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.

😅

One for the Crow...

...one to die, one to grow.

Just an old gardening rhyme with lots of variations:

"Four seeds in a row, one for the rook, one for the crow, one to die, and one to grow."

"Four seeds in a row, one for the rook, one for the crow, one will wither and one will grow."

"One for the blackbird, one for the crow, one for the cutworm, and one to grow."

"One for the mouse, one for the crow, one to rot, one to grow."

"One for the wind and one for the crow, one to die and one to grow."

...and so many more one could write a book of nothing but these rhymes.

Anyway...that has little to do with this post.

The season to sow is long past. Sometimes I feel like I went to sleep sometime in April and woke up and it was the end of October.

 

Somehow there is less than one week until Halloween.

I've not gotten a fraction of the things done that I had hoped to (including blogposts), but I have gotten some of my Halloween up and a few (small) projects crossed off my list. 

Wow...have I veered off topic. 

Back to "One for the Crow"....

In addition to an old and prolific gardening rhyme, it's the name of this design by With Thy Needle & Thread.

I stitched these designs several years ago but was disappointed in the linen I used. It was the called-for 40 ct "Legacy" from Picture this Plus," but my pieces did not look like the model photos. 

I distressed the linen a bit after I completed the stitching, but they still were pale and sickly.  (These photos make them look closer to the models but they aren't really.)

However, after extended stays at both the Isle of Misfits and Castaways and The Isle of the Unfinished, they finally made it into these little pinkeeps.

Two littles off the list....

Now back to my other distractions.

The Sad Tale of Little Jack Trifle

Ahhh.... Poor Little Jack Trifle.

He's a winsome little fellow despite his beleaguered beginnings and melancholy mien.

His story began with Melisa at Pinker n Punkin Quilting & Stitching when she posted this adorable cucurbit's pattern on her blog. (Melisa graciously offers all her patterns free of charge.)

Since I haven't met many pumpkins a pumpkin I haven't loved, I had to stitch him.

 

So, shortly after his debut, stitch him I did.

I had thought I would make him into a "seasonal" insert for the hanging clock I purchased several years ago. (I posted the St. Patrick's Day insert here and the Christmas one here.)

I did not, however, do my math and he ended up far too small even for the small clock insert.

{Stitched on Osnaburg}

 

If possible, poor Jack's countenance seemed to become even more dejected.

To make his failure as a clock insert candidate even more painful, he ended up in my Basket of Shame on the Isle of the Unfinished...where he languished for several years.

Finally, I could no longer stand his sad little face looking up at me every time I went near the Isle of the Unfinished.

Sooo, I finally picked him up with the intention of finishing him into a little scissors fob.

But his sad, sad, eyes kept imploring me...he did not want to be a fob.... He wanted to be a clock insert.

He truly did. 

So, I assured Little Jack Trifle that I would do what I could and proceeded to build him a little basket of stitches which he could sit upon and which would give him a little more height.

He did not seem to mind that I just "winged" the basket part without a pattern. (I suspect his time in exile on the Isle of the Unfinished made him a bit desperate.)

But Little Jack still looked downcast.

I could not understand how he could be so mirthless as I thought the urn-like basket looked good on under him.

Then I saw it.... The last bottom row on the urn/basket was short one "x" on the left side.

Seriously??

Surely this must be the source of poor Jack's distress but correcting it would mean removing both my initials and the year as well as several other stitches given how I had stitched it.

Gah!

But if Lil' Jack ain't happy, well...you know.

So out they came, in went new stitches and my egregious error was corrected.

But it seemed that Jack's countenance had shifted,

ever so slightly, from sadness to apprehension. And could it be outright fright??

I was more than ready to be done with Mr. Trifle at this point but, given his long-suffering patience, I added a few bats to keep him company.

A bit happier? Not much...but I was done.

I decided to fully final-finish him into an insert before I changed my mind again (or completely lost my mind).

It's a simple and easy finish and one I've done dozens of times.  Simple and easy if one doesn't iron the fusible interfacing on the incorrect side.

Really????

😖

(No photos here as I quickly tried to undo the damage before the bond was completely cooled.)

My demeanor was now every bit as sour as Jack's and, just as I was beginning to think that I had, after all these years, finally met a pumpkin I did not love, I thought I saw a little tear in the corner of Jack's eye. 

I don't know if it was a bit of the interfacing left stuck to his face or simply confirmation that I had, indeed, lost my mind, but I knew I had to finish what I started.

So, albeit a bit worse for the wait and wear, Little Jack Trifle finally got his wish of becoming a clock insert.

He's not as crisp and sharp as he was when he started his life but, then again, neither am I.

And it may be just me, but I think he looks like he is doing his best to look the part of the proud little jack-o-lantern he is.

