Arrival Day at Cape May

Parking at the Chalfonte is catch as catch can so drove around the block several times hoping a spot would open up.  Parked my car two blocks away and walked to the hotel to see who was there.  Having just arrived was my gal pal Char who was attending camp after a 5 year hiatus.  She told me her hubby was in front of the hotel unloading her equipment and would be leaving to make an open space.

OH BOY!!!!!   So ran (uh, fast walk) to get my van and 'double-parked' slightly behind Derek until he left the spot.  I shouted out my window to Char asking if my van would fit in that spot.  She and a passer by said 'yes'. The passer by (Doug Williams) said "I'm a very good parallel parker if you'd like me to park it for you".  

I got out of the van and said, "offer accepted".  Do you know anyone who would turn over the vehicle filled with expensive rug hooking equipment to a complete stranger?  Har har...me either; but I did.

Here is Doug and me.  I thanked him, gave him a hug and told him he just helped a HOOKER.  He grinned and said, "Just don't tell my wife".  Doug is a very nice guy and told us he plays piano at one of the local restaurants.  We considered going there for dinner Wednesday evening but time passed too quickly as we were snacking, having wine and chatting so didn't make it.

Our rooms weren't ready so we three gals decided to walk the couple blocks to town and shop for bargains.  At one gorgeous Victorian house was a little yard art in preparation for Halloween.  

Gee, wonder how long that couple was sitting waiting for the breakfast? I see they got their coffee but where are the eggs and bacon?

Talk about a dead-icated cyclist...he rode himself right down to the bone, as did his dog.

Have lots more to share so stay tuned for rug and 'throw down' shows as well as information about my teacher Cammie.  Won't give away all the secrets as some things are best learned from her in a class and don't want to spoil your fun.

Happy Saturday everyone.  Now it is time for me pay the piper for a week of fun.  Time to cut grass, do laundry, grocery shop, etc.

Saundra

Short and Sweet

It took me a while to find my focus on Birthday Lion and you can scroll down to see my journey.  But now happy to find my direction (uh, I think).  But so far so good.

Birthday Lion is a design by Bill Laraway.  Can't wait to see how Evelyn hooked hers next week.  

Sure hope Hurricane Jose doesn't make too much of a mess along the eastern shore line and tear up our beaches.  Check in with you later.

Saundra

The Rug on My Frame

Oh I had this one all figured out in my mind and it was going to be a piece of cake to hook.  The lion's face would be a tad lighter than the body, the mane would be a hit and miss much like that done on the border of Olde Hearts and it would have a dark background.  Easy peasy ~ in my head.

The face hooking happened as planned.  But the mane idea didn't work out; it looked like a hot mess so pulled that out and chose a black and gold texture.  Then started hooking the body of the lion.  In the photo it appears the top wool is too close in value to the mane.  The third wool down seems way too light so think I'll go for the wool texture second down from top.  I hooked a smidgen of each wool close to the mane for you to see if you want to tap on the photo to enlarge.  

Okay then so what about background and border Saundra?  Original plans were to have a black wavy border with dark blocks of hooking in the background.  That might work if I do a wavy beauty line ..will try that.

Or, what about red?  I'm determined one day to do a red background.

Or maybe a red border?  Don't think so, if anything I'd want the rug to have a black border with red background but don't think it will happen on this rug tho.  

For now I'll work on just the lion using mostly the middle gold wool and perhaps another wild idea for border and background will strike my fancy.

Happy Friday everyone.  Sure hope Jose changes direction and doesn't hit the east coast.

Saundra

Mini Rug Show

As I'm still finding my direction on background and border of the Birthday Lion thought I'd show a few antique rugs. 

The rug above was named Birds in a Tree by the auction house and was stated to have been found in Pennsylvania and hooked around 1890.

Above are two hooked cat rugs which are obviously very similar in design but look how differently they look.    Hooked early 20th century.

Giving equal time to the canine species, the above rug was found just outside of Hagerstown, MD and was said to have been hooked between 1890-1915.

Above is a folky hooked farm scene with sunrise in the background. Hooked around 1930.

A rainy day here so maybe it will give me time to figure out where I will go with the rug I'm hooking.

Saundra

The New One......On my Frame

There's still a bit of binding to do on the previous two hooked rugs but cannot stand to not hook something.  Okay, there is a story behind this piece.  

