Washing a rug

There has been a discussion on "The Welcome Mat" about how people wash their rugs. I've hooked since 1999 and I've never "washed" one of my rugs....I've vacuumed them and spot cleaned them but never "washed" one.....Sunday I got brave and threw this one in my front loading washing machine on the permanent press setting on cold with some Orvus paste (come to find out...with the cold setting the Orvus paste didn't dissolve and was still sitting in a lump in the reservoir when I finished, so there was a lesson learned there....perhaps next time I should dissolve it in a little hot water first). After washing I threw it in the dryer on a low setting with a dryer sheet for about 10 minutes to try and get rid of even more dog hair......here are the results.

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

It's hard to tell from the pictures, but the rug is now brighter, cleaner and it has it's loftiness back. I was really a bit worried to try this on this particular rug...you see, when I first learned to hook, noone told me to cut the wool paralell to the selvedge edge to get a stronger strip.....so on this rug I cut the wool any way that I could get the longest piece to hook with it....some of it was cut on the bias and who knows how. Oh well, sometimes that is how we learn. However, the rug held up well to the washing.

This was a rug that was hooked on monks cloth.....would I try this on a burlap rug....probably not.

Whips and chains

I knew the title would get your attention!
This weekend I've been working on making covered cording for a lot of

(tree rug....still need an official name)

rugs that I've finished....finished hooking, but they still need to be bound.....soooo I got out the whips and chains and MADE myself do it!

(Love Ewe from Quail Hill Designs)

I made cording for three rugs, would have been four rugs, but I ran out of cording.....(okay, I ran out of cording at the house, but I have some at the store where I teach....will grab that later today and finish the fourth cord for the big circle rug) now to get them all stitched on.

(adaptation of free pattern Hearts Pair 1857 by Primitivebettys)

I was so happy with myself for doing the task at hand that I treated myself to a new book when I was finished. "Taking Flight" by Kelly Rae Roberts...she is so inspiring...I looked at the book a couple of weeks ago and decided it was worthy of owning....PLUS I had a 40% off coupon for a book at Borders!!!

Yipee!!

Now, totally unrelated.....are you watching "American Idol"? Of course it's one of my addictions and so far I'm giving my votes to Alexis Grace. If you click on her picture it will take you to YouTube where you can hear her sing....so soulful!!! Lovin' her blonde and pink hair too!

You go girl!

A Queen to me

Sunday night I went to my Grandma Doris's church for a Sweetheart Dinner. She had been voted Sweetheart for her Sunday school class and she was in the running for Queen.
As it ended up the girl who got queen was 12 years old, but my Grandma will always be a queen to me!
My niece, Madison, who is 10 was very concerned about the whole event....would she get flowers, would she get a crown, would she get to wear a cape, would she get a scepter.......let's say Madison knows about everything a queen should have! Here is Madison, giving her great-grandma Doris a light up scepter....how awesome is that?

Happy Be-Lated Valentine's Day

I hope you had a Happy Valentine's Day. Mine was great.....I woke up to fresh-brewed coffee and a bevy of little gifts (3 new pairs of earrings) and a beautiful card. Not to mention that earlier in the week Kenny had brought home beautiful tulips AND we've had the bonus of having the amaryllis finally blooming....it's been a revelry of red around here.....I love red!

Such a great day yesterday! I spent my morning with my hair artist, Terri, getting new color and working on a plan for letting my hair grow out a bit....hey, I've had REALLY short hair for probably 10 years now, so I'm feeling the need for a change.

Right now I'm in transition, but here is the in-between look that I'm working towards....okay people....for me this will be long :)(right now working on getting the top longer and keeping the back still short) I love Charlize Theron and I can just tell that she has that straight, fine hair like mine....I really don't expect miracles from my hair...I just try to find styles that I think I can make work with my hair.

So, now I'm much blonder and that just makes me happy!

I thought that yesterday I would work on my rugs or journaling, but instead I found myself out shopping...not buying much, but a cute new pair of sunglasses.

Kenny made us buffallo chili pizzas last night....OMG...these are sooooo good! I mean, you could build a restaurant, it was so good!! I think the key is the chili made from buffallo meat and the crusts that we get from MaMa Jean's. The crusts are corn meal pizza crusts from Vicolo.

Yum!!!! I had a glass of wine with mine, but I made Kenny his Caipirinha....our newest favorite drink thanks to Kim at Threadheads, Unite!

If you live here in Springfield, MO you can find cachaca at the International Wine Center near the rum. This is a picture that Kenny took last night of me making his drink....he loves to see me work!!!

Oh yeah, I did make some yummy molten lava chocolate cakes with ice cream and raspberries.....the cakes were from a mix, but they were so awesome...little chocolate cakes and when you cut into them chocolate goo runs out of them...the hot chocolate, the cold ice cream and then the tartness of the raspberries...YUM!

I also found this video, so maybe next time I'll try it from scratch!

Random

Tonight I guess I'm just rambling on randomly.

Do you know about http://www.redbox.com/?

Do you have a redbox near you?

OMG!! We are in love with this.....movies for just $1!!!

Tonight I watched "Secret Life of Bees".....okay, I bawled....just like a big old baby.....why? maybe I just needed to cry.....maybe you need to watch the movie and see if you cry.....I'm wishing I would have read the book first, but now that I've seen the movie I've GOT to read the book.

We need more movies like this.....I need more movies like this.....heartfelt....touching....real.

I journaled these pages the other day, but just realized I hadn't shared them yet....the word is "space". I actually got a little braver and drew the head on this one.....I like her....she makes me smile.

Maybe if you click on the pictures they will be bigger for you.

