Lancaster Barnyard

As expected there was no need to identify the design in my previous post because a few people knew exactly what I was working on.  The design is by Lori Brechlin and purchased a few years ago in PDF form.  After envying  all those others as they were hooking theirs, I'm finally hooking it.

Am sure all of you have heard of "Murphy's Law".  Well Murphy struck again.  I woke up to no heat and inside temp of 59*.  Thank goodness it was a mild night last night instead of below freezing.

Why couldn't the furnace or heat pump have gone bad on Friday?  Why on Super Bowl Sunday that I need to call my HVAC guy?  The furnace is newer than the heat pump so maybe it is the heat pump.  Guess I'll find out later today what the financial damages will be this time.

Am thinking there will be no heat tonight because even if I'm lucky enough for it to only need a part it will need to be ordered.  If I'm unlucky and need a whole new replacement that might take a couple days to get.  All I can say is thank you God for giving mild temperatures the next couple days.  

Hope your week has gone better than mine.  Oh, and you know things usually run in THREEs.  Hope this is not the case.

Saundra
www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.com 

On The Frame

Always fun to have a new project to work on. Am only going to show you a small part of the rug to keep its identity secret for a while.  Some of you may already know what it is and will share that and the designer in my next post when more is hooked.

Well, after 25 years of great service my washer finally died.  Since the dryer is of the same age figure I may as well buy both.  Don't think it would be wise for me to have a repair man come out because it would cost $100 just for the drive here plus hourly rate and cost of parts.  And there would be no warranty.

So today will go out looking at what is available and see how it will hurt my savings account.  Guess I can't really complain since there were 25 years of work from it but still don't like spending that money ~ 
would much rather spend that on rug camps 😁.

Oh, yesterday I saw the funniest antique rug and can't wait until the next antique rug post.

Happy Thursday.

Saundra
www.woodlandjunctionprimivitives.weebly.com

Heart Butter Mold All hooked

Yippee, all hooked and steamed; now just needs to be bound.  So it will be done to display during February in time for Valentine's Day.  Again, the PDF pattern was designed and offered by Julie of Primitive Heartstrings.

Here it is.

In case you're wondering, yes I already have a new project picked out and it is already drawn.  It is another PDF pattern which I've had for a few years and envied everyone who hooked theirs.  Now it is my turn.  But first must bind this one.  

Happy Monday everyone.

Saundra
www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.com

BEFORE and AFTER

Actually there are a couple 'befores' and a couple 'afters'.  Get a cup-o-java or tea as this might be a rather long post about tweaking a rug.  Guess I should start from the very beginning.

A friend gave me a pattern (Golden in the Garden) by Nola Heidbreder so went in search of a hooked example on her web site.

The very first tweaking was turning the Golden into Rottweiler to represent my boy Ben.  Here is the before.

This is the after.  I hooked Ben's facsimile at home before rug camp.  My teacher was someone I'd had classes with before and wanted to concentrate on a more primitive background and flowers vs. the screaming color of the original which is not my color palate. 

Even after hooking Ben I tweaked his head and muzzle a little more. Below is the way the rug looked upon finishing it in 2018.  Yet a couple of those bland colored flowers just didn't suit me.  True they weren't vivid but lacked interest in my opinion.

So yesterday it was finally time for me to do something, anything to add a tad of interest to those bland flowers without have a total makeover.  And this is the new 'after'.  This I can live with.  All I did was outline some flowers and fill in the center of others.

Just look at the variance in photos.  The last photo was taken without a flash on my back porch and has more true colors of the background.  The one above was with a flash and makes the background look yellow.  The background is Irish Eyes which was a favorite background color that Betsy used to sell.

So there you have it, another tweak job by me.  Happy Friday and now I can continue working on Heart Butter Mold and hope it will be done in time for Valentine month.

Saundra
www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

Update on the Heart Butter Mold

Still not done hooking Heart Butter Mold by Primitive Heartstrings but getting closer.  Hope it will be done before February to enjoy for Valentines Day.  

Drew mine out measuring 15.5 x 17.5 as I was hoping for it to be a quick finish with no narrow cuts.  Ends up the squiggly lines are hooked in #6 (not my fav) and so far the leaves are mostly #8 and #8.5 with a few #7 thrown in.

If you look closely at the bottom squiggly line you can see I must have been in an intense mood.  The same thing would happen to me when knitting ~ if I was upset or worried my stitches would be tight and smaller.  So will need to pull out loops and get that remedied when I'm chilled.  Most definitely it won't be finished looking like this.

Hmm, wonder if that tenseness occured when catching some of the damn impeachment hearings on TV?????