(Just don't anyone tell him that, in a matter of weeks, he will be replaced by a Christmas tree. 😬)

Sepia Sampler...and Other Things That Begin With "Ssss"

I am still struggling with the souls stranded on the Isle of the Unfinished, but have rescued one:  "Sepia Sampler," a design by Lori Brechlin of Notforgotten Farm, is now finally finished and framed.  (The frame is not as black as it appears in the photo - there are wonderful wood tones that reflect the sepia tones of the sampler colors.)

{Stitched 1 over 2 on 36ct "Wren" by Picture This Plus.}

The smoke from the Canadian wildfires has once again enveloped Nod.

Every morning, every evening and every hour in between is shrouded in haze.

{Smokebush and Echinacea...and wildfire smoke}

This round, the smoke seems particularly irritating to my eyes so I checked on the back gardens, then retreated to my dungeon.

{View from the dungeon}
 

It's not such a bad place to be considering the "babies" are now hatched and out and about.

You know...those other things that start with "ssss...."

Yes, that streak of red on the left of the photo below is a very forked tongue.

They are every bit as feisty as the adults.

If you don't hear from me in a few weeks, please tell someone to bring bread and water....

On second thought, hold the water...make it wine.

Yesterday's Roses

 

The days are slipping by while I am still standing still.  More than three weeks have passed since I last posted and I have little to show for the time, and even less to say.

So I thought I would show you yesterday's roses and a few other random photos.

 

We had one good rain a week ago, and that has been all. This is typically when our drought season starts but this year it has gotten a wicked head start.

Things have been hot and humid - the days smoke-filled and hazy from the wildfires. So, in some of the photos below, you may notice the gauziness of the skies in the background.

{Wisteria on Cornzebo}

{The teeny, tiny, house in Nod}

{Follow the red brick road....}

I continue to stitch a little - mostly on littles.  The Isle of the Unfinished, however, is becoming grossly overpopulated, so I have committed (🤣) to do better at final finishes.  

This is "Keeper of the Pins" by With Thy Needle & Thread.  I finished the stitching over a year ago, but now it is truly finished:

And this is "1864 Sampler House" by Chessie and Me:

Little Mia continues to grow.

And I continue to look up.

One never knows what one might see up there.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Happy July my friends - and Happy belated Canada Day to my friends across the border.

I'm Here...

...and so is the funk.

Hence, there is little noteworthy to share with you and, further hence, why long time, no post.

Thinking a change of scenery might be the antidote, I took a road trip with the Cat down the road (i.e., Cathy Stephan from Red Barn Rugs).  

I spent 2-1/2 days hooking with 4 incredibly talented artists thinking, surely, I would find at least a morsel of mojo but, no...I just ended up feeling like the red-headed stepsister.

I think, therefore, that the hooking project I started at the workshop in January is going to be banished to the Isle of the Unfinished (which is growing as quickly as the Isle of Misfits and Castaways) and I will pick up my needle for a bit - although my stitching mojo hasn't fared much better than my hooking mojo of late.

I did finish the hooking on my Simple Santa.

The above photo is reading washed-out on my screen, but the colors are, in person, more vibrant. 

Now I have a whole year to get it bound.  😬

In other news, this little guy has given me several scares. 

He had 2 emergency surgical procedures within 8 days of each other.

It was the same issue he had surgery for almost 2 years ago:

He gets a blockage in his colon and starts shutting down.

He had been on medications previously and put on a prescription diet -

but, apparently, neither worked.

Given that it had reoccurred so quickly this last time, they are concerned that his colon is not working properly.  Unfortunately, the only permanent "fix" is a specialized surgery in which they remove the non-functioning portion of his colon.

😳

It is not a common procedure and would require many pre-surgery tests.

For now, he is on yet another medication (fun times for a cat with claws).

While my mojo is out on its walkabout, I continue to read - books were my first love and they never abandon me.

I have fallen woefully behind on my posting of recent reads, but will attempt to get back to it soon.  But, in the meantime, I treated myself to this:

{"Records of the Salem Witch Hunt," Bernard Rosenthal editor}

It is a comprehensive record of all the legal documents pertaining to the Salem witch trials, in chronological order.  I had been holding out in the hopes of some day getting the hardcover version, but it is no longer available except on the secondary market at crazy prices.

(The paperback version is just shy of 1000 pages, so the hardcover version is in two volumes.)

Since it will be used primarily as a reference book, I suppose it doesn't matter - and I will feel less guilty should I be unable to resist making notes.

Of all the documents within the covers of this book, I was humbled to see that the editor chose a portion of my grandmother's petition as the preface page.

Hope all is well in your worlds.

Thoughts and prayers to the residents of Palestine.

I can't even imagine.