Celebrating A Life

For me it is celebrating the life of a sister rug hooker, Joyce Kloster, whom I've never met.  But thru a fateful day having my vehicle fixed at an auto repair shop have gotten to know her from her daughter Lea.   To read my previous blog post about Joyce click HERE.  

I'll show more rugs further down, but here she is holding a huge Eagle pattern.  Heck, I'd probably still be working on something that large.

Here is that pattern hooked, these are part of the family photos Lea was kind enough to share with me.  This one might well be the rug Lea spoke of which is in the museum.

Joyce, was a mother of 6 children with no male figure helping raise them but they had a grandmother to help while Joyce went to college to get a teaching degree.  Lea said she didn't have fancy new clothes or extra anything as a child but she had everything she needed and then some.  She said she never felt like she missed out on anything and Joyce found a way to expose her children to the best possible life enrichment experiences as possible.  

She was a volunteer for the Red Cross so taught canoeing, first aid and cpr classes. Lea remembers getting to fix the Annie resuscitation doll's hair, fun for a little girl.  The kids always helped their mom when she was doing demonstrations getting valuable training and nurturing from a loving mom.  The family had a trailer in their backyard with six canoes.  The kids loved getting to flip the canoe over and tread water under it for teaching purposes. 

Joyce was also a Girl Scout leader for a few years; when Lea was a teen so took the girls canoeing in the boundary waters of Minnesota.  Lea never knew until she was married and moved away that her mom would pre-write her post cards and give them to the camp director so Lea would have one every day  Joyce also helped with Lea's brother's Boy Scout troop trips.  

Joyce also helped the Red Cross disaster team for a few years. There was/is a lot of flooding in Iowa and Lea remembers going around the town of Waverly, Iowa in an ambulance handing out Donuts, sandwiches and coffee.

Here are a few of the rugs hooked by Joyce which Lea owns.  First up was perfect for the Halloween just past and going into November.

The "Angels on Duty" rug below could well have been designed with Joyce in mind as she surely was an angel on duty caring for her 6 children.

Here is a humorous family story Lea shared with me... As mentioned, there were 6 kids and her mom had a purple cow cookie jar which both Lea and her sister Kathy always wanted.  Joyce said when she died Kathy could have the cow and brother Doug could have the purple rug.  The rug color shows almost black but it is purple.

The story continues...as the children became adults, almost every Sunday the family would go to moms house for a couple hours to visit with everyone.  The siblings would sometimes hide the purple rug or the cow cookie jar to see if anyone noticed.  It became a ritual to find where they were hidden.  Sadly they lost sister Kathy to pancreatic cancer about 5 years ago so now Lea has the purple cow cookie jar and brother owns the purple background rug. 

Lea's brother Danny owns these rugs hooked by his mother.

Remember in the previous post (see hyperlink to it above) where I mentioned inheriting a red dot of a dragon and it drawn on a piece of rug warp?  Here is a photo of a completed Dragon Joyce hooked and is owned by Danny, Lea's other brother.

After Joyce got her teaching degree she had time off during the summer so she and the children would take road trips. One summer they drove to Washington state, another summer they travelled to Georgia and the last big trip they drove from Iowa to Bar harbor, Maine.   They then took a ferry to Nova Scotia and drove to New Brunswick then to Michigan and back to Iowa.   They always drove and slept at camp grounds.  

Joyce had the trips planned out with AAA maps.  Lea said, "It amazes me now as a adult the things my mom did for us.  One thing my kids and nieces and nephews will tell you I say and I get it from my mom ~ I’m never lost I’m just taking the scenic route lol."

For any of you readers who visited Joyce's home you may have seen these.  Lea said her mother collected Russian Nesting Dolls and at one time thinks she probably had over 1200 of them.  Here are some which Lea now owns but surely not all Joyce once owned.

Lea says her mom was awarded a plaque one year (around 1980) and thinks it was a 'kindness to humanity award' but sadly no one knows where it is or who it was from.  She was also Special education teacher at a school called River Hills. The kids helped with special Olympics and there was even a special Ed Girl Scout troop they helped and went to camp with. 

