Woo Hoo!!!! SNOW!!!

I don't think I can explain just how much I love snow.....perhaps if you watch the video .....they say a picture is worth a thousand words!!!

Until I can get some pictures in the morning this will have to do.

The dog in the video is how I feel when it snows.....can't believe we've had to wait until the end of January for some snow this year. In celebration I roasted my chestnuts that I've been saving since Thanksgiving for our first good snow.....the only thing that could be better is if I were off work in the morning!

What-cha making with wool?

I love to see what people are making with the woolens they purchase from me.

Here are a few things from Kate at Tantrums.

Kate makes all kinds of things with wools!

Don't you just love these French Press cozies?!

And this Whatta Hoot Gadget pouch?!

And these are one of my favorite things....I just love her coffee cup cozies....I have one like this....not made from my wools but beautiful and useful all the same.How are you using your woolens from me? I'd love to see!!!

Go forth and be creative,

Tammy

I'm the IT GIRL!

No, no....not THAT kind of IT GIRL!!!

I've been tagged by Betty AND Meg to list 5 things about myself so here goes:

1. I love to wear sparkles, glitters, feathers, anything that says "girlie" STILL!!! Most of the time I'm not hard to miss! I mean, I LOVE this picture of Beyonce...that would be like a dream outfit for me!As well as this frou-frou dress that is on Cameron Diaz.......hmmmm...just need to have a place to wear things like this!!!

2. I'm kind of "known" at work for big earrings......it's TOTALLY against the rules but so far I haven't had anyone "turn me in" to the earring gestapo. I just think big earrings look great with short hair.

3. When I'm not at work in my scrubs and tennis shoes I love to wear heels.....3 inches at least. As my 9 year old niece, Madison, would say "Aunt Tammy....high heels are your THANG"....smart little girl!! This is my most recent pair....red patent.....looks great with jeans!

4. On a more practical note.....yeah, sometimes I can be practical....I hate to get stuck by a needle to have blood drawn....I'm one of those people who get really pale and come close to passing out. I start IV's on patients all day long, but I'm not so good on the other end of the needle.

5. I got married in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands......just Kenny and I.

Go forth and be creative,

Tammy

Frosting

I woke up to a cold, frosty morning....still no snow as I've been wishing for, but I"ll take what I can get! Frost is so pretty.....reminds me of powdered sugar!

Today was one of those nice, lazy Sundays.....we took a little drive out to Marshfield to the Country Charm Bed and Biscuit. Cleo was going out to visit Lily and Belle while Patti is in Florida with her family......Cleopatra loves to ride and Kenny lets her ride on his lap.....when she rides with me she has to sit in her own seat.Later when we came back we all had a bite to eat. Cleopatra had some left-over soup which means she had to put on her snood. This neat little invention keeps her long ears out of her food! We think she looks kind of like the wolf dressed as granny in "Little Red Riding Hood". If you want one for your own dog who has trouble keeping their ears out of their food you can find them here at Howlin'Hounds on Etsy. Cleo's was made by my friend, Renee.I had lots of free time today, but still didn't manage to get by the bookstore and pick up the new copy of "Artful Blogging"...I have the first issue and can't wait to get my hands on this new issue!!!

However, I did find time to add another 99 cent auction on eBay....wools are moving out of here at a rapid rate and it's making me very happy to see them finding new homes....still making room for the BIG ORDER to arrive!!!

To go to the auction just click on the picture.
For those of you who have been leaving comments and e-mailing me.....

Go forth and be creative,

Tammy

I'm baaa-aaaack!!

....back to blogging that is!

Feel like I've been gone forever....so what have I been up to?

Today I dyed some wools for the eBay store....lots of reds and pinks...guess it must be Valentine's Day approaching that put me in that color mood today.

