What a Couple of Weeks it has Been

 

Although Christmas is merely days away, it seems like this month has been 36 weeks long already. Or is it just me?

And with that many weeks in a month, one would think I'd have managed to post before now.

One would think...but one would think wrong, as you already know.

Let me explain (as briefly as I can as that is not what this post is intended to be about):

Just so far this month (which, I would point out, is not yet over) several things have gone awry. These are just a few of the most-recent "highlights:"

~My knee completely gave out resulting in a few days of crutches and requiring a steroid injection;

~An attempt to save a kitten on the way to an out-of-town specialist appointment (more on that later) left me drenched in coffee, scratched and swelling, and smelling of ugly smells by the time I arrived (despite best efforts, sadly, kitten didn't make it);

~A (very) bad reaction to my initial infusion of Reclast (for osteoporosis) left me unexpectedly incapacitated,

~My order for the bed and nightstand for the lake finally completely blew up. It started deteriorating months ago but I still had some, albeit frustrated, hope. All for naught... I could write a book about all that went wrong. (PS..NEVER, EVER, purchase furniture online from Perigold (or its affiliated companies - i.e., Joss and Main, Wayfair, etc.),

~The outdoor Christmas lights I had put up once again went out after less than 2 weeks (after years of this, it doesn't come as a surprise, but it still comes as a disappointment),

~Every gift I ordered online within the last month except one has been delayed and now won't arrive until sometime in January, and

~Months after they were to be installed, the overhead garage doors (note, doors as in plural) were installed at the lakehouse earlier this week. They are not the right ones (and no resolution/remediation in sight).

And these are just the things that stand out.

Anyway...moving right along.

Christmas!!

I took a different approach to decorating this year. Instead of rushing to pull everything out and get it up in a few days, I decided I was going to take out a few things at a time and truly appreciate and enjoy them for themselves and the memories they bear before moving on.

I found I like doing it this way. I might not get everything out by Christmas, but I don't care. It's only me who will see them anyway.  

I feel like I get to appreciate each piece - or collection - fully before moving on to the next. Kinda of like spending time with old friends I haven't seen since last Christmas.

But my new methodology means I won't be able to show you things as I hoped I would - certainly not the curated home tour version like Janice @ Prims by the Water, or

the perfectly gathered collections like Lauren @ Rugs and Pugs.

What you get instead is a very un-curated and very random bunch of photos.

No rhyme, no reason although I tried to avoid views and things I've showed previously.

Most are dark because...well, it's been very dark in Nod of late.

I'll shut up now.

On to the photos.

{Entry sidetable - Putz, old bibles, flower frog tree and crooked lampshade 😉)

An old clockface serves as a star atop the flower frog tree:

{Handmade spun cotton snowman candy container (hat removes) on top of vintage cash register rolls on top of vintage tape tin}

{Old desk in the bedroom}

Close-up of desk:

{Some of my Santa chocolate molds. The photo is terrible, but they look wonderful at night with the little white lights reflecting off their metal and the mercury bead garland.}

{Vintage Santa mugs...the more stained and crazed the better...and, yeah...there's more...I'll spare you.}

The fellas in red:

{Papier mache and pulp/pressed paper Santas, etc.)

Not to play favorites or anything, but the fella second from the right with his original pipe is pretty special:

...as is the little putz deer sitting between the two Santas in the center:

The boys in blue:

{Vintage saltglaze Santas....difficult to photograph no matter the time of day due to the windows...but this is where they hang out.}

{Very old candy box from Montgomery Ward & Co. I have a special connection to it as I worked on the initial phases of the class action lawsuit against the company when it shut down all its franchises.}

{Vintage bottle brush trees, papier mache Santa boots and cast/pot metal deer atop the spice cabinet in the kitchen}

{Vintage bottle brush trees in pounce pots/sanders}

Christmas of a different than most of yours I'm sure but Christmas nonetheless...and someone is on high alert for Santa. 

May you all find some quiet moments of anticipation and be touched, in some measure, by the spirit of the season in these precious days before Christmas. 

 

Are You Sitting Down Saundra???

I do so certainly hope so for this is not only a post about hooking, but it's also a post about my hooking and a hooking finish at that.

It only took me 15+ (?) years to get here.

I've posted about this rug several times already (Just use the index on the sidebar and look up "Welcome Cats" and you will find the posts about it...at least the posts from after the time I started using the label feature.)

It became a true bane...and pain.

It started when I saw this photo of an antique rug in a book.

It was love at first sight.

The muted/faded colors...the watercolor(ish) effect of the background...and

I mean, seriously, those wonderful, wonky, cats!!!

I searched for a long time before finding a pattern online. (This was long before my days of knowing Saundra of Woodland Junction and her gift for reproducing antique reproduction patterns.)

It was well before WWR ("When We Remodeled") that I finally located and purchased a pattern, chose the wools, and started it.

I am, by nature, a slow hooker slow at everything and, at the time, I was still working so progress was snail-like.

This is a photo of the original antique rug taken from a book:

Then WWR hit.

The rug pattern and wools were hastily shoved in "some box somewhere" (there was a lot of that during WWR) and forgotten.

When the dust of WWR (somewhat) settled, I eventually pulled it out again...only to realize I was at a complete loss as to what wool I had intended for where since I had not marked or noted or organized anything. (In fact, I wasn't completely convinced it was even the correct wool for this project that I had shoved in the box.)

I picked things back up, however, in earnest in 2021(ish??)...

only to realize three significant things:

1) The pattern I purchased was far from true to the original and, while not an antique reproduction purist like Saundra, I really had wanted it to be a somewhat faithful reproduction of the original rug. (One would think I would have noticed the discrepancies before I was halfway through...but....).