Here are some photos Lea scanned for me and she didn't know any of their names.  I saw a photo and thought I knew exactly who it was sitting in the photo with Joyce.  I posted the question of Facebook if the woman on the right was Emma Lou Lais, and immediately had numerous positive "YES's".   For those of you who are not rug hookers, here is some fun facts about that delightful woman EMMA LOU LAIS.

If anyone recognizes people in these other photos please let me know and I'll see about changing the names in the photo.

Another thing which Lea wanted to share with all of you is the China Doll on the left.  She said she was allowed to play with the doll when she was little if she was really careful.  Her mom would put a wash cloth between her porcelain feet so they wouldn't chip or break.  The fancy gown she is wearing was made by a friend out of Lea's wedding dress.

In Lea's sharing her wonderful memories of her mom with me she said, "You never realize how much impact someone you love has on your everyday life until they are gone."   

Lea knows I'm doing this post to honor her mother and want to thank her.  What's amazing is that I feel as tho I knew Joyce personally and in reading and again doing this blog have gotten teary eyed.  Thank you Lea, and Joyce if you are reading this in heaven you did one fantastic job raising your children,  thank you for your wool and wool strips, and bet you are an Angel on Duty in heaven now. 

Saundra

WOOLLY SANTA

Woolly Santa is all hooked and once Old Tom is bound I will begin binding this as December is just around the corner.  I did try to 'fix' Santa's stink eye situation, a couple times actually, and will settle with this look.  He does look a little softer.

Below is the photo before tweaking the eyes; I wanted his eyes to be blue but shows too dark and too close together.  I also trimmed his eyebrows.  

Photographing a rug is challenging for me.  The picture above was taken on my chilly breezy back porch with indirect sunlight but the flash still went off.  The photo below was taken inside the house with a flash.  Amazing how different the background and border colors look with that little bit of indirect sunlight.

There is nothing new on my frame today nor will there be this evening.  However, I'm thinking about designing one and have enlarged a couple motifs.  Will see how that 'plan' goes and if I get frustrated will pull something from my stash as I get the 'vapors' if I don't have a hook in my hand and pattern on my frame 😬. 

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

Miscellaneous Ramblings

Just 8 days away from rug camp and I'm not thoroughly convinced it really will occur.  Am thinking more students will drop out or the two remaining teachers of four original teachers drop out as well.  Guess I've been used to disappointments or cancellations most of this year.  But if it really does happen I'll enjoy getting away from my cave for a couple days.   

I've drawn the New Years Eve pattern on linen and have started pulling wool.  As mentioned before it is from the art work of Lindsay Bowles and sold on etsy by The Wool Farm.

At my own snail pace am binding Old Tom without any more reverse hooking and almost done with hooking Woolly Santa but haven't tackled the eyes of him yet.  Friend Lauren (Rugs and Pugs) asked what I'd put on my frame next since that one would be done before camp.  

Hmmmm, I've got to work that out real soon.  I have several patterns on linen in my stash including Over the Moon with wool ready. 

I would like to hook a profile of my boy Ben as my other departed fur babies have been hooked.  Just haven't drawn up a pattern of Ben yet.  Let  me explain the tether....I was working outside and he was a runner/car chaser.  This was photo was taken before the back yard was fenced in for him to be loose.

And, it has been a long time since I've hooked an antique adaptation so that's also a possibility.  OH, just thought that I could take bag of selvages and start my hit and miss geometric.  Heck, that would be something quick to gather and easy to draw.  

When I return from rug camp will put rugs and patterns on ebay or etsy and thought I'd post something here first.  At one time I was heavily into stitchery and quilting.  One thing I know for sure....never again will I do stitcheries and/or quilts using stitcheries.  

