250th BIRTHDAY EAGLE UPDATE

Made a tad more headway on the rug.  And yes, I re-drew the olive branch and lightening bolts 3 times.  Had it not been for the ink color change am not sure I'd know which to hook.  When looking at several inanimate eagle images saw some longer and wider leg extensions.  They reminded me of frog legs and I didn't want mine that long and wide.  At least there is more of the leg shown now than was drawn before.

I chose to hook a calm linear hooked background so it wouldn't compete with the eagle and ribbon for attention.  The wool used was off the bolt Laramie Stripe wool purchased from The Wool Studio.   

Luckily I've already drawn out a pattern to throw on the frame next. It was drawn just in case I got bored with this rug and would be my plus one.  Obviously no boredom happened so it will be my next hooking project....  UNLESS someone has an idea for a hook-along which interests me. If you do, let me know.

Weather today is dreary, drizzly and chilly so am planning to make a pot of vegetable soup.  Will have that for a couple days and freeze the rest for future.

Saundra

www.facebook.com/woodlandjunctionhookedrugs

WEEKEND STUFF

Yesterday I did some mundane household chores and my wool arrived from The Wool Studio so washed up those two yards.  I miss having Heavens to Betsy wool, I know we still have Dorr, but Betsy had some great wool and it was a regular weave not the tight weave (TW) that Rebecca sells.

So now I've a question for you ~ do you like the tight weave wool?  And do you wash it or use it as is?  I find that after washing the TW it ends up feeling like coat weight wool.

Today I washed my vehicle which hadn't been washed in YEARS!  My vehicle lives in the garage so it is shielded from some elements.  But road grime during my limited traveling does get it dirty.  So it looks nice and clean for a change.

Then after doing that I washed the short side of my home and got rid of dirt and green mildew.  By then it was time for lunch and was too tired to do anymore house washing.  I've a haircut tomorrow and by the time I get home it will be lunchtime and too hot and humid to put my body thru house washing again.  Besides, that mildew will still be there waiting for me.

Gonna go play with my hook and wool with a glass of cab. 🍷 Cheers.

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

STARTING FRESH

My hooking area is cleaned up with wool worms separated (again) and put into their proper color bags, so I'm starting fresh.  Bet it will look like a rats nest once again after just a couple hours of hooking.

Last loops were pulled on Li'l Lamb so there are officially 3 pieces to be bound.  Tomorrow I've a doctor appointment so will take Deer and Blue House with me to work on while I wait.  After that plans are to work on binding at least one hour per day; no way I want 4 rugs piled up needing binding.  

For those who have been waiting....here's the Li'l Lambkin.

Hmm, those tiny fibers you see are from the cheese cloth I used.  In the Li'l Lamb I used cotton knit, vintage seam binding, nylon stocking, rayon jacket lining, cheese cloth, and yarn.  Fun, fun, fun.

Those of you who have joined this present challenge I will happily share your pictures on my blog when you send them to me.

Must say I did enjoy this textile challenge  more than the last because all the fabric used was much easier to pull than the woven cotton and homespun I used for the Tattered Tulip last challenge (below).  

Now I'm ready to go back to regular wool hooking since I've probably hundreds of yards here and much more than I can hook in my lifetime.  So  just why did I buy two more yards from The Wool Studio?   Guess you could call  it an addiction.  

Happy Hooking everyone.

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

Getting Closer on New Years Eve

For my friends who said I'd be done hooking New Years Eve pattern by this weekend....it didn't happen; but it's close.  

For you newbies here is a little lesson to tuck into your grey matter.  First I must say I'm not fond of directional hooking as I personally find it boring.  BUT, if you notice the up and down direction of hooking and color change gives it the appearance of the inside of a tree trunk with bear paw clawing to make it his home.  Uh, my interpretation.

Also notice the slanted directional hooking of the floor to give the appearance of distance from the lantern which would be smaller than the bookcase on the far right.  It's to give the illusion of distance.

I still have to face hooking the Coleman lantern but want to finish the right side of the rug first.  BUT...if you recall, there is a clock on top of the book case, right?  Teehee, wait until you see how I handle that.

Love keeping my readers waiting on the edge of their seats.  Or, maybe there aren't any readers waiting, lol.

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

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

Have You Any Wool?

Thought I'd give you an update on progress of the rug on my frame.  It took a while for me to find leaf colors for the border which were to my liking but am now happy.  That green had to go.