My dear friend Evelyn Lawrence was perusing Barb Carroll's contact page and saw a photo of a lion she admired.  

Evelyn asked if I knew anything about a particular lion piece.  Went to Barb's site and looked for what Evelyn tried to describe.  After several emails it was determined which lion she was speaking of.  

Figuring it was a design in the Woolley Fox pattern book started thumbing thru to find the pattern.  AH HA!  While no pattern of that piece Evelyn spoke about, did find a pattern named "Jayne's Birthday Rug".  That had a drawing of the very same lion design in it.  

Next job was for me to email Bill Laraway who designed the rug for his lovely woman.... (seems I'm a detective of sorts don't you think?). It appears the single lion may have been a gift to Barb hooked by her friend Jayne.

I emailed Bill and asked if that pattern was for sale and if so, could he please draw two patterns of the lion.  One for me and was planning to surprise Evelyn with a pattern as well.  As of this posting Evelyn has already hooked and bound hers.  Can't wait to see it.

Saundra

Grandson's Favorite Soccer Team

With the sheep rug and pumpkin mat off the frame it was the perfect time for me to pull a few loops before starting something new.  Am taking my time on this project since it isn't due until Christmas.

My grandson Zach loves to play soccer and his favorite pro soccer team is Barcelona.  He and his family recently went to a game which they played in the US.  Zach was over the moon when his parents told him they had tickets.

Unbeknownst to Zach, grandma is hooking a wall-hanging for Christmas. Will also give him another team shirt too.  

Must tidy up my wool room a tad and finish binding the sheep and the pumpkin mat but stay tuned to see what will be on my frame next.

Happy Saturday,

Saundra

Another To Bind

Just finished hooking one of Kelley's designs from her new pattern booklet of sketches.  As the cotton fabric was sewn on before hooking this won't take me long to bind.  But it is second in line as the sheep rug binding isn't quite finished.

The border, background and bird were all hooked pulling worms from my baggies.  A lot of the pumpkin was done the same but did have to cut a few strips.  

The ground wool is a piece purchased from Kris Miller at camp one year. Don't know the name of the wool but think it picks up the blue, orange and of course some green so goes well.

So now to figure out what is on my frame next.  Meanwhile I'll pull a few loops on my grandson's hooked Christmas gift.

NOTICE... PRAIRIEGIRL, if you are re-reading my blog in trying to contact Kelley to get a pattern book, please write me in the EMAIL ME form on the right top side of my blog.  You are a NO-REPLY blogger and neither Kelley nor I am able to send you a message when you write us in the 'comment' section of our blog.

Saundra

A Little Birdie Told Me

I drew this pattern using a designs from Kelley Belfast's New/Old Pattern booklet ~ you can have yours too by contacting Kelley to purchase one.  

I named this design A Little Birdie Told Me , it measures 21 x 31 so should be a quick easy piece for me to hook.  I'm using blues in various cuts from my worm bag and attempting to make it look like a fall evening sky.

Happy Labor Day everyone.

Saundra

Have I Any Yarn?

Actually the name of this pattern is called Have You Any Wool but said 'yarn' since I hooked the sheep to appear like a skein of yarn.  The pattern offered by Woolley Fox is a design by Carol Endres.  

For new visitors, if you scroll down to a previous post you will see the wool used for the border and background.

This was a lot of fun to hook, particularly since challenging myself with the shape of the sheep.  A plus was successfully reducing my pattern stash by one more.   Now must get back to working on a Kelley Belfast design I'm calling "A Little Birdie Told Me".

Happy Labor Day Weekend.

Saundra

Rug Show Anyone?

I'm oh so close to being finished hooking the sheep rug but not ready yet to post another photo.  Instead decided to entertain you will some
old rugs.

I love this eagle rug with lions and stars below.  Only information available was that it was from Douglassville, PA.  

 

The deer rug below with the chewed up edges is attractive to me but wish I could view the back of the rug to see true colors and if those are trees on the sides or trees and part of house.  Or, maybe she just used what she had to highlight her subject....the mighty buck.

Below is a rug dated 1920 from an estate in Connecticut entitled "Gathering Eggs".

Especially for Kelley, who already knows the primitive shape of cats, here is a framed 1887 piece offered by Garth.

