 'no reply' so some one's address had been hijacked.  Since I couldn't see who that address belonged to, I placed the undesirable spam in my blocked senders list.  Which now means that anyone with a 'noreply' is unable make posts on the blog; it may go thru the motions but will not appear there.    Sorry, but guess you will need to not be anonymous or choose the no reply to have your comment show up on the blog.


And, as always, thank you for visiting my blog and commenting, if it was able to appear here.  Comments are always welcome.

Saundra