For those new to my blog, this is a rug design offered by Woolley Fox called Have you Any Wool....the title of my post.  I reshaped the body of the sheep to give an appearance of a skein of yarn and am quite pleased how it turned out.  

I've been asked what the background and border wool is ~ here is a photo.  For the life of me cannot remember the name of either wool or where it was purchased.  But was either  purchased from Betsy or Rebecca.

The background is the lightest section of the plaid wool mixed with some of the lighter textured wool of the same color.  The border was hooked using the darkest section of the plaid.  And thank goodness I have enough to finish the border.

I'm looking forward to finishing this rug, getting it bound then finishing up an adorable design by Kelley.  If you haven't purchased her New-Old Designs pattern book please contact her.  You can check out her blog on the previous link to view some of her designs.

My heart goes out to all those folks living in Texas.

Saundra

That Rug on my Frame

It's finally time to show an update of the Magdalena Goat.  Wanted to keep on hooking tonight but at least the whole goat is hooked....for now.  The wool from The Wool Studio (army green) is on it's way so not sure if I'll change the back legs or not.  Will have to wait and see.

Just checked thru my blog posts to learn I didn't start my Magdalena Goat until February 15th and it is now March 21st.  OMG, my friend Evelyn started hers and had it hooked and bound in less than a month. Obviously I'm quite the slacker.

Today I had an inquiry about the availability of a doll which shows up on my web site.  As I'm no longer doing shows wasn't sure what was available so sorted thru my plastic containers.  Sure enough it was still there.  

In FULL DISCLOSURE.... I'm unable to update my web site to show 'sold' or delete items nor can I change prices.  Reason is that when I built the web site using a certain software it was good for a few years.  THEN, my web server no longer offered service for that product.

That meant that I either buy another software and learn how it works, make intricate changes inside the pages of the web site or drop the service.  I chose the ladder.  That said, I did keep my domain name and pay for that but am no longer able to make changes to my web site.

Which gave me a thought.  While sorting thru my forgotten 'doll treasures' saw some that warmed my heart and just might decide to keep and change thru the seasons like I do my rugs.  

However, tomorrow I'll post some of my primitive dolls on my blog which will be up for adoption.  I have  some wonderful primitive black dolls, some 'arty' style dolls and some Americana.  I'll save the Americana dolls as we get closer to the end of May.

Here are two teasers for now; below is Cecelia, a Nettie LaCroix design holding a pin keep with wool roving for hair.

And below is Ophelia, my design, who has her life savings in her vintage coin purse.

It was such fun to look thru the dolls I'd made and remember as how they became alive to me in the moment.

Have a great evening everyone.  Today was a wonderful spring-like day and tomorrow will be fall/winter again with a hard freeze at night. WTF is going to happen to all our buds and flowers????

Saundra

A Look at Magdalena's Goat

Here is what it looks like now.  But who knows how many more tweaks will occur before it is completed.  

Below is what it looked like Tuesday.  Yeah, I know not a whole look of hooking going on eh?  Have been guilty of reverse hooking.  One area reversed was the second front leg.  In the picture below noticed the direction of the light and dark wool leading toward the leg was wrong compared to the original.  So before continuing I needed to correct that.

My colors aren't exactly like Magdalena used as she and I have different textile colors at our disposal.  As to the horns... I tried to define the horns of the goat because Magdalena had limited textiles.  Therefore the background was too close in value as was used in the horns.  Had she more options MAYBE Magdalena would have hooked the horns differently.

For those of you just visiting, here is the original Magdalena Goat which is relatively newly discovered.  The original and the pattern I will offer once mine is hooked, measures 29 x 35.

Unfortunately I don't have any army blanket green wool.  BUT.... just ordered some from Rebecca Erb so maybe, just maybe the legs will all be reverse hooked and use the army green wool instead.  OMG, it will be summer before this is finished at this rate.  Oh well, am still enjoying the process.

Have a great evening.

Saundra

Wool Used and Update on Magdalena's Goat

I was asked what wool was used in the goat's head.  Actually numerous different colors and values was pulled for the goat itself because I knew my worms would work well for the background.

Above the lightest colors were used in the muzzle of the goat.  The rest is what was or will be used in the remainder of the goat.  Some of the wool has been over dyed previously and have no idea what recipe. And in all honesty some of the over dyed wool was from terrible mistakes ~ so don't toss your mistakes as they are treasures for another project. Some wool was as is purchased from our favorite wool vendors Heavens to Betsy and The Wool Studio.

