Spectacular!

Yesterday I went out into the sweltering heat.....okay, it was 9am, but still.....it was HOT and I mowed the yard. This is somthing I do that I think really makes my husband happy....I think he is secretly tickled when he comes home and one of his chores is completed.

This gave him more time to ENJOY his garden, rather than work in it.

Next thing I know he has gathered and created this SPECTACULAR vase of flowers in our kitchen.....the arrangement touches the ceiling....WOW!

Do you remember where you were....

when you saw Michael Jackson performing "Billie Jean" at the Motown 25. I remember where I was, it was on my birthday and I was a freshman in high school. Me and my brother were in front of the tv in our house on McClernon Street.

The moon walk, the crotch grabbing, the glove....it was beginning of the Michael Jackson that so many of us remember.

Then, not much later there was "Thriller

on MTV....in the summer time you couldn't get me and my brother out of the house...we were always camped around the MTV trying to catch it when it came on.....for those of you who are younger...there was no Tivo back then.

In 1984, I was a sophmore, and we got tickets to see Michael Jackson in Kansas City at Arrowhead Stadium with the "Victory Tour" where he toured with his brothers, The Jackson 5. I don't remember who got the tickets, but it was my mom, my aunt Jo-an, my bff Kim's mom Kathy and all of us kids who went up together....we were old enough to drive, but just barely had our license. Plus, looking back now....OBVIOUSLY our mom's wanted to see him too!

Oh my gosh...we were quite a ways away, but you could feel the energy in the stadium, the excitement....and when he came on stage...it was deafening. I don't think any of us sat down during the entire concert.

As a teenager of the 80's, I'm sad today.

Antiquing and Junking Excursion

Yesterday, Sheri and I took to the road and went antiquing in Mt. Vernon at Relics Antiques where my husband, Kenny, has a booth.

From there we headed on to Joplin, where we visited Connies Antiques, Southside Antique Mall, and the Antique Gallery……then on to “The Crazy Junk Man”.

I videoed the trip and Sheri has it in pictures on her blog, Shabby Sheep.

There is so much footage that I had to break it into 2 parts…..I have to say I’m having a blast with the little Flip Video Camera!

My hooking has me in knots

Last night was when the hooking group met at Simply Fibers. I've cut my schedule back for hooking group to once a month during the summer because summertime just seems to be busy for most people....the good kind of busy.....spending time at the lake baseball games, cook-outs, vacation, weddings....yeah, that good kind of busy.

I was really surprised with how many people showed up last night. The weather....ah the weather.....if you've never spent a summer in the Ozarks, let me explain.

When you step out the door into the beautiful sunshine, you are almost instantly covered in a film of humidity that clings to your skin like steam does when you step out of the shower. That feels good when you are stepping out of the shower, but imagine living with that feeling all day and night long.

As a thank you to all of the people who showed up I had a sale....25% off all in-stock wools, books and patterns.....wool was flying...it was FUN!

In the midst of all the action, I didn't even snap one picture....instead I sat down for a bit and worked on the garden rug. Never fear...Sheri at Shabby Sheep, snapped some pictures of the projects being worked on, so be sure and visit her blog in the next day or two and bug her to post pictures!!!

I actually sat down for a bit and worked on the garden rug....specifically the mullein flower/weed. I wanted this to be a bit 3-D and so I sat down in my dining room the other night and thought about different possiblities.....felting....rolling up pieces of wool...trapunto....hmmmm....none of those seemed to feel right.

What I came up with was cutting wool in big strips and then tying them into knots and then stitching those knots to the backing......here is how it looks so far.....I think I'm liking it. Also, liking the fact that I came up with this solution on my own.

I think today, I'm heading out to go junking with Sheri....I'm sure there will be many stories tomorrow about our FINDS.

Once again, I think if you click on the hooking pictures they should mega-enlarge for you.

Go forth and be creative,

Tammy

Of gardens and wool

I'm very fortunate to have a husband who is as passionate about gardening as I am about wool!

I started out dyeing a few pieces of wool today for myself and then Sheri from Shabby Sheep stopped by and all heck broke loose.....we were dyeing by the seat of our pants and came out with some fun and crazy wools. Some inspired by the garden and some inspired by the margaritas!!!

By the way....the rhubarb cake that Sheri made was AWESOME!!! Don't forget to share that recipe with us Sheri.

The piece below is a little renegade dyeing....we threw some dry "key lime" dye into the pot, then added the 1/2 yard of wool...after that we stuck the end of a knitting needle into some water and then into some different dyes...I think lavender and boysenberry and poked the stick around in the pot.....crazy fun!!!

This is one of the flowers that I want to represent in the garden rug I'm working on.....

This is what we came up with....I like-y!