The past few weeks I've been finishing up some projects....I finally got the handle ordered and attached to the hooked purse that I made my Grandma for Christmas. I snapped this photo on the way out the door to work the other day and I could kick myself because I didn't get a picture of the inside....I love the lining that I used!! If you need a nice leather handle for your hooked, knitted or fiber purses check out this website Homestead Heirlooms....YUM-O!!! And so nice to work with!!!

I've also been on a little bit of a knitting frenzy....okay...maybe frenzy sounds like I'm staying up all night and day knitting.....not hardly....let's just say I've knitted a heart dishcloth for my mom and I'm going to try to knock a couple more out for my grandma and mother-in-law before Valentine's day. Knitting sweaters....yeah, I don't think so....at least not in the foreseeable future!!!

I did this 9-O-Hearts Dishcloth....just knit and purl....of course I will say that I can't knit and carry on a conversation NOR can I knit and drink a chocolate martini and play with the dog's at Patti's after our dog walking so knitting will never be my first love :)

Patti's Chocolate Martini

1 shot vodka

1 shot Bailey's

1 shot Creme de Cocoa

2 shots milk

stirred not shaken

Can you see the 9-hearts?

Here's a close up if that helps..... and here's the link to the pattern if you want to try this yourself. And a handy link to see knitting videos if you totally don't have a clue.....hmmmm....I visit that site a LOT!!! Yes, I teach rug hooking at a knitting store, Simply Fibers, but you can only ask the same person "can you show me that just ONE more time" so many times before they want to stick the knitting needles square in your eyes.

Oh yeah, I got my sheep challenge rug bound and hung and I'm still working away at de-stashing my odd sized scraps of wool....hope to add another 99 cent auction on Sunday night at eBay.

Hope all of you out there in blog land have been doing well and staying creative....AND it wouldn't break my heart if a few of you left a comment or two when you stop by....it's nice to know who is out there reading.

Go forth and be creative,

Tammy

99 cent auctions!

YAY! A way for me to pare down some of my wool scraps!

There's nothing scrappy about it....beautiful colors starting at beautiful prices!!!

More to come in the days ahead!!!

Just click on the pictures to go to the auctions!!

Great for hits of color, blending or hit and miss!!!

Go forth and be creative,

Tammy

A rug to brighten your day from the Windy City

For me one of the most satisfying things as a seller of hand-dyed wools is to see how those wools are used. This is a rug hooked by Lily Mayfield of Chicago. I had the pleasure of meeting Lily several months ago while she was in town visiting her father Jim and step-mom Dulcy.

Lily picked out some beautiful wools from the shelves at Simply Fibers and a pattern that I had only had for just a few days. It's a wonderful pattern called "Newport" from Marion Ham at Quail Hill Designs. I love the how she's taken an "old" pattern and breathed new life into it....obviously her kitty loves it too!!!

Go forth and be creative,

Tammy

The color purple

If you like the color purple just take a peek in my Etsy store....I've just put lots of it in there!!

Go forth and be creative,
Tammy

This will make you sad, angry and smart

I did make a few New Year's Resolutions this year and one of them was to try and educate people about shopping at pet stores that sell puppies........

PLEASE DON'T

Don't even buy your pet food or pet supplies there

If you want to know why please click on the link below and it will take you to several videos....take a look at ANY of the videos and learn why.

Go forth and stop cruelty,

Tammy

Festival of Hearts

Click on the banner below and it will take you to the Festival of Hearts by PRHG at eBay

If I haven't mentioned it in a while PRHG is a consortium of fiber artists who work with wool and thread....such a wonderful and inspiring group. This is the group that I did the sheep challenge rug with that was such a blast.

Perhaps I'm a little crazy but I thought it would be fun to run a larger rug as a true auction with a low starting price for the festival!

I mean, after all, it's a festival...which means fun!

Plus, I thought that I couldn't go wrong with cats.

I think some people love their cats more than the people they live with and some people just prefer to live with cats rather than people....well, take a look and see....who can blame them.