There are 12 unused like new designs, one for each month which originally cost $5 each.  I will sell them for $4 = $48 plus shipping to the lower 48 states only.  Am selling them together, not individually.  Even if you don't make a quilt with them, they are individually cute small rug hooking designs.  

First one gets it, if you are a No-Reply blogger I'll not be able to contact you so would go the the first person I can reach.

I can see a Thanksgiving and Santa design on someone's frame soon and there would be other designs for the remainder of the year.

Happy Saturday and so glad the rain has stopped.  The remnants of Zeta left me with a lake over the entire back and sides of my house.  Not sure the total rainfall for my area but it was predicted to have up to 5".

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

Turkey Shoot

Translated means 'turkey photo'.  Pulled the last loop on Old Tom twice now and not going for a third.  So let's see now and the before.

This is the current look of Old Tom, a wiser 'old' Tom now that he has a few years and experience under his belt.

Here is a picture of the much younger and wild crazy Tom of his then generation.  My goodness but I think me likes that older Tom better than his younger self.  And most assuredly better than the naked plucked Tom you previous saw on my blog.

So happy I decided to pull the loops now instead of suffering thru a couple years of not using it, and it is a better representation of the design.  WHEW, so glad the redux is done and now to start binding as November is just a few days away.  

Saundra

OLD TOM REDUX (The Reboot)

Seems my previous post was quite confusing to some readers even tho I thought I'd made it clear in the second paragraph when I said..."Toms feathers were plucked out and will rehook them."  I received comments on how they liked the new look.  Huh?  Maybe I should have kept it like that and started a new hooking technique craze, lol.  Now will show you my very little progress since yesterday.

Who knows if I'll like it better than the before but am surely not plucking poor Tom's feathers a second time.  November is coming up quickly so want this fella finished ~ Santa will wait and will give me something to work on while waiting for my teacher at camp (November 8th). 

Didn't get a lot of hooking in because I was able to get my high dosage flu shot and am quite pleased as it takes 2 weeks for it to become effective and I've got rug camp in 10 days.

Saundra

REBOOT

When your PC freezes up or a function stops working you 'reboot', right?  Likewise when a hooking project goes awry it makes sense to do that too.  That's what I'm doing with Old Tom.  

Yesterday I picked it up to start the binding process, it had been over a month since holding it and suddenly didn't like those colors I really great in the beginning.  Some of Tom's feathers have been plucked and will rehook them.  More wool might be pulled out later, depends on how it goes.  NOTE:  some folks thought I'd hooked the turkey white but that is with all his feathers pulled awaiting his new growth.

Thought I'd show you progress on Wooly Santa, the background and border wool.  If you scroll down to see the original version you'd notice I didn't choose a blue sky background.

Have always like the color of the plaid wool but despite having it for several years ago from a jobber in Baltimore.  Hadn't used it because it is slippery, there must be some cashmere in it.  Decided to use it anyway because it worked well with the border color.  Can't remember where that wool was purchased but now wish I had more.  The white is what was used for the sheep.  You can see a better photo of it if you scroll down thru previous posts.

It appears there really is to be a rug camp November 8th.  Which means I must get cranking to get my pattern and wool ready.  This is the design I'm going to  hook in a class with Bev Conway.  The Pattern is called New Years Eve from the artwork of Lindsay Bowles and you can get yours HERE.

NEW YEARS EVE ~ pattern to linen - hook - bind - label.

      So do I change Old Tom the list to:

OLD TOM ~ REhook - hook - bind - label?

      I still haven't changed Santa's eyes and mouth from the frown to a happy face, so do I put that on my list? 

WOOLY SANTA ~ pattern to Linen - hook, fix face - bind - label

Been thinking about this 'list' thing.  I've other projects started (star quilt about 5 years or so since I worked on it), stitchery projects in similar status as I just stumbled upon them the other day when looking for something else.  Maybe if I pulled them out where I could see them every day just seeing them would be my incentive.  

I'm  glad that lists work for Lauren, but if I felt the need to keep a project list think I'd keep it near where I work on them, put it on my fridge or pin it to a cork board in my wool room.  Makes no sense to me to need to look on my iPad to see what has to be done to what when .