I'm nutty about these bright orangey-yellow colors in the garden.
Here is a piece of wool that came about with another round of the knitting needle dyeing....this was actually the first knitting needle experimental piece of wool. WOWZERS!
Now these are just more pictures of the garden.....so many colors to choose from!

Some subdued.

Watercolor-ish

Exotic!

Serene.

This chartreuse color is one of my favorite colors in the garden...it just lights up where ever Kenny puts it.

Dog Blogging

A few days I've taken videos of the dogs....I've rolled them all together in a little movie.

I realize that most of the time when I post pictures of Cleopatra and Lonnie they are lying on the bed, or lying by my feet or lying by the couch.

Well, they do more than lie around.

You even get to see a few cameo shots of myself. Not so exciting for those of you who know me, but for those of you who don't you can see how I look on a normal day, after work, no posing....and you get to hear my voice.

Hearing my own voice on recordings weirds me out so this is really a stretch for me, but oh well.

I'd call the video "on the fly"....no editing, so, beware!

There is a cameo appearance by our friend, David, "uncle David" to the dogs. You also get to see the back of Kenny's head as he drives us about.

Notice the bed is not made, the curtains are askew and no, Lonnie doesn't get the cat........what you DO miss is Lonnie pulling me down the hill to the river, me sliding and falling in the mud and getting mud all up my leg and on the rear end of my shorts....Kenny thought he filmed all of this as I handed him the Flipvideo, but he forgot to hit the record button.....lucky me, it was not one of my finer moments :)

I just found this....if you need to get a smile on your face fast, click here....you've got to have sound!

Water is all hooked

Day 1 of my STAY-cation I spent it lolling about a bit and also doing a little work on the garden rug. I have the water feature finished and am getting ready to move on to working on the flower portion of the mullen "weed flower".

The flower will consist of different values of yellow and I think I've decided to make it a bit 3-dimensional by tying larger and smaller wool strips into knots and then sewing them onto the backing....I've never done this before, so I'm sure it will be more labor intensive than I think it will be, but hopefully will be worth the extra effort. Plus it's fun to stretch creatively and try new things.

I'm happy with how the water turned out going from darker at the bottom and then getting lighter towards the top. Kenny told me that the bubbles represented our backyard pool and my hooking is my interpretation of the water.

I'm also loving how the flowers come "off" of the canvas and I tried to work bits of purple into the water to make it look like the flower is reflecting in the water.

I'm hoping if you click on the pictures you can see them larger.

First Day of STAY-cation

Yay! STAY-cation!



9 days in a row with no work. Today, I think I'll be throwing on my favorite
t-shirt and shorts and rug hooking and working over the rug room.

This shirt cracks me up. Kenny got it for me for Christmas one year. It makes me laugh! I only wear it at home.

Just sharing.

The GOOD news

Here is some good news that we don't always get to see.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Change of plans

Today my plan was to get up, install the new computer for my husband while he was at work today and then rug hook.



Oh contraire.....I couldn't get the speakers to work and spent probably 2-3 hours on-line with tech support trying to get them to work. The last person I chatted with (a woman) was able to get me up and running.

Go figure.

Now, I'm just trying to figure out how to get the itunes up and running again.

Oh well, maybe Saturday will be better.

More video of the den

I now have the den painted. The walls are Apple Polish from Behr paint. I will take pictures tomorrow of how the ceiling technique turned out. It's very subtle, but worth the effort.

I took the video at 4:30 am the other day when I couldn't sleep...that's why the video ends at the coffee pot :)

This is entering our den from the kitchen. We have an antique canoe that has been made into a shelf that we picked up several years ago and hauled from Kansas City to Springfield in my old Subaru Forester....it went from the front seat all the way out the back...that was quite a trip I must say.

A few more notes, we still have the flooring to replace and the fireplace to repaint...Kenny painted the inside of the fireplace black with heat resistant paint....then he had to turn off the a/c and turn on the attic fan to get rid of the fumes...it was horrible.

The pack basket on the floor by the fireplace is great for storing magazines.

If you see anything you are curious about, just ask, and if you have any ideas for the fireplace, I'd love to hear your suggestions.

We still need to hang artwork on the red walls....we're waiting until the fireplace and flooring are finished, because we might change the furniture arrangement around.

Hooking water

Yesterday I decided to dye a little wool to use as the water in the rug I'm working on. What a nice day....sitting by the pool hooking water.
Go forth and be creative,
Tammy

Decision made

I've decided that today I'm going to dye a little wool for the rug, then sit outside and hook and swim (better than the gym)....it's supposed to be 82.

Tomorrow they are calling for scattered rain....a much better day to spend inside painting.

Thanks Debbie for helping me get my priorities straight :)

Indecision

I'm sitting here this morning trying to decide what to do. Finish painting the ceiling.....dye some wool for the rug I'm working on....go to the gym.....instead I just sit here and drink coffee.