They're loving,,,,

smart,,,

and curious

Hopefully the joy that I had in hooking this rug comes through....I've never had a cat as a pet (sad to say I'm allergic)but I had so much fun hooking these kittens and hearts in a sort of monochrome color scheme and it also tickled me to be able to dig into my stash of worms and recycled woolens and upcycle them into this warm and wooly rug.

However, the rug is just missing one thing.....a cat to curl up on it....I just know it will go to a home with a cat who will want to nap right smack in the middle of it!

If you'd like to go directly to the auction just click on the picture below.

Go forth and be creative,

Tammy

Busily binding

I'm busily binding rugs so here is some eye candy for you.
This is a slide show from the hook-in at Lenexa, KS last February.
Make plans to go this year as it is always huge fun!!!


Lenexa, KS Hook-In 2/24/07


For those that are planning on attending the Rock Creek Rugs Hook-In & Rug Show in Lenexa, KS , the Super 8 Motel in Lenexa is offering a special rate of $49 and includes breakfast. It's located at 9601 Westgate, Lenexa, KS, 913-888-8899.

The Hook-in & Rug Show is one of the best in the country with around 300 rug hookers attending and plenty of vendors. Please bring $12.00 admission (correct change will speed up check-in), a sack lunch, hooking project & supplies to work on, spending $$, and several hooked rugs for the show. There are lots of people that come just to look at the finished rugs and we'd like to have plenty for them to see. Here are more details:

12th Annual Rock Creek Rugs Hook-In & Rug Show
Saturday, February 23, 2008
9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Lenexa Community Center
93rd & Pflumm Road, Lenexa, KS (from I-35, West on 95th to Pflumm Rd, North on Pflumm to 93rd)

For any questions, please contact Marilyn Schmidt, 913-236-9362, hookknit1@aol.com

The votes are in.....

.....and I won!

3rd place for my sheep rug in the PRHG challenge.

There were 21 people who participated and we each sent Maria 205 strips of the same color wool.

I sent lavender wool.

In return I received my 5 strips of lavender plus 5 strips of blue, 5 strips of purple......a total of 205 DIFFERENT colored strips in multiples of 5!

At the time we sent out our wool strips we had signed up to receive either a sheep pattern or a snowman pattern but had NO IDEA what the pattern looked like.

Deciding where to put the colors was like putting together a puzzle!

To see the rest of the sheep rugs click here.

To see the snowman rugs click here.

Yes, the voting was hard and I'm happy to say that the rugs I voted on were BOTH in the top 3!!!

Wonderful to see how all of these different people decided to use their colors.

Congratulations to the other winners!

Sheep

1st place Marita of The Merry Hooker Woolens

2nd place Lori Rippy

Snowman

1st place Doris of Wellingtonwoolies

2nd place Patti

3rd place Julie

Most Creative Rug winner

Patti-snowman

Now this is what I call

GOING FORTH AND BEING CREATIVE!!!

Tammy

More wools added at Etsy and a 99cent auction!

I've added more wools at Etsy.

I'm working on new ways to take pictures and reading my camera manual....yeah, I know...I hate doing that stuff too, but hopefully you'll be getting "true-er" colors to shop by. Let me know how I'm doing.

The STASH REDUCTION continues!!!

And here is a fun auction for my eBay customers....1/2 yard of yummy Rebecca Erb wool starting at just 99cents!!

Just click on the picture below to go there!

Go forth and be creative,

Tammy

Ah it's good to be the queen!

I can't just sleep on the couch....I must have a pillow!! All queens do!!

Yes, Belle is chewing on my ear...that's her favorite "play" activity!!

When it starts to get on my nerves I just turn around and put Belle's head in my mouth! She knows who the queen is!Having dog friends just makes me want to throw myself down and wiggle with glee.
Here is how I operate.

I can keep watch over things from my throne.

I can give that shy demure look like Princess Di......

......

......

I'm so sleepy....this blogging is hard work!

Cleopatra