One list I constantly do is my Grocery list.  I keep on the kitchen counter and put items on it when I run low or run out of something.  Sad thing is I sometimes forget to take it to the store.  So I'm going to NIX this list thing because I'm sure you'd rather I just get straight to the point and post photos and progress  instead of reviewing my list.  😉

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

This, That and The Other Thing (edited)

THIS is what I'm working on now, have had this Primitive Spirit pdf pattern for years and finally decided to hook it.  As I often do, took the liberty to change something in the design.  The original has Santa holding a sack from which the small sheep is showing out of the top.  I felt that unnecessary and distracting to my eye so changed the mitten somewhat and hooked Santa in his clothing only, no sack.  

Figure the black mittens make the eye think there are legs folded under.  But I think the eyes and mouth needs a little work to make him look more happy.

Am editing the post to show you a view of the original design.  Should have done that upon doing the post yesterday.  

I'm hooking it in 8.5 and the sheep are hooked with varying sizes from #8 thru #9.  Below is the wool I'm using for the sheep and something purchased from Gail Dufresne several years ago at camp knowing it was a perfect sheep or Santa beard wool.

Santa's beard, however, is hooked with a very fuzzy white wool my pal Deb shared with me a few years ago.  I didn't take a photo of the beard wool as the fluff didn't show up, but here is a picture of the wool purchased from Gail.  

This wool is rather thick and I did hand cut a lot of it but when my hand tired of pulling wide strips of the thick wool I ran it thru my Townsend in #8.5.  It was a slow processing guiding that wool thru but made it more manageable to hook as I wasn't able to get uniform strips with hand cutting.  

THAT would be providing something Halloween for Cranky Crow's ravenous appetite.  In my sewing room I have two Halloween items hanging all year, one is yet another of Tonya Robey's handmade items.  Just love this wool Halloween stocking with the words BOO stitched near the toe.

I keep the Vintage Halloween Cat as a reminder to make a rug pattern from it.  The hanging ornament is a little worse for wear, has some bent pieces, areas taped and toes missing; but he is the only vintage Halloween item I own.

Took a photo of the back and you can see years ago when sold it was 10 cents, when I purchased it from the thrift store a few years ago I paid $1.

THE OTHER THING is taking a lead from Lauren (Rugs and Pugs) and make a "Project List" to monitor my accomplishments or lack of.  

    Wooly Santa ~ pattern to linen - hook - bind - label

    Old Tom ~ Hook - bind - label  😞  Sadly that task hasn't been done since the rug was hooked in September.  These are not the true colors of Tom as he isn't neon gold in person.

Okay, over and out for the day, gonna go pull more loops on my Santa this rainy day in Delaware.  Yesterday the temperature rose to 80* which is well over 10* higher than normal for this time of year and today will have a high of 56*.   Delaware is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get.

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

Happy Haunting and Scarecrow

A few years ago when I was into yet another craft...quilt applique I made this adorable hanging piece.  It was a pattern in some craft magazine and a design by Patrick Lose.  I love primitive and have antiques so wanted the branch as a hanger.  This still lives here because I've brought it out at Halloween some years.    

The Scarecrow quilt applique was also from some craft booklet (I think) and not sure if the piece still exists here, was sold or given as a gift previously.

 

Some of you have inquired on my poison ivy healing.  It continued to spread and get more intense and won't tell you where the areas are, suffice it to say the only place which isn't infected is my right leg.  I called my doctor Wednesday and since she is only working part time after giving birth wasn't sure when I'd hear back.  

Today I received a call from the pharmacy to pick up my prescription.  She doubled the dose of prednisone from 20 mg per day to 40 mg per day for 10 days.  The last few days with 20 mg I've had a sour stomach and not sleeping well (reactions to the drug) so now the increase will affect (effect?) those reactions as well.  But I want this poison ivy thing OVER. 