Thoughts marinating.

I really want to finish the ceiling, but I'm afraid.

I've never done a "technique" before....what if it turns out a big hideous mess?

Sure, I could paint over it, but then the ceiling is going to have a texture on it and then that will be weird.....should I do a test board?

Help!

Happy Anniversary

Today is our 14th Anniversary.

I wish I had a scanner, so I could share some of our wedding pictures. We got married in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands.

It was perfect and beautiful.

Have a great day!

A little bit of THIS and a whole lot of THAT

Saturday and Sunday I worked a bit on my garden rug. I'm liking how it's coming together I especially like the coneflowers....however, I'm going to rehook the centers at some point to incorporate some orange and green (Kenny informed me that this is the color that the centers are on the purple coneflowers, however, he was very pleased with the color of the petals)


I think I got fairly close to the velvety/silver color of the mullen leaves.


In the mean time....don't they say it's good luck when a bird craps on you :)
Not everything is glamourous in my little corner of the world....even though I'd like for you to think it is :)

Ter'e, I worked all day yesterday on painting the ceiling of the den yesterday that I started back here....actually, the red walls and the trim are all painted. I was hoping to finish the ceiling in a day, however, when I went back and looked at the instructions for doing the glazing, it said you had to let your base coat dry for 24 hours......so, I'm planning on tackling that this weekend.

I really wish I knew how to do time lapse photography, because it would have been quite entertaining. Up the step-ladder, down the step-ladder, taping off the crown molding. Then up and down the step-ladder taping up plastic sheeting to cover the red walls...(yes, I know, paint the ceiling first, but we weren't sure if we were going to paint the ceiling or not). Then I would move the furniture to one end of the room....couch, loveseat, wingback chair, tables, lamps, plants, etc....then move everything to the OTHER end,,,,then the other SIDE. I'm not sore today, but check back with me tomorrow :0

I promise there will be video to come when it's finished. I might even take some video tonight...the furniture is all pushed back, but the plastic sheeting is still on the walls....it's an odd look to say the least.

Yes, I live with a brush in my hand....coloring my world.

Go forth and be creative,
Tammy

Dakota has a home

First off.....Dakota...the Newfoundland from my dream a while back has been adopted....YAY!

Dyeing for mullens

For the mullen leaves I scrunched up 1/2 yard of natural Pendleoton wool in a pan and then did the following:

This is OLIVE DRAB....

but somehow when they made up the label they goofed on the spelling.

in measuring cup 1 I added 1/64 tsp olive drab and just a bit of citric acid....you could use vinegar

in measuring cup 2 I added 1/32 tsp olive drab and just a bit of CA

in measuring cup 3 I added 1/16 tsp olive drab and just a bit of CA

to these measuring cups I added 1 cup boiling water to each.

I should also note that I added about 2 cups of water to the scrunched up wool in my pan and put it on simmer on my stove top.

Once the water was warmed up on the stove I added my 3 cups of dye down the wool parallel to the selvedge from light to dark...massaged them into the wool with my new gloves I picked up at Home Depot a few weeks back. HINT: when buying gloves to dye with....

get a size larger than you need.....

You'll love me for this tip!

After the wool massage I sprinkled the wool with a bit of salt...like you would a roast and then covered it with foil. HINT: covering your pots or pans with foil keeps the heat in....processing your wool a bit faster and keeping your home cooler in this warm weather.

Here is the result....a little more blue than I anticipated, but not bad.Since I'm no quitter I tried making up two more formulas that I cooked in pots rather than pans that resulted in these wools. I was most satisfied with the wool on the bottom....not too blue, but still shadowy. I'll share those recipes with you as time allows.

Stay tuned tomorrow when I'll share some of my hooking.

Go forth and be creative,

Tammy

The journey of a new rug begins

This rug has been brewing for about a year now.....actually there will be 5 panels that will go across our dining room wall.

These have been drawn by my husband, Kenny. It's so nice to have a man who is involved with what you love to do.

For those of you who have visited my blog for a while know....Kenny is as obsessed with gardening as I am with rug hooking.



We're collaborating on this project.....he is the artist and I'm the hooker.



I'll keep you up to date as this project progresses....sharing how I make color choices and I also intend to share recipes that I come up with along the way.



I hope you'll join me on this journey.


Here is what I'm working on today. The rug has a representation of the mullen plant....it's actually a weed, but a weed that Kenny is in love with....it has really soft leaves and beautiful yellow flowers when it blooms....today I'm going to be working on coming up with some colors to use in the mullen leaves.



I've picked a leaf off of the mullen and then went through my swatch books to pull a few colors that I think might work.....I've pulled Pro Chem "olive drab" and "grasshopper" to work with, but may add other wools that I already have to the mix.

Go forth and be creative,
Tammy