Memorial Day

Hey, how 'bout that..... I got my followers back.  Let's see if everything else works.

Yesterday I sat up a booth at the local Heritage Day Celebration.  When I looked at the weather report in the morning it said 10% chance of rain until noon and then it spiked to 45% between noon and 2 p.m.  I do have a canopy but since most of my hooked rugs that I offer for sale were on display at the library I only planned to take a few hooked pieces and mostly my Americana items and few primitive dolls.  Besides, if thunderstorms were fast approaching I didn't want to be attached to metal framing of a canopy and be a lightening rod attraction ~ I wanted to get out of Dodge fast.  However I did take a couple plastic tarps to cover things if I needed.

I took two tables; this is one table with my lattice work around it for hanging some items.

This other table was to my left so that I could sit in the shade between the two and demonstrate how to hook, should someone have an interest.  And as you can see I had a front row seat to the music.  Luckily the band was very good and not extremely loud and kept my feet tappin' to the rock n roll I remember so well.

In the foreground is a lady who is caning a chair and just beyond her is a basket weaver.  

There was also a soap maker, blacksmith and of course one of my favorite animals.... horses.  There were two horse drawn carriages and it only cost $4 per ride around the mansion property; can you imagine what the cost would be for a similar ride in Cape May, NJ or New York?

When I was a teen I had my own horse, which  my father sold just before my 16th birthday without my knowledge.  I came home from school one day and there was Richie tethered to a wooden slat of a truck.  He neighed and I cried but no matter how much I begged my father to not sell him back then a kid just didn't challenge the parent.  He said I'd be wanting a car not a horse and tho I tried to convince him that I didn't need my own car my words went on deaf ears.  I used to love lifting up his mane and smelling that sweet horse smell which was captured and contained under the confines of his mane.  Mmmmmmm, fond memories.

Now, listen to this..... this was in 1958 and you know what kind of car I got for my horse?  A 1948 Plymouth.  Yeah, that's right.  All my other friends had the fan tail Chevy's and Fords and mine was 10 years older, no signals, smelled like oil, had the knob to prime it for starting (dang, forget the name of it now).  But of course now I wish I had that old 1948 vehicle.

So then yesterday I had a glorious day petting and sniffing every horse on the premises.  The ponies below were, with the exception of the two taller horses, had all been rescued as told to me by the owner.  He explained how emaciated they once were and were going to be sold for dog food; but just look at them now.  Perhaps they all knew how fortunate they were to have been found and cared for in a loving way as they were the sweetest little show offs.  One, would even stop and smile when it saw someone getting ready to take it's picture.  I didn't believe it but was confirmed by an attendant there as well.

The horse in the background is Toby and the rest are his harem.  Toby was also a wonderful horse.  Felt so good to feel the powerful muscles and rub their velvety muzzle, and enjoy the sweet aroma of horseflesh and leather.  Ahhhh,

So then yesterday was not a total wash out, even tho about 1:45 I had to scramble and yank everything hanging and cover it with my tarps while it poured for about 5 minutes.  Luckily the music and food tent was close by which is where I retreated during the cloud burst.

Happy Memorial Day to everyone and God Bless those of you who are now serving or have served in the military to keep our country free.  And God Bless those who made the ultimate sacrifice of giving up their life in defense of our United States of America.

Sincerely Jane Update

Well I'm not sure this will be a successful post since Blogger has had a melt down of sorts over the last two weeks but here we go.  Since it is near June and I'm supposed to post a current picture of my accomplishments on Rughookers Yahoo thought I'd better pull a couple loops. 

Now, really folks, I'm yearning to hook on my E.S. Frost Sheep rug but still other responsibilities are close at hand.... for instance, tomorrow I have to set up at 8 a.m. for the Heritage Day festivities where there will be civil war reenactors, mansion tours, horse drawn carriages, olden timey crafts like broom makers, soap makers, basket weavers, to n ame a few and............ uhhhhh, rug hookers.  So my van is packed and I'm taking something completely different to hook while there so it will give others an opportunity to pull loops on a rug.  Well, I certainly don't want any newbies pulling loops on my sheep so will take a generic piece for them and me.

