GRANDE FINALE

We've all completed our Granny Donaldson projects which was started January 15th.  Denise sent her photo this afternoon and she had a whopping 24 critters to hook plus the people and tree.   Count them, I counted them probably 10 times and would come up often with 23 critters and sometimes 24.  So I wrote 24 and I'm sticking to it, lol.

Below is Betsy's adaptation where she moved around motifs, put the tree off to the side instead of the middle, added a cat and a heart.  Love it Betsy.

Elaine finished her version of a Granny Cow blanket a couple days ago and she drew hers free hand by looking at the photo on her tablet.

Kim chose to hook Karen Kahle's adaptation of a Granny cow blanket called Simple Gifts.

Below is Lauren's completed Granny rug and she enjoyed this more than the textile challenge we had last year, eh Lauren 😁

Sheila drew her own stylized version of a Granny design also, you rock gals.

And finally mine; the only creative thing I did to mine was change the camel to a horse and I still like Denise's horse better.

So there you have a grande finale show of rugs we've been working on during the hook-along.  So this door is officially closed and it was a fun project.

Rain to begin this afternoon and the March winds have arrived with a vengeance.  I already have a yard full of tree tops to clean up and may end up with some more before the end of tomorrow.  

I saw a tree which was hollowed out at the bottom and pray it doesn't fall across the driveway onto my house.  Am going to call and have it removed but suspect all tree companies are still cleaning up jobs from the two previous snow storms we had.

Happy Hooking and watch for tomorrow afternoon's blog post.

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

A Couple Updates and Confession

Just before noon today (Sunday) Kim sent me an update on her rug as she was going to be busy the rest of the day on the house remodel.  Am sure it was hard to walk away from the Granny project but the reward of a newly remodeled home far outweighs the tug of pulling loops.  This is Simple Gifts a design by Primitive Spirit which I'm sure was Karen's Granny adaptation.  

Then later in the day Sheila sent me an update on her mat.  She said purple wasn't her favorite color but her mother loved it.  Sheila also mentioned that she might change some colors, and I know all about pulling out loops as I've done that myself many times.  So perhaps when Sheila's mat update appears again it might look a tad different.

Before hooking on mine I grabbed several worm baggies (some call them noodles) I refer to them as worms since worms seem to multiply whereas noodles don't, lol.   

Okay, now to the elephant in the room.....I have a confession.  If I don't say it Robin (Cranky Crow) or her 'joined at the hip' sista Lauren (Rugs and Pugs) will blab all over the comment section and even post it on their own blogs that I'm a cheater.  So here goes:  I couldn't wait until Saturday to start this project because if you've read my blog you saw I'd wanted to hook it for weeks.  But I patiently waited until early Friday evening to start and this is how far I got.  Not that much, right?

Wasn't sure I wanted to use that wool for the tree but before bed decided to wait until morning to pull out the loops to see how I felt.  I'd used that same wool for other tree trunks and it was introduced to me by Barb Carroll for a rug and I've used it many times since.  But still was unsure.

Saturday morning with new eyes and new attitude decided to continue with that wool and this is how the rug looks now.  Am not crazy about that orange leaf to the right but will wait until more loops are pulled to decide if it needs a replacement.

The bird on top was hooked only with worms and had a vision for the tail with the directional weave and think my vision turned out well.  Below is a photo with the red wool which was purchased years ago from The Wool Studio and the tree trunk wool came from Heavens To Betsy and is called "Turkey Feathers".  Don't think either of them have carried the wool for several years and thankfully I've more left of each.  

When the other gals send me a photo of their work I'll share a photo of theirs.  And remember, don't believe a word that Lauren says about me...I've told the truth the whole truth and nutt'n but the truth.  And it was Robin who started that whole mess 😁.

Happy Sunday and happy hooking.  Can't wait to get back to Granny....TA TA.

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

Thinking About My Next Rug (edited)

No I'm not finished hooking the horse and still have more edge whipping to be done on Stacked Birds, but don't want to end up with no plan as in the past.  Have considered hooking another Magdalena design or maybe hooking a Granny Donaldson cow blanket design.  All her motifs were crocheted by Granny and appliqued to a foundation.  She was born in Kentucky April 19, 1870 and died August 1, 1960.

The edit: A couple readers said they were aware of horse blankets but not cow blankets and why were they called that.  My first thought was that perhaps Granny lived in an area more populated with cows than horses and cows get cold during the winter too.  Also speculated that milking cows would be more productive if they were warmer.  

Since I didn't know if that was really the reason decided to research further and found an interesting article.

Here are a few designs by Granny which interest me, but remember I'm a fickle hooker so might change my mind before I draw a design.  This design is in the Collection of American Museum of Folk Art.

Below is in the Collection of the Ashville Art Museum.

The following design is a Family and Animal grouping previously sold by Brunk Auctions.

Here is one sold by Case Antiques and have no prices on either.

And the one below with a vine running up the tree.

Wonder just how many cow blankets Granny made during her lifetime?  I mean I've saved several photos on a flash drive and am sure there are some haven't seen.  

 

All the cow blankets seem to have the same theme of animals and family around a tree ~ the tree of life or the circle of life?  The blanket below is somewhat different in that it has a building of sorts ~ a grain bin (silo), oversize bee skep?  

Me thinks Karen Kahle designed her "Simple Gifts" from Granny Donaldson's Cow Blankets.  What do you think?  Below is the Simple Gifts I hooked with Barb Carroll.

If I choose a Granny Donaldson design to hook it will be difficult to decide just which design to hook.  Or will I decide to hook another Magdalena?   Stay tuned to see my options if I choose Magdalena.

Happy  hooking.

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com