2) My style of hooking had changed over the years (not necessarily for the better), so it looked like two different people had hooked it; and

3) I somewhat regretted using the cool color palette of the antique and wished I had instead used the warm colors (and more simplified background) that others who hooked it had used.

It was even more slow-going from then on out, but I did, finally, finish the hooking in the latter part of 2022.

The cats' snaggletooth grins are one of my favorite things:

Another is the "ghost" ball between the two cats. The ball is barely noticeable in the original and I missed it initially. It was not included in the pattern I purchased and only discovered it when bemoaning the discrepancies between my pattern and the original.

While I generally enjoy binding my rugs, I felt this one was doomed to reside forever and always on The Isle of the Unfinished.  But then, in March of last year, Saundra and I decided to join each other in long-distance, virtual, binding "dates" for an hour each day.

Of course, Saundra finished binding her rug in no time flat.

I, on the other hand, did not.

Yes, I had handicaps Saundra did not:

 

My efforts were, nonetheless, quite pathetic.

But here is where the drumroll begins...and Saundra needs to sit down.

It is finally bound and fully finished (well, except for the labeling which will never happen...and the hanging on the wall which probably will never happen.)

Ta da!!!

{The colors in the above photo aren't quite true...but you get the idea.}

I used a subtle plaid wool for the binding:

It's officially in the books as the rug that went on forever.

😅

Muna and Mia

Mia's name for the moon is "Muna" - a perfect combination of "moon" and "luna."

Mia loves Muna.

 

Mia loves the leaves of autumn.

She always picks a "bouquet" of them to take home with her.

Mia holds my heart.

Happy Hallowe'en...Happy Samhain....

{Fog/mist descending around the outbuildings a few weeks back} 

Halloween is here. 

I almost typed "finally," but caught myself.

The truth is, I never want Halloween to come.

I just want it to always be October.

Perhaps that is why I never actually finish my decorating or preparations for Halloween?

In any event, I wanted to at least pop in to say I hope you are wrapping yourself in the last of autumn...the quiet spirit that seems to descend and envelop the landscape and the rooms we pass through.

I had hoped to share more of my "preparations" for the holiday, but the days slipped through my hands. 

I count it as a good thing this time of year, though, as I know I was hearing the crunch of the leaves beneath me, smelling the mellowing earth fold into itself and watching the moon dance.

I will leave you with a very abbreviated version of some of my (real...unlike the faux-vintage treat boxes in the last post) vintage Halloween treasures.

Most of you know that I generally embrace a primitive/colonial style.

But when it comes to Halloween, I can't help but let vintage in.

I have an October soul and those colors, those graphics, those echoes of simpler times are irresistible. 

One of my main weaknesses: Pulp paper/papier mache Jack-o-Lanterns:

I have battery-operated candles in many of them, so they twinkle at night. 

Two of my favorites:

{Who doesn't love a cat face??}

{My only "two-faced" jack (he has a face on both sides)}

And I have a penchant for vintage noisemakers...

This year I displayed my horns mostly among the jacks but think I'll re-think that next year.

Dye cuts and honeycomb:

Vintage candy tins and boxes (and who doesn't need a case of embalming fluid??): 

Oh...there's more... 

Vintage Halloween books, framed vintage Halloween sheet music, 

pulp paper owls, Gurley candles, and....

I'll leave it at that...and this for now. 

I've only a bit more than 2 hours before October draws its final breath.

They say the veil between this world and the other thins then and, perhaps, it does. 

The shadows here have darkened and the sounds of this old house have quieted as if listening for something I cannot yet hear.

 But each year I gather more ghosts so I think I, too, need to listen.

Wishing you light in the dark corners of the night.

Happy Halloween.

Paper Play

Are there other things I should be doing?

As Mia would say, "Oh yeeesss...."

But....

It's Halloween Week!!!!!!!!

Every now and again I put my needle and thread down (yes, and my hook...except I think I put that down months and months ago and can't remember where 😉) and play at another craft.

Sometimes it's spun cotton, sometimes punching...and, often times, just playing with paper.

There is something very satisfying about making something just out of a simple piece of paper.

 One of my greatest loves is vintage Halloween but anything remotely vintage Halloween comes at a very dear price these days.

And, although I generally don't like "fakes," I couldn't resist making a few of these little treat boxes.

These are made out of heavy cardstock that I aged/distressed to look authentically old. (Both the tops and the bottoms of the boxes are aged.)

This one I made with a cellophaned opening...haven't figured out what I will put in it yet though.

And, when I tired of the boxes, I made this scarecrow pick:

He's on a nice long dowel but I just tucked him in with my vintage hand brooms.

{Scarecrow pick pattern is by Walnut Ridge Primitives}

********

On an unrelated and sad note, I wanted to mention that the hooking community lost an incredible artist the day before yesterday.

Marilyn (a/k/a "Good") Becker passed away.

Marilyn was not only a near and most dear neighbor, but an amazing fine-cut hooker and has had several rugs in Rug Hooking Celebration magazine.  She mastered the technique of mimicking a photograph in wool.

I've shared a few of her pieces over the years. You may remember her "Marry Me Mary" rug which was based on a photograph and memorialized her father's proposal of marriage to her mother.

Look closely and you can see the fur that Marilyn incorporated in her mother's coat.

Marilyn read my blog and whenever we were together would mention it and, if others were present, would tell them about it.

She was a dear soul, and I hope she is reading this on the other side.