So, here is what the Sincerely Jane piece looks like now.

And as you can see, I've completely changed my 2" border to a 3" border.  The reason for that is because the hooked squares are 4.5" wide and the 2" wide border was not pleasing to the eye.  I hooked some places and ripped it out.

On the other hand, I couldn't have a wide border as with Jane Stickle's quilt because my rug is too small to take such a commanding wide border.  But it did require at least a 3" border and as wide as the 4.5" squares to make it pleasing to the eye.    The other issue is that I cannot choose any of Jane's border designs because my rectangles are too small to accommodate that~ ~ ~  so I'm having to design my own simplistic designs.

Hopefully Blogger will geth their 'slip' together so we can have full access to this communication.  And I just did the spell check and no yellow popped up.  So then I purposefully mis typed a word and did the spell check again and NOPE!  Didn't recognize the misspelled word.  So don't know what you'll see or what you'll read but I'll attempt to publish the post right now.

Over and out!

The Woolley Fox Project

Okay, okay, I can't stand holding back any longer.  My intentions were to not post a picture of the project I started at Barb's until I'd had a chance to hook some more in the rug but I'm going thru withdrawals with not hooking on it and thought I'd look at it and dream of me hooking.  But I've been so busy with orders, with yard work, getting ready for a show this weekend at our local Heritage Day, where there will be civil war reenactors, olde timey crafts, antique car show, horse drawn carriage rides, and tour of the Ross Mansion.

So here is what I started.  This is from the antique rug designed by E.S. Frost.  Barb was saying that years ago when scrolls were first done by our foremothers that they used whatever colors they had left over and that the fancy fine hooked scrolls came later with Pearl McGowan.  So the random use of complimentary colors which will repeat themselves around in random order will be the scrolls for this piece.

The background will be a soft black.  Sorry for the blur I've a doctor's appointment this morning and maybe later today I'll replace the picture with a better one.  But for now, since I'm in a hurry this will have to suffice.

Waaaahhhhhh, I want to hook.  At this particular time I don't even feel like I'm a 2 minute hooker, let alone a 10 minute hooker.  And I used to hook at least 2 to 3 hours per day. 

More of Woolley Fox camp

Thought I'd post a couple more pictures taken at Barb Carroll's Woolley Fox.  Believe it or not I have not pulled one loop on the rug I started at the mini-camp because I've been so busy since coming home.  And let me tell you I'm not the least bit happy about that because I am dying to put it back on a frame and get a little more hooked so I can share my rug with you.  However, I will share a few more pictures that were taken at Barbs.

This one below you are probably familiar with.....Sante Fe Crossing.  It is at the top of the stairs on the second floor and makes a great showing as it takes you to the various other rooms filled with antiques and wonderful hooked rugs.

Barb loves and collects all things related to critters (bears, rabbits, pigs, horses) and also loves and collects things relating to the Ark.  This is a hooked piece which is over the door which leads from the living room to the dining area (left to the bookshelf) where we have lunch each day with Barb.

And I did find another picture I took of her wool room and where she does the color planning for a rug.  Barb's station and work area for color planning is to the left behind the antique bird cage.  Those two rooms in the back are all filled to the gills with various colors of wool, and there is more behind me which I don't think I did get a picture of.  It might look a little ramshackle here but believe me when I say that she can decide what piece of wool she wants and can walk straight to it.  So it is very organized and by color. 

I am already looking forward to another class with her next May.  Hope you have enjoyed the tour.

Home from Camp

Oh my goodness but it was great being at Woolley Fox again and Barb did her magic with each of our rugs.  You realize, of course, that I didn't get the rug done yet since it was only a 3 day mini-session.  So you will have to wait to see pictures until I get a little more hooked.  But I do have a few pictures to share with you today. 

Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures in Barb's studio this year but here is a picture of two of us who attended this year, Deb to the left, Char and Bonnie and this picture was taken 2008.  The rug you see to the right is where I was sitting and hooking on the Kinderhook Basket design.  All to the left the right and behind me is covered with wool, wool, wool in every imaginable color and texture you can imagine.



Below is a picture of me hooking on that rug in 2008.

 Barb is very generous in taking us on a tour of her magnificent home and we are allowed to take pictures of anything and everything. 3 of us gals had been to Barb's several times but 2 of the gals were enjoying their maiden voyage. So since they were lingering behind us I could hear ooohs and ahhhs as well as gasps of breath as they enjoyed the hooked rugs throughout their tour. 

And, of course this picture is of the original antique which inspired Barb's Ligonier Duo design; it is awe inspiring to be able see up close and touch those antique rugs.



Here are 3 of the gals and I apologize to my friends for a poor and blurry picture but I tried to hurry and snap it before anyone could object.  The result of course is a poor picture.  But from left to right is my friend Shari, Deb, Char and then the Queen herself, Barb Carroll.

Over the bed is a hooked horse which is an antique but Barb seems to think that it isn't an E.S. Frost but in that era by another pattern maker of the time.

Three of us stayed in her Woolley Cottage and this is remarkable reminder of where we were as it was in our living room to enjoy each time we went to the bathroom or bedrooms.

I've many more photos of rugs but don't want to post them all here.  So savour these and if you ever have an opportunity to take a class with Barb Carroll, please do yourself a favor and sign up.  I know she is teaching at ATHA in Lancaster this October but those classes filled quickly.  But if you do, Barb will only work with textures; she does not consider mottled wool a texture.  It can be over dyed wool but must be over dyed over a texture.

Border changes of Sincerely Jane

I started pulling some loops on the border as I had it initially drawn and it just didn't look right.  So instead of having it a 2" border with closer zig zags I made the border 3" deep and decided to do what Jane did on her quilt and made them the same width as the blocks.  I think it looks a little more orderly, symmetrical and more pleasing to my eye.

It will take a little creativity to find something to do with the lighter sections as I'll soon run out of ideas for a small design to fit in the small cone shapes.  But guess I can just repeat myself with all ideas have been exhausted.

This will be my last post to my blog for about the next 5 or 6 days as I'm leaving this morning for a magnificent rug camp with the Queen of hooking...... Barb Carroll.  Hopefully I'll take some pictures of us gals and Barb and will share some with you when I return, wind down and catch up with things around the house.  It is always fun to pack for a camp but not so much fun unloading the van. 

So all you hookers and quilters out there, I'll be checking in on my blog within the next hour but will read all your comments when I return.

Lavender Tea Cozy

Here is an in-progress picture of Lavender Tea Cozy, a design by Karen Kahle.  Since I haven't decided it I'm going to make it into a tea cozy or mat, I drew the straight lines just in case I lean toward the mat.  But as I look at it now I can tell there is a little more space allowed at top than is really needed.

This is to be my hooking project the night of arrival at Barb's and what I'll work on until she gets to color planning my rug.  But it has been such fun working on this piece that it could easily be finished before getting to Barb's.  Therefore, I've decided to put it aside for now so that I'll still have something to work on at Barb's. 

Guess I'll pull out the Sinerely Jane challenge piece and pull some loops on my border as my home project for now since I'm saving this one for Ligonier, PA.

Home Tweet Home finished

Home Tweet Home (designed by Karen Kahle) is now finished.  Early on I'd decided to use a piece of jute to hold the birdhouse on the tree limb rather than hooking it in.  I just thought it might add a little interest to the piece.

Again I prewashed my cotton rug binding and it bled profusely so I used that dye to over dye a little more wool; turned out nice and had the same eggplant color as what I experimented with in an earlier post.

So now I'll go pull a few more loops on another Karen Kahle design..... Lavender Tea Cozy.  Keep checking back to see an 'in progress' report of that one ~ maybe tomorrow.