Just me...Saundra
www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

Wool in Other Forms

Before becoming obsessed with rug hooking I was likewise addicted to knitting.  My very favorite wool yarn to use was Icelandic Lopi.  What was so cool hooking Icelandic sweaters is they use circular needles which makes the knitting quite simple.

For years I tried to teach myself to knit but couldn't get it.  My Icelandic friend said she could teach me how but I challenged her.  Katla said she knitted the European way not the American way.  OMG, she was right, I did learn and went from one project to the other.

Here are only two of the sweaters I knitted over the years, and of course using Icelandic Lopi.  Also knitted a few Aran cable knit sweaters which are around here somewhere.

And two ponchos I knitted, again with Lopi.

From her trips back to Iceland my friend Katla would bring over Lopi which I'd of course pay her for.  Thinking I'd eventually catch that knitting bug again I held onto the Lopi.  Now I realize that's not going to happen so am selling off my supply.

Below are just two photos among the Icelandic Lopi I have listed on eBay  Compare the prices to those on HAND-KNITTING web site.

Didn't accomplish much at all on my rug project yesterday as I was fussing and cussing at my PC and iPad for not being able to sync music.  Went thru all the hoops and hurdles, followed every instruction, deleted some apps then reinstalled them, restarted the PC, made sure the iTunes app was up to date and the iPad was listed in the control panel, yada yada yada.  

My PC still does not recognize my iPad, therefore will not transfer (sync) the music I downloaded to my iPad.  Sadly the Apple store is about two hours away and don't want to make that drive so will just put up with the issue until I can find someone local I trust who may know something about computers ~ I sure don't.

Now am going to pull a few loops.....finally.

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

Antique Art with Wool

Most, if not all, followers enjoy my posting of antique rugs ~ I also enjoy seeing them again after saving them from the on-line auction house.  First up is this 1800's Geometric from Newburyport, MA which measures 19 x 35.  Is that a repair of a damaged edge or just a large binding?

A floral hearth rug dated 1870 in brown tones measures 29 x 78.  Wish they had posted a frontal photo and indicated it's provenance.  But can only tell you what is available on the auction house site.

A primitive bowl of flowers hooked early 20th century.  

 

Another floral rug dated 1880 measures 23 x 45.  I've said before that blotchy background rugs intrigue me.  So looking at the one below am wondering if all the border was originally very dark but faded.  Or by the time she collected enough textile to finish that lower part this darker textile is what she had?  Oh I'd love to have conversations with some of those ladies.

The Cat and Kittens in the basket is mounted on a frame and said to be hooked between 1887-1899.  It measures 27 x 37.5.

Upon seeing the pattern above it triggered a previously posted antique rug which was only of kittens in a basket.

Giving equal time to dogs, below is a reclining dog which measures 33 x 55.  No other provenance was available on the web site.

Yeah, am sure you'd like to see more.....and I have more but want to save some for a future post.  Happy weekend to you worker bees.  To we oldsters who are retired every day is a weekend.

Happy hooking, stitching, quilting, knitting, etc.

Saundra
www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

Heart Butter Mold Update

Accomplished a little more on Primitive Heartstrings design.  It was a pdf pattern which I enlarged to 15.5 x 17.5.  As you can see, the holding line was hooked just outside the exterior drawn line so the finished piece will be a smidgen larger. 

I'm using cuts #8.5, #8 and for the squiggly lines using #6.  The leaves above the heart were hooked with #6 and will probably use some #7 or #8 as well.  Will see what happens as hooking continues.

Early April I have a class with Cindy Irwin so must step up my game on the Cousins rug I want to hook.  Wasn't pleased with my initial try at the drawing on linen so want to redo the sketch of the photo and flip the linen over and redraw the pattern.  It WILL NOT be a narrow cut rug as I plan to hook us in #8 with smaller detail for a hint of an eye, nose, etc.  

Yes I know April is 3 months away but I can only endure so much tension with detail as rug hooking is supposed to be fun and plan to keep it that way.  Have already alerted Cindy that I'm a fickle hooker and may hook it in class or not ~ so plan to take two patterns.  

Saundra
www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

Mundane Monday

Yes it was a mundane Monday for sure.  The oil in my van needed changing and had to wait for over an hour before it was completed.  Luckily I carried a whipped edge project with me to work on during the wait since that is also a boring task.

I started hooking this small project, Winter Bloom (designed by Tonya Robey) November 2019 as an in-between project.  The hooking was done quickly but since I hate binding rugs only worked on that in short spurts.  Finally today the whipped yarn edge was completed.

Even the label has been attached which is a photo of the original hooked by Tonya Robey.  

Thankfully this one can now be put to rest.  The Winter Sled still needs its final stitching on the binding but that won't take long when I finally get to it.