OMG, does this rug below speak Hallow's Eve?  All that is missing is a moon and maybe a pumpkin or two.  Me thinks thinks Me will hook it but October is coming so fast.  But I plan to do a pattern and name it Scardy Cat when the designing is done.

Cannot believe it is Labor Day Weekend coming up.  Where did this year go??  My heart goes out to the people in Texas and Louisiana and this weekend we in Delaware will feel the residual effects of the rain from Harvey as it moves out of their area.

Plus, there is another storm brewing in the Atlantic Ocean named Irma and she is heading this way in perhaps 2 weeks.  Yup, sad to say it might hit the east coast.  Hope it changes it mind.  

Hope you have a safe and happy Labor Day Weekend.

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

LOST and FOUND

A few years ago my computer with WIN07 crashed and along with it went pictures on the hard drive.  Sadly I didn't think ahead so not all my rug photos were saved to a flash drive.  Recently when starting to recreate my list of hooked rugs (also lost in the crash) was unable to find a particular original design I named "Great Escape".

That is until yesterday.  Out of the blue I receive a phone call from a gal I met over 10 years ago while visiting Cape May rug camp.  Caran wanted to know if I was attending camp this year and if so which week. Long story short....she said thru a photo of a fish rug she had on her iPad she was able to track me down.  

Say WHAT??????  Did it have a purple fish in it?  She said it did and sent me the photo.  Who'da thunk it!  Here is the lost picture of the rug ~ it is found again and safely saved to a flash drive.  Below is a photo in bright sunlight on  my deck.

Below is a photo of Great Escape in subdued lighting without a flash on my back porch. 

Here is a photo of the rug in bright sunlight on my deck.  As the colors are not something I could live with in my home sold the rug at an art fair at a beach resort.   

Oddly enough several years later I am to design and hook another rug with bright colors which does live in my house.  The one below I named Ali Katz.

It is fun to see the Great Escape again and it brings back fond memories of the class with Gail DuFresne.  Thanks Caran, for the phone call and hope you enjoy Cape May whichever week you visit.

My heart goes out to all those living in Texas.

Saundra 

Hidden Image

Did you see it?  Did you see a camouflaged hidden image anywhere in this 1920's rug?

Take a look at the tree on the right......  do you see it now?  Here it is enlarged below.  All decked out with the gnome cap too.

Happy Friday to you all.  

Saundra

Some Old Rugs

Below is a nice welcome mat with hearts in all the corners and nice neutral hit and miss border.

Two dogs reclining with a light neutral geometric style background to make it more interesting in appearance and probably more interesting for the person to hook.

Below is a Barbara Merry snow scene and while it may not be real old Barbara is well known.

The auction house said the Welcome rug with cat and dog was hooked in the 1800's.  It is mounted but you can see loose loops at the edge along the black framing.

Below is an early 20th century hooked rug of horses, flowers and pennies.

And here is the backside view for the actual colors before fading or soiling.

Now, on a more folky style of rug but still worthy of viewing IMHO are these next two rugs.  I recently saw this cottage hooked piece on an auction web site and it was immediately endearing to me.

Reason it was so endearing is because it reminded me of a rug at Barb Carroll's former Guest House for rug hookers.  In May 2016 Barb asked me if I'd noticed the newly purchased piece handing on the wall in the bathroom.  Well of course I had and took a picture of it.  Here is that rug.

 

Barb's rug reminds me of a Gnome's cottage and when seeing the one above Barb's was immediately reminded.  Now....... okay you creative folks.  Look at Barb's Gnome cottage rug and let me know if you see a hidden image.

On another note, I do believe I've found my way with the "Have you any Wool" rug.  Will try to hook more so that I can attempt to catch up with Kelley's loops.  

S

Yup...That Green Must Go

Did a smidgen more hooking without pulling out the green just to see the difference.   Now I feel quite comfortable pulling out that green.

Wasn't quite sure how many new colors I could introduce to the rug so thought I'd toss a little dark red in there and it looks great.  

There will be more tweaking than just the two green leaves so stay tuned to see how this ball of yarn sheep turns out.

In case you didn't read it before, this design is called Have you Any Wool and is a design by Carol Endres offered by Woolley Fox.  It measures 23 x 31.