Update on the Jane Challenge rug

I just completed two more blocks on my Sincerely Jane challenge rug and when I put it on my frame next I think I'll hook a couple points on my border so I can get an idea of what I'm dealing with and which direction I want to go.  There are a few ideas bouncing around in my cranium so it will soon be time to execute some thoughts.

Was half-tempted to reverse hook the X square since the color is more vivid than all the rest in the rug as well as being really close in proximity to the other lighter and similar color.  But for now it will stay put.  I've had that piece of wool for a year or so and had never used it and was determined to see how it hooked up.

So today I'll start hooking on Karen Kahle's Lavender Tea Cozy as I will need something to work on the first night at Woolley Fox and then on the first day of class which will be May 16th.  Since that is a smallish pattern I just may put it down and hook some on the border of the SJ challenge rug before I leave for Ligonier.

Border thoughts on my Sinerely Jane

This morning I woke up rethinking my Sincerely Jane border.  So with felt tip pen in hand I went out another inch to make the border wider, thus making the points longer and more in keeping with Jane Stickle's quilt.  And, I really could extend the points a little longer.

As you can see on the cover of the book, the ice cream cone border is much more pointy than I originally drew my pattern.  Now, I won't do the scallops but think that because of the shape of the points that the edge will naturally get a wave effect anyway.  I can imagine it being a nightmare trying to bind the edge of a hooked rug with the ice cream cone scoop.

So, all you hookers and quilters out there, what is your opinion.... should I extend my present border 1", make it a little deeper even, or keep the  border as I had it?  Would love your input.

Sincerely Jane Update

Since my design and size of the Sincerely Jane rug is suitable to me I'm way ahead of schedule as far as finishing.  Seems to me it is only 3 months into the challenge so I can slide a little. 

That said, it just might be that I decide to slack off and get way behind when I start my rug camp With Barb Carroll in two weeks.  I'm sure I'll come home gung ho to work on that rug (which is a BIG secret) but will tell you it is an adaptation of a very famous antique design....  AH HA!  Do I have your attention now????  You will just have to wait.  TEE HEE..... I just love the tension in the room with hookers sitting on the edge of their seat anticipating the next breath or next picture of a rug or the smell of wet dyed wool. 

But for now here is my SJ challenge rug. 

I'm having problems deciding on colors or textures to make it interesting but still trying to stay true to the theme that Jane Stickle had with her quilt.  I want the muted look but have tried using textures to give the look of calico or homespun cotton.

Initially my thought was to use a dark background because that makes everything pop and look exciting.  But then got into the the whole Jane Stickle thing and decided to do a lighter and more mellow color for the sashing and background.  Something to be said about our foremothers for sure.  She made a beautiful piece of history.

 Still uncertain about the border and truly feel comfortable in waiting until the rest is hooked before deciding. Besides, IF I want to make longer cone shapes I can always sew a piece a fabric along the outer edge so that I can hook further out into the linen. But since I don't know what I want or what the piece needs I'll just wait. However..... if any of you gals have thoughts and opinions I'd love to hear your ideas.

Home Tweet Home

With granma responsibilities over for the Easter vacation I was able to finish hooking the Karen Kahle pattern Home Tweet Home and finally post another segment on my blog.  Amazing how much energy a 7 year old boy has.  I was so anxious to share a picture of it that I took this picture even before it is trimmed and bound.

I was quite lucky to get this on e-bay for a song....along with enough of Karen's wool to hook the entire thing.  And even tho some of the wool was cut more narrow that I prefer to hook with, I used the wool anyway.  Hey, waste not want not is my mantra.  And if you could see my wool room you would know that lack of wool is not an issue.

Hard to believe that when I started rug hooking there was absolutely no stash at all.  And I am embarrassed to show anyone that room now because it looks like I am in the wool selling business.

So now I'll pull out my Sincerely Jane challenge rug and hook a couple more blocks on that until I decide on what else I'm going to hook.  Since my least favorite thing to do is bind rugs, I'll let this Home Tweet Home rest a few days and then do my stitching around and trim in preparation of the binding.