Wanna see what Magdalena's Goat looks like now?  I've a lot more to do.  Must admit that when working on the rug up close the colors look so darn pastel.  Yet, looking at the photos up close on my iPad they really are pinks and light blue, etc.  But me thinks me will give this a wash of walnut juice when it is all done.

Tomorrow will be a slim hooking day too.  If only I had a 'nanny', could afford to have servants for ..... housekeeping, cooking, yard work, maintenance on vehicle and house as well as appliance maintenance, that would be great.  I'd take care of my boy Ben and do my own laundry.  

Yeah, wouldn't that be the life??  Just dog companionship, smelling clean clothes and hooking all day.  SHEEH, now I know why I LOVE rug camps!!!!!!  For my friend (you know who you are Lauren, lol) the dimensions of this rug is 29 x 35.  

As mentioned earlier, I was asked if I'd sell patterns of this Magdalena Goat.  The answer was yes, but not until after I'd hooked mine so people could see how mine was hooked ~ especially since the antique is so hard to understand.  

Moreover, for my personal linen I did very detailed line drawing as you can see.  When selling the pattern it won't be as confusing as the one I'm hooking, it will be a more simplistic version.

Okay, back to my duties since the 'nanny' never showed up today.

Saundra

Be Goode, Be Nice

Its time for me to look at the rug in a different venue....the computer monitor.  Today I started hooking the lettering at the top and introduced a different wool so wanted to see if it will work.

At first thought to use the border wool which is Lumber Jack by Heavens to Betsy  which is a brown, deep dark burgundy and other nice dark colors.  Instead decided to use something close but not as dark. Besides there is a bold black hat and witch dress in black at the bottom to balance the dark of the lettering.  

The wording of 'be mine' in the word bubble was hooked using a green like that curve along the right side next to the soft pastel wool from The Wool Studio. Was afraid that might be too soft.

OH!!!!!!  I completely forgot to mention that is not a lost piece of wool on the witch's chinny chin chin.  That is a hair growing from her wart. Kris Miller and I laughed our butts off at the idea of having that.  Uh, and I can relate to having random hairs growing from my chin even tho there's no wart.

Now....funny thing is that after I have my cataract surgery on Monday these photos and the colors of the rug will probably look totally different anyway.

Hope all of you in the wake of the Hurricane come out unscathed. Although the weatherman says we here in Delaware 'may' be okay, we all know that there is nothing certain with Mother Nature and the force of wind and rain.

Saundra

Turkey Anyone?

Definitely felt good to pull loops on my Turkey and Tallowberries rug again.  It is getting close to being done but not so certain it will be bound in time for Cape May rug show.  

After all, Cape May is in just 3 weeks, I have 3 various appointments to make during that time and don't know about Ben's test results yet. Besides there is a major overhaul to clean up after the tornado which went thru my wool room.

The other day Colleen wrote asking what I used for the background. Since she is a No-Reply Blogger was unable to write her personally.  So here is a photo of numerous wool which has been hooked in this brug.  The colors show up much more vivid due to the flash. 

As you can see there are some off the bolt textures purchased from both Heavens to Betsy and The Wool Studio as well as some which I've overdyed myself. 

Cut Ben's backyard today and made one more hookers pocket.  Would like to make a couple more pockets to sell at Cape May but me thinks my wool room needs some attention first.

Happy Sunday.

Saundra

Turkey and Tallowberries Progress

Am excited to show you my update today after looking at it on the floor in person before taking this photo.

There were a couple decisions made as the initial color planning was forming in my mind.  One was it seemed to need a balance to the light tallowberries and thought a one line border to outline the rug might do the job. So I chose a black and white honeycomb wool which was purchased from The Wool Studio.

The other first try and happy color choice was that bright orange for the eye. I'm sure many of you questioned my decision when first writitng about it but when looking a the rug on the floor just now my attention went straight to the eye.  And hey, aren't we supposed to look our subjects in the eye?  Plus, the white of the tallowberries doesn't overpower the rug because 'the eye has it' under control.

There is still more to hook, which is fine and I'll take my time.  Also still have the rest of Ned to bind but have a couple eye doctor appointments coming up so will do that while sitting in the waiting room.

My big Ben had his annual physical and senior blood panel last week. Today I was called and the kidney test was slightly elevated and the vet wants to do a sonogram to investigate about something she felt on his spleen.  Since Ben had a low grade mast tumor removed in April I need to be diligent on his health follow-ups.  Love my boy and want him to stay in my life as long as possible so he goes for the sonogram this Wednesday.

Happy Monday to you all.

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