Saundra

Taking A Critical Look

I have flip flopped between 3 projects over the last few weeks and decided to concentrate on just one to get it finished.  The "Have You Any Wool" is a pattern offered by Woolley Fox and put it on hold because of the border.  Sure thought my color planning would work out perfectly but suddenly became undecided.

Looking at the pattern saw the sheep as a skein of yarn so chose to hook the sheep like that. Was totally happy how the sheep turned out so my plan worked even though I know a tail of a sheep is longer than hooked. 

The border is my problem.  Actually am happy with the dark part of the plaid as the border but wasn't sure what to do with the leaves and pennies (flowers).

Seems I boxed myself into a corner with limited color choices for leaf colors.  So guys and gals who visit my blog I thank you for taking the time to visit and comment.  Nothing fake about  me, I tell it like it is and show my true self.  

I love hooking rugs but struggle with color planning like the rest of you....or perhaps some of you.  If only I'd taken this to a class with Barb Carroll she would have fixed my problem in a nano second.

Have a great evening everyone.   

Saundra

Some Old Rugs to Enjoy

Since progress on my three is moving at a snail's pace thought I'd entertain you with some old rugs.  Below is Little Bo Peep which was hooked around 1940

Below is a rug found in Darnstown, PA area and was to have been hooked about 1930.

On the auction site the rug below was named Fisherman's House and hooked 19th century.

This folk art pictorial of the pioneer frontier was said to have been hooked between 1880- 1920.

A stylized swan with hit and miss background and no date given.

Auction house says the Birds in Tree was found in Pennsylvania and hooked about 1890.

I'm hungry already but today is my lucky day (not) as I'm on a liquid diet for my roto rooter main event tomorrow.  So far I've consumed 4 of the required 10 8 ounces of 'the magic potion'.  Guess I won't stray too far from the house today, huh?

Saundra

Movin' On and UFR's

I tend to get bored working on one thing at a time EVEN IF I love what I'm working on.  Presently I have 3 hooking projects going ...otherwise known as UF?  Huh?  Why were they called UFOs?  So I think that this day forward they should be known as UFR's.  Un-Finished Rugs.

Anyway, tucked safely away is my sheep (which I want done before Cape May), Kelley's adorable pumpkin (an October rug), and my grandson's rug which is a Christmas gift.  Yes December is a bit away but must be perfect for my grandson and want it done in good time.

Now I'm getting excited about working on this one for my grandson again.  It has been in the basket for way too long.

Hope you have a great evening.  Frankly I'm on edge as tomorrow is Ben's stay and play test to see if the kennel will accept him so I can attend rug camp at Cape May in September.  

Saundra

Black and Blue

I love this design from the doodles of Kelley Belfast and it was love at first sight.  Doesn't it look like the birdie is whispering into an ear?  Her sketch just cracked me up and knew this was the one I wanted to hook.

Color planning in the beginning was to over-dye wool and cut new strips. But was too excited to begin hooking so decided to use strips from my worm bags. 

Working up close to the rug and under the OTT light some of the colors didn't look right so kept reverse hooking and didn't make much headway on this smallish mat (13.5 x 22.5).  However, looking in the picture here I kinda like what I see; it looks primitive and naive.  So me thinks me will just pull strips and hook randomly. If two dark strips end up next to each other or two lights strips....so be it. At least I'll be working thru my pre-cut wool strips.  

If you would like to purchase Kelley's new/old doodles booklet please contact her at the link above.  If you would like to hook this design or another in her booklet but don't have the resources or skills to do so, contact me and I will draw the design on Dorr Natural Primitive linen. Kelley has given me the authority to draw patterns from her designs.

Happy rainy Saturday.

Saundra

A Little Birdie Told Me

After receiving Kelley's "New/Old Designs" booklet was set on hooking a sunflower after seeing what she was hooking....UNTIL.. thumbing thru her sketches.  When I saw a drawing that spoke to me.  

That drawing was an unusual shaped pumpkin and wee bird.  The stem on the pumpkin looked like an ear to me which the birdie was whispering something into.  That is why I've called this "A Little Birdie Told Me".

This smallish design I drew was meant as a quick hook and measures 13 1/2 x 22 1/2 .  While I had grandiose ideas about over dying wool instead decided to pull from my cut strips.  

Have a great evening everyone and happy hooking.  

Saundra