More Sincerely Jane Challenge

I've been working alternately between two main rugs ~ Home Tweet Home and the Sincerely Jane challenge.  Actually I do have another rug started but one I hook on only when I go somewhere to demonstrate.  So since my dear grandson Zachary will be with me this next week during their Easter and Spring break thought I'd do two more blocks on the SJ and move it out of the  living room to make room for my grandson.  I'll still have one rug in progress in there but don't want to monopolize all the living space with my 'stuff'.

Here is the rug now.  It has progressed so easily and without being bored that I probably should have (could have) taken on a larger endeavor.  But definitely not the full size as some of the challengers have taken on.

Perhaps the time away from the SJ rug will give me a little time to reflect on my next move........ do I introduce new colors or repeat what I've used?  From the picture I can see that if I follow a reverse of row one that I will have a green to the left of a green on the second row.... no can do, even tho they are different textures, they are still both green.  And the haunting question is:  what am I going to do with the border? 

So I think it is good to put away the SJ piece for a few days and 'sleep on it'.  Actually, I heard that term is appropriately used since having an unanswered question in the mind the answers sometimes come to a person in a dream subconsciously.  So I'm hoping for some answers during REM sleep.

Sincerely Jane Challenge Update

Thought I'd do a little more hooking on my Sincerely Jane challenge rug and put aside my Home Tweet Home for just a little bit.  As I look at it guess it is time to start repeating some of the colors in the top row and put them in the 3rd row.  One or two of the textures didn't hook up as nicely as I'd hoped so might introduce something else instead.  I'm not that crazy about the texture in the 2nd box from left on top and have an alternate for row 3.

And I was sure that the block in the 2nd row, far right would turn out differently because before it was hooked it looked like a blue and brownish texture.  However, it looks an awful lot like the color of the star in the middle of second row.  But, I'm not going to pull them out and re-hook because I figure our foremothers 'made do' and so shall I.

I'm still uncertain as to what I'm going to do for the border.  I'm truly looking forward to trying something but figure I should wait until I hook the rest of the block before I tackle that.  Plus, I'm in a quandary as to what to do with my corners and perhaps as I hook my plan will be a little more obvious.

Delaware Hook-in

Oh what a marvelous 3 days we had here at my home with gal pals hooking, laughing, checking out every one's wool, eating, drinking and basically just enjoying friendship.  Even tho it was in my home, these gals spoiled me rotten; I was not allowed to lift a finger to anything as they cooked and cleaned up.   Plus everyone brought me some goodies so I told them I was having another hook-in next week again.... we all had a good laugh at that.

This is the pattern I worked on and did get a little more accomplished on it but took a lot of time outs to chat, laugh and don't know about the rest of you but seems when I talk or listen to my pals I stop what I'm doing and look at them.  Guess I am not good at multi-tasking by talking and hooking.

I had intended to take pictures of all the rugs we were working on but had so much fun that the time slipped by all too soon. The only partial rug is on my friend Shari's frame in the picture below.

On Thursday two of the gals went to the MD Shores rug show in Ocean City, MD while 3 of us stayed behind to hook.  But the girls who did go took lots of pictures of the rugs to share with us and tantalized us with their purchases from the rug camp store. 

So here we are all together; from left to right there is me and my dog Shadow, Shari, Deb, Mary and Char.  We make quite a fun group and we will all be together in one month when we take a class in Ligonier, PA with the delightful and talented Barb Carroll.

In progress

This is a rug that I am working on when not hooking on my Sincerely Jane Challenge rug.  It was a Home Tweet Home kit I picked up on e-bay several months which also included Karen Kahle's wool because the tags were still in the bags explaining what colors were to go where.

The birdhouse colors I changed up a little as the stripe appearance didn't appeal to me so went with more red.  However, in person you can see some other colors which might give the appearance of a weathered birdhouse. 

Since my hook-in with gal pals will start this afternoon, this is probably the one I will work on between chatting, laughing, eating and having a few glasses of wine.  What is a hook in with pals without sharing a little of the grape in the afternoon.