I'm almost finished with my tree rug and then I need to go on a big "rug finishing" binge.....I need to bind the Valentine rug, tree rug, a sheep rug and the big circles rug.....YIKES that's a lot of binding.....maybe a blizzard would help....yeah, fat chance of that happening....not that I want it to....I just like the idea of it....being snowed in with lots of yummy food and drink and plenty of crafty/artsy things to work on.

Since I'm being random and rambling here are some socks that Rita and JoLynne got me for Christmas.....cute little basset hounds....I LOVE THEM!

A day of creativity!

I took Suzi Blu's video to heart yesterday and got creative and started making art.....art on wool that is!

Sheri from Shabby Sheep came by and we got in the dye pans and came up with some lovely colors!

They are sooooo lovely that I can't help but share them with you!

This batch will be for sale for my blog readers so if you see something you just gotta have drop me a line by clicking on the post office box picture and let me know what you just have to have!

I take checks and paypal.

If you'd like to see larger pictures of the wools please visit my Flickr page

here.

Wool Slide Show

These are all one-of-a-kind wools with the exception of Indian Paintbrush which is a recipe from Woolly Mammoth Woolens.

This is a wool that I call EASTER. Easter is 1/2 yard

This was fun to dye....we did it in an open pan and floated the wool on top of some water and then drizzled various Easter colors on top of it. It was an experimental process and I think it turned out lovely and watercolor-y!

$18 + $1 shipping

Here is a close up of EASTER

This is 1 yard of Fantasy wool called AWAKENING.

It goes from a dark night to a sunny day.

The great thing about Fantasy wools is that you can get a different effect in your hooking depending on which direction you strip the wool.

$36 + $2 shipping.

Close up of AWAKENING

INDIAN PAINTBRUSH spot dye

A lovely recipe from Wooley Mammoth Woolens.

1/2 yard $18 + $1 shipping

close up of INDIAN PAINTBRUSH
SEAWEED spot dye

We were making this for grass for the rug Sheri is working on.

1/2 yard $18 + $1 shipping

SEAWEED close up

PEACOCK transcolor wool

This goes from golds, to greens to blues.....colors of a lovely peacock

1 yard $36 + $2 shipping

PEACOCK close up

MIXED MEDIA Fantasy wool

This reminds me of a lot of the altered art and journaling pieces that I see...thus the name.

1 yard $36 + $2 shipping

MIXED MEDIA close up Go forth and be creative,

Tammy

I love this chick!

I feel myself becoming a bit obsessed with the journaling.....or idea of it....then I ran across this video....ya gotta watch it.

I guess what I want to say is DON'T WAIT.....start making your own art TODAY!

Art can be hooking, painting, journaling, cooking, doing thoughtful things in your own unique way.

Busy, busy, busy

Today was like a whirl wind....good to get home....even though it's past 10pm and I have to get up at 5am for work.

We had a great hooking group tonight!

I am so blessed to be surrounded by so many creative souls and more just keep coming through the doors to hook....we are like magnets drawn to wool and kinship.

We had new wools from Rebecca Erb, I taught a little tutorial on how to cover cording with wool fabric to make an edging for rugs. I brought in some hooked purses so folks could take a look and see different ways of putting them together and also shared my new journaling with them.

Earlier today I stopped by Lowe's to return some painting supplies that I didn't use and handed the girl my bag and receipt and she just looked at me and smiled and said...."these came from Home Depot" :)

Talk about a blonde moment....they were even in the Home Depot bag.

Go forth and be creative,

Tammy

A day of production

First, the weekly address from our President

1/31/09: Your Weekly Address from White House on Vimeo.

Wow! Yesterday was such a great day for me. I found yet another new "group" that I joined up with....the first month is just $1 and then after that $12.....Hey, you can't lose for $1 and it will give me time to try it out and see if it's for me. If you want to check it out go here, Comfort Cafe....I think this is the last day to sign up for $1. I have no affiliation other than the fact that I joined for $1

The one thing that was talked about was Shadow Comforts. "often, when you most need comfort, you can’t think of anything besides TV reruns and left-over pie. Otherwise known as shadow comforts and time monsters (the things we think will nurture us, but actually deplete us or the things we do instead of what we really want to do)."

I was soooo moved by the thought of Shadow Comforts....that I incorporated it into my visual journal. One of the words I worked on was "comfort"

and the other was "layers".

I decided at that point to not use my "shadow comforts" of spending so much time on the internet and I got down and dirty and worked on my visual journal pages, stocked some wools at Simply Fibers, took myself out to "Steak and Shake" and sat at the counter. I love to sit at the counter at a diner.....there is so much action....people shouting out orders....the smell of the grill...I just love it!

I have been craving Steak and Shake for 4 weeks now. Having become a Conscientious Carnivore, I rarely eat meat when I don't know where it comes from, but about once a month I let myself have something if it is something that I have craved for 2-4 weeks. I'm not perfect, but I do feel good about the choices I've been making since July. The chili 3-ways, fries and chocolate shake were so delicious and it satisfied that craving that I'd had for so long. I know that meal had so much fat, but hey, it was just 1 meal.

Next, I came home and started a new little rug.....kind of an experimental piece using rolled pieces of wool attached by sewing....I like how it's turning out.

Here is a close up of the rolled wool pieces....

....and here is a picture of the Valentine challenge rug that I'm working on with my hooking group.....hooked, but not finished (pattern from Primitive Betty)...I think I want to put some sort of lamb's tongues along the shorter edges......part of the reason is that the Valentine rug and the tree rug are both on the same piece of left-over linen that I've been working on.

Go forth and be creative,

Tammy