A beautiful Saturday!

The weather today was gorgeous! I tell you, those of us in the northeast really lucked out this past week, and today Aaron and I took advantage of the warm weather (well, warmer than usual), and sunny skies. My original plans included laundry and a bit of hooking, and Aaron was going to work on his boat....but the open road beckoned, so off we went! We ended up driving up through part of the Hudson Valley, and almost into the Catskills, stopping along the way at a few antique stores and indoor flea markets, finding a couple of treasures to bring home. Of course, my treasure was a great vintage hooked rug, and Aaron found an old picture of a man that could be Bill Murray's double from his Caddy Shack days. Bill Senior (his new nickname) is now hanging in the mancave by the bar, and my rug is in my studio, ready for a bit of cleaning. We drove through an old one lane covered bridge, and saw more small towns and villages in one day than we'd seen for the past year. I still want a place in the country one of these days, but I swear all we kept saying was, "I wonder where they buy their groceries?! And what about a Dunkin' Donuts craving?!" lol


This is the rug I bought today. The colors look much brighter in the picture than the actual rug, but what really caught my eye was the border. The wool used looks like maybe herringbone or checks, and reminds me of a kind of paisley pattern. I'm going to tack down the binding, and reinforce some of the backing around the edges, but other than that, I really like it!

Just to show my recent addiction to vintage rugs, this is one I bought at a flea market in New Milford (the Elephant's Trunk), and it's just gorgeous! Again, the binding needs to be tacked down, but other than that, I'm not going to touch anything else on it. It does need a gentle cleaning, but from what I've read, some time right side down in the snow, then club soda on the leftover spots, and it's ready to hang. No, I don't put my rugs on the floor mainly because of our two dogs, two cats, two kids, and all their friends!

This is a rug I bought at a local antique store that needs quite a bit of restoring, but I just love the colors and the pattern. Here's a few more pictures of the damage, and if anybody has any advice on the restoration, let me know!

There's also a hole in the pattern that I'm going to need to patch with backing, then rehook the area after I dye some wool to match the surrounding pieces. I may have taken on more than is possible to fix, but I just couldn't leave the rug where it was....on the floor!!

One of the women that took my hooking class a couple of years ago gifted me with a rug she had found in an attic, and while it's not all the way finished, I just love the pattern. It's not a hooked rug, but one that maybe used some kind of rug punch needle and yarn. I am really itching to get it finished and bound, but it's not something I've ever done before. Again, if anybody is familiar with the stitches of this rug, please let me know! The colors are every bit as bright in person as they are showing up on the picture!!


This is a close up of one of the blocks, and following is the back. As you can see, the pattern is drawn on the back of the rug instead of the front, which I what I'm used to working with.
Well, I'm pretty well exhausted and ready to hit the sack. Hope everyone had a great Saturday, and is looking forward to a restful Sunday...I know I am!