Another face lift for a rug

If you have been following my blog you know that I did a face lift for a rug that I was unhappy with and it was a 6 year old rug.  And, I mentioned that same time there was another who needed a face lit too.  Well, today I pulled that baby off the floor and made a face lift.  Now, I must admit this photo is a little washed out as it was taken soon after being hooked and was outside on my back porch.  But even in the house I knew it needed a little nip and tuck after it was hooked. 

But hey, the rug is done, right?  Just bind it and put it on the floor or the wall.  Yet, every time I walked on it, by it, saw a picture of it, I knew that it had to be fixed. 

Perhaps my motivation was that 4 rug hooker gal pals are coming here for a Saundra's Hook-in on Wednesday.  Three of the four gals have walked on this rug for years and don't even think they will notice the change.  But I will know and will be happier.    I LOVED the pattern Harry ever since I saw it in an older issue of RHM.  And I'm loving Harry even more now.

So here is how my Harry looks now.  And, this photo was taken inside the house so it will be a little more mellow in appearance vs. washed out from the sunlight.

Oh yeah, baby... that's what I'm talking about.  This is MUCH better!!!!!  That dividing line between the border and background makes a huge difference.  And when I got out my value finder before, the values were completely the same between the pink border and background.  So now with this dividing line it makes everything stand out much more. 

Sincerely Jane Challenge Rug

I've hooked a couple more squares on my challenge piece.  For those of you who are just now catching my blog for the first time, this is a challenge piece that some of us members of the Yahoo Rughookers are taking on.  It is based on a quilt which was made by Jane Stickle in the 1800's and we have decided to do our version of it in hooked form.

Some people have taken on a humongous personal challenge as they are making the full size rug whereas I'm making one much smaller to suit me.   I have chosen blocks which I felt could be hooked in #8 strips and am using #8.5 wool strips for the sashing. 

It doesn't get boring because the colors change as do the individual block designs so it maintains its interest.  Since I had started another hooked piece I am switching back and forth from rug to rug.  The other piece I am currently hooking is Karen Kahle's Home Tweet Home.

Here is what Sincerely Jane rug looks like now. 

Now I'm going to start repeating some of the same wool colors after this second row is complete and I am saving the border until all the blocks have been hooked so that maybe I'll have a better idea as to how I want to proceed with the border.

Rug Hooking Demo

On Monday I volunteered to do a traditional rug hooking demo at a nursing care facility in town.  I was hoping that perhaps some of the seasoned ladies may have hooked sometime in their past but no one in the room had. 

My goal was to just stimulate the minds of the ladies and to fill in a little space of time in their day with something fun.  I took several smallish hooked pieces with various designs in the hopes it would provide some spark or twinkle to the eye and let each of them hold and feel the texture of the hooked items. 

Here I am showing the women an antique hook, which is a nail embedded in a crudely carved piece of wood and a latch hook and explained that this was not the type of hook used for traditional rug hooking.  Heck, I've no clue how in the world to even use a latch hook.

Below I am explaining how we 'outline and fill'.  And tho my visit there was a quick synopsis of the process of rug hooking, it provided a little entertainment and communication to what might normally be a hum drum day for some of the residents of the facility. 

Woodland Deer Rug

This is a rug I purchased from and hooked at the Woolley Fox; it and is an adaptation of an antique rug.  Since I live on Woodland Drive and have deer roaming the acreage here it seemed only natural for me to hook this rug and display it in front of my fireplace in my home.  Barb Carroll has a magnificent eye for color and I dearly love the results.

After I took a picture of the finished rug and sent it to a friend, she wrote back asking if I'd ever seen a picture of the original antique.  I told her I hadn't, so she kindly sent me this page from an antique magazine.

Soon it will be time to go to Woolley Fox for another mini-workshop and I'm as excited as if it were my first time there.  I already know what I'm going to hook and it is another antique adaptation which I will transfer to linen (it is old enough that there is no copyrite issue) but the design will remain a secret until after I return home from Barb's so I can share my progress with you.