My previous doctor (retired) prescribed Cortisone pills and was the only thing which would get rid of this allergy.  Yes it is a steroid and there is, or was, a blister package of punch out pills with dosage which dwindled and weaned me off during a period of time I can't recall.  It has been years since I've had poison ivy this badly.  Maybe Cortisone isn't the wise choice today?  Don't know but if I ever get it this bad again I will suggest it to my current doctor if this double dose of Prednisone doesn't do the job either. 

Have been washing my hands well after everything (as if with covid I wasn't doing that anyway), in the morning after the shower I rub the affected areas with alcohol to dry the poison oils then apply Caladryl.  I do that same routine before bed.  Then wait until the Caladryl has dried before putting on long sleeves and long pants, then tie a kerchief around my neck because the poison ivy is still rampant there.  Each day I remove and  replace the pillow cases I use, put the clothing and towels of the day in the laundry.  

Sorry to belabor the spiel on my the poison ivy subject but think I just needed to VENT!  Thanks for being my sounding board.

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

 

Another Halloween Themed Rug

This mat was hooked and sold several years ago but I like to keep photos of work to remember what I've hooked.  It is a design by Lori Brechlin in one of her booklets and think I'd like to hook another in better colors.

This is a photo of the booklet by Not Forgotten Farm which has the pattern and 7 others in it.  Actually the original design has another witch and tree or vine to the left of this witch.

Will soon be running out of Halloween hooked mats but still have a couple quilt applique and dolls left to show which might help make it to 10/31.

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

A Goode Witch

Another Lori Brechlin design named Do Goode, Be Nice is offered by Spruce Ridge Studios.  I hooked this in a class with Kris Miller 2016.  Must admit I was intimidated by those fingers and wanted my good witch to have a nice manicure.   Frankly I'm surprised they turned out as well as they did.

Also wanted her to have a whisker sticking out of her chin so hooked a skinny piece of red wool which you can see.  Love Kris' suggestion on doing beading on those purple flowers.  I knew how to do beading (two pieces of wool hooked alternately) but had only done that for a beauty line near a border and never applied that to hooking a flower.  Turned out great!

Another suggestion Kris made was to add a real skeleton key instead of hooking it.

Hope I have enough Halloween to last these next 10 days to satisfy Robin's Halloween appetite.

Saundra

Back to Halloween

Happy now Robin?   I'm giving you more Halloween.  😉

These witches were very popular, sold many and wish I had one of these left too.  Out of these two think I'd choose the one on the right.  Which one would you choose?  The pattern is designed by Veenas Folk Art Primitives.

That wonderful rug they are displayed on was an original hooked by Tonya Robey, I have many of her mats and rugs and love each of them.  She used to own Mad Hen Prims .

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

Do you Need a Break...

...from my Halloween photos and see what I'm working on now??  I thought you might enjoy a brief pause.

I've had this paper pattern "Wooly Santa" by Primitive Spirit  soon after it was released but didn't hook it until now.  Each November/December when seeing others' post their progress or completed piece it made me want to hook mine.  Finally this year I couldn't put it off  any longer and drew it.

As usual I am taking a little creative license to do it my way.  One thing I changed and you can see it in the standing sheep, is the shape of the face.  I hooked it as drawn but it looked too fat and a sheep has a more elongated face so pulled out loops and redrew.  At least I'm happier with my version so far.

That winter festive time is coming up quickly and want to be sure to have this happy fella finished to show.

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

 

Celebrating the Season of Fall and Halloween

This mat was hooked in 2012 and believe it was in one of Lori Brechlin's booklets of patterns, but am too lazy to go check.  

Going back to when I was doing shows I'd make a lot of 'smalls' which would be inexpensive enough for someone to make an impromptu purchase.  What's sweeter than a piece of candy corn and a kitten?

Gotta get up and go walk ~ do something for my body.  When I had my boy Ben he was my motivator and wonderful companion...sigh.  Miss him terribly.

Happy Sunday, happy hooking and stay well.

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com