Happy Hooking everyone.

Saundra
www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

On the Frame Again

As I'm typing the title of the post the tune of a Willie Nelson song just popped in my head (On the Road Again).  I'll probably hum that tune all evening long now.  A couple years ago I purchased a pdf pattern from Primitive Heartstrings called "Butter Mold" but I refer to it as Heart Butter Mold since it will be my Valentine's project and has 5 hearts on it.  Actually more if you count the ones inside each other.

Since there is no way to improve on perfection will follow Julie's original color plan.  If you wish to start your own Valentine's project click on the hyperlink above and order yours.  You can enlarge it to whatever size you want, do needle punch or hook it.

Okay, want to check the colors I've used so far.  And as expected I'm not happy with the wavy orange gold ~ I want the more mellow gold.  Found two strips of that in my worm bags and went in search for a more substantial piece.  Can't find anymore in my stash but it's no wonder I can find anything in that pile of wool.

So back to the wool room I go for an intervention ~ an emergency search and rescue.....at least am hoping for a rescue of more of the other gold.

Happy Saturday, or at least it was here and felt like spring with temperatures close to 70* Fahrenheit.  Tomorrow is supposed to be an okay day too but the weather in Delaware is so unpredictable we could have snow in two days.

Saundra
www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

Winter Sled

....or at least that is what I'm calling it since it didn't have a name.  It is a pattern by W. Cushing and a gift to those who made a purchase during the 2018 Christmas season.  Regular followers know it was a giveaway offered by Cathy of Acorn Hollow and I was the lucky winner.  

Cathy already hooked it and posted it on her blog over a year ago and I fell in love with it.  The rug hooking group she belongs to had a pattern swap and a duplicate was what she received.  Not wanting to hook it again decided to pass it on thru a giveaway.

It is all hooked, just needs to be steamed and bound.  Since it is small shouldn't take long at all.  And now I've got to draw out my next project which is a delightful pattern offered by one of our own blogger friends.  To be presented in a future post.

Yesterday we received rain instead of snow and I was happy with that.  Snow is pretty when inside a warm home but not when one wants to walk or drive in it.

Saundra

First Antique Rug Show of 2020

It's been a while and as I get a lot of positive comments about showing antique rugs thought it was about time.  

Reclining Deer with scrolls and Flowers, no size or provenance was provided.

Birds in a tree dated 1895, measures 33 x 47, a collection of August Knapp sold for $7,995.  Great use of hit and miss using all the colors in the center of the rug.

This rug below is quite interesting.  It is hooked with the straight lines and only change in color provides the design, almost like weaving.  The bird and cat are larger than the house, which leans itself to the naive primitive style.  Measures 23.5 x 38 but no date given.

Cat and Dog early 20th century, measures 22 x 39.5 from the estate of Susan Parrish.

A faded floral with the blotchy background I like, dated 1880 on burlap 23 x 45.

And last is Pootsie.  I adore this rug.  Dog named Pootsie late 19th century measures 23 x 36 and is a shirred rug.    

Here is a close up of Pootsie.

And a close up of a flower.

Hope you enjoyed the mini antique rug show and hope you are pulling a few loops yourself ~ maybe to finish some UFO's for the start of the new year or starting something new.  Happy Hooking.

Saundra
www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

First on the Frame in 2020

November I was concerned that Mighty Whale might not be completely finished in 2019 and would then be a carry-over into 2020.  Happily it was completed and there is a new one on my frame now.  There is a story that goes with it, for you just new to my blog.....

Blogger friend Cathy (Acorn Hollow) posted about a giveaway she was offering in a November blog post.  It was for a pattern she had already hooked and I admired several months ago.  So when her hooking group had a pattern swap she received another one.  Not wanting to hook it again she generously offered it up as a giveaway.  

How lucky I was to be the recipient of that gift.  BTW, as it turns out, the design is by WCushing  and believe it was a gift in 2018 to folks who made a purchase from them pre-holiday season.  I love the design so thanks to Cushing for designing it, thanks to Cathy for hosting the giveaway.

This is what I've accomplished so far and excited to get back to it. 

Already two days into January and the stores are putting their Valentines items on the shelves.  Thankfully I've a plan to hook something with a heart after this one is done.  So, what's on your frame?

Happy hooking.

Saundra

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Once upon a time I used to make New Year's Resolutions.  Since they were most often not followed thru it is a moot point to make them.  

However, will try to get more exercise since I've two  pounds which need to come off.  May even join the Senior Center again to use the exercise room since it is winter and walking in the cold is brutal.  As I do eat healthy food isn't a problem.  

