What's Big and Red and Eats Rocks?

What's Big and Red and Eats Rocks?

Everyone who has read this book knows the answer to that question.

I really loved that book as a kid!

I'm currently working on a needlepoint which looks very similar to this rock-eating beast, (please click on the following photos to enlarge them).





He's actually a Tyler Lion.
Harry Tyler of Jefferson County, N.Y was a famous weaver of coverlets back in the 1830s.
Here's a corner sample of his work...






The name of the person who commissioned the coverlet as well as the date were woven into the fabric too.

I got my first Tyler lion needlepoint earlier this year from ebay.
The auction stated that the kit was from 1975 and was put together by the Jefferson County Historical Society Museum's members including Mrs Dexter Williams and Mrs. Francis Taylor.
It even had a newsclipping which was inside the kit...






Isn't that sweet?
Well, I finished the first Tyler lion needlepoint earlier this year...






I even personalized it like the real sampler picture above. But, as you can see, I haven't made it into a pillow yet.
Anyway, I saw from the newsclipping that the kit was available in red as well.
So I tried finding out if this Jefferson Co. Historical Society still had a "Collectors Corner" store. But I couldn't find anything so I gave up.

Well, I was so surprised to find another Tyler Lion kit on ebay earlier this month. They didn't call it the Tyler Lion. It was a kit offered from Family Circle magazine back in 1972 along with other kits available called the White House Heirlooms Collection.






Here was the photo for the second needlepoint. It's in black and white and I had no idea if it was red or blue until I received it.
Boy was I happy when I saw it would be red!!!!






This page from Family Circle was inside the kit when I received it from the ebay seller.
All the ad says is that this kit was designed by Jebba. It doesn't even give credit to Harry Tyler, (the coverlet weaver and original designer of this lion). Anyway, if it's a White House Heirloom, they must have one of his coverlets in the White House. How cool!

Soooo, this is the kit I'm currently working on.





Here's a photo of the two pillow top needlepoints together. The Big Red Rock Eater looks a little larger than, ummm, the Baby Blue Ox, I mean lion. The mesh for the blue one is a smaller gauge. Plus there's the fancy background that Mrs Dexter Williams and Mrs. Francis Taylor worked so hard in recreating. (I wish they had done that awesome tree I see in the sample picture. That looks so neat!)

One last photo for you all.
I thought it would be nice to post the graph from the second kit. I think everyone should make their own Big Red Rock Eaters.




Just be sure and give Harry Tyler of Jefferson County some credit!