Just rambling

Wow! So many things to get done before vacation....but not so many that I can't spend a little bit of time having fun and finding quizzes like this.

I'd say mine is fairly accurate.....once I leave work and get out of my "scrubs".

Your Fashion Style is Urban

You've got a style all your own... and it works Not too trendy, not too freaky - you've got streetwear down to a science You always look cute and put together, but keep it comfortable too You're the type of girl that creates trends and inspires others to be funky

What Kind of Fashionable Woman Are You?

I got into a big discussion with Trisha the other day on e-mail about shoes. She was asking about Crocs....wanting to know if I wore them at work and if they were comfortable.

In case you've been living in a cave....these are what Crocs look like.

Yes, I know....they are comfortable ...I get it.....but I just can't get past how "ugly" they are. Girls are supposed to "love" shoes......eh hem....beautiful shoes....not these icky plastic things!

Oh well.....some things remain a mystery.

Go forth in beautiful shoes,

Tammy

YAY! It's the weekend!!!

Just 1 week and 1 day until I leave for Viva Las Vegas....can't wait!!!!

Going to go shopping for a few things (clothes) to take with me.....something totally club worthy.

I have my eye on this little number...how fun!

And since we're going to be spending a lot of time at the pool how BLING are these flip flops?!

Especially if I get a cool bracelet like this?!

Alright.....enough with the wishing!!! Here is the rug I've been working on.

It's called "Lazy Sheep" from Maria Barton at www.starrugcompany.com/ . I just love how it's turning out!

Yeah, I know....shocked ya!! You thought I was going to show you something wild and Vegas-y didn't you?!

It's a little warmer this morning than it has been, but still cool enough to get outside and take a few pictures of what is going on in the garden. Kenny has still been just gardening away as usual!

I tried to snap lots of pictures of all the wonderful colors. When I get back from vacation I hope to use these pictures as inspiration for colorful wools.

Go forth and be creative,

Tammy

Today's featured hooker!

As most of you know I'm just one gal trying to do as much as I can with the time I'm given. Luckily I have some great customers who are always willing to share what they are doing, while I'm creating more things to share with you.

Today I'm featuring Karen Barbera of Sparks, Nevada.

Looks like a pretty place to live!

She has graciously sent me pictures of a trout rug that she is creating for her father as a Christmas gift. She is using some of my "Forest Blend" wool below the fish's eye as well as some of the "Blue Angel Plaid" in the gills. I asked her to give me a little info on her rug inspiration and here is what she had to say.

"I am making it for my dad for Christmas. He is an avid fisherman, we used to fish every summer out near Mammoth Lakes, CA at a place called Benton Crossing--some of my fondest memories when I was growing up. Now, Dad and my Uncle Larry go to a place out in the CO Rockies called Red Feather Lakes and fish there, and sometimes my cousin Jeff meets them there for some 'male bonding' for a week or so--while my mom, aunt and Jeff's wife go to Denver to shop! LOL. I try and make my gifts each year, and while I have done fairly well for the ladies in the family, not so easy for the guys. Then, it dawned on me one day, I could do a trout rug for my dad. One of the ladies in my hooking group had made one for her granddaughter, and I started thinking about doing one for Dad. And what I wanted to do was one of the 'classic' shots of a trout leaping out of the water. I was talking to one of the workers at the shop where my hooking group meets and she said she had seen something simular to that in an applique pattern. It was very close to what I wanted to do for Dad! So I picked it up and started playing with the pieces until I was happy with how it looked, taped all the pieces down (since I had traced the pieces onto tissue paper and pushed them around till I was happy with the comp.) and traced it over onto red dot. I like the way it came together with the cattails and the dragonflies. I can just see the trout jumping out of the lake where my dad stays." This is going to be a large rug that measures 26" x 30" when it is finished!
Hopefully all you blog readers can encourage her to share more pictures as she continues on her journey.

Karen is fortunate to belong to a rug hooking group that meets on Tuesday mornings at Workman's Nursery in Fallon, NV. She says, "It is an eclectic little place, half nursery, half quilting/hooking/craft/herb shop, with a workroom in the back where we meet for about 2-3 hours between 9 and noon. It is a fun group of ladies and we just get together and chit-chat while we work on our rugs."

I think it sounds divine!

Go forth and be creative,

Tammy

A day to DYE for!!!

I know I'm always saying this but.........

Wednesday was just the PERFECT day!!!

I got up early (5am) .....okay, not that early for me because that is the time I get up just about every day when I have to go to work, but on my DAY OFF ......it's early!!!

It was cool outside which is NOT typical for the end of July here in the Ozarks......it's usually so hot and muggy that you don't even want to move around. I got out my dye pans and just play, play, played!!! Here are my results. From left to right: Abalone Shell spot dyed, Spring Lettuce transitional dyed, Popsicle transitional dyed

OKAY. Some of you might be saying "what is transitional dyed"....it's a word I made up for when you move from one color to the next and they kind of blend together or transition into one another.
From left to right: Garden Fox transitional dyed, Evening Fox fantasy dyed(SOLD), Bailey Blue abrash dyed(SOLD)

From left to right: Peacock Feathers transitional dyed, Old Onions transitional dyed (SOLD), Scarlett O'Hara spot dyed

From left to right: Winding Road transitional dyed, Rambling Rose transitional dyed, Shadows transitional dyed (somehow this one has a big blotch of blue on one part of it...go figure)

Since I'm getting ready to go on vacation these will be headed to Simply Fibers tonight for the girls that show up for hooking tonight. If you see something you just "have to have" just drop me a line at

skiptomyewe@hotmail.com

These are $8 per quarter yard and are shown in 1 yard pieces. If you need close up pictures just drop me a line and I'll be happy to send better close up pictures for you.