Hope you have a happy and healthy new year in 2020.  I believe it will be a great one again!

Saundra

Rugs Hooked in 2019

The year 2019 is coming to a close so thought I'd give you a rug show of the rugs I hooked this year.  First one of the year was Lititz Hens which is an adaptation of a Magdalena Briner Eby design.

Still having the antique adaptation bug hooked Early Farm Scene a Frontier Homestead pattern.

Finally a UFO which had been hidden for years, the Paisley Stair Riser was finally finished instead of being trash.  It was designed for a narrow cut and I was determined to hook it in nothing less than #8.

Next was an adorable pattern named Cat Nap designed by Kelley Belfast and too adorable to pass up.  So that was next on my frame.

Back to the antique designs of Magdalena....  When seeing the Great Granddaughter of Magdalena was donating the original hooked rug to the Historical Society of Perry County knew it had to be on my frame next.

Below is my attempt at an adaptation of that wonderful rug originally hooked by Magdalena. 

Have always heard and even repeated, these words:  "Use it Up, wear it out, make it do or do without".  That was the slogan from the War Advertising Council of 1944.  That was a time when most resources were being used for the war effort and conserving in the home was promoted.  

Then it was time for Cape May rug camp with teacher Miller who I always enjoy.  The pattern to be hooked was Oh Glorious Day, a design by Lori Brechlin and pattern sold by Spruce Ridge Studio.  

In November Kris Miller was my teacher again and took a design named Friendship Bells by Folk Art Landing.  There was a little creative license taken and this is the result.

Was looking for something small to hook until I could decide on my next project so picked one from my stash, a design by Tonya Robey called Winter Bloom.  It is all hooked but still have the remainder of the whipped edge to complete.

That next major project happened to be and antique adaptation I've named Mighty Whale.  And yup, it was all hooked AND bound before the new year.

Am anticipating completely getting the whipped edge finished on Winter Bloom before going to bed tonight and I'll have a clean slate for works hooked in 2019.

Saundra

Hidden Image Revealed

Among the photos in my previous blog post there was a vintage hooked rug (below).

I asked if anyone could see a hidden image in the rug somewhere.  Only one person found it right away, great job seeing it Lady Locust.  Then a few people said they couldn't find it so I gave them a hint.  At which time they could see the image.  Unfortunately since Gina and Carrie are NO REPLY BLOGGERS (no email address provided in the Blogger account), I was unable to write them.

So now, look at the tree to the right of the house.  Do you see it now?  If not..... what about now?

Do you see a Gnome hidden in the leaves and branches now?

Don't know how it is possible for a year to go by so fast and it is almost 2020.  Does your family have a traditional New Years meal?  My mother always cooked black eye peas as the New Year's meal.  It was supposed to be good luck.  As part of that southern tradition some also include collards and corn bread; I just might include that in my meal plan as well.

One year I forgot to buy my bag of black eye peas and there were none left in any of the stores.  But I searched even the dollar stores and found a can of prepared beans.  Wasn't as good as fresh cooked from scratch but mentally I was satisfied.

Saundra

Throwback Thursday

      NOTE: Carrie and Gina, both of you are "no-reply" bloggers so you will not be able to receive replies from me.  I'm not ready to give the secret away quite yet so email me thru the EMAIL ME spot on the right side of the blog post.  Then I will be able to reply.

Reminiscing past rug camps with the classy and talented lady Barb Carroll thought I'd share some photos from when classes were held in her former Ligonier home.  Here she is color planning a rug for Deb.

Over the years I was fortunate to stay in both of the cabins located on the premises.  One year my roomie Deb and I stayed in the 'Guest house'.

It was quite comfortable and decorated with antiques and hooked rugs ~ some antique rugs and some hooked by Barb.  There was a propane fireplace which we enjoyed if there was a chill in the air.  

In the distance on the left wall you can see the antique rug 3 Bears.  I have always loved that design and it remains somewhere on my 'to hook' list but has yet to make it to the top.

This is the bedroom.

There was a well stocked kitchen with coffee, egg cooker, microwave, breakfast foods, eggs, milk, soda and other goodies always stocked in the fridge.

There was a bathroom to the right of the kitchen.  One year when we arrived we noticed a vintage rug had replaced a print on the wall.  Study that rug and see if you see a well hidden image anywhere.

There was also a deck and this was the scene from the deck.  Deb and I hooked on the deck when it was warm enough.  Originally a swimming pool Barb made it into a Koi pond.

After 'hard day at work hooking' in Barb's home, Deb and I would sit and hook in the living room in the Guest House and enjoy a glass of wine...or two.

Perhaps next throwback Thursday I'll show you photos from the Woolley Cottage.

Saundra