Go forth and be creative,

Tammy

A relaxing day!

Good morning!

We had a great day yesterday!! The weather was PERFECT!!!

We headed to Ozark, Missouri to have lunch at "La Fiesta" on the square.

To celebrate the great weather and another perfect day we had margaritas....one of my favorites....this is what they call the MONSTER margarita......see why?

We then spent a good part of our day furniture shopping for our friend who is buying a house.....after much searching here are the final decisions. Did I mention it's a home from the 50's? I love the retro "Rat Pack" feel that this sofa invokes!Makes me think of Frank Sinatra and swilling martinis!

Then there is this chair....which I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE! I love the shape and I love the fabric.

This sofa table.

Once we made it back home we took the girls for a nice long walk. Here they are hanging their heads out on the ride to the park.

Above is Cleopatra....below is Big Truvy.

Can you tell in the next picture that they are looking forward to getting out of the Blazer and going for their walk?
The park and all of the squirrels, children and other dogs are beckoning!!

Big Truvy likes to chase squirrels up their trees and then bark at them.....

and chase them from one tree to the next.

I was noticing how pretty some of the bark on the older trees is. The color and texture is just really superb!
It made me think of this reversible wool that I have in my Etsy store. It's a wonderful wool from the Rebecca Erb collection.

Go forth and be creative,

Tammy

A few good wools!

Today I also took a little time to dye some wools. Most of them are headed to Simply Fibers, but these three are making it to my eBay store.

The first one is OAK LEAVES, then COUNTRY GREEN PLAID, and MOULIN ROUGE. The COUNTRY GREEN PLAID is an as-is wool.

I also found a little bit more of a wool that I call CANDY APPLE STRIPE while I was re-organizing. Click on the candied apples to see what it looks like.

Go forth and be creative,

Tammy

Catching up!

I haven't been on here for...it seems like....DAYS!!!

However, today I've got GOBS of pictures to share with you.

Fair entries are due for the Ozark Empire Fair and here are some of the pieces I'm entering this year. (I think if you click on the pictures they might enlarge for you) "Big Truvy" is finally finished......this is one of the reasons I haven't blogged in a while. I've been feverishly sewing on the binding to her rug....NOT my favorite part of rug hooking! As a matter of fact, I got it completely finished this morning at about 10am....nothing like a little procrastination now is there?

This "Santa and Friend" rug is probably my largest rug that I'm entering. I hooked it in a class this past winter with Anita White as my teacher. The pattern is available from Rhonda Manley of Black Sheep Wool Designs. If you look at the background of the rug you can see that there are holly leaves hooked into the background. This was one of those synergistic things that happen at rug hooking camps. I don't like hooking "plain" backgrounds and was trying to think of something that would make it more fun to hook, but knew I needed something "simple" that wouldn't detract from the subject. I honestly think I was making Renee and Vicki crazy just yacking and yacking and yacking (oh yeah...did I mention they came up with this at 11pm....maybe TILT is not the best thing for me to drink in the evenings.....not to mention that I found it has 384 calories!!!)
This is a rug called "Flint Hills Sheep" from Judy Cripps of Rustic Rugs. The sheep is prodded. (Have I mentioned how much I love to prod?!) I like to enter a few items that are not completely hooked....just to give others an idea of options within rug hooking.
And lastly is this snowgirl pillow that has sparkles and needle felted nose and lips.....one of my experimental pieces.

I had a few other pieces I wanted to enter, but they are hanging at Simply Fibers, so I think I'll just save those to enter next year.

One of the other things that has been keeping me busy is Pilates after work. My instructor is my husband's good friend and I helped him with his studio logo.

It's a beautiful place to work out....from the outside.....

...to the inside.

I hooked the rug that is on the back of the bench where we sit to take off our shoes and the vase coneflowers are from our garden.very colorful This is Ricky....the beta fish. I guess he's the studio mascot.

Oh yeah....and some of the equipment that we use to do Pilates.

The machines on the left are called "reformers" and the one on the right is the "cadillac".

On a sadder note....

Wednesay we attended a funeral for Kenny's aunt Joyce who was killed in a car accident last Friday, she was only 58. Kind of odd because she had been in poor health and they had only given her 2 months to live......in the end she was taken from us in an instant.....mixed blessing?

Kenny has been re-working some of the beds in the front yard and planting these wonderful caladiums.

While things in the back yard continue to grow and grow.....we've been so fortunate to have lots of rain this summer.....it really looks like April rather than the middle of July.

As always, the girls are always happy to have any visitors who might stop by. Wish you could have seen how fast their tails were wagging when I took this picture!

Go forth and be creative,

Tammy